CD Chapter Eleven (Patreon)

Ava stared down at her screen, so tired that it took several seconds for her eyes to focus on the time. Seventeen minutes after two a.m. Forty-three minutes until ‘lunch’ was over. Four more hours until she was done at the Buy Fresh and headed for VaVaVoom. Blearily, she wondered if there was any chance VaVa would let her stay in the back and steam and hang new garments, instead of working the front. Maybe? If Amanda was there, and the bags under Ava’s eyes were too dark for even CAM foundation to conceal.

She’d already forced as much stale bread and bruised fruit into her stomach as she could stand, and there was no one else in the break room, so Ava laid her head down on the table. If she set an alarm, she could get a solid forty-minute power nap. She was probably safer here than when she slept in her own cardboard-walled apartment, but the idea that someone might walk in while she was defenseless always made it hard for her to fall asleep in a public place.

Still, it was worth a try. She pulled her screen from her pocket and unlocked it with her thumb. The clock was on the main screen, so she tapped it open, and was about to set an alarm when the phone chirped cheerfully. Since that was not a sound she had ever programmed her phone to make, she almost dropped the damned thing, but barely managed to fumble it gently back to the table.

Scrubbing at her eyes, she stared at the screen, which was now filled with a cartoon avatar of Amythyst, waving gaily. A little bubble appeared over the avatar’s head. “Hello!” There were hearts, and little sparkles, and Ava damned near turned the thing over and decided to just wait out her remaining forty-one minutes watching the lottery coverage streaming on the small screen above the refrigerator.

But she was more than a little frustrated with trying to get hold of the GM, and if the chick was ready to chat, so was Ava, because they had a lot to talk about.

Ava tapped the screen, her finger landing on Amythyst’s belly, and the little avatar bent over, giggling as if she’d been tickled. A headache started behind Ava’s eyes, and she poked at the screen, trying to figure out what app the GM was using and how to interact with it. “Damn it,” she muttered, “just let me type something!”

Amythyst’s little figure dissolved into a more realistic one, and Ava’s screen reappeared behind her, complete with her clock and weather widget, and a few app icons. Amythyst wandered over and kicked at the icon for Ava’s free manga app, and the icon actually rolled over. The O in the logo became something akin to a beanbag chair, and Amythyst sat down on it, leaning back with her arms spread wide and her legs crossed at the ankle.

“Yo, Ava,” Amythyst’s tiny digital incarnation waved, and her voice emerged clearly from the device. “What’s up?”

Ava did a credible imitation of a fish before managing to croak out, “Did you hack my screen? That’s illegal! How are you even doing that?”

Amythyst waggled her hand. “Hack isn’t exactly the right word, but, to be fair, I’m not sure there is a word for what I’m doing, so it works. Anyway, are you ready to listen to my proposal?”

Ava closed her eyes and counted to ten. Twice. When she opened them again, Amythyst was still in the same place, waiting, though now her top foot was bouncing slightly. “I… guess so?” Ava said with a sigh. “But I’m going to be up-front and let you know I just want to know about this escape clause you mentioned. Whatever you’re up to, you can find some other sucker to con into it.”

Amythyst leaned forward, nodding seriously. “I hear that. I’m still going to tell you the whole thing, though, so you’ll have to listen to get to your out.” She glanced up toward the clock, which was placidly ticking down a few icons away. “Now, can you see a screen? Not this one?”

Ava glanced up at the little screen, where a woman wearing a blinged-out dress that rivaled something sold at VaVa’s was smiling and chatting with the viewers as they built up to the big Lotto drawing. According to the text scrolling across the bottom of the screen, the jackpot was up to just over one hundred and fifty million dollars.

Shrugging, Ava said, “Yes?”

“Great,” Amythyst enthused. “Any chance you could switch to the Lotto drawing? I want to see if anyone wins.” She flicked her fingers, and a tiny pink and white slip of paper appeared between her thumb and forefinger. “I’m feeling lucky tonight.”

Ava rolled her eyes, but admitted, “It’s already on.”

“Ooo, nice!” Amythyst grinned, but Ava’s eyes narrowed. Surely there was no way the GM could possibly know what was going on around Ava. There was probably some kind of back door in the Veritas Online messenger app that she was using to mess with Ava’s screen, but it was something else entirely to know what was on a completely unrelated screen nearby. Still, it was an amazing coincidence.

Amythyst clicked her little digital fingers, and a small version of the Lotto drawing popped up on the screen nearby. Several icons were pushed out of the way as if they were inconvenient furniture. Amythyst turned toward it, completely focused as she read the first number on her ‘ticket’. “Seven,” she said, tapping her chin with a finger as she waited.

Without thinking, Ava looked up at the break room screen. A woman with heavy black coils of braids had replaced the blonde who had been speaking. The new hostess had a wide smile, and she held her finger over a large, green button with a dollar symbol etched on it in gold. Words continued to flow across the bottom of the screen as she spoke silently.

“Are you ready, everyone? The jackpot tonight is a big one, and I hope one of you wins it all! Here we go!” Her finger dropped, and a bright red number seven appeared across the top of the image. “Seven!” the woman exclaimed brightly.

Ava blinked.

“Thirty-two,” Amy said.

“Our next number is… Thirty-two!”

“Thirteen.”

“And it’s joined by thirteen! That’s lucky number thirteen!”

“Sixty-nine.”

“We have sixty-nine, folks. Our biggest number, and let’s hope it means a big win for someone!”

“One.”

“Number one! From the top to the bottom. Now, do we have anyone who’s close? There’s one more number to go, and it is-” The woman paused breathlessly, clearly trying to build some tension.

“Twenty-six,” Amy said, with a puckish grin.

“Twenty-six! Twenty-six is our final number tonight.” The woman turned to someone standing off screen. “Jon, do we have a big winner?”

The view switched to a blonde man in a blue blazer and a tie with global currency symbols all over it. He was looking at a screen in his hand, and his face held an exaggerated expression of regret as he said, “No, Myra. I’m afraid that’s not a number combination anyone picked for this week’s drawing. However, we do have a few five-number winners, so that’s exciting! If you’re one of our lucky winners, call or e-link us at-”

Ava stared down at her screen as Amythyst waved a hand, closing the inset image, though the scattered  icons remained where they had fallen. Amy grinned, tore the fake ticket in half, and tossed the pieces in the air. They changed to glitter as they fell, and a moment later the ‘floor’ around the little avatar was glittering like the first hostess’ dress.

“How-? You can’t…” Ava stammered to a stop. The lottery system was supposed to be completely closed. Once the system was programmed with a random seed and encrypted, it was removed from any interaction with any other system. It had no communication hardware of any kind, and the extremely basic  motherboard and inner workings were visible through a clear carbonite case, so everyone could see that there was nothing connected to it except its wired display and the power cable.

Amythyst laid her finger beside her upturned nose, winking mysteriously. “I can’t go telling you my secrets, but I can tell you that I can do that any time I want. No one can stop me, and no one will ever catch me. Now, I’m sure you’ve been wondering why you should bother even listening to this crazy GM. How does a completely legal billion dollar jackpot sound? Once the job is done, you buy a ticket for any lottery you want, and I’ll make sure you win it. You, alone. You’ll be able to do anything you want, for the rest of your life. All in exchange for a few weeks or months worth of work.”

Ava swallowed hard, thinking of what a windfall like that would have meant when her mother was still alive. She wanted to scream at Amy, ask where she’d been a year ago. A year ago, when Ava’s mother had still been alive. When Ava had spent every cent she had, and every penny she would probably ever earn, to buy Molly’s way into every experimental trial she could find.

Instead, she looked down, clenching her eyes hard against the burning behind her lids. It took several long, deep breaths before she could look up and force a small, tight smile. It wasn’t Amythyst’s fault. None of it was anyone’s fault. But Ava knew exactly what she would do with millions of dollars if she won, and it wasn’t hoard it like some kind of greedy dragon.

“Prove it,” she said, forcing herself to think. “I get to pick any other lottery, anywhere, any time, and you have to repeat that little performance. If you can… I’ll do whatever you want.”

Amythyst tilted her head, her bemused expression momentarily making her look like Mai Ley, just with a lot less makeup. Ava’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t say anything. She was suddenly certain that Amythyst could, and possibly had, taken the place of an NPC, but this wasn’t the time to press her about it.

“Anything?” Amythyst asked.

Ava sighed. She was so very, very tired. One way or the other, she was going to break, and soon. She might as well take a chance on something going right, because trying to play it safe just wasn’t working any more. “Yes,” she said, softly, “anything. What do you want?”

Amythyst’s expression softened, and all the hearts and sparkles faded away. She lifted her hand as if she would reach out and touch Ava, but her fingers just pressed flat on the screen, like she really was standing on the other side of an invisible wall. “I just need you to save someone’s life. At least, I think she’s still alive to be saved.” She saw the look on Ava’s face and hurried on. “She’s not in a war zone or anything! Technically, you should be completely safe at all times!” She hesitated. “Physically, at least.”

Ava’s brows drew together, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the lottery app was still playing on the break room screen. Big Number Abu Dhabi was worth almost thirty-five million AED, and a dark-haired man was very excited about it. Ava bit her lip. It was tempting to test Amythyst’s claim right now, but it would be better to wait for a completely random time.

“You mentioned doing something,” she glanced up at the security camera that watched over the break room. It was common knowledge that it was broken, but she still didn’t want to take any chances, so she leaned close to the screen so her face wasn’t visible and hissed the last word as quietly as she could. “Illegal.”

Amythyst’s face lit up with a roguish smile. “Ooo,” she said. “The fun part!”