Frozen Soul, and other works: Epilogue

(A virtual room in NERV HQ)

The mood in the ‘control room’ was a bit strained. The reason was easy enough to figure out as the fight between their favorite streamer and a raider captain was replayed on the central screen. Looking over to Isaac, Morgan asked the question on everyone’s mind. “What the hell did he just do?”

Isaac, nose deep in the logs, sighed, and said, “As near as I can tell, he used mental psy to basically hack into her mind, and then did something similar to what the Stepford collars do, putting a control pattern on top of her own thoughts. Then he put a Stepford collar on her anyways, and used that to put a second layer of control over her mind.”

One of the techs nodded. “I’ve accessed his power design template.” When others looked at him, he said, sheepishly, “Looking for bugs, of course. I didn’t edit anything. Anyways, it seems he did an analysis of how the Stepford collars did what they did, and then created a power based on that.”

Isaac sighed, and said, “Well that’s going to be fun if someone figures it out.”

Morgan looked at him. “If? Won’t it be obvious what is happening?”

Isaac shook his head. “No, our boy’s been pretty smart about covering his tracks. He hasn’t even told his crew the full extent of what that power does, and he threw the Stepford collar on the girl, so anyone using mental psy to check would see what they expected to see from someone wearing the collar.”

Morgan frowned. “But others could replicate this? And use it on other players?”

Isaac considered, and then nodded. “Yeah, it would take some familiarity with the Stepford protocols and a specialization in mental psy, as well as long study of someone with the Stepford collar in place, but they could do it. Knowing it has been done before would make it more likely for someone to do it again. They’d need a Power creation kit first, though.”

Morgan considered that, and said, “Next patch, we should severely curtail how many of those things are out in the world, and probably make them single use. Don’t take them away from anyone who already has them, but make it a lot harder for someone to follow up on this.”

“Yeah, especially if someone decides to base their version of the Hundeherstellar nanites instead of the Stepford collars.”

Morgan’s face paled. “Could they do that?”

The tech from earlier spoke up again. “He clearly thinks so. He left dev notes in his power creator, where he considered the changes that would be required to do something like that. He already has a power that allows him to alter someone’s memory, and one that turns them into an ally, so changing their personality doesn’t seem like a stretch.”

Morgan sighed. “And if the situation on Jagloth is any indicator, then there are probably plenty of players out there that would try something like that, just because they can.”

Isaac groaned. “Oh man, that’s a whole different set of problems. We’re still not quite sure what started it, but we’re pretty sure that a player was to blame. Jagloth was one of the available starting worlds for people who wanted to start in the Confederacy.”

Morgan just buried her face in her hands. “Of course it was a player. Damn it all. How bad has it gotten?”

Isaac nodded sympathetically. “Well, so far they’ve been able to limit the spread to the main continent, for the most part, though a couple of the orbital stations and undersea cities have been compromised as well. They’re using scorched earth tactics to hold the line and keep things from spreading any further than they already have. I’m pretty sure the fact that the southern continent and the western chain are still mostly safe is the only reason they haven’t glassed the planet.”

“Damn. This is going to be a PR nightmare if no one finds a cure, or it manages to escape the system. We could lose a lot because of this.”

Isaac smiled. “Well, cheer up. At least no one’s been crazy enough to go poking around on Venus yet, right? Projections are saying we have six RL months before that event happens.”

One of the techs choked suddenly. Everyone turned to look at her, and she blushed, before trying to become more professional. “Um, the Empire is sending a science team to Venus.”

“WHAT???” Isaac and Morgan were in perfect harmony, for once.

End of Book IV

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Be sure to read my published works!

Frozen Soul series (Sci-Fi Supervillain story):

Frozen Soul https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071R125QT

Tales of the Void Traveler https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ52G37

Rules-Free VRMMO Life (Dark Fantasy LitRPG):

Volume 1 - Tutorial https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VPRNDB

Volume 2 - Beginning the Journey https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VR7M41/

Volume 3 - Wyrmwood https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072QKVBYV

Volume 4 - To the Deeps https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073QSD9S4