Worldshift- Virtual Revolution

by Scott Straughan

  Jude sneered at him and spoke first. “I don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish here, you selfish idiot, but you’re far too late. The revolution can’t be stopped now. Whatever you did after going through that door changed the tower and unlocked the technology we needed. Now anyone can enter the tower and dying just forces you to start from the beginning again.”

  Ethan didn’t let her get to him. He stayed calm and collected. “But my threat to destroy that workbench over there was still enough to get you to come running.”

  “An inconvenience is all that would be. Players now need workbenches to analyze and decrypt in-game items. Which is what my comrades were doing before you showed up.”

  Ethan nodded in understanding. “And there aren’t any real reliable workbenches in the tower until you make one for yourself on this floor, so killing your team and destroying that bench would really set you back.”

  Jude huffed dismissively. “That’s true, but we’re hardly the only team Red Revolution has in the tower. The loss of a single workbench is still only a mild inconvenience to us.”

  “Maybe, but you’re in competition with the other factions, right? Everyone is trying to grab a piece of the technology first and get one over on everyone else.”

  “Don’t be so cocky. That’s not why I agreed to see you. Red Revolution is going to win. It’s inevitable now. We will overthrow the government and the UETO through an armed revolution of the people and destroy their oppressive class system so that we will have true harmony at last. It is the march of history. The other factions are simple criminals, useless anarchists, or delusional fools like the Church of Transcendence. They aren’t a threat to us. We’ll crush them.”

  “Why are you here then?” Ethan asked.

  It was sounding like Jude was a true believer in her cause. Ethan found the entire thing stupid. A violent revolution to redistribute the wealth of society would just lead to a replacement of the people at the top who would change nothing in the long run. You couldn’t destroy classes and make everyone equal by force. Red Revolution would probably be even more repressive and prone to use mental manipulation than the current elite since they were used to seizing power through violence and had a fanatical army at their disposal. Ethan would be worried, but he was certain Red Revolution’s plans were already doomed. Victor Crown’s greater revolution of humanity itself would swallow theirs.

  Jude shrugged in reply. “I’m curious. What did you find on the other side of that door?”

  She then glanced toward the ruined front door Ethan had blasted open. “You obviously found something. You were pretty weak stuff before. Honestly, I have no idea how you survived so long, but my comrades here were some of the toughest players in all of Worldshift, and you took them out all at once without breaking a sweat. Grey could even do that evoking stuff you do.”

  Ethan nodded. “You’re right about me changing. Victor Crown was keeping a lot of very important details about this tower from you guys. He had his own goals, and I don’t think they match yours very well. How about this, let’s exchange information.”

  One of Jude’s eyebrows rose in surprise. Ethan could tell she was resisting the urge to insult him some more. “That will depend on what you want, hotshot.”

  “I want two things, both of which will cost you very little. First, I’d like to know what happened to Kyle. The game says he hasn’t logged on since I last saw him. If you took him captive, I’d like you to release him.”

  Jude frowned. “We didn’t do anything permanent to the guy if that’s what you’re thinking. We simply killed his avatar so he was forced out of the tower, but like everyone else, he can start climbing from the bottom now.”

  “That’s it?” Ethan asked doubtfully. These were rather violent revolutionaries, and she hadn’t explained why Kyle hadn’t logged back on yet.

  “All right, we may have also sent some people to see him in real life to deliver a message about not getting in our way, but he walked away from that meeting, or so I’m told. He has nothing we want now, and there’s no point in angering the church by taking out one of their guys. They may be soft, selfish, and delusional, but they have a lot of money and the best hackers around.”

  “Excuse me if I don’t take the word of a confirmed traitor. How about you get me in contact with Kyle so I can see him for myself.”

  Jude gave him a nasty look. “The cause comes before all secondary loyalties. Nothing can be allowed to stand in the way of us creating a world full of real harmony.”

  Ethan snorted. Hadn’t she just said her revolution was inevitable? “Can you get me in contact with him or not?”

  “Fine. The little pest changed his number and went into hiding after our talk with him, but we can still get him on the phone with you. Just call this number.”

  There was a little beep as Ethan’s interface informed him he’d just received a text message. He glanced at it and saw it was a phone number.

  “Fine, I’ll take your word on this, but you know what will happen if you’re lying. Now, for my second request, I want to know everything you know about Lily.”

  Now Jude really looked surprised. She gave Ethan a pitying look. “Your little girlfriend bailed on you, I see. Can’t say I’m surprised. I never understood why little miss perfect hung around you. It was weird.”

  Ethan bit back an angry retort. He wasn’t here to argue with a treacherous bitch like Jude. “Just tell me what you know. You’d better have something good to trade if you want my secrets.”

  “Well, Lily has always been a mysterious one. We never could figure her out completely, but we undoubtedly know more than you.”

  “Like?”

  “She seemed to be working for Tekko directly, although we could never nail down the exact nature of their relationship or her real identity.”

  “You’re not telling me anything new. I got this much from Michael.”

  Jude’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Oh, so you’ve talked to him. He disappeared after our last run-in, and I haven’t been able to track him down either. The old man turned into a ghost.”

  “Yeah, here’s a freebie. He’s a Bureau of Economic Harmony agent. He and some his pals grabbed me and dragged me downtown for questioning after I logged off.”

  “Frack, I knew that weasel couldn’t be trusted! How did you get away?”

  “The hard way,” Ethan replied with smug grin. “I’m sure your formidable and all-knowing organization can investigate and find out for yourselves. I wasn’t subtle, but let’s focus on Lily. Give me something I can use to track her down.”

  Jude frowned thoughtfully. “If you want to find your runaway girl, it’s going to be difficult. She and Tekko have covered their tracks like pros. The government has already moved to seize the company, but the senior managers have all disappeared. The bureau has also tried to shut this game down, but they can’t. It’s being maintained by several very powerful AIs that have distributed themselves throughout the internet in ways no one really understands. The bureau is not happy, let me tell you.”

  Ethan hadn’t even thought about that. “Will they take down the entire internet?”

  Jude laughed. “No, everything is way too dependent on it. That would destroy the government quicker than anything else. The stock market would collapse, all the VR addicts would start rioting, and their own surveillance systems would stop working.”

  Well, that was one less thing to worry about. “So how do I find Lily? You still haven’t given me anything.”

  “Well, there are still some Tekko servers running, but the government has moved in and seized them so they can mine them for data. Those servers are probably the only place you’ll be able to find information on Lily.”

  “Give me their location.”

  “The bureau has them heavily guarded,” Jude stated. She gave him a look that made it clear she thought he was an idiot.

  “Just do it. I can figure something out,” Ethan replied coldly.

  “Whate
ver,” Jude replied and sent Ethan a small data file.

  Ethan briefly looked the file over and then closed it. The information looked legit.

  “So, now it’s your time to share info. Tell me about these hidden plans of Victor’s,” Jude told him.

  Ethan met her gaze. “The advanced weaponry stuff was just a distraction to get the cooperation of groups like yours. The true purpose of the tower is to mold players into true AI and completely transform society that way. He succeeded by the way, so watch out for that.”

  “Bullshit!” Jude retorted angrily.

  “Believe what you want. I don’t care,” Ethan told her as he turned to leave. He had what he wanted.

  “Hey, where are you going?” Jude called after him.

  Ethan didn’t look back. “To get answers. Good luck with your revolution thing. You’re going to need it."

  “The government can’t hope to stop us.”

  “It’s not the government you should be worried about,” Ethan warned her. “Like them, you’re clinging to a safe version of the past, but the future will no longer be denied.”

  Once right outside the door he’d destroyed, Ethan made a simple mental command and disappeared in a stream of blue light, leaving Jude alone. He could log off anywhere since he’d already beaten this floor.

  As soon as he’d pulled his VR visor off, Ethan brought up the contact number Jude had given him for Kyle. Since he wasn’t a fool, he made an effort to obfuscate his location and route the call through several networks before connecting. It was possible the number was a trap laid by Jude to locate him in the real world, but Ethan felt sure he could avoid that. Not only did he know a few tricks of his own, but his new bunker was designed to be hard to find and to hide its residents’ digital footprints.

  After engaging the call, Ethan waited several seconds as the device on the other end rang. No one answered for several seconds, but then someone did pick up.

  “Hello? Who is this?” Kyle immediately asked. He sounded quite suspicious, which made sense after what Jude had said.

  “Hey, Kyle. It’s me, Ethan.”

  “Ethan? How did you get this number? No one is supposed to know it!”

  “Ah, that’s not important right now. I need to talk to you about what happened after the ambush.”

  “Oh, yeah. Sorry about not telling you about my connections to the church and keeping secrets from you, man. I feel really guilty about that. Maybe if someone had told you what was going on, we wouldn’t have been caught with our pants down.”

  “Don’t worry about it. You’re a good guy.”

  “Thanks! Now what did you want to talk about? I have to admit I’m super crazy curious about what happened to you after we split up. I heard you got to the next floor or something. That would mean you’re like the number-one player in the game right now!”

  Ethan couldn’t help but think that Kyle’s priorities were a little odd. While Ethan might actually be higher in the tower than anyone else, did that really matter right now? Civilization was collapsing, and revolutions were brewing in reality.

  “I beat the boss and unlocked the next floor, but I didn’t go there yet,” Ethan replied.

  “Why the shocks not?” Kyle asked in a dumbfounded tone. Obviously, he really wanted to know about the next floor and would have jumped at the chance to reach it.

  “Some stuff came up,” Ethan answered dryly. “And that’s why I called you. You’re in tight with the Church of Transcendence, right?”

  “Um, yeah… I guess. I’m officially a member of their group, and they’ve been helping me out after our run-in with those Red Revolution guys. Why?”

  “I’ve heard they’re sort of the experts when it comes to AI and transhumanism. I also heard they were working with Tekko on that sort of thing.”

  “That’s true. A lot of people in the church worked with Tekko to help make the tower. He promised them it would help them reach their goal, lifting up all of humanity into a transcendent state beyond physical suffering and conflict. He was probably lying about that though.”

  Ethan rolled his eyes. “Well, I don’t know about the ‘beyond physical suffering’ part, but it seems like Victor managed to figure out how to boost people by combining them with AIs.”

  “What! Really?” Kyle blurted excitedly. “What do you mean by that? Did you see it yourself? It must have been in the tower! Is it on the fifth floor?”

  “I don’t think it’s tied directly to the floors, but it seems like Victor designed the entire tower to sort of… encourage players to meld with AIs,” Ethan explained before giving Kyle a quick rundown of what had happened to him after he’d defeated the floating brain boss.

  “Wow, that’s beyond belief, man. I’m so jealous. Wait until I tell the others! What does it feel like?”

  “I don’t feel that different really, just a little more clear-headed, like my mind has been organized and expanded. I think I’ve got to practice and grow into it slowly so I don’t go insane like everyone else who has tried this sort of thing.”

  “About that… what makes what Victor did so special?” Kyle reluctantly asked. “Why did he succeed where everyone else failed?”

  Ethan paused. “It’s difficult to explain. My humanity and personality sort of holds the AI together and gives it purpose, while the AI makes me more malleable and capable of growth. My own willpower seems to be the limit on my power. I’ve got to grow as a person before I can increase my… computational powers, or I’ll fall apart. Does that make sense to you?”

  “It does, and it sounds so cool! I got to get climbing the tower again. I’m all the way at the bottom now though, because that bitch Jude had me shot.”

  “So I heard. Anyway, I was wondering if you knew anyone who would be an expert on this sort of thing? I could really use an expert.”

  “Um, I do, but I can’t get in touch with them right now, since everything is so crazy in the real. A lot of the higher-ups in the church are in hiding because the government is panicking. Also, expert is kind of a relative term when it comes to this sort of stuff. I’m not sure they could help you much.”

  Ethan grimaced. He’d been afraid of that. It seemed like there was only one place he could find his answers after all. After a bit more chatting and affirming Kyle knew nothing about Lily, Ethan said goodbye to his friend and hung up.

  Despite the incredible obstacles in his way, Ethan wasn’t going to give up. There was only one thing on his mind right now. He wanted answers from Lily. No matter what it took, he was going to confront her and find out why she had manipulated him into climbing the tower and then disappeared. It didn’t matter if the government, revolutionaries, and Tekko all stood in his way. He wasn’t a powerless little unemployed dreg anymore. He had resources and power. It was time to use them.

  CHAPTER 39

  TOOLS OF THE TRADE

  Taking a deep breath and steeling his resolve, Ethan headed back to the workshop. Here, he had an advanced 3-D printer and all the materials he needed to use the knowledge stored in his head. Unlike Jude and Red Revolution, he could decrypt the blueprints from the tower almost instantly in his own head.

  First, Ethan upgraded the 3-D printer so that it was as advanced as the workbenches in Worldshift. Next, he got the rebuilt device working on advanced parts to complete the point generator on the other table. He would be needing to draw a lot of power soon, and he didn’t want to attract attention by using the local grid, so he needed to start making his own energy.

  Schematics flashed through Ethan’s thoughts as he attached circuit boards and built shielding. Not everything could be done by the 3-D printer. A lot had to be put together by hand or by using other devices such as welding torches. Not long ago, such technical work would have been impossible for Ethan, but now he whizzed through it as new parts of his mind guided him along. Even his focus was much better. He worked without stopping for several hours, feeding the printer and assembling the parts it produced for him.

  He
only took a break from his work when he started getting sweaty and tired. The workshop had air-conditioning, but he’d been working himself hard, and it was full of running machinery.

  Ethan went to the kitchen to grab a snack, but there wasn’t much there, only some packs of meal-replacement shakes and canned goods. He’d need to go out and get some real groceries eventually. There would be no drone deliveries for him anymore. Also, he’d need to come up with some creative way to pay for them. Did anyone grocery shop in person these days?

  With a shake in hand, Ethan wandered to the couch across from the television hub in the sitting room. He lay back and activated the screen with a mental command. The television was networked, and he’d just figured out how to access it using his implant without needing to even say anything. Slowly but surely, he was learning to use his new abilities.

  Curious as to what was going on outside, Ethan tuned into a news channel. He realized something was wrong as soon as the announcer behind the desk appeared. The blonde woman with the short trendy haircut and professional clothes was smiling the same way all announcers did, but she seemed unusually nervous. Red text was flashing across the bottom of the screen, signaling an emergency or important service announcement.

  An 8:00 pm curfew is now in effect. Please remain at home and cooperate with law enforcement.

  “Please don’t be concerned,” the woman told her viewers. “This is a simple health issue caused by malfunctioning software in some new Tekko products. Reports indicate some users have fallen unconscious and others’ moods have been altered. To make sure everyone is safe, the government has instituted a curfew and is sending officers out to help areas of disruption. In some cases, the officers may need to detain citizens who have been using Tekko products and secure them for their own safety. Please don’t be alarmed. Together, we can maintain harmony!”

  Judging by her strained expression, not even the announcer appeared to believe her own words, so Ethan definitely didn’t. It was obvious to him what was really going on. The government was finally reacting to the technology leaks and trying to prevent the distribution of the tech by arresting players who’d entered the tower. It wouldn’t work. They would undoubtedly manage to arrest lots of casual players, but there were far too many for them to arrest them all. They were also severally underestimating how organized some of their opposition was. This plan wouldn’t hurt groups like Red Revolution. It might actually help them, since it would keep the police busy dealing with casual players and rile citizens up. There was nothing like seemingly random arrests to get people out on the streets protesting. The government sure was dumb.