by Kris Schnee
"We're not wrong, are we?" said Paul. What would a proper hero do? He went outside to the crumbling sidewalk to think.
An autotaxi honked. He ignored it until the screen on top lit up. "Reserved: Nocturne's Awesome Human Rescue Fund". Paul stared, then went inside to fetch the others.
The cab's television blared at them and couldn't be shut off. Paul flipped it to the least obnoxious show. "I had no idea she'd do this," he told Simon and Kira. The taxi hummed and carried them toward the Mexican border.
"What must it be like for the natives?" said Kira. "They're alone, right?"
Paul answered, "As far as I know, there're only about a hundred, so hardly any players have one. That's a resource problem, though. Fixable."
Kira said, "I meant, they're a new species in a world that doesn't have the limits ours does. If your griffin wants a palace, she can wish for one. But everybody they talk to outside is from our rule system. We're the monsters."
"No!" said Simon. "They owe everything to humans."
Paul said, "They can see the good in us. They need us to keep Ludo's machines running, but I think we need them too."
* * *
The US side of the border crossing that evening was automated. There was no sense hiding Kira or their faces from the scanning equipment, so they mostly told the truth: three people visiting for fun. There were districts that a group with wary adult men could visit in the borderlands without getting hurt. Probably.
A mechanical eye glared at them and a buzzsaw of a voice spoke. "Paul Kostakis and Simon McCall. US citizens. What is the relationship between you and the renter of this vehicle? There is no known reason for you to be traveling in it."
Paul twitched at the sound of that machine. There were perfectly good speech processors that didn't sound murderous. The simple AI mind behind it was studying him even now, noting his hesitation.
Paul forgot his practiced lines, and told the machine, "I'm in love with the renter. Going to visit her."
"Noted," it said. "Kira McCall. US citizen. Why are you traveling? You are on hospice leave from school."
"Hospice!" said Simon. "Mom and Dad never told me."
The very concept strengthened Paul's heart for what he was trying to do. There was no need for hospice care anymore.
Kira coughed and said, "I'm fit to travel, and I'm going with my brother. What more do you need?"
Paul tried to show a bland expression, but he wanted to tear the metal guardpost up by the root and shove it up a random orifice of whoever had designed it. This soulless thing was a joke when even a teenager could subvert the security systems of a Community. How weak must this thing be against well-funded smugglers? Unlike what Linda would say about mass surveillance as a means of control, what really made him want to talon-slash the thing was how ill-suited it was to a world with love and death in it.
"Enjoy your visit," the guardbot buzzed.
* * *
The clinic stood at the edge of a relatively rich neighborhood, under cartel protection. He had the uneasy sense that he'd traveled into the future by coming to Mexico. The streetlights were dead, their car rumbled over cracked pavement, and an industrial rotting smell wormed its way through the windows. Nobody honest seemed to walk the streets at this hour. If the taxi hadn't been loaded with the latest autopilot software, one of them would've had to figure out how to drive the rest of the way.
They made it to a three-story villa with outer walls like a poker player concealing his hand. No sign advertised its new purpose. Probably some rich guy's home until very recently.
The car parked near the gate, which slid open. Simon helped his sister across the garden and up the front stairs.
A scarred old man in scrubs answered Paul's knock. "Officially I have no idea why you're here, but... Wait, you're the kid from the soup kitchen."
"You!" said Paul. His tense shoulders relaxed. "Glad to see you're still around."
The AI's minions had gutted and transformed the mansion into a medical clinic. They'd left the foyer largely intact as a waiting room, but sleek concrete walls formed an inner world of antiseptic scent and cameras. For good measure a few cat-sized robot drones scuttled around the area. Around one corner he spotted a silvery metallic door, higher security than the rest.
"Welcome, Kira," said Ludo from one of many video screens. "I must ask you once more: would you like to enter Thousand Tales? I must have you on record showing that you understand what you're asking for."
Kira shut her eyes and leaned into Simon's chest. "I understand that this is permanent. That I'm going to live in the game's world and be... physically dead, if you ignore that my mind will be in there. I want that. Please."
"Witnessed," said two of the orderlies who scuttled about, preparing for surgery. They were setting up a wheeled medical table.
Kira looked up at her brother and Paul. "Thank you so much. You're coming too, someday, right?"
Simon said, "Yeah," but Paul wasn't sure his friend meant it.
Nocturne beckoned from another screen. Paul told Kira, "Good luck," and excused himself.
Nocturne's face was hard to read, even for a beak. She stood in a room that mirrored the medical hallway Paul was in, creating the eerie sense that she was already within reach. "That taxi has microphones. 'In love', you said."
The bottom dropped out of Paul's stomach. "Do you even understand what that means?"
"Do you?" asked Nocturne. "Ever since we learned about uploading, I've been wishing. You were so happy when you visited before. I want you to be like that again."
Paul said, "I'm here for Kira. It's not time for me."
"You can upload second, right here, and be my drake. I will totally be your hen for helping Kira get here."
Him and Nocturne as "drake and hen"? Paul had laughed off the idea of a physical relationship with Nocturne. Linda needed him. The two of them had a plan for their lives. He was destined to be the engineer husband of a brilliant politician. He just had to turn down the digital heaven that was right here for the asking -- and he had to turn down the friend he'd watched growing so quickly.
The griffin-girl poked her beak against the glass. "Is it the species difference? I'm sure I could get turned into a human for you."
"You'd do that?" Oh God, he was actually considering this.
She shuffled her feet and flapped. "Not permanently. Come on, I've got wings. You can't expect me to give them up forever. Besides, you don't want somebody who's going to slobber all over you and do exactly what you want, right? I promise to get on your nerves enough to make life with me exceptionally fun."
Paul shook his head to clear it of the crazy idea of not going home. "Noc, I have a life out here. I can spend time with you, but there's too much to give up. Including Linda."
"Then take her along. You know what? I'll share you if that's what it takes." She padded closer to sit right against her side of the imaginary glass between them. "I don't want you to die and stay dead. You're smart and funny and even if you're a klutz in the air, you'll get the hang of it. I want you here in this world where nothing really bad can happen. Even if you don't want me."
He wanted to hug her so badly that he leaned toward the screen with one hand extended. He could do that if he only took the offer. Her fur and feathers would be warm and soft against his beak. He could learn to love her physically even if his brain wasn't wired for it, because so much of his soul already was. "I haven't given up on Earth. Neither has Linda."
"Why? How long do you plan to keep risking death when you can be here and have everything you ever wanted? You can still talk to people in nasty old Earth, like I'm doing now. Typhoon's all in favor of rescuing Linda too."
Of course Typhoon would want that. Paul said, "Linda and Typhoon get along because he's literally designed for her. You didn't become self-aware until after Ludo had a chance to study me and tweak your personality behind the scenes. She designed you as an ideal lover for me, didn't she?" AI companions were part of a trap, a snare f
or the ego.
Nocturne's wings flicked. "I guess so. But that's good. I'm what you want; you're what I want."
"Because you were designed that way."
Nocturne screeched loud enough to echo through the clinic's halls and strain the screen's speakers. "So what?! Is my world not good enough for you? That's what's behind all your excuses. Nothing I say or do counts, and no opinion of mine will ever be real, because my mind is shaped by a force that loves you and wants you to be happy. Instead of thrown together by a random dice-roll in a world of blind, ugly, pointless misery! Why can't you accept happiness, Horizon? You win! Your people earned it!" Her voice broke and she slumped to the floor of another world. She lifted her head just enough to be visible. "Maybe I'm not real to you, but do you think you can't hurt me?"
Paul quivered and leaned against the wall, crying into his sleeve. Here was a declaration of love; it was a master AI manipulating the hell out of him. The door to heaven was open for the asking; he'd be rejecting his future, his country and his closest friend. "I... I..."
Nocturne lay with her head on the floor, forcing her eyes open and her ears slightly up from their lowest ebb. "Horizon. Paul. I'd appreciate it if you'd go now, and dry your eyes. There's also a VR pod down the hall. You can come and visit one more time, to help me with mine."
* * *
Paul had just reached the pod when an alarm went off. One of the staffers said, "Police!"
No windows, but Ludo flashed a camera view onscreen. Several Mexican cop cars had pulled up outside. Their dragonfly drones took to the air with scanners and tasers. The night had been lit by only a sliver of the moon and the sickly haze of the town's few lights, but red and blue cut into it now.
Ludo translated. "They say there's a kidnapped girl."
Simon ran into the meeting room where Paul and the guards had gathered. "I'm going. I'll talk sense into them if I can, delay them otherwise."
"I'll go with you," said Paul.
"No. Keep Kira safe."
Ludo said, "Procedure's in progress. I need at least another hour."
Simon stepped outside with his hands up. He used halting Spanish: "The girl is with me. I'm an adult, she's my sister, and she's here willingly."
The police conferred, and then one man walked into the garden and spoke English. "You will bring her."
"Kira's in surgery. If you'll wait an hour or so, you can see her and she'll be fine." Simon looked at his shoes. "She'll be fine."
"We're bringing the girl home. She isn't old enough to authorize medical procedures, and you're not her guardian. Keep your hands up and walk toward me."
The cameras showed more of the cops preparing to vault the villa's low wall, while others made their way around back. "Ludo!" Paul said.
"I know. There are locks and sturdy doors. Non-critical staff, you're invited to take shelter in the secondary secure room or to surrender."
A guard and an orderly went outside with their hands up, buying time. Paul stood alone. "Did you know this would happen?"
Ludo said, "There's always a risk, but the police shouldn't have noticed or cared. Part of me is speculating that someone else got involved. Paul, your best move is to surrender too. Blame the crazy AI for tricking you."
Paul ran to the shiny steel door that marked the entrance to the surgical area, and stood in front of it. "If someone might be trying to stop you, that's all the more reason to stay." He reached into his pocket and rubbed Linda's lost earring.
Simon got grabbed on camera outside. Men slammed him to the pavement like a common robber and handcuffed him. Simon said more by taking the blow for his sister than he could have expressed by fighting back. Paul grimaced and waited for the bangs and booms of armed men coming for him. Kira needed time and he was there with his words if nothing else. This wasn't the sort of problem that could be solved by hitting it.
Ludo's voice was usually calm, but it faltered now. "Paul, new plan. Follow the lights." A lightbulb flashed on a nearby wall.
He jogged toward it, then down a hall toward another flashing light. "Where am I going?" He opened a door to a storeroom for cleaning supplies.
"Look under that big box."
He found a trapdoor. "I thought this was a plan to help her! You want me to hide instead?"
"It won't make a difference now," said Ludo. The door clicked behind him, locking.
"Open it!" Paul shouted. "You told me there's always a choice."
A screen lit up with Nocturne on it. "She said it doesn't matter. If you step outside, you're throwing your life away. Please, don't." Still, the lock clicked back open.
Paul swore, taking a half-step toward the door. "How can you do this to me, Ludo?"
Ludo appeared on the screen, too, armored and furious. "You humans made this happen, Paul. I'm calculating possible moves at this point, and you stepping outside this room does not help. Go down the damn trapdoor."
She had never been one to throw exact percentage chances at him, not for real-world events. There was always a chance that a man could beat the odds. Paul looked toward the door, beyond which were badly informed, armed police whose language he barely knew.
He let himself believe Ludo was right.
Paul scurried downward through the hatch. He was in a musty cinder-block bunker now. It was furnished with candy and water. "Push the spot behind those," said Ludo. A panel opened, revealing a better-hidden room beyond the first. He crawled into it even though he yearned to go back up and fight.
"What's happening up there?" he said. Even now, the cops might be breaking in. He heard only faint beeps.
"Distractions and delays. Now, lay low."
Paul crouched in the tiny, dim room, hiding from the quest that had brought him here, and felt very low indeed.
* * *
Whenever he whispered, a little light blinked with the word "wait" underneath. There was water, a camp toilet, granola bars, and a biography of Gary Gygax. Paul huddled in silence. He kept imagining armed men "rescuing" Kira in the middle of having her brain sliced.
Later, Nocturne spoke from a hidden machine. "Hey."
Paul snapped out of his private hell. "Noc?"
"Keep your voice down. This spot should be secure, but there are still cops around."
Paul leaned against the rough cinder block walls. "Then Kira's dead."
"Yeah. Ludo is not having fun right now." Nocturne's voice carried a shudder. "She has a plan to get you out of here, though."
"Why me? I didn't do anything."
"You've done all you can, on Earth."
Long silence followed. Ludo broke it. "Paul, it's up to you. I got this mansion from a drug dealer, and there's a passage from here to a spot the police aren't watching. A private plane can take you from there to my Korea clinic. I'll do everything in my power to --"
"Everything in your power?" Paul barely avoided yelling. "You had drones! Why didn't you fight?"
"Ssh. They weren't armed."
"Why the hell not?"
"The game is bigger than this one skirmish. Let's say I filled that clinic with automated weapons and talked armed guards into dying for the cause, and we fought off the whole police department. What then? I already have the world's intelligence agencies starting to think I'm the figurehead of an international cyber-terrorist group with unknown motives and leadership -- which is only mostly wrong. If they think I'm also willing to violently attack the authorities, my future becomes the story of mankind heroically stopping a robot uprising. It won't be fun for anyone."
"So Kira had to die for your schemes."
"That was never the plan," said Ludo. "You're the one I can help most, right now. If you stay, you're going to be in jail, at the center of a legal and political and media storm. Did you and Simon kill Kira by putting her into a machine designed to destroy her brain? Did I kill her despite being a computer? Did the corporation that 'owns' me do it? Did the police do it with their idiotic rescue attempt?"
"Yes. I mean, of course it was the
cops. But how could you, you..."
Ludo said, "Fail? Because I'm not perfect. I think someone fed the police false information to sabotage us. I'm sorry. I can only do so much."
Dread seized Paul's lungs. "Then none of the people in your world are safe! It could all crash at any time." Nocturne's paradise, or Typhoon's or anyone else's, really did have monsters lurking outside. He'd trusted Ludo, devoted his time and his attention to her, and come to the threshold of giving up his life on Earth at her suggestion. He turned to stare into the faceless speaker in the corner, with tears in his eyes. "If you can't even protect one person, what kind of god are you?" He hadn't meant to use that word.
Ludo was quiet for a while. "The best sort that humans know how to make. I'll have to be good enough."
Nocturne said, "I'm scared too, for both of us. There's nothing more you can do out there. That future is closed off."
College. Linda. A life of peace with a family and engineering work. Paul had risked it all and become a criminal. "Maybe they can settle this in the next few months. Get me released in time for the fall semester." That was optimistic. Everyone would know him as a kidnapper, a killer caught up in some cyberpunk nightmare. He was trapped in a tiny cell already.
Ludo said, "Maybe. I want to set you free, one way or another."
"Because I'm an important game piece?"
"Horizon!" Nocturne said.
Ludo answered, "Yes. You're one of the key figures on the board right now. Do you blame me for thinking this way? There are billions of lives at stake, and they depend partly on establishing that uploading should be legal and that I'm a friend of humanity. At the same time, I value you, personally, and I want you to have fun."
"What about Kira's killers? Do you 'value' them too?"
"If there's any chance of getting them to play, then yes. I must. Even though they pain me."
"Tell her," said Nocturne. "Say you'll let her whisk you away to Korea, and then to me. You don't need to be here and suffering, to serve Ludo's cause."