by Terry Schott
“What do you mean?”
“When you talked to her, how old were you?”
“I was seven. When I first spoke with her.”
When you first spoke with her? “You saw her a lot during your play?” Trew asked.
“Yeah.”
“How often?” Danni could not hide her concern.
“Almost every day.”
I don’t want to hear anymore of this, Trew thought, although he knew he must. “You knew her well, then?”
“I did.” Addisyn wiped another tear from her eye. “She was my mother.”
63
Dark clouds filled the sky, sinking towards the ground and racing like churning waves against a rocky shore. It was noon, but the absence of sunlight made it appear more like early dawn.
Perfect weather for the mood I am in. Thorn sat at his desk and looked out the large window. “Time is running out.”
“Time is always running out,” Melissa said. “I wish you wouldn’t say that so often.”
Thorn swivelled his chair to face her. “Almost ten more years have passed on Tygon. Trew and Danni are aging decades while only weeks pass here.”
“They are thirty-eight. Not that old by anyone’s definition.”
“I need to send someone to speak with them.”
Melissa leaned forward. “Send me.”
“I need you here.”
“To do what? The General is playing nice with the Gamer leaders to form an extremely promising coalition for peace and prosperity which they have accomplished in just a couple of weeks. I know you say time is running out, but to come together in under a month is a very impressive feat.”
“The General is playing us all for fools.”
“How do you know that for certain?”
“That’s the problem. I don’t know for certain. The man is either extremely skilled and convincing in his deception, or he is on board with the way things are progressing.”
“Why wouldn’t he be? He retains control in all things that matter, specifically the military, while the civilians are more relaxed and finally working together to restore civilization to its former state.”
“The General is sharing leadership and he doesn’t do that unless it is to his advantage. Even then, it will only last until he senses weakness. He is a wild animal, forced to live in a cage and dance to the tune of the man with the whip. Rest assured, once the man turns his back or raises his arm to wipe sweat from his brow, the General will smell opportunity and attack.”
“What about you? Many could say the same thing of Samson Thorn.”
“Of course they could, but there is a fundamental difference between the General and I.”
“Which is?”
“I play a bigger game.”
“What do you mean?”
Thorn shook his head. “Do you still trust me, Melissa?”
“Of course.”
Thorn turned towards the window. “Everything looks well and good, but there is an underlying feeling of . . . dis-ease.”
“It’s just tension. The longer things stay good, the more everyone’s caution will fade.”
“Exactly. The General is playing a waiting game. Time is on his side while it is our enemy.”
“The real leaders are considering stepping forward.”
There it is. “Good. I approve.”
“You do? Isn’t it too soon?
“No.” It might be just the catalyst to have the General show his true hand. I need something to happen and I can’t wait much longer. “Tell them it’s a good idea and they should come forward as soon as possible.”
“You think he will turn on them?”
Thorn looked at her without replying.
“This could put the entire movement in jeopardy.”
Waiting puts it in jeopardy. “We have backup plans should problems occur.”
“I will tell them.” Melissa stood and left the office.
***
The aide knocked on the General’s door.
“Come.” The General did not look up as the soldier entered and placed a small note on the corner of his desk before standing at attention.
After a moment, the General reached for the note and unfolded it. He read the contents and nodded. “Excellent. Have my vehicle brought around.”
The aide saluted and left. The General looked at the note once more, smiling as he read it.
‘The true leaders of the Gamer movement have announced that they will now come forward to meet with you.’
General Donovan stood and put on his jacket as he moved toward the door. This is a good sign. Things will move even faster after this. I’m glad that I was able to see the bigger picture in this case. Society will recover much quicker working as a team than divided. I control the flow, and for now that is good enough. Perhaps it will suffice for the remainder of my career. Not the way I envisioned things, but when is it ever? The General was not averse to becoming more violent, but his expert opinion told him that such measures were not required. At first, he had considered bringing the Gamers in and then destroying them, but that now seemed counterproductive. The Gamers had accepted the General as their leader, if not in name then certainly in action. Over time, he was certain the Gamers would come to love and admire him like his students and soldiers had.
Two bodyguards stood outside the General’s office. As he exited, one moved to the elevator and the other fell in behind him. “I will go home now.” The guard at the elevator nodded and repeated the command into a small microphone on his wrist.
They entered the elevator and the General pressed the button for the basement. As they passed the fifth floor, the guard in front of him pressed the ground floor button. “There is maintenance in the basement, sir. Your car is on the street level.”
“That’s fine.”
The three exited the elevator. One guard went outside and scanned the area before moving to open the door to the long, black limousine parked out front. He placed his hand on the handle and signalled to the General.
“It’s all clear, sir.” The second guard opened the door and guided the General to the limousine. The first guard opened the door to the car and the General began to enter, then paused. Someone was already inside. He jerked backwards to exit the vehicle, but hands shoved him forward, causing him to sprawl onto the limo floor. The door slammed shut. There was a distinct click of locks engaging and a surge of acceleration as the limousine sped off.
“Hello, General Donovan,” a woman’s voice said. “There is no need to kneel. Please get up and sit down.”
Donovan pushed himself up and took the seat across from her. “Madame President. It’s so good to see you again. We had thought you among the dead. I know the people will be happy to know that you survived.”
The woman sitting across from him laughed. “My dear General, not one single word of that sentence sounded sincere.” She reached out and stroked his forehead. He felt a needle-like sting on his temple, winced, and slapped her hand away, wiping at his forehead. His fingers felt something stuck to his temple: a thin piece of metallic tape.
“I wouldn’t pick at that. If it comes off there will be a sudden explosion. Not enough to kill me, but your head will not survive. I don’t know about you, but I would like to avoid such a mess.”
“What is it?” The General scowled and sat up as straight as he could. The surprise had worn off and he was feeling threatened. “Where are you taking me?”
“Patience, General.” The president leaned back and reached for a drink. She took a sip and smiled. It was not a pleasant smile. “You will find out in just a few moments.”
64
Danni entered Trew’s office with a tray of food. Brandon, Lilith, Michelle, Nadine, and Trew sat around the conference table.
“Have any of you even blinked since I left?”
“I don’t know,” Trew said.
“Eat.”
“I’m not hungry,” Brandon said. The others nodded in agreement.
/>
“Doesn’t matter.” Danielle reached for a piece of fruit and handed it to Brandon. “We will take the next fifteen minutes to eat and then get back to addressing the problems.”
“Not being able to address the problems is the problem,” Michelle said.
“Shh.” Danni passed Michelle a sandwich. “Fifteen minutes.”
The others reached for something off the tray. They sat, mouths moving mechanically while looking at nothing in particular. Trew finished eating and looked at his watch.
“Thirteen minutes. Close enough. Brandon, how many Elites remain?”
“Too many.”
No one spoke. Brandon shrugged his shoulders. “Over a hundred.”
“Over the years, they’ve managed to kill hundreds of thousands of people.” The sadness was heavy in Danni’s voice.
“They can hide in the crowds.” Brandon scowled. “Nothing has changed over the years. It’s still like looking for specific grains of sand on a large beach. ”
“Or a single reality amongst an infinite number of realities,” Trew said, remembering a past conversation in a purple lit room.
“What?” Brandon frowned.
“Nothing.”
“I’m only one man.” Brandon’s frustration was obvious. “Even though I do wield more power than most, the problem is that they do too. If I could just get them all together at the same time—”
“Any sign of Cooper?” Danielle asked.
“None.”
“I find it hard to believe that Thirteen can’t help you track the Elites.”
“Thirteen is too busy doing other things. He spends most of his time with Sylvia, attempting to refine frequencies and access the Dream.”
“They having any luck with that?” Lilith asked.
“If they are it would be news to me,” Trew said.
Nadine sighed. “It’s been a long war on terror. So many innocent people have suffered.”
“Yes,” Michelle agreed, “but the population is learning to take precautions to protect themselves.”
“There is no fighting back,” Lilith said. “If the Elites target something, they take it down. I’m surprised they haven’t selected methods for exterminating more people at the same time. If they exploded a nuclear plant, or worse yet, a quantum power generator—”
“They would run the risk of obliteration themselves,” Brandon said. “Lohkam has them believing that death will send them back to their original bodies in the Dream, but they understand that might not happen if their molecules are fried at a quantum level.”
“You have told them repeatedly that they don’t have bodies to go back to,” Lilith said.
“Yes, but the idiots have chosen to ignore me and listen to Lohkam instead.”
“If we cut the head off of the snake, would the rest stop fighting?” Danielle asked.
“That was always the plan,” Brandon said. “The problem with that strategy seems to be finding Lohkam. If they were on Earth, we would track them with Sylvia and send messages to the Timeless to help them, but that’s not the way it works on Tygon.”
“Why not?” Trew asked. “Has anyone heard from Thorn since we saved the Dream?”
“Not in a long time,” Brandon said. “I’m sure he’s busy dealing with his own real-world issues.”
“What about the singing man?” Danni asked.
“I’ve bumped into him a couple times, but I can’t count on him. He is fond of appearing when I’m about to die and taking off not long after he saves me.”
“When you’re about to die?” Lilith asked.
“Yeah,” Brandon said. “These Elites are dangerous. Enough of them with a bit of surprise could finish me. I wish there were Timeless looking out for us on Tygon. That would make my life easier.”
“I still think there might be,” Trew said.
“If that were true, we would have seen one or two by now.”
“Not necessarily. How many times does a human on Earth run into a Timeless and never know it?”
“Often never.”
“If they operate here the same way they do on Earth, and I think it is safe to assume that they would, then it’s possible we could live lifetimes here and never know we were interacting with a super-powered being.”
“It sounds good in theory.” Brandon shook his head. “Let’s assume they exist and also, as native avatars of Tygon, we will never meet one. Or, if we do meet one, we will not know they are special. With all of those things agreed upon, we may as well forget them and move on.”
“You’re right.” Trew stood and walked to the window. “This is frustrating. I’m not used to playing such a long game with so little results.”
“We are cut from the same cloth, boy.” Brandon smiled as Lilith snickered. Despite his aging, Brandon’s avatar was still a few years younger than Trew. “The waiting is the worst part.” He stood and joined Trew at the window. “On another note, how is Addisyn doing?”
“She claims to be fine,” Danni said.
“Have you two dispensed with your ridiculous rule and watched her last play yet?”
“Not yet.”
“That implies that you intend to.”
“We do,” Trew said.
“Good.” Brandon nodded. “It’s absurd to for you to be ignorant of what she went through.”
“Have you seen it?” Danni asked.
“No, I’m kinda busy trying to find and kill a hundred maniacs. I’ve heard bits and pieces, and know she scored well from it.”
Danni laughed. “That’s an understatement. She is ranked number one. Orders for Firsting the play are off the charts and her channel subscriptions have forced the Game network to add another two servers to her channel in order to meet demand for bandwidth.”
“Have you at least listened to the reports and highlights?”
Danni shook her head. “We don’t want to ruin it.”
“You’re not going to First it, are you?”
“Of course not. But we want to watch it as objectively as we can.”
“Then I won’t ruin it by telling you what I’ve heard,” Brandon said. “Watch it, and soon.”
“This meeting has been a waste of time.” Trew turned away from the window and rejoined the others at the table.
“That happens, sometimes,” Brandon said. “We could cross our fingers and hope that Lohkam comes storming in here to try and kill us.” He smiled. “I could use a break like that in this game.” He looked towards the door and raised his eyebrows. The others did the same.
Thirty seconds passed.
“Nope.” He sighed and stood up. “I guess I’ll get back to it.”
“Please kill some Elites,” Trew said.
“Oh, okay. That’s a good idea. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of that sooner.” He opened the door and left.
“Ten years of terror has made it seem . . . less important,” Lilith said.
“You’re right,” Danni agreed. “We see that ten thousand die in a bombing and barely pause before going on with our daily lives. That’s not good.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“There has to be a solution.” Trew looked at the group. “Anyone have an idea or two?”
No one spoke.
“Frustrating,” Trew muttered.
“Yet life goes on,” Danni said. “Shall we make arrangements to watch Addy’s last play?”
“Yes. I’m afraid watching is going to make me hate Stephanie.”
“Why? She was Addy’s mother.”
“She’s the Devil. How could it have went well?”
“Let’s hope it did,” Danni said. “Or I will go back into the Game and rip her heart out myself.”
65
Sparx stopped by the kitchen to grab a pastry and cup of coffee before heading to the lab. They were now officially billionaires with a brand new office building which reached high into the sky and was filled with hundreds of employees, but the lab in his father’s attic was still the best equip
ped and most comfortable place to work.
He found his father sitting at one of the desks, a coffee in his hand as he watched numbers and figures scroll across a screen.
“Good morning.”
“Morning.” Barret turned and smiled. “Come take a look at these latest figures.”
Sparx sat in the chair beside him. The lab had many monitors and desks, all connected so that they could slide their chairs from one to the next without getting up or running into anything along the way. It was common for the two of them to work side by side for hours at a time. Almost two months had passed since his arrival and the two had become very close. Sparx was enjoying having a body, but he had come to treasure his relationship with Barret most of all.
“It’s official.” Barret pointed at the monitor. “Your children’s children will have more money than their great grandchildren will ever be able to spend. Look at those stock prices, my boy. We were rich before, but now we are both filthy and stinking rich.”
Sparx grinned. “That’s great news, dad.”
“I guess.” Barret shrugged. “Our family has never wanted for material things, and so it is pleasing, but I think our real legacy is the Plexus. It is faster and more elegant than any technology ever developed.”
“It is a thing of beauty.”
“I still can’t believe we did it.” Barret paused. “Who am I kidding? I still can’t believe you did it.”
“It was both of us.”
“That’s not true and we both know it. I’m still amazed how different you are since the Return.”
“I know.”
Barret shook his head. “You don’t, and that’s part of the puzzle. Before we all got sucked into the simulation, you had an above average knowledge of computers and systems, but now you are head and shoulders beyond anyone on the planet.”
“I always knew more than I let on,” he lied. “Life wasn’t the greatest for me before, Dad. I was searching for a higher purpose in life and, although I knew a lot, I didn’t bother to show you what I really had.”
“Maybe.” Barret’s expression was doubtful. “I have an eye for skill and talent. I will admit you had the spark before, but when you came home after the Return . . . well, it has been miraculous what you’ve done. It’s almost like you’re possessed.” The tone in his voice changed. “Not quite yourself.”