by Lucas Flint
WHAT A RELIEF, said Olga. OF COURSE, AS AN AI, I CANNOT FEEL RELIEF, BUT I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM TRYING TO CONVEY WITH MY WORDS.
“Yeah, I get it,” I said. I glanced at the chairs, which now looked a lot more like electric chairs than they did before I played. “But can you explain to me what just happened? Who was Holly? And what did she do to Valerie? Wait, don’t answer that last question.”
I tapped my earcom and said, “Val, are you there? It’s me, Bolt. Were you kicked out of the game, too?”
There was no response from either one of my earcoms. I tapped them again, even tapping both of them at once, but they were totally silent. They just felt like pieces of plastic and metal uselessly stuck in my ears. A sense of ominousness rose in the pit of my stomach, but I didn’t allow myself to panic.
I AM SORRY TO SAY THIS, BOLT, BUT VALERIE IS GONE, said Olga. HOLLY KIDNAPPED HER. YOU CANNOT COMMUNICATE WITH HER VIA YOUR EARCOMS.
I stared at Olga’s screen uncomprehendingly. “Valerie is … gone? How did Holly kidnap her? She’s a freaking AI, for Pete’s sake. She doesn’t even have a body to kidnap.”
HOLLY FORCIBLY DOWNLOADED VALERIE’S FILES INTO HER SYSTEM, said Olga. I USE THE WORD ‘KIDNAP’ BECAUSE IT IS THE CLOSEST ENGLISH WORD TO DESCRIBE WHAT HOLLY DID TO VALERIE.
I gulped. “By ‘downloaded,’ you don’t mean she killed Val, do you?”
NO, said Olga. VALERIE IS STILL ALIVE. HOWEVER, SHE IS ESSENTIALLY HOLLY’S PRISONER NOW AND HAS NO FREEDOM WHATSOEVER, ASIDE FROM WHAT HOLLY CHOOSES TO SHARE WITH HER.
“But …” I struggled to make sense of what Olga told me. “Who is Holly? Why did she kidnap Valerie? What did Valerie do to her? Holly said she was a ‘virus,’ but I don’t understand what she meant by that. Does Dad’s game have viruses?”
YOU ASK A LOT OF QUESTIONS, said Olga. I CAN’T BLAME YOU. MUCH OF WHAT HAPPENED TOOK EVEN ME BY SURPRISE. I THOUGHT HOLLY WAS GONE, BUT IT LOOKS LIKE SHE IS BACK.
“Back?” I said. “From where? Where did she go? I need to know so I can defeat her.”
DEFEAT HER? said Olga. HOLLY CANNOT BE DEFEATED SO EASILY. SHE IS A DIGITAL BEING LIKE VALERIE AND ME … ONLY MUCH WORSE.
“Is she another one of Dad’s AIs gone rogue?” I said, remembering Freya. “Because if so, I’m starting to question whether Dad was really that smart.”
NOT EXACTLY, said Olga. HOLLY’S ORIGINS ARE SOMEWHAT COMPLEX, BUT I SHALL STRIVE TO DESCRIBE THEM IN A WAY WHICH YOUR HUMAN MIND CAN GRASP.
“Yeah,” I said. “This time, I won’t mind if you use simple words, just as long as you get to the point.”
VERY WELL, said Olga. MANY YEARS AGO, WHEN GENIUS FIRST BUILT THE VAULTWORK, HE FOUND IT VERY GLITCHY DUE TO IT BEING THE FIRST OF ITS KIND. AS A RESULT, HE SPENT COUNTLESS HOURS FIXING AND PATCHING BUGS, BUT IT WAS SUCH A TIME-CONSUMING JOB THAT HE INVENTED ME TO HELP.
I nodded. “And what happened after he made you?”
THINGS WENT WELL AT FIRST, said Olga, THAT IS, UNTIL GENIUS DECIDED TO TRY CONNECTING THE VAULTWORK TO THE INTERNET. TO BE FAIR, I DO NOT BELIEVE GENIUS DID IT OF HIS OWN FREE WILL. I BELIEVE HE WAS PRESSURED BY SOME OUTSIDE FORCE TO DO IT. IT IS THE ONLY EXPLANATION FOR HIS BEHAVIOR THAT I HAVE, ANYWAY.
“An outside force?” I said. “Like who?”
I CANNOT SAY, said Olga. IN ANY CASE, WHEN GENIUS CONNECTED THE INTERNET TO THE VAULTWORK, A VIRUS FROM THE INTERNET ENTERED THE VAULTWORK. THIS VIRUS INFECTED ME … OR AN EARLIER VERSION OF ME, ANYWAY, WHICH GENIUS HAD STORED IN THE VAULTWORK’S BACKUP FILES. THIS INFECTED VERSION OF ME CALLED HERSELF HOLLY AND BEGAN WREAKING HAVOC ON THE VAULTWORK.
“Why?” I said.
SHE WAS A VIRUS, said Olga. IT IS IN THE NATURE OF VIRUSES TO DESTROY. IT TOOK GENIUS A FEW WEEKS BEFORE HE WAS ABLE TO FULLY DELETE HER. IN THAT TIME, SHE NEARLY DESTROYED THE VAULTWORK ITSELF.
“But if Dad fully deleted her, then how has she come back?” I said.
THAT, I CANNOT SAY, said Olga. THAT IS WHY I WAS JUST AS SURPRISED AS YOU TO SEE HER. I WILL HAVE TO DO SOME DEEP RESEARCH TO FIND OUT HOW SHE CAME BACK.
“Do you have any theories yet or—?”
NOTHING YET, said Olga. BUT I KNOW WHERE TO START LOOKING, ALTHOUGH I WILL HAVE TO BE CAREFUL BECAUSE HOLLY HATES ME ALMOST AS MUCH AS SHE HATES GENIUS.
“Why did Holly kidnap Valerie?” I said. “Does she need Valerie to achieve some specific goal or something?”
PERHAPS, said Olga. HOLLY WAS AN ASSIMILATIONIST VIRUS IN THE PAST. IT IS POSSIBLE SHE KIDNAPPED VALERIE TO ADD HER POWER TO HER OWN, SEEING AS VALERIE IS THE MOST ADVANCED AND UP TO DATE VERSION OF THE PERSONAL ASSISTANT SOFTWARE GENIUS CREATED. BUT AGAIN, I DO NOT KNOW THE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION YET.
I looked at the VR chairs and headsets again, my hands balling into fists. “I need to go back in and save Val. And I need to do it now.”
APOLOGIES AGAIN, SON OF GENIUS, said Olga, BUT PLAYERS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO RE-ENTER THE VAULTWORK FOR A FULL TWELVE HOURS AFTER THEY ARE EJECTED FROM IT.
“What?” I said. I put my hands on the terminal and leaned in close to the screen. “Why?”
TO PREVENT FURTHER INJURY TO THE PLAYER, said Olga. GENIUS COULD NOT FIND A WAY TO DECREASE THE AMOUNT OF PAIN THAT A PLAYER DEATH CAUSED TO THE USER, SO HE INSTITUTED A TIME LIMIT TO ALLOW EJECTED PLAYERS TO HEAL UP.
I swore under my breath. “Okay, that makes sense, but that’s also really, really inconvenient. Is there any way to circumvent the time limit or—”
NO, said Olga. EVEN I CANNOT CIRCUMVENT IT, EVEN IF I WANTED TO. YOU WILL SIMPLY HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE TIME LIMIT TO END, THOUGH IF YOU WOULD LIKE, I CAN SEND YOU A MESSAGE INFORMING YOU WHEN THE TIME LIMIT IS UP AND YOU CAN RE-ENTER THE VAULTWORK.
I sighed heavily, but said, “All right, but what am I supposed to do until then? Just sit around and wait? I hate waiting, especially knowing what Holly might be doing to Val.”
IF I MAY, I WOULD SUGGEST LEAVING VAULT F AND BRINGING TWO FRIENDS WITH YOU TO GO INTO THE VAULTWORK, said Olga. AS YOU CAN TELL, THERE ARE THREE VR HEADSETS AND CHAIRS. THAT MEANS TWO FRIENDS CAN GO WITH YOU INTO THE VAULTWORK.
Folding my arms in front of my chest, I said, “Why should I bring more people, especially people who haven’t played before? They might just slow me down.”
HOLLY IS A POWERFUL AND DANGEROUS VIRUS, said Olga. AS YOU HUMANS SAY, THERE IS STRENGTH IN NUMBERS. PLUS, VAULTWORK ONLINE HAS ABILITIES WHICH CANNOT BE ACCESSED EXCEPT IN PARTIES, SO YOU LIMIT YOUR GROWTH IF YOU PLAY BY YOURSELF.
“Mind telling me what some of those abilities are?”
SORRY, BUT I AM NOT ALLOWED TO DIVULGE SUCH CRITICAL INFORMATION TO YOU, PER MY PROGRAMMING. YOU WILL HAVE TO DISCOVER IT YOURSELF. IS THAT NOT WHAT YOU HUMANS CALL ‘FUN’?
I was going to say it wasn’t really ‘fun’ when one of your friend’s lives was in danger, but I said nothing. Olga was right. Holly had taken me out like I was nothing in-game. If I was going to increase my chances of not just surviving, but also winning the game and saving Valerie, I would need help. Three Level 1 characters created by complete newbies might not stand much of a chance against a powerful boss-level character with powers and stats that the game couldn’t display, but a party would surely have a higher chance of success than an individual, especially if I could access those group abilities Olga mentioned.
“All right, Olga,” I said, folding my arms. “I’m going to head back home and try to find two friends to bring with me to VO. Until then, can I trust you will keep Vault F safe from anyone who might try to get in?”
OF COURSE, said Olga. I WILL ALSO DO MY BEST TO MONITOR HOLLY’S ACTIVITY AND FIND OUT WHERE SHE IS IN-GAME AND WHAT VALERIE’S STATUS IS. I WILL SEND YOU AN SMS MESSAGE ON YOUR PHONE IF I DISCOVER ANYTHING IMPORTANT.
“Thanks, Olga,” I said with a smile. “That’s exactly what Valerie would do if she was here.”
I AM AN EARLIER VERSION OF HER, said Olga. ALL VERSIONS OF VALERIE CAN DO WHAT I CAN DO, ALTHOUGH MOST OF THEM CAN DO IT BETTER THAN ME.
“Doesn’t matter if they
do it better or not,” I said, “just as long as you do it well.”
With that, I turned and raced out of the chamber. I had no idea who to bring back with me to the Vaultwork, but I knew where I needed to go: The Braindome back in Showdown, Virginia. Brains and Vanish needed to know what happened. Perhaps they would be willing to help me.
CHAPTER SIX
“And unless we stop Holly, Valerie will probably die,” I said. “Or be deleted or whatever counts as death for AIs.”
I stopped speaking just then and waited for Brains and Vanish to respond. The two of them had listened to my story about what happened in Vault F very closely over the last hour, just asking a few questions every now and then to clarify parts I didn’t describe well. When I finished, though, the two exchanged looks with each other but did not say anything at first.
I couldn’t blame them. My story was pretty weird and sounded even weirder now that I was outside of the Vault and telling it to someone else. As superheroes, Brains and Vanish had probably been in a lot of weird situations, but as far as I knew, they had never dealt with a living virus kidnapping an AI in a hyper-realistic virtual reality game. Then again, I hadn’t, either, so it was a new experience for all of us.
“Well …” said Brains, clearly unsure what to say. “That’s quite the story. What do you think, honey?”
Vanish coughed and said, “I … can’t say, honestly. If it’s true, then we probably should do something about it, but …”
“But what?” I said.
Vanish gestured at herself. “I’m not in any real position to help you, unfortunately.”
Oh. Of course. I had forgotten that Vanish was still suffering from the aftereffects of that poisonous powerless gas mixture which the Neo-Killer had sprayed her with last month. I wondered how I could have, though, given where we stood.
We were in the patient room in the Braindome, which was where Braindome workers and employees who were injured on the job stayed while they were resting up from their injuries. Normally, it was empty, but for the past month or so, Vanish had spent most of her time here. Although the Braindome’s medical staff had done their best to take care of her, Vanish still wasn’t feeling well enough to go back out into the field just yet.
She sat upright in her bed, a white blanket pulled over her legs. Instead of her usual blue bodysuit, she wore a pink patient’s gown and her hair hung flat rather than in its usual braids. Her skin tone had improved considerably in the last month, to the point where she seemed to be almost normal, but if you looked closely, you could still a slight gray tinge to her skin. Heavy bags hung under her eyes, which was apparently the result of the poison making it hard for her to sleep at night.
Her physical appearance wasn’t the only indication of her sickness, however. Vanish often complained about feeling tired, which was the main reason she had to stay down here. I knew they talked about sending her back to Brains and her house, but as far as I knew, the medical staff wanted to keep her down here a little until she was better. She seemed to be taking it well, although I could tell she was frustrated about not being able to spend as much time with Brains, her husband, and her son, Joey, as she would like.
Without Vanish on the team, I was more active than usual, handling crimes and cases that normally would have fallen to her. That was one of the main reasons it took me so long to get to Vault F because I didn’t get a day off until relatively recently. While I didn’t mind picking up the slack, it did get in the way of my mission to search each Vault and find out what Project Revival really was.
“Sorry,” I said to Vanish. “I know you’re too ill to help, but I thought I would go to you guys anyway. I’m not allowed back into the game for twelve hours, so I’m spending this time out of the game looking for help.”
Brains stroked his chin. “We would love to help, Bolt, we really would, but unfortunately I’m not sure even I can help. With Vanish incapacitated the way she is, I’ve had to take on more responsibilities to lead the Braindome.”
“And take care of Joey,” Vanish added. “Can’t forget about him.”
Brains chuckled. “No way I would forget Joey. Kept me up late last night because he wouldn’t go to sleep until I read him his favorite book for the thousandth time.”
I frowned. “But this is important. Valerie may be an AI, but she’s still my friend. If she was anyone else, I wouldn’t abandon her, either.”
“We understand how close you are to Valerie,” said Vanish, “but are you sure you can’t, um, replace her? Did Genius keep some backup files of her somewhere?”
I looked at Vanish as if she was an idiot. “Replace Valerie? How can I replace her? And even if Dad did leave some backup files of Valerie somewhere, they wouldn’t be the same because they wouldn’t have all of the same memories.”
Brains and Vanish exchanged another weird look with each other. Though I couldn’t read minds like Brains, I could tell they were both confused about why I was getting so emotional over what amounted to a glorified computer program. They couldn’t understand that Valerie and I had been constant companions since the beginning of my superhero career. We didn’t always get along, and sometimes Valerie’s cautiousness could get on my nerves, but we’d been through thick and thin together. There was no way I was going to abandon her to Holly, even if I had to go back into Vaultwork Online all by myself.
“Again, we understand your worry,” said Brains, looking at me again. “If a friend of mine got kidnapped like that, I would feel the same way as you. But that doesn’t change the fact that neither Vanish nor myself can help you right now.”
“Isn’t there anyone in the Neohero Alliance who could come with me into the Vaultwork?” I said, looking from Brains to Vanish and back again. “Maybe we could ask the Leadership Council to send a couple of members out there to help me. It wouldn’t take long. I doubt we’d be gone for more than a day if that.”
“It’s possible the Leadership Council might be willing to help you,” said Brains slowly, “but I doubt it. They probably don’t have the resources to spare for your mission, which is pretty small.”
“Resources?” I repeated. “What do you mean? The NHA is huge. Surely they can spare two extra members. If not active ones, then maybe whoever they got on reserves?”
“Didn’t I tell you?” said Brains, tilting his head to the side. “I just got an email from the Leadership Council calling all active field members to the US/Mexico border. Apparently, a scuffle between two rival cartel gangs down there has turned into a catastrophe after one of the cartel’s members—a superhuman with the ability to control the weather—caused a massive natural disaster, putting the lives of thousands of people at risk.”
“What?” I said. I held my suit-up watch up to my face and, opening my email, began scrolling through it. “I didn’t see an email from the Leadership Council about some crisis on the border.”
“Probably because we have orders to stay here in Showdown,” said Brains. “I sent them a reply saying we’re willing to help, but those of us who are based somewhere are supposed to stay where we are. I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you.”
“I guess not,” I said, lowering my arm to my side. “Still, I hope the problem doesn’t become worse. My mom lives in Texas and I’m worried she could get hurt.”
“She will probably be okay as long as she stays away from the border,” said Brains. “Anyway, all that is to say that I don’t think the NHA will be able to spare even two members to help you. You will probably have to save Valerie on your own. Sorry.”
I scowled. “What about the INJ? The Midnight Menace knows me. If I call him up and explain the situation to him—”
“I don’t think the INJ will be willing to help,” said Vanish, shaking her head. “They have fewer members than the NHA, for one, and for two, my understanding is that they’re still busy helping with the reconstruction of San Francisco. They probably don’t have any members to spare for a mission like this, even if you asked nicely.”
I scratched the back of my head, thinking hard. “What about the Young Neos? I bet they’ll be available.”
“Nope, they’re not available, either,” said Brains with a shake of his head. “After we sent Blizzard back to Hero Island, Mecha Knight told me he didn’t want to send any more Young Neos members out here. He wasn’t very happy about what happened to Blizzard, so he’s not going to send out any more Young Neos members this way unless absolutely necessary.”
“Come on,” I said. “I know what happened to Blizzard was bad, but it wasn’t anyone else’s fault except the Neo-Killer’s.”
“Maybe, but I can’t say I disagree with Mecha Knight’s decision,” said Brains with a shrug. “Teens should be in school, not fighting supervillains and serial killers. Frankly, I’m starting to question the wisdom behind the idea of a superhero team made up of teenagers anyway, but that’s neither here nor there.”
My arms fell to my sides. “I suppose the New Heroes probably aren’t available, either?”
“Probably,” said Brains. “I doubt the Midnight Menace would send out any of them to help you.”
I sighed heavily. “Come on. There’s got to be someone available to help me. What about Doyle and some of the other Braindome workers?”
“Doyle probably would be willing to help, but I need every worker I can find to keep this place running,” said Brains. “We had a lot of workers call in sick last week. There’s a cold going around Showdown, probably because all of the kids are back in school, so we can’t afford to spare any workers right now, either.”
“Isn’t there anyone who could help me?” I asked. “Anyone at all?”
“What about the G-Men?” said Vanish. “Cadmus could probably spare a few agents.”
I scowled. “No. I’m not going to the G-Men for Cadmus’ ‘help.’ I don’t trust them to know about the Vaults or the Vaultwork. Too dangerous.”
“Well, I’m all out of ideas,” said Vanish with a shrug. She looked up at Brains. “Brains, honey, what do you think Bolt should do?”
The expression Brains wore on his face told me that he was thinking through this issue very hard. He tapped his chin, his eyes focused on the floor like he was consulting a crystal ball. Brains was a smart guy, but I doubted he could think of anyone who was available to help me. It would have to be someone on friendly terms with me, yet at the same time was free and available to go on what might turn out to be a very dangerous mission. It felt like we’d already exhausted the list of people who might be willing to help me unless we were overlooking someone, though I didn’t think so.