Chapter 1: Mission
Children in bathing suits were having fun on the beach. They waved their hands in response and continued to have fun. The adults watched the children, bathing in tender sunny baths.
A sand beach stretching away into the distance. Crowds of people enjoying their rest by the sea. Seeing happy kids through her sunglasses, Angela felt a sense of nostalgia. She has not been a child for a long time. Lying on the deckchair, her body emanated femininity, she was wearing a rather open bathing suit. Her hands were folded behind her head, under her graceful light hair. Her breasts were also mouth-watering. By her side was a table. On it stood a glass with a red drink.
“May I disturb you?”
Angela shifted her glasses and turned towards the source of the noise. In front of her was young guy with light dreadlocks. He was tanned, and a complete lack of taste was said by the golden chain around his neck and a bracelet.
Angela kept silent and the boy continued.
“ You were at this location yesterday. The appearance is quite standard, but the amount of data embedded in it is amazing. A lot of memory is allocated on you.”
“You think?”
“I’m sure.”
Angela sighed. She chose this look precisely because she didn’t want to stand out. And this guy seems to have immediately realized what’s what. With this knowledge he could well be an engineer.
“You have an individual profile, you’re from the privileged layer? Why do you need this public location? Couldn’t you get your own private area?”
The guy leaned down to Angela’s ear.
“Actually, my friend and I managed to get a private area. It is quiet there and a lot can be done. Want to come?”
Angela herself didn’t realize, how she smiled sadly.
“Sorry, but I like to rest alone.”
“In this noise?” The guy was surprised.
“I like this beach.”
“Somehow that is not convincing. Given the volume of your data, you’re here to show off.”
“I’m here because of work.”
“Work?”
At this moment the wave hardened. Time seemed to become static, the wave froze. It was as if everything moved on fast forward, then someone pressed the stop button and everything turned into a storyboard. The entire beach zone up to the umbrellas, making up one common model began to flicker. Sounds became unclear. People started screaming, it was more like madness.
“What is this?”
The frightened guy also spun his head in all directions. The expression on Angela’s face became even more serious. She forced herself to look around, calmly looking for the cause of this. It could have been thought that the anomaly ceased to spread, as a huge screen appeared in the sky.
“Residents of Deva, I ask for a minute of your attention”
It was a calming, not hostile voice. On the screen appeared an image of a myriad of stars from outer space. The security system was silent, as the intruder continued speaking.
“My name is Pioneer. To open your path to new opportunities, I invaded your virtual space.”
The children, playing on the beach, looked at the screen anxiously. The adults spoke loudly.
“Hey, again!”
“They say that there are hacks happening from Earth. Is this true?”
“Oh god, how scary.”
“It can not be. How could they have gotten here?”
“What is the security system doing? Quickly do something.”
The intruder, named Pioneer, continued speaking.
“After a lot of preparation a project was developed to study the habitable region of the spiral arm of Orion. I’m here to offer you undiscovered worlds, a chance to on a journey through the never ending universe in search of new forms of life.”
To hide his fear, the guy who stood beside Angela yelled:
“This is all because we are in an open location.”
He waited for an answer, but Angela just stood up silently.
She grabbed the glass from the table and spilled out the contents. The red liquid never touched the ground, transforming into an information screen and a sensor console. Surrounding Angela, they floated in mid-air. It was a workplace of the security service system.
Angela opened her mouth:
“Agent Code - ZQ875456, Angela Balzac. Based on the authority of the security officer, I ask you to authorize the management of the system.”
The accompanying AI system responded.
“The request was accepted. The rights to manage the system are transferred to Angela Balzac. Waiting for commands.”
The guy was stunned by what he had witnessed. He thought she was a whimsical lady, so it was very hard for him to take in the reality.
Angela gave the AI directions.
“Provide a complete list of users. Check the identification codes of all the residents of Deva.”
On the information window a list of users was displayed, the screen was completely filled. Immediately the check began, identification codes that didn’t raise any suspicion disappeared one after another. Pioneer’s speech was still going. The screen in the air now projected Earth’s desert landscapes.
“Humanity said goodbye to the destroyed Earth and is leading a new life in cyberspace Deva. And yet I want to offer you a way for further development. Dreams, hopes, and an endless future, that our ancestors have given to us, our heritage, has been completed”
The verification was complete. There were only 7 user identification codes left on the screen.
“Among the 1842 users, 7 double user entries were found. Alarm: unauthorized access.”
“ Cancel the alarm. Let him do what he wants. Sort by bandwidth.”
The result of the sorting was highlighted on the screen. On one of the points a “reserve line” was indicated.
“There he is. He is using the reserve line. It only remains to find out, who is using the stolen identification code."
Angela started looking through the list of users. To get to the division of modeling the location of the executive power, you need a code, in order to pass the frames. The reserve line did not connect like the usual, uninstalled users could only get to it from a private government channel. In other words, Pioneer was able to crack the most secure systems of the executive branch.
“This isn’t funny…”
Angela jerked her hand sharply. By doing this, she transferred the console into combat mode. She gave a command.
“Track the access point!”
Pioneer was still broadcasting. The screen, suspended in the air, switched the image. Now there was a huge spaceship.
“Please look. This is the fruit of lost wisdom, “The Ark”. This ship is for exploring the depths of space. It was originally designed to hold a crew of about 100 people, but humanity now lives in a digitized form in Deva, it chose a safer and more efficient way for existence. Not restrained by human flesh, the resident of Deva, the descendants of the human race, following the path of evolution, let’s challenge the world of stars.”
Angela manipulated the console, she plunged into a network filled with various signals. She was headed to the source of the system’s hacking. As a result Angela quickly found an icon containing suspicious information. She tried isolating it. The icon divided. A lot of bodies, created from the information began to scatter in different directions of the network space.
“You let out your dummies too late… This time I’ll get you!” Angela put in a new command.
A lot of sub-accounts were launched. They all shot at the same time. The aiming was done. The enemy released the bullets too late, their number decreased significantly.
“The launch day is already close. I hope that among you there are those who want to challenge the boundless galaxy.”
All traps were completely destroyed. Only one was left. A grin appeared on Angela’s face.
“Gotcha.”
“My name is Pioneer, and I can’t wait for your answers.”
The speech was finished. The screen disappeared. The body, consisting of a stream of information, which was already in the hands of Angela, also disappeared.
“Crap!”
Frustrated Angela screamed, and then she heard a male yell from behind. She spun around. There stood the frightened guy with dreadlocks.
“Oh, you’re still here.”
With a motion of her hand, the workplace disappeared.
“Angela Balzac, officer of the 3rd rank, you are being summoned to the security service. We ask you to appear immediately.”
Angela sighed and smiled bitterly.
“That’s the end of my vacation.”
She snapped her fingers. The table and the deckchair dissolved, while her the texture of her swimsuit changed. Now her whole body was covered in a tight suit.
She turned to the guy.
“Because of this work. I am a security officer of the system. If you still want to meet, you can leave the address.”
He was barely able to make a kind smile.
“Oh, no, but… maybe we’ll meet again.”
“Oh really?...”
Angela turned on her heels. There was a majestic door, similar to the entrance into an ancient Greek temple. The huge gates solemnly opened. The divine light flooded everything around. Angela headed toward it.
The passage led Angela into the sky, to a transparent transition between the drifting clouds. A wide azure sky. There were pantheons and sanctuaries everywhere. The arrival here always caused some anxiety. This was the place where briefings for the security system took place. Everything here made up a virtual space and had the scenery of a temple. All this required a lot of power and an incredible amount of memory. Just the thought of all those resources, made for maintaining all of this, aroused tremor.
Three giant deities were awaiting Angela.
Possessing heroic strength, the demon crusher and good defender, Neo.
The patron of wisdom and literature, wealth and prosperity, a god with the head of an elephant, Ganesh.
And the god of all gods - Zeus.
These were the avatars of the managers of the security office. Angela was standing on the stage before them, with her head lowered in reverence.
Zeus spoke.
“Your skills are amazing. It wasn’t even your shift and you were able to react so quickly, moreover, you were able to track the offender, if only you tried to seize him.”
“Thank you. But in the end he still managed to escape. I apologize for this.”
Neo joined in solemnly.
“A certain violator, calling himself Pioneer, hacks the Deva system and penetrates here for the 184th time. On the 10.00th the frequency of his attacks was again increased.”
With a serious expression, Angela reported.
“He was able to get to the location of the executive power department.”
“Hmm, I see. In the end he even managed to go through the barrier, that keeps the city safe. The situation has taken a more serious turn.”
Ganesh said in irritation.
“By doing so he is using the information channel between Deva and Earth. Amongst those, who refused to leave the old world and move to Deva, there is one who can gain unauthorized access to our systems.”
The atmosphere turned gloomy as the room fell into silence. The reality was difficult to take in. Zeus broke the silence.
“The only thing we know for sure now, is that his potential for conducting cyber wars is much higher than our security system.”
Angela frowned.
“And such a person lives outside Deva.”
“Yeah, it’s quite hard to believe this,” Neo smiled, “I have to admit, the situation is out of the ordinary.”
Ganesh continued
“Because of him, we should strengthen our internal security system, we tried to track him, but the hope that the situation will improve is doubtful. Our council considered it necessary to send you to the real world to search for the criminal.”
“The….Real….World….”
Like the majority of Deva’s citizens, Angela has never descended to Earth. In her childhood she has heard about it from adults, and then she got acquainted with documentary and video materials, so she knew that there was a real hell down there. The whole reason was the unstable behaviour of the nanomachines, which regulated the surrounding environment. Because of the ecological disaster, a drought began, followed by dirty precipitation, crops stopped growing, and those that did, eventually died. The surviving organisms underwent mutations thanks to the nanomachines, the way of development of life has changed. Humanity was not able to cope with such an abnormal situation, which led to the destruction of Earth. It was difficult to say whether people could continue to survive on Earth.
This was called the “Nano-Catastrophe”.
To escape, a part of humanity has become spirits and continued to exist as information in Deva. Although there were some survivors on Earth. They are forced to live a primitive form of life. And somewhere there is Pioneer, the one who caused all this chaos.
Angela just couldn’t believe it. Neo continues to talk about countermeasures.
“To conduct an investigation, you need a body, and in order to execute the mission, it was decided to provide it to you.”
“Angela Balzac, officer of the 3rd rank.”
Again Zeus spoke. Angela’s face became serious.
“We want to appoint you to this special mission.”
Angela placed her hand on her chest and saluted.
“With great honour. I am happy to accept this appointment.”
“We’re counting on you.”
The avatars disappeared. Angela was trusted with an important mission, and she immediately began to prepare.
3.
Angela’s body was preserved in electric signals. To complete the mission in the realistic world she had to have the same body. After Angela’s birth on Earth, her genetic material was preserved in storage. On the basis of it, a physical body was created.
And yet, it was still unknown, when the next hack was going to be, and if it will be known that the government security system was hacked, and Deva will be harmed, a real panic will begin. The physical body needed to be prepared as quickly as possible. There was no time to wait the amount to grow to the actual age.
This was when the delights of bioengineering was involved. Based on the information from the storage of the DNA and amino acid, an artificial body is created, proteins are made from the amino acids, the resulting structure is processed, each element is produced separately. Later all the parts are immediately put together, this greatly shortens the time.
And yet the result is a fetus at 9 months of pregnancy. This is where the nanomachines and machinery come into play. All ways are fully utilized, including the chemical effect, the speed of the cell cycle exceeds the normal rate by about five thousand times. In her private office, Angela watched the process of making her physical body.
The monitor showed an aquarium with a fetus, immersed in its traditional nutrition environment as well as the predicted development time. The body that has just appeared in this world gave off a strange vibe. Inside of the fetus’ brain there is no personality. As soon as the body reaches a certain age, it will be loaded with a virtual personality. The display showed detailed information on the fetus. Table of verification values. Everything was within the norm.
Angela began stimulate the cell division. Before this she drove everything out through a simulation. The full development of the organism takes thirty five hours.
“Too long.”
It was possible to do this without a physical body. It was enough to load a mind into one of Deva’s robots, to be able to work in the real world. And yet, the locals might treat the robot with suspicion, as a result of which there might be problems with collecting information. Also the virtual identity needs to be transferred, which, though not impossible, has some nuances.
The spirit has abandoned its flesh, but still any person needs to have a personal image, to continue its existence. The essence of a person is built on the basis of feeling one’s own body. To see with your eyes, listen with your ears, smelling with your nose, tasting with your tongue, feeling with your skin, a human being learns the world in movement, this makes up his soul. If in the virtual world there is a body that has sensory organs, the soul won’t be able to exist. There will be nothing to support its foundation.
In turn a mechanical body, unlike a body that can sense, puts a very large load on the spirit. Because of this some time had to be spent, because the connection to your own physical body in this case is simply necessary.
“Nothing can be done....”
Angela gave an affirmative order. The development began to speed up. After that she once again looked through the simulation data.The fetus on the monitor screen began to take the form of a human, a naked figure of another Angela was already discernible.
The physical and the virtual bodies were basically identical, however it was also important the amount of resources that were available for this, something in the end had to be spared. Angela barely had such differences however, but she wanted to check for herself.
She looked at the image of her physical body. She turned and slightly stretched.
“Hm...It’s slightly heavy. Can this be the fault of Earth’s gravity?
She decided to try the body. She shook her hands, and then bent down. She took a confident step and clenched her hand into a fist. As an investigator of the security system, Angela was supposed to have the skills of close combat. Without stopping moving, she asked asked a question to AI support.
“And what will be of the equipment?”
Displays appeared around Angela. There was a robot on top of them, namely a mobile exoskeleton. There were also weapons and ammunition. A fighting unit, very maneuverable, capable of operating both with and without an atmosphere, gravity does not present any difficulties for it.
“Arhan,” she muttered the name of robot’s latest model, “In complete configuration. And…”
Another window opened. There was a careless man with a brazen face.
“Local agent-conductor?”
She glanced into his profile.
Zarich Kadzivara
Nickname - Dingo
Information Security System, 18 successful mission on Earth. He was given “S” rank.
Nasty nature. In reports, much was said about acts of disobedience.
“Hm, I hope there will be some benefit. Next is kumite. Provide an opponent.”
Before her was a simulated humanoid doll. As a partner, AI support made an imitation of the enemy and signaled the start of the training. The enemy appeared in the form of a security system.
In front of Angela, smiling, stood a woman with emerald green short hair, clearly aimed for victory. Angela’s face looked tired.
“Kristine? You know, it’s a bad habit to penetrate somewhere without permission.”
“Who cares. I’ve done nothing wrong,” Kristine said, Angela arbitrarily glanced at the display.
“What do you want? I’m busy”
“You’ve been entrusted with the mission of tracking Pioneer haven’t you?”
“Yes.” Angela smiled proudly.
Kristine lifted her hand and snapped with her fingers. The form turned into a training costume.
“I’ve also been assigned to it.”
“Oh?”
“Did you think that it would only be trusted to you?”
Angela blushed.
“I didn’t…”
“Oh really.
An evil smile spread across Kristine’s face. They joined the security service together and improved by competing with each other. Being still quite young, they were able to rank up to officers of the third rank. The fact that Kristine knew about Angela being chosen for this difficult mission, was nothing unusual.
Kristine began to move, she took the fighting stance in kickboxing. Angela was from karate.
A quick jab. Angela answered with both hands.
“Will anyone else from the agents take part in the mission?”
“Yes. Of the agents known to us, Veronica and Hilde applies.”
Of course, this couple are first-class investigators.
Kristine delivered a kick. Angela managed to duck, from this position, she made a punch. And yet the opponent was able to predict the blow, so that it could only get the air.
“A local agent will work with you. How old-fashioned.”
“That is the policy of the security service. Nothing can be done about that, since it’s so hard to catch him. And how will you be catching him? You can’t go to the real world?”
“I can. I will catch Pioneer with my own hands. And by the way, your local agent is kind of like obsessed with Earth. Is it possible to trust such a person?”
“So what…”
“So I sent a unit to gather information on Earth.”
An unmanned airplane scout. Lines of communication and data transmission, interception of telemetric information, video surveillance, even information on the locality. With the help of all this information she expects to establish the location of Pioneer, after which she will make a round-up on the Arhan.
But this method is very difficult in terms of analysing information. To process such a huge amount of a lot of computing power and a lot of time. And yet she is of those that do their very best. Her mother’s efforts made a huge contribution to the development of Deva, so she had enough resources. Kristine had access to her mother’s recourses.
Angela was different. Genetic engineers in Deva were no longer needed, children were born thanks to DNA storage, parents in the old understanding no longer existed. For her, only the recourses given at work, or ones that she has already earned were available. The methos used by Kristine, was inaccessible for most people.
Kristine’s pressure increased. Angela wasn’t able to stop all her attacks. The situation became more shaky.
“The one who achieves success, might get a promotion.”
Hearing her words, Angela frowned.
“You want to become my boss?”
“Maybe so. Although I do not deal with personal issues.”
“I’m joking.”
Angela went from karate to aikido. She grabbed Kristine’s wrist. However, Kristine eased it off and went into counteroffensive. She knocked Angela off her feet and immediately came from behind. She wrapped her hands around her neck and started squeezing it. Angela heard a whisper by her ear.
“You’ll be an excellent subordinate, I think, so I will ask for you to be given to me. I count on you, if you even get such an appointment.”
Though she was suffering, Angela didn’t want to give up. She put up with the pain and looked for an opportunity for a counterattack.
“I’ll see you again, Angela.”
It was over, Kristine broke the connection. Her body dissolved, leaving Angela laying face down. Virtual pain. The feeling of fatigue was gone, upset, she rose. She called the progress console of the creation of her physical body.
From thirty five hours… To seven hours.
The AI escort issued a warning.
“The age of the physical body is 16 years. The necessary level of development will not be achieved.”
“Oh well. Just do it.”
“Ok.”
“I’m going to do everything to get to him first. Bring in the 3D model of this body.”
Before Angela appeared her young body.
Having changed her body, as though she wanted to disperse all her anger, she again, full of zeal, began to train.
4
Deva is located at the Lagrange point. It is attracted to both the Earth and the moon, and yet it maintained a relatively stable orbit. This is all thanks to the fact that Deva is located at the Lagrange point 1.
Deva is a huge space station, the heart of which was the computer network. And this network, radiating a dim light, drifted in space, representing a fascinating sight. Such beautiful laces were seen even through the clouds. This light was produced by a myriad of micromachines.
Each of the micromachines were an arithmetic module. They had their own memory, a also performed the functions of electric generators, converting sunlight into energy. The computer network was everywhere: it had virtual personalities, and the entire virtual world as a whole. 98% of humanity here led a digitalized form of existence.
In the very centre of this station, a hatch opened. A landing module came out of it, inside of which was Angela with all her equipment. If going straight, Earth was 326 kilometres away. To get to Earth’s surface it takes about 40 hours. Angela watched Deva shrinking, through the outer optical camera. For the first time in her life she was going to the real world. To say that she wasn’t nervous would be a lie. And yet the most important thing for her at the moment was to complete the mission. She did not want to give in to Kristine.
In Deva’s security system there’s very serious competition, so she had to try to obtain the rank of an officer of the third rank.
Everything will be okay. I will be able to move on.
To the level of the leaders.
I can do this.
This is why I live in Paradise. This is the reason I came into this world. This is all for me.
This is what Angela believed.