Open your mind

Chapter Two - Victor: Flashes

My solution to this problem came quite quickly. I resolved to buy and modify some malware from the good ol' black market down Enterprise Avenue. It was a simple enough backdoor that, when opened, gave me access to whatever device was used to open it. I disguised it as a software update for Hi-Five (the latest social media giant after X sank and Meta was sued into oblivion) and sent it to as many Brain2s as possible. I had baited my line and I waited for some time for a nice big fish to bite.

It must've been 2 – maybe 3 – weeks until I got any sort of response. I was certainly surprised when Victor Wellard himself opened my link, but there it was, written in my notifications. With no hesitation whatsoever I opened the menu and clicked 'connect'.

From here I hope to keep my interjections as brief and infrequent as possible.

Victor was hunched over in front of a mirror encircled by bright bulbs of light. He slapped his cheeks twice then stood up straight again, practicing his smile for the people outside. His pearl-white teeth shone in the mirror, and his emerald-green eyes seemed to glow due to the lights on the mirror. In fact, every part of him seemed to glow in some way. His golden hair, his bronzed skin, his pristine diamond-blue shirt.

"Hey Vic, my guy. I gotta ask you something dude. Can you see these little pricks on my head?" boomed a voice from behind him.

"Come on, Matt. You been icing again? We're at a party, bro. You can't be seen doing something like this again."  Victor replied over his shoulder.

He turned around to face Matt. The Wellard brothers looked very similar to each other (blonde hair, tan, face structure, green eyes etc.) but with some key differences. Victor was taller and leaner whilst Matt was shorter but with more muscles. Victor had his hair shaved very short whilst Matt's was thicker and longer. More importantly, Matt often had those telltale little pinpricks on the sides of his head which signalled that he had been on his ISE recently.

"C'mon, I'll cover it up." grumbled Victor whilst he pushed some strands of hair over Matt's temples.

"Thanks bro, you're a real one. Hey do you need juicing? I've got a spare here." Matt beamed, pressing a small white power pack into Victor's hand. Victor plugged the wire into the little glowing socket on the back of his neck that connected to his Brain2. He'd been using it probably a bit too much recently, so he had to keep scrounging little power packs (or 'juicers' as some called them) off people to keep going. He thought he was probably one of Hi-Five's most frequent users at this point, when in truth he probably came just below the top 100. In any case, Hi-Five had selected him to speak at a little get-together that they were holding. It had been a couple of years since Victor had been able to find a movie to star in, but he still had at least enough status to go to parties. At least they let him bring Matt.

He sighed deeply and walked out of the bathroom just behind Matt. At once several cameras let off a volley of flashes. Everything seemed to slow down. Everything was reduced to a rapid series of still images. They would step forward then be consumed in the blinding white eyes of the press. Once they reached the centre of the room everything calmed down again.

"Someone let in the press I see." chuckled Matt, rubbing his eyes.

"I think I'm blind," said Victor humorously, without humour, "anyway, isn't it crowded enough already?"

"It could be worse, Vic." said Matt wistfully, gesturing towards the rest of the room whilst taking a mojito off a guy dressed as a giant white hand with a smiley face (Hi-Five's mascot).

Victor had to agree: it could be worse. The entire room was trimmed with orange LED strip lights. Every piece of golden furniture was polished as much as possible. A bartender stood behind a black marble bar slinging drinks towards chatty investors. The whole roof terrace outside was crammed with jet-black tuxedos and party dresses. The penthouse itself was alive with people all having a good time (to varying degrees). Somewhere in the distance a firework shot up into the sky, throwing the whole room into a strange red and orange glow. A DJ tried his best to hype up the already lively crowd, playing 'Do You Love Me Yet?' by NBT until some old bloke in a bowler hat whispered some complaint into his ear and he put on some nondescript dance music instead.