by Hugo Huesca
“We’re taking too much damage!” someone exclaimed.
“Just get me past the atmosphere,” grunted David with his jaw clenched so tight the veins of his muscles were bulging like steel cords. “Just get me there…”
The right wing went up in flames too. We were so close now I could see the mountains and the golden deserts of Validore. Only a bit more…
The plasma missile came from behind us and hit the Teddy directly just as we broke Validore’s atmosphere. The explosion was so fast and brutal that we didn’t have time to react, or even realize we had been hit.
The cabin was engulfed in plasma flames.
24 CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
SOURCE
RYLENA and I stood at opposite sides of a frozen pillar of flame that had surged in the middle of the cabin. Everywhere around us, the plasma fire was stopped in time.
“What?” she whispered. She slowly reached into the pillar of green energy and quickly took her hand away when her shields began to sizzle.
The explosion had reduced my power-armor to an expensive costume, but it had saved my life. Rylena was in no better condition.
“The Core does this sometimes—” I told her “—when we’re near it. Time goes all wacky.”
She opened her mouth like she was about to protest my clearly insufficient explanation. Then she sighed and decided there were more urgent matters. “So we reached it?”
“Let’s find out.”
The explosion had been strong enough to punch a hole at the front of the cabin and we crawled out of it, avoiding the stalagmites of plasma that reached at us from every corner. My skin screamed in pain every time we passed near them.
We found the rest of the crew outside. They were floating in the air, their armor in the same condition as ours.
Everyone’s attention was focused in the scene in front of us.
David had ripped the virtual world apart like it was a wet napkin. A wound of darkness big enough to swallow a Dreadnought extended away from us.
Inside awaited the Core.
“That fucking monster,” Rylena gasped. She had never seen the Signal’s Core with her own eyes, but I had told her about it several times before. This sphere didn’t look like it was supposed to look.
It was almost completely orange, and looked sickly. The landscape that surrounded was as frozen as the plasma we had just left in the cabin, millions of bytes floating in the middle of their lifecycles without moving an inch.
No, that’s not right, I thought as I jumped away from the cabin and stepped into the air. They are moving.
I saw how a couple building blocks of data suddenly fell into the abyss below the Core. This happened constantly, again and again. Whatever Keles was doing, it was poisonous.
“Has David reached Keles?” I asked Walpurgis, who had her gaze glued to the sick, orange sphere.
“He’s standing right there,” she pointed ahead with a trembling finger.
He was like a speck in front of the orange light, slowly walking toward it with a determined stride.
“Where’s Keles?” asked Rylena.
WHY, I AM RIGHT HERE, SMALL ONE.
A face appeared on the Core. Its features did not resemble any living human’s. They were distorted and constantly blinking in and out of existence following the rhythm of static in an old TV set.
YOU HAVE ARRIVED IN TIME TO WITNESS MY ASCENSION. BEHOLD THE BIRTH OF THE INTANGIBLE LORD.
“Ah, for fuck’s sake,” groaned Walpurgis. She grabbed her rifle and shot at the Core. The bullet halted just an inch away from the barrel. “Of course. This is bullshit. The fucker is cheating.”
“Walps?” asked Beard. “Try not to piss off the eldritch abomination, please.”
Rylena and I exchanged a worried glance. I was sure David was running now. Desperate. Like he wasn’t going to make it in time.
“What can we do?” she asked me. “You’ve been here before. You know the rules better than I.”
Tendrils of energy oozed out of the Core. They coalesced into innumerable tentacles that extended for farther than I could see.
They whipped around. I saw one go down against David’s shape over and over again. Somehow, he was still standing, but his movements were slower. Whatever fight was going on between them, it was far more complex than we could see. And David was losing.
“Let’s go,” I told them. “Francis needs reinforcements.”
My crew nodded and we started a maddening rush towards the black void of the Core. I could see the blocks of data fall faster now, a chain reaction or avalanche that was only starting to pick up speed.
IT’S USELESS. I OWN THE SIGNAL. THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN SURVIVE NOW IS TO FALL ON YOUR KNEES AND SING MY WORSHIP.
“Someone please mute him!” Walpurgis exclaimed as we ran. “He sounds like my edgy teenager phase.”
The tendrils that were mauling David stopped.
YOU DARE?
I gritted my teeth. Keles’ rage was palpable. As in, it caused me physical pain. The sound of nails over a thousand chalkboards. Like breathing charcoal.
YOU STUPID CHILDREN. YOU DON’T EVEN REALIZE WHAT YOU FACE. DO YOU THINK YOU CAN RUN AWAY FROM ME AFTER INSULTING ME? IF REMOVING YOUR MINDJACKS WILL TAKE YOU A SECOND IN THE MEAT-SPACE, I CAN MAKE THAT SECOND FEEL LIKE A THOUSAND YEARS WITH ME.
“He’s right,” Mai told us. “I can’t make my hands move in the real world. It’s like running in a nightmare…”
I OWN YOU.
My team cursed as each of them realized the implications of being trapped here with Keles.
For my part, well, retreating was not an option anyway.
We reached the domain of the Core just as the tendrils started whipping harder at David. I could see him more clearly now, his face sick under the glow of the orange energy, his expression contorted with effort and pain. One tentacle held him by the torso and tried to toss him away into the dark, but the man reached down to it and pulled it apart just like I’d done to Keles the first time we met.
Reality roared in pain and hatred.
That’s right, I realized. I can still hurt you.
I stopped at the edge of the battle, just out of range of Keles’ tendrils. Rylena stopped next to me. “You figure something out?”
I nodded. “I’m going to help David shut down the Core. Powering off the Signal is going to flush Keles away.”
Her green cybernetic eyes lit up in realization. “You’ll die.”
“On my terms,” I told her. “That has to count for something.”
I grabbed her hands and gave her the image the Emperor of our Alien friends had given me. The picture of their homeworld. “Save this to your mindjack. You know what this is?”
She nodded. She tried to say something, but the words choked in her throat.
“There are more ways to keep Kipp’s dream alive than just Rune Universe. Find them, Irene. You and Cole. Don’t ever give up. It is worth it.”
Her hands closed around the image and I flashed her a sad smile.
The rest of my team reached us. They’d heard our talk over the public channel.
I didn’t have time for long goodbyes. Behind me, David was fighting with all his strength.
I looked each of my friends in the eyes and tried to will my voice not to break. “You know, Caputi used to think this game changed you. She very much believes it changed me…I think she missed the point. It’s not the adventures, or the leveling up, or the quests. Without you guys, I would still be a scared street rat doing petty crimes in Lower Cañitas.”
“Cole—” started Beard, but I didn’t let him finish. I was scared that my courage would falter at the last second.
“You’re the best crew and the best friends I could’ve asked for. It’s been great flying with you.”
With that, I turned back and ran into a battle that would end me, no matter the result.
I caught a handful of a tendril before Keles had time to realize what I was doing. The orange tenta
cle was composed of energy and loose bytes and it crumbled in my hands like it was air.
The roar of rage that followed made my bones tremble. DORSETT.
“What took you so long?” David asked, far away. He was midway to the Core, but Keles had caught him with several tentacles and was enveloping him like a python. My friend was trying to break free as he tore through orange goo like a paper shredder, without much success. Keles was adding more tendrils to the pile faster than David could tear them off.
“Sorry,” I told him. “I was saying my last goodbyes and stuff.”
“Ah.” One slimy tentacle tried to cover his head, but David bit it away with a furious jerk of his neck. “Fine, I’ll forgive you. Now, do you mind giving me a hand?”
HE CANNOT HELP YOU, YOU CHEAP FAKE. NO ONE CAN.
“I want to kill you just to shut you up,” I told the inhuman face that leered at me from the surface of the infected Core. To add emphasis to my threat, I reached for a tendril that was swooping down and tore it away from the Core.
Keles’ software was corrupt. It lacked permanence. He packed a punch thanks to the power of the Core, but that was all he had. He was a glass cannon.
And I was a hammer.
Tendrils swarmed me, hundreds of them, trying to swat me away before I had time to reach David. I planted my feet firmly on the ground and kept my hands close to my chest. Every time Keles got too near, I grabbed a fistful of orange goo and tore it apart, usually taking the entire tentacle with me. The size difference between me and the things didn’t matter one bit.
All punch, no substance.
The rage of the being eating at the Core was unlike anything I’d ever imagined. Two years ago, I’d have been cowering in a corner.
But since that time, I’d faced mutants, killer androids, dinosaurs, murderous ex-CIA directors, Stefania Caputi, and man-eater plants. I’d fought and won hundreds of space battles, survived very real shootouts, successfully boarded Sleipnir’s flagship, and more.
Keles may be the biggest, baddest end-boss I’d ever faced. But he was still just the final fight of a very long, very hard quest.
So I matched his rage with my own, I roared back every time my bones shook inside me, I tore, bit, and kicked my way forward.
A step. Then another. Always maintaining my balance, never giving ground.
I couldn’t see David in the pile-up of tentacles—he was completely covered by them. He was being crushed.
I moved faster.
THIS IS MY DESTINY, DORSETT. NOT YOURS. AND I WILL TAKE MY PLACE AMONG THE STARS. SURRENDER NOW, I MAY HAVE MERCY ON ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS. PERHAPS I’LL LET IRENE MONFERRER GO.
“You know,” I told the thing that had once been Savin Keles, “you’re wrong about your destiny. You’re the only one who thinks I was somehow destined to activate the Signal.”
As I spoke, I kicked away a tendril that had managed to encircle my ankle. It broke apart, but two more jumped into arm’s reach and enveloped my wrists. I pushed my arms towards my chest, tearing the tendrils apart. “It was only chance, asshole. If anyone was destined to start the Signal, it was my friend, Kipp. His parents were the ones who found it in the first place, they were the ones who designed Rune. And Kipp was the one with the key to Validore.”
I DON’T CARE ABOUT THOSE PEOPLE.
“You should.” Tentacles came at once from every direction and tried to grab me at the same time. Arms, head, and legs. I destroyed one, then lost my footing. I jumped back on my feet, kicking and punching all the while, forcing the others to back away. “This is their story, not yours. You merely wandered in with your stupid brain-scan and managed to fuck this up for everyone. Even you. You know you’re dying, don’t you? Don’t lie to yourself. I can see chunks of your face falling off. Even now, you can barely keep yourself together.”
YOU’RE THE ONE WHO IS A MISTAKE—
He tried to sweep me down with a tentacle the size of a Dreadnought, the biggest one he had produced. Instead of jumping (which would’ve let him grab me like he did David) I curled myself up into a ball on the floor and made myself as heavy as possible.
The orange energy passed all over me, making my skin itch like I was standing too close to a fire. An invisible force tried to push me back, to make me retreat.
I did not.
“You know what, Keles?” I said as I stood up. I reached one of the tendrils that was closing on David and yanked it out with a cold calmness. “You and I are more alike than you admit.”
The tendrils whipping at me stood frozen for an instant. FOOL. I AM NOT LIKE YOU.
“We’re both here by accident,” I said while tearing chunks and chunks away from David. I could see his head now, almost drowning in the orange goo. “We’re both the ghosts of other people, stealing their memories for our own. We were both nobodies who found themselves dragged into the game of Charli Dervaux and Stefania Caputi. We’re both dealing with things we don’t understand—”
SILENCE! I AM THE INTANGIBLE LORD!
His face on the Core was so large it was like we were standing face to face. I smiled at him and tore away the last remaining tendrils holding David down. From somewhere far away, the faint screams of my friends reached my ears. They were urging me on, telling me to fuck Keles’ shit up. That I was almost there.
I pulled David out of Keles’ embrace.
“I need an adult,” David said. He shook away the remaining goo. “That was so close.”
THERE’S NO ONE LIKE ME.
David and I walked to the Core, step by step, fending off tendrils as we went. I looked up, straight into Keles’ monstrous eyes.
“You know I’m telling the truth.”
Keles roared and threw everything he had at us.
“Too late,” David whispered. We reached the Core together. The orange surface parted before us like it was butter.
NO! NO, I AM NOT LIKE YOU! I AM NOT. I AM NOT I AM N
He died screaming.
“Well done, bud,” David told me. He had Francis’ voice now. We were surrounded by white light, standing together somewhere beyond words.
I could feel the faint echo of other Cores out there, somewhere in the distance. They were singing softly, constantly. To them, the Signal was a song.
They were saying farewell.
“Did we win?” I asked David.
“Yup,” he smiled. “That was the most badass thing I’ve ever done, as either Terrance or Francis.”
“The mutant bear was mine,” I said. We both stifled down laughter. “What happens now? We’re still here.”
“Well, I lied about dying with the Signal. I know it comes as a surprise, but if I’d told you, you wouldn’t have fought as hard, would you? Right now, I’m going to use the processing power of the Core to give us real bodies and download us into the real world and we’ll live happily ever after,” he announced.
My mouth hung open in astonishment until I saw the twinkle in his eyes. “Ah, you dick. You really think this is the time to make that kind of joke?” I tried to sound serious, but a smile was already escaping my lips.
He shrugged. “Well, it’s not like you’re going to be pissed off at me for more like… twenty seconds. No, nineteen…”
We laughed and laughed until
Connection lost.
Thank you for playing Rune Universe.
25 CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
SAN MABRADA
THE XANZ SKYSCRAPER loomed high above my head. My vision blurred, threatened to make me lose my footing on the steps down the park.
It was probably the blood loss. Dragging the dead weight of Derry around wasn’t really helping my shrapnel wounds.
The park was dark. Someone had turned off all the power in the District, perhaps as part of the preventive measures against Keles.
To me, it meant that if some murderous drone army found me, I wouldn’t be able to see where I was running.
Not that I had any strength left to run.
I was cold and thir
sty.
Just another step. Another one. And another.
How far was the nearest hospital? I had come here from a hospital. I’d left all my friends there. In the end, I couldn’t do much to save them.
I hoped that Caputi and the CIA had a better plan.
Headlights shone on my face and startled me. They were coming from the other side of the street at a fair pace.
I squinted and ignored the pain in my eyes. I couldn’t run away anymore, and I wasn’t going to abandon Derry’s body.
It was a drone. A maintenance model. Made by Freya.
Well then, so be it.
I rested Derry’s body against a nearby tree and I walked to the middle of the street, covering my eyes with one trembling arm and the other holding a small stone. The effort of doing so made me gasp like a fish out of the water.
The drone stopped and turned slightly to the left so the headlamps stopped blinding me.
A door unlocked at the side of the drone. The interior was empty.
GOOD NIGHT, CITIZEN. MY SENSORS DETECT YOU MAY BE UNDER DURESS. ARE YOU IN NEED OF MEDICAL ASSISTANCE? IF YOU ARE, PLEASE ALLOW ME TO BRING YOU AND YOUR FRIEND TO THE NEAREST HOSPITAL.
I’d like to say that the world’s troubles stopped after that night, but I’d be lying. In the following years, society faced new wars, recessions, and crisis.
The faith in drone technology took decades to rebuild. But without Dervaux around, the public slowly stopped fearing the new models. There were no more new companies with Viking themes.
The future looked bleaker than ever at times. On other occasions, though, it seemed like we were doing a decent job given the circumstances. That, I believe, is what life is all about.
The doctors were able to bring John Derry back from the dead for the second time. He lived four more years after that, in and out of hospitals, in constant pain and bound to a wheelchair. He looked like a man forty years older than he was, and had to get food from a tube in his abdomen. Soon after his initial recovery, he reconciled with his estranged daughter, now a thirty-year-old woman. She never left his side during his remaining years, and when he finally passed away, she was there.