At the same time, there was a knock on the door, and a familiar voice yelled, “Open up! It’s the Department of Public Safety.”
Ethan froze as he recognized the faces of the two officers who’d walked up to his door. They were the same pair that had visited him before.
“Open this door, Ethan,” the man in the grey suit said.
“We know you’re in there,” the one with short hair in the blue uniform stated.
Briefly, Ethan considered jumping out the back window, but he knew it wouldn’t actually work. The government could track him no matter where he went. They had cameras everywhere and tracking chips in everything. Trying to hide from them would only annoy them.
Thus, he let out a sigh and hurried to his front door. After opening it, he was immediately confronted by a smug grin from the uniformed officer.
“How can I help you, officers?” Ethan asked as politely and calmly as he could manage. Truthfully, he was feeling more than a little nervous to see these two again.
“You can come down to the station before we drag you there,” the man in blue replied as he gave Ethan a nasty look.
“My lawyer—”
Ethan was cut off by the man in the suit. “Is very busy and won’t be able to help you.”
Ethan’s heart sank. “Oh?”
“It seems like Tekko has found itself in quite a bit of trouble. They’re being investigated for trading in illegal technology. Their offices have been seized while all their accounts are audited for disharmonies. You won’t be getting any help from them this time. You’re on your own now.”
Ethan really didn’t like the nasty look in the officers’ eyes. It seemed like they were still angry about having to let him go before. He really wanted to go run and hide from the scary government enforcers, but realistically, he knew he wouldn’t get far. He had no choice but to go with them back to the station. He hoped they didn’t have anything on him and would have to eventually let him go. The bureau had a terrible reputation, but they didn’t actually disappear people, right? It was just a rumor…
Grimacing, Ethan stepped outside and closed the door behind him. “Let’s go then.”
The uniformed officer immediately put his hand on Ethan’s shoulder and held up some steel handcuffs.
“Those aren’t necessary. I’m cooperating,”
This earned him a stern glare. “Put them on.”
“I have rights.”
“Not according to the peaceful harmony act, which we’re invoking. That makes this a case with ties to terrorism. Hold out your hands so I can put on the cuffs.”
Sighing, Ethan did as he was told. Then the officers guided him to their car and they put Ethan in the back. It was a grey unmarked police car, so the back was separated from the front by metal bars.
After the two cops got in the front, the vehicle pulled out onto the road and headed toward the station again. Ethan had been through the neighborhood around his house several times lately, including once in the back of this very car. However, the homes he passed looked different to him now, hollower. Listening to Victor’s speech had changed Ethan’s perspective. Most of the small townhouses had dark windows and no signs of life. Their outsides were clean but in a way that made them look unoccupied. Ethan had to wonder how many of them contained healthy people who regularly went outside. Probably not many. They were a weak point in society, ready to collapse, instead of a source of strength.
When they left the residential area and neared the police station, Ethan realized he was oddly calm. His brain was full of illegal tech, and he was being taken to a police station by hostile officers, but he wasn’t panicking. It was almost like he didn’t care about what the government thought, which was weird considering their ability to mess with his life.
When the car pulled up in front of the station, the two officers got out and quickly shepherded Ethan inside. The lobby through the doors was conspicuously emptier than before. There was one officer behind the front desk who was busy talking to someone on the phone. Another two officers rushed across the lobby and disappeared through a side door. It seemed like the bureau was suddenly very busy and more than a little shorthanded. Briefly, Ethan wondered if they were hiring. The unlikely thought amused him, making him grin. This earned him a glare from one of his escorts, who apparently didn’t like how unafraid he was.
“What are you smiling at?” the man asked as he leaned closer in a threatening manner.
As Ethan quickly put on a poker face, the officer in the suit shook his head at his partner. “None of that. We have orders about this one, remember?”
The other man nodded and pushed Ethan forward with a neutral grunt. He was then quickly dumped in a familiar interrogation room and left alone at the small table with two chairs next to it. Once seated, there wasn’t much he could do but wait for his interrogator to show up. It was probably going to take a while, since they were unlikely to care about any inconvenience to him.
Surprisingly, he didn’t have to wait too long, only about fifteen minutes. The two officers who’d grabbed him re-entered the room with someone else behind them. As the two officers took up positions on either side of the door, the third man took a seat across from Ethan. Shocked, Ethan could only stare at the older man who had a neatly trimmed beard. It was Michael! What?
Well, this changed things. What was he doing here, and was it a good or bad thing?
After putting down a small pile of file folders, Michael looked up at Ethan. “To answer your unsaid question, I was undercover to infiltrate dangerous criminal organizations we’d learned were using the game to communicate and organize. I’m actually a senior member of the Bureau of Economic Harmony.”
Ethan blinked. “So, you’re not actually an ally of those Red Revolution guys?”
“No, although the codes I gave them were correct.”
“Good.”
“Yes, thankfully we were able to pick you up before they managed to get to you, and they are coming for you. If I were you, I’d cooperate fully with this investigation. Red Revolution does not shy from violence in the name of their cause. In exchange for information, we could also be convinced to overlook certain things you’ve done.”
Ethan frowned. “All I did was play a video game, like millions of other people. That’s not even remotely illegal, and I’m not involved with any criminal groups.”
Michael sighed as if disappointed. “We both know that isn’t true. Please cooperate fully, or this will go badly for you.”
“What do you even want to know? You were there for most of it!”
“There are several things you can help me with. For instance, what do you know about the young woman who goes by the name Lily?”
“Um, almost nothing?” Ethan replied uncertainly. That was just the truth. She’d never been very open about herself.
“Well, we are alike in that way, which concerns me. You see, she appears in no government records whatsoever, and we can’t match her facial features or speech patterns to anyone in our records. That is unlikely to say the least. Our records are quite comprehensive.”
Ethan shrugged. “Well, I can’t help you there. She never opened up to me about her real life, even when I asked. She was always very closemouthed about anything that wasn’t online.”
Michael nodded. “That doesn’t surprise me. In fact, it’s very suggestive as to her true nature.”
“True nature?”
“Yes, I’ve suspected that Lily wasn’t what she seemed for quite some time. She deviated from the characteristics of a normal player far too much. She was a little too good at everything and seemed to know more than she should. Then, there was her obvious interest in you. It seemed to be the only reason she hung around with our team. What did she see in you, I wonder?”
“I’m sorry? What?” Ethan asked in surprise. He wasn’t following. What was this about Lily and him? There was nothing between them, despite his own clumsy advances.
Michael gave Ethan a pitying look. �
�Well, let’s leave that aside for a moment, and let’s talk about something you know more about instead. After you escaped from Jude’s ambush, what happened?”
This was dangerous territory. Ethan opened his mouth, but it hung open as he hesitated. He couldn’t tell Michael everything. Mentioning the AI-related stuff would get him in serious trouble.
“Lily told me to reach the boss and then log off, so that’s what I did. She said I shouldn’t have anything to do with Red Revolution.”
“Very smart of her,” Michael replied as he gave a small nod of approval. “You split up before reaching the door, why?”
“She said one of us had to make it and that she’d cover me.”
Michael nodded again, as if he’d anticipated this. “And what happened after you unlocked the door and went through it?”
“There was a hallway that led into the boss room. The boss was a giant floating brain. I managed to defeat it, even if it took a while. Then I logged off, like I’d been told. I was hoping to contact Lily so I could figure out what was going on, but then your two friends showed up at my house and brought me here,” Ethan replied.
“That’s all that happened? I find it hard to believe, I’m afraid. You see, many people were rather interested in getting through that door and claiming the prize beyond it.”
“The encryption code thing Jude and you mentioned? I never saw or heard anything about it,” Ethan remarked truthfully.
“And yet, it was unlocked soon after you passed through the door. I don’t think it’s a coincidence,” Michael replied as he leaned forward and gave Ethan a penetrating look.
Ethan froze. The code had been unlocked? That was bad, especially if the government blamed him. So bad. Did that mean Red Revolution had access to advanced weaponry now? Frak.
“I can see the gears turning in your head. It appears you really didn’t know. How interesting.”
“I really didn’t. I want nothing to do with anything like that. Trust me,” Ethan told him.
“No, I wouldn’t go that far,” Michael replied as he leaned back. “I don’t think you’re being very honest with me at all. Something happened on the other side of that door, and you’re hiding it from me.”
“We have ways of making you talk,” the uniformed officer standing to Michael’s left said.
Ethan glanced at the door longingly. This would be a great time for his fancy corporate lawyer to pop up unexpectedly, but it wasn’t going to happen. “I don’t know what you expect to hear.”
Michael sighed. “Tekko is going down. They’ve been caught trading in illegal tech red-handed. The bureau will soon catch Victor Crown and replace him with a more compliant CEO. However, he has already managed to develop and distribute some rather dangerous knowledge to disruptive groups like Red Revolution, and it will cause everyone quite a lot of problems very soon.”
“What does this have to do with me?”
“There are still many unanswered questions that need answered. Victor’s scheme makes very little sense. Some of my superiors believe the suicide of his daughter made him unstable or that he just wanted to throw everything into chaos, but I don’t believe in such easy answers. There’s something going on here that still escapes us. Victor is no fool. He is a ruthless leader with a grand vision.”
“I don’t know the guy.”
“No, but you have received several messages from him, along with the keys you used to unlock the gateway. I find that interesting,” Michael stated as he leaned forward. His eyes narrowed as he focused on Ethan’s face. “Having read the man’s psych profile and from what I’ve seen of the other messages, I believe you received at least one more message from him, and I’d like to hear it. It was probably lies meant to manipulate you, but I can still learn something from it.”
Ethan flinched. He couldn’t help it, even though he immediately knew Michael would notice and draw unpleasant conclusions. He should have thought of this.
Michael leaned back and smiled smugly. “I see I was right.”
Ethan tried to look relaxed but failed completely. His hands were practically shaking from nervousness. He didn’t know what to say. Pretty much all of Victor’s message would reveal dangerous things that the bureau would lock him away for.
“I can see you’re reluctant to speak. Let me motivate you. I could let my comrades get the truth out of you using physical methods, and drugs are always an option, but I hope that won’t be necessary here. I believe you can be reasoned with because no one will prosper if society is thrown into chaos by the armed rebellion of a bunch of deluded fanatics. Help us prevent needless bloodshed. It’s the right thing to do.”
“You sound awfully righteous for someone threatening to torture me for information,” Ethan stated dryly. “Most people don’t think of the Bureau of Economic Harmony as the good guys.”
“Yet we are. Some sacrifices are necessary for society to stay harmonious,” Michael replied confidently. “It’s in everyone’s best interest, and unfortunately, more people can’t grasp how difficult it is to keep society stable. The proscriptions are always under threat, and we are constantly tottering on the edge of either disintegration or upheaval. If someone so much as writes the wrong bit of code or decides to start selling stuff on the black market, it could spiral out of control and ruin the entire economy.”
That sounded like bullshit to Ethan. People and societies were far more resilient than that in his experience. Even when disturbed they tended to fix themselves quickly. The players in Worldshift had created cities and economies out of nothing, just because they could. However, what Michael had said was a convenient excuse for the bureau’s almost-limitless power. Ethan wondered if he actually believed his words, or if he was simply stuck as part of the system.
“Who do you and the bureau even work for? The national government or the UETO? Is there a difference at this point?”
“It’s complicated and irrelevant to the likes of you. Now, stop stalling or there will be consequences.”
Since he’d already been caught, Ethan decided to give Michael some of the truth—if only to make him less smug. “Well, you’re right about the message from Victor. I did get one, and it mentioned something rather important you’d probably be interested in.”
“Oh?”
Ethan glanced meaningfully at the two officers standing behind Michael. “Yes, he said he was forced to take action after certain unnamed parties began to experiment with the mental manipulation of people using VR and cranial implants. He thought that was a big problem.”
“I see,” Michael replied and visibly stiffened. Apparently, he hadn’t expected to hear that, although he knew enough to understand what Ethan was talking about. However, his two companions just looked slightly confused.
There was several seconds of silence as Michael digested what Ethan had said. It seemed to shake him, and Ethan saw him glance nervously at the visible camera in the corner of the room. Apparently, he was uncomfortable with this conversation being recorded.
After another awkward moment, Michael turned and told his two subordinates to walk back to the door. They gave him startled looks but did as they were told. The uniformed officer stared at Ethan suspiciously before moving, as if wondering why his boss was humoring him.
Michael then tapped a watch-like device on his wrist and looked up at Ethan. “There, the cameras and recorders are off, even the ones my superiors don’t think I know about.”
The older man had a frustrated look on his face that Ethan couldn’t really read. “I still don’t know what you expect from me.”
“Same as before. The truth, young man. What happened after you went through those doors? You’ve changed. I can see it in your eyes. Victor told you something important.”
“I already told you the important part. You wanted to know why Victor did it, and obviously you know something about it since you look so spooked.”
“There are rumors going around…” Michael muttered sourly before focusing again. “That�
�s none of your concern. Tell me what else he said. What are his plans, exactly? Why do this all through such a convoluted game?”
Ethan shrugged. “He is using the Tower of Ascension to distribute weapons to those rebels that he feels have earned them. Climbing it is supposed to help you become a stronger person and worthy of his gifts.”
“Ah, and you’ve climbed higher than anyone else so far. What have you earned that’s so special?”
Wincing, Ethan realized he may have said too much after being lulled into a false sense of security. Michael was an intelligent man and probably a skilled interrogator. He wasn’t just talking to his gaming friend. This was an officer of the Bureau of Economic Harmony.
Michael noticed his hesitation. “I know you’re hiding something. Come clean, and I’ll protect you. You know me.”
“Do I? Lily said—”
An angry scowl appeared on Michael’s face. “You definitely can’t trust Lily. She’s done nothing but lie and manipulate you and all of us from the start. It was no coincidence that you met her when you did. She was targeting you.”
“Why would she do that?”
“Somehow, she knew you stood a good chance of climbing high up the tower, so she supported you. I suspect she had inside information,” Michael explained as he gave Ethan a pitying look. “Either she works for Victor or she is an AI designed by him for that very purpose.”
“What? Why would you think that? It’s crazy.”
“Think, Ethan. Take a minute to reason through this critically. When she was climbing with us, Lily knew far too much and was good at everything. She also doesn’t appear in any of the bureau’s databases. Do you see? The entire point of the tower is to groom troops for Victor’s revolution. Why wouldn’t they have special agents—or sophisticated illegal programs—to influence potential recruits and help them reach the conclusions Victor wanted them to?”
Ethan stared at Michael in shock. Not only did the agent’s scenario seem all too plausible, but the AI one terrified him. There was no way Lily could be a computer program. Even if she never talked about her life offline…
Worldshift- Virtual Revolution Page 40