Avatar exits often told riddles as puzzles to unlock them, Jerome felt confident that he could outsmart it. But some were combat games, which Jerome historically been very bad at. Given the name of the Avatar was Aries, He was probably not going to tell a riddle.
"What do you want me to do?" said Jerome.
"Reboot," Said Aries.
In an instant, he appeared behind Jerome. Jerome had only a moment to turn and then felt a sudden jolt that paralyzed him. He looked down to his chest to see a knife sunk into the handle. The sensation filled him with an uncomfortable pressure; he could not breathe, fell to his knees clutching his chest. He closed his eyes and felt his heart laboring to beat in his chest; a warmth overtook him as he felt it stop.
CHAPTER 14
There was no passaged of time Jerome simply became aware of someone pressing on his chest and breathing into his mouth. At first, He could not move, but in a moment he gasped and then managed to push them. He was weak at first but he managed to roll over just as he got sick all over the floor. For a few moments, he was aware only of muffled sounds, a girl talking, and a man. Then the voices became clear.
"Hey, man, you OK?" the man's voice came to him.
"Yes," said Jerome.
"I'm going to help you up, 1,2,3.," he said as Jerome felt himself be lifted off the floor and into a chair. The girl was now steadying him, so he didn't fall back out.
"What happened?" Jerome asked.
"You started convulsing, and we shut the link down," The man said.
"You like died," said the girl.
"Shut up Sandy; it was neurological Interface shock, it happens. Rare these days but you have these damn nanites in your system that screwed up the signal, caused a seizure. But you're OK now. Just sit a minute," He said.
"Nanites? what?" Jerome asked. Jerome had never had any implants or augments. His body started to wake up more now as the pain set into his chest and neck. As the pain overwhelmed him he threw up again.
"Oh, Crap, Grab the bucket," Yelled the man. In a moment Jerome felt a sting in the back of his arm.
"Ok, that's PanAnathile for the pain and nausea. We need to call you a cab to the clinic," Said the man.Jerome started to feel a little better, the cab came, and they helped him in.
"Clinic," the girl said.
"No, Wait. I think I just want you to take me home. I'm feeling better," said Jerome.
"You sure, you look like hell," Said the cabbie
"I'm sure," said Jerome.
"Ok, buddy, your call. Relax it's going to take a while," The cabbie said.
CHAPTER 15
The sound of the shower came into focus first, then the sensation of light slowly getting brighter. The sheets were warm, and he had no desire to get up. The smell of coffee found his senses as he opened his eyes. Julia came out of the shower with a towel wrapped around her; her wet hair draped over her shoulders. She walked to the dresser and glanced over her shoulder and smiled at Jerome. Julia was putting a pair of shorts on and a t-shirt. his sight was hazy and he could just make out her voice.
"Time to wake up Jerome, I thought we would go to the park. Spend the day together. Time to wake up Dr. Atkinson."
It seemed a strange thing to say, and then she was gone. His head hurt.
"Doctor Atkinson," Jerome heard a voice say.
"Get the cart ready, he may crash."
"Doctor stay with me," The voice came again.
"Get the line in..." Jerome was fully awake now, he thought so anyway. There was a team of people in white working on him. based on what he saw he imagined he should be in pain, but he couldn't feel much of anything.
"Dr. Atkinson, can you hear me? You're having a reaction to PanAnathile. When did you take it? Can you hear me," the voice came again.
Jerome felt like he was floating. it must be a dream, he was tired, so he closed his eyes, just for a moment.
"He's crashing where is the cart, get it over here now."
CHAPTER 16
Jerome opened his eyes; his head was splitting, his throat was sore. he saw a woman, "Julia?"
"Just relax, my name is Sylvia," the woman said.
"Where is Julia?" he asked.
"I'm afraid I don't know," the woman said, and she left the room.
Jerome tried to move, something sharp was stabbing him in his back. He was tangled up in a number of tubes and wires.
"I would relax if I were you. We will be pulling you out of all that in about an hour." The voice was familiar, Jerome focused on the location.
"You. Who are you?"
"I guess last time I didn't get into that. Honestly, I didn't think it would be necessary," said the man now standing at Jerome's bedside.
"I'm Fred. But they call me the Prophet. You remember, the Down world nut," said the man.
"Splended" Jerome asked closing his eye's again.
"I will let them get you ready, time to go. You've been here too long as it is," the man said.
"Where are we going?" Jerome asked. He opened his eyes again and looked around, the room wasn't familiar. "Then again, how did I get here?"
"Here? We had a trigger on the code you used. We came as soon as you entered, you don't recall the cabbie?" said the man.
"I recall there being one, but not a lot of detail. I suppose that was you," Jerome said.
"As to where we are going, Down World."
"What, No. No thank you. I will pass," said Jerome.
"What do you think Jerome, they not going to dispose of you? You saw the video, I still have it you want to see it again," the prophet asked.
"They need me, for the core, I do recall that," said Jerome.
"True, but only to remove the copy protocol, you did that a week ago. That's how long you've been out. I also recall the Benefactors being pretty much on board with the plan. The Mr. Somers is quite dedicated, especially now that you hacked their core and killed the player, they could off you in public," said the man.
"I didn't kill anyone!" said Jerome.
"No, but they have a dead body and a hack code with your gene tag on it. By now they have the 1.0 core link with more DNA on it then if they had swabbed your gums," said the man.
"I grew up on Saturn station, ALL my life. I haven't been acclimatized to full G, ever. That's a real issue. How do you propose to deal with that," said Jerome.
"I have thought about that, no answers, but thought about it. But here is the deal, this is a space station, 167km in diameter I grant you. There is no place to hide. That and you have been dead twice in a week now, I think you're tougher than you think," said the man.
"Why? Why all this?" said Jerome.
"Faith doctor, you're now part of the plan. The core can be copied, there are two more seals. At the end of the day you're the only man still standing that has a chance to break them before the benefactors do. like I said everyone wants the same thing, Einstein Doctor, bombs or power, it just comes down to degrees. You want to make a contribution or just want to live? Then you go down world," said the man.
"I am dead one way or the other," said Jerome.
"It's a choice. A matter of degrees. But then, none of us get out of this alive. At least not yet," said the man.
CHAPTER 17
Jerome was free of the tubes but he wasn't sure he felt much better. Nauseous and on the edge of passing out about half the time the man that called himself the prophet proceeded to drag him through every alley of the station. Whether Jerome wanted to go or not, he didn't have much choice.
"We wait here," said the man.
"What for? I don't think I can stand here long," said Jerome.
"OK, Let's sit you down here in the corner for a second while I go find out when the transport will be here. Once it's here, I can come get you," said the man.
Jerome thought sitting would be better, but it was a struggle just to sit. He shifted a little and tried to see if standing would be an option.
"Hello, Jerome." Jerome looked up to see who was speaking.
It was Mr. Somers and Julia was with him. She was several feet behind him looking up and down the alley. Jerome looked in the direction the man had come but didn't see anyone.
"We have been looking for you," said Mr. Somers.
"Have you?" said Jerome.
"Indeed, you have become quite an annoyance as of late. You do understand how I hate to be annoyed," said Mr. Somers.
"I have some idea," said Jerome. Mr. Somers had crouched in front of him and was patting his pockets.
"Looking for something? Getting a little handsy, although I have to say, more exciting than your partner ever managed," said Jerome toward Julia.
She looked at him sternly. He noticed now that Julia had a gun, she had it held partly behind her thigh so that it would not be obvious to someone looking up the alley.
"Just a precaution," Mr. Somers said.
"Like that gun?" asked Jerome.
"Oh, that. Well, it won't do to have any of your new friends complicating things," Mr. Somers said still searching.
Jerome looked just beyond where Julia stood and saw someone peek from behind the corner at the end of the alley.
"All this fuss? Over me? I would have figured that you would have had this figured out," said Jerome.
"Oh, we do. But no need to get sloppy," said Mr. Somers.
"The package must be on the Prophet. Well, we can conclude our transaction and then deal with him," Mr. Somers said directing the comment to Julia who stepped a bit closer.
"Going to have Julia do your work?" Jerome asked.
"Privileges of management, you understand. Julia has some issues I am sure she would like to deal with. You see the player, was her brother. Really her only family," Said Mr. Somers.
"Besides, I'm sure you know that it was Julia's suggestion to remove you from the project."
"Yeah, I may have heard about that," said Jerome. He sat up a little straighter, Julia raised the gun.
"Bet you have been dreaming about this for a while?"
"You have no idea, Jerome. You have no idea," said Julia. Jerome looked down, he had resided himself to the idea, He felt like hell anyway.
"Can we get this over with before I pass out again, or are you two hoping to bore me to death," said Jerome.
"Julia, please if you would," said Mr. Somers who backed up a bit.
Jerome jumped when a shot rang out. Then another and a third. The last one jolted an involuntary scream out of him. But there was no pain, shock may be. When he looked he saw Mr. Somers now on the ground around a growing pool of blood.
"Get up," Julia was grabbing his arm and pulling him to his feet. They made it to the end of the alley and were joined by the man.
"Quite the mess you made back there Julia," said the man.
"Your problem, what were you thinking leaving him there," she spat.
"Well, a little more detail would have been nice. You need to work on your trust issues," said the man.
"You were told what you needed to know," said Julia. She adjusted Jerome a bit and got under his arm better, they headed off while the man went into the alley.
"What's happening?" asked Jerome.
"You are leaving. The ship will be docked by now," Julia said.
"We are just going to get on? like this?" said Jerome.
"No, I am going to hand you off to a baggage handler I know, he will get you on through cargo," Julia said.
"Why? You just killed the representative, shouldn't you go too," said Jerome.
"I have been playing this game for a long time now. Let's just say you have been a busy guy Jerome, I didn't kill anyone, the CCTV will confirm that. Joseph was my brother, but he wasn't the only VR programmer in my family. It will be a lot harder to hunt you down on earth. We have people there, now that the fifth protocol is down, the clock is ticking, we need your help and that's all I can say now."
"See you around?" said Jerome.
"Goodbye Jerome," Julia said.
"Is this the package?" asked a man that came up with a cart that had an open box.
"Yes, let me help you," Julia said as they picked Jerome up and put him in.
"Take care of yourself, Jerome, Take care of my brother," said Julia as the lid closed.
CHAPTER 18
About an hour went by and a crew member came for him.
"Have we launched yet?" Jerome asked.
"No, but we are about to. From here on your Michael Smith, at least in transit. A medical transport if anyone asks. But try not to talk to anyone," he said.
He put Jerome in a wheelchair and put a mask on him with a contagion symbol on it. Before long he was sitting in a seat looking out at Saturn station, watching it get smaller as the ship backed away and oriented toward the sun. His whole life gone. he put his head back and tried to relax as he felt the ship tremble. He felt heavy as the massive nuclear pulse engines fired up and in a moment the rings of Saturn were gone.
OTHER BOOKS BY MICHAEL CLARK
Thanks so much for reading. I hope you found it entertaining. I truly appreciate that you took the time!
Find all my books at
Https://www.analogsoftworks.com/
And remember, all of my books debut at .99 cents for a limited time. Sign up for my mailing list on the web site to get notice when I release new books and announce contests and giveaways.
Table of Contents
Copyright
Table of Contents
Let's connect online!
Foreword
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Other books by Michael Clark
Down World - Prophecy: Book 1 (Quantum Clockwork Series) Page 4