by Terry Schott
“They will be here for another two hours before we go home. So if you can have me back here before that, then Sensei says I can join you!”
“Okay, come on, then,” I say and lead her towards my family. My Sensei is standing with them and she smiles when we come over.
“Well done, Trew,” Sensei says. “Your kata was clean and very powerful. The sparring…” She looks at me and Danielle and just shakes her head.
“Was the sparring not good, Sensei?” I ask.
“The sparring between you two was like watching magic,” Sensei says. “If someone had told me two children your age could put on such a display of martial arts I wouldn’t have believed it. It was incredible, Danielle and Trew. Thank you for allowing us to witness it.” Sensei bows formally, and we both bow back.
“Mom and Dad, this is Danielle.”
My parents smile and both say how nice it is to meet her. Then they tell her how well she did today. Danielle turns a bit red and says thank you. Everyone seems to be getting along just fine.
“Well, we are glad you can join us for ice cream, Danielle.” Mom says.
“I’m happy to be invited,” Danielle says.
“Don’t worry about not bringing a gift for me,” I say as a joke. “Since we just met, I’ll forgive you.”
Danielle looks hurt. “But I did bring a gift for you.”
“Really?” I ask.
“Oh, yes. I let you win that sparring match. Happy birthday, Trew!”
Everyone laughs and we leave the Dojo to go for ice cream.
Chapter 20
From time to time, people try to find ways to hack into the Game. In order to discourage this from happening, the Mainframe maintains a tight watch on all systems to ensure outside tampering doesn’t occur. Any unauthorized data entering the system is detected immediately. Mainframe quarantines the data and removes it from play. Games Masters are then alerted and the authorities trace the hacker back to the source and deal with them severely. Imagine someone being able to change the outcome of events in the Game? There is no crime more serious on Tygon than attempting to hack into the Game. Punishment for this crime is death. No one has ever succeeded in hacking the Game. Early in the Game many tried; all of them paid the price.
Excerpt from ‘How Safe is the Game?’
Everyone sat silently in their chairs. All screens showed Trew at his ninth birthday party; smiles, ice cream and kids walking around talking as they moved from seat to seat. Brandon looked at the screen with a pleasant expression on his face. Beside him Michelle occasionally switched between looking at her tablet, and glancing at Brandon. Everyone else looked down at their tablets, as if they were the most interesting things in the world. Brandon might look pleasant, but no one made the mistake of thinking he was happy with what he was seeing on the screen.
Danielle walked up to Trew and whispered something. The two of them laughed and Danielle sat down in the empty seat beside Trew. Brandon’s cheek twitched. He turned away from the monitor and looked at Michelle.
“Michelle?”
“Sir?”
“Can you call the hospital, please? Tell them I’ve had a stroke and somehow believe I’ve travelled back in time to an event that didn’t happen.”
Michelle said nothing.
“Can anyone tell me who’s playing this excellent joke on us? We tried to hook this up a few plays ago, didn’t we? The poor girl spent all her credits for just this kind of a scene, right? Even in our wildest dreams the two of them wouldn’t have gotten together so well.”
“Yes, sir.” Brandon held up his hand, stopping Michelle from saying anything else.
“But for this play, we don’t want her anywhere near Trew! She isn’t part of our plan. She left the Game and we have no idea why she’s back. She’s a loose cannon, with not enough credits to be anything but dangerous. She could die crossing the street, for God’s sake. What if Trew is caught in that mess of a life she’s living?” Brandon stopped talking and closed his eyes, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Look, people, you’ve all worked with me before. You know I’m not the kind to get crazy and start shouting and throwing people out of windows,” Brandon smiled. “We are the only ones that know for sure that Zack is making a play for number one. Raise your hand if you have bet everything you own on Zack pulling it off.”
Hands shot up around the room. Of the thirty-one people present, thirty had their hands up. Brandon nodded, his was the only hand not raised. He had more than just a fortune riding on this, but no one could know that. “You were all top players in the Game, and this is absolutely your best chance to double your considerable fortunes. We all know the rules. There’s no hacking into the system to affect the outcome of the Game, but we also understand there are many things we can do to help our player within the rules Mainframe has set. We’ve spent considerable time and money putting supporting players in place with millions of credits spent. We have thirty years of experience to try and figure out how Zack can score the best from the life he chose to play. Yes, the Game can decide none of it’s important and score him terribly, but we know how to play the best odds. Each step he takes can lead us down an alternate path, and we’ve taken thousands of them into account. Not one single path includes this girl, however. If he ends up with her, we need to do a complete new set of strategies. So the easiest option is to get her out of his life. Michelle, is that going to be possible?”
Michelle looked around the room quickly. Brandon’s speech had calmed them all down. He really was the best man in the world to work for. He always called it ‘working with,’ but they all knew who the boss was, and they loved him fiercely. She looked back and met Brandon’s eyes, dark brown with flecks of gold that seemed to be swirling around quickly at the moment. “I don’t know, sir, but we are sure going to try.”
Brandon nodded. “That was definitely Raphael outside the dojo. Can anyone explain to me how Alex got herself an Eternal to watch over her? They are the most expensive purchase in the Game, and Raphael is one of the best.”
Michelle looked to Kate questioningly. “She didn’t have the credits to purchase an Eternal, sir,” Kate said. “The only answer we can come up with that makes any sense is a very wealthy fan or group of fans made the purchase for her.”
One of the young men spoke up, “Can we get Stephanie to ask Raphael to keep her away from Trew?”
Brandon sat down and grabbed his tablet, tapping out commands to view statistics. “Yes, that’s one option. I also need to know what Stephanie and Raphael were talking about. Maybe there’s some information there to help us decide how to proceed. Tell Angelica to watch that feed and set up a meeting with her and me and you, Michelle.”
“I’ll talk to her immediately, sir.”
Brandon looked up and met eyes with the spiritual expert of the group. “Sean, Zack’s displaying the Talent. I need to know the best way to foster that. He’s close to the age where he’ll let it fade away, and we can’t have that. We also can’t let him develop it too much, or it could alert the Mainframe and it will shut him down. I need you to give me a strategy for moving forward by the end of the day.”
“I’m emailing it to you now, sir.” Sean said.
Brandon nodded. Once your player went into the Game, time was precious. Taking too long on Tygon would mean missing key points in the Game. This team truly was the best, and therefore the fastest.
Brandon stood up to leave. “Okay, people, it looks like we all have work to do. I’ll be back in a few hours. I’m sure we’ll talk before then.”
“Brandon?” Michelle looked pale as she looked up from her tablet. “We’ve discovered who purchased the Eternal for Danielle.”
Brandon looked at her with interest. “Great. Who was it?”
“Um… it was the Mainframe.”
Chapter 21
“Joining me today in the studio is Brandon Strayne. Brandon, it’s great to see you again.”
“Thanks, Lisa. It’s good to see you a
s well.”
“Brandon, I know your time is short, so let me get right to the questions everyone is asking.”
“By all means.”
“Trew Radfield is 11 years old in the Game. We have witnessed some exciting developments since he started this play, but the event that’s being talked about the most is his meeting with Danielle Benton at his ninth birthday party. Did the two of them spend credits to attempt another relationship in the Game?”
Brandon smiled secretively. “We learned our lesson the first time on that scenario, Lisa. We spent no credits on this play to get them together. Of course, I can’t speak for Alex or her camp. If she did arrange for a meeting, I’m glad that this time it worked out for her.”
“Trew is doing very well in the rankings so far. Can he keep it up?”
“Of course he can. The first week is pretty slow, and already he’s doing well. Scoring floats all over the place as the players do their thing, but a strong start is important and Trew has started very strong.”
“Can you give us any inside strategy or big events planned for Trew’s next few years?” Lisa asked.
“I could…” Brandon said. “But do you really want me to spoil things? Of course you don’t. If Trew lives as long as we hope, there will be much excitement over the next couple months. We all know it averages out to about one Tygon week for each decade of life, although the time passes a bit differently for each decade. He lived to the age of 74 on his last play, so if he’s able to do that again, we can expect another six weeks or so of fun! I can tell you to watch very closely on Trew’s 40th birthday. Something big will happen then. But don’t tune out until that day… there’s a lot of aggressive stuff leading up to that, and it’s already started.”
“So he’s going for it? He’s going to try and finish ranked #1.”
Brandon smiled, saying nothing. He knew the audience would fill in the blanks he was leaving with their own opinions. Some would say for sure Trew was going for it, while others would swear he was going to play it safe.
“And what about rumours that Danielle has an Eternal watching over her?” Lisa asked.
Brandon leaned back comfortably in his seat. “Lisa, for as long as the Game has been played there's been rumours about Eternals. People say Eternals are avatars that have been inside the Game since the beginning, hence the title ‘Eternals.’ It’s also said that Eternals can’t be Firsted or viewed on any channel, and that they have special powers. Some retired players have come forward and claimed that achieving a high enough player ranking unlocks a ‘Purchase Eternal’ option on their gaming menu, but they say the cost of purchasing one is too high to ever make the purchase. Over the years, there have been incredible events that occur inside the Game and people often claim Eternals are involved. Some think they are angels, and some think they are demons. But this is the 30th anniversary of the Game, and fans are expecting to see many wonderful things during this celebration. Maybe if Eternals do exist, we will see them step forward.”
“But you created the Game, Brandon. Don’t you know about every aspect of it?”
“The Game is pretty big, Lisa. I don’t think one person can know every aspect of the Game. I do know most of the major points, though.”
“So, “ Lisa said, “Do Eternals exist? Or no?”
Brandon paused dramatically, then leaned towards Lisa. She also leaned forward, as if Brandon was going to whisper a secret just for her to hear.
“I have no idea,” Brandon said. “But if I’m ever able to confirm that they do… I will give you the exclusive.”
Chapter 22
If life is a game, then I've done a poor job of playing it. My time on Earth has been boring and uneventful. I've wasted my youth, sitting around doing nothing when I was full of life and energy. Playing video games, working at simple jobs, trading my time for just enough money to pay the bills and survive; not really learning anything or traveling anywhere. I also wasted my middle years, abusing my body with lack of exercise and junk food. I wouldn't treat an automobile as poorly as I've treated my body. It's no wonder it fails me now. The greatest sin I've made is allowing my mind to sleep all these years. When I was young I had such plans, but I listened to the world when it told me I was silly and demanded that I grow up. Growing up made me forget how to play games, and that turned out to be the worst thing that could have happened. If life is a game, and we forget how to play games... what chance do we have of succeeding?
Excerpt from Earth book called ‘The Game Is Life’
George Knight (avatar)
Danielle - age 13
“There’s a used book store,” I point out to my friend Tracey. “Let’s go in.”
Tracey rolls her eyes at me, but she knows there’s no use in complaining. I can’t go past a used book store without going in to take a look.
I love to read. Just love it! Since someone first put a book in my hand and showed me how to figure out what all the letters joined together to make, I’ve been hooked on reading. Most of my friends don’t read, which is a shame. Books contain so much knowledge, clearly written down and there for the taking! The best books provide other worlds to escape to or different lives and experiences to watch, if the story is set on Earth. It’s all great stuff, yet not many seem to know or care about it. If people knew how powerful books were, they’d all have one in their hand or a tablet loaded full of e-books, just like me!
The real treasures lie in used book stores. Over the years paper books became more rare, and many people put all their books on a digital reader instead. Many books didn’t get turned into digital format. Old books that were out of print, and small, self-published books. I’ve read some great stuff in paper books that you just can’t find on the Net. It’s kinda sad, but I like to find the gems, so I stop into every used book store I go by, just in case there’s something new and exciting to read.
Tracey offers to wait for me outside. I walk in and say hi to Jordan the clerk. She smiles and says hi back. I come in here once a month and she knows me.
“Anything good and rare lately, Jordan?” I ask.
“I saved a box full of stuff that we don’t normally get in for you, Danielle,” she says. “It’s over in the back corner in a brown box.”
“Thanks,” I say and walk to the back.
It’s not a very big box, but I open it up and start skimming through the books. I’m not really sure what I’m looking for, but sometimes I just get a feeling when I hold a certain book. When I get that feeling, the book goes into my ‘buy’ pile. There’s an old book on karate, and I place that in the not interested pile. I quit karate years ago. I learned everything I needed to from karate, and it led me to my buddy Trew, but I’m not really interested in pursuing it. I do that a lot. Study something and give it everything I’ve got. Then my gut tells me that’s enough and I drop it just as quickly as I picked it up. There’s lots for me to do and see in this life of mine. I don’t have time to waste studying just one or two things for 50 years. Oh, the poor people who do that! Not playing the game very well at all, if you ask me.
I’m almost to the bottom of the box and nothing has really jumped out at me. A couple of old books on art, some gardening titles, a few old murder mystery books that I’ve already read… then my hand touches a book and before I even look at it I feel a big tingle of energy shooting up my arm. I almost drop it; I did the first few times this happened. But now I know it’s a sign from somewhere or someone, I need to read this book in my hand!
I close my eyes for a minute, excited that I’ve found a new prize. I sit there and play a little game in my head. What’s this book going to be about? How will it change my life? Will it change my life, or just help point me in a new direction as I try to learn something new? Is it an old book written in a foreign language? Will I have to go make a new friend to help me read the book? The last time that happened I met Mr. Chan and he helped me read that excellent Chinese book about karma and energy. I really should stop by and visit with Mr. Chan.
He makes the best tea. Bah! My thoughts are starting to run around! Time to open my eyes and see what I have.
I open my eyes and look at the title. Wow! I can’t blink. Is what I’m seeing real? I hold the book in my hand, looking at it until I start to get dizzy, then I realize I’ve forgotten to keep breathing. I gulp a huge breath of air and start to sweat a little. Then I sit down.
Slowly I read the title out loud. “The Game Is Life, by George Knight.”
Quickly I look around, expecting one of my friends to start laughing from around the corner. So many of them have heard me talk about life being just a game that I wouldn’t put it past them to make a fake book and plant it in an old box just to tease me. But there’s no one jumping out at me and laughing.
I turn the book over and read the back cover. It’s for real. This guy George thinks the same way I do, and he wrote a book about it! I quickly look inside the back of the book and find the information about the author. George R. Knight. Hmm. He was 74 when the book was written. Darn it, he’s dead. Says so right there in the description. I would have loved to meet this guy and talk to him. The book was written years before I was born, so he’s been gone a long time. But the great news is I still get to talk to him, in a way, by reading this wonderful book he left behind!
I flip open to the first chapter and start to read:
“We live in a game. Somewhere ‘out there,’ our real bodies are plugged into a very real virtual reality simulation. Earth isn’t real, but it’s important to those running the game. What we call God, or Allah, or the Universe, or whatever spiritual name religion gives it… is simply the supercomputer that runs our universe. How can I be so sure of this? Because I’ve spoken to it. And it has spoken to me…”
Oh, this is going to be fun to read! I walk to the counter and pay for the book. “You find something good?” Jordan asks.
“I think I did,” I say.
I walk outside and tell Tracey I’m feeling a bit tired and need to head home. She gives me a hug and we each go our separate ways. Once I go around the corner I sprint as fast as I can to get home.