by Isaac Hooke
"What do you mean, just the Dwarf," Jacob said. "You promised that the Dwarf would help us create objects in this place without you having to go to that Outside of yours."
Tanner raised his hands placatingly. "I'll go back and ask Hoodwink himself. He's in the same room as me at this very moment. I'm sure he had a good reason for what he did."
There were more than a few confused looks among those present. Only Jacob understood. Jacob, whom Ari and Tanner had confided in.
But Jacob slumped, bearing all the weight of his years, and the spark vanished from his fingers. Just like that, the tension faded from the room. "You know what? I don't care anymore. It's over for us anyway. We can't fight back, not after this. Not against such insane odds. We'll have to go into hiding. All humanity may have to. Permanently."
Tanner chewed his lip. It was a nervous habit he'd picked up from Ari. Damn he missed her. "This isn't over yet, Jacob. Trust me." Tanner reached into his uniform and crossed toward Jacob.
The swordsmen beside the old man drew their blades and forced Tanner to halt.
"Show us what you have in your hand," the leftmost swordsman said.
Tanner extended his palm, showing the tracker he'd just retrieved from his uniform.
"A tracker." Jacob regarded the metal object suspiciously. "Why should I trust you?"
"Because I'm the only link to the Outside you have left."
"The only link." Jacob narrowed his eyes. "What about Ari? Where is she?"
Tanner hesitated. Finally he said, "She's dead."
Jacob stared at him for a long moment. "You're not lying. I can see the pain written all over your face." He waved his men down.
Tanner pressed the tracker into Jacob's hands. "Have patience, and don't lose hope. Set up the Control Room in a different part of the sewers. Wait for me to contact you."
Jacob squeezed his fingers around the tracker, and then he frowned, exaggerating the wrinkles on his face. "Okay, Tanner. Okay."
Tanner glanced at the others. The Users. The Denizens. Cap. Al. Briar. They all looked weary. Broken. After what they'd been through, he didn't blame them. He felt the same way.
He retrieved the handmirror from his cloak and marched down the tunnel. The group fell into hushed conversation, which soon receded behind him.
When he found somewhere quiet he sat against the mudbrick and began the process of disbelieving reality. His mind wandered, and he found it hard to concentrate. The Dwarf. Why would Hoodwink want the Dwarf? It made no sense.
Unless Hoodwink meant to trade the Dwarf for the disk?
When Tanner got back to the Outside, he had a few questions to ask Hoodwink.
More than a few.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Tanner awoke in Zeta Station on the Outside, feeling like he'd returned from a long journey, when in reality only a few minutes had passed since he'd gone Inside.
Hoodwink stood at a nearby desk, still wearing his spacesuit, the helmet and portable energy weapon lying on the counter beside him. He was tethered to the terminal, and apparently communicating with the interface via his mind if his eye movements were of any indication.
Tanner scrambled to his feet.
Hoodwink immediately trained the energy weapon on him.
"Why?" Tanner said.
Hoodwink's face betrayed no emotion. "For Ari. Someday you'll understand."
"You gave the Dwarf to Jeremy?" Though he already knew.
"I did."
"And what does that mean for us, exactly?"
"Where to begin?" Hoodwink's eyes were moving back and forth rapidly—the signs of a data search. Or retrieval. "What that means for us. Well, you know about the germ, right? Jeremy's the person who created it. He put it into the main A.I. of this ship. Put it into One. That should have given him control of everything, but—"
"Wait. Jeremy created the germ? How?" Tanner couldn't understand how someone like Jeremy could create a germ capable of infecting the A.I. of a starship. Jeremy had no knowledge of the Outside and the simulation he was in. Jeremy was just some portal-trader turned mayor.
Wasn't he?
"It doesn't matter how he did it." Hoodwink said. "You only need to know that he did it. But here's the thing. Ordinarily, the main A.I., One, can't touch the simulation directly. Even when infected with the germ. Its orders are buffered by the sub-A.I.s, like the Dwarf, which can decide to obey or disobey on their own. It's sort of a failsafe.
"But Jeremy found a way to let One shape the Inside directly—with the germ, he linked his avatar to One. So that One could appear right on top of his avatar. With the link, One could only enter the world now and again, but it was enough to create the Direwalker army. Now that Jeremy has the Dwarf, he also has its source. He'll infect the Dwarf, and link his avatar to it, too. The Dwarf and One will merge with Jeremy's avatar, completely replacing him. One will have full access to the illusion, and will be able to create unlimited Direwalkers. And worse things. He means to destroy the simulated world, and wake everybody up."
Tanner couldn't believe it. "And you gave the Dwarf to Jeremy, knowing all that?"
"I needed to get the disk," Hoodwink said. "It seemed a fair trade, in my mind. The ten thousand Direwalkers were already enough to destroy the world anyway."
"Hoodwink, what have you done? If everyone wakes up, you know that we're ruined. We'll die from overcrowding. Starvation. The iron golems here will hunt us down in droves. We have to stop it somehow."
"That's your job now Tanner," Hoodwink said. "I can't help you. I've chosen my side. For good or for bad. And I'm leaving this blasted heap of scrap metal behind."
"Ari wouldn't have wanted this."
Hoodwink looked daggers at him. "Don't you dare drag her good name into this. Don't you dare. You have no idea what she would've wanted."
"But I do," Tanner insisted. "And it wouldn't have been this. Sacrificing the world, for her."
Hoodwink sighed. "As I said, Tanner, the Direwalkers were enough to destroy the Inside anyway. One will just be able to do it a little faster, now."
Tanner gauged his distance from Hoodwink. Was that energy weapon still jammed? Did he dare rush him? "Please, Hoodwink. You can't leave now. We can go to the children. We can find a way to stop the germ, and the Direwalkers, before it's too late. You owe me—"
"I owe you nothing!" Hoodwink said. "I trusted you to keep my daughter safe. Trusted! And you broke that trust! You let her die."
Tanner shut his eyes. I let her die.
No. It wasn't his fault. Tanner knew that. He was through blaming himself. "She made her choice, Hoodwink, up there on the Forever Gate."
Hoodwink didn't answer.
"If not for me," Tanner said. "Then do it for the world. You—"
"I owe the world even less. It had me collared. Its people sent me up the Forever Gate to die. No, I don't owe you or the world. The world owes me."
A microchip ejected from a slot in the terminal, and Hoodwink gingerly picked it up.
"I know you don't believe that," Tanner said. "I can see it on your face. I can hear it in your voice. You love us. You always have. This place. The Outside. The Inside. You're in turmoil, Hoodwink. What's going on? Tell me everything. I can help. I know I can."
Hoodwink seemed to hesitate. "It's funny, the Council actually believes it's helping humanity by doing this."
Tanner didn't know what Hoodwink was talking about. "The Council?"
"Never mind," Hoodwink said. "Topside thing."
Ah. That forbidden word again. "This Council, they think they're helping humanity by killing us all?"
"Yes. Every last one of you."
"Sound like a bunch of crazy men to me," Tanner said.
Hoodwink's face was grave. "Goodbye Tanner. And good luck."
"Let me help you Hoodwink."
"No one can help me now." He disconnected himself from the terminal and carefully tucked the microchip into his spacesuit's utility belt. "And for what it's worth, you're right, I do
love humanity. I've tried to deny it. Really tried. And I don't honestly know what will happen when I reach Topside. I'll do my best to save Ari, no matter what happens. But I'm relying on you now, you hear? I need you to make sure there's still a world for Ari to come back to. Promise me that you'll do your best to save this place. Promise me."
"How? I don't even know where to start."
"You'll find a way, Tanner. You have to."
"I wish you'd stay and help," Tanner said.
"I can't stay. But I may just help, yet." Hoodwink grabbed his helmet and strode to the exit. He kept the weapon trained on Tanner the whole time. "Don't follow me."
The door opened and Hoodwink stepped through.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Tanner counted off the seconds in his mind.
One one thousand.
Two one thousand.
Three one thousand.
He scooped up his helmet, entered the unlock code for the door, and then sprinted into the corridor as fast as he could manage in that bulky suit.
He peered past the rim of the closest pod. There. He caught sight of Hoodwink, rushing down the metallic walkway.
Tanner carefully pursued, staying close to the sleepers' pods that lined the wall. A part of him noted that there were more black pods out here than was usual. Definitely not a good thing.
When Hoodwink glanced over his shoulder, Tanner immediately ducked behind the closest pod. Tanner counted off three seconds again, and when he looked, Hoodwink had already hurried off. Tanner took up the chase.
He followed Hoodwink to the airlock they'd used on the way in, and watched him enter the access code and vanish inside. The hatch closed with a resounding thud.
Tanner ran to the airlock and peered through the glass slot. He'd just missed Hoodwink—the outer hatch sealed shut.
Tanner fumbled with keypad but the mechanism refused to allow him inside until the chamber re-pressurized. Finally the indicator light turned green and he entered the access code. The hatch opened. He hurried to the outer door and gazed through the portal.
Hoodwink was bounding across the icy surface of the moon. Four machines were in hot pursuit. Hoodwink hadn't shot them down—so the energy weapon still wasn't working after all. Tanner watched the machines slowly overtake Hoodwink, and he considered going out there to help his friend, but then he realized he didn't have the access codes to open the outer hatch. Hoodwink had kept them to himself to prevent the children from hurting themselves. Or so he said.
Hoodwink bounded over a particularly craggy area and vanished inside a crater in the ice. Tanner thought it was near the spot where Hoodwink had rescued him earlier.
The machines followed Hoodwink down into the crater, and for long moments Tanner saw only the barren moon and the uncaring stars above.
"Come on, Hood. Come on."
He waited for either Hoodwink or the machines to emerge. But nothing came out.
"Damn it." Tanner slid his helmet on. He was going to find a way to open that hatch, access codes be damned.
Then he saw the machines reemerge from the crater. Alone.
Tanner bowed his head.
It was over.
He glimpsed motion at the corner of his vision, and he peered back through the portal. A small, egg-shaped vessel floated from the crater. Black mist suddenly flowed across its metallic surface, enveloping the vessel so that in moments it was lost to the space backdrop. Tanner knew the thing was still climbing only because of the stars occluded by its passage, and he quickly lost track of it.
"Good luck, Hoodwink," he said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Today was the happiest day of Jeremy's life.
The Direwalkers had been unleashed upon the world, distributed through the portal-hops to wreck havoc upon the cities.
The New Users were crushed.
He had the Dwarf.
Ari was dead.
"Reward reward reward," Jeremy said. Control. Power. It would all be his. The Great One could do things. Amazing things. Jeremy and the master were going to wipe this world and start again from a clean slate. They would turn this into a world of water, and soon Jeremy would no longer have to dream of such a place, but would actually live in it. Live. They would create an underwater utopia of unparalleled beauty, populated only by gols. The Great One would be emperor of course, but every ruler needed a second. Jeremy was going to be that loyal, deserving second. He would have the powers of the Dwarf. The ability to create objects at will.
He would be the architect of the new world.
"Reward reward reward."
The Dwarf shifted beside him. "The only reward you'll get—"
"Shut up!" Jeremy tugged on the Dwarf's chain and forced the gol to its knees. The Dwarf stank of alcohol from the wine and spirits Jeremy had poured all over the gol.
"Master, oh great master." Jeremy fell to his knees beside the Dwarf, and stared at his own reflection in the mirror. There was a ghastly red pucker in the hollow of his neck where Hoodwink had burned him with the sword. It throbbed with pain, but it was nothing the Great One couldn't heal. "Master master master. Reward reward reward." He was wearing the black robes the master had given him. Jeremy had embellished the robe with a thread-of-gold tentacle on the sleeve. He did that with all his garments—his way of personalizing them.
As sometimes happened while he stared into that mirror, he began to see random symbols scroll across its surface, and an unfamiliar part of his mind activated. His fingers moved seemingly of their own volition, and rearranged those symbols, exchanging one set for another, sliding some into the gaps formed by others, and so on and so forth. He didn't really know what he was doing, but he was doing something, because the world began to shimmer and fade around him.
From the corner of his eye, he saw the reflection of the collared Dwarf looking at him, its mouth agape in either awe or horror. Probably horror. As was appropriate. Jeremy was horrified himself. He shouldn't be able to do what he was doing, whatever it was.
The muscles of the Dwarf's face abruptly grew slack, and its tongue drooped from its mouth.
"Master!" Jeremy shouted.
The symbols vanished, and then he saw it—the dark shape that called itself One, lurking in the mirror, near the bed, its face hidden in the shadow of its hood.
Jeremy sighed with relief and ecstasy. "Master. Welcome back to the world." Jeremy felt insane with fervor today. Just insane with fervor and excitement. "Master master master. I love you."
"Jeremy," the Great One said. It's voice came from behind him, as it always did when the master appeared in the mirror. "I love you too."
Jeremy tingled all over. Tears welled in his eyes. "I'd do anything for you master. I'd kill, I'd rape, I'd mass murder. For you!"
"I know you would, Jeremy." Only the master understood him. Others, like Hoodwink, thought him sadistic and cruel, but the master appreciated what he offered, and loved him for it.
"Have you prepared Seven?" That was the Great One's secret name for the Dwarf.
"I have." Jeremy stood, and shoved the Dwarf into the mirror. The alcohol on its face smeared the surface. "Precisely as you asked."
"Send Seven to me, then."
Jeremy scooped up the lit candle from the table and dropped it on the Dwarf.
The gol ignited, screaming.
Jeremy smashed his boot into the Dwarf's backside and the gol plunged through the mirror as if the surface were water.
Inside the mirror the master was standing close now, right where Jeremy's reflection should've been, and it caught the howling Dwarf. The Great One embraced the gol, and together they burned.
"I will get my reward?" Jeremy said as his master went up in flames.
"Your reward comes." The Great One's voice sounded so welcoming, so loving.
"Reward reward reward," Jeremy sung.
Then the flames engulfed Jeremy.
He screamed. How he screamed. He wanted to run around that room, howling in pain, but his b
ody wouldn't respond. He was rooted in place. Burning.
He remembered Hoodwink's words. Worse than being revised.
And then as quickly as it had begun, it was over.
The Dwarf vanished.
As did the flames.
There was no Jeremy—on both sides of the mirror, only One remained.
The room darkened.
Looking at its reflection, One flexed the fingers of its right hand. The two ridged digits sparked with electricity.
"May the winds blow till they have wakened death," One said.
The mirror shattered.
EPILOGUE
Hoodwink let the autopilot assume control. On the view screen, the icy surface of Ganymede slowly receded.
He stared at the small metallic rectangle he held. That microchip contained all that Ari was. Her essence. Her psyche. It was the only thing still tethering her consciousness to this reality.
"Have I done the right thing, Ari?" He held the microchip tenderly, afraid of breaking or harming it in any way. "Abandoning the world to save you? Should I just let you go? No. No. You've ended too soon. And it's my fault. You still have a place here, with humanity.
"Since you were born, I've always tried to do the right thing, Ari. Even when I gave you up to Jeremy. Cora and I, we were so worried that you'd become a User. So worried that you'd ruin your life. Jeremy was rich. And I didn't know who he was at the time, nor who I was. We thought we were giving you a better life. I'm so sorry, my daughter. I'm—" His voice caught, and he took a moment to compose himself. So many losses. His wife. His daughter. He couldn't save Cora. But he could save Ari. "Yes. I've done the right thing here. I see that now. I've done you right. Know I have. The world can wait. You take precedence. You always have, though it took your dying for me to realize it. And maybe, just maybe, I can set things in motion where we're going, and help Tanner save humanity. Just maybe. After I save you." If I can save you.
He carefully tucked the microchip away.
The flyer approached the geostationary orbit of the Vargos, the mothership. This close, the massive ship filled the view screen, blotting out the stars. The Vargos reminded him of a thick saucer pasted above a downward-pointing cone. Rectangular sections protruded along the rim of that saucer, while canals crisscrossed the cone, latticelike. At the bottom of the cone, pipes of varying heights vented black mist.