by Isaac Hooke
He abandoned the dead body and hurried on to Omega Station. He went by several black pods along the way, and paused to carry another man he found sprawled on the floor grill. By the time he reached the door to Omega Station that man too was dead. Not from a broken neck—his heart had simply given out.
Tanner set the dead man down. It was all so useless. Why did he even bother to try anymore?
Because that's what people did for one another. That's what it was to be human. People helped other people. It was the right thing to do.
Still, he grieved for the man. Could he save no one?
He was reminded of the helplessness he felt when Ari had fallen from the Forever Gate. He didn't blame himself for her death, but what truly ate away at him, and plagued him in the quiet moments, was this: If it had been him who had trailed Ari on the Forever Gate, with Brute behind, would he have been able to die for her?
He hoped, when the time came, that he would have the selfless courage to act as she did.
Exhausted, Tanner signaled his presence at the door to Omega Station.
"Tanner!" Stanson's familiar voice echoed from the control pad.
Tanner merely nodded in reply.
The door slid open and he walked inside, shoulders bowed by a world of grief.
103
Tanner entered Omega Station, a room that contained five rows of desks lit by long ceiling lights. A window on the far wall offered a view of the Ganymede surface. The children sat at terminals on those desks, and they were all looking at him.
Caylin's heart-shaped face lit up when he met her eye, and the little girl hurried over, nearly tripping on her gown. "Tanner! It really is you!"
He knelt to give her a hug. His bone-weary despair instantly vanished, and he held her close, like a man reunited with his daughter. Three other children ran over and he readily hugged each of them in turn. He felt invigorated, the grief temporarily forgotten.
The other children just watched him from their terminals. Ari had called them little ghosts. That was an apt description. With their white gowns, pale skin and haunted eyes, they'd fit right in beside any phantasm. And yet when he looked in their eyes, really looked, he saw sadness there too. The eyes of those who had seen too much, at too young an age.
He did a quick head count, and to his relief, noted all the children had survived.
"Where have you been?" Caylin said.
"Oh you know." Tanner ruffled her hair. "Off saving the world."
"Where's Ari?"
Tanner's breath caught. He looked away, feeling a burning in the back of his throat. Caylin had only said two little words, but it was enough to send him back to the pit of despair. "She's coming."
"When?"
He stood. "Later." He hoped she didn't notice the tremble in his voice.
"What about Hoodwink?" Caylin pressed.
Ari and Hoodwink.
It always came back to them, didn't it?
Could Hoodwink really save her?
And had the price been worth it?
Tanner told himself that if the choice had been his, he wouldn't have given the Dwarf to Jeremy for a mere chance at saving Ari, not if doing so potentially doomed the world. Tanner told himself that he wasn't selfish like that.
But to be honest, he wasn't entirely sure. Because Ari truly meant the world to him. The world.
"Tanner?" Caylin said.
He dismissed his grief and self-doubt, and focused on the present.
There was a world to save.
Tanner looked down at the little girl and smiled. "Caylin."
Stanson came forward. "I missed your ugly face around here." Unlike the others, he was wearing the same blue uniform as Tanner, and gave a nod when Tanner met his eye.
Tanner slipped past the children and clasped Stanson's hand. "And I missed your pretty one."
Stanson had a face like a woman, his features bizarrely pixieish—prominent cheekbones, a button nose, wide eyes. He'd grown his hair long in a cut that reminded Tanner of a pageboy. Still, despite his looks, he had the deepest voice of anyone Tanner had ever known. He was the second oldest among the children after Tanner, at seventeen years old.
"That girl Ari you've been stranded with is far prettier than I," Stanson said. "Even if she is all skin and bones. I bet she looks amazing on the Inside."
Tanner averted his eyes. "Yeah..."
"So you never answered little Caylin here. What about Hoodwink? Is he coming too?"
"He is. They both are." Tanner didn't know what else to say. "Hoodwink and Ari had to take care of some business first."
"Some business..." Stanson left the question unasked, pausing to give Tanner time to elaborate. When he didn't, Stanson frowned. "You know I like to be kept in the loop."
"That's all I can tell you for now."
Stanson shrugged, smiling. "Well then, I'm looking forward to hearing about everything else that's happened since we lost you guys. I'm sure you've got a few exciting stories to share. We've had our own adventures—a couple of us have gone Inside, here and there."
"I'd love to swap stories, but later. We've work to do." Tanner glanced uncertainly at the children, and considered guarding his tongue in their presence, but he figured if they didn't know what was going on now they'd find out soon enough anyway. "It's bad out there, Stanson. In the corridors people are waking up and dying. A lot of people. Have you been in contact with the New Users yet? What's the situation like Inside?"
"We have, and the situation isn't good." Stanson had become all businesslike, which was exactly what Tanner wanted. There wasn't time for small talk. "The New Users have set up the Control Room in a different part of the sewers, and we've been talking back and forth."
The Control Room allowed communication between the simulated world of the Inside and the real-world of the Outside, as well as the ability to track gols, among other things. Basically it allowed the children to bypass the sandbox that blocked access to most of the system operations out here, a sandbox that was set up by the sub-A.I.s beneath One.
"Talking back and forth?" Tanner wondered how much Stanson and the others knew about what had happened. "Did they mention anything about Ari and Hoodwink?"
"No, why?"
"We'll get to that."
"Okay..." Stanson seemed a tad confused, but he smoothed it over with another smile. "Anyway, with the New Users' help, we've been tracking One's army on the Inside. The Direwalkers have spread worldwide using the portal hops, and they're ripping a path of mayhem through the cities, killing anything that moves. Worse, more Direwalkers are appearing by the second—One seems to have full access to the simulation now. At this rate, there will be more Direwalkers than humans in a few hours, Outside time."
"Damn it. So how can we stop this? I need options Stanson."
Stanson led Tanner to one of the free terminals. The young man bent over the terminal display and pulled up some kind of tracking document. "Well, we've helped the New Users capture a few gols with the mind disease, both Direwalkers and ordinary gols, and we're moving forward with experiments to change them. We're hoping to tweak the germ so that it's harmless to ordinary gols but deadly and more contagious to Direwalkers."
Tanner patted Stanson on the back. "Good work, Stanson. That's exactly what we need. Make it happen."
Stanson raised an eyebrow. Tanner realized that Stanson was used to being in charge these past few days, what with himself and Hoodwink gone. Well, Stanson would have to get used to playing second fiddle again. There wasn't time to argue over pecking order.
Stanson finally lowered his gaze. "Right. We're on it, Tanner. By the way, we have some other developments you might be interested in. Now that we have a way to test our changes, we've been trying some other tweaks to the Inside. There's some wild news you might be interested in. Caylin?"
The heart-faced little girl spoke up excitedly. "I found a way to fix the weather! I went Inside and placed a tracker, then I came back out, had the New Users make my change, then
I went back in. All the snow was melted around the tracker, and I could feel the sun on my face! Now I just have to learn how to widen the hot spots. And, and..."
Tanner patted her on the shoulder distractedly. He was trying to figure out how to word what he wanted to say without offending or discouraging her and the others. "Great work Caylin. Really great. But I don't want you going Inside anymore. The same goes for all of you. It's not safe. Plus, I really need everyone focused on the Direwalker problem first. As soon as we've dealt with the Direwalkers, you can tweak the simulation's weather all day if you want." He turned to Stanson. "Are we clear?"
Stanson's eyes glinted defiantly, but once again the youth lowered his gaze. "Pellucid."
"Good." There was something else Tanner needed to address, something he'd suspected Hoodwink had done all along, involving only a select few of the children.
Tanner looked from face to face. "Hoodwink is a trip. And I know you all miss him, and can't wait for him to return. But he did some things he shouldn't have. Some bad things. I need to know which of you helped him create the Direwalkers, specifically, a certain invulnerable Direwalker with four arms."
104
Tanner watched the children exchange shocked, confused glances. He was looking for signs of complicity, but either those involved were good at faking surprise, or Tanner had been wrong.
"None of us helped create the Direwalkers!" Caylin said. "We wouldn't!"
Tanner glanced at Stanson. His friend's brows had drawn down tight. "You know, don't you Stanson?" Why had Hoodwink confided in Stanson and not him? Ah, of course. Stanson was firmly in Hoodwink's pocket. But Tanner, he dared to disagree with Hoodwink now and then.
One child, a frail boy named Andes whose hair had never grown in, stepped forward. He was one of the smartest among the children, frighteningly so—he worked the source like a machine. His eyes were always slightly distant, as if he were looking at something beyond you. With his bald head and white gown, he always reminded Tanner of a boy monk.
"I helped Hoodwink create the Direwalkers," Andes said.
Caylin's eyes widened. "Andes, you what?"
Andes slumped, and he couldn't look at her. Probably had a bit of a crush on Caylin. "It's true. I didn't want to. But Hoodwink said it was for the good of the world. Said we'd use the Direwalkers to help everyone. We worked with the gols in Jeremy's Control Room, and experimented until we got it right. When One stole the changes, Hoodwink said it wasn't my fault. He said there was nothing I could've done to stop the A.I. from taking it."
Tanner doubted that One stole the changes. He had a feeling Hoodwink willingly gave the changes to One, for whatever reason. Maybe Hoodwink was obeying that shadowy Council he'd spoken of.
"I need you to tell me how to kill the four-armed Direwalker," Tanner said. Brute always seemed to show up eventually whenever Tanner went Inside, and he was sick of always having to run from the thing.
"You can't kill it," Andes said. "Brute's invincible. That's how we designed it."
"There has to be something." Tanner rubbed the back of his neck. "Can you review the source? Maybe there's something you overlooked."
"I don't have to review the source," Andes said. "I know it by heart. Brute's skin has the stone flag set. Nothing can harm it. Not fire. Not steel. Not lightning. Although..." Andes trailed off, his eyes becoming even more distant, if that was possible. "Only its skin has the stone flag set. I guess, well, if you jammed something in its mouth, or its eyes, you could harm Brute."
Of course. The eyes. He remembered Brute had a bloody eye after Ari had fought it. That was the only wound he'd ever seen the gol take. If Tanner could gouge both eyes, that might be good enough to disable the otherwise invincible Direwalker, at least temporarily.
"Good enough," Tanner said. "What about One? Is there a way to kill its avatar and cut off its access to the simulation?"
It was Stanson who answered. "One's avatar is even more invulnerable than Brute's." His deep voice seemed so wrong coming from that pixie face.
"There has to be a way." Tanner tapped his lips with one finger. "I don't know how much you've been able to learn out here, or how much the New Users have told you, but Jeremy's linked his avatar to both One and the Dwarf—Seven—and that's how One's getting full access to the simulation. It's a permanent link, and One has completely replaced Jeremy's avatar."
Stanson's eyes widened. So he didn't know that part, then.
After a moment, Stanson spoke. "If we could kill Jeremy or disconnect him from the Inside, that should cut his link to One, and the main A.I. would lose its direct access to the simulation."
And when that was done, the checks and balances of the sub-A.I.s would come back into play, and One would be shoehorned into the role of observer again.
But Tanner had to be sure of something. "With One out of the simulation, more Direwalkers can't be created, right?"
"That's our guess." Stanson glanced at the children for confirmation. Some of them nodded, Andes among them. "Once that's done, we can work on removing the germ from One's source. That's still going to take months."
Months. Well at least the simulation would be safe during that time. "How are A.I.s Two through Seven?"
"Seven's gone of course," Stanson said. "Its source just vanished from the system. Which makes sense, now that you've told us Seven merged with One. Two through Six are up and running, and still uninfected by the germ. We're seeing messages in the system from One instructing the other A.I.s to either cut off the food supply to the pods, or to open them all up. Thankfully the sub-A.I.s have ignored the instructions so far."
"Which is why the germ-infected One is waking us up by killing everyone on the Inside instead." Tanner rubbed his eyes. "Is there a way we can turn off the automated clean-up going on out here? Stop the machines from hunting down humans ejected from the pods?"
"Why would you want to?" Stanson said. "Already the food supply is stretched to the limit, and that's just for a bunch of sleepers. Imagine how much food it'd take to feed thousands of active people. We can't feed and care for them all, and there's no room for them. Most people who come out of the pods are too far gone anyway. We'd only drag out their suffering."
It was cold reasoning, but unfortunately Stanson was right. But that didn't mean Tanner had to like it.
He exhaled for a long moment. "Fine. So we focus on the Inside. Jeremy. He's the key to all this. You said disconnecting Jeremy from the Inside would break his link to One... how easy is that? I remember Hoodwink asked you to track down Jeremy's body on the Outside a few weeks ago. Any luck?"
Stanson shook his head. "We tried using Jeremy's DNA and Output Signal to find him, like we did for Ari, but there's no entry for him in the records. We did a system-wide search for people not in the records, and found thirty-eight living matches. Wildly enough, the DNA of every single one of those people is exactly the same."
Tanner felt his brows knit together. "Clones?"
"Yeah."
"What in the hell are clones doing in the system? And outside the birth records at that."
None of the children had an answer.
Tanner shrugged. "Fine. So we track down and open all thirty-eight pods? One of them has to be Jeremy."
Stanson shook his head. "The Output Signals of the clones are being masked somehow, so we have no idea where the thirty-eight actually are."
Damn. Of course that would've been too easy.
"All right." Tanner rubbed his chin. "Options for killing Jeremy on the Inside then, to break his link to One?"
Stanson crossed his arms. "Well, if One has overwritten and replaced Jeremy's avatar like you say, then to kill Jeremy we basically have to kill One's avatar. Which is impossible, like we talked. One probably gave its avatar every add-on out there. It's the main A.I. for freak's sake. Lightning. Master swordsmanship. Invulnerability. Shit, it can probably fly."
Tanner pondered the problem. "I don't suppose we could take out One's eyes?"
St
anson smiled ironically. "One doesn't have eyes, Tanner. Its avatar is just an empty robe covering darkness, with two hands poking out its sleeves. No, you can't take out its eyes. And you can't kill One."
"There has to be a way. Come on Stanson, think! Powerful as it is, One's avatar has to obey the laws of the simulation."
Stanson and the children remained silent.
The laws of the simulation.
Tanner felt the inkling of an idea forming. "What if we could force One's avatar beyond the limits of the simulation? The same way Hoodwink first passed from Inside to Outside?"
"You mean out past the Forever Gate? And past the system boundaries in the desert?"
Tanner nodded. "Exactly."
Stanson thrummed his fingers against the desk. "That would work." Any avatar that passed the outermost boundaries of the simulation instantly died, because when you crossed the boundaries you didn't exist as far as the simulation was concerned. "But first you'd have to get One out there."
"We could slap a trackable bronze bitch on its avatar. I'll show you how to make them. Then once we collar One, we'll send its avatar beyond the limits directly."
"No," Stanson said. "We could only move the avatar up against the glass boundary. It'd be up to you to force One through it."
Tanner clapped his hands together. "Then we have a plan!"
He was going to bitch One and send it across the Forever Gate.
The tricky part was getting close enough to collar its avatar in the first place.
Tanner would have to get some help on the Inside.
105
The Control Room of the Inside was a place of iron desks and paneled terminals similar to those found in Omega Station on the Outside, but instead of a wide viewport to the moon at the front, the Control Room had three display screens. The leftmost screen danced with numbers, the middle showed a map of all the cities on the Inside, and the rightmost graphed an exponential curve that represented the spread of the gol mind disease.