Hard Wired Trilogy DeAnna Pearce (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud txt) 📖

“What I’m capable of, and what you will be capable of one day. Your company claims to save you, protect you from those who would poach us like wild animals. Yet all they want is this power for themselves.” He reached out his hand, and Hailey stepped next to him, grasping it. “They probably even claim to keep you safe and healthy, but they don’t even know how.”

“What are you talking about?” The hundreds of questions Ari had fled as she tried to decipher what he was really saying. A headache began to grow behind her eyes, her mind fuzzy. Trying to manipulate the code hurt her more than she realized.

“Why don’t you dig a little deeper into this VisionTech of yours? Instead of being their puppet, consider holding the reins for a while.”

With a snap of his fingers, Ari stood outside the restaurant. She spun around looking for any sign of them, but only saw strangers continue down the busy walkway. Nauseated, she leaned against a nearby wall and slowly sunk to the ground. Code blinked in and out of her vision as a sharp pain grew behind her eyes. Trying to escape Emil exhausted her energy, but she didn’t figure it would be this bad.

Sitting down, head between her bent knees, she tried to catch her breath. She squeezed her eyes shut, and a rainbow of colored code ran against the back of her eyelids. She fought the migraine that threatened to keep her down.

“Are you okay, Miss?” A middle-aged man stood above her in a dark suit. His face was a blur of flesh and code that hurt to look at.

“Just not feeling well.” She turned away and prayed he’d leave her be. People weren’t sick inside the VR or if so, it would be hidden back in the real world. If somebody was too ill, then the VR monitors would pull them out.

The man remained nearby, obviously not believing her.

She lifted her chin and forced her face to not show the pain she felt. “Seriously. I just got some bad news from my boyfriend. I’ll be okay.”

He finally turned to leave, mumbling something about drama.

After several minutes, she used the wall to stand. The world around her spun several times, but slowly straightened out. Unsure of how she would finish her work, she stumbled into a nearby bar and asked for a drink. With a swipe of her hand, Kari paid for it with her employee credits. The taste repelled her, but she finished it. With a gasp, she set the bottle down. Characters danced around the glass, and she realized fake alcohol may not fix this type of headache.

If she pulled out of the VR, it would be obvious something happened. Niomi would demand answers. Was Ari ready to tell her?

No, not yet. Not until she had all the answers about VisionTech. With a hand lifted to block out the fake sun, she shuffled back to work. Gratefully, President Higgins had a meeting that kept him busy most of the afternoon. Ari laid her head on the desk, closed her eyes, and prayed for the pain to stop.

Chapter 16

With trembling fingers, Ari typed out her report. Her headache turned to a full-blown migraine. Black spots filled her vision, and she worried how long she would be able to stand.

Niomi grabbed her hand and pulled her into a chair. “What’s going on?” She slapped on a medi-cuff. A bright light pierced Ari’s vision, and she flinched back in pain.

“It’s just a bad headache. Let me lay down and I’ll be fine.” Ari closed her eyes and rubbed her temples.

“I’ll take some blood and then get you to your room.”

Ari didn’t have the energy to protest, but thought taking blood, when she hadn’t eaten real food all day, wasn’t the smartest idea. By the time Niomi finished her workups, Ari could barely stand by herself. Her trainer escorted her to her room. Ari crawled into bed, hiding from the light that stabbed sharp daggers in her eyes. Jewels spoke in the distance. Absently, she felt someone take off her shoes and inject something into her arm. The pain that should have registered from the injection was little more than a prick. Finally, the lights dimmed, darkness surrounding her.

“Contact me or your AI if you need anything. Jewels or I will be close by,” Niomi said then, with a swish of the door, left.

Minutes or maybe hours passed, and Ari drifted in and out of consciousness. Eventually, the pain lifted, leaving her in a fog of drugs. When she could finally sit up, all the light fixtures in the room were glowing softly. Glancing at her HUB, it was nine at night. Her dry mouth tasted like vomit, though she didn’t remember throwing up. Stumbling out of bed, she brushed her teeth and downed a full glass of water.

Refilling it, she took a seat. Her muscles ached like she had ran a marathon. There was an exhaustion she didn’t think any sleep would cure. Ordering some soup, she checked her HUB and found it was flashing with new messages. Vinh sent a short note, checking up on her and wanting her to call him.

She flipped on her electronic assistant. “Hey, you annoying piece of crap, your new name is Emil. Call Vinh.” Maybe she shouldn’t so blatantly use his name, though she doubted it was his real name, anyway. Somehow ordering people around gave her some evil satisfaction. Her pain was because of him.

Vinh picked up right away. “How are you doing?”

“Better than I was. What’s up?”

“I’m bringing over your suit tonight. Will you be up for a bit, or should I leave it for you?”

“I’ll be up. I need to move and clear my head. I’ll be in the kitchen, eating.”

Realizing her old smart suit was stiff due to sweat, she peeled out of it and jumped in the shower. The warm water massaged her stiff