It was a sight to see: Karina was King on her back, kicking and screaming, with Tissa sitting on top of her and holding her down, with Rita and Piper trying fruitlessly to pull them apart and Liam watching with wide eyes, not sure what to do, continually spraying that Accelerator into his mouth. Malik shouted for them to stop. Ed and Hung whistled and shouted for the combatants to play fair and not mess up each other’s make-up. Alison Wu, mouth agape in shock, was filming it all on her comm and providing a running commentary.
Before I could reach them, the girls had already been separated. Rita took the blushing and ragged Karina off to the side. Tissa watched Goosebumps go victoriously and shouted as she went:
“Don’t even think about it, you got that, slut?!”
Liam remembered himself, took her by the arm and went for the exit. But Tissa broke free and came back to say goodbye. She hugged the boys, nodded to Piper and Alison, ignored Rita and Karina, then came over to me.
“It was nice to see you. Thank you for understanding. Sorry we’re leaving, it’s just time for us to go.”
“What were you and Karina fighting over?” I asked, trying to shed some light on the situation.
“That moron thought she has a chance with you just because we look alike. I had to explain to her that I have nothing in common with her or her fat-ass friend.”
“Couldn’t you explain that with words?”
“I did explain it with words! But she didn’t understand…”
They left in total silence. AT barked twice at the uninvited guests’ departing backs.
A couple of minutes later, Karina and Rita came out of the bathroom. Goosebumps had washed and touched up her make-up, and now she looked even cuter. She’d broken one high-heel, so she took off her shoes and was the same height as me.
Everyone was quiet for a while. The only noise was Hung opening cans of beer for himself and Alison. And then everyone started talking at once. I heard Rita’s loud voice over the hubbub:
“Why did you invite them, Alex? In the short time he was here, Liam managed to put everyone in a bad mood, and so subtly that I didn’t even notice right away.”
“Nobody invited him, Tissa brought him,” Hung muttered darkly. “And as for her, we invited her, not Alex. Anyway, guys, let’s forget it. Let’s just have fun!”
“That Tissa belongs on a farm,” Karina huffed. “Psycho!”
“She really is kinda wild,” Piper shook her head. “But that won’t last long. Elizabeth will teach her manners.”
“Guys, Tissa is our friend!” Ed said, raising his hands. “Anything you want to say about her, you should say to her face.”
“Simmer down, cowboy. I didn’t mean to offend anyone!” Piper laughed. “But I already forgot how dumb and crazy school parties can be! What do you think will happen next, Alison?”
Alison suggested a food fight, a dumpster fire, another fight that would descend into an orgy. The rest laughed and soon we all forgot about the incident. The party’ was back in full swing.
Plenty did happen after that. We ate, drank, played games, discussed events in Dis, which I found fun—I got to talk about the things I’d caused and what I was as if I had nothing to do with it. Everyone who knew played along, and the ones that didn’t know just built their own absurd fictions. I doubted that Alison and Karina were playing dumb. They had no idea who they were talking to. And although Rita suspected that I was a Threat, I doubted she knew my status.
Ed let me know a couple of times that he wanted to talk. We walked off to the side.
“What did he want?” my friend asked, meaning Liam. “Does he know?”
I shook my head and quietly answered that it didn’t seem like Liam knew. Rodriguez sighed in relief.
“Have you decided which girl you’re interested in?”
“Nah.”
“Alright, then I won’t make any moves for now,” Ed smiled and slapped me on the shoulder. “But if you don’t decide by midnight, then you’re gonna have one less option!”
Right after that, Karina plucked up her courage and asked me to dance. She told me her side of the fight with Tissa: apparently, the other girl had started it, demanding that Karina kept away from me. She answered that Alex wasn’t anyone’s property and he’d decide for himself who to be with. Then one thing led to another…
The girl wanted to keep talking to me, but Rita turned up and led me away under her friend’s jealous gaze. She said nothing about me and her, just asked whether she could still join our clan. I didn’t want to talk about that with everyone watching, so I suggested we meet up in person to discuss it sober. When she agreed, something came over me and I asked: “Are you staying the night?”
The girl stared into my eyes, trying to find something in them that would tell her the right answer. Her look was so intimate that I wanted to hold her and kiss her right then. Rita seemed to read my mind. She backed off half a step.
“I can’t. I’d like to, but I can’t. I don’t want to lose my best friend. Give her a chance.”
I did just that—I brought Karina into my room ’to show her my holographic model of the Solar System.’ I could have chosen Piper. She’d dropped hints. And in the state I was in, the who didn’t matter, but… I just wasn’t used to getting all this attention from so many cute girls. I couldn’t explain exactly why I chose Goosebumps. Maybe it was the alcohol going to my head. Some things just happen to you, and it doesn’t matter what your heart feels or your mind thinks.
I closed the door, switched off my comm, flicked the light switch and embraced Karina.
We needed no words; I liked her, she liked me. Instead of talking, we started kissing, and very soon I got to use the skills I’d honed with Beta.
We left the room long after midnight. By then, everyone was pretty well cut. Malik was strumming a virtual guitar and singing songs of his own making; Ed was hugging both Rita and Piper at the same time and drunkenly relating some story while they laughed; Hung and Alison didn’t come out of my parents’ room, where I learned they’d gone right after Karina and I had disappeared. The boys greeted us with raucous shouts of approval…
Dawn broke, and the guests got ready to leave. As she said goodbye, Piper hugged me and whispered in my ear:
“Pecheneg wants to meet. Can you do today?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged and glanced pointedly at Karina.
Piper laughed in understanding.
“Try to find some time anyway. Blackberry wasn’t his only mole in the Alliance, you know.”
“How’s she doing, by the way?”
“She left Modus. Pecheneg wanted to offer her to you. You need an analyst, right? But that’s not all. The old man has information.”
“Do you know what it is he wants to tell me?”
“No.”
“Then tell him I need two tons of Corrupted Adamantite. With the friendly discount he offered me, on top of a discount for bulk.”
The girl’s jaw dropped.
“Discuss it all with Crawler, he’ll make the payment.”
“Got it, consider it done.” Piper hugged me again and this time her lips touched my ear. “Shame you chose the blonde, Alex. That girl has no skills.”
Laughing, she kissed me on the cheek right next to my lips, so the kiss looked just friendly.
Piper and Alison were the first to leave. Hung went to walk them out, then Malik, Rita and Ed left. Karina stayed with me.
We stayed up for three more hours, talking, getting to know each other.
Toward midday, I woke to my comm vibrating. I pulled my arm out from under Karina and brought up the message.
It was an answer from Snowstorm: “Our support service has reviewed your ticket. The described issue is part of the gameplay. Good luck!”
The email was sent from a no-reply account. Reading between the lines, the message was loud and clear: “We won’t help you. Get out of this one yourself.”
Chapter 9: Zeitnot
KARINA’S LONG L
EGS shone in the half-light of the room with its shuttered windows. A cute, kind and somewhat naive girl that I first met in the Bubbling Flagon. We met only once in real life, when we went to the Glastonbury music festival together. Now here we were, our second meeting, and Karina had become my first. Only a month ago, I and all my friends would have bet money that it would have been Tissa.
I shook those thoughts away, tore my eyes from Karina and read my comm again: “Our support sendee has reviewed your ticket. The described issue is part of the gameplay. Good luck!”
What now? Climb into my capsule to spend another few months in the Nether with that insane psychopath? No w^ay! I shuddered and jumped back under the warm sheets, but my comm vibrated again. Rodriguez’s face came up. I quickly left the room and closed the door, then answered.
“What’s up, Ed?”
“Trouble.” My friend’s sleepless face looked tired, worried and stressed. “Alex, check CrapChat! I had to call, you’re not picking up your messages!”
The news made me forget Karina and my desire to sleep.
“You aren’t here, so the lich recalled Sharkon and the guardians. Tiamafs temple is defenseless. A raid group from the Elites is attacking it. Looks like Mogwai has split from the Alliance. Do you still think Liam just turned up for no reason?”
I started to feel sick. I hadn’t slept long and now I had new problems, but with a killer hangover to go with them. My night with Karina weighed heavily on my mind. Was it worth it? I felt nothing for her, but how could I just break it off? After she told me how badly she’d fallen for me… At least she didn’t mention the L word, but all the same… Nether, what was I supposed to do?
Never mind. That would wait. First the most important thing was what was happening in Dis. If we lost Tiamat’s temple, then our already tough situation would get even tougher.
I decided to contact Kiran Jackson. If he refused to help me, I’d have to threaten to release information on the Nether. Ian would gladly take the interview, and his editor Clark Katz would dedicate a whole issue of Disgardium Daily to the sensation.
But first I had to figure out how much time I had, if I had any time at all. I answered Ed’s message with a question:
“How long will it take them to destroy the temple?”
“Mogwai is livestreaming it. The temple has 80% durability left. They’ll finish it off by midnight. Just three managed to get through: Mogwai, Criterror and Dek.
Dek? The top solo adventurer in Dis? He can’t join any clan without penalties. What’s he doing there?”
‘He isn’t with Mogwai. He turned up first, quiet like. By the way, Crash fought them to the last, but he bought it. He’s respawning now.”
They’d taken twenty percent durability in twelve hours? That meant I had no time at all. Other clans would be rushing toward the temple that ver moment, eager to claim Nergal’s rewards. Damn, damn, damn!
I messaged Ed again:
“Where are the other preventers?”
“Some others tried to break through too, butShazz is pushing them all back now. He’s leveled up his air skills and has the skies under cojitr’ol jww. The Alliance decided to concentrate OJI the undead army. What are we going to do? Maybe we should jump to the temple, try to distract them at least?”
‘Yeah, an observer wouldn’t hurt. Fly around a little. Alright, over and out, I need to somehow get out of you-know-where.”
Channel terminated.
Polotsky must have been planning to tell me about the attack on the temple. Or maybe he had some other information. Either way, there was nothing I could do for now. First I had to get out of the Nether, and it seemed the only person that could help me was Kiran Jackson.
I couldn’t call him in the state I was in. I took quarter of an hour to have a contrast shower and let the Home Doctor remove the alcohol from my system. Then I drank down some fresh coffee and finally called the Snowstorm director. It occurred to me that Jackson might just ignore me, but on the other hand, he’d probably already been told where I’d gone. That might be a good enough reason to answer me.
And he didn’t just answer. Kiran recognized me.
“Hey there, Alex!” His clean-shaven face appeared on the screen, with a warm smile and spiderwebbing wrinkles at the corners of the eyes. “Hows it going? How can I help you?”
“Hello, Mr. Jackson.” My voice still sounded hoarse. I coughed. “Thank you for picking up. Sorry for bothering you, but Snowstorm tech support couldn’t help me.”
“You have my full attention. I’ll do everything I can.”
“The day before yesterday, my character fell into some strange version of Dis. It’s either the Nether or some beta version…” In short, without leaving out any important details, I told him how I got there and what happened to me there. “Tech support told me that it was part of the gameplay. I doubt that. I’m asking you to help me get back to the normal version of the game.”
“That’s a curious story, Alex…” Kiran’s tone changed, turned sympathetic. “And you don’t look too good. Say, you haven’t been taking any stims, have you?”
“Never touched them.”
“No? That’s even more interesting… You see, what you just told me is basically impossible. It sounds like a nightmare or one of the many urban legends that do the rounds online.”
“I’m not lying! It was just like I said!”
“Do you have any recordings to confirm it? Photos?”
“The place my character got stuck in doesn’t have those functions! It doesn’t even have a quit button!”
“Alex…” Kiran sighed deeply. “Listen to me. You’ve had your many adventures in your time. Others have fewer in a whole lifetime… You’ve been through a lot, and maybe… Look, obviously it’s your decision, but I recommend that you take a break from Disgardium. Now I have to go, sony, lots to do…”
“Mr. Jackson!” I interrupted, feeling myself boiling over, not letting him end the conversation. “Try to forget about all your very important business for a moment and understand this: my character, a class-A Threat, is stuck in an undocumented reality of Dis where time flows five hundred times faster, and beta testers have been living there in confinement for thousands of years. Do you want me to interview them and pass it all on to Disgardium Daily? Do you want me to…”
“No, you listen to me, kiddo!” Kiran snapped. He wasn’t shouting, but his face twisted. “You were told very clearly what to do and what not to do. But you started getting clever! Nothing of what you speak of exists. You have no way to confirm what you’re saving. And as for spreading baseless rumors to damage the corporation… I advise you read the user agreement again. You won’t just lose everything that depends on your character and its clan. We’ll sue you for all the funds you already withdrew from the game. Not to mention compensation for damaging the company’s good name. Believe me, there’ll be a lot of zeros on that number! And you’ll lose the case. I guarantee it. And then you can forget all about citizenship. Is that clear? I hope it is.”
“Mr. Jackson, wait…”
“Keep your head down, son,” Kiran interrupted him. “And forget this number. Don’t call me again.”
The Snowstorm directors face disappeared, replaced by text: Caller Kiran Jackson dropped the connection. As soon as he disappeared from the comm screen, I heard Karina’s sleepy voice behind me.
“Alex! Good morning… Can I have some coffee too?”
* * *
I couldn’t play the good guy for long. Saying that I needed to do some homework (damn, back to school tomorrow!) and a thing or two in Dis, I walked Karina out, promising that we’d meet again the next weekend. As soon as the door closed behind her, I started reviewing the recording from the lounge video camera.
The girl had left my room when Kiran said “Keep your head down, son”—at least I was lucky there. She must have thought I was talking to my dad. I was annoyed that my shouting had woken her up, and there was too much confidential information in
my impassioned speech. I hoped the half-asleep Karina didn’t pay any attention to what I’d said.
Once done with that, I ordered some life-support cartridges for my capsule. While I waited, I ground my teeth as I watched the trio at Tiamat’s temple ripping apart my pet, Crash. The Diamond Worm had revived and gone straight for Mogwai. The tank withstood the attack easily, and Criterror and Dek flooded the worm with damage. It took them a wiiile to kill him—that was good, at least. The temple had seventy-seven percent durability left.
As I watched the battle, I kept trying to remember the name of the girl behind the character Nine. Julia? May? I couldn’t seem to remember it. I kept guessing. Something told me it matched a month of the year… June? June. That was it. The name came out of the abyss of memory along with the surname—Curtis. She must be around forty.
A citizen search showed me several hundred June Curtises, and a third of them fit the age bracket of thirty-five to forty-five. And then there were noncitizens on top of that… Should I message each of them? “Sorry, but you didn’t happen to take part in any Dis beta tests, did you?” It would probably just go straight to spam. Pointless though it was, I decided to do it anyway. I gave the home assistant an order: “O, send messages to all addressees with the name June Curtis, surname starting with C or K.” Then I dictated the message.
I didn’t know myself what I was trying to achieve, but I at least wanted to see Beta the sadist in real life. If she was still alive. The main thing was to confirm that the original Beta existed, and hadn’t rotted away in a capsule after the failed test. If I could find her, then that could be the ace up my sleeve in negotiations with Nine.
“Four thousand two hundred and seventy-three addressees matching the criteria found,” O reported. Without limiting by age and including noncitizens, the number rose by an order of magnitude. “Simultaneous mailout impossible due to violation of the articles of citizenship on unwelcome correspondence. Solution: limit simultaneous…
“Do it,” I ordered, not waiting to hear it all.
Holy War Page 14