Free Netcast: Zero by Ryk Brown

addressed that issue publicly more than ten months ago, when it was first brought up,” Doctor Mesnard replied. “Miss Ball, was it?” he added, his tone becoming condescending.
    More medical documents began to flood her personal space.
    From; Unknown: Then why did the entire staff of the GDCO have their NDIs reverted to older versions ten months ago? Versions that were unable to control their health nanites.
    “Bohl, Hanna Bohl,” she corrected. With her pain and nausea gone, and armed with new information, Hanna felt her confidence growing by the second. “So, you’re saying that there is no way that the Twister virus, and the Klaria virus, could be related, and that it is impossible for the Twister virus to be the cause of the Klaria virus?”
    The room seemed eerily quiet. Hanna glanced around her. Whatever illnesses Mister Unknown had inflicted upon them to shut them up had all but subsided by now, yet they were all deathly silent, with their attention riveted on her.
    “That is correct,” Doctor Mesnard replied with absolute confidence.
    Hanna’s pause seemed an eternity.
    “Then why is it that every doctor, every bureaucrat, every technician, every… every member of your organization, had their neuro-digital implants replaced with older versions that could not control the host’s health nanites, ten months ago, after announcing publicly that the Twister and Klaria viruses could not be connected?”
    The room exploded, as every reporter in the room leapt to their feet, waving their hands at Doctor Mesnard as they fired questions at him, most of them demanding a response to Hanna’s question.
    “The decision to downgrade the neuro-digital implants at the time was in no way related to the Klaria outbreaks!” Doctor Mesnard shouted above the barrage of questions. “It was a routine maintenance issue due to a faulty batch of implants. The manufacturer did not have enough product to replace the faulty units, so…”
    It was too late. The crowd of reporters was out of control, and wasn’t buying Doctor Mesnard’s answer. Several reporters next to Hanna started firing questions at her as well, asking her how she knew about the downgrading of the GDCO’s implants. Within seconds, Hanna found herself at the center of a whole new controversy, and the unrestrained crowd of reporters threatened to close in on her now that Doctor Mesnard no longer offered anything of interest that could compare.
    From; Graham: GET OUT! NOW! Get out of the building, turn off your implant, and head for the hotel! You too, Arielle. We’ll meet there!
    As Hanna pressed her way through the reporters barking at her, one last message flashed across her personal visual space.
    From; Unknown: Thank you, Hanna. You did well. However, I suggest you prepare yourself. It’s going to be a wild ride.
    * * *
    Hanna and Arielle woke the next morning to the sound of someone pounding furiously on their hotel room door.Hanna opened her eyes and checked the time displayed in the upper left corner of her personal visual space. It was just after six in the morning. Below the time, the warning ‘no connections’ flashed repeatedly, reminding Hanna how on Graham’s insistence, they had shut down their connections to all networks, essentially ‘going dark’ to the rest of the world.
    Arielle rolled out of bed and stumbled toward the door. “All right! All right! I’m coming!” She paused at the door, checking the view screen built into the door. Standing outside, still banging away, was Graham.
    “Jesus, Graham, do you know what time it is?”
    “It’s time to get up,” Graham exclaimed frantically as he entered the room, dragging his vid-kit behind him.
    “What’s going on?” Hanna asked as she climbed out of bed.
    Graham picked up the remote for the viewing wall across from the foot of their bed from the dresser, pointed it at the wall and activated it. “You’re not going to believe what the fuck is happening out there.”
    The