Free Dead Man's Resolution by Thomas K. Carpenter Page A

could knock the whole thing over with a breath.
    “He must have fell from up there.” Tibor pointed to the roof. “But why?”
    “Total outworlder, I bet. Lost in his fantasy land and didn’t know he was walking off the roof,” William surmised.
    “You know outworlders don’t take chances. That’s the whole point of being an outworlder. Life is easy because you control everything. It’s like Nadia. I heard her family uses a random room generator so every time they go into their living room it looks like a different celebrity’s.”
    Tibor wedged the board under the dead man, leaning in to flip him over. The body broke loose from a piece of a construction rebar making a sickening thump as it flopped.
    “You’ve got to see this.”
    William moved forward lured by Tibor’s words. “His brains ooze out his ears or something?”
    “Even weirder. No shades or hip pouch, and there’s a wire sticking out of his neck.”
    “Then he can’t be an outworlder. No shades, no ARNet computer, no Digital Sea,” William said.
    Tibor knelt in the rubble, his left knee crushing the man’s arm, but he didn’t think he’d mind. He reached out to touch the man’s face. It made him uneasy, but if he wanted to be a vet, he’d have to get over his fears. Pulling back the dead man’s eyelids revealed a black disc surrounded by white. Instead of shades worn over the eyes, he had them on his cornea.
    “William, get in here,” Tibor yelled.
    “But it stinks.”
    Tibor sighed. “Cover your nose, but get in here. I want to show you something.”
    When William finally got the nerve to get into the dumpster, Tibor showed him the man’s eyes. The revelation hid the smell and the fact they were touching a body.
    “I’d heard it was possible, but I didn’t think anyone would do it. You could never escape the Sea,” William said.
    “Maybe he’s a government agent?” Tibor wondered. “The computer’s been sewn into his hip and even his neural actuator is embedded. The computer got damaged when he landed, you can see part of it sticking out of his back.”
    “He can swim and sleep in the Sea,” William said. “What a vag to be wearing it all the time.”
    “Why not? I only take mine off to sleep,” Tibor replied.
    William poked the body with his foot. “What if you could modify your dreams using it?”
    “What’s the point? If you can modify reality, then why bother with your dreams?”
    “Just asking.” William paused, staring at the body covered in dried blood. He whispered, “I’m ready to go now. This body’s starting to creep me out, and it’s getting dark.”
    “I want to take his computer,” Tibor said suddenly.
    William recoiled from him. “Are you crazy? You’d have to cut into him.”
    “Come on. I’m bored. We can take it home and get the chip out and find out what this guy was doing. I want to know why he died.”
    “What if he didn’t die? What if he was killed?” William sat on the rubble adjusting the kinetic energy collector on his knee.
    “I bet it's total high-rez gear. Maybe you can get an edge for your digitronics class. Impressing Mr. Moraine would mean an A for sure.”
    Tibor knew what buttons to push with his best friend. William loved to take things apart and put them back together again. Whenever Tibor had taken apart old computers or electronics, he was left with a pile of parts that didn’t work.
    “Okay. But I’m not cutting anything,” William said.
    “Help me turn him over.”
    Once they exposed the black box in the man’s back, Tibor pulled out his pocket knife.
    He touched the blade to the skin, holding his breath expecting the dead man to jump. But as the blade sunk in and he didn’t move, he released his breath. Flaps of skin peeled back revealing a black box smaller than the palm of his hand, smashed on one side with wires severed and bits of electronics leaking out. Tibor found a stained rag nearby and pulled the box from the skin. It made a sickening suction