by Randy Noble
The appropriateness of the name did not go unnoticed. Slowly, Regina opened one of the doors wide enough for her to sneak in. An Adult Adventure made Regina think the place provided some sort of pornographic romp fest. A large holographic area, on a staged area in front of the box office, said different.
The holograph displayed digital, wire-mesh characters and creatures slaughtering each other. Regina supposed this was so the business didn’t offend anyone who came in and didn’t know what they were getting themselves into. The human characters were carrying large rifle-type weapons, with long, thin barrels. Red lasers fired from the barrels. The wire-mesh characters shot at wolf-like creatures that either ran for their lives or charged their human enemies. The creatures towered ten feet tall, standing, and five feet tall down on all fours. Audio blared from multiple speakers, male and female characters yelling and screaming, either in rage or in fear, and the creatures bellowing in pain or roaring in fury. The stage was substantial, twenty-five yards lengthwise and ten yards deep, and what ensued was nothing short of mayhem.
Warnings regarding health conditions and high stress factors stood out all over the walls in bold red letters, with a minimum age of 21 strictly enforced.
Regina took this all in, as she ran past the box office and through the only door she saw in her immediate vicinity. Enter . . . If you dare, in blood, dripping red paint on a solid black door with the Kill Zone emblem of a human character facing a creature.
She dared, and found herself in a preparatory room for the game, with helmets, elbow and kneepads, the weapons she saw in the holograph demo, and a body suit with small, white sensors all over it. She had read about the technology, which was supposed to give you a very realistic experience. The sensors on the suit get triggered by holographic actions, such as a creature swiping at you, causing you to be pulled and thrown as if the creature actually existed and attacked you.
Had Regina not been running for her life, she would enjoy having a game. It sounded like a fully immersive experience.
The room Regina came into had three revolving doors on each of the other three walls, labeled as Level 1, Level 2, and so on.
Regina walked towards the door labeled Level 1. As she did, she noticed a painting on the wall depicting what waited inside.
The creatures from the holograph were fully realized through the paintings. They had long, black hair, black claws, white eyes, long snouts, pointy ears, and sharp, double-rowed teeth. Severed heads hung from their blood-dripping fangs. A typical fierce, horrible creature to invoke fear in the players. A speaker in the ceiling unleashed wrenching growls, squeals, hisses, and barks. All told, it was a nice build-up to freak you the fuck out before the game.
Regina went through the dark, revolving door.
Chapter 6
Back in Michael’s ship, George’s voice spoke to him through his eyeglasses. “Let them have it.”
Michael nodded to Cindy. Cindy looked at her screen, which showed that the weapon had reached its intended target, just below the engines. The Class C Flat Fanny, small enough to fit in a suitcase, attached itself to the underside of the engines, like a magnet to metal. “Sending CMP through,” Cindy said as she chose the CMP option on her screen. The CMP, or Controlled Magnetic Pulse, shuts down everything but life support, leaving a vessel dead in the water, the people safe inside.
Seconds passed and nothing happened. The runner continued its zigzagging attempt at escape.
The good old, reliable network, Michael thought to himself. “Comm Set,” Michael said. “It looks like they disabled it. Hold. Cindy, blow it.”
Cindy chose the Explode option on her screen, and nothing happened.
”No effect. Repeat, no effect,” Michael said. “Recommend a surround and shut down. There’s a Gate near by. Check your navigation screen. Comm Off.”
Before Michael finished talking, Cindy started the process of shutting down non-critical systems in the holding area, diverting all power to the engines.
In seconds, all the ships had more power to their engines and they proceeded to surround the runner, from the front, back, left, and right. They used a magnetic towing beam to lock the runner in place, allowing some room for movement, but making escape difficult once the runner was locked in.
Chapter 7
After walking through the revolving door, Regina found herself in a smaller room with black walls. As soon as she walked in, the white lights above went out, a short blackness, and then a rotating, red halo light came on.
”Prepare!” came a loud, bellowing voice, which Regina wished would shut up. The voice continued. “You are about to enter the first level of the most horrifying adventure of survival you will ever be put through. What you are about to experience has been meticulously duplicated from the accounts of Ryan Buckner, the only survivor of the Jaltorn Horror.”
Regina had heard the Buckner story as a kid, but it was never proven, because Buckner couldn’t recall what planet he had come from. His ship’s logs were wiped out because one of the creatures got on board, and Buckner shot the ship all up before killing it and jettisoning it into space. The ship was found to be damaged, like Buckner said, and there was some non-human blood found, but beyond that, nothing proved Buckner’s claims. It was a good story, Regina thought, and a good lead into the game. Jaltorn was the name Buckner gave the creatures.
Regina figured Buckner got a royalty every time somebody played the game.
She needed to focus. No time for distractions. One distraction could be the end.
Even though her fear abated somewhat, she still felt uneasy about what had happened, and why no one seemed to be left on the ship but her.
Regina was not prone to her imagination getting away with her, because she couldn’t make the living she did if that was the case. But with everything that occurred, and now with the Jaltorn Horror coming back to mind, her heart started to beat a little harder.
She pulled her gun up and pointed it toward the revolving door. If the revolving door twitched, she would not hesitate to open fire. That was her first thought, but she knew she wasn't that jumpy. No, she would need to see any attacker face to face first, and then she would shoot. Taking any innocent life would devastate her to the point that she would likely take her own life. Everything she worked toward demanded it; otherwise she would be just like the pieces of shit out in the universe that took and took and kept on taking from others. And that would not do. No mistakes. Ever.
The game voice continued. “This is your last chance. If you survive level one, you can move to level two, and on to every successive level. The ultimate goal is to get back to your ship and kill the final creature.”
Regina rubbed her eyes, all the while staring at the revolving door. Did it move? She couldn't be sure and immediately regretted rubbing her eyes. Stupid fucking light!
“Good luck!” said the game voice.
The red light went out.
Regina’s heart seemed to skip a beat as she dropped into darkness.
A loud emergency alarm erupted all around Regina.
BWAH BWAH BWAH.
She jumped, and then calmed herself. The whole damn point of hiding inside the game seemed useless now with all the fucking noise it made. She considered going back, figuring her location was given away, then another door slid sideways -- THUNK! -- inside the wall.
Regina walked into the game, simulated moonlight shining just inside the doorway. She hoped the room she left had soundproofed walls, and that she could hide inside the game before chancing another attempt to get to the control room in the front of the ship.
Immersive indeed. Palm-like trees, shorter and bushier, a flowing creek, a realistic starry sky with a bright full moon. Rock cliffs in the distance welcomed her.
Regina figured the game must take up two or three levels of the ship, because some of the cliffs were high up, or at least appeared that way. Either way, it was very impressive.
As soon as Regina entered the game, the door slammed
shut. In the near distance, something growled. She decided to find a nice place by a rock face, and some trees, to hide for awhile.
And then she saw him, the first person since she started walking the ship over an hour earlier. He ran, but not toward her.
Chapter 8
Mary Zannur navigated one of the other ships with her pilot, Brett Sandgrass.
“Now, I’ve done a few of these,” Mary said. “Don’t get too close, Brett.”
“Would you like to take over?” Brett waited for a response, but Mary stared intently at a navigational chart, ignoring him. “Well, I wouldn’t have let you anyway,” Brett said with a smile.
Mary continued to scroll the navigational chart on the image in front of her, wearing black gloves like Cindy and Michael's, the chart a three-dimensional image. “Might I remind you, young one, that you are a mere rank of 7 to my 1C, and if I so choose, I will take control away from you and you’ll keep your fucking mouth shut.”
“Yes sir . . . I mean Ma’am,” Brett said, still smiling, but it was a false smile. Mary would have been his last choice for a partner out of the group, if he had had a choice to begin with. He couldn't think of any time the other leaders treated their subordinates like shit, but Mary did it to him all the time. He got that it was just her way, that she gave a lot of people the cold shoulder, but he still wanted to punch her every time she did.
Brett had nothing to prove to anyone. He enjoyed what he did, even if he was stuck with “The C” or “Captain C” as everyone called her behind her back. Everyone that was, except their leader, George, and Michael, the kiss ass.
Brett had no huge aspirations of kissing ass up the chain of command. He wanted to be more like Travis. The guy was just so cool. He didn't take crap from anybody, or at least he didn't let it show. So easy going and relaxed all the time.
But how could Brett help it if he had a bag for a trainer and leader? How could he help it if she grated on his every nerve with the way she would look at him, with contempt in her eyes? No, fuck that, and fuck her. He would do his time and then he would get a different assignment, a different group, and then it would all be better.
*****
Mary didn’t comment or look up, because if Brett smiled back at her, she would probably do something she would regret, something she did once before that got her reduced in rank and took her a year to get back.
At thirty-nine, she was not going to mess up again. Divorced three times, and currently single and liking it, she didn’t care what others thought of her. Despite her strong personality scaring almost every man away, she was a beautiful woman with short, dark curly hair, and a curvy, muscular figure. Her eyes were quite warm and welcoming, until she spoke. But she didn't give a shit and frankly, quite enjoyed making men squirm. Most of them deserved it. All of them were cheating bastards. Not one, not one man in all her years with men had she found an honest one, one that didn't stick his dick inside the first hot thing that walked by him.
Not to say she didn't respect men in other ways. She respected most of her group, especially George and Michael, but they were not disrespectful like Brett. They worked their asses off. But she chose Brett, knew he needed work. Had she known how much work, she may have decided otherwise.
“Keep your eyes open for the markers,” Mary said. “They run right to the gate.”
He would love that one. It took so little to piss him off. Everything out of her mouth was an insult to him. She could see it in his furrowed face, in those slightly -- slight because he tried to hide it -- narrowed, fucked up grey eyes of his. She would continue to belittle his knowledge until he stopped reacting like a child.
Mary knew that he knew what the markers were. A four-year-old would know what they were. Space travel was not a privilege. There were restrictions, except for special vehicles like the SPARS ships, which could travel anywhere. Every other ship needed to travel along a series of objects that looked like large matchsticks. The markers were five-meter long, thin green iridescent devices with red square caps that relayed signals to nearby ships, keeping them locked within a 500-meter radius. The markers were spread 250 meters apart.
If a ship tried to go beyond 500 meters from a marker in any direction, the ship’s engines would disable, and then the nearest marker – the green section - would tow the ship back within range, using magnetic energy, so the ship could restart its engines.
Since the runner was a SPARS ship, it had no problem veering away from any markers, and that's exactly what it did. Whoever was inside had probably never been off marker before. They veered away from them almost immediately and kept away, but the markers were not hard to detect when close by, which is exactly what Mary could see on her navigation image. The runner probably had no idea and now that they had it surrounded, they would take it right back to the markers, to get to the gate.
The runner tried every which way to get out of its prison, including ramming the other ships. It would thrust forward, reverse thrust to brake, try to turn, anything to get away.
Brett and Mary were in front of the runner as it gave them a little bump before Brett pulled the ship ahead.
Mary immediately took control away from Brett, her navigational image replaced by a yoke and throttle. “I told you. You were too close.”
“Give me a break. It’s only the second time I’ve done this, and nobody gets it exactly right their first few times.”
“You’ll get your chance again. Until then, back to the simulator for you until you pass with absolutely no mistakes. Now, bring your chart up and watch for the gate. I think we’re close.”
Mary did not turn to see what would most likely be a dagger-staring Brett. She could see his holographic image of a yoke and throttle change to the navigational chart, out of the corner of her eyes. She loved the new panels, angled down for ergonomics, everything you need in front of you and in three-dimensional form.
Chapter 9
“Please, sir, don’t run. I’m here to help.” Regina tried to calm the man down as she ran after him. He wore a tight-fitting, gray one-piece suit, which Regina found a little odd, since these were outfits that expedition crews typically used when investigating other planets. “Stop!” Regina yelled, and the man did.
Regina caught up to him, but she didn’t know how long he would stick around because he seemed fidgety and nervous. His eyes darted all over the place, his hair soaked with sweat pouring down his face. “They’re all over the place,” he said.
“Who?” Regina asked. “Who’s all over the place?”
And then it happened. One of the game creatures leapt at the man from behind a rock, swiped at his head, and his head came off of his neck in one swoop of the creature’s clawed hands. Blood squirted up like a fountain. He didn’t even have a chance to scream.
Before the man’s body began to fall to the ground, the creature leapt on top of it and started chewing into the man’s chest. The body fell to the ground with the creature on top gorging.
The creature ignored Regina, as she suspected it would. She didn’t have a game suit on, and the man who just got killed was part of the game, a replica of one of the expedition people who died on the planet. The best holograph of a person she had ever seen. She was even more impressed by how the holograph had interacted with her even though she did not have a game suit on. She figured that the computer running the game responded to voices.
Her impressions from the game were only fleeting, as the decapitation was enough for her. She had no intentions of sticking around as witness to more bloody attacks. Staying would bring wild thoughts about her current situation and then fear.
Regina, gun cocked, walked back to where she came in and pressed an exit button by the door. As the door slid open, the lights came on in the prep room, the revolving door waiting for her a few feet away.
Without any hesitation, Regina walked through the revolving door into the equipment room. Nothing out of the ordinary waited for her.
Again, just moving without think
ing, because thinking brought fear, Regina walked through the equipment room door and into the entrance area. Nothing. Regina kept moving.
Regina got outside, into the main sports area, and crept along the outer wall of The Kill Zone, edging her way to the opposite side of the room from where she originally entered. Using her hands to guide her along the wall, she stared towards the glass, using her peripheral for any movement behind or in front of her.
And then, from the stairwell Regina moved towards, a woman’s scream echoed. It did not last more than a couple of seconds.
“Please, no,” came a woman’s voice. Regina could hear the fear in the woman’s voice as it quivered, sobs and quick breaths, a horrible, wailing scream, then silence. Regina ran full out. Her heart pounded but not from the exertion of running.
Regina’s eyes watered as a disturbing job flashed through her mind: A twitchy, middle-aged man with thin, messy gray hair and dark eyes -- a hacksaw -- hundreds of body parts piled on one another in a closet -- the blood, so much blood -- fingers, toes, feet, hands, calves, thighs, torsos, arms, ears, heads -- eyes, wide open in the heads, mouths frozen in a scream -- the smell, so foul, vomit -- a young woman’s scream just before Regina kicked in the door to the maniac’s home. All these images flashed quickly through her mind, taking her back to one of the worst jobs she undertook. And the scream the poor girl made before he cut her throat with the hacksaw, so much fear in that scream, so much terror. Regina had not heard anything like it, until now.
Chapter 10