Читать книгу Step into the Metaverse онлайн | страница 13

“I'm so sorry darling. You did so well today. I'm super proud. I'll see you at home later.”

They exchanged loving emojis, and Mia disappeared back into the crowd. Laya unmuted her mic. “Save the details for later, Ae. Can you locate my other one? Zack should be finishing school soon.” Within moments, Ae had a position.

“He's in the Pondbox,” Ae reported, her tone preempting Laya's disappointment.

* * *

Pondbox was a newer region of the metaverse. She had told Zack, her 12-year-old son, not to go there as the whole area was Non-GAC Protected. GAC was Government Anti-Cheat software.

The region had hundreds of new experimental game types, content, and NFTs, but it lacked any guidelines or rules. It reminded Laya of the internet in the early 2000s, when she used to scroll sites like FunnyJunk and the earliest version of YouTube. And just like the internet back then, there was a boatload of bots and catfish phishing for passwords and a whole lot of unrestricted adult content. It was not exactly a place a parent wants their 12-year-old to hang out.

Ae had tracked Zack down to a password-protected shoot-'em-up concept a rouge programmer had dreamt up. Using her Ministerial Digital ID, Laya went straight past the password-protected door. On the other side, she saw Zack and Mia talking. The words, “Can't you just lend me yours?” rang out just as Laya stepped through.

They all turned to face each other, Zack and Laya looking equally confused. Mia's expression, on the other hand, didn't alter and had a certain, almost, uncanny quality to it.

Zack hated it when his mom checked in on him. “Mom,” he explained. “You don't need to check up on me.” Zack turned back to Mia. “Now, stop bugging me. Ask Mom.” He then turned his back to them, taking the stance of a soldier in the midst of an invisible battle.

Laya knew something was up. She reached out her left hand, freezing both avatars, and lifted her right to the panic button on her headset, opening a direct line to the M.C.P. and an emergency exit to her right.