by Damien Boyes
You haven’t spent long with your team, but you’ve come to like them over the past two days, and now they’re about to have their runs cut short—all because they made the terrible decision to join up with you.
You glance over your shoulder to the jungle behind you. OVRshAdo and his team are still on the other side of town. They aren’t far, far but with the camo you could run, might even get away, but you know OVRshAdo won’t let up. He didn’t go through all the trouble of fighting through the bots in the Caldera to back off now. He’ll hunt you right out of the game if you don’t push back against him. Time to make a stand—though up against a two-v-four plus a warbot, you don’t especially like your chances.
You order the drones to move, have them scout the east side of the village for OVRshAdo’s team, and they ping out two enemies moving up on Mei’s position before they’re spotted and shot out of the sky.
“Hold on, we’re coming,” you say as you press forward into the village, but there’s an electric rattle and then Mei’s gone too.
Zara-Zee downs AVmei. 73 players remain.
“Request orders,” Warrack says from behind you. He takes the game seriously, but even unvocalized you can hear the tension in his words. And it’s not unwarranted. You’re outnumbered and way outgunned. The two of you would have a hard time taking out just the warbot.
Then through the rain you hear a snarling bark and a chorus of reptilian howls.
The raptorwolves.
It’s not over yet.
Someone on OVRshAdo’s team yells a warning. They would have known what you were out here to do, had to expect the raptors would be active, but they came anyway.
“Watch my back,” you think to Warrack as you activate the camo. “I’m gonna get us some reinforcements.”
Warrack hefts his rifle and nods, even smiles a little. Death’s coming for him from all directions but he’s keeping it together, at least on the outside. Good kid.
Too bad he’s probably gonna be dead soon. And you along with him.
GAGE, FINSBURY
19:42:58 // 11-JUL-2059
I can’t turn Anika in, I know that much. But I’m not walking away either. Problem is, the only way I can see to go forward requires doing something incredibly stupid.
I know what she’s going through, I’ve been there too. She’s had a glimpse of herself—someone she’s never been—and watched her do things she can’t understand. She’s got her mind made up the island forced her to kill herself, and maybe it did, but she won’t ever have peace until she knows for sure.
She needs to find the truth and she won’t give up until she gets it, no matter what she needs to risk. Eventually it’ll destroy her, like it destroyed Deacon. I know firsthand what happens when your self-image is fractured, and how impossibly sharp the pieces are when you try to reassemble them.
Yeah, she lied to me, but I understand why. I’d have done the same thing.
So how can I blame her?
Dub’s left three messages with Connie, asking what happened in Lost Orleans, and even though his voice has grown more and more frantic with each one, I still haven’t called him back. I know he’s under the gun for a decision on Anika. Media for the upcoming match is in full rev and the Humanitech marketing people won’t want anything fucking with their plans at the last minute. We’re getting close to showtime, and he needs to know if the ludus needs to pull the plug and slot in a replacement for Anika.
I send him a quick message, text only, telling him I can’t talk but that it might be a good idea to start prepping Anika’s replacement, and I’ll get back to him by tomorrow morning like I promised. I don’t want to give him so much he sounds an alarm and has Humanitech security lock Anika down, but since she has no intention of going through with the novi fight, Dub might as well start getting the next in line ready to sub in.
Then I call Anika and tell her to meet me on the corner of Bloor and Avenue, that we need to talk, face-to-face. And I’m not taking no for an answer.
She doesn’t reply for a few minutes, and I’m starting to think she might not, but then she sends a two-word response. “Or what?”
“Bloor and Avenue. 8:30,” I send back. I see her read it, but she doesn’t send anything else. She’ll come. I know she’s pissed at me, but I also know she’ll be there.
I arrive early and she keeps me guessing, but in the end, she’s only five minutes late. She comes wearing her lean arena skyn, with her short hair messy and her bright lips set in a pissed-off scowl, but she looks amazing. Like a superhero.
“This way,” I say, and lead her down Bloor past the university stadium. She stays a few paces behind me, but follows.
I turn down Philosopher’s Walk, the tree-lined path leading down from the high traffic of Bloor Street through the university grounds, and after only a few steps into the leafy canopy the city noise falls to a hush and it feels like we’re in a different world.
Anika stops, stretches her arms out, and scans the surrounding rooftops through the trees. “This your way of getting me out in the open so the Standards snipers have a clear headshot?”
“No, I’m getting you out in the open so no one overhears us discussing your plan to crash Decimation Island.”
She lowers her arms and tilts away from me. “What’s to discuss?”
“You’re down a man,” I say. “Put me in, coach.”
She starts, as if stunned, but then her eyes bulge and her lips spread in a surprised smile. “What?”
“Take me with you. HuggyJackson is floating out to sea, and you’ve got an empty skyn loaded onto a rocket and ready to drop.”
Anika shakes her head like she can’t believe what she’s hearing. “No,” she says, and her voice sounds definite, but she’s still smiling. I think I caught her off guard. “Just—No. I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“You didn’t. I’m offering.”
“Then I reject your offer. I don’t trust you.”
She doesn’t trust me? “You helped rip off Humanitech! You’re a criminal and I’m a liar—that makes both of us assholes, but it doesn’t mean I’m not willing to help you get your head straight. And if Jefferson Wood is dishing out helpings of a killer AI like OVRshAdo thinks, and we shut down in the process, even better. We work well together and you know it. What have you got to lose?”
“I—”
“Don’t think about it, there’s nothing to think about, just agree with me so we can figure out how we sell it to OVRshAdo.”
She huffs, squinting like she’s doing long division in her head. She needs to work it through herself, but she’ll see it my way. Yeah, she’s mad I lied to her, but it only hurts because she’d become invested. We both know she isn’t blameless in all this, and me joining the squad is a practical answer to their missing teammate. It’ll be reluctant, but she’ll come around.
I give her space and after a long minute she shrugs. What other choice do they have?
“We don’t need a fourth,” she says, but the frost in her voice is dulled. “Shad’s already changed the plan to run a trio. He’s got a warbot operating system to plug into the fourth skyn. It’ll shoot what it’s told”—she hesitates, glances up into the trees for a moment, then looks back down at me—“but we only get one chance at this. I’d much rather fight beside someone who doesn’t need to be told what to shoot.”
“I can do both,” I say. I’m smiling at her, for some reason I can’t help it. I guess we’re a team. “But will Shad agree?”
“I think we can bring him around. He’s a dick but he wants to win. He’s not who we need to worry about.”
“Zara-Zee?”
“She’ll be a hard ‘no.’ She’s salty Huggy isn’t coming and won’t want anyone on short notice. But my vote makes it two to one.”
“What’s our story then? I don’t think he’ll appreciate the truth.”
“Your idea is more lies?”
“You think OVRshAdo’s being completely honest with you? Who do you tru
st more?”
Her nostrils flare, but she looks me in the eyes when she says, “You,” and just that one word is enough to make my stomach flip.
What am I getting myself into?
No, this is definitely not good.
GAGE, FINSBURY
22:11:31 // 11-JUL-2059
We settle on telling ninety percent of the truth, and Anika does all the talking. She starts with how we met at the Humanitech gala, but doesn’t mention how I secretly uncovered their plot to invade Decimation Island and then dropped HuggyJackson in the Mississippi. Everything else sticks to what really happened. We gamed together, a lot—and her feed can prove it. We’ve got a rapport, and Anika vouches for me, says I can frag out.
She doesn’t bother to hide the fact I’m an ex-cop, mostly because she couldn’t—it’s the first thing that’ll come up when OVRshAdo doxxes me—but she also figures he’ll get a kick out of it, think it’ll make me seem like a badass, being kicked off the force the way I was. He’s the kind of guy who’d see it as a positive career move.
I’ve got a good resume, but still not enough to win him over.
“You seriously want us to hire your new boyfriend?” OVRshAdo asks.
We’re gathered in a private virt, Anika, Shad, Zara, and me. It’s nothing fancy, the setting picked at random—a big stone room with a long wooden table and flickering torchlight casting shadows in mid-fi detail. Our aspects are dressed in medieval costumes and move with the grace of tanks, but we’re only here to talk, and it works fine enough for that.
“We haven’t discussed our relationship status,” I answer back. It’s the first thing I’ve said since we cast in. I’ve been half-leaning against the table while Anika’s been talking, and I step up next to her. “But if and when we do, I promise you won’t be involved. Now, let’s discuss your preference to run a job on an AI who’s distilled killing down to an art form with a bot instead of someone who’s actually done it before. You know I already beat a superintelligence once, right?” I didn’t, but the link says I did, so that makes it true.
Shad only shrugs. “Yeah, impressive as shit, mate—Finsbury—whatever kind of name that is. But here’s the thing: I don’t know you,” He glances at Anika. “I do know the bot.”
Zara’s pacing up and down the length of the room, but she stops and whirls around with her finger leveled at Shad. “Why are we even discussing this? A day away from jump and we’re recruiting? We don’t need the bot—and we sure as fuck don’t need this guy, doesn’t matter who he is. You’re wasting time I could be using to find Huggy.”
“We’ve got people on it,” OVRshAdo says, not looking at her.
“Fuck those people!” Zara moans. “You should be down here yourself.”
“I’ve posted a generous reward for his recovery. Someone will find him, but until then the bot’s taking his place. Like you said, ‘we’re a day away from jump.’ The job is what matters.”
Seems like they’ve had this conversation before, because Zara just growls and goes back to pacing.
They won’t find Huggy in time, I’m pretty sure of that. I don’t know what their timing is for insertion, but his skyn’s got to be somewhere in the Gulf by now. By the time someone traces its ping and recovers his Cortex and then his rithm is cleared by Standards, his ride will be long gone.
As it is there’s barely enough to get me up to speed on what they’ve spent weeks planning for. If we’re doing this, we need to get started now.
Anika steps up to him. “He’s better than a bot, Shad,” she insists.
“How long you known this guy?” Shad replies. His tone is still light, but there’s an edge to it. “A week? And you’ve already told him all about us? You know what we’re about to do, right?”
“I do,” Anika replies.
“How do you know he won’t yip out on us? This is hard-core mode we’re talking—one life, no respawns, no save points. We lose and we lose it forever, lost time for everyone and Jefferson Wood goes right on converting the world to pay to win.”
“Fin fought in a real war, Shad,” she says, taunting him. “He’s solid.” Then she tosses me a hesitant sideways glance. “I trust him.”
Shad throws his arms wide, splashing drama from his outstretched fingers. “Based on what? ’Cause he shot a real gun thirty years ago? Because he used to chase around after bad guys? Or is it some deep personal shit you can only feel in your heart?”
OVRshAdo’s lucky he makes his living in digital. I don’t expect he’d last long in the real world before someone busted him in the mouth for running it too often. But for now, he’s in charge, and that means his rules.
“How about a test then,” I suggest. OVRshAdo won’t listen to anyone else, he needs to see it for himself. “A one-v-one, me against the bot. Whoever gets the most kills joins the team.”
Shad swivels his head around to face me.
“Now that’s interesting,” he says. “But no, not against the bot. That’d hardly be fair—”
I see where this is going. “I can’t beat you,” I say.
It’s not flattery. His personality sucks but he’s grown up a gamer, he’s a natural. No way I can beat him on his home turf.
“Well that’s what makes it so much fun, doncha think?” Shad replies.
“We don’t have time for this,” Anika says, raising her voice. “You just lectured us about what’s at stake, and you want to waste your time playing games? You know we can use him, but you need make it about yourself. No one’s watching, you don’t have to stir the pot every chance you get. Why don’t we skip it all this time, huh?”
Shad stops, and while the expression on his face barely changes, his mood shifts, and just when I’m starting to think he might have a vein of common sense running through him after all, he laughs and his face broadens into a jagged grin.
“Uh-uh,” he says, fixing his pupil-less black eyes on me. “You and me, buddy, we gonna game, and I’ll show you just how easy you are to kill.”
“Fin, you don’t have to do this,” Anika says. “Shad, knock it off. There’s no need—”
I don’t expect to win, but no way I’m walking away. “I’m down. But if I win, I’m on the team.”
He laughs as if the idea itself is ludicrous. “Sure thing. You win, and you can take the bot’s place. I win, and you walk.”
“Then stop talking and spin up a server,” I say, faking a confidence I don’t feel. “Let’s get this over with.”
AniK@
452:58:16 // 73 Players Remain
You creep around the edge of the village, camo unit humming on your chest as you slide from shadow to shadow and let the pattering rain mask your movements. The warbot’s coming for you, probably straight down the center of the village, taking point and looking to flush you out. OVRshAdo and his team will be spread out behind it, using it as a distraction while they clear the buildings searching for you.
Once you get to the last hut before the open area around the animal pen you stop again and listen. A snuffling wheeze chortles nearby. It’s a raptor, and it’s close. You inch along the concrete wall and peer around the corner and nearly smack into a long, scaly snout.
You freeze, not daring to breathe. The animal is big, perched up on its powerful hind legs with the fur on its head and back rippling and its claws in the air. There’s blood on its lips and it smells like raw meat. Its nostrils flare, sniffing the air, but it’s confused—it smells food but can’t see you. You back off slowly, a pixelated blur edging toward the jungle, still not breathing, and as you retreat you gently slide your hand into the pouch on your hip and pull out the pherodart gun. The raptor shakes its head, but doesn’t follow. Its five friends are just beyond, finishing off the pigs in the stockade, but they still look hungry.
Metallic clapping rises above the rain, and Warrack’s vitals spike but he doesn’t seem to be hurt. A boom sounds in the distance, a frag grenade.
“Diversionary tactics,” Warrack says.
“Go
od,” you respond. “But get ready, it’s about to pop off.”
Still invisible, you swing wide of the raptor and skirt the edge of the jungle to the rear of the pen, and once you’re around back you can see straight down the lane between the rows of huts. The warbot’s marching down the middle of the village, its heavy footsteps squelching in the mud. The raptors have seen it too, but it’s not made of meat, so they’re not interested. And while you can’t see them, you know OVRshAdo’s squad is spread out, moving from cover to cover, letting the bot take the lead. No way you and Warrack can take them. Even without the warbot it’d be a tough fight.
Unless you even the odds.
You raise the launcher, aim down the sights at the warbot’s chest, and pull the trigger. The pherodart fires with a hiss of compressed air and splashes against the warbot’s red torso, coating it with a highly volatile chemical the raptorwolves are trained to seek out and attack.
They all come at once, turning instantly from the animal pen to gallop toward the warbot. The bot senses the coming attack and responds instantly, fires once with the magcannon on his left arm to blow the lead raptorwolf into red mist, and then follows up with pulses from the magrifle on its right, ripping through two more, but then the raptors are on it and the muscled beasts drive the bot to the ground.
The warbot’s lethal, but not on its back, and while its armor is tough, it doesn’t hold out long against three ferocious raptorwolves. It thrashes on the ground, trying to knock away the three-quarter ton sacks of teeth and muscle, but can’t.
One of OVRshAdo’s new squaddies pokes out from behind a hut on the east side of the village, trying to get a shot on one of the raptors, and I snap a shot of pheromones at her. The dart smacks her right in the faceplate, and she stumbles back, frantically trying to wipe it clean. She knows what’s about to happen.