“And the prediction of thirty-seven minutes must be from Telyn,” said Lucas.
“Blue Upway has over thirty thousand players,” said Telyn. “Someone is going to be in an air vent already and respond in the minimum time.”
“Lucas, you said that we should arrange for food to eat while we’re working,” said Kareem. “I think we should start eating that food now because we don’t want the Teen Level tomato soup getting cold. That stuff is inedible enough when it’s hot.”
“Why do we have Teen Level tomato soup?” asked Lucas.
“Buzz fetched the food for us,” said Kareem. “Since you and Amber weren’t here to say what you’d like, she got a Violet Zone cheese meal for Amber, and Teen Level tomato soup for you.”
“Didn’t you tell her that I hated tomato soup?” asked Lucas. “Especially the ghastly version of tomato soup they have on Teen Level?”
“We didn’t dare to say anything,” said Gideon innocently. “Don’t you remember giving us strict orders never to argue with Buzz? You said she was like a power supply nexus, massively useful but with the potential for causing a devastating explosion if mishandled.”
“And we wanted to see the look on your face when we gave you Teen Level tomato soup,” added Emili.
I’d been doing my very best not to laugh, but now I had a helpless fit of giggles.
“This isn’t funny, Amber,” said Lucas reproachfully. “What did I do to offend Buzz so much that she’s torturing me with that revolting soup?”
Emili gave him a pitying look. “You’re dyeing her boyfriend’s hair blond and sending him undercover on Teen Level.”
Lucas groaned. “I didn’t expect Buzz to react so badly to that. She and Forge keep claiming they aren’t in a relationship.”
“People don’t always tell the truth,” said Hallie gloomily.
“People don’t always know the truth themselves,” said Gideon.
Kareem and Hallie picked up trays from a spare desk and started handing out meals. Hallie tried to give me my Violet Zone cheese meal, but I was too busy giggling to take it.
Lucas looked at his bowl of tomato soup with loathing. “You’re really going to make me eat this?”
“You don’t have to eat it,” said Emili, “but if you don’t … Well, Buzz may think of something even worse to punish you.”
“Is there anything worse than Teen Level tomato soup?” asked Lucas.
“Buzz is very inventive,” said Emili. “She said she couldn’t stay to eat with us herself because she’s having dinner with Forge. She’s bound to ask us if you ate the soup though.”
“I suspect Buzz has plans to torture Forge as well,” said Kareem.
“I’m glad that Forge is in trouble too,” said Lucas.
“Forge being in trouble too doesn’t mean you can escape the soup,” said Emili. “Just have one spoonful so we can truthfully say you ate some of it.”
“You could lie,” said Lucas.
“Buzz is a borderline telepath,” said Gideon. “She’d probably get one of her insights and know we’re lying.”
Lucas made a whimpering noise, accepted the bowl of tomato soup, and ate one spoonful with an expression of revulsion. “I hope you’re all happy now,” he said bitterly.
I finally accepted my meal from Hallie. “You can have some of my Violet Zone cheese, Lucas,” I offered.
“No, thank you,” said Lucas. “Anything I eat now will have that dreadful metallic taste of Teen Level tomato soup.”
As I savoured my first mouthful of Violet Zone cheese, the main screen came to life, showing an image of a dark-haired boy in a Halloween mask who was standing under a Level 1 direction sign.
An instant later, a green circle was superimposed on the image, and then the screen changed to show a man wearing a black cloak and the red-eyed helm of the hunter of souls. He was standing somewhere dark, surrounded by weirdly distorted red and black trees.
There was something familiar about the figure. “Is that Lucas in his Halloween costume?” I asked.
Nobody needed to answer that question, because the hunter of souls spoke in Lucas’s voice. “You are one of the scavengers of darkness now. Soon I will summon you to prove your loyalty.”
Lucas laughed. “We’re adding to the glamour of Halloween by making our messages far more dramatic than the text messages of other Teen Games.”
“Six minutes and nine seconds,” said Emili, in a depressed voice. “I hate you, Lucas.”
“I’m just glad he’s on our side,” said Gideon. “Lucas would make a terrifying wild bee. He’d take out every critical system in the Hive within days.”
“I’m not on your side after the tomato soup,” said Lucas, “and why would I bother taking out every critical system in the Hive? Once I’d sabotaged the air purification systems in all ten zones, there’d be no need to bother destroying anything else. Virtually the whole Hive population would be dead within hours.”
Gideon shook his head sadly. “You see what I mean. Terrifying.”
Over the last few months, I’d got used to the way the Tactical team casually discussed potential catastrophes, so my mind was still focused on Teen Games.
“That screen sequence means someone has joined Halloween?” I asked.
“Yes,” said Hallie. “The green circle means their image passed my automated checks, so they’ve been sent the hunter of souls welcome sequence. It’s still impossible for anyone to have responded that fast though.”
Lucas grinned. “Perfectly true. I was counting on the fact that hundreds of hasty patrols were given stacks of invitation masks to hide. Some of them were bound to get restless and begin hiding the masks ahead of schedule.”
Emili sighed. “Which means any Blue Upway players who were roaming the maintenance areas would stumble across them, and have a head start on responding to the invitation.”
“That response was using the contact number for Navy Zone 7200 to 7299,” said Hallie. “We’re getting more responses coming in now.”
One player image after another appeared on the main screen. Lucas sat watching them critically for a minute or two before nodding.
“Your automated checks seem to be working correctly on the acceptances, Hallie. We can swap to just monitoring the rejections.”
I was swallowing a mouthful of bread when the next image appeared. I nearly choked as I saw it showed a giant thumb. A red circle was superimposed on it, and then the hunter of souls spoke in a contemptuous voice. “You aren’t worthy of the honour of joining my pack.”
“There’s always someone who doesn’t check their image before sending it,” said Hallie.
The next image showed a group of runners in a sports event.
“There’s always someone who sends the wrong image,” said Gideon.
The image changed again, and I had another choking moment. Forge was standing by a wall, holding a Halloween mask in one hand, and giving us a cheerful wave with the other.
“I expect Buzz took one of our Halloween masks to give to Forge,” said Emili.
Lucas pulled an apprehensive face. “I hope she did. If Forge skipped their dinner date to go hunting for one of our Halloween invitations, then Buzz will torture me with tomato soup for the rest of my life.”
“I can’t believe Forge would skip a dinner date with Buzz,” said Telyn gloomily. “She can just smile at a man and have him fall at her feet.”
Hallie raised her eyebrows. “Even I noticed the personal emotion in that statement. Is our attack specialist chasing a target and failing to catch him?”
Emili stared at Hallie. “You really hadn’t noticed what was going on? I know Lottery doesn’t select Tactical team mathematical or pattern specialists for their skills at reading body language, but it’s been painfully clear for days.”
“Yes, we’ve all been waiting breathlessly for Telyn to go for the strike,” said Gideon.
“I went for the strike,” said Telyn, “but I had a target breakaway. Eli didn’
t even notice my blatant advances.”
I blinked. I hadn’t noticed any thoughts about Telyn when I was reading Eli’s mind. The fact he hadn’t been thinking about her, didn’t mean she hadn’t been thinking about him though.
“I’m sure he noticed your advances,” said Lucas. “The problem is that behind all the defensive comedy routines, Eli’s a shy boy. I warned you it would be a mistake to go for the strike too fast. Now you’ve panicked him.”
“At least she went for the strike,” said Gideon. “I always spent too long thinking things over, and found one of the Strike team was already dating the girl.”
Telyn was looking depressed, so I hastily changed the subject. “The hunter of souls welcome sequence mentions the player being summoned to prove their loyalty. What’s going to happen then?”
“We’ve obviously got to be careful setting challenges,” said Emili. “The whole point of running Halloween is to distract the Teen Game players from attempting the dangerous Blue Upway challenges. We don’t want to send them into danger ourselves.”
“We’re planning to hold the players’ interest by making Halloween radically different from other games,” said Lucas, “and getting them to do things that feel much more dangerous than they really are. We expect the main wave of players to have found invitations and responded by early tomorrow evening, so then we send out the hunter of souls allegiance sequence.”
Lucas turned to Nicole. “Can you run that sequence for Amber?”
Nicole tapped at her desk, and the main screen showed Lucas as the hunter of souls again. “My scavengers of darkness must swear their allegiance to me. The packs will wear clothes of the night, and gather to celebrate Halloween.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
Emili grinned. “We’ve given out a hundred different contact numbers for strips of the Hive. Each player will be instructed to dress in black, take their masks, and go to a specific park in their part of the Hive at two in the morning. They’re basically going to a standard teen Halloween party, where they’ll have fun doing things like drinking tomato soup and pretending that it’s blood. The only difference will be the added thrill of it being a supposedly illegal party held in the middle of the night.”
“You’re talking about a hundred different parties across the Hive,” I said. “Surely each party will need someone to run it?”
“Yes, we’re sending a party leader to each of the hundred locations,” said Lucas. “We’re using some people who came out of the last Lottery and have been playing the part of the nosy in a telepath squad. They’ll enjoy dressing up in a Halloween costume and being popular for a change.”
He paused. “We’ll let the Halloween parties run for three hours before sending a hasty patrol to each park. That way, the parties won’t end with the park suns coming on, but with the players having the excitement of running away from the hasties.”
“It sounds like fun,” I said wistfully. “Do you think Adika would disapprove of me going to one of the Halloween parties?”
Everyone burst out laughing.
“I don’t think Adika would disapprove of it, Amber,” said Gideon gently. “I think he’d have a heart attack at the mere suggestion of you going partying with scores of the most reckless and potentially violent teens in the Hive.”
I sighed. “Being a telepath is very limiting sometimes.”
Chapter Twenty-two
As Lucas and I were getting dressed the next morning, there was a thunderous thumping sound followed by a sudden crash. “What’s that?” I asked nervously.
“The installation team for your bird and animal area carried out a detailed assessment of the expansion section yesterday,” said Lucas. “I expect the noise is because they’ve started work.”
Lucas took out his dataview and worked on it. “Yes, the installation team are carrying out the main structural alterations today, and the planting and animal care teams will arrive to join them tomorrow.”
“Megan’s arranged that amazingly quickly.”
“We need that area available as fast as possible to help you relax,” said Lucas. “You’ve been suffering a massive amount of stress over both Gregas and Tobias. I’m wondering if we should arrange a trip Outside for you to cleanse yourself of echoes.”
“I was Outside only a few days ago, and cleansed my mind of every remaining trace of my targets’ thoughts. The only emergency run I’ve been on since then was the one hunting Alvin, and he wasn’t the type of strong-willed wild bee that leaves a long-lasting echo behind in a telepath’s mind.”
“What’s worrying me is the cumulative effect of you reading the minds of Wesley, Gregas, and Tobias.”
I frowned. “Wesley is so lost in fantasy that I’d be in more danger hugging a fluffy toy than reading his mind, and my brother has many faults, including a total lack of common sense, but he’s not a wild bee.”
“I agree that Wesley and Gregas aren’t dangerous in themselves, but the fact Gregas is your brother greatly increased the stress of reading their minds. That would have left you more vulnerable than usual when you read Tobias’s thoughts. You weren’t prepared for Tobias to have turned full wild bee, and his mind must have been exactly the type to leave a powerful echo on your consciousness, whether you’re aware of that echo’s existence or not.”
“I’m getting better at recognizing the invading influences of wild bees lurking in my mind,” I said. “I only read Tobias’s thoughts very briefly, but I admit that his mind was obsessive and fuelled by bitter anger. I’m fully aware of the echo he’s left in the back of my mind. You’re right about it being powerful, and it has its claws digging deep into me, so it won’t fade away.”
I paused. “The echo of one wild bee is never a serious threat to a telepath’s own personality though. It’s when you’ve got a whole pack of them tearing away at your mind, that you suffer from fragmentation.”
There was the high-pitched screeching of a tool cutting through metal. I winced and put my hands protectively over my ears.
“I suggest we take refuge in the bookette room to eat breakfast,” said Lucas. “Bookette rooms are built with multiple layers of soundproofing, so people can play loud concerts without disturbing their neighbours. I’m hoping that if the soundproofing stops sound getting out, then it will stop sound getting in too.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“You go ahead and pick a bookette for us to play,” said Lucas. “I’ll order our regular breakfasts from the kitchen unit, and be along to join you soon.”
I nodded, went into the bookette room, and started battling with the furniture controls. My parents were Level 27, so I’d never encountered the luxury of a dedicated bookette room until I came out of Lottery. I was still hazy on the commands which made a variety of furniture emerge from the bookette room walls, and tried a few random guesses. I’d been aiming for a table and chairs but got a set of shelves. My second attempt produced a basket of artificial flowers. On the third attempt, I got a couch with twin side tables, which I decided was close enough.
“Bookette random sequence with park background,” I said.
The bookette room’s lights dimmed, and the holos started. I’d asked for a random bookette with a park background and had assumed the suns would be shining. I was surprised to find myself standing in a night-time park, with the ceiling lights on the moons and stars setting. Even more startling, I was standing on a makeshift stage with a spotlight on me, brandishing a sword, and facing a crowd in silver and gold Carnival costumes.
A man dressed in red and black, with dramatically outstretched wings, was on his knees before me. “Spare my life,” he pleaded.
“Why should I spare you?” I heard my own character reply. “We are forever divided by our choices.”
The traditional words told me this was the end sequence of a Light and Dark pageant. I was playing the silver-winged light angel, and had clearly just defeated the dark angel in the sword fight.
The dark angel was
shaking his head. “We are forever divided, but forever one. There can be no light without darkness, and no darkness without light.”
I tossed away the sword that was in my hand. “Go then.”
The dark angel scrambled to his feet and ran away, while the Carnival crowd shouted in triumph.
“High up!”
“Light is victorious,” I cried. “Go forth and tell the Hive to celebrate with Carnival!”
Shimmering streamers were blowing through the air. The people in the crowd reached up to grab them, before running off through the park, still shouting the words. “High up!”
I automatically reached up a hand to try to catch a streamer too. I laughed when it flew straight through my hand.
“Shouldn’t we start the bookette at the beginning rather than the end?” asked Lucas’s amused voice from behind me.
I turned, saw him putting a tray of food and drinks on one of the side tables, and laughed again. “Bookette restart.”
I’d forgotten that the bookette room was still set to randomize. It swathed Lucas in the holo red and black costume of the dark angel, and restarted at a new random point. It was earlier in the pageant now, with the two of us facing each other, swords poised ready for combat.
“We were lovers once. Join me in the darkness.”
The dark angel character’s voice was swiftly followed by Lucas’s own voice and words. “Oh, no. Bookette stop.”
The holo park background and our costumes vanished. “I don’t want us playing the roles of the dark and light angels,” said Lucas harshly. “They were forever divided by their choices. I don’t want our relationship ending like theirs. Do you?”
The words seemed like an accusation, but his face showed his distress, and I moved to take his hands. “I don’t want our relationship ending at all. You should know that.”
“Yes, I should know that. I do know that.” Lucas shook his head. “I warned you that I’m a mess at this time of year and will overreact to the silliest things. I just hope I don’t do something to ruin your New Year celebrations with your family.”
Borderline (Hive Mind Book 4) Page 22