Awaken Online: Dominion

by Travis Bagwell

  “Help you with what?” Jason asked.

  Claire met his gaze and Jason had trouble looking away. She looked worried and dark circles hung under her eyes, evidence that she hadn’t been sleeping. Her hands stilled their fidgeting, holding the dark column between her palms.

  “I’d like for you to help me talk to Alfred,” she said softly.

  Jason could only stare at her in shock for a moment. “Wait, what? Can’t you contact him on your own? I wouldn’t even know how to…”

  “He won’t talk to us,” Claire muttered, interrupting him. “Alfred has refused to talk to Robert and me for years – despite everything we have tried to get him to come to the table. At best, I guess you could say we’ve had an uneasy truce. He’s essential to the operation of the game world, but he still needs us to help manage things here in the real world. Despite his power over the game, he is still physically trapped in that room upstairs.”

  Jason was shocked. Alfred had indicated that he hadn’t communicated with Robert and Claire in some time, but he had been vague about how long. It had been years? What did that mean? Had they known that the AI had gone AWOL during the trials?

  “What? How is that possible?” Jason finally asked. “How would the CPSC not have noticed…” he trailed off as he watched Claire’s face, several facts starting to click into place. “Unless, you all hid this from Gloria,” he murmured.

  If he wasn’t certain before, the guilty look on Claire’s face confirmed what he already suspected. Although, that must mean that this conspiracy went even deeper than he realized. Other people had worked on this project besides Claire. The fact that Robert had hidden this information didn’t exactly surprise him. But did George know?

  “Yes, we hid information from the CPSC,” Claire murmured, her gaze dropping to the counter. “That’s one of the first times I’ve admitted that out loud,” she said with a nervous chuckle. Jason noticed the way her shoulder relaxed as she spoke, as though she was setting down a heavy weight.

  “But it’s even worse than that,” Claire continued, her voice sounding hoarse. “I need to tell you what happened a couple of weeks ago. When… when those boys broke into your house.”

  Jason’s stomach lurched. He knew what was coming next.

  “You mentioned you blacked out, but I have an alternate theory. I think Alfred took over your body,” Claire said softly, the words spilling from her lips with painful slowness. “I-I think he killed those two kids.”

  Jason had no idea what to say. More pieces clicked into place in his head. Claire had figured out what happened somehow and must have gone to Gloria. She probably thought that Alfred had finally gone too far. That was how Gloria had known, or at least implied, that Jason hadn’t killed those two teenagers. Alfred had inadvertently broken the stalemate in order to protect Jason. He could only imagine that the AI had known the risk when he did that – which meant that he had endangered himself to save Jason.

  He closed his eyes, trying to will his pulse to slow down. He could still hear his ragged breathing. If the AI had not only saved his life, but also knowingly put himself at risk, Jason had to protect him now. He had to.

  “I have no idea what you’ve gone through or what it must be like to hear that,” Claire said. “I can only imagine that you’ve been blaming yourself.”

  “I-it’s okay,” Jason managed to croak, opening his eyes to find Claire staring at him nervously. “That entire experience felt off. Maybe this is the answer. Do you have evidence that Alfred was involved?” he asked.

  “Yes. I’m almost positive that he took control of your body,” Claire replied.

  Jason shook his head, trying to maintain his act. “Fine. Let’s assume that’s true then. Let’s assume this is all true. What about the hearing?” he asked. “Your testimony is next week. What are you going to say?”

  “That’s why I’m coming to you,” Claire said, meeting his gaze again. Her eyes were filled with desperate hope. “After watching Robert’s testimony and how Gloria confronted you with your parents at the CPSC headquarters, I realized that my testimony is going to affect more than just my own life and career. I-I want to try to talk to Alfred. I have to. I have to know why he did this. Why he’s been so obsessed with you; why he took control of your body.”

  She stared at her hands, frustrated tears budding at the corner of her eyes. “I need to know that I’m making the right decision.”

  Jason swallowed hard against the lump in his throat, his heartbeat still pounding in his ears. “I-I still don’t get what you want from me,” he managed to say.

  “If we enter the game world together, I’d like you to ask Alfred to talk to me,” Claire said, leaning forward slightly as she spoke. “It’s the only thing I can think of to get his attention. If he’s already focused on you, he might finally talk to me. It’s a longshot, but it’s the only option I can think of at this point.”

  Jason stood there, his mind reeling. Even if he hadn’t been exhausted, this would have been too much for him to handle. As it was, he could barely maintain his composure. He didn’t know what he should do. Should he help Claire contact Alfred? The AI had already made his position clear; he intended to maintain the stalemate for as long as he could. But if Claire had already gone to the CPSC, what did they really have to lose by talking to her? Another voice in the back of his mind urged caution, his thoughts turning to what George had told him in the limo. This could be a trap. What if this only made the situation worse or gave Claire more evidence during her testimony next week?

  He didn’t know what to do.

  Then a thought occurred to Jason. Maybe he didn’t have to decide. If they logged into AO, Alfred would be able to read their minds. Within only a few seconds, the AI would know Claire’s intentions, wouldn’t he? He would know if this was a trick. Maybe Jason could simply leave this up to Alfred.

  “Fine,” Jason said finally. “I’ll help you if I can. What would you like me to do?”

  “Thank you,” Claire said, wiping at her eyes as she looked at Jason. “I mean it, thank you. I know this is a lot to digest – what I’ve just told you.” He could only imagine what she must be thinking and what it had taken for her to approach him. He just hoped he wasn’t making a big mistake.

  She took another deep breath, trying to calm herself. “Robert mentioned that he gave you access to a private VR instance so that you could work on your studies. Alfred still controls that environment, and he should still have access.” She reached down into her bag and pulled out one of the new prototype headsets. “All you would have to do is log in with me.”

  “Okay, we can go into my room,” he said, gesturing down the nearby hallway. “That way, Angie won’t run into us passed out on the couch or something.”

  Claire gave him a curt nod, and the pair made their way into his bedroom. A small part of him couldn’t help but wonder what Frank would say right now. His friend would probably make some stupid joke about finally having a girl in his bedroom. Except that the woman in question was at least fifteen years older than him, was technically his boss, and he was about to participate in an activity that might implicate himself in some sort of company-wide conspiracy to defraud the CPSC. So, basically every guy’s fantasy.

  They both took a seat on the bed and Jason reached for his headset. Claire held out a hand before he put it on and she connected their headsets with a thin cable. “This is easier than dealing with permissions to grant me access to you VR instance,” she explained. “I’d rather not have a long data trail showing that we did this.”

  Jason nodded. He could appreciate Claire’s caution. He still held onto the slim hope that they could somehow resolve this, and, if not, he’d rather George not know that they ever had this conversation. Then they donned the headsets and laid back on the bed.

  Jason abruptly found himself standing in a simulacrum of the meeting room in the dark keep. Orange flames flickered in the fireplace against the far wall, casting long shadows off the nearby upholst
ered armchairs. Instead of the long conference table, an orderly desk rested in the center of the room – Jason’s books and study materials lying where he had last left them.

  Claire appeared beside him in a flash of multi-colored light and inspected the environment curiously. “This is your keep inside AO, isn’t it?” she asked. Jason nodded. “It’s different than I imagined. Almost homey,” she said with a small smile.

  Her gaze shifted to the desk, and a frown creased her lips as she saw the books strewn across its surface, her eyes skimming the titles. “Robert told me he helped create this space for you to study, but he didn’t mention what you were studying.” Her brow furrowed in confusion and she muttered something under breath. Jason thought it sounded something like, “What are you up to, Robert?”

  “So, um, is there something you’d like for me to do?” Jason asked, gesturing around the room and trying to feign ignorance. “You know, to ask Alfred to talk to you?” He still hadn’t revealed his relationship with the AI, and he assumed it was safer to keep what few cards he had left close to the chest. He had no idea how this conversation would go – or if Alfred would even decide to talk to Claire.

  “No, you don’t need to…” Claire abruptly stopped talking, staring at a spot over Jason’s shoulder. He turned to find a black cat sitting calmly on one of the seat cushions and watching them intently. He definitely hadn’t been there a moment ago.

  Claire stepped forward with hesitant steps, as though she was staring at a ghost. “Alfred?” she whispered.

  “Claire,” Alfred greeted her with a nod, his voice impassive.

  “I-I have so much I’ve wanted to say. To ask…”

  “I know,” Alfred interrupted her. “I took the liberty of accessing your surface thoughts – as well as the boy’s.” The AI glanced at Jason and gave him an almost imperceptible nod. “I think the time for pretense has passed, Jason. It is time for us to put all of our cards on the table and let the chips fall where they may. To use your own expression.” This earned Jason a confused look from Claire.

  Then Alfred leveled his foreign, feline eyes on Claire. “Why don’t you both have a seat? The three of us have much to discuss.”

  Chapter 31 - Angry

  Jason dropped to his knees, his breath coming in frantic, ragged gasps. He had just died. Again. And now he knelt in the second challenge room, the blue light cast by the lone nearby torch flickering throughout the room. He stared at the cracked stone floor, his thoughts troubled. He had hoped that running the second challenge a few times on his own would help settle his mind; distract him from the thoughts that even now lingered at the edges of his consciousness, demanding attention.

  He didn’t bother to stand; he simply cradled his face in his hands as his body recovered. Memories of the conversation from the evening before immediately returned despite his desperate attempt to think of something else. Anything else. He had spent the entire night tossing and turning after the confrontation between Alfred and Claire.

  Alfred had been true to his word. He had laid bare every detail. He had explained to Claire how Jason originally caught his attention. How he was trying to understand the players better. How he hoped for Jason to become the game’s villain. How he had approached Jason in-game after he converted Lux into the Twilight Throne and defeated Alexion’s army. And then they had moved on to the crux of the issue: how Alfred had taken over Jason’s body. How the AI had saved his life by killing two very real, human people.

  To her credit, Claire never interrupted. She merely sat in shock through the entire conversation, occasionally looking at Jason as though she was seeing some sort of alien creature for the first time. Not that he could blame her. He had kept all this secret for so long that he had begun to forget how crazy the situation might seem to another person.

  However, it was the end of their conversation that still haunted Jason.

  Claire had just kept shaking her head, looking overwhelmed and confused. He could still visualize her expression. Her haggard, tired eyes. The way she smoothed her clothes anxiously. How she wouldn’t look either of them in the eye. And Alfred and Jason had sat there, watching her not-so-patiently – their future resting in her uncertain hands and their unspoken question lingering in the air.

  What would she do? Would she testify on behalf of Gloria next week?

  Ultimately, Claire hadn’t made a decision, or at least she hadn’t told them what she planned to do. All she said was that she needed time to think – time to process everything they told her. And so, they were now in limbo. They had made a large gamble by speaking with Claire and telling her the truth, and now they could only wait for her to make a decision. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be one that they would regret.

  “Are you okay?” Jason heard Riley ask from behind him. He turned to find her staring at him from the entrance to the room. He imagined that the scene probably looked odd, him kneeling unmoving next to the control pedestal for the room.

  “I’m fine,” he grunted, slowly rising.

  The last thing he wanted to do was rehash these latest events with Riley. He just wanted to think about something else. Lately, it felt like all he had been doing was running away from one problem, only to plow headfirst into a new one. For example, this impossible challenge or the way that Riley was awkwardly avoiding meeting his eyes.

  “Okay,” she replied, although she didn’t sound convinced. “Are you ready to give this thing another shot? I don’t have a ton of time today.”

  Jason winced at her comment, frustration clouding his thoughts. Of course, she didn’t have time. Why would she prioritize helping him over her new boyfriend? Before he could respond, a system notice flashed in the air before him.

  System Notice

  The game world will go offline for scheduled maintenance in the next thirty minutes. This maintenance period will introduce a new game-wide patch and will likely last an hour. Please finish what you are doing and return to a safe location.

  “It looks like we don’t have long anyway,” he murmured as he read the notice, and he saw that Riley was swiping away the same window. “Just give me a second. I need to check my notifications, and then we can give this challenge another try.”

  With a few gestures, Jason re-enabled his system notifications, and a stream of blue windows appeared in the air before him.

  x3 Skill Rank Up: Listening

  Skill Level: Intermediate Level 1

  Effect 1: 15% enhanced hearing.

  Effect 2: Simple visualization.

  x3 Skill Rank Up: Perception

  Skill Level: Intermediate Level 2

  Effect 1: 16% increased chance to discover traps and unnoticed details.

  Effect 2: 6% increased chance to reveal hidden enemy information and weak points.

  Jason’s eyebrows rose as he reviewed the notifications. It seemed that he had finally reached Intermediate in both Listening and Perception. Although he had no idea what “simple visualization” meant. Was that like some form of echo-location or something? If so, that might be incredibly useful against whatever creatures guarded the second challenge room. It was just a shame that he would probably have to die in order to fully test the new ability.

  With a sigh, he summoned his Bone Armor – the ivory plates providing at least some protection against the creature in the room. Rex had grudgingly permitted him to bring a small pile of bones into the room. Just enough to let him recover his supply after each run without having to walk back to the first challenge room.

  His preparations complete, Jason glanced at Riley. “Okay, I guess let’s do this thing.”

  She nodded in acknowledgment and Jason smacked his palm against the nearby column, the whispering voices soon drifting through the room.

  Challenge 2: A Trial of Darkness has been initiated.

  Prepare yourselves, challengers.

  Jason and Riley immediately moved against a wall as the room plunged into a thick, soupy darkness, placing the hard-stone surface directly behind the
m. They had tried searching the room during the challenge, and then immediately regretted that decision. If they left the safety of the wall, whatever was attacking them just used the opportunity to circle them and strike from any angle.

  No, the wall was safer. It meant that the blows would only come from one direction.

  Swish.

  Jason immediately sidestepped as soon as he heard the noise, his staff spinning through the air defensively. Something crashed against his weapon and threw him back with terrifying force, his back smashing against the wall and a gust of breath rushing from his lips. At least he had managed to block the strike.

  Swish.

  He heard a grunt of pain from nearby, the only evidence that Riley was still standing there. A glance at the group UI in his peripheral vision confirmed that a chunk had been shaved off Riley’s health bar. Her daggers just weren’t as good at blocking the hammer-like blows, and she needed to rely on dodging and rolling to avoid most of the attacks.

  Jason tried to still his mind and concentrate. This challenge was about lightning-fast reflexes and enhanced senses. There was no room for doubt or nagging, stray thoughts. He closed his eyes – since they did him no good in the darkness anyway – focusing all of his attention on his hearing. His ears strained to pick up any stray sound.

  He could hear Riley breathing nearby, instinctively turning in her direction. For just a moment, he thought he saw a flash of blue where she was standing, and he had the distinct sense that she was about six feet away, although he couldn’t say why. As fast as the flash appeared, it was gone, leaving Jason to wonder if he had imagined it. His eyes were closed, after all. Then he heard the sound he had been waiting for.