by Needles, Dan
The flag room was a few feet ahead, within striking distance. She scratched her nose and rubbed the polished steel on the sword’s hilt with her thumb. She noticed her cleavage showed from this angle. Would Jeff miss that? Sure enough, Jeff’s gaze wandered in her direction. “Eyes in front, Jeff.”
Jeff muttered something she couldn’t hear, but he obeyed.
She had met him in Macroeconomics at the beginning of the quarter. Jeff snuck peeks now and again, but she didn’t mind. In fact, it was the only reason she let him hang around. Sarah understood obsession. These Thursday lunch hour adventures had displaced last quarter’s soap opera addiction. She checked the timer in the upper left-hand corner of her vision: two minutes. The rest of her team would make the first move.
“Die!” someone shouted. Metal bit metal inside the flag chamber.
“Now?” Jeff asked.
“Shh,” she whispered.
The fighting drew closer. A minute remained. Close enough. “Now!” she said.
They bolted down the short corridor. It opened up into a large cavern with a rough stone floor. At the threshold, they paused. Though their perspective was inside the cavern, they could not see themselves. A ledge of rock blocked their view. The plan had worked.
“The easy way or hard way?” she muttered. Sarah scanned the room. No flag was in sight.
“Jeff, do you see it?”
“No.”
“Okay. The hard way.”
As they had planned, the rest of their team maneuvered the enemy, a clan of eight humans, so that their backs were turned to Jeff and Sarah. They had lost two players in the process. The rest of their team faced two to one odds.
“Now,” she said.
Jeff stepped forward into a sweep of his sickle. He cut three humans in half and collapsed another.
She stepped over the collapsed man and cut another down with her sword. Sarah turned back to the collapsed man. He writhed on the ground, his leg amputated. She lunged and bumped into Jeff. Sarah stumbled. She regained her footing. Her elbow jabbed another member of her team. They were clumped together.
Fluid sprayed her arm. An empty flask tumbled from the collapsed man’s hand. She smelled the oil as one of his teammates dropped a torch.
Fire erupted all around them. Her arm was ablaze. She staggered back against the jagged stone wall of the cavern. Her arm left steaks of flame on the rock. The heat stung. At least it wouldn’t get any hotter. The Nexus was maxed out at its safety limits.
She dropped and rolled. Her arm continued to burn and left streaks of flaming oil on the dirt. The sweet stench of burning flesh grew stronger. It reminded her of barbecue. From above she watched as her character writhed in pain, unable to fight. Movement became harder. Her character froze.
“Your character is unconscious,” the disembodied voice of the computer announced to her on a private channel that only she could hear.
The elf was a stupid idea. She looked at the melee. Except for Jeff, all her teammates were either burned or dismembered beyond recognition. Jeff’s arm still burned, but the ogre fought unimpaired by the pain. Three humans remained.
She still had hope though. The humans all wielded long swords, which gave Jeff quite an advantage. The range of his twelve-foot pole-arm prevented them from getting close enough to strike. The three humans formed a circle around Jeff: to his left, his right, and behind him.
Jeff spun to bring the human behind him into view. The three rotated left and returned to the original formation. Again, someone was behind him.
Jeff was toast. They would lose. She had to help him. She tried to move but nothing happened. All she could do was watch her body burn.
“Your character is severely injured,” the detached voice informed her.
Sarah would be lucky if her character survived at all. Jeff had to win to save her. Jeff swung left, his arm extended. He lost his balance but managed to spill the opponent’s guts. The man fell to his knees. The other two men charged.
Jeff rolled and popped back up. He swung. His pole-arm decapitated the first man and the poll part of the weapon slammed into the side of the second. The force crushed the second man’s rib cage. He fell, dropped his sword, and grasped his side.
Jeff sauntered to the man and lifted the sickle high over his head. He grinned and displayed a large row of crooked, yellow teeth. Jeff slammed down the weapon and nailed him to the floor of the chamber. Only Jeff remained. His arm was charred, and he had a nasty gash on his left cheek, but other than that, he was fine.
Sarah’s character no longer burned, but was not doing well. “Come over here!” she shouted. But the site had muted her. Jeff could not hear her. She did not want to quit the game now. If she died, she would be out of the tournament for the rest of the week.
“Your character is nearing death,” the computer reported.
“Stupid elf. What a worthless race!” she shouted.
Jeff slung his pack down and extracted a metal flask. He uncorked it and poured the contents over his burned arm. He let out a scream as his skin foamed and a sweet smoke caressed it. After a few seconds, the smoke cleared. He extended his arm, rotated it, and flexed it several times. His arm was healed.
Come on! She didn’t have much time.
Jeff lumbered toward her with the flask in his hand. He turned her over. His gaze followed her curves and settled on her chest.
She reached out to smack his face but her arm would not move.
His gaze flowed over her body. He examined her, almost groped her, but stopped himself.
He can’t be serious! I’m burned to a crisp!
Jeff stared at her.
Sarah did not want to exit the game, but she would if he tried anything. Later she would make him pay.
He rested there motionless for the longest time before he poured the contents of the flask over her right side.
A warm throbbing grew in her arm and hip. She could move and speak again. She cried out in mock pain.
He grinned as she opened her eyes.
She smiled back and then kneed him in the chin.
His character doubled over.
She laughed and got up. “Do that again and I’ll make a necklace out of your gonads.”
He groaned and sat up.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement. She whirled to see a dark figure approaching her. In slacks and a polo shirt, he was not dressed for the part.
She drew her sword. “Do you surrender?”
Jeff joined her. He bared his teeth and lifted the sickle high over his head.
“I’m Syzygy.” The man stared at the ground. They could not see his face.
“What did you say?” Jeff asked.
“Game over. All enemy players were eliminated. Please return to the lobby to receive your scores.” It was the computer who answered.
“Wrong game, bud,” Jeff said. He lowered his weapon, opened a portal, and stepped through to the lobby.
Sarah grabbed her sheathe with her free hand. Syzygy stared at her. It reminded her of Jeff. She smiled and leveled the sword at his throat. “Hey, buddy. You heard the ogre; you’re in the wrong game.”
Sarah watched in bewilderment as Syzygy pushed the sword aside and approached her character. Syzygy grabbed her waist and moved to kiss her.
“So long, jerk,” she whispered in his ear. She struck him hard in the small of his back with her sword, and he crumpled to the ground. She would let the coordinator know about him when she got to the lobby.
His sexual advances surprised her; this was not a meat market like the student union. Usually, this site was good about keeping out the degenerates. Well, that is, except for Jeff, of course. She turned and opened a portal.
From her aerial view she saw Syzygy leap up, grab her character from behind, and slam her body down. It knocked the wind out of her. Syzygy grabbed her head and slammed her face into the stone floor.
She couldn’t move. Well, this is great.
Syzygy groped her bre
asts.
“V-chip software online!” she yelled.
He stroked her neck.
“Nexus, exit.”
Nothing happened.
“Coordinator!”
Syzygy removed her character’s fur vest. Sarah felt his cold hands run across her chest. He pulled her left arm out of the vest.
“Nexus, exit!”
Nothing.
He removed her right arm from the vest. What was he going to do?
He tossed the vest aside, and her milky white breasts were exposed. His gaze lingered on her; but it wasn’t like what Jeff had done. Jeff just horsed around. This was different. She cringed. Her head felt warm, almost a burn. She screamed, and a portal opened.
“Sarah, what’s with you? It’s time to …” Jeff said.
Syzygy rose as Jeff lunged. In one quick movement, he swung his pole-arm and cut Syzygy in half. Syzygy’s torso and head flew across the room and slammed into the wall. Jeff grabbed Sarah and stepped back through the still open portal.
They burst into the crowded lobby. Jeff toppled over her. Old gnarled trees surrounded a meadow spattered with flowers. The crowd of people watched a levitating score board as they awaited their scores. Several of them gawked at the couple.
Sarah’s voice had returned. She could move. Her perspective no longer floated above her character. She saw through its eyes.
Jeff’s face expressed concern.
She hugged his neck and cried. Sobs racked her body. “I couldn’t move. I couldn’t talk. All I could do was watch.”
Jeff took off his fur coat and covered her exposed chest. “How did he do it?”
She shook her head. Sarah didn’t know.
Richard, Site Administrator of Fantasy Central, watched two teenagers tumble into the forest. He frowned. Just out of college himself, he was still familiar with teenage antics such as this. Richard straightened his wizard’s hat and walked to them. “Is there some sort of problem here?” he asked.
“Damn right there’s a problem! Sarah was attacked. What kind of site are you running here?” Jeff said.
Richard bit his lip. He contorted his face into a practiced mask of concern. “What do you mean? What happened?”
“A man attacked me. I tried to stop him, but I couldn’t move. I tried to open a portal, but it didn’t work. I tried to exit, but I couldn’t. I called you, but you didn’t come. Why didn’t you come?” asked Sarah.
“Calm down.” Richard scanned the gathering crowd. He turned back to Sarah. “Let me take you to some place where we can work this all out.”
A portal opened and they stepped through into Richard’s virtual office. Richard sat down behind his desk. He took off his tall pointy hat and set it aside. “You could not move or talk, and someone attacked you?”
She nodded.
“He didn’t say who he was, did he?”
Sarah nodded.
“And it was …” Richard asked.
“Listen, dick. Give her space!” Jeff snapped.
The administrator bit his lip and restrained a knee-jerk response. “Please call me Richard.”
Sarah turned to Jeff. “Do you remember his name?”
“I don’t know. I think it was Seery, Seally, or something like that.”
“That’s it! His name was siz-uh-gee,” Sarah said.
“Why didn’t you call on me?” Richard asked.
“I already told you! I did!”
That was impossible. Nothing could override the safety protocols built into the Nexus. Richard pulled out a form from the desk and filled in a couple of the blanks. He looked up. “What was his name again?”
“Syzygy!” Jeff and Sarah said in unison.
Richard set the form aside and pressed an intercom on his virtual desk. “Sam, I need you in here.” Richard had just started two months prior. He monitored the site and handled the day-to-day affairs; but this was serious. He could tell a lawsuit was looming. Better to call the boss.
Sam materialized and stood next to Richard.
“So, what seems to be the problem?”
Richard briefed Sam on what they had told him. When he was done, Sam told Sarah, “Don’t worry. We’ll make sure nothing like this will happen again.”
“You’ll call DARPA, right?” Sarah asked.
“Guaranteed! No one wants to get rid of these freaks more than I do. It’s horrible what happened to you. I left my old job because of stress like this. I went into this business to help people have fun. In fact, I think you and your friend here are entitled to a free month of gaming. Let’s say a one-month pass. What do you say?”
“You’ll tell them that I couldn’t exit the Nexus or contact the coordinator?” Sarah pressed.
Sam winked at Richard. “Of course. Really, don’t worry. We’ll take care of it.” With that, Sam opened a portal back to the lobby for them.
They stepped toward the portal. Sarah turned back to Sam. “I have your word, right?”
“I will contact DARPA right now. I promise.”
They left through the portal. It closed behind them.
Richard turned to Sam. “How do I report this? Do we have a contact site we go through?”
Sam put his hands on his hips and gave Richard a funny look. “Oh yeah, sure.”
“Well, what’s its name?”
“You’re serious, Rich, aren’t you? Sure, that’s what I’ll do. I’ll just contact DARPA.”
Richard blinked.
“Think, Rich! It’ll be open season for the bureaucrats. DARPA will shut us down and spend the next year stalling, asking us the same questions over and over again until we’re out of business.”
“But you promised …”
“I told the customers what they wanted to hear. I gave them a free month’s worth of games didn’t I?” Sam poked Richard’s chest with a meaty finger.
Richard frowned.
“Don’t tell me you believed their story! How the hell do you think anyone could disable the exit button or prevent her from calling you?”
Richard shook his head. He didn’t know.
“Look, if she was attacked, then why did she accept a free month of games? Would you come back here?”
Richard shrugged.
“Listen, we have our own way to deal with characters like this. We will blackball this … Syzygy. That was his alias, right?”
Richard nodded.
“Even the name sounds harmless. Syzygy—now that’s the call sign of a techno nerd if I ever heard one.”
“It’s just not what they taught us in school,” Richard said. Sam got within two inches of Rich’s face.
“Out in the real world things are different. This isn’t a test tube or a textbook. If you turn your back out here, they’ll stab ya. If you stick your head out, they’ll cut it off! If you don’t make the right gesture or say something the wrong way, they’ll kill ya! They play hardball and the rules aren’t written down! Don’t you get it? DARPA makes their money by dragging their feet. I guarantee you that if you contact them they’ll shut us down for good and you’ll be out of a job!”
Richard looked at his feet, and Sam put a supporting arm around him.
“Aw, don’t take it so hard. Everyone makes these mistakes when they are first hired on. Look, the first six months are the hardest. Once you learn the basics, it’s a piece of cake. Just lay low for now. Keep your nose clean.”
“What if this guy finds a place somewhere else on the Internet, a site not on the list? I mean, what if he hurts someone?”
“Now how exactly do you suppose he would do that on the Internet? Think, Rich! This isn’t real! We aren’t really here! What if he hurts someone you say? It can’t happen! You know that; hell, everyone knows that!”
14
Allison entered VR and opened a portal to Saint Luke’s hospital in Los Angeles. The Nexus connected with the Internet, wound down the few miles of fiber between Del Mar and Los Angeles.
“Number eighteen,” an invisible voice from the
automated nurse announced.
Camille Anderson’s autopsy was popular. Reporters and medical students occupied the other seventeen remotes. A sterile, white room materialized and the pungent smell of formaldehyde hit her. She wrinkled her virtual nose, but could not escape the scent.
In reality Allison remotely controlled the eighteenth monitor, a robotic cam in the room. It twisted and turned and responded to her thoughts. This was her new body. All the while it relayed back sight, hearing, touch, and scent from the robot’s embedded sensors.
Dr. Lundberg stood over the lifeless body of Camille. Neon lines appeared and formed a 3D grid through Camille’s body. The neon lines formed a virtual heads-up display and directed the doctor to the location of the girl’s organs.
Her index finger transformed into a syringe. Like everyone in the room, the doctor was not there. She remotely controlled a surgical robot called the Guru 1000. When the doctor moved her virtual hand, in the real world the Guru 1000’s robotic arm moved instead of her arm. When she looked down, she would see the corpse through the robot’s eyes. The Guru 1000 became her virtual body.
The doctor specialized in autopsies of people who died from brain disorder or brain trauma. The demand for her services forced the doctor to stay in one location. She performed all her work remotely from San Francisco. A private, high security network fabric linked the RemoteCare hospital chain that had franchises throughout the country and made her work possible. With the hospital’s network and her Nexus Transporter, the doctor could be anywhere in seconds.
“Nurse, what has she determined?” Allison asked.
The invisible, automated nurse spoke. “The liver and kidney show traces of X-flu.”
“Really?” X-flu was a Chinese designed biological weapon, a simple, lethal retrovirus, consisting of RNA surrounded by a protein tube, open at one end. When the microscopic opening of the virus brushed a human cell, the protein sack would constrict and inject its RNA into the cell. The cell would use the virus’s RNA to manufacture new viruses.