Fall of the Core: Netcast 01 (The Frontiers Saga) by Ryk Brown Read Free Book Online

Duluth Disaster Relief Distribution Center. Back to you, Hanna.”
    * * *
    “Ninety-two percent,” the medical technician told them as she said as she came back into the exam room.
    “Is that it?” Brent Tollison shook his head in disbelief. “But it’s been four days.”
    “That’s actually pretty good for only four days,” Agent Oslo commented.
    The medical technician turned to Hanna. “Most people take a week or more to flush such a large percentage of nanites out of their system. You must have very good kidneys.”
    “I drink a lot of water,” Hanna replied as she pulled her NCNW blazer back on. She was spending so much time on the air that she had gotten into the habit of just wearing it all day long. She sighed. “I was sure I’d be nanite-free by now.”
    “Well, for all intents and purposes, you pretty much are,” the technician told her. “It takes a minimum of half a million of them to be of any value. Most of us have two or three times as many swimming around inside of us. More, if you have problems that require ongoing maintenance. At only eight percent, what’s left couldn’t stop a runny nose.”
    “Then it’s safe for her to turn her implant back on?” Agent Oslo inquired.
    “Yes, I’d think so.” She turned to Hanna. “Would you like me to power it back on for you?”
    Hanna looked at Agent Oslo.
    “Only if you feel ready, Hanna.”
    Hanna sighed. “I’m never going to feel ‘ready’, but… what the hell.” She nodded her approval to the technician. “Go ahead.”
    The technician reached around the back of Hanna’s neck, feeling for her seventh cervical vertebrae. She pressed firmly directly below it, holding pressure for several seconds before releasing.
    “It’s booting up,” Hanna blinked, allowing her eyes to adjust to the display once more. “You know, it’s been weird these last few days without it. I’ve had an implant since I was a teenager.” She watched as her visual space lit up again for the first time in four days. “I think it’s up. It’s searching for a connection.”
    “We’ve already entered your ID codes in NCN’s internal networks,” Brent explained, “so you won’t be directly connected to the public Internet at first.”
    “That’s fine with me,” Hanna replied as she watched the status reports in her personal visual space. “It’s connecting now. I’ve got messages. A lot of them. One of them is marked urgent.”
    “Who is it from?” Agent Oslo asked.
    Hanna’s expression changed. “It says ‘Unknown’,” she replied, her voice growing quieter as she remembered the last time she received a message from the self-proclaimed creator of the bio-digital plague. “Should I open it?” she asked, hoping the answer would be no.
    “Of course,” Brent told her.
    Hanna swallowed hard. “Okay, here it goes.” She commanded the communications firmware in her implant to open the message. A sudden wave of relief washed over her. “It’s from my parents. They’re alive.”
    “Why didn’t your system ID them?” Brent wondered.
    “They had to use a public comm-station. They’re afraid to turn on their implants.”
    Brent smiled. “That’s great news, Hanna. Find out where they are, and I’ll send a shuttle to pick them up, along with Arielle’s family.”
    “Thank you.”
    “And the other messages?” Agent Oslo wondered.
    “Mostly from dispatching agents, from right after we shut down our implants,” she said, her eyes darting back and forth as she quickly scanned her messages over the last four days. “A few friends, an old boyfriend…”
    “Well, it might take a few minutes for Unknown to realize you are back on the net,” Agent Oslo said.
    “He might not care,” Hanna replied, a glimmer of hope in her tone.
    “Well, we’re linked into your messaging system, Hanna. I just received a confirmation message from Agent Lund. If Unknown does contact you, we’ll know it.” Agent Oslo looked Hanna in the eyes, his