Chapter 17 Part 5

Another advantage to staying close was that Sal could treat his image he left behind more as a puppet. The program he left behind was there in case he needed to make a break for it entirely. Since he was sticking around a little longer, he could use the image as his proxy to see what the men wanted. He would need to not be noticed doing this, or else he'd blow the purpose of having a puppet. The easiest way Sal could think to make sure he remained anonymous was to place an encryption layer on the holonospheric traffic from the puppet to him. The encryption could be broken, but if it was, Sal would know about it, and would have time to take the appropriate steps to sever the connection.  

As the song finished, the man approached the image of Sal as he had appeared before his alteration. Sal pretend to be engrossed in the game of bubble Joust. His interface trickled information to him, however.  

"Mr. Grimone, I presume?" Sal heard the man ask.  

Sal had his phony avatar answer. He could move his mouth quietly and freely as he pretended to watch the men Bubble Joust. the only thing that was important was to make sure he didn't focus so much on what needed to be said that he forgot to react to the Joust.   

"That depends on who is asking," Sal piped to the image.  

"You'd be wise to cooperate with us, Mr. Grimone. We intend to take you to the Inner Sanctum for questioning, and it would be better if you would come with us willingly."  

Inner Sanctum? Fuck. Sal knew these guys smelled like bureaucracy, but he had not thought them to be part of the Sanctum. His illusion would not last long with Sanctum present. As Sal had these thoughts, he receive a one ping alert. the ping was there to let him know that someone had discovered he had an encrypted channel open. They would not know this for sure, but they would have reason to suspect encryption was taking place. If the ping picked up in pace and the tone rose, Sal would know that someone was trying to break his encryption. Naturally, a double ping hit. Double Fuck.  

Sal knew that the man would try to coerce his image double to get up and come with them--yet the image double could not get up. the image double had only one job, and that job was to create the impression of a persistent state. If that state needed to change, it could not adapt. It was more like a frozen moment in time. If Sal saw the man attempt to take the image's arm, or otherwise move the image, he would know it was time to break the connection. he would still be able to monitor how fast his encryption was broken, but it would not be traceable back to him.  

Just then, one of the Joust competitors fell off. Sal wanted nothing more than to run, but he knew he needed to pretend to cheer at the outcome., or else he would likely be noticed as being out of place. In order for his deception to work, he needed to be sure he continued to blend in.