Digital Heretic (The Game is Life)

by Schott, Terry

  Chapter 36

  Miranda

  ‘Don’tmove, don’t open your eyes, don’t make a sound, Miranda.’

  ‘What time is it?’ I ask silently.

  ‘3 AM.’ Sparx says. ‘He’s not here, it’s just us inmates at the moment, but the cameras are always on. One of the prisoners seems to change states when there’s any significant commotion in a cell; I can’t tell if the poor soul has been programmed to come out of the Haze like a watchdog, or if it’s only a coincidence, but I don’t want to take a chance.’

  ‘That’s fine, I don’t mind laying here quietly talking to you in my head, Sparx. What can you tell me?’

  ‘Nothing good. Not so far at least. It’s all bad news from this side of a cell.’

  ‘Just break it down and let me hear it fact by fact,’ I say.

  ‘Okay,’ Sparx says. ‘I’ve been able to set up a safe, hidden portion in your head that I can work from. When you’re put under, my main consciousness no longer gets pulled in with you. That took quite a while to accomplish.’

  ‘Good work,’ I say. Sparx thrives on my approval, which I’m happy to provide.

  ‘Next, I began waiting for you to come out of the Haze so I could map your brain, allowing me to recreate a wakened state and

  hopefully pull you out of the deep mental pit this guy seems able to throw you all into,’ Sparx says. ‘It’s been a very challenging process, but I seem to have figured it out!’

  ‘Do I even want to ask how long it took you to accomplish this?’ I ask.

  ‘No, you don’t.’ Sparx says.

  ‘Are you able to access the outside at all?’

  ‘Not yet,’ Sparx says. ‘We are underground, surrounded by some sort of thick insulation. Likely just concrete, but I can’t receive or send any signals. No one in here is able to, either; he never brings a phone or tablet with him.’

  Him. ‘Is it him?’ I ask.

  ‘Oh yes, It’s him, all right.’ Sparx says.

  ‘And?’ I ask. ‘What have you been able to learn about him? Were we right? How dangerous is he? And how powerful?’

  ‘It’s difficult to answer any of those questions, Miranda. I can only watch him from far away. If I extend beyond the confines of this cell, his head snaps in this direction as if he can sense me, so I can’t see or

  hear everything he does. From what I’ve seen, though, this guy is incredibly powerful. I don’t even believe half of what I’ve witnessed, and I was present.’

  ‘Show me,’ I say. My vision fades, replaced by a movie of memories from the times I was out but Sparx was observing him. Everything looks normal at first, but it starts to get better and then unbelievable as I watch the highlights of what this guy can do.

  My vision fades to black again. ‘Impressive stuff, right?’ Sparx asks.

  ‘Yes.’ I answer. ‘There’s no way I can neutralize him on my own, is there?’

  ‘Not from what I’ve seen so far, Miranda.’

  ‘You said he sensed you?’

  ‘He seemed to sense something when I tried to poke outside of the bars,’ Sparx says. ‘I don’t think he knows what he sensed, and he

  never bothered to come over here and look closer once I came back inside the cell.’

  ‘How much have I revealed to him?’ I ask.

  ‘Just the preprogrammed stuff. Nothing damning. He does know you’re an Eternal, though.’

  ‘How does he know that?’

  ‘The computer kid across from us,’ Sparx flashes a picture of the boy’s cell and I remember seeing him the last time I was conscious. ‘The kid also told him about me. Our host focuses much of his time sitting and watching you, waiting for you to give away your true identity.’

  ‘I’m surprised he hasn’t killed me,’

  ‘We both know he won’t until he knows more about me,’ Sparx says.

  ‘We never intended for him to find out about you,’ I reply. ‘You were the ace in the hole, our way to infiltrate and bring him down. Now that he knows about you and will try to possess you, I’m worried. I volunteered knowing we would likely not be able to bring him in, but even if I died you were going to broadcast our observations and location to the boss. Now you’re telling me we can’t broadcast a thing out of here.’

  ‘So what’s the plan, then?’ Sparks asks.

  ‘I have no idea,’ I say.’Give me some time to think on it.’

  Chapter 37

  Melissa

  “Hold her still,” I hear Danielle say. “She’s thrashing around too much.”

  Hands grip me tightly and force my leg to stop flailing around. The pain is so intense I feel like I’m about to pass out. I can see the deep gash in my upper thigh. “I’m sorry, I was so stupid.” I say with gritted teeth. “I know better than to turn my back before you say that it’s all clear.”

  Raphael looks at me with calm concern and continues to lean on my leg. I’ve stopped moving but he’s still squeezing really hard on it, likely to slow the bleeding. I’ve seen enough cuts in the past two years to know from the bright red blood pumping out that they sliced deep and got a major artery. Danielle pokes her head and hands over his shoulder and smiles down at me. “We all make mistakes from time to time, Melissa. Now just close your eyes and summon your Glow. I’ll do the rest from here.” She holds her hands over my leg with the palms facing down and closes her eyes in concentration.

  I nod and close my eyes, slowing my breathing as I visualize the golden light and glowing sensation that envelops me when I meditate. It’s a bit of a struggle, the pain is in the way, but after ten deep breaths in and out the outside world fades.

  I concentrate on breathing slowly in through my nose, and out through my mouth. Patterns occasionally spring up, as well as thoughts and sounds. I observe them all with detached interest, as if I’m sitting in a stream, watching twigs float by. I resist the urge to grasp any of them and let them continue past as I continue to breathe.

  There’s a warm twisting in my leg, not painful, more like a massaging sensation accompanied by a throbbing. Eventually the sensations fade and I hear Danielle’s voice. I slowly open my eyes, letting the glow fade.

  Raphael is no longer holding me down; he’s standing off to the side with Stephanie and a few other lieutenants, their heads together in a whispered discussion. Danielle is kneeling over me with a look of relief on her face.

  “All better?” I ask.

  She nods and I try to sit up, but she stops me with a hand on my shoulder. “I closed the wound, but you lost a lot of blood. Lay and relax for a bit.”

  “I should really spend some time learning Reiki,” I say. “It’s incredible how you can heal with it.”

  Danni shrugs. “I’ve just practiced the art for a long time. There are reports of ancient masters who could do much more than close cuts and heal with it. I’m definitely not the first to be this strong in the art. There are likely others alive today better than me, they just have the wisdom to hide their abilities.”

  “Well, I’m glad you’re good at it,” I say. “Thank you for saving my life yet again.”

  “You’re welcome,” she says.

  I turn my head to the left and see the dead bodies lying on the ground. More hunters caught in our trap. “How many did we get?” I ask.

  “All of them.” Danni says. “Twenty-five, none escaped.”

  “Carl’s pack?” I ask.

  “No,” Danielle says. “Helpers.”

  I shake my head in disgust. The Infernals employ killers who come in all shapes and sizes around the world. When Danielle took the mantle of ‘Fallen’ and called for Gamers to protect themselves and fight back, we did. In the past two years we haven’t lost more than a couple thousand members, while those hunting us have paid dearly for their attacks. We’ve defended ourselves from over fifty thousand hunters during that time. And by ‘defended’ I mean killed. They wanted a war; Fallen has brought them one.

  “I almost lost you, Melissa,” Danielle says. “You’re m
uch too valuable to us — to me — to be in such dangerous conditions.”

  “Until you learn to fly,” I say.

  “That’s not funny,” she says. “I care about you. It doesn’t matter if I ever learn to fly. I want you to live a long, healthy life, Melissa. You’re inexperienced at fighting and killing, yet I seem to let you talk me into bringing you along.”

  “How am I going to get better if I don’t practice?” I say.

  “Stop it,” Danielle says. “This isn’t just some…” she stops herself in mid-sentence and smiles at me. “Wow, that hasn’t ever happened to me.” She sits down with a look of concern on her face.

  I laugh at her. “That was funny. You getting ready to tell me that this isn’t just some game.” I laugh again, and this time she joins me.

  “Okay,” she admits. “This is, of course, a game. I want you to stay in it a while longer. Over the years, you’ve become like a little sister to me, and I want to protect you.”

  “I forgive you,” I wink. “You shouldn’t be so involved in these outings either. How will you lead us if you get ejected?”

  Danielle shrugs. “Things are set up. The movement is no longer dependent on one person. Besides, Fallen will survive even if I die. Others can and will take up the mantle. Anyway, I’m very skilled at fighting. I’m not in much danger, as long as there are less than 15 coming for me at once.”

  “I want to see you fly,” I say. “It’s lonely up there in the sky, and I think you have the best chance of joining me.”

  “I want that too. It’s exhilarating just to float a couple inches off the ground and I think I’m close to doing even more.”

  “You’re very close,” I say. “After I started to float like that, it wasn’t long until I began to truly fly.”

  Danielle stands up and reaches down to give me a hand up. We begin to walk towards the Eternals. “How long do you think?” she asks.

  “Everyone is likely different, but once you can float, you’ve mastered almost all of the difficult parts of the process. Knowing you? I would bet within the next twelve months.”

  Her face shines with excitement as we join the group. Raphael’s head snaps around to gaze at Danielle, quickly followed by Stephanie reacting the same way and instantly I detect danger in their expressions. Quickly I drop to one knee and look behind me, expecting an attack. Danielle is too preoccupied with the thought of flying to notice, but when I drop down she instinctively bends her knees to assume a ready fighting position.

  There’s no one behind us. I look back at the Eternals and they are staring at Danielle. “What’s wrong?” I ask. “You’re looking at Danielle like she’s about to explode.”

  “We’ve got to get to safety,” Raphael says. “Immediately.”

  “What’s wrong, guys?” Danielle asks.

  “Your Clean Mark,” Stephanie says.

  “What about it?” Danielle asks.

  “It’s gone.”

  Chapter 38

  Trew

  “Can we determine who removed it?” Trew asked.

  “No, not yet.” Michelle tried to listen to Trew but the command centre had erupted into a flurry of activity when Raphael told Danielle the news. People were handing Michelle tablets, waiting in line to give her reports in an attempt to provide whatever details they could gather.

  Trew turned away from Michelle, looking at Brandon. “Could this have happened by accident?” Trew asked.

  Brandon’s eyes smouldered as he looked at the scene on the main viewer. Danielle was being whisked into a vehicle and driven to a nearby safe house. His jaw rippled as he clenched it tightly. Trew started to ask Brandon another question but he raised his hand for silence. Trew looked out the window, waiting for Brandon to answer him, unconsciously mirroring the clenched jaw and thoughtful pose of his mentor.

  After a time Brandon spoke. “There are a couple ways for a Clean Mark to disappear. The most common way is for an avatar to pass through a glitch, an area in the Game that is slightly unstable, which results in subtle changes while near it. If that’s what happened, then when they get her away from the glitched area, the Mark will return.”

  Trew looked at Brandon. “You don’t think it’s a glitch, though.”

  Brandon shook his head. “No, I don’t. We should know when our player trips a glitch. There wasn’t any notification, was there?” Brandon looked at Michelle who met his eyes, quickly shook her head negatively, and continued to work with her team.

  “That means someone removed the Mark,” Brandon said. “First guess would be the Timeless, but in order for this to occur, both sides would need to formally sit down and agree to remove it. There would be a ritual and the mark would be lifted. This would leave a record in the Game that our team could track and find easily. Once again, because it’s affecting our player, we would be notified by the Game. Michelle?” Brandon asked.

  “No, that didn’t occur,” Michelle said.

  “Is there a chance that her accessing the Glow and beginning to levitate could remove it?” Trew asked. “It might sound crazy, but…”

  “It doesn’t sound crazy at all,” Brandon said. “It’s entirely possible that she could shed it by accident, and that’s what I’m hoping it turns out to be…”

  “Damn it!” Michelle shouted, slamming her tablet onto the desk. Trew and Brandon stopped talking and looked at her. She walked over to the desk and sat down next to Trew. Her hands were shaking.

  She sat there silently, tapping her finger quickly on the top of the desk. Finally she looked up. “It was removed on purpose, by someone.”

  “Who?” Trew asked.

  Michelle shook her head, looked down at the desk, and began to tap her finger again. “It’s not going to help us knowing who did it. We need to scramble to get it put back on her.”

  Brandon stood up and walked over to Michelle. He grabbed her hand to stop her from tapping. She looked up and met his gaze. He swore softly under his breath and looked first to the left, then to the right. Trew had never seen Brandon look so… dangerous.

  Brandon returned to his seat and activated his tablet. He typed in a command and one of the viewers began a video call. Angelica materialized on the screen.

  “You do not look happy,” she said.

  “Shane’s in play. He removed Danielle’s Clean Mark.” Brandon looked at Michelle to confirm his words and she nodded slowly.

  Angelica swore loudly, causing the rest of the people in the conference room to stop their activities. “I’m on my way. Meet you there in less than ten minutes,” she said, and the screen went black.

  Brandon stood up and walked towards the exit, Trew close on his heels.

  Chapter 39

  Trew

  “Who’sShane? And how come every time I get one answer, three new ones seem to suddenly appear?”

  “Yeah it’s great, isn’t it?” Angelica spun one of the chairs around, grabbed a seat that positioned her facing the door, and gave Trew a sly smile. “It just gets worse with time. I’ve been ‘in the loop’ for the past four years, and for every answer I get, it’s seven new questions.”

  Trew sat down and stared at Brandon.

  Brandon took a seat and placed his hands flat on the table. He looked silently at Trew, then nodded and began to speak.

  “Creating and building the Game was an… aggressive undertaking. I was a young man full of brilliant ideas and beliefs, so sure that the world would become a better place because of the product I was about to bring into existence. I spent weeks and then months constructing an entire universe to exactly mirror ours. No one seemed to get it. No matter how hard I tried to convey my vision to others, they just didn’t understand all of the complexities. The only way to get anything done was to break each task into smaller jobs that a regular person could comprehend enough to accomplish.”

  Brandon took a sip of water and activated the single viewer on the wall, displaying a slowly rotating model of Earth. “Then I met a

  programmer
named Shane. He got it. He got me. I was so relieved to find another person who understood exactly what I was trying to do. Over a short period of time I began to share some of the larger responsibilities of constructing the Game with him. It was good to finally have someone else appreciate the difficult and incredible things that I was accomplishing.”

  “Sounds romantic,” Angelica said.

  “Then you must be listening to a different story,” Brandon said. “Finally, the Game was complete and we were ready to send in the beta testers. Of course I had to go in, and so did Shane. We had a blast. Beta testers had complete knowledge of where they were, unlike regular players of today. We knew it was a game and we went in to test it extensively to find all the glitches and mistakes in the hopes of making it as perfect as possible for the kids.”

  “What went wrong?” Trew asked.

  “Everything,” Brandon said. “Or just one thing, but it was most important. There can be only one King, and Shane believed it should be him. It quickly became clear that Shane believed it was his universe to rule and control. The first beta test was a disaster. It turned into a destructive world war between the two of us.”

  “I’ll bet that was something to watch,” Trew said.

  Brandon laughed. “It was an epic event,” he admitted. “And it did allow us to improve the functionality of the Game in many aspects. It also felt very rewarding to drive a six inch blade into his eye when I claimed victory.”

  “So where is he now?” Trew asked. “Does he influence the Game from another building in this city, or somewhere else on Tygon? Is he a super-rich man like yourself who sponsors players?”

  “Shane might have shared my vision of the Game from a technical point of view,” Brandon said. “But he didn’t share my vision for what the Game could do to help our society and people. He was just a clever computer programmer and I mistakenly gave him too much power for a brief time. When he was ejected from the first