by Paul Teague
Delman would hold all the power when Catharsis came. It was a plan he’d put in motion many years previously. They had to work with him because he had the power to destroy them all.
Delman didn’t usually dwell on the past, but a memory came back to him at that moment, one which he’d not thought about for some time. It was probably because it was related to the Parsons family. They’d been a curse to him for several years.
It had begun with Matt Parsons and Tom Slater. They’d very nearly revealed The City’s darkest secret to Damien Hunter, but Delman had managed to head it off just in time, in the same way that he’d attempted to do by sending the holographic message to Joe and Lucy in The Grid. He’d managed to retrieve Tom’s WristCom and conceal it in the body of the man known as Jay who had perished in The Grid. The secrets contained on the WristCom device had died with him.
Delman wondered what had made him recall that episode again. He’d tidied up the threat posed by Matt Parsons and Tom Slater a long time ago. Damien Hunter had even helped him to do it. The irony of it, Hunter had helped to destroy the two men who could have answered his prayers. Sometimes Delman wished he’d got somebody to share these things with, he kept a lot in his own mind.
He’d get his chance to live again soon, it was why he’d taken Teanna Schaelles, she was his guarantee. When Catharsis came, he’d return to The Core and claim his new life. In the process, he’d save humanity from extinction.
Chapter Three
Strategy
Talya didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The stress of the past few days was catching up with her. She felt as if she’d been staggering at the edge of a precipice, and she craved rest and release. There would be no break for her until she’d found out what had happened to Lucy. She didn’t know what to make of this latest information. Leo played back the video loop on his console.
The feed had faded to black right at the end, just as it had when Matt Parsons had been in The Grid. She’d seen it before. But something had very definitely happened in those final moments. The promos were trying to tell her that Lucy was dead. It looked as if Joe had been slaughtered by the creature. But there was no proof of death. There were no bodies, just as it had been with Matt. Death was assumed, but where was the evidence? They usually liked to show the bodies on the screens. Still, silent and finally at peace, it was often a relief to see that the torture was over when a Justice Seeker died. But there were no bodies for Joe and Lucy. If there were no bodies, there was still hope.
‘Take it away, Leo. I don’t need to see it again.’
‘I don’t think it’s conclusive, Talya. We have to assume she’s still alive.’
Talya nodded. She wanted to scream and fly into a rage, she felt so powerless in this fight. If it wasn’t for her daughter, she could throw herself into the final assault. But all the time she had to be mindful of Lucy and Joe. Her actions could get them killed, if they weren’t dead already.
‘What do we do next, Leo? What’s the plan?’
Talya decided to focus on the things she could control rather than dwelling on what might be.
‘We have to strike fast,’ Leo began. ‘Hunter will know all about us now – if he’s got to Julia, he’ll know. She has family, he’ll have threatened them, and Julia will have had no other choice than to tell him everything she knows.’
‘And what does she know?’
Talya wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to hear the answer.
‘She knows about the resistance, but she’s never been here. We kept her out of it. With family to protect, it would have exposed her too much.’
‘Why did you involve her in the first place, if she was such a risk?’
‘My hand was forced when we all got caught up in one of Damien Hunter’s killing sprees. I’m no murderer, Talya. I do what I can to save lives. We had to bring her in on it, but she didn’t really have a choice. We’re all doing what we have to do to stay alive.’
Talya knew about that. It was difficult to apportion blame in The City, everybody had to make the best decisions they could to keep breathing. It was those at the top who were responsible, Delman and Hunter. There was no need for The City to operate in that climate of fear.
‘Are we safe here, Leo? Is there any chance Hunter can flush us out? You know he won’t stop until he finds me, don’t you?’
Leo knew there was no way Hunter would rest until he’d located Talya, Leo and Jody. He wasn’t stupid, he’d be piecing it all together just like they were. Hands were being forced, they were all being pressured into making the first move.
‘We’re as safe as we can be here, Talya. This place has been used by the resistance for many years now, and it’s secure and well protected. It helps that we’re in The Climbs, there’s much less scrutiny out here.’
Talya wasn’t so sure about that, she knew what Damien Hunter was like. He’d already taken her husband’s life. It was quite possible that he’d killed her daughter, and he was coming for her next.
‘How can I help?’
Leo looked uncomfortable and Talya sensed that she wouldn’t like what he was about to say. She fought her battles with words and alliances, she was not a warrior. Although there was a lot of weaponry in that headquarters, she was certain that what was coming next would be a very different battle.
‘We need you to make an address on the screens in The Climbs. They’re connected by a cable loop which we’ve been able to access for some time – we can hack into them, although we can’t get to those on Silk Road. We need someone like you, Talya. It has to be someone who people trust.’
Talya could see the sense of that. She would be hard-pressed to find anyone more suitable than herself. Someone like Leo couldn’t do it, he was unknown and the Centuria were despised. Law Lord Sivil couldn’t do it, it was a close thing who was hated more, the Centuria or the Law Lords. She saw that it had to be her, she was the right person for this job. She was respected and well-liked on Silk Road and in The Climbs. It was probably the only reason why Damien Hunter hadn’t disposed of her outright. Talya understood her power. It hadn’t been much use to her so far but in this battle she could be a leader. She would call on every last drop of trust and credibility she’d earned in The Climbs to inspire the residents to action.
‘So what do I say when I’m on the screens? What are we going to ask them to do?’
‘We’re not going to ask them to do anything, Talya. We’re just going to show them the truth. We’ve gathered quite a show reel of atrocities that have taken place in The Climbs. All you have to do is to tell them it’s the truth. You just have to plant the seed. The rest should take care of itself.’
Gameplay
Linwood was scared now. Hannah had been escorted out of the Fortrillium premises and the room was filled with armed Centuria. Would they figure out that they’d been working together? He rapidly worked through Hannah’s code, but there was nothing in there to suggest they weren’t testing out some new ideas in a rendered environment.
They’d created their cityscape model in a part of The Grid that was clear of Justice Seekers. It was normal practice. They’d had to do it to fight whoever was working against them. Linwood wondered if he should raise the matter with the Head Gridder. Was she in on it? Did anybody else know that there was outside interference?
A drop of sweat splashed onto Linwood’s hand as he worked at his console. He’d have to take care not to show how rattled he was, he didn’t want to give the game away.
His mind was racing about what might have happened to Hannah, but he had a feeling that he knew already. When five new Justice Seekers had been thrown into The Grid, Linwood knew what had happened. It had to be Hannah. There were two women in there of her age, but he couldn’t tell which was which. He’d need to work it out – would she think to give him some clues? Hannah would know that Linwood could only see her as a pixelated image, there would be no names and no ID for him. He’d watch carefully, hoping she would know he needed a sign from her to con
firm her identity. Just as Hannah had been oblivious to Joe and Lucy’s presence earlier, so he would have to ascertain which of the figures on the screen represented her. He wasn’t even sure she was in there, her removal from the team of Gridders had not been accompanied by any explanation.
Things were extremely tense among the Gridders. It had all happened very quickly. Hannah and Linwood had lost control of the gameplay once they’d created the new cityscape to give the Justice Seekers a way out. Whoever was controlling events in The Grid was intent on killing everybody, it seemed.
Something had happened with the bot. They’d agreed with Fortrillium to keep it contained in an area out of the way of the Justice Seekers until it could be safely returned, but it had suddenly started moving and making its way to an area right at the centre of The Grid.
At that point their screens had gone down. Only Damien Hunter could do that, not even the Head Gridder could deactivate the live feed. The trial had gone dark for a couple of minutes, and there had been panic and confusion. Nobody knew what was happening – it had never occurred before.
A few minutes later, the screens were back. There was a top-level order from President Josh Delman demanding that the centre of The Grid be heavily defended. As far as Linwood could see, it was just a water butt. They were defending a water butt. And the bot was still there.
Another command came in from Damien Hunter. He wanted a full report on what was going on. But none of them knew what had happened.
Linwood worked with the other Gridders to deploy snipers. They were created so quickly that they were only partially rendered 3D models, but the Justice Seekers wouldn’t get to see them. The snipers were just needed to keep them away from the centre. You didn’t get an order from the President and ignore it.
Once the feeds were restored, Linwood was astonished to see another five Justice Seekers had been thrown into the arena, and it was only then that he noticed Joe and Lucy were missing. Two Justice Seekers had completely disappeared. How had that happened? It was impossible.
Shortly afterwards, Linwood saw one of the Justice Seekers run to his death, but that had been nothing to do with the Gridders. He’d been annihilated immediately by a threat unknown to him. It was a good job the public feed hadn’t been restored at that stage. What was going on? He’d never seen anything like it. And there had been something going on with the water butt too, the pixels were changing, as if somebody was fighting to restore it. Every now and then a doorway to an elevator would emerge.
Orders were being issued all around them – it was like being in the heart of a battle. The Head Gridder wanted the entire labyrinth environment re-rendered as a cityscape. When the public feed was switched back on it would have to look as if the disruption had been caused by a Mode change. But who was it who was working to conceal whatever lay hidden by the water butt? What was there? Why had the Justice Seeker run at that area, only to be killed by something that was not of the Gridders’ creation?
It occurred to Linwood that backs were being covered. Delman had his agenda, Hunter seemed to be doing something completely separate and the Head Gridder was just doing her best to keep them all out of trouble. Something very serious had happened, and a lot of senior people had become seriously rattled.
It took some time for things to settle down among the Gridders. It wasn’t until The Grid had been re-rendered as an entire cityscape, the bot destroyed and the existing Justice Seekers regrouped behind a concrete barricade that they began to relax a little.
Linwood had figured out that Hannah must be one of the new Justice Seekers, and he reasoned that the panic that had taken place was probably related to whatever it was she and her friends had been plotting. He was scared for her life and terrified he might be caught up in these events after his association with her. But a part of Linwood didn’t care. After his brother had disappeared, he’d felt helpless and useless. Now he felt empowered. At last he could make an impact.
Of course, he was petrified they’d be escorting him from the room next, but so far he seemed safe. He’d keep his head down. Only now it was Hannah he was trying to keep alive in there, not Joe and Lucy. Where had they gone? There was something in The Grid that none of them knew about. He hoped that Hannah would be able to stay alive long enough to find some answers.
They’d received instructions to give the Justice Seekers a short reprieve. There was some serious covering up going on. The promo teams were working overtime to account for the timeline of events the citizens had seen broadcast on the screens. None of the Gridders saw these promos, they had to be kept away from the real identities of the people they were slaughtering. The video feeds were re-cut to make it look as if Joe had been killed in his final battle with the creature. It wasn’t difficult, they just used a shot showing the beast charging at him. It seemed he couldn’t possibly survive. There was no moment of death, just the strong inference that he’d died.
Lucy’s final fight with Schälen was similarly re-edited. A few edits here and there, the use of some close-ups from their first fight, it wasn’t difficult to achieve. Again, there was no moment of death, but it was clear to those watching on the screens that Parsons and Slater were no longer part of the trial. To them, they were dead, two more casualties of The City’s justice system.
Linwood carried on working into the night, oblivious as to how events in The Grid had been portrayed to the residents of The City. He could see there were a number of badly wounded people in there, and he decided to give them a break. He was the only Gridder at his console, while the others were chatting and exchanging ideas at the other end of the office. Linwood placed some food, water and medical supplies at strategic points in the cityscape. He could see that two search parties had split off from the main group. He was not doing anything unusual in The Grid. It was accepted that recovery time for the participants was good, it made the engagement scores better if the Justice Seekers were capable of fighting back. They’d have to make what followed strong and compelling though.
He’d done what he could. It was late at night and the crisis had been contained. Besides, Linwood had another project in mind. Whoever was interfering with the gameplay was snooping around again. It wasn’t obvious at first, but Linwood had noticed there was some patch-up work going on at The Core. Whatever was concealed there, the mysterious Gridder wanted it hidden away.
Linwood was onto him. If he was going to get Hannah out of there alive, he would need to be able to fight this invisible opponent. He’d nearly beaten him once before, but next time Linwood was going to be ready. He began to create a search program to figure out how the hidden assailant could be blocked.
Sport
Wiz and Dillon shrank as far as they could into the furthest corner of the basement. The torchlights probed the darkness, and it could only be a matter of time before one of those lights found them.
‘Turn your back to the wall, stay as still and as quiet as possible. If they spot us, you stay still, I’ll stand up. They might not notice you if I draw them away.’
‘What will I do if they capture you, Wiz?’
Wiz sighed. They were running out of options.
‘Take the tech bag and try to contact Talya. Don’t speak to Mitchell, he’s not to be trusted anymore. And take the WristCom. You’ll need to find a Centuria called Leo Bachus. I think you can trust him.’
Dillon nodded and ducked as a beam of light swept over their heads. Wiz handed over the WristCom. It was still activated, and he turned it off in case its dim light drew unwelcome attention.
‘Get down!’ Wiz whispered. He was seriously considering giving himself up to save Dillon. Would Dillon be strong enough to help the others stay alive? He wasn’t sure, but how could he sacrifice Dillon to preserve his own life? He was probably Joe and Lucy’s best chance of survival, but he couldn’t send Dillon to his grave to save them.
The Centuria were sweeping the further edges of the basement now. It was only a matter of minutes until they were discovered.
‘Remember, if they spot one of us, stay still. Let me draw them away from the area, okay?’
The searching beams of light swept over their heads, then began a scan at floor level. Wiz felt the light pass over him. For a moment, he hoped he’d been missed. But the light came back and settled on him. There was a shout, followed by several other lights.
‘Stand up and turn around slowly!’ came the order. The Centuria didn’t mess around, all weapons were now primed and aimed directly at them. Wiz turned around, hoping Dillon would stay still, as he’d instructed.
Wiz was dazzled. They’d been in darkness for so long his eyes needed to adjust. There seemed to be a swarm of Centuria, there were far more bodies than there had been lights in the darkness. He could hear the electronic charge of their weapons. He emerged from the corner with his hands held high so the Centuria could see them. He jumped as there was a single shot in Dillon’s direction.
‘And the other one. Come out slowly so we can see your hands!’
Damn. They’d spotted Dillon. Wiz turned to him and nodded to give him reassurance. There was little point trying to make any smart moves, there was nowhere for them to go.
‘Kick the bag over here!’
Dillon kicked it towards the Centuria who’d issued the instruction. It was heavy with tech and didn’t travel very far.
‘I want both of you to turn around slowly, kneel on the ground, hands behind your heads. Any sudden moves and we shoot.’
Dillon and Wiz had seen enough of the Centuria to know this was no joke. There were no sudden plays to be made, no smart moves. If they didn’t follow orders, they’d be shot. If they did follow every instruction, they still might be shot.