Coders

by Thomas K. Carpenter

  The soldier began chuckling. A deep-throated, raspy laughter that practically rattled the windows.

  "That's what you think, puppy," he said, glaring contemptuously. "The Queen, she's not just taking a little bite. It'll be the whole damned thing."

  Coyote squinted his eyes. "Malthon. Hmm. One of the Queen's underlings. I didn't think she let you scurry too far from her sight."

  Malthon jabbed his thumb at Coyote. "Don't believe a word he says. He's just biding his time until he can ascend to the Pantheon. Assuming he can find a place to thrust his dagger."

  The soldiers laughed.

  "Is that true?" Gabby asked. "Can anyone ascend to the Pantheon?"

  Malthon appeared very interested in Coyote's response.

  "Yes. That's how they all got there. Deposed the previous owner of the Realm." Coyote gathered himself up, standing straight and tall. "But I would never do that to Panner. He's going to help me find a suitable one, or make my own."

  Malthon slapped his leg.

  "The only Realm you're going to next is the Delvers, oh little furry duplicitous Coyote." Malthon seemed to relish the way Coyote squirmed at the mention of the Delvers. "Don't think your two timing isn't noticed around the Realms, special status with Panner notwithstanding."

  When Malthon cast his gaze on her, she gripped the pole and stared back.

  "You're a feisty one," said Malthon. "But that don't explain why she asked for you herself. Can you tell us why?"

  Gabby found the whole side of the car waiting for her answer. It seemed everyone had been listening in on the conversation. Even the prim woman had her head tilted in her direction.

  "Because I hate everything about the GSA. They took my life, my friends and my family."

  Malthon began laughing earnestly again, clapping his hands and hitting his buddies on the back. "See? I told you, she was a feisty one."

  The big soldier stood up and put his hand on Coyote's shoulder. "We can take her from here, puppy. You see, she can't wait to join us."

  Coyote gave her a worried glance. "You don't have to go with them yet. I'm not supposed to hand you over until we get to the station."

  "No, it's okay. I can go with them. Better to start learning my new Realm."

  Coyote shook his head. Then he pulled a glowing white ball from a pocket and handed it over to Malthon. When the big soldier touched it, crimson color seeped into it like blood. Once it had completely filled with red, Malthon glanced at her and said, "Are you ready? Realm transfers can be a real pain."

  Gabby gripped the pole with both hands and gave him a nod. Malthon squeezed the ball.

  Chapter Ten

  How the sense-web had been invented, it was said, was by accident. The inventor had been trying to grow circuitry rather than expensively print it onto black diamond chips. When none of his cultures would take to the nanos and he couldn't get approval for human samples, he used his own.

  A mixture of desperation and sloppy lab work led to the discovery. He was going days without sleep, trying to make his great breakthrough before the government cut off his funding.

  The official records explain that at some point, he'd spilled the contents of the Petri dish on a burn along his forearm. Days later when he realized new skin was growing along the burn, skin that looked nothing like his normal skin, with patchworks of fibers growing through it, he knew he'd made a discovery. Not the one he was looking for, but enough of one to convince his contacts in the government not to cut off his funding.

  He thought he'd grown a reinforced artificial skin that could be useful for the military. When he put a low voltage current to it, the skin patch had felt like it'd been dunked in an ice bucket.

  The new skin had tied itself to the nerves and with the proper current fooled it into thinking it was cold. The technology of the sense-web was born, though it took decades to figure out how to control the skin to give the proper output.

  Early testers had reported tasting food with their hands or having a foot get dizzy. It was full body synesthesia. Some brave souls had spent weeks mired in these states until the sense-web could be properly tuned.

  Gabby remembered these stories as the switch to the new Realm encapsulated her body. At first, her skin felt kissed with mint, a sensation that was actually quite enjoyable. Then the feeling grew warmer until she wanted to throw herself into a chilly pool.

  Once the heat dissipated, Gabby experienced moments of sensory confusion, dipping to a crouched position as her knees had the urge to puke. When the nausea subsided, a variety of other sensations replaced it, fleetingly, confusingly, and this time throughout her whole body, inducing panic as she worried she would get stuck in that state for weeks. Then like water running slowly over her body, the normal sensations returned.

  Gabby climbed to her feet, giving the soldiers her most confidant smile. Malthon was amused while the other two were disappointed. Coyote had disappeared during the recalibration of her sense-web.

  The reasons for the void time when she joined Panner's Realm became abundantly clear. The cutoff from sensory input allowed them to recalibrate without the person knowing and to hide how heavily the Realms would rely on the sense-web to create their illusions.

  Even her time playing LifeGame in the GSA didn't require full use of the sense-web. Tactile information was used to help demonstrate the lessons learned, not fool the user into believing a completely different reality. But her time in the Freelands and in Panner's Realm taught her how completely they could reprogram reality. She didn't expect the Crimson Queen to be any different.

  "That wasn't so bad, was it?" Malthon asked with a grin.

  Gabby rubbed her knee trying to erase the lingering nausea feeling from it. "Some of it was a little buffed."

  She cursed herself when she said the word 'buffed.' It marked her as a LifeGamer, not that Malthon probably didn't already know. Malthon's eyes sparkled with amusement.

  "A little buffed she says," he said to the others. "I'm beginning to like her more and more. Maybe the Queen was right in getting her."

  Gabby's first instinct was to make a sarcastic remark. If it were LifeGame, she would have. But she needed to get in good with the new Realm. If Pug had been right about being in Panner's Realm for two months, the war with the GSA was soon to start. Which didn't give her much time to find Zaela and figure out how the Queen was countering the GSA's repeater towers.

  "So when can I get some armor and weapons like you guys?" she asked.

  "Feisty and eager." Malthon glanced back to his buddies. "But I'm not sure the Queen would like you showing up in her colors."

  "Then can you tell me why the Queen wants me?"

  Malthon shook his head. "I'm afraid you're just going to have to spend some quality time with me, Sarth, and Bump."

  When Gabby looked over to the two soldiers, Malthon continued, "The one with the lazy eye is Bump. Got it when a building fell on his head."

  Gabby probably knew the source of that falling building. She'd bet a night listening to Milton's jokes that Jaxon had blown up the building that fell on him. Bump looked up to her from his bench. The right eye listed off center, making Gabby feel uncomfortable as she tried to pick an eye to focus on.

  "Why not hide that with your skin?"

  Malthon tapped his meaty fist at his chest, making a bearish scoff. "At some level, we've got to hold onto who we really are."

  The faint scars on his arms and the hint of wrinkles around his eyes became more meaningful for Gabby.

  "I'm sorry."

  "Don't be." Malthon grinned slightly, his dark face creasing with amusement. "It's always difficult to join a new Realm."

  The dark-skinned soldier leaned back towards his compadres. "Shall we welcome her to the Queen's Realm with a game of Pain Sticks?"

  Bump and Sarth hopped up and joined Gabby at the pole. Gabby didn't like the sound of the game, but Malthon had offered an olive branch, of sorts, so she had to take it.

  Malthon snapped his fingers a
nd a black rod formed in his hand. The rod was as long as her forearm.

  "During the game," explained Malthon, "the longer you hold the stick, the more pain you will feel. The only way to pass the stick is to answer the question truthfully. Your neural actuator will know if you're telling the truth or not."

  Sarth spoke up, frowning, "I don't think she wants to play with us."

  "I think she's worried we'll suss out all her secrets with the game," said Malthon. "Don't worry. We don't ask those types of questions. And if you don't like the question, you can always drop the stick and bow out of the game."

  "What are the questions then?" she asked.

  "Each time you answer correctly, you can hand the stick off to another member of the circle, and ask them a question about whether or not they like something or how they feel about someone or a little fact about themselves. They answer 'Pos' or 'Neg.' If you lie, the stick will fall from your hand and you're out of the game. Simple enough?"

  Gabby nodded. It sounded like a version of the game she'd played with Zaela when they were younger called Truth or Dare, without the pain stick or the three brooding soldiers. She knew why they'd played it as kids, but couldn't figure out how it'd become a game for hardened soldiers.

  "If you believe it enough, you can lie, but I wouldn't advise it. I'll start with an easy one," said Malthon as he handed her the stick. "Do you like the Delvers?"

  As soon as Malthon stopped speaking, the stick began to grow warm and then a painful tingle started forming in her hand. The sensation accelerated faster than expected. "Neg." The pain disappeared instantly. Gabby flexed her hand.

  "Alright. That was easy. Pick one of us and ask away."

  Gabby handed the stick to Bump. She was new to the game so she decided to keep it simple. "Did you like Coyote?"

  "Neg."

  Bump turned to Sarth and handed him the stick. The blonde soldier was closer to her mental image of a proper soldier. He gave her a winning smile. Bump smirked.

  "Do you like torturing small animals, especially the cute ones?" Sarth's grin became a grimace. He glanced to Gabby once before answering. "Pos."

  "Mal," asked Sarth. "Do you wake up screaming from nightmares?"

  "Pos," responded Malthon, shrugging as he said it.

  The rod moved to Sarth. "Do you want to lead a squad?"

  Sarth hesitated after opening his mouth, he glanced at Malthon and gave him a how could you look. Used correctly, the game could bring a group together. It could also tear them apart.

  Sarth's arm shook as he held the stick. When the veins in his arm stood out, Sarth threw the stick down and walked back to his bench. The truth was obvious even if Sarth had never said it.

  "Got to know yourself before you can know others," said Malthon. "I get to ask again." He handed the stick to Gabby. "You hate authority."

  It wasn't a question, but Gabby knew what he meant. It was clear he already knew the answer. "Pos."

  Gabby wracked her brain for a question that would expose Malthon, but she didn't know enough about him. She handed the stick to Bump instead. "Do you like your lazy eye?"

  "Neg," he said surprising Gabby.

  Bump smirked again and glanced at Gabby as he handed the stick to Malthon. "Did you enjoy getting raped in the Freelands when you were younger?"

  "Neg." The sparkle in Malthon's eyes turned to grim resolve. He kept his gaze locked with Gabby as he handed the stick back to Bump.

  "Can you count to fifty?"

  Bump started counting: "One, two, three, um, four, five, and six, and, um, seven, and eight..." The pause between each number seemed to get longer as they went on. Gabby wanted him to just answer 'Pos' and pass the stick. Suddenly, Bump yelped and dropped the stick.

  He stared at it and said, "You tricked me, Mal."

  Malthon handed the stick to Gabby with his head cocked. "You love someone?"

  An easy one. "Pos."

  Gabby handed it back. "You want to crush the GSA?"

  "Neg." Another unexpected answer and a smirk.

  The baton flew back and forth as they asked each other questions. Her questions never felt as satisfying or as enlightening as his. As it went on, Gabby had to think about her questions for longer and longer. Her arm began to throb from the pain.

  "Do you like to make plans for others?"

  After much reluctant thought, Gabby said, "Pos."

  "Do you want to be in the Pantheon?"

  "Neg." Another surprise from Malthon.

  "You like to be the one in the spotlight?"

  Gabby wanted to answer negatively, but she paused in thought. Zaela had accused her of as much during Final Raid. The stick was a fire in her hand. Gabby couldn't figure out why she was hesitating. The answer was clear. Or was it?

  Even when she'd left the Frags at the Blood Farm, she'd decided what was best for them and rushed off to save Zaela on her own. Or when she'd rushed down to Jaxon's place without so much as telling the others what she was going to do. Even Avony had accused her when she confronted Unthar of doing it 'in a Gabby way.'

  Her whole arm burned, bringing tears to her eyes. As the spots formed, Gabby dropped the baton without answering the question.

  As the feeling slowly came back to her arm and the spots receded, Sarth said, "I've never seen anyone hold it that long."

  Malthon gave her a long look and then returned to his seat. Though the big soldier shared a similar size with Unthar and Drogan, he was as different from them as they were from each other.

  Underneath all that muscle was a cunning mind. The way he'd deftly disarmed Coyote and then quickly dispatched the others in the Pain Stick game, before turning his focus on her, concerned her.

  If they ever came to blows, he now knew a lot more about her than she did of him. Not once did she ever get him to hesitate about a question. He answered quickly and truthfully.

  He'd also gotten her to question herself. Gabby knew the best way to beat someone was to get them to beat themselves. And now, she hated to admit, she was questioning her motives for everything she'd ever done.

  Had everything she'd ever done been because she wanted to hog the spotlight for herself? Pushing Avony away when Zaela arrived? Making Zaela follow her into University? Forcing the Frags to follow her plans instead of Milton's? The truth seemed so glaringly simple.

  Malthon crossed his arms as he leaned back in the bench, his eyes comfortably closed. He appeared content with all his many flaws and issues. He might even be sleeping.

  Gabby took a spot next to the leather clad man on the end of the chain. She was exhausted from working all day and then the grueling game of Pain Sticks. She wanted sleep, but her mind whirled, recreating all the difficult decisions of her life and applying Malthon's insinuation to it. As the train sped inexorably toward the Crimson Queen's Realm, Gabby wondered if she still believed in the reason she'd come to the Southlands in the first place.

  Chapter Eleven

  The capitol of the Crimson Queen's Realm was Mount Olympus. The dual meaning to the name was not lost on Gabby. Besides the obvious reference to the Greek gods, Mount Olympus was a volcano on Mars, the largest volcano in the solar system. A nod toward the god of war.

  The city reflected the shape of the volcano. The train station was at the base, while the Queen's palace waited at the top of the hill. They rode through the streets in a larger version of the FunCar, minus the silly games. Sarth and Bump rode in front, checking the sighting on their rifles and getting quizzed on military regulations.

  Malthon snored in back, leaving Gabby to observe the residents of the capitol. The city looked like any major metropolis, except that every third citizen was a soldier in full gear.

  Malthon woke as soon as they arrived. Bump and Sarth left them at the entrance to the Palace, jogging away down the hill. As they walked up the steps, Gabby realized Malthon had toned down his skin: less cartoonishly massive and more functional.

  "Is that a real sword?" Gabby pointed to his back.

&n
bsp; Malthon paused, pulled the weapon out and presented it to her. "A katana. Be careful, the edge is sharp."

  Gabby resisted the urge to make a comment about weapon safety. She'd been using weapons all her life in LifeGame, but a real one was a different matter.

  She performed a few cautious maneuvers with the katana. It felt just like the ones conjured up by their eye-screens and sense-webs. Gabby bowed and handed it back.

  The grin on Malthon's face worried her. "What?"

  "Nothing. We should get moving. Don't want to keep the Queen waiting."

  The throne room was as impressive an architecture as she'd ever seen. Gabby knew most of them were tricks of the eye-screen, because the physics of them were impossible. Zaela would have spent hours or days in the throne room.

  Massive columns stretched into a multi-dimensional space that folded into moving Mandelbrot sets. Galaxies swirled in the dome, blinking as supernovas dotted their outstretched arms. Gabby was so enthralled by the eye candy she didn't realize they were standing before the throne dais.

  "I spend far too long staring at this wonder rather than doing the things I should," said a voice from the throne.

  Malthon was kneeling next to Gabby. She reflexively dropped to one knee and muttered, "I'm sorry, Your Grace, I wasn't paying attention." She hoped Your Grace was the proper title, but it'd been a while since she'd played games involving royalty.

  "Rise."

  At first, Gabby kept her gaze lowered so she didn't look at the Queen, then she decided it was silly to keep staring at the floor, so she looked up.

  The Queen was striking in her paleness. A black waterfall of hair framed her ghostly face, while a simple red robe adorned her petite body. The Queen's face triggered a memory, Gabby guessed a famous historical figure or maybe even a popular LifeGame one.

  "Gabriella DeCorte," said the Queen in an odd final tone.

  Gabby waited while the Queen looked her over. The scent of lilacs was strong in the room even though she didn't see any flowers.

  "Do you know why I brought you here? Why I asked for you?"