The game lobby materialised around her. It seemed as if the League had lost its standing against Kohonro, but the season wasn’t even halfway through, so anything could’ve happened. Checking the list of her mates, she found Zender, Bibi, and Ivano, but from Gus’s list, Arcelia was missing. That would have to do.
She entered the realm, and this time found herself at the helm of a Fegora cruiser.
‘Pinch to Jibisi-6245,’ she said.
‘Yes, ma’am,’ said the first officer—an NPC like the rest of her crew—and the navigator punched in the coordinates. While they travelled, she sent a message to everyone on Gus’s list to ask them to join her around Jibisi, and to find out anyone knew of Arcelia’s whereabouts.
Soon Zender hailed her on the video.
‘On screen.’
‘Good to see you, Xaonjoie,’ said a short-haired Andron man with a nose ring. Behind him, a number of coloured bulbs flickered over a dark background. ‘What’s up with this expedition? I didn’t see it on the roster.’
‘I’m afraid I don’t know. Santa5k asked me to gather you, Bibi, Wonaic and Arcelia, and go check out something on Jibisi-6245. Would you have any idea?’
He shook his head, and then grinned. ‘Sounds great, Santa5k is a legend!’
‘So, you’re up for it?’
‘I’m game. Race you to Jibisi!’
He cut the line. Just then Evie realised she’d forgotten to ask about Arcelia. Perhaps it wasn’t that important. If she got everyone else—Bibi had pinged back; she was good, and Wonaic too; he was already close to Jibisi—they’d cover what Gus had intended.
Her ship came out from the pinch in the Jiba-6240 system, and the navigator steered the ship towards the rocky planet Jibisi-6245.
Soon enough, four landers floated, like four boats, side-by-side on the water exactly above the pole of Jibisi-6245. Evie stood on the deck of hers, wearing an environment suit, just like Bibi, Wonaic, and Zender on their landers. She gave a signal, and together they jumped into the purple water.
The water had a strong buoyancy, but with her suit’s thrusters, she was able to dive. Together, the four streamed head-first deeper and deeper, past the pixmin, a hive-creature that organised itself in a matrix-like dotwork covering most of the underwater realm. Beside the pixmin, there wasn’t any other life, which was only to be expected considering they consumed most other creatures wherever they dwelled.
Evie confirmed the coordinates in her head-up display and adjusted her direction slightly. Then, the sea floor emerged and a gleaming metal plate became visible.
‘That must be it.’
‘What is it?’ Bibi asked.
‘Classic Santa5k,’ Zender said.
‘Let’s go and see.’
She turned around and landed feet-first on the metal plate that was about three metres-by-three metres, then engaged her grab boots. Bibi dropped at her side, then Wonaic in front of her, and then Zender.
‘So, what do we do now?’
‘Get any readings?’
Zender shook his head. ‘Nothing. Seems the system’s not rendering anything below the plate.’
‘Perhaps we should just wait for something to come to us, then?’
The rugged sea floor continued far in every direction with nothing of note, and the sensors confirmed the same. The only thing was the endless matrix of pixmin above her.
‘There’s nothing here,’ Wonaic said.
‘Are you sure this is where Santa5k wanted us?’ Bibi asked.
‘Yeah, feels odd.’ Evie wondered if she had understood him correctly. A cold tingle up her spine accompanied the realisation that this could have been a hoax. ‘But if you’re saying it’s classic Santa5k—’
A round hole emerged in the metal plate between them. It seemed to go down deep into darkness.
‘What do you reckon?’
‘Didn’t you just say it isn’t rendering anything below the plate?’
‘I did,’ Wonaic said, waving his hand over the hole. ‘It is still the case.’
‘I’m going in,’ Zender said.
Evie cried, ‘Wait—’ but Zender was already going in, head-first.
‘How is it?’ she asked.
‘Looks all right—’
‘Zender? Zender!’
There was no reply.
Evie looked at Bibi and Wonaic. ‘Zender, you there?’
No reply.
‘It doesn’t look good.’
‘Maybe it’s a trap,’ Bibi said. ‘Zender?’
Evie had no time to think what had happened to Zender, because they were suddenly sucked into the hole at a vertigo-inducing speed.
Evie blinked and found herself standing in a room that resembled a turned-off presence room: grey walls with a matrix of black lines and a control panel by the door. Bibi, Wonaic, and Zender were all there, like Evie, standing in their environment suits and looking around, dumbfounded.
‘How can we be…?’
‘We’re still in the game. No, I can’t open the menu.’
‘What’s going on? Is this real or is this the game?’
The door swooshed open, getting everyone’s attention. In walked a square-jawed, wide-smiling poster boy, Santa5k.
‘We’re in the game,’ Evie said. Gus didn’t look like that in real life.
‘Well,’ Santa5k said, ‘technically what you’re experiencing is not in the game. I captured you onto my servers.’
‘Wha—?’
‘I’m sorry, it’s the only way I could get you somewhere where we can talk in private. This place is running on the same servers I’ve farmed in Spit City and mirrored throughout the Dawn space. It’s a separate instance from the game. The actual game’s logs will see you all taking a bio break.’
‘What’s behind that door?’ Bibi said.
Santa5k chuckled. ‘Just a small staging room. It’s even blander than this one! But hey, this was a good effect, wasn’t it?’
Murmurs. Last time Evie had seen Gus was at Marc’s compound, when she and Naido had escaped. She stepped forward. ‘Is Shosana OK?’
Santa5k nodded. ‘She is, for now. But this is bigger. It took me a long time to get into Marc Puissance’s crew. I had to do it in secret—’
Wonaic coughed. ‘Sorry, mate, I’ve no idea what you are talking about.’
‘Which is perfectly understandable. I was just getting into it, but the main thing is that it’s not about the game. We need to do certain things to prevent something happening from outside the game.’
‘You lost me,’ Wonaic said. ‘Are we talking about a hacker?’
‘You could say so. Momentum 6 is the biggest and most accurate representation of the universe. The people I’m with have plans to take over Momentum 6 for its massive computational power.’
Evie wasn’t so sure she understood what he was saying, but nodded along.
‘Like a hostile takeover?’
‘More like a break-in and fortify. I know a way to stop it, but I need your help.’
‘What’s the real-real world implication?’ Bibi said.
‘Well.’ Santa5k paused, as if carefully considering his next words. ‘I trust you have seen the news about the sudden appearance of black discs?’
Everyone nodded except Zender. He said, ‘I don’t follow the news. What is it?’
‘One day, not long ago, a massive number of strange black discs appeared all over the Dawn space. It’s a preparation for a coup.’
Zender bobbed his head slowly as he processed the information.
Evie recalled what Santa5k’s avatar had said earlier; he had been explicit that it was about Nenetl and that he needed to create a foil to protect the universe. But why was he now talking about a hostile takeover?
Bibi asked, ‘How do you know this?’
‘I’m in a peculiar position IRL. I am with the people planning the coup, the Momentum 6 capture is just the tip of the iceberg. XaonJoie knows me outside the game. She knows where I am.’
E
vie nodded. She realised that for some reason Gus couldn’t talk about Nenetl and the foil with everyone.
‘And your friend and your sister are here with me. For their safety, too, it’s crucial we prepare. Do you still have the Starbearer?’
‘Yes,’ Evie said. ‘But why—’
Santa5k raised a finger. ‘The time will come. Until then, you must guard it with your life.’
Evie wanted to understand what he was planning, but he obviously had a reason not to talk about it then.
Bibi and Wonaic whispered to themselves. Zender said, ‘But what do those black discs have to do with the game?’
‘The game is run on the most sophisticated virtual reality system in the universe. The organisation seeks its power—it’s something to do with the discs, and from their plan I see there’s not much of a game left once they’re done with it.’
Gus’s explanation was confusing, but Evie understood he was somehow planning to use Momentum 6 against Nenetl and Remola.
Santa5k spread his arms open wide and said, ‘I know this all sounds strange, but you know me, and we have a history. Have I ever crossed you?’
Shrugs and murmurs. ‘No, you haven’t.’
Evie agreed. He was a respected member of their faction, and had been for years, and everyone knew him for his generosity and leadership in tough missions. ‘What do you need us to do?’
‘All right. Here’s the plan.’ The room went black and a representation of the world of Momentum 6 surrounded them. ‘We have six locations,’ he said, as they lit up in the three-dimensional map, ‘which are the far-reaches. I need to have one of these packages installed in every one of them, and turned on at the same time.’
Under their feet appeared six yellow-and-orange striped boxes.
‘Bit of a travelling gig— should be easy,’ Wonaic said.
‘True,’ Santa5k said. ‘But you have to do it in a specific time window.’
‘Why’s that?’
‘There’s a sequence of server resets that takes about twenty to thirty seconds. Every server in the matrix goes down, and up again. It happens once every three months and is almost completely invisible to the players. But it happens, and for us, it gives an opening to touch the very core of the system. There’s unfortunately no easier way to do this.’
‘Why won’t you just tell the admins?’
Santa5k grinned. ‘I wish it were that simple. First, they’d be too slow to react, then make it impossible for us to act, and end up losing the system to the attacker. You see, that’s also why we are talking in here instead of their servers.’
‘What’s in it for us?’ Bibi asked.
‘This is a battle with little to gain, and everything to lose,’ Santa5k said, ‘but I’ve gathered some resources during my years here—after a successful mission, I’m going to transfer one thousand Star Jewels to each of your accounts.’
‘Nice!’ Bibi said. Wonaic and Zender were nodding in agreement, but Evie felt that Gus wasn’t telling them everything. Even so, she trusted him and said nothing.
‘So, we have a thirty second window to place and switch on the packages?’
‘Twenty to thirty seconds. It’s doable, but I need you all at the same time. According to my calculations the time to switch them on starts at 23522:88387:22002:11100.’
‘We can do twenty seconds,’ Wonaic said.
‘Sure,’ Bibi said. ‘And that’s not too far from now. Just the perfect time to get everything in order.’
‘That’s correct,’ Santa5k said with a solemn face. ‘Remember, if we don’t make it then, the next time this window of opportunity will be open is in three months, and by then everything will be lost.’
Chapter Twenty-Two
Later that evening, Henning sat by the counter of the Spit City Hightower hotel bar. The place was filled with a classy crowd: women in elaborate dresses and hairpieces, and men in sharp suits. While he normally abstained, he nurtured a tumbler of Jindalar spirits with hypnotic qualities in a vain hope that it would help reflect on the baffling events in the Thruneedle building.
Dozens or more aliens—unmistakably of Remolan origin—had poured in through the portal, but then disappeared as if they were never there. Or not quite: most of the marines who were the first to arrive were dead, and their video feeds retained the encounter for further analysis in the Central.
But now the aliens and the portal were gone. The strike force had found no signs of them. Why did they attack the Thruneedle building, and what did they want? Henning had no answers, and he wanted to give the case over, to focus on Avalon, but the biggest implication was too daunting—just as he had suspected, the Remola weren’t gone. They were back, and they were pumped.
This is the anomaly he had wanted; it proved him right. But it was also one he had feared. As far as he knew, the navy was utterly unprepared, and Nenetl controlled the Shades and the Remola. Efia was somewhere out there, but—
Someone tapped his shoulder. ‘Hi there.’
Sofia stood next to him. Dressed in a dark blue dress, which revealed her shoulders and accentuated her waist, she looked completely different.
‘You look stunning,’ he said, and let his eyes take in her beaming face, which gave him an instant mood boost.
‘Well, that’s great, because it took forever—but then again, with all the aliens and death, I needed this.’ She sat on the stool beside him and leaned against the bar. ‘Though I’m not sure it helps. It’s all going crazy.’
They were both tired from the long day, and had decided to spend the night in a hotel before heading back to Dawn Central. Belinda Killock needed Sofia back in the lab, and Henning would have a chance to catch up with Jill Faith, who had recently arrived.
‘I know what you mean. Can I get you anything?’
‘Perhaps,’ she said, and looked up at the bar. ‘If they’ve got those Jindalar mood boosters mixed with something non-alcoholic.’
Two Jindalar women left the bar laughing with their drinks. Henning peered at the menu.
‘How about a berry shot infused with Good Memories?’
‘I was looking at Forgetfulness,’ she said with a grin.
‘As much as I’d wish to forget what happened today, I believe we’re better off remembering exactly what happened.’
‘You’re right. Let’s go with the Memories then. But you take one too.’
Henning nodded; the alcohol hadn’t helped his mood, and he hoped that this would. He turned to the bartender and ordered two berry shots with good memories.
‘Sure thing, paps,’ said the bartender, and started mixing drinks. Henning tried to ignore his comment, but failed.
‘Don’t mind him. You’re not that old.’
‘I could be your grandfather.’
‘True.’
Henning was going to say something about how good a grandfather he would be, just when the bartender put two small glasses in front of him.
He gave one to Sofia and raised the other. ‘Here’s to—’
‘Saving the universe!’
He grinned as they tapped their glasses together and downed the shots. The crisp coolness traced down his gullet while the sweetness of the berries lingered on his tongue.
Something about the flavour made him think about his wedding so long ago. He and Sara barefoot in white celebratory robes on the grounds of young Avalon. The drink of the land on his lips. The cheers of Avalonians. The smell of cut grass. The gentle warm wind on his skin. The baby bump.
‘Oh my,’ he said. ‘This mood-booster is potent stuff.’
Sofia let out a deep breath. ‘It sure is. Where did it take you?’
Henning grinned. ‘My wedding. It’s a good memory, but with everything that has happened since, it’s tainted … no, that’s not true. The memory itself is good; it was the best day of my life.’
Sofia looked like she was trying to muster a compassionate expression, but Henning saw through it. She had read his file, and she knew what had happened to
Sara.
‘How about you?’ Henning said.
Sofia gave a genuine smile. ‘I was trekking the mountain forest of Westerland in Nanira with my brother and my parents. I saw the mountain deer, standing glorious on a perfect mat of moss and bending to drink from the silvery forest pond. That was maybe the best moment of my life.’
‘That sounds nice.’
‘Reminds me that I’ve spent too much time on space stations and the like. I miss the nature. What you told me earlier about Avalon, and what you tried to achieve with it, really resonated with me. Harmony between humans, technology and nature is why I chose science in the first place.’
Henning found it fascinating that the twenty-something navy researcher was thinking like Jilius when he founded Avalon. He just wasn’t sure whether she was for real or trying to impress him.
Someone screamed. They both turned.
A black, winged creature flew over the crowd, picking people as it touched them. Even if it was only the size of a cat, it caused a big stir.
‘What is that thing?’ Sofia asked.
‘I hope it’s not what I think it is.’
The creature flew towards them, picking at people’s heads as it went. If it were a Veering, it would have to be stopped. He raised his arm towards the creature, drew a concentration of E to his palm, and shot it as an invisible blast.
On impact, the creature yelped and tumbled down.
People formed a circle around it, and a chatter about what it was filled the room. Henning rushed through the wall of people.
‘My father fought these creatures,’ he whispered. ‘The small ones were the first ones to arrive. Then came the bigger ones. If we’re lucky, they’ve nothing to do with the Remolans, but I don’t think that’s the case.’
Sofia gulped and held him tight.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The next morning Jill read Henning’s message. The situation in Spit City had calmed down, and the aliens had disappeared. Henning and Sofia were to return to Dawn Central later today, and she was keen to talk with him about her observations. As she zipped up her uniform, she wondered if the portal in the Central had also disappeared.
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