by Vic Connor
He was in a modern, open-concept house that definitely hailed from Earth rather than Territoria. The living room, dining room, and kitchen were all essentially the same area, which was taller than it was wide. The kitchen was a square of countertops, appliances, and cupboards, all dark against a white backsplash. Sleek, modern furniture packed the living and dining area tight—the type of fixtures being the only indicator of which area was which. A stairwell was tucked behind a wall, opposite the front door. Shoes piled up the entryway: scuffed loafers, low heels, and tiny sneakers. The tall windows stood open, and a warm summer breeze wafted in, rustling the gossamer curtains. Niko pressed his bare feet into a thick rug.
The clack of heels on the hardwood floor heralded her descent down the stairs. She was a giant dressed in a creamy-white suit, a mess of black hair framing her wan face. She smiled at Niko, close-mouthed, with round cheeks that hid her eyes. A wrapped box appeared in her hand.
The man left the stove now, emerging from the counters to kiss the woman on the cheek. He had broad shoulders and a handsome face, y’know, like slav-handsome, all pale hair, strong jaw, and green-blue eyes under thick, hipster glasses. In a gut-wrenching rush, Niko realized who these people were.
They looked at him with an affection he couldn’t remember. They had always been vague shapes, ghosts of his memory, but here they were, clear and smiling. Niko reached for them, like maybe they would disappear, and his reaching hands were short and pudgy.
“Oh, does someone want me to pick him up?” The woman put her hands under his armpits and lifted him with ease, tucking him to her side. She looked at him close enough that Niko could count the moles on her face—three—and see his younger self reflected in her dark eyes. She was so material. Tangible. “How’s my birthday boy, hmm?” Her voice was like the hiss of leaves in the wind. She set him down in a dining room chair. His chin barely cleared the top of the table. “Is the cake ready, Yuri?” She spoke the same language in which the man had been singing his song—Russian; but now Niko understood every word.
Yuri Somov, Niko’s father, snapped his fingers at her. “One birthday cake, coming right up, my beautiful angel!” He snapped three more times on his way back to the kitchen.
Niko’s mother rolled her eyes. “Your father is one goofy man,” she whispered conspiratorially. Niko, without thought, giggled into his hand. He wasn’t sure if that was because the memory was like a tape, playing back exactly as it happened, or because he didn’t think before laughing back then.
“Anna, my perfect darling,” Yuri said as he came at the cake with a match, “could you get the lights?”
Niko’s mother pinched Niko’s nose, then strolled to the light switch. The room went dark, except for the golden light from the birthday candles. Yuri carried the cake into the tiny dining room, then laid it down in front of Niko. There was his name, written in sloppy icing letters, lanced with five rainbow candles.
Anna slid into the seat beside him, rubbing his back. He didn’t even come up to her shoulder. “Should we pray?”
“Ah, Anna, let him blow out the candles first, at least! You always take long. His cake will burn down before you’re done.”
Anna puffed her cheeks at him. “I just have a lot to be thankful for,” she said, smiling at Niko. “Though I might have one less thing this go around.” She stuck her tongue out at Yuri. He clutched his heart and leaned back as if he’d been shot. Niko giggled.
“But I suppose he should blow the candles first.” Anna leaned down. “Make a wish, little Niko.”
Niko remembered what he had wished for—some video game, ironically—but it wasn’t what he wished for now. All he wished, all he wanted, was that this was real. Let this be true, he yearned, and not some generated figment programmed by Clark to torment him. I want to remember this, and for it to be my real memory. He took a breath and blew out the candles with equal parts spit and air.
Yuri and Anna clapped as the last candle winked out, leaving them in darkness. Anna’s hand left his back. As his eyes adjusted, Niko saw her lean forward beside him, clasping her hands. He did the same automatically, closing his eyes.
Quiet as the dark, Anna recited a prayer. Niko knew, somehow, that it was different from usual—a special birthday prayer just for him. “For He shall deliver thee from the snare of the hunters and from every troubling word,” she said, and Niko remembered thinking, what snaring hunters could ever come to me here? She then spoke of night terrors and arrows, of lions and dragons, and of salvation. Niko listened, even now understanding little—he only knew she was praying for his protection.
They said Amen, switched the light on, cut the cake and divvied three pieces across three plates. After a few messy mouthfuls, Niko peered at the wrapped gift in its long box, sitting on the table next to Anna’s hand. It didn’t look like a video game. “Can I open my present?”
His parents shared a furtive look before Anna smiled at him. “Of course, Niko. Here.” She laid the box in front of him, and he tore the bow apart with a child’s enthusiasm. Lifting the lid, he saw it was jewelry—a silver Russian Orthodox cross. Niko ran a finger down the metal, thumbed the three horizontal bars that crossed it. It wasn’t a video game, but he liked it.
“Want me to put in on for you?” his mother asked. Niko nodded. Anna swept it up from the box fluidly, moved behind him the same way. Her hands shook against the back of his neck as she clasped the thin chain. “There,” she said, then moved her fingers to his shoulders, giving them a squeeze.
“Looks good on you,” Yuri said with a sad smile.
Anna sank back into her seat beside him. She told him to look at her, but he already was, staring into the dark wells of her eyes. “If you ever feel alone, little Niko,” she whispered, pinching the cross between her thumb and forefinger, “touch this and pray, and God will be with you, and give you strength.” Then, Anna’s face burst into blinding, yellow light.
Niko crashed out of the memory and felt like he was falling. The branch slid out of his fingers, and he plummeted off the edge of the world. His stomach did a tango. As he fell, his UI flashed up.
QUEST COMPLETE: COLLECT MEMORY_1
800 EXPERIENCE GAINED
PASSIVE EFFECT: 800*1.5 = 1200 XP
2100/2000 XP
DING! YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL 2
HEALTH: 120 HP (+20)
ATTACK: 50 (+10)
CRIT RATE: +0.6% (+0.05%)
ATTACK SPEED: 1.5 HITS/SECOND (+0)
DEFENSE: 5 DAMAGE MITIGATION (+1)
ARMOR: 25 (+5)
NEW SKILL ACQUIRED: ABIL_RecursiveFunction
A new icon, also plain white text on a black background, appeared next to ABIL_EditValue. He had time enough to think that he’d never get to use it before his stomach and heart traded places, and he passed out midair.
“It’s a waste, isn’t it? A complete waste! What did that…that idiot think he was doing?”
The voice was remote and muffled, thrumming into Niko’s chest more than forming words in his mind. His eyes cracked open to blue light, then he gasped and thrashed when he realized he was under water.
“Well, the in-game memory file didn’t take,” This voice was different—flat and businesslike, but lighter. A woman’s voice. “He probably thought it was just part of the game.”
“Of all subjects to glitch… Check the log, find out what happened.”
Niko tried to yell but couldn’t. Something was in his throat. Despite being underwater, he realized he could breathe, because he was gasping.
“The log is empty, sir,” the woman said. “It’s just like his onboarding, all recording on him paused somehow. We had streaming set up too, but it cut out when he hit that branch. How could that have killed him?”
Above him was curved metal, and black letters that read SOMOV 000003. Niko reached up and touched the name, then pushed up until the lid budged and a sheet of the liquid sloshed out.
“What’s the tank doing?” the woman asked, alarmed.
There was a loud clunk, then the water in the tank started to drain, peeling down past his nose, his cheeks, his chin.
“Wait, are these his vitals? How is this possible?”
Free of the water, Niko pushed the lid open and himself up to sitting position. With a wet tug, he pulled the feeding tube out, then coughed and sputtered, fighting not to throw up as he doubled over.
A hand on his wet shoulder startled him. He blinked at Clark, who was looking at him warily. “Are you…all right, my boy?”
“No, I’m not all right!” Niko grabbed the edge of the tank, sliding around as he tried to climb out. Tumbling over the edge, he fell out. His wet feet slapped against the tile, and he had to grab the tank to steady himself. Then, he closed in on Clark. “I thought I was dying! What kind of messed-up game is this?” His fist clenched at his side, ready to crack the rank old cueball across the jaw.
“I’m…” Clark began, eyes darting between Niko and something behind him. “I’m sorry, my boy. We’re still working out the bugs, you see. This is…precisely why we need testers like you. Your feedback is invaluable to the…development of the game. I know it’s difficult, but you’re a tough young man. You can handle it, can’t you?”
Niko took a few deep breaths through his nose, clenching his teeth tight. “Yeah, I can handle it, that’s not the point—”
“It’s precisely the point, my boy,” Clark said amidst short, shallow gulps of air. “That’s why we select testers from this group. We need…strong young men and women who can withstand the game’s more…divergent behaviors. You don’t intend to quit now…do you?”
Niko looked from Clark to the door—cracked open, a sliver of light slicing into the dark room. He’d managed to log out, but right now, there was no way he could run without Clark alerting someone. Niko was too angry to do anything except shake his head.
“Good! Very, very good, my boy.” Clark nodded, not to Niko, but someone behind him. Niko turned.
It was a woman in a lab coat, but not Oxana who had put him under. It was the one who had stopped Clark in the hallway on their way to the Vat—the one who had known his name. Her hand was leaving the inside pocket of her coat.
“All right, my boy,” Clark said, clutching Niko’s shoulder. “Let’s get you logged back in. Tala, could you bypass the onboarding for me?”
“Uh,” Tala, said, tapping on a touch screen next to his Vat. “I…think so?”
Clark turned Niko toward the Vat.
Hot pain thudded in his head, sweat tickling his brow. Hadn’t those headaches only existed in the game? “This isn’t the room you put me in,” Niko said. It was similar, small, but there was more equipment around the tank, more tubes plugged in, more displays stacked alongside.
Tala and Clark shared another glance. “Yes, well, the equipment there was made for getting your character creation all set up. Maintaining you in the game has…different requirements. It’s all very technical, my boy. Come now, hop on back in.”
Niko didn’t really want to, but the image of Tala’s hand leaving her pocket only after he agreed to return to the Vat quietly flashed in his mind. I managed to log out, Niko told himself. I can figure out how to do it again. Hopefully, next time no one would be here. Clark couldn’t watch him 24/7…right?
Niko climbed into the tank, shivering at the feel of the cold liquid, and clenched his teeth. Tala finished tapping on a keyboard, then reached down to retrieve the mask and feeding tube from where it was hanging off the lip of the tank.
“All right, Niko. You’ve done this before. Just relax,” she said, then pressed the tube down his throat in one smooth motion. He still choked on it, tensing and grimacing. The water had barely started to fill when Tala slammed the lid of the Vat shut.
Muffled through the metal, he heard her ask Clark a question. “Sir…have you ever seen a subject come back from a death before?”
Niko shut his eyes on the lid of the Vat as the water reached over his face.
“This is…the third time,” Clark said.
Niko woke up in his room in the dormitory, sunrise bleeding in through the thin windows, leaving stripes of color on the white floorboards. Niko swore, rolling his shoulders as he sat up in bed. The heat in his head was gone now, replaced with a chill that made him tuck back under the covers.
“Jeny, I’m telling you, he’s gone.”
The voice came from down the hall. It had a familiar, pleasant accent.
“Well, good riddance, then!” The thick, Scottish brogue was definitely Jeny. Niko groaned, stuffing his face in his pillow.
“That’s not the point, Jeny, look—”
Hunk and Jeny entered his dorm room. When they saw him lying in bed, Niko expected Jeny to blow up at Hunk for wasting her time, but she didn’t. Her mouth just made a flat line, and she squeezed Hunk’s shoulder.
“But he… N-Niko, you weren’t in your bed this morning,” Hunk said.
“Yeah, I…had to take a leak,” Niko lied. “Stop momming me, dude.”
Then, Jeny did get pissed. “What’s yer brain made of, ya git? Whae reason has he given ya to be a complete arse?”
Niko bristled. “Erica never gave you a reason to push her around, and I haven’t either.”
“Oh trust me, she’s gave me plenty o’ reasons, and you’re adding to yer list day by day, Ni-ko.” She said his name emphatically, with a very hard K and a very round O.
“Look, I just meant…y’know, like what reason does he have to freak out if I’m missing for five minutes.”
“It was more than five minutes,” Hunk argued weakly.
Jeny put her hand on his shoulder. “Hunk’s roommate? Th’ one afore you? He disappeared. Hunk woke up one morning and he weren’t in his bed. Poof.” Jeny blew on the tips of her fingers. “We ne’er saw him again.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“From what I hear, there ain’t much you do know. So maybe you should try using your head, or least of all show an inch of compassion, instead of running that not-so-smart mouth of yours.” She looked up at Hunk and her expression softened. For a moment, she looked almost pretty. “I’ll see ya, Hunk. I’m goan’ back to my room.”
Hunk nodded, giving Niko an apologetic look as Jeny tramped out.
13
The Duel
“Where are you going?”
Niko groaned as he leaned over from the edge of his bed. The same thing had happened for the past whole week. Any time Niko tried to sneak out to find the edge of the world again, Hunk was magically awake.
“Take a leak,” Niko grumbled, ever his excuse.
“I have to go too, I’ll come with you.”
This also happened every time. As they shuffled to the dorm’s bathroom, Niko suppressed the urge to chew the kid out for his vigilance. He couldn’t exactly snarl that he was trying to sneak out to throw himself off a cliff in an attempt to log out of the game that Hunk didn’t realize was a game. At the least, it wouldn’t really assuage the kid’s paranoia.
They shuffled back from the bathrooms, and Niko went directly to his bed, tucking under the sheets. Determined to wait Hunk out, Niko lasted a half-hour before his eyelids started getting heavy.
“Hey, Niko,” Hunk whispered. “Are you asleep?”
Niko groaned. “No,” he said, though he’d been well on his way. He rolled over to face Hunk.
“Do you know what team you’re going to join tomorrow?”
“Tim promised me the DPS spot on his team.” Despite their rocky start, once Niko learned not to ask Erica, Tim, or Jacob questions about Territoria (or bring up the fact they were inside a video game), they’d gotten along pretty well. Niko even felt kind of bad knowing he’d abandon them the moment he was able.
Hunk wet his lips and looked at the floor, twisting his sheets in one chubby hand. It was a prime opportunity to roll over and go back to sleep.
Niko sighed. “What about you guys?”
Hunk grinned, showing off the gaps in his teeth around
his canines. “I think we’re getting Alonso. Do you know him?”
“Yeah.” Niko grimaced, remembering their duel. “He’s in my DPS training class.”
“I don’t know him very well. He’s good, I hear, but…”
“But?” What could possibly matter beyond that?
“Well, haha, I totally trust Cal, of course I do, she’s brilliant. But I don’t really like him.”
Niko smiled. “Me neither.”
“Yeah! He’s just… I know I shouldn’t talk bad about someone I barely know, but he just seems really, uhm, full of himself. Granted, hehe, he was the one-versus-one’s champion at his old school, which is impressive, but there’s more to a good team than being good at the game.”
“You think?” It came out with a yawn.
“Of course! A team can be the best players in the world, but if they don’t work together, they’ll lose every time.”
Niko made a face as he drifted off. It’s exactly the kind of optimistic crap Hunk would, y’know, believe. He felt it was pitiful, but also sort of endearing.
“Anyway.” Hunk laughed softly as Niko fell into unconsciousness. “Goodnight.”
Two hours later, Niko’s alarm shrieked from his nightstand. As he groggily tried to slap it into silence, he noticed Hunk was already out of bed, going through his fastidious morning routine. Niko hit the snooze button. After Niko did so twice more, Hunk worriedly insisted he get up and head to class.
“You’re such a narc, Hunk,” Niko groaned, throwing off the covers and rubbing his face in his hands.
“It’s just, it’s a big day. Joining your team. You don’t want to be late.”
“What does it matter.” Niko sniffed. “Teams are as good as decided anyway.” Niko combed his fingers through his hair, then stumbled to his closet, selecting his default outfit. The clothes always felt freshly washed against his skin, even smelled nice. It was almost worth staying in the game just so he didn’t have to do laundry.