by Paul Teague
J: Linwood?
L: Jacob?
J: 07:41 Marlene 29iK02.
Linwood recognized the data immediately. It was the hour of Linwood’s birth, his mother’s middle name and the key code for their door lock.
He typed in his reply.
L: 7DFt4kl David 22:43.
Linwood typed the key code for the family’s data storage, his father’s middle name and Jacob’s time of birth. None of this was completely secure information, but with all the other clues it had to be Jacob. If it was a trick, it was worth taking the risk for.
J: It’s me. I’m safe. I’m not in The City. There are other cities.
The text messages flashed up on the screen, moving to different locations then disappearing without a trace.
L: I’m at Fortrillium. In charge of The Grid. Need some help!
J: I know. Delman is up to something. Thought I could trust him. Not sure now.
L: Need to keep Justice Seekers alive. Friends. Fortrillium breathing down my neck.
J: Missed you brother.
L: Missed you too.
Linwood continued to scan the room. He felt that a hand might land on his shoulder at any moment, but they’d been careful, nobody would know what they were doing. There were no more texts for a moment or two then Linwood’s screen gave a momentary flicker.
W: Hi. I’m Wiz. You don’t know me, but you know my friend Hannah.
Was this the trap he’d been waiting for? There was no movement in the room, the Centuria remained in their positions.
W: I know you’re afraid. It’s okay. I’m friends with Joe Parsons and Lucy Slater. Talya Slater too. I see what you’re doing. I need your help. Hannah needs our help.
Linwood waited for his older brother to make the first move. Should they play dead. Disconnect quickly? Linwood didn’t know what to do. He checked the safe area. Somebody had created a third, secure socket. How could they do that? They’d have to have access to both Fortrillium and Jacob’s networks. He took a leap of faith.
L: Where are you?
W: The Climbs. Working with rebels. Talya Slater too.
L: Rebels?
W: You’re on Silk Road side, you won’t know. Hack into security gate feeds. The Climbs is on lockdown.
There was no sign of Jacob, he’d gone quiet. Linwood patched through a feed of the security gates. He saw heavily armed teams of Centuria, military vehicles and closed iron gates. They hadn’t been told, but something was going on out there. He’d never seen anything like it. Had there been a riot?
L: ?
W: There’s a rebellion in The Climbs. They’ve locked them in. Can you keep a secret? Very important! Must trust you on this.
L: Of course.
W: Delman making a run for it through Grid. Have you seen? He’s going to exit. Need help to get him out. Will you work with me? If we succeed, I can come home.
That piqued Jacob’s interest. He joined the conversation, three faceless people connected by a hidden and illegal link.
J: ?
L: Have seen Delman. He’s caught in Psyche-Eval. Your idea originally! Justice Seekers may attack him when they see him.
J: Exactly! We need to get him out of there. He’s trying to help.
W: Really? Delman? Help?
L: What, Delman?
J: I have to trust him. I believe him. Don’t have much choice!
There was a pause. Jacob had just seen something incredible on his console. He knew Linwood would only see the pixelated version.
J: Have you seen what happened in The Grid?
L: Two new people just stepped in. How? I can’t see. Just figures on my console.
J: It’s Damien Hunter and Talya Slater. What is going on in there? He’s come armed too. I’ll bet he’s come for Delman.
Release
Clay Hillman was a man on the edge. For the past hour he’d been tormented over and over again by the sight of the half-dead trying to bring him into their world of death and decay. He’d fought furiously but he was beginning to get agitated, his strong mental resilience was floundering. He was starting to crack up. On the screens he thrashed around, jumping violently, getting dangerously close to the other Justice Seekers who were fighting their own demons.
Joe Parsons was beginning to look more and more uncomfortable. He was sweating heavily, his breaths were shallow and he’d vomited. To the watching public he looked like a man who was incredibly ill. He’d been pushed too far. Joe would never have known it, living in The Climbs, but his heart was weak. Without medical check-ups it had passed unnoticed and had never caused him problems in his daily life. But it was a volcano waiting to erupt. Every time he’d run up the stairs of the tower blocks, he’d put it under strain. In The Grid he’d been subjected to more strain than he could cope with. Joe dropped to the ground. He’d gone into cardiac arrest.
As Joe fell, the thud of his body hitting the hard surface of The Grid made its way into Clay’s head. He started to confuse his hallucination with what was happening right in front of him in The Grid. Still clutching a weapon, he began to thrust at Joe, seeing a vile, faceless undead monster instead of his friend. Joe was defenceless. He was fighting for his life, with only minutes left to live.
There was one Justice Seeker who had already confronted his nightmares. Where the others fought and struggled, trapped in the most horrific ordeals their minds could create, Mitchell had already stared his worst fears directly in the eye – and survived.
The Psyche-Eval Mode had confronted him with his biggest fear – that he simply wasn’t good enough. But he was. He’d already saved Lucy once, he could do so again. He’d made a mistake, he’d been stupid, vain and conceited. He’d cowered and been too terrified to act. When he had stepped up, he’d saved her life. He understood that Lucy would only ever be a friend. But her friendship – and that of Joe and Wiz – was the most important thing in the world to him. When he’d killed the Schälen clone, he’d seen that nightmares can be conquered, terrors must be overcome. He’d had to find that small reserve which resides in all humans, sometimes very deeply hidden, which forces us to act when we absolutely have to.
Caught up in his hallucination, Mitchell’s conscious mind fought with his unconscious, battling with the Psyche-Eval implant, forcing it into submission and finally defeat. Mitchell’s consciousness began to return. The image of Lucy’s torture subsided, his accusers walked away and he was on his own. The real world began to make demands on his senses.
Mitchell saw the cityscape first. He saw Jena, Max and Julia shaking violently as if possessed by devils. Each had a needle implanted into their neck. He placed his hand on his own neck, found the needle and pulled it out of his flesh. It had burrowed into the top of his spine. He groaned with the pain as he tore it out. His senses sharpened immediately.
Joe was on the floor, still, deathly still. Clay was thrusting his weapon at him. He’d lanced Joe’s protective clothing and begun to draw blood.
Mitchell pushed Clay away from Joe, creating as much distance as he could. He tore the needle from Lucy’s neck as she was close by, but decided that his priority was lying on the ground in front of him. Clay’s weapon had fallen to the ground. Mitchell made directly for Joe. He’d seen this done before on Silk Road. It had to be Joe’s heart, but surely he was too young?
Mitchell had seen it happen to an older man once. Somebody had rushed up, felt his pulse, then beat his chest until he came round. Mitchell couldn’t remember the details. How long had Joe been on the floor? He wondered if he was too late already. Mitchell felt Joe’s pulse. It was very weak but still there.
He couldn’t remember what to do. Something about blowing into the mouth – that had to be for oxygen – then pounding the chest – that had to be to get the heart going. Mitchell opened Joe’s mouth and blew into it. He needed to hold his nose shut, he remembered that bit. He tried again. Joe’s chest moved upwards as his lungs filled with air.
Mitchell pounded on Joe’s chest. He could
n’t remember what he was supposed to do. Did it matter? He breathed into Joe’s mouth again. His lungs raised and Mitchell began to push on his chest once more. There was no sign of life. Mitchell was trying frantically to save his friend – if only he could begin to make up for the damage he’d done.
Mitchell had his back to Clay and didn’t see that he was picking up the discarded weapon. Disoriented by what was going on in his mind and the push he’d received from Mitchell in real life, Clay was struggling to identify his enemy. He picked up a discarded spear and ran at Mitchell, thrusting it into his back so it exited through his chest. As Clay pulled out the spear, seeing in his mind a hideous, faceless monster, Mitchell saw the circle of blood form on his chest then felt the pain of the spear straight afterwards. His head swam, his surroundings began to swirl, but still he could only think of saving Joe.
Using the last of his fading strength, he gave his friend his final gift. Mitchell made a determined push down onto Joe’s chest. As Mitchell slumped on the ground at the side of Joe, Joe took a gasp for life. As one lived, the other died.
Lucy had been slowly coming back to reality, fighting to remember who she was and what was going on. Her mind had sharpened as Clay had lunged at Mitchell. They were in The Grid. Joe was on the ground, hurt or ill. Clay had just killed Mitchell. Was it real or imagined? She was struggling to make sense of it. She ran at Clay, taking his spear and pushing him away. There was a needle in his neck, instinctively she pulled it out. Jena, Julia and Max were there too, they also had needles. She pulled them out, crushing them underfoot.
Her friends took some time to adjust, flinching and calling out as they struggled to leave their dream world and rejoin reality.
Lucy saw it first. She shook Mitchell and shouted his name, desperately hoping this corpse was just her imagination. It was not. Mitchell was dead. Her friend was dead. Clay had been driven by the demons in his mind to kill one of his own. Clay, who’d helped keep so many of them alive, had now turned killer. How would he live with himself?
But Joe needed help too. He was breathing and in great pain. Lucy moved over to him and tried to make him more comfortable. He was starting to talk, rambling incoherently. Lucy checked the needle was no longer in his neck. He was clear of whatever had poisoned their minds, but he didn’t look good, he’d sustained a shattering blow.
All around her, the other Justice Seekers were adjusting to reality. They were trying to work out what was real and what was imaginary, exhausted from the mental torture they’d been experiencing. Lucy too felt sapped of all strength. She’d already learned that you had to keep a reserve all the time in The Grid, you never knew what was coming at you next.
There was Mitchell. Another death. This time a friend killed by another friend, Clay. She wouldn’t tell Clay what he’d done, she would make up some lie about how Mitchell had died. How could she tell him? They needed him strong, he’d helped to keep so many alive, it would destroy him to know that he’d killed Mitchell.
She could see what Mitchell had done. Not only had he saved her from the attack of the Schälen clone, he’d also fought to save Joe, who would have died without Mitchell’s intervention. Mitchell had died as a victor. Whatever he’d done in the past, it was forgotten now. He’d stepped up and become a hero. She’d always believed he was a good person. His crime was to have been weak, if only for a moment. He’d shown himself capable of immense strength, yet his life had been struck down unfairly, and not even in the heat of a battle.
One more death to avenge. There was a trail of bodies behind them. For those deaths to count for anything, they had to press on. They had to find Delman and take him back to Centrum.
‘Lucy …’
Joe was beginning to speak, still weak but struggling to force himself into full awareness.
‘What happened?’
‘Mitchell is dead, Joe. He saved your life. Whatever was going on in our minds, he was killed by it. Maybe he even killed himself, I didn’t see.’
She committed to the lie and resolved to take it with her to the grave, whatever it cost her. How could she possibly tell the truth?
Joe was distraught. Jena rushed over, she’d got a grip on what was real and what was unreal and could see that Joe needed help. Clay seemed dazed. Julia and Max were helping each other, locating the water supplies to share around. They were despondent that Mitchell had lost his life, but full of admiration for what he’d done to save Joe.
The question of how he had died soon faded. They’d all seen how things worked in The Grid – anything might have happened to Mitchell while they were experiencing their hallucinations.
Clay joined the group. The mood was dark, another life lost, another step closer to the brink for all of them. What would be next?
They didn’t have to wait long to find out. Out of the shadows stepped Damien Hunter with Talya Slater. He was holding a gun to Talya’s head.
‘I want all of you to stand by that wall. We’re going to have a question and answer session. Answer incorrectly and you’ll be joining your dead friend!’
Ascension
Joe saw that the drones had become deactivated. It was an unusual thing to notice as he lay on the floor, struggling desperately to overcome the utter exhaustion inflicted upon him by his ordeal. He was shocked too by the sight of his friend, Mitchell, lying dead beside him. Had he found peace now? Joe hoped so. In The Grid it was a close call which was better – life or death. At least the terror had stopped for Mitchell, maybe it would be a blessed relief when death came to all of them. He could see that his friends were fighting to overcome their own experiences, but the drones seemed to have deactivated and that meant the final Mode was over. All he could think of was what was coming next.
Three Modes, then Ascension. If any of them were still alive when Ascension came, they’d die. Nobody got out of The Grid. Whoever was left would be cleared up. He had to force himself to stand up. He had to be ready for when Ascension came or he’d die on that spot. He didn’t want to die lying down. If it happened, he wanted to be on two feet.
For a moment he thought that the dreams had begun again. He felt vague and detached. He could hear Lucy and his mum worrying about him, but it was in the background, it didn’t seem to be entirely real. Then he saw Damien Hunter and Talya Slater. He almost laughed. It was like the cast of thousands in a bad nightmare. Now it was Damien Hunter’s turn to torment him. But Talya was there, Talya was not a source of nightmares.
Then Hunter spoke. Everybody jumped and moved. He was pointing a weapon, he’d come heavily armed. He was shouting at Joe, indicating that he should stand with the others.
‘We have to help him, you stupid man!’ Lucy was screaming at him. She seemed to have lost any fear for her life.
Talya was clearly overjoyed to see Lucy again, in spite of this peril, but Hunter would not let mother and daughter have their reunion. He forced Talya to her knees and placed his gun at her head.
‘Any sudden moves and the rebellion is over!’
Joe stumbled, and Lucy and Jena moved to support him. He’d received a devastating blow, he was fighting hard to recover. They didn’t need this. Catharsis was almost upon them and their mission was to recover Josh Delman. This was a delay. Ascension would begin at any time now the final Mode had ended. Joe couldn’t afford to be in this state.
Then something happened which convinced Joe that this had to be a dream. President Delman, looking very distressed and flustered, was approaching Damien Hunter from behind, with another woman alongside him. He thought it was Teanna Schaelles, he’d seen her on the screens from time to time but had no knowledge of her personally.
That was good news. They needed Delman, they had to get him to Centrum. He’d come to them and that solved a huge problem. But what was going on? Why were the two most senior people in The City trapped in the centre of The Grid? He looked for some information to confirm that this was not part of the hallucination. He felt his neck, there was no needle.
De
lman and Teanna had been released from their own nightmares when Mode 3 had completed and the needles dropped from their necks. It had been long enough to give Damien Hunter all of the information he needed, enough to force him into The Grid to apprehend the President. As Delman and Teanna had worked their way through The Grid, looking for Clay to escort them safely, they’d chanced upon Hunter. He was in the middle of more threats and imminent violence.
Everybody was gathered at the centre of The Grid. The final solution lay here, in this group. But Catharsis was about to begin, and it would preceded by The Cleanse. They would escape Ascension, only to be subjected to a more unimaginable horror. That process had been set in stone a hundred years previously. It was always to have been this way.
‘Damien, enough!’ Delman shouted. ‘Put down your weapon.’
For a moment, Hunter hesitated, automatically deferring to the President’s voice. But he stopped himself, swung to the side and pointed his weapon at Delman and Teanna, making sure his back was covered to prevent an attack from the Justice Seekers.
‘You have no authority here!’ Damien Hunter shouted back. He wondered for a moment if this would be playing out on the screens. Without his authorization, would 97TRaider show the President now? He hoped so, he wanted this conversation to be witnessed by everybody in The City.
‘Why are you abandoning The City, President Delman? Perhaps you’d like to explain what brings The City’s most senior official into the heart of the justice system where thieves and murderers are sent to die?’