by Paul Teague
When Josh Delman walked into The TriPlex, he was faced with three exits, each one marked as a different Sector. Three Sectors, three strains of disease, it made sense to him. He made for the second exit. Sector 2 was the only area which had been spared from the testing of any cures. It had to be there, according to what Schaelles had overheard.
As the elevator began to ascend, Josh Delman caught his breath. He hadn’t a clue what would greet him when the doors opened. He was armed, alert and prepared. The elevator came to its resting position and the door opened. He looked out into the final moments of a massacre. There were bloody bodies scattered all around, the last person had just been shot through the neck with an arrow. Delman hesitated in the doorway, but as he did the rural landscape in front of him began to pixelate, then disappeared, leaving a crisscross grid and a vast hangar. He stepped out of the elevator, which appeared to be right at the centre of the huge area. All he could see were bodies, some in front of him and others in various states of decomposition all around the arena.
He wondered if he’d have been better taking his chances at Centrum. As Delman stepped into the blue lattice markings that formed The Grid, he triggered a voice message.
‘You sought and found justice in The Grid. You are free to take The Justice Walk. Please step onto the transporter to activate the release process.’
A circular platform appeared in front of Delman and he stepped onto it. He was immediately scanned. The voice came again. It was automated, it sounded as if it was coming from a console.
‘Welcome to Sector Two, President Morgan. You may now leave The Grid. Your full access rights have been reinstated. Please activate transportation.’
Delman recognized an opportunity when he saw it. He activated the control panel and it transported him away from the hangar. He materialized in a secure holding area where he was met by armed guards and a suited official. The man in the suit looked confused and in a state of panic.
Delman waited to see who would make the first move. The strategy worked well, and the official stepped forward, nervous and shaken.
‘I’m delighted to meet you. My name is President – Acting President – Michael Noakes. Welcome to The City, Mr President.’
Delman seized on the confusion and played it to his advantage. He could work out enough of what had happened to piece things together. He’d taken over the body of President James Morgan in Centrum. As the most senior member of the ruling Government, Morgan appeared to have free access to this Sector and complete and unchallenged superiority in terms of rank. Josh Delman superseded the existing President, he had rights of office too. Not only had Delman just escaped with his life, he had walked straight into the most senior position in the Sector.
‘Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr Noakes. Thank you for your service. You are now relieved of your position.’
‘May I ask, sir, what just happened? How did you get out of there?’
The man was completely confused. Delman didn’t know much more himself. He would behave as if he had every right to be there, then have the former President eliminated at the earliest opportunity. He would need to secure his position. The confusion was to his advantage, they couldn’t argue with the computer systems which had clearly identified him as having seniority.
‘I’m here to take charge of this Sector – ‘The City’ as you call it. You’ll see from my authorization that I have full seniority here. You are not to refer to me as President James Morgan. For security purposes, I will be known as President Josh Delman and that is how you will address me from now on. Now, take me to my quarters.’
Delman was bluffing, but they seemed to accept his authority. They didn’t like it, they didn’t understand it, but all of their IT systems informed them that this man was who he was supposed to be – President James Morgan – and that he had full jurisdiction over everybody in the room. He didn’t even have a Gen-ID, although everybody in The City was supposed to have one.
‘We should introduce you to Luke Dreyfuss, the Head of Fortrillium. He’ll probably be on his way down here already.’
It didn’t take Delman long to piece together what he needed to know. He’d entered Sector 2. It was a walled city – he’d never been inside, but he knew the basic concept from when they’d been created during the peak of the plague years. He’d never made it to a Sector as he’d been moved over to Centrum before his ultimate detention by Morgan. Noakes was in charge in this Sector and it sounded as if Dreyfuss also had some seniority. Fortrillium had to be a form of government or law enforcement, it would be one or the other. He was President, he would have overall control over everything. Edward Schaelles had done well to give him Morgan’s body. He’d be able to hide in The City for as long as he needed. They’d never be able to come for him, he was safe until the Centurial arrived. As long as his body survived, of course. Morgan’s body had to last another fifty years, but he was fit and strong. He’d be over eighty when he left again, if he managed to survive that long. He had to live, for all their sakes.
‘Tell Dreyfuss I’ll meet with him later, I’m not ready to see him yet.’
Delman had learned that trick a long time ago in civilian life, before the plague days. Act as if you’re in charge and nobody will question it. It worked – they agreed to everything he said.
Delman was escorted out of the holding area and taken to a vehicle. He quickly worked out he was in a Fortrillium facility, the logo was everywhere and the uniforms gave it away. He was driven to a gated complex not too far away from the Fortrillium buildings. Looking out of the vehicle window, he thought that life here seemed very similar to what he remembered from his former life, before the plague. There were houses, roads, trees, plants, just a few vehicles, and it looked clean and well ordered. After the artificiality of Centrum, it was good to see such familiar surroundings. It was good to breathe fresh air once again. The sealed environment of Centrum might have been secure against the ingress of infection, but it was sterile and claustrophobic for those who had known life before the pandemic.
Every time Delman stepped through a security gate or was required to place his hand on an ID panel, it activated without a problem. Delman could go anywhere and do anything without challenge. His demeanour was confident and authoritative. Every time he encountered any security he expected to be exposed as the impostor that he was. It didn’t happen. He walked straight through as he was escorted to his office.
Delman dismissed the guards but asked Noakes to stay with him in the office. President Josh Delman received his briefing from the confused and astonished former president. In that one hour meeting, Delman gained access to The Pact and found out everything he needed to know about Catharsis. He saw that Edward Schaelles had been right all along about Morgan. His amoral alliances had sentenced humanity to oblivion. He also ascertained the nature of his presidential responsibilities, what his relationship was to Fortrillium, and the precise purpose of the place they called ‘The Grid’, from which his exit had created such a sensation.
Michael Noakes was dismissed from the President’s office and Luke Dreyfuss summoned immediately afterwards. He was kept waiting for some considerable time by the President, even though Delman had been ready all the time. It was a technique Delman would use in future years for one of Dreyfuss’s successors, Damien Hunter.
Dreyfuss had activated a complete rundown on the new incumbent by the time of his meeting. He looked for anything he could find to eject the man who’d so unexpectedly interrupted the comfortable arrangement he’d set up with Michael Noakes. It was an arrangement which had served them both very nicely since assuming their positions after the final closing up of the walls. The Grid had been of their making and between them they were assured a lifetime of luxury and leadership. Both men had expected to live out their lives in Silk Road luxury without any external interference. Yet here was President James Morgan – Dreyfuss knew it was him, except that he looked the same age as he did at the time of the plague. It was remarkable
and unlikely, but the evidence was standing in front of him. However, it didn’t seem to be quite Morgan, his attitude and demeanour had changed, but whatever checks and tests Dreyfuss had run there was nothing to suggest this wasn’t Morgan, even though he insisted on being called something completely different. The BioScan data was correct, the access levels were built into the entire Fortrillium network – this new President was allowed to do what he was doing and there was no legal basis on which to challenge it.
He’d been seen to walk out of The Grid too. Dreyfuss had almost been caught out with that, it had tested to the extreme his ability to take decisions under pressure. The final Justice Seeker had been terminated and he’d thought it was all over. But just as the cameras zoomed in on the victim’s final moments, Delman had clearly been seen to emerge from the pixelated scene in the background. He’d ordered the live feed to be taken down, but it was too late, it had been seen. In future re-edits, Delman would be removed, but the word was out in The City and on Silk Road that somebody had walked out of The Grid alive.
The President’s meeting with Dreyfuss lasted a little longer than two hours. Delman adeptly ascertained the nature of the status quo and understood within five minutes that he’d rudely interrupted a very cosy working relationship between Luke Dreyfuss and Michael Noakes.
He discussed his appearance in The Grid and decided it would play nicely to his advantage. As the only person ever to exit The Grid, he had created a sensation within The City walls. He would quickly capitalize on that, making an address on the screens and seizing control.
Delman probed the relationship between the Centuria, the presidential security teams and the local constabularies and determined where his own power base would lie. He would need to incentivize and motivate a small team within the presidential guard to carry out some small housekeeping tasks for him.
The meeting with Dreyfuss was very useful and Delman had gleaned everything about The City he would need to know. He dismissed him and called in the senior member of the presidential guard.
Three hours previously, Delman had been a fugitive from Centrum, running for his life, hoping to put right his errors and save humanity from its fate. He had ended it as the man in charge of the second Sector, a place known to its citizens as The City.
Before the day had ended, The City’s former president had met with an unfortunate accident while walking to his new, more modest, accommodation. He’d been struck and hit by a government vehicle – it had killed him instantly. It was a terrible tragedy.
Meanwhile the Head of Fortrillium had been found murdered in The Climbs. His death had been brutal and merciless. There had been no witnesses. It was another catastrophe in a night filled with incredible events. Delman had quickly learned that for him – and humanity – to survive, he would have to turn into a man who was more like James Morgan than the compassionate doctor he’d once been.
At the same time as those tragic incidents were playing out, The City’s new president was making an address on the screens. Although the timing of the deaths had been uncanny, Delman had been broadcasting live at the time so his hands had to be clean.
The President had not bothered to explain how he had been in The Grid or why he had been seen to exit it. He was the only person ever to have walked out of there, and his arrival had already been seen as a victory for the people, in spite of nobody remembering him entering The Grid in the first place.
The new president immediately exposed the corrupt regime of the former incumbents – Noakes and Dreyfuss – and announced new arrangements to alleviate suffering in The Climbs. Although the residents wouldn’t be aware of it, nothing would actually change, but it created enough enthusiasm to embed Delman into his new role and enable him to take control of Fortrillium and his own office.
The City had a new president and his name was Josh Delman. Some older citizens thought he looked uncannily like the president who had presided over the plague, but it was impossible, he hadn’t aged a bit in fifty years. He had started the day as a fugitive and ended it as the man in charge of a city packed with several million citizens. Nobody was able to challenge his authority, there was no legal basis for an objection. The tragic deaths of Noakes and Dreyfuss made everybody step in line, and Delman’s swift appointment of a new Head of Fortrillium ensured that all contenders immediately began work on impressing their new president. A new appointment was made, Delman’s position was secure.
He continued to dwell in The City unchallenged and in complete control for more than forty years afterwards. He was safe for several decades until he was forced to take drastic action once again and re-enter The Grid. As he’d aged in The City, he’d begun to grow nervous that his existing body might not survive until the Centurial and became greedy for more life. He knew he could seize it too once he’d returned for Catharsis. But he would need a new body to inhabit. He would not return to his original body, he would take the form of a younger man. A new opportunity had arisen unexpectedly. It would involve risk, but it was worth it for the intoxicating chance of an extended life. There was no point saving humanity if you could not live to enjoy it. And to make sure he got what he wanted when he returned, he’d already taken the precaution of extracting someone very special from Centrum as his security.
Truth
Damien Hunter watched in horror as Joe Parsons and Lucy Slater returned to The Grid. The two Justice Seekers had walked back into the arena as if they’d been there all the time, emerging from a pixelated area which had appeared without warning. Whatever they’d done, wherever they’d been, Damien Hunter needed to access that knowledge.
They were dressed differently too. They were armed and had received medical attention. There had to be something – and someone – beyond the walls of The Grid. Hunter was prepared to bet on his family’s life that this was where Delman was heading. The explanation for Catharsis had to reside at the centre of The Grid.
It had caused a stir when seen on the screens. There was no way they could conceal the reappearance of two Justice Seekers they’d claimed to be dead. Hunter had seen the show reels himself, he’d approved them, and they clearly implied that Joe Parsons and Lucy Slater were dead. Yet here they were, alive and well.
He would need to address the problem fast. This would cause a stir in The Climbs and might lead to unrest. Hunter contacted the Chief Centuria and ordered the deployment of more teams on the other side of the gates. He wanted to be certain he could contain the situation. People still talked about Delman’s arrival in The Grid as if it was some sort of folklore. A generation had passed, yet still they talked about Delman being the only person to survive in The Grid. Now there were two more who’d stepped out alive. Back from the dead. He’d need a plausible explanation.
He thought through how best to play the situation. They could blank the screens, buy some time, and annihilate Parsons and Slater. Would they buy it in The Climbs? However much Hunter’s instincts were to kill, he wanted Parsons and Slater alive. They were a source of valuable information now. Torture would be a more appropriate course of action, but he needed them alive to do that. Their friend Mitchell had caved immediately, they’d be just as easy to break, he was certain.
He reconsidered. He could use them to find out what Delman was hiding, they had to know the truth now. Why were they back? They’d come for something. Who would re-enter The Grid if they didn’t have to?
Hunter connected his WristCom and demanded to speak to the show reel team.
‘I want you to repackage the death scenes. Let the video sequences run on a little longer so we can see they were both clearly alive. Package it as a twist, a surprise, just like using the serial killer clones. I want you to make more of Parsons and Slater, accentuate a more positive story. Show how they helped the other Justice Seekers. Focus on Slater with that man from the Institute, show Parsons covering up the first Justice Seekers with dirt to protect them from the fire. Do it quickly, I want those show reels ready for approval in twenty minutes!’
He shut down his WristCom. He wasn’t going to be discussing anything further with the team. They had their instructions. Hunter needed to move the story on so it would be possible to allow Slater and Parsons out of there alive. Perhaps he’d been too hasty to dismiss Talya Slater. He wondered if the diplomatic approach might have been more appropriate.
Damien Hunter replayed the video extract of Joe and Lucy’s reappearance in The Grid. He zoomed in and played it back, frame by frame. All he could see was a water butt, some pixelation in the surrounding areas, and then the forms of Joe and Lucy stepping forward. He contacted the Head Gridder, 97TRaider, and asked if they were clones. The reply was in the negative. That gave Hunter the solution he was looking for.
‘As far as the other Gridders are concerned, Slater and Parsons are clones, created on my orders. You are not to tell the rest of the Gridders otherwise. Understood? You remember what happened to your colleague earlier so do not think to disobey me on this. Do it now!’
He terminated the WristCom connection and reconnected with the show reel team. They’d just completed assembling his last set of requests.
‘Delete the lot!’ Hunter snapped. ‘Parsons and Slater are clones, the same as with the serial killer. We’ve brought them back to disorient the other Justice Seekers. Make sure you show Parsons and Slater as dead. We’ve patched them up and given them new clothing and weaponry, just like we did the Schälen clones. They’re not real – make sure that’s made clear on the screens. Do it fast. I want it broadcast in ten minutes.’