The Making (A Socket Greeny Short Story): Socket, #4

By Tony Bertauski

The Soldier wakes on the battlefield.

He's a pawn in a larger conflict with no memory of where he was before coming online. His exoskeletal armor forces him into combat. Only when he engages free will does he break out of automode.

And things get weird.

Hunted by the cleaners, he transports to other worlds. It's not till he's captured does he understand what he really is.

And how to truly escape.

This is an introduction to the The Socket Greeny Saga, a heady trip into an alternate universe where a strange and introverted teenager discovers life is more than virtualmode gaming. The world isn't safe.

And all of reality is in danger.

• Language: English
• Publisher: DeadPixel Publications
• Release date: Aug 10, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393259480

Book preview

Chapter One

How do they work here?

The smell was sickly. Like melting roadkill.

The office was a skybox overlooking the floor. Belts and boxes delivered the muddy sludge from station to station. Floaters illuminated all angles of production. No shadows in the brightly lit factory. The last of the workers were being escorted away.

All clear, Joseph heard. Perimeter tight.

He touched the nojakk seed in his cheek. Send him up.

The desk was cluttered with reports and orders. The computing projection had already been confiscated. All the production links were in analysis. It was routine, but he knew what they would reveal.

He dipped his finger in a sample of gray paste. Oily grit ground between finger and thumb.

This is absurd. Chas Bollocks stormed into the office. His head was smooth. Perhaps it was shaved or just an organic mod. His waxed scalp reflected the lights. You’d better have a warrant.

Joseph wiped his fingers. Have a seat.

You know what every minute is costing us? We’ll sue you for twice that.

This won’t take long.

He lied about that. This would leave a permanent mark. The gritty gray stuff was an amorphous building block, a cell-sized programmable unit that could be converted into mechanical parts, electronic circuits or entire buildings. It didn’t stop there. They were used to build artificial organs—livers, kidneys, hearts