Page 36 of Tapeworld Induction

“The details of what you’ll be doing there are in the slate. Best get to it.” She clapped her hands, ordering him around like a servant.

He balled his fists, hidden from view in the depths of his leather jacket’s pockets. Chill.

“Wait. The… bot.” He pretended to believe her. “Should I expect more of them, doing these gigs for you?”

The sarcasm in the smile on her face couldn’t have been more obvious. How could he possibly have been interested in her when they first met, before she dragged him into this world? “No, no, don’t worry. That was a one-time occurrence. These folk you’re stealing from are very dumb.” She pronounced every word clearly like she was talking to a child.

The heists Astrid had him do were simple but unpredictable, playing out as they did in the complexity of the Tapeworld. As folks discovered this place, they used it to hide or exchange secrets they didn’t want leaked, plans they didn’t want ruined, transferring data in and out. It was their mistake, trusting it, when so little was known about it.

“And the target two nights ago wasn’t dumb?”

She looked visibly annoyed. “Must you insist on bringing that up again?” Her voice strained. “I get it, Ike. You had to shoot a very human, very realistic-looking bot, and that’s messing with you. Look, I can find someone else to do this for me. I don’t want to, but if you’re going to force me to…”

His insides clenched. He needed the money. “No. I’ll do it.” He tried to sound as confident as he could, but it still sounded like a surrender.

That smile played on her face again. “Great. Now, chop-chop! See you around.” Astrid waved. “Bye-bye!”

He walked out.

No one outside paid him any attention. The majority of people striding the mainway were either doing so with a purpose, whether business or pleasure, or just gaping at the scenery with their mouths hanging open. The latter would be on their first or second stride, the novelty of the place still fresh. He was the least interesting thing in there to those people.

He found a suitable place, away from everyone else, and ripped the piece of tape from his head.

The data slate recommended that he carry out the heist sometime during the next day. Wiped out from playing in the sand with Dylan, summoning a cat to spy on her, and talking with, or being talked at by, Astrid, his eyes drifted shut as soon as he hit the bed.

14

New Occupation

Isaak

The next afternoon, back in the Tapeworld and the Boulevard, Isaak looked for somewhere anonymous to summon a tube to the house Astrid had shown him. He turned a corner between buildings and walked further into the alleyway, wondering if it had been charted already.

The Boulevard’s creators, whoever they were, left the area around the streetfront to be designed by the imagination of its explorers, who would inevitably carpet it through with cathode tubes, concrete, and glass walls. Neon and LED lighting was everywhere, the first to walk these roads having grafted their preferred aesthetic coating onto new, dreamed-up structures.

When Isaak was confident no one had followed him, he struck his hand forward into a plastic wall, and a large blue-lit tube formed around it.

The light extruded a corridor all around him.

Duct tape wrapped his conscious mind in a handshake.

Swirling textures coalesced, blue hues shifted to white and dark green, arranging into a clear night sky and a canopy of tall trees. The tape-tube connection had brought him away from the Boulevard to a leafy grove.

He walked at his own pace down a well-beaten path surrounded by trees.

Smooth columns came into view further ahead, behind a cluster of trees and foliage, supporting a large white concrete square. Full-width windows, uncurtained, wrapped most of the way around the building, a few areas turning into white-plastered brick walls.

The brief from Astrid was succinct, as usual. Get in, get the loot, get out.

At his side hung his brown bag. He grabbed a pair of binoculars from inside it and surveyed the building through the telescoped lenses, glass windows providing a generous view of the interior. There was no one inside or outside.

He took a deep breath to steel himself and ran towards the building. His footsteps left an imprint on the ground, moss under his shoes. This was real strider work. Adrenaline pumped into his veins, the real-world knee pain like a mirage of a past life, muscles and reflexes surpassing the weakening IRL version of him.

When he reached the place, he hugged a white pillar and looked along the wall. There was no entrance on this side. He’d have to make his own.

Familiar blue light seeped through newly formed cracks in the white plaster. A portal.

Would Le Corbusier approve of tonight’s events? Cracking open a building like this, with fancy future tech… Granted, the building itself was just virtual. Wasn’t it? The questions started bubbling up. Isaak slapped his bent knee. Knock it off!