System Failure Ch 03

All characters are over eighteen. The author does not condone violence or non-consensual sex. This story will make more sense if you read each chapter in order, but it isn't strictly necessary.

Please try to leave feedback in the comments section. Constructive criticism is invaluable for every author. I encourage everyone to vote and leave ideas for future stories as well. Finally, I would like to thank kenjisato for his time and help.

*****

RECAP: Society is divided between upper-class High Risers and Servicers, who make up 95% of the city. Tom, a gifted Servicer, has the ability to hack the neural implants worn by everyone in the city. After injecting healthcare CEO Anita Anderson with nanites (body-modifying injections) to create a back door, he took advantage of her disabled birth control to impregnate her.

If Tom could have one thing, it would be his own supercomputer. Racks upon racks of the latest and greatest quantum computers to do with as he pleased. At least then, he wouldn't have to tear himself apart waiting for his algorithms and simulations to finish on his jury-rigged setup.

Anywhere else on Earth, this beautiful synthesis of Biochemistry, Neurology and Robotics in algorithmic form would've instantly earned him recognition as a world-class prodigy. In The City, no amount of genius would ever change the fact that he was a Servicer, meant to fulfill the whims of High Risers.

That meant he was stuck waiting for his small stack of second-hand classical computers to finish calculations on a neural implant code he should've thought of months ago.

On second thought, maybe he should've wished he had Emily's imagination instead.

Everyone who had ever known him described him as brilliant, but Tom felt like a total ditz sometimes. Why on Earth hadn't he thought of creating neural implant codes to detect when someone was lying before? Emily would've thought of it months ago.

Tom had considered bringing his best friend on board. Showing her what he was doing and his long-term plans of rising above the Lower Levels and bringing the High Risers down a peg or two and inviting her to join him. He could use her support in his lonely crusade against the oppressive society he was pitting himself against.

Her support wasn't enough to risk getting her killed, though. No matter how careful he was, there had been no shortage of times when pure luck had saved him when a security guard almost caught him or an intrusion-detection system had been shut down at the last millisecond.

Tom didn't like depending on luck.

An alarm signaled it was time for his next assignment. Although he could've easily forged his work records, Tom decided to continue his job for the time being. He needed the opportunity to keep an eye out for more targets and more nanites.

Six months had passed since his fateful visit to Silvia South. She had to be visibly pregnant by now. Picturing the self-important High Riser with her belly expanding filled him with a warm, fuzzy feeling.

On his ride to the Servicer elevators, he took a call from Emily. It wasn't unusual; in a city where everyone had a neural implant, talking to a virtual hologram no one else could see was commonplace.

"I don't know what you did for Laura, but whatever it is, it's working."

Tom's smile was warm and genuine. "No problem, Em. You know I'd always do anything to help a friend."

In the hard life of the Lower Levels, loyalty ran deep. Betrayal was considered the ultimate sin, especially since many High Risers were businesspeople for whom loyalty lasted only as long as it was convenient.

Tom could allow himself to indulge in his introspective, philosophical nature because this job was child's play. A routine network checkup. The only thing that made it interesting was that it was for Anita Anderson's company.

"Gotta go. Take care, Tom."

*****

"Are you kidding?! That's literally basic physics!"

"Yeah, I know," Hui said. "I swear I was laughing. I had to explain it over and over because they just didn't get it."

Tom shook his head. "It's true. People really are idiots."

Like Tom, Hui took an interest in science, despite having no formal training. Since few of his friends had technical aptitude in the hard sciences, talking with Hui over lunch was infinitely more interesting than watching diagnostics complete at a snail's pace.

"UoTC just opened another research center," Hui lamented.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Tom said.

"It's owned by Mary Louis Lauren."

Tom's head bounced off the table.

"I know," Hui said approvingly.

Mary Louis Lauren was a nutjob even by religious nutjob standards. Even The City had room for mega-churches, and Mary Louis and her husband were pastors at one of the biggest. Having her in charge of a cutting-edge University of The City lab was criminal.

The thought of so much potential going to waste lived in his mind rent-free. He barely paid attention to his surroundings as he began the ride back to the Lower Levels and the train station.

A call came just as a train was pulling in. "Hey, Hui. What's up?"

"Hey," the holographic representation said. "I forgot to ask. Are you free next Wednesday?"

"Yeah, I can clear my schedule. Why?"

"Well... I hate to ask, but mind if I call in a favor for getting you past security? My mom died recently. Wednesday is supposed to be the day her will is announced, and I don't feel comfortable going by myself. Would you mind tagging along? I don't need you to do anything. I just want someone else around so that my sister doesn't try anything."

"Sure. See you then."

*****

"So, what's up with you and your sister?" Tom asked as they rode to Virginia Bernard's residence. He was on guard, but Hui looked like not only had she been awake for three days, but she'd also been standing in the rain the entire time. He also noticed that she didn't appear particularly sad about her mom's death.

Hui sighed. "It's not just my sister. It's also my mother."

"What happened?"

"My mom left my dad and me when I was still young. It didn't take long to figure out why. She immediately remarried an American and did everything she could to hide the fact that she was Chinese. After that, she treated me more like an unpleasant business obligation than a daughter."

"That's it?" Tom asked, the indignation in his voice unmistakable. "Your own mother hated you just because of how you were born?"

Hui nodded solemnly. "I never understood. She was a good mother at first, but then she just changed overnight. I never found out why. Things between us broke a long time ago."

"So, how much are you expecting to get out of this?"

"Honestly? Nothing. I'm about ninety-nine percent certain my younger half-sister is going to get every cent. The only reason I'm going is that I'm desperate."

"Desperate?" Tom repeated incredulously. "A High Riser?"

Hui laughed. "Tom, you might think of everyone who doesn't live in the Lower Levels as a High Riser, but the truth is that I'm more of a 'not a Servicer.' I have no more love for those arrogant, stuck-up assholes than you do."

"Even your sister?"

Her response was a decidedly un-ladylike snort. "You have no idea."

*****

Virginia wasn't as bad as Hui said. She was worse.

Even by High Riser standards, she was an arrogant piece of shit. The least annoying thing about her was that she treated him like a baby and Hui like she was an old hag. She existed on her parents' inheritance and her new husband's business but acted like she was the center of the universe.

If Hui hadn't identified her as her sister, Tom never would've guessed the two were related. Virginia didn't look remotely multi-ethnic. A quick search confirmed that she'd used nanites from an early age to hide her real heritage. She towered over her half-sister, and her face looked more German than Asian.

"So, sissy, ready to hear my mom's will?"

Hui was barely holding back tears after three hours of enduring her sister's abuse. Tom's sense of justice raged at seeing family being treated like dirt.

Ten minutes later, Tom knew the only reason Virginia let her sister in was to be a jackass. The proudest moment of her life was rubbing it in her sister's face that their mother had left her eldest daughter nothing.

"Hui..." Tom whispered.

But Hui was gone. She ran off, unable to bear her sister's crude jokes, insults, and humiliation any longer.

"Awe... look," Virginia said with a baby-like voice and an equally mocking 'cute' face. "The little baby doesn't know how to walk. Guards!" she said with a lazy snap of her fingers. "Dispose of this trash, would you?"

Virginia sunk into her chair like watching him be thrown out was beneath her. On anyone else, it would've been justified. But while Hui was distraught and everyone else had been enjoying her torment, Tom had been busy uploading his payload into their neural implants.

With a single thought, everyone in the room froze. Guests turned into statues mid-laugh, and the two security guards stopped with their hands outstretched. Reaching out, he did the same thing to every other inhabitant of Virginia's elevated estate.

This is going to feel so good,

he thought.

Virginia remained smugly planted in her seat, but eventually, her eyes shot open when she finally figured out she had no control over her body.

"Wha—"

"Stand up," Tom said.

The once-cocky High Riser showed confusion as her body obeyed Tom but not her. Her head twisted and turned, but she could move neither limb nor figure.

"Answer my questions," he said, drawing her attention back to him. Combined with the new truth-telling codes he had uploaded, it would force her to respond honestly to everything he said.

It took Virginia only a nanosecond to forget the situation she was in and notice that a Servicer had dared to speak to her. "Who—"

"Do you or your husband have any more guests or any events for the rest of the day?"

"No," she answered without intending to.

"So you are free for the rest of the day?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now, do you have any nanites stored here?"

"Yes. In a refrigeration unit on the second floor, inside my powder room."

"Do you have any way of transporting them?"

"Yes. There's a portable cooler my husband and I use when we need to bring them to the doctor's office."

"Are there any security features?"

"Yes. The nanites themselves are locked, and there are two alarms, one outside the powder room and another at the top of the stairs."

"How do I disable them?"

Virginia's face was a sharp contrast to the way her mouth readily spilled forth the secrets of her house. When she was done, Tom rewarded her with a smirk and a bump on her shoulder as he left her where she was.

Ten minutes later, he was holding something more valuable than gold in his hand. More than just a handful, the only thing limiting him was the size of the case for carrying them. Having to put up with Virginia for a day was more than worth it for this, but if she thought that was sufficient payback, she had another thing coming.

Her face paled when he reappeared. Even for a High Riser, that wouldn't be easy to replace. Leaving the container plugged in, he faced her with an expression mimicking her earlier smug self-assurance.

"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded.

"All in good time, my dear," Tom answered. "For now, why don't you help me gain access to your mother's will."

"Well, that seems to be in order," he said ten minutes later. Tom now had root-level access to Hui and Virginia's mother's will. He could read and modify it, and no one would be any the wiser. "So, it seems your mother did leave something for your sister after all. But you know what? Since you've already got your father's inheritance and your husband's income, I think Hui deserves a much larger share, don't you?"

It was barely a dent in Virginia's well, but like any greedy High Riser, she was zealously opposed to losing money. She had horror on her face as he began rewriting the will to redirect most of her mother's wealth to her sister.

"No! You can't do this! Who do you think you are—"

That established what kind of person Virginia was, so there was no point in listening to anything else she had to stay. Even when she was begging, Virginia was proud and haughty.

The revised will was uploaded, signed, and verified. Every guest had their memory wiped and likely wouldn't care after today. That meant he was free to deal with Virginia.

"Show me to your bedroom."

They walked, Virginia in the lead and Tom close behind. Along the way, they passed the rest of the guests. While she looked longingly at each one, hoping he or she would be the one to save her, his eyes were drawn to one person in particular.

That's her husband!? Jesus, I'd be doing the High Risers a favor by making sure he stays out of the gene pool.

Fortunately, he had much more to contribute. And as they reached the marital bedroom, he could see he had a not-unworthy recipient.

What Virginia lacked in personality, she more than made up for physically. Virginia was the nanite-using daughter of nanite-using parents, and it showed. Her tall, slim body was genetically modified to remain in an impossible hourglass form. No matter how much she abused it, her body would never alter its shape. Fertile beauty was bred into her.

Unlike most High Risers, her youthful face reflected her actual age, but the nanites had touched her in other ways. Every trace of her mother's non-white heritage had been eliminated. She was taller than her older sister, had golden-blonde hair, and her tits were some of the biggest he'd ever seen. Those changes weren't cosmetic; the nanites had rewritten every cell in her body to ensure that any children she bore would inherit only the genes she chose, not the ones nature had given her.

"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded. "Do you have any idea who I am?"

Tom sat on her bed and glared. "I think you're a bitchy High Riser who betrayed her own family and thinks she's the queen of humankind. And I

know

you're at the mercy of a lowly Servicer."

Virginia's eyes flared with renewed hate. "Servicer?! That little tramp actually brought a Servicer into my home!?! I'm going to—"

"You're going to learn a lesson," he said, matching her furious stare.

"I'll have your head for this," she hissed venomously.

"No, you won't. And it's about time I gave you a demonstration why. Strip!"

"What! You... Why you filthy..."

But the potency of her outrage was undermined by two things. First, her loudest screech was barely room-level. Second, even as she swore he would regret ever laying an eye on her, her hands began moving to do just that. Within seconds, she was standing before him in nothing but her white underwear.

"Mmm... nice tits, baby," he said sincerely. "Nice and round. How big are they?"

"42D," she answered, still under his truth-telling code. Her face turned alarmingly purple as she realized what she had just said. "Why you... you think you can actually—"

"You know, I think it's about time you put that big mouth to something useful. Get on your knees and crawl forward."

She looked like a furnace ready to explode at such a humiliating dignity. If looks could kill, she would've left nothing but ashes. But her body obeyed regardless.

"I must say, you look much nicer down on the floor," Tom remarked while he removed his shirt.

"I'll kill you," she threatened. "You little bastard... I'll kill—"

Virginia's face turned from purple to unnaturally white in the blink of an eye. Tom's cock wasn't even fully hard, but from up close, she was in the perfect position to see how big he was. Looking at her, picturing her with her mouth stretched around his manhood, he grew to his full length in seconds.

"So, what do you think?" he said conversationally, "A little bit bigger than what you're used to?"

For the first time, Virginia's face showed fear. "Wha... what are you going to do?"

"It's not what I'm doing," he said, whacking her face with his rock-hard shaft. "It's what you're doing. You're going to use that pretty little mouth of yours to suck it."

"No!" she said, a hint of her old self-righteous indignation returning. "I would never..."

But she did. Taking manual control, her head moved closer to his cock. Inch by inch, the distance closed. She watched in horror as her mouth began to slowly open as she approached.

"No! Pleazzz naaaah! Ough," she lost the ability to speak as her mouth formed a perfect O-shape. Now positioned level with his cock, he only had to give the word, and she would suck him. Her eyes glanced up, begging him for a reprieve.

"Suck it," he ordered.

Virginia's lips touched his cock. Several inches slipped inside her, and she groaned sickeningly as she was forced to taste his cock. Her eyes closed as if she could somehow block out the horror of what was happening.

"Keep your eyes on me, sweetheart," he said. Against her will, she was forced to look up so he could see every detail as inch after inch disappeared into her throat. She groaned in revulsion but could do nothing. As far as Tom was concerned, she looked better sucking his cock in reality than in his imagination.

"Good, now bounce your head up and down."

Her eyes tilted repeatedly as her head moved back before pushing herself forward, sending Tom's cock deep into her throat while keeping her eyes on him at all times. Tom was delighted to see how easily she adapted to his thick girth. Soon he was sliding in and out with ease as her face came closer to his crotch.

"Damn, you are a good little cocksucker," he said. Humbling High Risers and knocking them off their high horse would never get old. "I suppose you want to know how this is possible?"

He took her constant grunting sounds as she deepthroated his cock as an affirmative. All her energy was going into doing her best to breathe, and saliva was dripping down her chin as she managed to take all but the last few inches into her hot, wet mouth.

"Well, it's simple, really. I—"

"What the fuck!?!"

Tom's heart skipped a beat. Standing at the door was Hui, looking stunned before quickly shifting into anger. "What the fuck, Tom!"

"Hui," he started, "I—"

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?! You're supposed to be my friend, and I find you fucking my sister!?!"

"Hui—"

"Save it!" Hui didn't share much with her sister, but the burning look in her eyes was one of the few things they had in common. "I don't care how this happened or how many times you've done it. You know how much I hate my sister. Did she promise you some of the money she stole? You know what?! Fuck it! I don't care!"

She turned and fled down the corridor.

Tom hesitated for several moments. Hui was just on the edge of his range when he applied his control codes. He felt guilty about using them on a friend, but he had no choice.

Seconds later, Hui marched back into the room, looking utterly baffled. At Tom's direction, she took a seat in a chair not far away.

"Sorry, Hui. I didn't want to have to do that."

With a deep breath to calm himself so he could return to enjoying the situation, he said, "Now, where were we? Oh, yes, you were sucking my cock!"

Virginia had enjoyed a brief reprise since her half-sister had unexpectedly appeared, but she was forced to return to shoving ten inches of incredibly thick cock down her throat. From the corner, Hui's eyes widened as she saw how big he was.

"Ohhhh yeah," Tom moaned. "That's it."

Virginia's muffled gagging sounds only added to his enjoyment of the High Riser degrading herself.

"As I was saying, I have the ability to hack anyone's neural implant and force them to obey my commands. That's how I took control of you and your sister. The difference is Hui is my friend, so I'm not going to force her to do anything. You, on the other hand, are just a bitchy High Riser whose only purpose is to swallow my cock."