Glitch'd - Ch.12 - Ghost In The Mesh (Patreon)

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Glitch asked, as she regarded me with an apprehensive look in her eyes.

I cocked my head to one side and flicked my tail as I stated, "You literally just told me an hour ago that I'd aced all your training. And you're the one who said we'd been cooped up in this cabin simulation long enough."

"You also said you needed to check in on things at Buffer Overflow," I reminded her. "And I've got three friends who I know are going to be worried about me. This is the longest I've gone without seeing or speaking with them, ever since they first invited me to hang out with them. I need to let them know I'm ok."

My new friend mentor and saviour grimaced, "You're right Wisp. Sorry. It's just..."

"I get it," I smiled and closed the space between us as her voice trailed off. I wrapped my arms around her waist, and she responded with hers around my shoulders. Then I looked up at her and continued, "The last... I don't even know what to call it now? Do I say ten days? Or three weeks?"

The green-haired delver gave me a lopsided smile, "I've been doing it all my life and I still don't know the best way to describe it. I guess subjectively when it's just us, but stick to normal time when you're speaking with other people? That sort of thing is -"

"Yeah I know," I rolled my eyes. "Privileged information, restricted access, members of the club only."

About ten days had passed since I unleashed my worms on Trodacorp's security division and Glitch hijacked Solberg's account. Or at least, that's how long it had been for everybody outside her pacific-north-west cabin simulation. For Glitch and I it was just over three weeks, thanks to one of the first new tricks she taught me. There were more elegant ways to say it, but the bottom line was digital beings like us were able to overclock our brains. So we could take in information, process it, then act on it much faster than normal mesh users.

It took a bit to get used to, but double speed was safe and fairly comfortable once I got past the initial disorientation. Triple was less safe and harder to manage, but I could maintain it for hours at a time as long as I kept an eye on my processes and didn't let myself get overloaded. We could go even higher in a pinch, but that was a lot more challenging, and not at all safe. Anything more than quad-speed was something I'd only want to risk in critical situations, and then only for a minute or two at most.

Keeping my brain clocked at two or even two and a half times normal wasn't bad though, and it allowed me to get through all of Glitch's lessons in far less time than it otherwise would have taken. And those lessons were crucial information, for us digital denizens.

Even though Desrosiers and Sachs designed the mesh to be friendly for our kind at the base architecture level, we still had to contend with all the additional layers piled ontop in the years since it was rolled out worldwide. There were security algorithms, non-sentient AI bots and AI filters, the list went on.

Not that we had to live in constant fear or anything, and we had loads of advantages including the fact that the mesh was our home turf. But as a newcomer I had a lot to learn, and that's what Glitch spent the past three weeks teaching me. Now I had access to all the same forbidden knowledge and unpublished routines she did. I knew how the mesh worked at its core, and I knew how to use that to my advantage.

I also had to rebuild some of my basic tools from scratch, like my HUD and parts of my custom UI. That's because the basic frameworks I used originally were meant for humans visiting the mesh, not full-time digital residents. And the replacements had to be able to keep up with me regardless what clock speed my digital brain was running. Boosting myself to four-hundred percent in an emergency wouldn't be much use if my delver toolkit couldn't keep up.

The downside of spending all that time focused on getting me up to speed on my new existence was Glitch and I had basically isolated ourselves from the rest of the mesh, and the world at large. We hadn't even tapped into any news feeds or anything, so we hadn't been following the situation with Trodacorp or anything else.

That wasn't too unusual though. Glitch told me she tended to lay low after any big heist. Which I totally understood, there was no sense taking extra risks when you knew people would be going out of their way to find or report anything suspicious.

"Anyways my point is I get it," I said as I tried to bring the conversation back on topic. "I've really enjoyed the time we've spent here together. Even if you are a harsh taskmistress when it comes to training. Not that I'm complaining mind you, I appreciate everything you've done for me."

Glitch gave me a serious look as she said, "Just be careful, ok Wisp? Message me if anything goes wrong. Or just head straight back here if you need to. Or come find me at the Buffer Overflow, you've got access codes to the back door so you don't have to screw around with the front door and the maze."

"Yeah I know," I rolled my eyes. Then I smirked, "If you're that worried why don't you come with me? The triplets are big fans, they'd love to meet you."

She rolled her eyes, then her appearance shifted to her slightly-less-infamous Hex avatar. We exchanged one more hug, then she said "See you later Wisp. I'll be at Buffer Overflow if you need me."

With that she dissolved into pixels and digital noise, before fading away completely. And a moment later the rest of the cabin did the same, as I finally routed myself off her secure server and back out into the mesh at large.

Like usual I bounced off a dozen different public and private portals before winding my way into the triplets' clubhouse. As expected the UI didn't rez automatically, and rather than trigger it immediately I spent a few hundred milliseconds just hanging out with the raw data. My friends were online and all three were present, but they had no idea I was there yet.

So I went ahead and sent the command to rez the UI, and as it all came into focus around me I turned to face the three identical catgirls sitting together on the sofa. I was smiling, but that quickly faded as I realized how sad they all looked.

"Hey gang," I frowned, "What's wrong?"

Three pairs of ears folded back as three sets of eyes narrowed at me. At the same time three ping requests came through, as if my friends didn't recognize me or something. I went ahead and acknowledged the pings, and just like that their mood did a huge about-face.

"Wisp!" nil exclaimed as she practically pounced at me.

null and NaN both followed a split second later, and suddenly I was surrounded by purring catgirls and trapped in a tangle of arms as they all hugged me at once.

NaN purred into one of my tall fuzzy ears, "Holy shit Wisp we thought we lost you!"

"How'd you do it?" null added as they pressed themselves against my back. "And where've you been hiding?!"

"We were so worried about you!" nil stated in a tone that sounded almost accusing.

I grimaced and squirmed a little, but there was no escape. So I gave up trying to fight and just went with it. Anyways it turned out being smothered by three hot identical catgirls wasn't so bad after all. Except when my floofy tail started wagging, it ended up bouncing back and forth between a pair of catgirl thighs. Which to be honest was pretty nice, although it was also kind of awkward for everyone involved.

Eventually they let me go, and I made a show of gasping for air. My grin and my still-wagging tail gave away how I really felt about the situation though.

Then as all four of us ended up getting comfortable I finally replied, "Sorry I've been out of the loop for a while. I figured it was safest for me to lay low after that whole Trodacorp thing. So um, what did I miss?"

I was sitting crosslegged and sideways on that comfy chair again, with my big floofy tail wrapped around onto my lap where I could hug it and stroke it and otherwise fidget with it. And the three catgirls were back on their sofa, all three of them were staring at me intently with wide smiles while their ears and tails all stood up happily.

NaN replied first, "You're supposed to be dead?"

"It was all over the news," nil added.

"The bastards were almost gleeful about deadnaming you too," null glared. "I mean, they used your meatspace deadname and misgendered you and everything."

"Huh?" I gulped.

By that point I was completely confused, with an uneasy feeling settling in my stomach. I'd obviously missed something big and important, and I just knew it was going to make me very uncomfortable.

"You haven't even looked at the news in all this time?" NaN asked as she tilted her head to one side.

My ears drooped and I hugged my tail to my chest as I shook my head, "Not really. But now I'm getting the feeling I probably don't want to know what I missed."

The three of them all exchanged an awkward glance, then they tried to sum it up for me.

nil started, "After you resigned from Trodacorp -"

"Which was awesome by the way!" NaN interjected happily. "Everyone dreams of the whole 'fuck you I quit' thing, but actually doing it? And in front of dozens of bosses and managers!? Absolutely epic!"

null had another big grin on their face as they added, "Not as epic as that worm though! Holy shit Wisp, I never knew you had it in you!"

"Anyways!" nil took over again, "After your very public and very epic resignation they quickly figured out that the worm attack was your work. And as your employer they had all your meatspace details on file, so the corpo cops went to haul you in."

null scowled, "They raided your place and claimed they found you uh, dead. The official report was that you'd hot-wired your interface and fried your brain after you quit your job. Most of us delvers assumed it was a hit job though? Like the rent-a-cops weren't there to arrest you, they were supposed to bump you off for making their masters look bad."

"The newsies put a spin on it that you were about to get fired or something," NaN sighed. "They dragged your family into it too, that your mom died in prison and your sister overdosed? They said you were depressed and suicidal."

My gut lurched at that news, and I hugged my tail tighter while the triplets all gave me a sad look.

Then nil asked, "So how'd you do it? Did you fake your death or something? What about the body they found, was that fake too? Or was that all just corporate bullshit?"

"Was that Klove guy a fake identity?" null added. "Like how'd you set all that up with the employee records and everything?"

My ears folded back and I hid my face completely behind my tail as the sadness was replaced by full-on cringe. For all the time Glitch and I spent planning and preparing, for all my grand ideas of 'going out with a bang', the question of what would happen with my body or what the authorities would do when they got involved never actually crossed my mind.

And now I had no idea what to tell my friends. I couldn't admit that really was me, there was no way they'd believe my body died while I lived on like a ghost in the mesh. But saying it wasn't me was like admitting to murder, since there was a corpse out there and thanks to my big 'fuck you I quit' speech I was tied to it.

Not knowing what else to do I sent Glitch a quick encrypted message, briefly explaining the situation and asking for help. Then I focused on my friends again and did what I could to stall.

"It's long and complicated and I'm not sure what to say right now?" I began. "I promise I didn't kill anyone though. As for the body and that other name I uh..."

My voice trailed off for a moment, then I sighed. My shoulders slumped and ears drooped as I gave the triplets a sad look, "I just never want to hear that name again. I'm Wisp, this is the real me, I'm a small purple anthro trans foxgirl. You all helped me figure that out, and for that I'm eternally grateful."

"Aww Wisp," nil smiled as she pounced forward from the sofa and pulled me into another hug.

NaN and null followed immediately, and once again I found myself caught between three identical purring catgirls as they all did their best to squeeze the floof out of me. And with the three of them standing while I was still seated it kind of left my face at chest height.

So with three purry catgirls all pressing themselves against me, it wasn't long before my fox purrs joined their happy feline rumbling, while I reached my arms around to try and hug the two on either side of me.

"Have I missed anything else?" I eventually mumbled into nil's cleavage. "Do you uh, know if anything come out of Knut Solberg's confession?"

All three of them pulled back at once, and suddenly I had three pairs of eyes staring at me while three sets of ears angled forward and three tails flicked back and forth in sync.

NaN spoke up first, "No fucking way!"

"Were you part of that too?" null asked. "Holy shit Wisp, your worm attack was the distraction, wasn't it?!"

A wide grin formed on nil's face as she added, "You're already a legend for the Troda Worm, but when word gets out you were in on the Solberg thing... Wow! Our little Wisp is going to be famous!"

By that point I was cringing again, with my face half-hidden behind my floofy tail. In a quiet anxious voice I asked, "So um, what happened?"

"You did it Wisp," NaN stated. "You and your accomplice actually killed a megacorp."

Somehow I ended up being dragged back to the sofa with them while they filled me in on the biggest news story of the decade. I ended up squeezed in between nil and null, and both of them had their arms around me. Meanwhile my tail stretched across null's lap so the tip of it ended up in NaN's hands, and she kept petting and stroking my soft floof while they all talked.

It turned out that Solberg and Trodacorp had some enemies in high places. There wasn't much they could do before, but thanks to the confidential material that Glitch released and the 'confession' she made in Solberg's place, they had more than enough ammunition to strike. And because all that incriminating evidence was made public the crooked politicians on the megacorp's payroll couldn't just cover it up. In fact they ended up getting indicted along with half of Trodacorp's board of directors, thanks to all the bribery data Glitch uncovered.

By the time the Trodacorp security division came up with proof that Knut's account had been hijacked and his confession was faked it didn't even matter anymore. The proof was already out there, all the evidence had already been analyzed and arrest warrants were being served.

Unfortunately things might not change too much in the long term. My former employer was just one of a dozen, and its competitors were already swooping in to pick up the pieces. On the other hand, we proved the megacorps weren't untouchable. And we showed that there were at least some politicians who were ready and able to take those corpo crooks to task. All they needed was the right ammunition.

null wrapped it up by saying, "You've inspired a lot of delvers to step up their game, proved that we can do more than just a little digital vandalism or the odd bit of industrial sabotage or IP theft. If other delvers come across proof of corpo crimes, maybe they'll think about going public with it instead of trying to blackmail the crooks to keep it quiet."

"Wow," I mumbled. I wasn't sure what else to say though.

After a few quiet seconds nil spoke up again. She gave me a little squeeze as she asked, "So who were you working with? And how much of the Solberg hack was you? You had access to his account right? We know you worked in his security division."

I wasn't sure if it was ok to tell them it was all Glitch's idea, or if she wanted to keep her name out of it. Fortunately I was spared from having to make that decision, as someone suddenly rezzed into the middle of the clubhouse directly in front of the sofa where the triplets were all still cuddled around me.

Three sets of ears folded back as three tails poofed up in alarm. Then three pairs of eyes widened in shock as they all realized who'd just joined us.

"Hey there," a certain green-haired hacker greeted all four of us with a smile. "Sorry for dropping in uninvited."

Her eyes flicked over each of the triplets as she added, "My name's Glitch, and I just came by to check on my partner."

** This chapter was brought to you courtesy of Camille, who commissioned it! **