by Jeff Pollard
They flee up the stairs, getting off on the next floor up. A sign says “Simulation Floor.” Guards run up from below. Renee and Seth run down the hall and duck around a corner, hoping the guards won't get off on this floor. The door swings open and guards frantically start searching. “Shit,” Seth mutters. They look for a room to hide in, the guards approach the corner.
Hiding in a server room, the place where Solipsis is simulated, Renee asks, “What do we do now?”
“We're going at midnight on the dot,” he replies. A clock reads 11:08.
“Going where?”
“You really don't remember?...To turn the neural net back on.”
“How?”
“In the control room. Once we do that, the televators will work again.”
“But they took all the televators,” Renee replies.
“Which is why we're going back in to bring them down,” he replies.
“And if we fail, the bomb will free them from hell.”
“Right. There's something we need to do before we go,” he says.
“What?” she asks.
“I need to put you in a different body,” he says.
“Why?” she asks.
“They know you're in the real world now. They can disconnect you from this body. We need to put you in animatron that's off the grid.”
They slink down a corridor on the simulation floor. Renee follows into a room and he shuts the door quietly behind them. There's an animatron hanging from a docking station that's been crudely hooked up. The animatron is a flesh-bot, a slender blonde with exaggerated features.
“You need to put me in that body?” Renee asks.
“They won't be able to track you,” he replies. Renee looks at him suspiciously. Then Renee notices something on a bank of displays next to the docking station. A display reads: SCP1. That rings a bell.
“What is this?” Renee tries to push him aside. He won't budge. “Move!”
“You don't want to see this,” he says.
“I do!” She shoves him aside. Her jaw drops in shock. This is the secret that has eluded her for her whole life.
26
Hundreds of swift, light footsteps clamor across volcanic rock. The whole pack of survivors moves quietly, staying low. The group keeps Renee protected in the center. The mountains loom ominously over them. Renee hobbles along, the rock encasing her foot erodes a little bit with each step. Percival motions and they all lay down to get cover. A face looks up at Renee, trapped in the volcanic ground.
“Help,” the imprisoned face chokes out.
“I'm trying,” Renee responds. Percival motions and they start running again. They find themselves moving through a giant line of stockades. The stockades are empty, but the sheer number is overwhelming. They keep moving until they find a section of fully stocked with people. Unlike regular stockades, these don't close around the neck and wrists, but around the armpits, tightly. The trapped people see them coming and all beg to be helped, making a commotion.
“Shhhh,” Percival pleads as he leads the way. An angel stands guard in a tower not far away. Percival keeps the group moving, not helping.
“Wait!” Renee says as she's pushed on by the survivors trying to protect her, “Help them!”
“We don't have time,” Percival says. Renee ignores him and starts prying open a stockade. “We can only save them by getting you out of here.” Renee ignores him. The rest of the survivors follow Renee's lead and start helping those trapped. Renee and Medved rip the top of a stockade off, freeing a young man. Through the chaos Renee and Percival's eyes meet, she doesn't look away, defiant. Dozens are freed and they immediately start helping, creating an exponentially growing work force. Percival looks to the guard tower and sees commotion. The biblical monsters are headed this way. Percival shouts to Medved, getting his attention. “Get her!” Medved plucks Renee from the crowd and runs with her to Percival. “We'll save them in the end, you can't be so short-sighted!”
The ground shakes as a behemoth stomps this way. Renee, Percival, and Medved have no time to discuss it, they head for the mountains. Some of the pack keep up with them, but the rest of the survivors scatter like ants, panicked, paralyzed, terrified. Renee hobbles, pulled along at great speed through the stockades. They must ignore the cries of the damned, their mission is more important than temporary suffering. Angels with blue glowing swords swoop in and attack the fleeing survivors, slicing many of them in half with ease. Renee turns back. “Mom!” Renee spots Gwen, in the grasp of an angel, being captured. Renee pulls away from Medved and Percival, but they are stronger and keep hold of her. The angel shoves Gwen into an open stockade, sealing it shut with a swipe of his flaming sword, welding the joint, then moves on to attack others.
“We don't have time,” Percival says. Renee pulls harder, but his grip is stronger.
“Help!” Gwen shouts from the stockade. She sees Percival and Medved keeping Renee from coming to her help. Renee struggles harder, her hands slip free. She rushes toward her mother. Percival and Medved run after to protect her.
Renee starts pulling on the stockade. Percival and Medved arrive, straining to rip the stockade apart. An angel swoops in. His blue flaming-sword slices through Percival like butter, cutting him in half from one shoulder to the opposite hip. Then the angel swings at Medved but he ducks out of the way, falling backwards on the volcanic rock. The angel turns back to Renee, swinging at her. She dives out of the way, he stabs his sword down into the rock, just missing her. As his stab follows through, the sword effortlessly goes into the rock, slamming all the way until the hilt enters the liquid rock. He tries to pull the sword out, but the viscous lava clings to the hilt, creating a vacuum beneath it. He tugs fruitlessly on the sword. Renee, kicks at the angel's ankle with her rocky club of a foot. The volcanic rock smashes his ankle, breaking it. His lower leg shoots through the side of his foot. He falls sideways, going over backwards. Renee reaches for the hilt of the sword. The angel, in no pain, crawls toward her. She pulls it at an angle, getting one corner out in the open, the vacuum seal is broken and the sword comes out. The angel lunges at her. Renee slashes across the angel's chest, cutting through his armor like it isn't even there. The two halves of the angel land on the ground on either side of Renee.
Medved grabs each half of the angel and throws them in opposite directions. Percival lays in shock, he's a one-armed half of a torso. Renee uses the sword to carefully unweld the stockade to free her mother. She tries to cut a little too fast and her mother screams as molten steel drips onto her ribcage. Renee slows down, being very deliberate. Medved picks up Percival's torso.
“Must go now!” Medved shouts.
“Just go,” Renee says to Medved without looking away from the delicate operation.
“We have to protect you!” Medved shouts. Percival loops his one arm around Medved's neck and hangs on.
“Then you get her out,” Renee says. Medved takes the sword from Renee.
“Run!” Medved shouts, starting to open the stockade. Renee runs for the mountains.
“Leave her,” Percival's torso says to Medved.
“What?” Gwen shouts. “Get me out of here!”
“Leave her,” Percival says coldly. “Renee must get out!”
“Sorry Gwen,” Medved says, patting her on the head. With angels bearing down on them, Medved takes off running toward Renee.
The angels fly over Medved and Percival, ignoring them, going after their real target, Renee.
“Hey, get back here and fight someone your own size!” Medved shouts.
The two angels fly low, poised to tackle or land on Renee. A huge volcanic rock comes out of nowhere, slamming into one of the angels. He crashes to the ground in an instant. Medved howls as he throws another rock at the other angel. The angel cuts Renee off, landing in her way. He approaches quickly, swinging the blazing hot blue flame at her. She ducks, rolling out of the way.
“Renee!” Medved shouts. He throws his blue-flaming sword towa
rd her. It lands blade first in the rock, cutting effortlessly into the rock until the hilt hits the ground and sticks. Renee dives, dodging a fiery swipe of the sword from her pursuer. She grabs the sword from the ground and stands up. She raises the sword, ready for a duel. The angel seems unfazed. He swings his sword at her. Renee has plenty of experience with sword and light-saber fights from first-person-games and is quite good. She goes to block the angel's attack, but his sword passes right through hers, leaving a vortex in her fiery sword. Renee jumps back, just barely getting out of the way of the attack.
This is no ordinary sword fight. No weapons are allowed in Solipsis. The attackers have had to find loopholes to create their weaponry. Since people like to smoke, small lighters are allowed in Solipsis. The flaming swords are made by stringing together thousands of virtual lighter tips to create the blade. Since they used the virtual tip and not any part of the actual lighter, the blade does not have any matter to it at all. It can cut through absolutely anything, since the physics engine doesn't see the blade as having any matter to it. Renee cannot block any attack. Fire doesn't stop fire. Unable to block, she must take the offensive.
Renee sprints away from him, but not straight way, instead running a circle around him. Since the angel is being controlled by a man at a console, he has to turn with her, which can be disorienting and clumsy. Once the angel starts keeping up with her rotation, she stops and sprints back the other direction. The angel is slow to react, and in that moment, she closes the circle, and slides feet first, reaching out and slicing at his knees, cutting them both.
She quickly gets to her feet. The angel walks towards her, balanced on his thighs. The angel realizes it won't be able to chase her, and so he winds up to throw the sword at her. Just before he can release, a rock smashes into his back, knocking him down. The sword handle skitters across the rocks. Medved picks it up and he and Renee run for the mountains with Percival's torso still clinging to Medved's neck.
27
Renee's red face cracks in the freezing wind as she climbs a near vertical face. She holds the blue flaming-sword over her head, slicing away at the rock face. She yanks out a neatly cut chunk of rock and tosses it clear. She hoists herself up onto this makeshift ledge and looks back. Medved is perched ten meters below her, resting on another ledge she created. Hell lies miles beneath them. The sun is below them. This is a flat world, the sun is just part of a flat sky-box.
“Hold on,” Medved shouts. Exhausted, he needs a rest.
“We can't stop,” Renee says.
“Just a second to catch my breath,” Medved mutters.
“It's not real air, come on.”
Percival starts screaming bloody-murder. Medved holds his head into his fur, muffling his screams, hoping he won't give away their position.
“They're torturing him,” Renee says. Medved simply nods. “They're torturing Mom too. Come on, we have to keep moving.” Renee helps Medved up another rung. They wait on the ledge for a moment, Medved catches his breath. They both try to ignore Percival's screams of pain. Medved buries Percival's face deeper into his fur.
“I can't believe this is happening,” Medved says ominously.
They push onward and upward. Time stands still as a fluttering of wings casts a shadow across them. Renee holds up her sword, ready. An angel swoops in, coming right out of the sun. The angel lunges for Renee, and she precariously hops out of the way, keeping her balance on this tiny ledge. The angel fights to keep his wingtips away from the rocks. The angel gains altitude, then tucks his wings in, enabling him to get closer to the rocks. He falls past Renee and slashes through the rock. She jumps out of the way, but her foot slips and she nearly falls, grabbing a protruding rock and steadying herself.
The angel pulls out of his dive and flutters back up level with her, staring her down. Medved is unable to help, a good twenty meters below Renee. He climbs quickly, hoping to protect her.
The angel hovers, his eyes level with Renee's feet. He flies with his wingtips just centimeters from the rocks. He leans in, swiping at her ankles. Renee jumps out of the way, landing right back down on her tiny perch.
Renee swings at the angel, but she can't lean forward at all or else she'll lose her balance. The angel stabs at her feet again. She splits her legs around the sword. His sword darts toward her right leg, she balances on her left foot. He swipes back and she switches feet again. She deftly dodges, but can't keep this up forever, especially not on this tiny slippery ledge. Medved's climbing as fast as he can, but still unable to help.
Renee uses her sword to slice into the rock above and behind her while she dodges. After several cuts, she spins, slicing at an upward angle. This final cut releases a large chunk of rock, which slides on this incline she created, sending it toward the angel. Renee ducks beneath the falling rock.
The rock surprises the angel. He flaps to get away but isn't quick enough. The rock slams against his chest plate, sending him off balance. He tries to recover, but his wings clip the rock-face and he plummets down toward Medved below.
The angel smashes against Medved's right-arm, pinning it against the rocks and crushing the bones of his forearm like twigs. The angel continues to fall down the cliff helplessly.
Medved lays on his back in serious pain. The bones of his forearm stick clean through his skin. Percival's upper half lays beside him. Renee climbs down and tries to help Medved set his bone back in his arm, but he is in too much pain, pushing her away.
Renee pulls Medved up as they near the peak. Medved's arm threatens to simply fall off. It's in a sling Renee made from a strip of her clothes. She tries to adjust the sling but Medved interrupts her, “Just leave it alone.”
“The bone's not in place,” Renee says.
“Don't touch it,” Medved insists.
“Relax Peter,” Percival says from his spot on Medved's back, “she can help you.” Medved nods to Renee and she takes a firm grip of his broken bones.
“My name is Medved,” he says through gritted teeth, as Renee snaps the bone back in place.
They make their way finally to the peak. Renee slices new ledges and hand holds into the rock. She helps Medved, pulling him by his one good arm. They made it.
All of Solipsis is laid out below them. Renee and Medved take a seat and look out on their devastated world. “It's beautiful isn't it.” This voice seems to come from nowhere. “Over here.” Embedded in the icy peak is a man's face. His body has been completely crushed and has frozen into the mountain. The slope down is littered with people, those whose catapult ride didn't quite get them over the mountain. “Here comes another one.”
“Another what?” Renee asks. A woman comes flying at the mountain, screaming. She is coming right at them, with a very high-pitched scream. She just clears the mountain, nearly taking their heads off. She flies down the far side of the mountain, screaming at a much lower pitch. The Doppler effect in action.
Renee leads the climb down the mountain. It's much more difficult to cut ledges into the mountain on the climb down than it was on the climb up. Medved and Percival trail behind her.
Renee lays down on a tiny ledge. She reaches down below her, making four cuts into the rock: two vertical cuts, a horizontal cut, and then a cut at a downward angle. The chunk of rock then drops away, leaving a half-meter wide, twenty centimeter deep ledge. With no sheath for the sword, she drops it into the side of the new ledge. The hilt stops it from falling straight through the rock. Renee then lowers herself, holding tightly to the ledge she has been laying on. She blindly searches with her feet for the new ledge below her. Her feet find the ledge and she lowers herself. Her foot has almost completely lost its rock coating, revealing the burned skin below, charred and black. Her hands are the real issue, completely torn up, cracked and bleeding from every wrinkle.
On her new ledge, she lays down, takes the sword from its stone sheath and begins cutting a new ledge below her. Medved is making the climb, several rungs higher up the ladder. The mountains are so steep,
this is the only possible way down. She makes her cuts, then lowers herself, searching for the ledge with her feet. She finds her footing then drops down, starting the process all over again.
Angels fly by periodically, keeping a watch on them, but their attacks have been fruitless, as they simply can't fly close enough to use their limited weapons. The thin air doesn't help their flying either. An angel hovers ominously nearby, watching her from a distance.
Renee grabs the ledge with her bleeding hands, lowering herself, blindly searching for the ledge with her feet. She lowers herself.
This time she slips just a little bit. She starts leaning backwards, over the abyss. She reaches for the rock face in front of her, but finds nothing to grip. She falls backward, in a last desperate attempt, she reaches for the hilt of the sword, embedded in the ledge. She gets a hold of it, but the sword comes free, slicing its way out of its rocky sheath. She falls clear, picking up speed. Her sword tumbles in the air nearby, threatening to slice her into pieces.. She hits the side of the mountain after falling twenty meters, desperately reaching for anything to grip, she bounces off, falling away from the rocks. As she accelerates the sword trails behind her, having a lower terminal velocity. The jagged rocks at the bottom of the mountain wait to pulverize her. She flails through the air, unable to do anything. She's going to be crushed into a paste and left to suffer like a layer of algae on the rocks.
A shadow comes across her, but she tumbles through the air and can't focus on anything. An angel approaches. It tucks in its wings to reduce drag, chasing after her. The angel plucks her from the sky. He holds her with his arms and extends his wings and flaps hard to slow their descent. They're moving fast, and his wings can't carry the weight of the both of them. They slow down, but smack into the rocks, tumbling to a stop.
“You okay?”
“Yeah,” Renee replies without thinking. She sees the face of her guardian angel for the first time. It's Seth. “You saved me. Why'd you do that?”