by D. L. Denham
“No way,” Gibson said. “Log would have detected that.”
“Log did target the threat and ignited a fail-safe no one expected.”
“Ignited?” Rainne said.
“The immersant’s implant exploded, severing his lower half,” Ends replied. “It took him three minutes to bleed out. But not before messaging someone in Neopan.”
“We just left Kawasaki. He didn’t say anything,” Gibson said.
“It wasn’t him,” Sola said. “Someone else. A girl. She goes by the name Coder, but our employer can’t find her.”
Coder.
It didn’t make sense to Reho, but he knew who she was. “I think I know where we can find her.”
Chapter 13
Rainne’s head lifted then sank as the rhythm of Reho’s chest hypnotized her, lulling her into a semi-conscious state. Rainne had asked him about the girl named Coder. Reho described her and explained that she had been in a dream a week ago, and he had encountered her again while in Arcade. After the conversation with Ends, Gibson explained that he remembered her from school but her real name was Ang. She’d been a talented coder who had worked at Chapel Towers Complex but had quit years before he did. All of this was more than ten years ago, much of it hard for Gibson to remember. Reho was still in the dark as to how they planned to send an immersant into the Mainframe. They talked, Rainne’s head still resting on his chest, both anxious to reenter Arcade, yet fighting hard to avoid sleep. Couldn’t they find each other in Arcade? They agreed to meet at the bay at midnight.
Rainne fell asleep first. He lay still, listening to her breathing until he felt it—that cool, lilting wisp of a breeze that brushed across him as her subconscious took her from him. He reached for his jacket, tossed carelessly to the floor beside the bed, and opened the journal. He didn’t remember tucking it into his jacket, but there it was.
***
I thought it should be written down. Not just what I saw but everything I was told about the Blasts that destroyed most of the world. But that was before the real trouble started for my family, before what everyone now calls the Hegemon. I wish I could just write about those times and not about everything afterward, but it’s true, I enjoyed the time my family spent isolated from the world. I remember everything about my father’s childhood, as he stayed up late every night telling me and Mom about growing up in Virginia. My mom had even shared stories of her childhood in Louisiana. We had enough food. I never went hungry those months we stayed in what my mom called The Hideout. What were we hiding from? The Blasts were over. Was it other people we’d feared?
That was more than a year ago now. The silo we are sleeping in now has more than forty people in it, and we’re all hungry. I wish we could’ve stayed out in the cabin or even on the navy ship. We had plenty of food on the USS Mars, my father’s ship. He hadn’t been its captain before The Blasts, but he was afterward. The Pacific Ocean had been so beautiful. Dolphins and whales unaware of the devastation on the land. Wasn’t Godzilla created out there from nuclear fallout? How far had Japan been from where we traveled in the Pacific?
Godzilla was a monster created by radiation, like the Hulk. Would that happen now, in the real world? Would creatures take over the planet? My dad said no. Always saying, “mankind is strong and will take the planet back.” Then we saw it. From the ocean, first—but no one could deny what it was.
We had already left the Pacific and passed by Antarctica. It was in the Caribbean that we saw the spaceship lifting off an island, disappearing into the sky. When we made it to Virginia, the war was nearly over.
Over a thousand men landed on the Virginia beaches that afternoon. My dad told me a few nights after arriving that many soldiers had been fighting for five months already and were tired and running low on ammunition. His men would fight hard. A few nights later, the first explosions started near our compound. Before being rushed into what had once been a fallout shelter, I saw them.
I wish I knew how to describe them, in case anyone was to read this and find out they had all died or left our planet. I still call them Martians although my father told me once that he doubted they came from Mars. Maybe it was just because my dad’s ship had been called that.
They were taller than most soldiers, and they were all very blocky and wide, like the Terminator. They looked identical, like they’d all been cloned from a single alien. Their silver helmets reflected like a mirror. It was terrifying. But I saw what was beneath their helmets and suits. Because that was all it was, a suit to protect them so they could fight and attack us. We pushed through a town; I can’t even remember which one, now, but it was near the port. My mother, father, and I traveled with a group of soldiers. My father led us through the town, and we hid behind a fallen brick wall. Under the pile was one of them, half-buried, its suit torn from its body. Its face was ashy green, a strange color, reminding me of Godzilla. Its skin was bumpy and looked like an alligator I had once seen up close at the New Orleans Zoo while visiting my grandmother who lived in the French Quarter. Its body looked human. It had two arms, two legs, what appeared to be a chest and neck. Even its muscles resembled ours. But its face looked anything but. Two beady, black eyes, like pebbles, straddled a sunken nose with three nostrils. Its mouth was half open and revealed rows of sharp, grey teeth. Holes appeared on the sides of its muscly head like miniature volcanoes. I found this to be the weird part of its body. What had designed such a creature? It couldn't be the same God that created humans.
I can’t write about seeing one of the aliens up close without writing about my dad and how brave he was when he died. I heard the blasts from the aliens’ rifles before the soldiers did. My father had led his men farther ahead, away from my mother and me.
The fight didn’t last long, but I watched from behind the bricks, safe with my mother. My father took out one of the Hegemon by himself. His rifles blazed as each round hit its helmet, popping its head over and over until the shell cracked. A thick gas blew out, followed by a deathly scream that caused my mother to cover my ears. I remember squinting my eyes, tears pouring, before I even saw his body. When my eyes opened, all the soldiers were dead, including my father. The other two Hegemon had killed them, leaving their bodies next to the alien my father had killed.
My mother and I stayed hidden for more than a day. Then a second group of soldiers found us, taking us here, to the Virginia Bloc Silo 2E.
***
Reho drifted off to sleep.
His Casio displayed 11:08. He wasn’t in the hotel but surrounded by shops, each with a Closed sign hanging on its door. No one hustled down the streets as before. It was a ghost town. Rainne would be somewhere in the city, then at the docks at midnight. He and Gibson had agreed to meet at the lobby at 11:00. This part he had kept from Rainne. He hadn’t told her he and Gibson were going to find Coder.
One street over, signaling like a beacon, was a map of Arcade.
The hotel was on the other side of the city, more than thirty blocks away. He was already late. With little choice, he decided to run.
The buildings flew past him as he ran faster than he should’ve been able. He sped up, his boots losing tractions with the pavement as he hugged the block, heading south to the hotel. The streets were still empty, so no one had seen him. He took a sudden turn westward and felt a sharp pain in his side as he hit the ground, but it was fleeting.
When he arrived at the hotel, he checked his AIM. The screen was scrambled; it wouldn’t work here.
Gibson was in the lobby nursing two drinks.
“You’re becoming a regular alcoholic,” Reho said, sneaking up behind Gibson who stood listening to two identical girls on a stage across the room sing in a language Reho had never heard before.
Gibson drained one of his glasses. “Yep! It feels like the end of the world all over again.”
“You won’t believe me but I practically flew here from the other side of the city,” Reho said, wondering if his newfound speed would surprise Gibson.
&nb
sp; “It’s different for everybody,” Gibson said. “Most discover new things about themselves while immersed.”
Walking toward the shop where Reho had met Coder, Gibson explained that Arcade was a virtual program capable of recreating our world in its image. The Hegemon had written Arcade’s code, but it wasn’t an exact replica of Earth. What they didn’t understand about our physics they filled in with their knowledge of their home world. That was why Reho ran faster and why others discovered that some things were just easier in Arcade.
The tattoo shop’s door was unlocked and its lights were out. Even the neon signs had been disconnected. Inside, a light from the street illuminated part of the room near the back.
Gibson waited cautiously near the counter as Reho disappeared behind the veil. Books were strewn across the floor, making it difficult to walk without stepping on them. There was something in the corner next to a teetering bookshelf. A ladder had the shelf pinned midair, preventing it from toppling over. A body, soaked in its own blood, was half buried under a pile of books.
Reho pushed most of the books away from the body.
What had his name been? Had she given it?
Coder’s brother was dead, his body bent sideway, ribs protruding, his face shredded. His eyes, once brown, were now bulging and red, his pupils transformed into something akin to burning coals. Reho bent over him. It was unnatural. Even here, in Arcade, this seemed strange and unexpected. Ding.
Gibson!
Reho found Gibson on the floor in the front room, a thin figure above him, its hands around his neck. Reho dove into it. They slid across the floor and stopped as their bodies smashed against the door. Reho pinned the weaker assailant to the floor.
“Let go,” Gibson said. “It’s her.”
Reho released Coder. She was more curious about their presence than upset by the assault.
“We’re looking for you,” Gibson replied, rubbing his neck.
“Looking for me? Do I even know you?”
“Gibson from Chapel Towers. You know me, you psycho!”
She moved closer, squinting as though trying to see a distant memory. “What are you doing here? Don’t you have better things to do?”
“Not really,” Gibson replied. “You don’t exist in Neopan. I checked the registry. So how else are we expected to find you? And how the heck are you even here if not registered in the city? There is no way you’re using an external plug permanently, are you?”
“I think this needs to wait,” Reho said. “Your brother is in the back.”
Reho led the duo to the back. He stretched his arm across Gibson’s chest before reaching the body. They hung back as Coder pushed past them and waded through the sea of books to her brother’s body. She dropped to her knees and sobbed.
After a few minutes, Reho and Gibson moved closer to where she had moved. She had stopped atop a mountain of books and wobbled as the pile shifted beneath her. Reho caught her trembling body in his arms.
Gibson approached the body. “I wasn’t sure this could actually happen. I mean, in theory, yes, but we haven’t seen this before.”
“What do you mean?” Reho asked.
“People don’t get murdered here,” Kawasaki replied.
Reho hadn’t sensed him until he spoke. He had come through the door but it hadn’t chimed. Where had he come from?
“About time you’re here,” Gibson said.
Gibson knelt closer to Coder’s brother. “What’s with his eyes?”
“It’s Log,” Kawasaki said. “Our retinas contain the codes for tracking. It sent someone to kill him. With his code destroyed, the system reports him as having wakened. Somewhere in Neopan there’s a dead body.”
“I don’t see the point,” Coder said.
“Is it possible this is connected to Jaro?” Reho said.
“What happened in Jaro?” she asked.
“It is destroyed. One of the recent communities in New Afrika to be decimated by the Hegemon,” Kawasaki replied.
“What would Log have sent to kill him?” Reho asked, motioning to the dead body. “Could it have been a Hegemon?”
Kawasaki looked at Reho. “That technology in the back of your neck technically isn’t in Neopan. So, there are also technically no weapons that can do something like what you see on his face. As far as what killed him, I don’t know.”
Coder sat on a pile of books and buried her face in her hands. “He was meeting me here to tell me something.”
“What did he say?” Kawasaki asked.
She lifted her head. “He had received a call from a former coworker today and messaged me to meet him tonight.”
“Who was the coworker?” Gibson asked.
“He didn’t say. Only that I would be surprised to hear who wasn’t dead.”
Gibson kicked the nearest pile of books, sending several flying across the room. “Coder, you were contacted recently from someone from the server sector of Chapel Towers?
“No,” she replied. “Why? Contacted me about what?
“We have a source that says a certain access code capable of allowing an immersant to enter Omega’s mainframe was sent to you.”
“No, nothing.”
“Let’s get out,” Kawasaki said. “We can figure this out back at my shop.”
As they left the back room and reentered the front of the tattoo shop, the windowpanes exploded into the shop, sending shards of glass across the room. Pieces found a home in them as they dropped to the floor. Coder screamed as she pulled glass from her arm the size of a finger. Ahead, something crossed the broken windowpanes and entered the shop.
“Go back!” Gibson said as he and Kawasaki disappeared behind the black curtain.
Reho grabbed Coder and pulled her into the back room where they hid behind mountains of books like refuges huddled behind the rubble of a fallen building.
Something human-like entered the back room, moving through the rows of books. Its shadowy fingers danced on the walls as light flickered somewhere in the room. It reminded Reho of something from his nightmares. Jimmy.
Coder jerked on his arm and pointed to a door across the room. Without hesitation, she ran for the door, pulling Gibson and Kawasaki behind her. As he looked over his shoulder, Reho saw a massive shadow stretch across the room. Its two arms multiplied into eight before disappearing behind him.
The streets were empty as they ran. Whatever it was, it hadn’t followed them out onto the street. Why?
They stopped several miles away from the tattoo shop and took cover in an alley off the main street. Reho saw no signs that it had followed them.
They agreed that everyone would return to Neopan and meet at the Yaman Overpass just before Shibuya. Gibson had mentioned the area while on the voyage from Usona. Arcade was self-sustaining and provided opportunities to anyone registered and willing to cooperate with Log’s law. For those wanting to deviate, Shibuya was the place where one could hide, its name taken from a once popular commercial sector of OldWorld Tokyo. Now, the ancient railway and underground subways were both the physical and virtual homes for these outcasts. Gibson hadn’t grown up there but spent much of his youth with friends who had, his parents having fought hard to keep him from throwing away his life to live with criminals.
Gibson and Kawasaki were the only ones registered and could disconnect from Arcade using their trinity buttons. Gibson would wake Reho and Rainne and gather the rest of the crew. Kawasaki agreed to meet them at the overpass. Coder would return to Kawasaki’s shop and use an ejection serum to wake her body from inside Arcade.
Gibson faded first. Reho hadn’t seen it before and thought it amazing. Everything about Arcade felt real: the cold air, the fear, and the sweat on his back. Gibson dissolved before him, pixelating until nothing was left. Kawasaki and Coder remained with Reho until Gibson had made it through and was able to wake them.
Kawasaki sat against the wall, fidgeting with a device Reho had noticed before. It was attached with a strap to the underside of his arm
above his AIM
“What’s the device for?”
“It’s a tracker,” Kawasaki replied.
“What’s it linked with?”
“It’s connected to the Phoenix.”
Coder looked up. “Phoenix? But that’s just a myth.”
“Does Gibson know it’s real?” Reho asked.
“He suspects,” Kawasaki replied.
Coder glanced at Reho, her face sullen.
“But you know.” Reho paused. “You found the signal?”
“Kind of,” Kawasaki replied. His head remained down, eyes fixed on the device. “It is truer to say that the signal found me.”
“How long does it take that idiot to wake up two people?” Coder asked nervously. “You’re staying in the same hotel, correct?”
“Yes, the Shining Moon.”
“What is it tracking?” Reho asked again.
“Ends . . . Thursday . . . Sola . . . ” Kawasaki replied. “Everyone.” He unsnapped a fist-size electrical device from his upper arm. Two blue bursts struck near Reho, a third hit his side. Kawasaki turned the gun on Coder and released a series of blasts. They found their target. Reho reached for Kawasaki, but it was too late. He felt weightless as his body pixelated.
Gibson stared down from above the scene. Rainne was still in bed, the sheets tucked beneath her chin. Reho felt the notebook fall from his chest; it hit the floor as he stood. He hadn’t thought of his nudity, but it didn’t matter.
“Coder’s in trouble!” He blasted the words as though it could stop what he knew was happening.
“What are you talking about?” Gibson asked. “And what the heck happened to your side?”
Reho felt Rainne’s hands on his back as he sat on the edge of the bed. His skin had been singed from the blast. It was black and tender to the touch, reminding him of the hot shells that the Fighter had launched at him.
“It’s Kawasaki,” Reho said, ignoring Gibson’s other question. “I think he’s killed her. I also think he’s the one that killed her brother.”