The Vatican Games

by Alejandra Guibert

  ‘Why would he want to get rid of Daniel?’

  ‘Haven’t you seen enough to know?’ It did not take Carda long to show he had not lost his harshness.

  No. It was not easy for Vera to take in the existence of a small universe of which she had no experience and to which Carda had been exposed. Where behaviours, although simple, were crudely entangled. Once again Vera experienced, through Carda, what it meant to distrust intentions. The actions and consequences of power. Aspects of living without enlightenment. One lot against another. One lot in favour of another. One lot above another. The mind acting stubbornly. Simply on the grounds of purpose. She did not want to let on that what Carda had revealed had moved her deeply. She sensed he did not want her pity.

  Felix would never again mention the matter. Those few words said it all. Explanations were but minor details. The stories of so many fallen by the wayside were barely linked to the present of a few. However tough their experiences, these had ceased to be a topic of conversation. The past was mentioned in terms of world history. Events without their interpretation. The World Government was bent on ensuring the population looked to the future. For this it promoted the present through systems which easily moulded it. Personal lives did not persist in memory. Nobody wanted to remember or be reminded. As if each person were nothing but a present being. With no background or origin outside of today.

  If Felix would have to tell his personal story, he would have been able to narrate it around three events. With the cataclysm, everything else had seemed insignificant. Even if it wasn’t. Even if those three events had affected him to the extent that he became Carda. In time Carda had had to leave Felix aside as self-protection against vulnerability. What Vera did not imagine was that Carda’s detachment had not arisen as a result of the abuse by Zillo. Nor of the death of his parents in the cataclysm.

  As a child his parents had been mostly absent. Even though their weeks spent at home were infrequent, the company of the governess or the maid was not sufficient either. He did not blame anyone for their busy lives. It was what he knew. Felix clung to children’s technology. In his efforts to overcome extended periods in the great empty spaces at home. Finding company was a surprise. The nearest mansion was a third of a mile away on the other side of the fence separating the two properties. At the far end of the gardens surrounding his gigantic prison, he was riding his bicycle one afternoon when he was drawn to a voice coming from the other side of the fence. Through the almost perfect wall of intertwined greenery he spied on his neighbour as she played with her cat. A little girl, a child just like him left alone amid the abundance of money. They did not take long to cross the barrier, nor did it prevent them from playing even on the first few afternoons. They grew familiar with each other, the hedge in between. They sought each other out in the little gaps they discovered in the long tall hedge, where the cat would appear held by the girl to make Felix laugh. By the end of a few days the decision had been made. Felix slipped into the shed to take some pruning shears and open a way through. Once they could traverse the hedge as if by magic, they would both forget the coldness that surrounded them. They soon ceased caring. Felix would come on his bicycle every afternoon to take his neighbour away during the hours between lunch and supper. Neither of them had ever had as much fun as on their adventures entering the house unseen. The freedom they felt on hiding without anybody missing her. Complicity opened up a new world.

  They were as only children can be. A few days after their parents died in the cataclysm, they were in the attic where they spent hours exchanging secrets. Nothing would shake them when they were together, not even finding the bodies of the maid and the governess in the corridors of the mansion as if death had discovered them running from one end to the other. They had run together too, to the attic. To save themselves in the only place where everything was familiar to them. With childish intuition they had not waited for their parents, who would not come back. They had loaded bags and rucksacks with everything they thought they would need from the pantry and kitchen. They looked at each other, eyes wide open, when they realised that they were free to eat whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. There were enough provisions to last for a long while. They would live in the attic. There Felix and the little girl, orphaned, protected themselves from the world. They had created a safe space where they surrounded themselves with things that were constant. For her, the blanket which would leave yellow fluff everywhere, storybooks, socks with leather soles, her rabbit-eared cap. For him, the little tent, the coloured torch, the e-pad loaded with games. The things that made them forget. The cat made complete their desire not to let that feeling of well-being escape in the middle of the chaos they sensed would ensue. They watched the television images almost like a forbidden film. The outside was veiled by closed curtains which they had never opened again. Although it might have seemed so at first, they were not there on holiday. As the girl felt the weight of reality, Felix promised her that they would not let in the horror which was unfolding on the cataclysmic streets. Weeks went by in the inner normality of their adventure. They rarely dared go downstairs to fetch something from the house which for them had become a huge warehouse. Felix would do all he could to preserve that normality. Everything except what he could not possibly prevent. Weeks later, when the poison also reached the girl, Felix had time to tell her he loved her. Even at the tender age of ten. From then on everything had become confused and uncertain. He could not remember how he had ended up at the academy. The events had stunned him into silence. Zillo sensed that coolness from the beginning. On the outside it gave Felix a set face and on the inside an unnoticed fragility. It was to this that Zillo had appealed so that Felix would devote himself to him.

  Felix inserted Zillo’s card into Vera’s screen and she let him have her seat. He followed the security stages automatically as though fearing a reaction to what he had said. He carried on working at the screen while he sensed Vera’s presence behind him like a warm feeling.

  ‘When Zillo called me to put me in charge of the project, he took control of the code out of my hands. He had never before hidden anything from me. I thought something had changed. In spite of the new security rules, it was only a suspicion. Your behaviour made me distrust him even more. When I understood what you were trying to find out, it confirmed that my demented thoughts had a sound basis. Now I’m certain that something in Cf is activated on the right-hand side of the brain.’

  ‘For what purpose?’

  ‘Zillo’s favourite phrase, “to save the planet and heal ourselves”. In all these years… if I know Zillo’s aspirations… To restore the Church’s worldwide power.’

  ‘You mean to force people into believing in God again? It doesn’t explain the suicides.’

  ‘It’s possible that by programming the right brain in daily contact with the left brain it would lay bare the contradiction between them. I’ve read a few books on existential angst in Zillo’s library. They suggest we have let the intuitive side die. Eighty percent of suicides are among the male population. In spite of the cataclysm, reason continues to override everything. The lack of contact with the right side of the brain allows differences in the left-hand side to take over people’s personal lives and govern actions. With more brains focusing in this way, the effect would become cumulative and give rise to a collective conscience. The cybernetic effect would accelerate the change exponentially.’

  ‘We must get into the code.’ Vera finally accepted the urgency. As if so many scattered, unconnected phrases arranged themselves together to make up an unquestionably clear text. ‘If the intention is not to provoke suicide but to induce control, it could be an error in the code.’

  ‘An error or something worse.’

  Vera and Carda knew that even if they used Zillo’s card to access Daniel’s code, intrusion prevention systems would log the anomaly. To access an operative code they had to gain authorisation. Only in this way would the IPSs be switched off before accessing it. They had
no other choice but to enter without access. Even if IPSs were triggered the crisis in the building gave them more leeway to operate in the electronic systems.

  ‘Impossible.’ Carda banged his fist on the table. ‘Daniel used a new language. Without knowing it it’s impossible to decode.’

  ‘The problem with parameters has to be at the top level. I’ve played hundreds of times. I reached the penultimate level. I haven’t managed to get to the fifth. I’ve created dozens of games engines. Playing them is not my thing.’

  ‘We’re back to square one.’

  ‘No. I’m going to enter the game. Just like all the others.’

  ‘We don’t know exactly what it is. It could be dangerous.’

  ‘Galo reached the last level. So did the others. I must get into Galo’s account.’

  ‘We don’t have much time. Do you have the password?’

  ‘There aren’t many possibilities. It won’t take me more than a few minutes to decipher it.’ Vera did not wait for Felix’s answer. She put her hand on his shoulder. It was her turn at the screen. She sat down while Felix observed her closely. In less than ten seconds Vera had the password.

  ‘I’m going in with Lark. Straight to level five.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ Felix handed her the control glove and the special sensor.

  Vera connected the access key and the projection card. Movement sensors received the first signal. She looked to her right, towards the only window in the room.

  ‘Felix, please, open the window.’

  The darkness outside could be sensed from the office flooded with light. The moon was not there.

  ‘Turn the light off.’

  The sensors already recognised every movement. Facial or bodily. Her mood and emotions would be simultaneously logged, informing the game every step of the way. The choice of events would then be set up at each stage according to frame of mind and points scored. She adjusted the glove. Not only would it allow her to run at high speed. It would also transmit tactile information.

  ‘rewotym.’ Vera contained herself as she pronounced the name. Galo had used that password countless times in her absence. The avatar which had led him to his death. On pressing Start the image emerged from the screen and covered the whole room in 3D. Vera was already inside the game. She was entering the alternative life Galo had created in his final months. The only one to which he had not given her access. Lark was a passionate character. Was it the real Galo expressing himself freely in a world where everything was possible? Total and at the same time inexistent risk. Lark had a physical strength equal to the passion of his spirit. Vera settled into that body to live out Galo’s hopes. To make it as far as Lark had.

  PART X

  The code had had a sudden effect like a final blow to the human psyche.

  Vera had reached the fourth level. She had managed to get inside the game and feel the force of something she could not define. Now she knew it was there. A destructive interference, erroneous messages. Vera was there to understand it all.

  Although Lark knew very well where to go, it was now no longer Galo who controlled him. Vera faced frighteningly unfamiliar territory. She kept telling herself that she must breathe steadily. The simplest of tasks now became difficult for Vera. She had to return to the basic principles she had known from birth when entering a realm where the slightest error could lead to her downfall.

  She was taken by surprise. On entering the fifth level, Lark took flight into his favourite scenario. The sheer terrain of the Dolomites. He would be facing the creatures and events which protected the chest containing the Holy Book. Vera was unfamiliar with Lark’s attributes. Finding out what they were as she went along was a dangerous process. Not only did she have to fine-tune his movements, speed and distances in flight. The imposing scenery was new to her and inhospitable. The game was about to start. She had seconds to get ready. At any moment the challenges would appear. She had just begun when she became aware of the first obstacle. Lark’s wings restricted the use of weapons and ammunition. Then something else became evident. In addition to being a neophyte at a new level, Vera’s inexperience and lack of knowledge about the avatar would not only reduce her chances of reaching catharsis, it would also make it very difficult to survive. Vera knew she had to bring in Clarissa. If she incorporated her as an additional player she would be able to substitute Galo’s unexplored environment for the familiar context of the Vatican.

  ‘Felix.’ Vera could no longer see him but she needed him.

  ‘Yes, Vera. I’m here.’

  ‘I’m going to need the other glove. Quick. I’m going to bring in my own avatar.’

  ‘You shouldn’t go in with multiple players if you’re the only user. If you’re not an advanced player…’

  ‘The glove!’ She had neither the time nor any way of explaining to Felix. Lark and Clarissa had to play together. It was their only chance.

  While Vera eluded the birds of prey swooping against Lark in his reconnaissance flight, Felix slipped onto her hand the control glove that would give Clarissa entry.

  ‘Thanks.’ Vera turned her head. She knew she was not alone.

  Not only had Clarissa never reached the fifth level. She did not know Lark nor the steep landscape he inhabited. The first contact with Lark would be vital. Any decision crucial for both of them. Vera regained confidence on seeing Clarissa at the summit of Mount Pelmo. There she was ready to join Lark in the task of overcoming any obstacle and reaching catharsis. On the other side of the mountain, Lark had outwitted the birds of prey and was preparing to seek out the cave in which the chest was kept. It was the perfect moment for them to meet. Once they had done so, Lark would fly with Clarissa to Vatican City.

  The game had not stopped. It was only Vera’s false impression, in her desire to materialise a dreamt up moment. Lark and Clarissa. A meeting. Seconds after bringing in her avatar she had not even seen the rocks rolling off the cliff and crashing at Clarissa’s feet. The roar of the earthquake which split open the rock into deep crevasses alerted her too late. Clarissa went over the cliff towards the bottom of the canyon like a wingless bird. Vera felt in her own body the inertia propelling Clarissa towards certain death. She managed to hold on to her seat struggling against the feeling of wanting to let go until she felt the force behind the tug which clutched at her belly. Lark held Clarissa’s hand to lift her up into a strong embrace and fly away.

  The encounter had not only been flawless. It had taken her breath away. Once settled into the flight, Vera familiarised herself with the possibilities she had at her fingertips. To be successful she had to learn and adapt quickly. The association between Lark and Clarissa began to work as Vera had hoped. While Lark flew over the terrain, Clarissa used the weapons familiar to Vera. Her experience at level four turned out to be more valuable than she had thought. If she adapted to the fifth level from the beginning, her confidence would be boosted and she would stay away from any unexpected threat the game might throw at her.

  Vera focused on getting them to the city intact. The blue of Lake Garda hardly compared to that of the Adriatic they would see to the east. If they kept a good altitude they would have a greater chance of collecting points using the capacity to fly, instead of having to battle against storms or fierce birds. The only danger they faced was air traffic. Clarissa alerted Lark to any movements from behind. Like children they enjoyed the aerodynamic excitement that Vera was fast learning to control. Passing over the Lombardy plains they joined the central spine of the Apennines. They flew over it at dangerous speed. The obstacles would become faster and heavier. These were no longer just tourist spacecraft, fighter or hypersonic airplanes. Space station waste, satellite debris or meteorites entering the atmosphere also conspired against them. To obliterate them on impact with no chance of survival. In Lark’s arms Clarissa filled Vera with astonishing confidence. For a few minutes she forgot about the importance of her task. They dodged aircraft, destroyed projectiles, defended themselves against unexpected mis
siles. Vera surrendered to the pleasure of the game. With Clarissa and Lark transporting her far away from the pressing reality. Taking her to that which was set in a virtual world. Where she had sensed she might have once arrived with Galo.

  Lark and Clarissa sealed their virtual commitment in flight. They established an essential link, confident they would reach the end together. They followed the Tiber like a fertile serpent to the gates of Rome. Vera felt a pull in the glove at the same time that Lark and Clarissa unexpectedly changed direction. It had not been Vera who had diverted the course to the east. Lark pointed in the distance. They had reached the place Clarissa had earlier whispered in his ear. She held his arm while they came closer to allow Vera to see. They flew over the area hoping that Vera would recognise it straightaway. Like all virtual locations, the game projected the original landscape, free from mechanised intrusions, the way not even Vera had known it. Though it looked different, without the white needles or the panels which surrounded it, Vera knew the place. Lark’s Wood and its lake looked even more splendid from the air. If their purpose for taking Vera to this meaningful forest was for encouragement before embarking on the last stage of the game, her smile proved they had succeeded. Clarissa and Lark felt in their own bodies the intimacy Vera retained in her memory. When Lark moved closer to Clarissa to kiss her, Vera forced herself to come back to the pressing moment and regained control to take them back to Rome.

  Once they completed the flight stage they had the highest score. Clarissa had been empowered. The fifth level was no longer forbidden to her.

  Lark was in an environment he was not made for. In the Quo Vadis church Clarissa covered his wings with a black cape. He must not attract attention. She knew the guards’ tricks and the city’s traps. Above all, she knew the hidden corners, the agendas and itineraries of the place. Her knowledge was valuable but not sufficient. The fifth level had new elements. The gates to Vatican City would not open until they passed the ultimate trial. The greatest challenge of all.