by Phoenix Ward
All she needed to taste ice cream was a tongue. And here, Councilman Harring offered her a tongue, as well as the lungs, guts, flesh, and heart that came along with it.
That tongue used to belong to someone else, though. Someone who will never taste ice cream again.
Tera raised her gaze from the nude girl to the holographic councilman. Her brow furrowed in anger as she thought everything over once, twice more. The smug smile remained on Harring’s digital face; he had no idea what was going on in her mind.
“What will it be?” he asked.
“No,” Tera said.
“No?”
“That’s right,” the woman replied. “You can go to hell. I’m never telling you what you want to know.”
Councilman Harring sighed, looking down at his feet with an expression of impatience.
“That’s your final answer?” he asked.
“No,” she said. “You’ll get my final answer when the People’s Union come and pull your plug.”
Harring smiled like he had been challenged by a child. “You may think they’re coming for you, but you’re wrong,” the councilman said. “Your little revolution will fail and we will kill all of your friends. There will be no one to come to your rescue. Then you’ll wish you had taken my offer while it was still on the table.”
“You better watch your back,” Tera said. “You and all your rich friends. We’re coming for you. One day, you’ll ask yourself how you ever thought you’d stand a chance.”
“I see that I’m getting nowhere with you,” Harring started, “but I’ll offer you one last deal. Tell me where the People’s Union are located and who runs their operations, or be locked into an eternal nightmare. If you don’t tell us what we want to hear, you’ll be put in a simulation designed to torture you for as long as the power stays on. Have you ever wondered what it felt like to drown forever, but never die? I can show you. Have you wanted to know what it felt like to be hungry, to be thirsty? I can simulate whatever I want you to feel, Ms. Alvarez. I could make you experience a thousand rapes, a million immolations, a billion skinnings. I can make your worst dreams come true — if you choose to hold out on us.”
Tera clenched her mechanical jaw, looking from the blank-eyed meat puppet to the holographic tyrant.
“What are you waiting for, then?” she asked. “I’m not telling you anything. Bring on the simulation.”
Councilman Harring scoffed, a look of incredulousness on his face. It was clear he didn’t expect Tera’s answer to be so firm. When he saw that she was resolute, a solemn look crossed his holographic face.
“Very well,” he said. “Just wait — bring in the — nicians and get you — ked up.”
Councilman Harring’s hologram flickered as his sentences became choppy. A confused expression took over his features as they flashed in and out of existence. He looked at Tera with accusatory eyes.
“What — ”
All of a sudden, like the plug had been yanked, Councilman Harring’s hologram went out. The chamber became dim and quiet as Tera was left alone with the lobotomized girl. It was quiet for almost a whole minute, during which Tera tried to listen for any clues as to what was going on. Then, without warning, a light shone from the doorway. Illumination washed over the I.I. and the naked woman as a form stepped through the opening.
Tera tried to look through the glow but found the light too bright. She raised her arm and stared at the silhouette until she thought she recognized it.
“Gauge?” she asked, looking at the bodyshell who had just entered the study. “Is that you?”
“Tera!” Gauge replied. “We need to get you out of here. There’s no time for questions.”
38
Godliness
King Hum’s eyes reflected the impossible black of what lay beyond the door. Part of him felt like he could see something churning within, like a vortex waited past the threshold for fresh prey. His robed doppelganger smiled and said nothing.
“Where — where does it go?” the young king asked. With some difficulty, he was able to peel his gaze away from the void and at his mirror image.
“To the next stage, Hum,” the spirit replied. “Walk through this door, and you will find yourself immersed in the collective joy of the planet’s spirits. You’ve never experienced such pleasure — such power. It can all be yours, young king.”
Hum looked back at the doorway, but didn’t step forward.
“I sense your hesitation,” God said. “It’s an understandable reaction. I would be worried if you didn’t take a moment to consider the path that lay before you. That’s what makes a good leader. But now is the time to make a call on faith. Do you trust your own devotion? You must believe in yourself before you can believe in me.”
“I do believe,” Kin Hum replied. “I am just uncertain — and that frightens me.”
The robed Hum smiled like a fond parent. ” ‘Every newcomer to Paradise is a skeptic, for the joy they feel exceeds belief,’ ” he quoted.
The young monarch recognized the verse. It was from the Foundation of Faith, the religious text that established the Holy Kingdom of Opes. Not only was it a moving and relevant passage, but it was Hum’s personal favorite line from all the scriptures.
Did he know what the verse meant to me? Or is it a coincidence? King Hum thought. How else would he know, if he wasn’t who he said he was? Who they are?
A wave of chills washed over the young king’s flesh, and he drew in a deep breath. It finally hit him how blessed he truly was. He was being chosen by the holy spirit to lead his people into a new age of enlightenment. He was being addressed by God itself, and he had only acted like a faithless coward. He knew there must be a reason he was brought to this place. Why the form God took was his own. There must be a greater purpose to the plan, as there has always been.
“I will do as you command,” King Hum said to his doppelganger, “but first I must ensure the safety of my people. Do not take this as doubt against you, my Lord, but as concern for them. I am a leader, and as such, I must put my people before even the will of God.”
The holy spirit nodded, the smile never disappearing from his face. “That is why you have been chosen, King Hum,” he said. “With the powers you’d be granting them, no one in your kingdom would suffer. All will be included in the golden age that will befall your people. I am counting on you to lead your flock through this door, but first, you must step through yourself.”
King Hum looked at his feet for a moment, his face distorted with deep thought. He seemed to arrive at a decision after not long. He nodded and gazed back at the darkness beyond the door. He took one last moment to admire the beauty of the valley around them before sprinting headfirst at the opening. The void swallowed him up as he passed through the threshold.
39
Layers
“I — I don’t understand,” Ethan said. His voice was weak.
“Yeah, it looks like it,” Sharpe replied, scanning his friend’s face. “I guess that answers my question about the immersion. You didn’t even know you were in it again, did you?”
“What are you talking about?” Ethan asked. He was starting to feel sick in his stomach. “Where’s Gauge?”
“You were with Gauge again?” Taylor asked, moving closer. She took a seat at the couch with Sharpe. “What were you doing?”
“We were just trying to leave the simulation,” Ethan replied, gesticulating with his hands as he spoke. He couldn’t look at his friends’ excited faces. “We were flying straight up — trying to break out of the ceiling, so to speak.”
“But you didn’t get out?” Taylor asked.
Ethan shook his head. His forehead was starting to ache a little from furrowing his brow. He kept looking around the basement, waiting for Gauge to burst in again at any moment. For Sharpe and Taylor’s dumbstruck faces to glitch out again. For everything to be a lie — like it always was.
“Aww, so you were just in the beginning part?” Taylor said. “Lame. Why
’d it end so soon?”
“We didn’t make it,” Ethan replied. His voice was distant, like he wasn’t really speaking, instead on autopilot.
“You weren’t back at that battle royale map again?” Sharpe asked.
“No. We were here.”
Sharpe frowned in thought, nodding. “Damn,” he said. “I gotta say, I’m impressed at how drastically your play-through changed on your second run. It’s like it factored in how your first experience went and built another layer on top of it. Truly meta.”
“I wonder if I’ll still be in trouble with the Shell City police, then,” Taylor commented, grinning. “Oh man, I’ve got to play again soon.”
Ethan buried his face into his hands. He felt like he needed a moment to recuperate — to process. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was still inside the adventure. He couldn’t look at Sharpe or Taylor like he did before because he couldn’t be sure they were real. Any moment now, they could start seizing up, flickering like Gauge or the fake Sharpe had done. The others ignored him as they started daydreaming about their next play-through of The Rebels of Shell City.
“That Gauge guy is really the ultimate tutorial piece,” Sharpe said. “I don’t think I’ve played a game with a better introductory character. He really brings you into the world of Shell City without making you feel like he’s a fake person.”
“I agree!” Taylor said, putting her hand on Sharpe’s shoulder. “More adventures should use him — or someone like him.”
“I wonder if we’ll be able to play Rebels when we graduate,” Sharpe thought aloud. “It would be pretty dumb of Replication to not make adventures for people out in the real world.”
“I’m sure whatever they have out there puts our adventures to shame,” Taylor said. “Remember — we’re getting all the kiddie content.”
“True,” Sharpe said.
Ethan tuned his friends out while they spoke. He couldn’t do much else than stare forward at the coffee table and cradle his own head. Part of his scalp felt like the circulation had been cut off to it. He almost felt dizzy; he wanted to get some fresh air.
What was real? Was the couch he sat on just another part of the Rebels adventure? Were Sharpe and Taylor real this time? Were they ever real? Has he just been playing this never-ending, always-repeating adventure since the dawn of time? He couldn’t tell anymore. It felt like his brain might turn to mush and leak out of his ears if he thought about it anymore.
Was Tera just a character? he thought. A sharp pang struck his heart as he thought of her. She had seemed so real — and he was starting to feel for her when their autocar went down outside of Opes.
None of that happened, though. It was just a game.
Or, he thought, someone is trying to mess with my head. But why? And who?
Gauge had glitched out when they were trying to fly out of the simulation — Ethan was certain of that. Whether or not it was because he was just a computer character, though, was another story. It could be possible that he was being forced out of the system after being detected. Though, Ethan realized, he bugged out just like the fake Sharpe had. The glitch was exactly the same. All evidence seemed to disprove the I.I. rebel’s existence.
The more he thought about it, the less sure he became of anything. There were moments when it seemed he used logic to either prove he was in a simulation or not, then lost it just as easily.
I can’t even think straight, he said to himself. What have they done to me?
Once there was a lull in Sharpe and Taylor’s excited babbling, Ethan spoke up. “I think I need to be alone,” he said, looking towards the door that led out of the basement. “I need to think things over.”
His friends were silent for a moment as they looked over at him, processing what he’d said.
“Wow, it really did mess you up,” Sharpe said. “Alright man, I’ll see you later, yeah? You still have a birthday to plan for, you know.”
“Okay,” Ethan said. He rose to his feet. “Bye, Sharpe. Bye, Taylor.”
He made his way out of Sharpe’s home base without another word.
If this is all just a game, I don’t like it, he thought as he stepped out onto the street. I’d have to be a masochist to try it again.
40
Unplugged
“How did you find me?” Tera asked as she followed Gauge down a long metal corridor. “Better yet, how did you even get in here?”
“That was the Clevinger’s doing,” Gauge replied, stopping at a fork in the hallway for a moment to think, then taking the left turn. “They pulled their last favor with the Pavilion elite to figure out where they were keeping you. They were also able to arrange a convenient power surge — as you saw with Councilman Harring. On top of that, they ensured us as little guard coverage as we can get away with. I don’t think they’ll be getting anymore favors in the future, though.”
“How do we get out of here?” she asked.
“Getting out will be the easy part, but we still have something to take care of first,” Gauge replied. He stopped her when he thought he heard footsteps, then continued to lead the way when he realized it was just a rattle in the pipes.
“We do?” Tera asked.
“They captured Ethan and King Hum as well,” Gauge replied. “They’ve got them in simpods as we speak.”
Tera’s optical receptors widened a little. “They’re here?” she asked.
“Somewhere,” Gauge replied. “I know it’s down this way a bit. From there, we’ll just have to figure it out. Come on.”
Tera followed close behind the other bodyshell, listening for any possible pursuit as she did.
“How are we going to get them outta here?” she asked as they took another corner.
“Loudly,” Gauge replied. “Here, take this. You might need it.”
He offered her a strange device that she recognized, but couldn’t put a name to. Then she remembered what it was from her training at the police academy: a pulse gun, designed solely to deactivate bodyshells. She’d never used one before; their use was strongly discouraged by the department. They’d only ever showed her class the weapons so they knew what to look out for, in case some drug-fueled slum dweller used them on the fresh-faced cadets.
As they approached yet another corner, Tera could hear a pair of metallic footfalls coming from around the turn. She tightened her grip on the weapon, her eyes focused on the edge of the corner. Gauge stopped her short, holding her back with his arm. He raised a metallic finger to his lipless mouth. With a precise motion, he pressed a button on the side of his head.
“There we go,” he said. “Just wanted to make sure it was working.”
Tera looked at him with nervous eyes, as if trying to tell him to be quiet.
“Sensor blocker,” the male I.I. replied, tapping his head. “For the next minute or so, no one will be able to see or hear us. Even better — they won’t see us coming on any security sensors.”
“Why didn’t you do that earlier?” Beth asked.
“It has a limited charge,” Gauge replied. “But I think now is the perfect time. Come on, let’s get past these goons.”
He led her around the bend, where two Council soldiers were casually patrolling. Beth hesitated for a moment, staring at their electronic eyes. None of them flinched or even cast a gaze in her direction. She knew Gauge’s cloak was effective, but part of her worried it was all an act on their part. Like the guards would turn to her suddenly and say, “Gotcha!”
She followed the rebel past the soldiers, taking great care to not touch them and shatter the illusion. They crouched low as they walked in order to keep their footsteps as quiet as possible.
Gauge led her along the hallway beyond the guards and out an open doorway. The passage was wide and tall, likely designed for vehicles to enter the facility from the Pavilion outside.
“It’s just next door,” Gauge said. “Stay low and keep quiet. The sensor block won’t work on everyone.”
It was only about t
wenty feet between the large door and the facility Gauge was referring to, yet it felt like a mile of an unsurveyed minefield to Tera. Every moment exposed out on the Pavilion, where any number of optical receptors or sensors might pick her up, felt like she was a vampire in broad daylight. Gauge was focused, though. He didn’t convey any hesitation whatsoever. With a firm grip on Tera’s mechanical wrist, he pulled her into the next building.
They found themselves in a small chamber that reminded Tera of an airlock. Another door waited to let them into the innards of the facility.
“You ready?” the rebel I.I. asked, checking the readout on his weapon.
She looked down at her own firearm, then nodded in reply.
Gauge took a step back, then charged into the next door shoulder-first, like he was going to knock it down. It was automatic, however, and opened for him before contact was made. He used the momentum to rush into the room.
Tera followed close behind but was still taken by surprise when a flash of blue light washed over her field of view. Gauge opened fire on the guards who waited for them inside, and the Council soldiers returned the barrage. She saw one duck behind a make-shift barricade and take aim at her comrade. With a sharp exhale, Tera lined her own blaster up and dropped the target.
“Behind you!” Gauge cried out.
Tera ducked, watching her companion’s expression as he aimed his pulse gun and took a few shots. She turned around to see another Council goon drop to the metal floor.