Digital Evolution (The Game is Life Book 5)

by Terry Schott

  “Well,” he said. “Looks like they couldn’t do it after all. Time for me to fix this before things get worse.” He stood and left the bar.

  71

  Melissa gazed into darkness, the passenger car rocking back and forth as it sped along the rails. “Where are we going?”

  “Barret has a stronghold outside of the city,” Thorn said without looking up from his laptop. “It is fortified and safe.”

  “Let’s hope so.”

  After watching the leaders die, Barret had gathered everyone in his household and led them to a sub-basement. There, they had boarded a small train and fled through the darkness along a railway system designed and built in secret years ago by the Saxon family. They had been travelling for over three hours.

  “How much longer until we get there?” Melissa asked.

  “Barret says that it will take a little over five hours to get there.”

  The door to the small car opened. Barret and Sparx entered and sat down. Barret sighed and Sparx leaned back in the plush leather chair.

  Thorn closed his laptop. “How bad is it?”

  “Worse than we could have guessed.”

  Thorn was clearly shaken. “This particular scenario never even occurred to me.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up. Our intel was thorough on the president. All of our considerable sources assured us that she was dead and gone.”

  “Someone was lying,” Sparx said.

  “It wasn’t the General,” Melissa murmured. I can’t believe he’s dead.

  “Who knows about your stronghold, Barret?” Thorn asked.

  “No one.”

  “In today’s age of information and technology, is that even possible?”

  Barret smiled. “I don’t know, old friend, but I’ve done my best to keep the family tradition alive in this area. For centuries, our family has maintained secret and safe residences. The Saxon family has been threatened over the years, and we always manage to survive.

  “That’s a strong argument that we will be safe,” Thorn said.

  “If we aren’t safe where I’m taking you, then nowhere is protected. I am the only one alive who knows where we are going. Those who maintain it have no idea what it really is. They are local villagers in an isolated mountain pass. The people who live there live in the last century more than this one.”

  “What happens next?” Melissa asked.

  “We get to safety,” Sparx said. “Then monitor the feeds and see what is happening. I have built safe zones in the Plexus network which only we have access to.”

  “Can they be infiltrated?” Thorn asked.

  “If they are, I will be notified and then the paths will collapse and lock the intruders out. Then new ones will open based on a logarithm I designed. I guarantee you that no one can access the new pathways and use them.”

  “What can we do besides observe?” Melissa asked.

  “It depends on what is occurring around the country. Around the world, actually.”

  “You have world access?”

  Sparx smiled. “Yes. Anyone who ever dipped their toes into the Plexus would take a piece of it back to their own network. If other countries visited sites which touched our links, then I designed nanostrings of code that would follow them back to their networks.”

  “And they did.” Barret patted Sparx on the back. “It has only been live for a short time, but every single country has been exposed to the Plexus on some level or another. The code that Sparx designed infiltrated and transmitted key information back to us.”

  “You can hack into the digital systems of every country?” Thorn guessed.

  “Can. Have.”

  “Weapons systems access?” Thorn asked.

  “Everything,” Sparx said. “We can control every country if it comes to that. I could manipulate the media to destroy their current leadership. I could empty a nation’s bank account, transferring the funds to their enemy. There is no limit to the trouble we can cause.”

  Thorn laughed and clapped Sparx on the back. “Brilliant, Sparx. Absolutely remarkable. I’m glad that you were sent here. You may be our salvation.”

  “Time,” Melissa said.

  “Pardon?” Thorn asked.

  “Can you manipulate time with your technology?”

  Sparx frowned. “Of course not.”

  “Then none of it matters.”

  “Why?” Barret asked.

  “Everything you can do to help would take time to accomplish,”. “Weeks at least, am I right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then it won’t work. We don’t have that much time. Time is running out.”

  “What do you know that we don’t?” Thorn asked.

  “Cooper is here.”

  “That’s right. Cooper is here lying comatose on a table while his consciousness is inside the Sim.”

  “No. Well, yes, but there’s more to it than that.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Cooper is here and walking around the planet.”

  “That’s not possible,” Sparx said.

  “It’s possible,” Thorn said, “but highly unlikely.”

  “I’ve talked with him.” Melissa sat down and looked out the window.

  “When?”

  “Weeks ago.”

  Questions flooded Thorn’s brain but he dismissed them all. “There is no point asking why you kept this a secret. What is he here for?”

  “First he came to destroy the General, but when he realized the Gamer movement was active and they showed promise of succeeding in attempting to make life better for everyone, he agreed to wait and let them try.”

  “The Gamers have failed.” Thorn stated the obvious. “What will he do now?”

  “He will finish what he came here to do.”

  “You said he came to destroy the General,” Barret said. “He will learn that has already been accomplished, so there is nothing for him to do.”

  “He will see that the president is back in control and the General is dead,” Thorn said.

  “Exactly,” Melissa said. “His original plan was to destroy things, and he will.”

  “Then we can contact him,” Sparx said. “Have him join us so that we can work together.”

  “I’m not being clear.” Melissa’s expression was grim. “Cooper intends to destroy the world and shut down the Sims. He won’t settle for destroying only this reality. His goal is to destroy them all.”

  72

  The first sensation he had as consciousness began to return was pain.

  Overwhelming, searing, deep, hot pain.

  He opened his mouth and screamed. In his mind, the sound was deafening. In reality, the filthy cloth that had been jammed deep into his mouth prevented most of the cry from reaching his eardrums.

  He was disappointed. They’ve taken even my ability to scream. Bastards. Good strategy though. It helps build the despair.

  Something hard struck him in the side of the face, causing a bright flash inside his head. He tried to open his eyes, but they were swollen shut. After a moment of intense effort, he managed to open the left eye a sliver.

  “Ish thad awl yough gawt.” The words slurred from his mouth, requiring great effort to form, but telling him that the majority of his wounds were only on the surface. His eye opened further and he took in the scene. A man and woman stood in front of him, the man holding a pipe and the woman looking at him as if she were an interested art buyer and he was a painting for sale.

  The woman chuckled and shook her head. “We have considerably more. I was hoping this little session would convince you to give us the information we need.” She grabbed him by the hair, yanking backwards as she leaned in. “I would prefer you to live through this. Something tells me that you have much more information than we are currently looking for.”

  He played along, sending a look of fear to his opened eye for effect. She recognized the expression and smiled. “Good.” She pushed his head down and returned to her spot. “Now, giv
e us the information we want while I’m still feeling generous enough to let you live.”

  With a start, he felt new sensation enter his body, this one very different from the simple feelings these two were capable of eliciting. An icy chill penetrated the middle of his forehead and coursed through his system until it struck him deep in the heart. He grunted and cocked his head. “What the hell is going on?” The slur was gone from his voice.

  The woman frowned. “You sound clear and coherent, all of a sudden.”

  He ignored her and began twisting his hands behind him, working on the tight plastic cord.

  “Stop moving. Ivan, our guest needs more of your attention. You have been too kind with your strikes.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Ivan nodded and raised the pipe as he stepped forward to deliver another blow. He aimed for the head and swung hard, putting all of his strength and weight into the strike.

  Suddenly, the prisoner’s hand was in front of his face and gripping the pipe before it could connect with his head. His good eye opened wider and he grinned at the man holding the pipe.

  “What the—” Ivan gasped.

  The prisoner wrenched the pipe out of his attacker’s hand and stood. In one smooth motion, he swept Ivan’s legs out from under him and swung the pipe down. The pipe connected with Ivan’s head and drove him into the ground. The man’s skull made a terrible crunching sound as one side connected with the hard floor and the other burst from contact with the pipe.

  The woman screamed and the prisoner looked at her.

  “Sorry, hun.” Carl stood up and wiped pieces of Ivan’s brain from his cheek with the back of his hand. “As much as I’ve enjoyed playing with the two of you, something has come up.” He threw the pipe. It streaked through the air and connected with her forehead. She crumpled to the ground.

  Carl stumbled towards the exit, regaining the majority of his physical strength by the time he reached it and turned the door handle.

  Two guards turned and looked at him in surprise. He killed them both before they could react.

  He shuffled to the far end of the hall, the physical pain of what his captors had done to him eclipsed by the piercing coldness coursing through his body.

  I’ve danced with pain for millennia but this one is different. This one actually has me worried.

  Carl reached the exit. Guards began to shout and rush towards him as he stepped out into the light. He ignored them and bent low, pushing himself up into the air and flying away.

  73

  Melissa never slept soundly.

  She could fall asleep half submerged in mud and hard falling rain. She could even manage to get some rest while standing against a wall in a bright room. Military life had taught her to sleep almost anywhere, but she had also learned to always sleep lightly. Those who slept deep died young, their throats slit by the enemy.

  She heard a faint hissing sound and opened her eyes, ready to spring into action. The bright outline of a doorway formed in front of her. A figure stepped through the portal. Sounds of crinkling garbage bags and the chiming of pop bottle caps filled the silence. Melissa sat up with a grin.

  “The most secure place on the planet and you somehow manage to appear.”

  “Please.” The old man clicked the chain on her small lamp and sat down on the bed, bouncing like a toddler. “This place was easy to find. It might keep the regular people away, but you’d need to do better than this to keep me out.”

  “Is that even possible?”

  The old man grinned and winked at her. “Of course not. Why would you want to, anyway?”

  “I didn’t know you could visit this world.”

  “Then you have learned something new today. You’re not even out of bed and already it’s been productive for you.”

  Melissa laughed. She had always enjoyed the old man and did not realize how much she missed him until now. She also knew that he did not appear out of thin air for no reason. “What is it that you want?”

  “That hurts, Melissa.” The pain in his tone matched that of his expression. “Isn’t it possible that I missed you as much as you likely miss me? That, in my rare and precious moments of recreational time, I would do my very best to look up old friends and visit with them to see how they are getting along?”

  Melissa pursed her lips and raised one eyebrow.

  “Too strong?” He frowned and ran a gloved hand through his tangled hair, managing to make it look even messier for the attention.

  “A bit.” She nodded.

  “I should interact with people more on my downtime.” He sighed. “It’s possible that I’m losing my boyish charm. Problem is that I never seem to have any downtime.” He shrugged. “No matter. Yes, I have come to collect you for a specific purpose. Put on some clothes and let’s go.”

  “Where?” She stood up and grabbed her pants.

  “Don’t people like surprises anymore?” He looked at his hands, feigning interest in them while Melissa donned her clothes.

  “Your surprises are too intense. I prefer to know where we are going.”

  “We need to see a friend of yours. Okay, not we. You.”

  “Who?”

  “Cooper.”

  Melissa finished dressing. “You know what he plans to do?”

  “Of course. Are you ready?”

  “Yes.” Melissa tucked a weapon into place behind her back. “You want me to talk him out of it?”

  “Huh?” He looked surprised at the suggestion but recovered quickly and nodded. “Sure, why not. Talk him out of it.”

  That didn’t sound too convincing.

  The old man stood and gave her a penetrating look. “Do you think you’re up for the challenge, girl?”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  “Good. That’s all I can ask.”

  He traced a doorway in the air and the faint hissing returned as the door materialized. The old man stepped backwards, dropping one hand with a flourish. “After you.”

  “Thanks.” Melissa stepped through the doorway and disappeared into the light.

  ***

  Melissa emerged from the portal and looked around. A moment later, the old man appeared and the doorway faded.

  “Where are we?” she asked.

  The old man scowled. “How would I know? I just got here. That panel over yonder looks like a quantum power generator. If I had to guess, which you’re making me do, then I’d say we are in a plant that could cause a huge explosion if the core is damaged.”

  “If you don’t know where we are—”

  “Quiet. We likely aren’t supposed to be here.”

  Her mouth opened and closed. He’s crazy. I knew that, but still. He’s nuts. “If you don’t know where we are, then why are we here?”

  “I don’t know where we are”—he mimicked her tone and scrunched up his face—“because I didn’t travel to a place. I opened a doorway to a person.”

  “Ah.”

  “Yes. Ah.” He walked to the nearest corner and peeked around it, then he came back to whisper to her. “He’s over there. Go talk him out of this crazy business, will you?”

  Melissa looked around the corner herself. Cooper stood with his back to them, working on the interior of a large control centre. The outer panel was removed and laying to one side.

  “Why don’t you just wave your hands and send him somewhere less dangerous?” Melissa whispered.

  The old man’s eyes crinkled with amusement and he stifled laughter. “Stop trying to make me get caught. Saying absurd things while we’re on a mission is dangerous. Haven’t you ever crept up on people before?”

  She looked at him and shook her head.

  “I can’t just wave my hands and send him somewhere less dangerous. The boy is a loose cannon. Wherever I send him, he would still be a nut bar intent on making trouble. You have to go over there and talk him out of this stupid idea or he will just go do it somewhere else.”

  “Fine.” Melissa stepped into the open and cleared her throat.
>
  “Tell the old man he can come out too,” Cooper did not look up. “He’s as quiet as an elephant walking on bubble wrap over there.”

  “I know, right?” Melissa turned to look at the old man, then laughed. “He’s gone.”

  “Figures.”

  “What you doing?” She slowly inched closer.

  “Setting the core to blow.”

  “What city are we in?”

  He told her.

  Melissa whistled. “Blowing a quantum capacitor will cause a huge blast radius.”

  “Yeah, it should wipe out the entire city. Maybe a bit more.”

  “Cooper. That’s over a million people.”

  He looked at her and nodded.

  “You’re killing innocent people. I don’t get it.”

  “The General is dead.” Cooper separated two wires and stripped the insulation away with a small tool. “Thorn is hiding. The president has returned from the grave and controls everything.” He furrowed his brows, peeling away the plastic to expose the wires beneath. “See what she did to the leaders of your movement?”

  “Yes.”

  “Things looked promising for a while, but now they don’t.” He twisted the wires together and tucked them back inside the panel. “Everyone is going to either die or live as slaves. Living will be worse.”

  “It’s going to be tough for a while.”

  Cooper laughed. “The citizens of this world experienced a different way of life, a better way. There’s no going back. People are gonna fight back and die, slowly and painfully. The president will win and this reality won’t be worth living in.”

  “We don’t know that for certain.”

  “I do, and so do you.”

  “So that gives you the right to destroy it all?”

  “You’re not hearing me.” Cooper stood. “The game is over. Why play out the remaining useless moves when the end is inevitable?”

  “Because it’s never inevitable.”

  “Stop it. You’re strapped to a chair. Your arms and legs are bound and broken. Half a mile away, a tank is rolling towards you. Eventually, it will run you over and there is nothing you can do to escape. You’re saying you would rather watch it come crush you when I can offer you a quick bullet to the head?”