The Cheater's Return

by Brian McGoldrick

  With a mix of exasperation and anger in her eyes, Morgan frowned at Wild Boar. "You know very well that I have lost one battle."

  Primacy Online was a series of CRMMO (Constructed Reality Massive Multiplayer Online) games produced by the Church of the Resurrection. Under the threat of the Church's orbital particle cannons, every city-state on the face of the planet used the game to settle their conflicts. More than half of the Earth's population played, and there was no longer war on Earth.

  A susurrus of conversation spread through the abandoned factory. Morgan, whose character sheathe in Primacy Online was known as Raven Goddess, was one of the most well-known people on the face of the Earth and generally acknowledged as the absolute number one player of Primacy Online . She was known to have never lost a single battle, ever. Her claiming that she had lost once and Wild Boar knew it was possibly the most shocking thing that she had ever said.

  Wild Boar laughed until he was coughing. He wiped his mouth with his palm and surreptitiously wiped his palm on his black fighting trunks, before making a tight fist to hide that palm.

  Vincent frowned. He knew that Wild Boar always wore black trunks because blood did not easily show up against such a dark shade.

  Morgan's eyes narrowed, and she unconsciously frowned at Wild Boar.

  Wild Boar sneered. "So you lost to some unknown in the game, and now, you've climbed out of your cryo-capsule to pick fights with nobodies in random cities, like me? Aren't you trying to overcompensate for your loss?"

  Shocked gasps ran through the crowd.

  Morgan's frown deepened. "Do you have the courage to face me? If you need a little impetus to stiffen your spine, I can just tell everyone your secret."

  Wild Boar chuckled and held his arms out at shoulder height, with the underside of his closed fist and his palm facing upward. "I don't have any secrets, and there's no one I'm afraid to fight. I'm just worried about ruining your rep by beating your ass in a shithole fighting club."

  Wild Boar looked past Morgan and made eye contact with Vincent. "No offense, Vinny, but this really is a shithole."

  With a complete lack of expression, Vincent shrugged. "None taken. Like you said, this really is a shithole."

  Morgan held out her hands, and each of her bodyguards placed a thirty-centimeter rod in one of her hands. With a flick of her wrists, each of the rods telescoped outward into a two-meter long staff, and she threw one of them to Wild Boar.

  Catching the thrown staff, Wild Boar performed a short kata with it, and Morgan Danan watched with a frown. "You should use your spear style. If you do not, you will lose."

  Resting the staff across his shoulder at the back of his neck, Wild Boar hooked both arms around it. "I don't know how to use a spear."

  "That is a shame. It means you will die." Morgan jumped from the second floor VIP section to the top of the chain link fence, and from there, she hopped down into the ring.

  Without saying another word, Morgan attacked Wild Boar with a sliding thrust, and without taking the staff off his shoulders, Wild Boar swayed to the side just far enough to avoid the strike.

  "If I wasn't able to avoid that, you would have killed me."

  "If you were not able to avoid that, you would not be worth the air that you breathe."

  Wild Boar grinned.

  Seeing the blood dying Wild Boar's teeth red, Morgan froze for a fraction of second, and Wild Boar's kick to her stomach landed. Rolling with the blow, she let herself be sent flying through the air and landed on her feet with her staff ready, but Wild Boar was not following up on his attack.

  With his staff planted on the ground, Wild Boar stared at Morgan and stroked his chin. "Black. You really look sexy in black. Did you let me kick you just so you could flash me?"

  For a few seconds the abandoned factory was silent as a tomb, and then, thousands of people in the crowd burst into laughter.

  Without replying, Morgan attacked again, but Wild Boar did nothing except dodge her attacks. After nearly a minute, she paused, and her eyes were still as cold as ever.

  "Getting bored? I don't want to ruin your rep. It would cause me too much grief. I'm perma-banned."

  "Crom Cruach, you are about to be a draftee." Morgan's soft words were only heard by Wild Boar, and without saying anything more, she turned and left the ring. With her two bodyguards falling into step behind her, the three headed for an exit and left the abandoned factory.

  Wild Boar's eyes followed the departing back of Morgan, but Vincent paid attention to the expression on Wild Boar's face. Despite the layers of fat that made Wild Boar's face look like a plump muffin, Vincent was certain that he saw something much more than just a man staring at a beautiful idol that he did not know. As the woman disappeared from sight and Wild Boar's cold eyes focused on his own, Vincent felt a soul-deep fear.

  "WI-LD BOAR! WI-LD BOAR! WI-LD BOAR! WI-LD BOAR!"

  Not paying any more heed to the antics of the crowd, Wild Boar left the cage and disappeared through the door leading to what passed for locker rooms in the abandoned factory.

  Rising to his feet, Vincent headed downstairs to the small room that was for the use of Wild Boar alone when he fought.

  Knock. Knock. Knock.

  "It's not locked, Vinny."

  For a moment, Vincent frowned. He hated being called Vinny, but Wild Boar never ceased to do so. Wild Boar was not the type of man to pay attention to the feelings of others.

  Entering the room, Vincent closed the door behind himself. Because Wild Boar had his back to the door, Vincent could not see his face, but he could see the bloodstains on the towel hanging around the man's neck.

  "Have you heard any rumors about Primacy Online VI ?"

  The question caught Vincent off-guard, and he frowned, again. "No. Why?"

  Wild Boar almost sounded like he sighed. "That woman almost never leaves her cryo-capsule, and when she does, she never leaves the City of Mann. If she's out wandering around, that means that something is up. I can't think of anything else that would pry her away from the game and her city-state."

  Vincent was not a fan of Morgan Danan and had no real interest in her activity. "You were never hit, but you are bleeding. Is your Thompson's Syndrome acting up?"

  Wild Boar chuckled. "Don't worry you'll still get another three or four years out me"

  While keeping his irritation hidden in his heart, Vincent frowned. "You'll be retiring from fighting at that time?"

  Wild Boar laughed. "I'll be dead."

  As confusion filled him, Vincent's frown deepened. He had first met the Wild Boar almost five years in the past, and never once had he seen the man acknowledge or accept the sympathy of another. Wild Boar was one of the most difficult people he had ever had to deal with.

  "I do not understand. I watch you fight every week. You cannot be any worse than early Stage II. You should still have at least fifteen years."

  As he looked over his shoulder, Wild Boar's grin revealed his blood-stained teeth. "I have Thompson's D."

  Vincent's frown turned into a puzzled expression. "I never heard of a D variant for Thomson's Syndrome."

  Turning his head away from Vincent, Wild Boar stared at the blank wall. "There have only been twenty-odd recorded cases in the last thousand years. The nervous system degeneration follows a different pattern from the A, B, and C variants. I'm early stage V. Stages I to V last three to five years each. Stage VI is fatal in one to three months. Saying I'm good for another three to four years of fighting is optimistic. I'll be nearly blind and deaf by that time."

  Still staring at the wall, Wild Boar sighed. "I'm just tired. I'm tired of this idiotic clown show that I put on week after week. I want to fight with my life on the line. I want to feel what it's like to be alive again."

  Earth: Yukon City

  April 23, 1337 AA

  After the near annihilation of human life on Earth, the Anno Domini, AD, calendar era was discarded, and a new calendar era, After Apocalypse, AA, was instated. In the 1337 AA, Hello
, Yukon City was the most popular morning holovid show in Yukon City with an average of a 28% daily viewership rating.

  "Hello, Yukon City! Martha Brezson here, and today, we have an extra special guest." From the waist up, the hologram showed a smiling blond. As soon as she had hit forty years of age she had launched a proactive campaign to maintain her position, and now she was the plastic-perfect embodiment of a top-tier holovid news media talent. Her face had the kind of flawlessness that could only come from a body modification clinic, and her expansive holoscreen assets were the best set of implants that money could buy. As a bonus, she was even able to remember two talking points and repeat them verbatim with a false sincerity that made her words seem to come directly from the heart.

  "That is absolutely right, Martha. With last night's extra special announcement from the Holy Church's Department of Constructed Reality, we have so many extra special questions for our extra special guest." The holo camera switched to Martha's co-host, Moe Westborough. As the viewers were seldom able to not notice the lack of anything resembling conscious thought in his vacuous eyes, he was the perfect male counterpart to Martha, except with manly salt and pepper hair. With a teleprompter, he could rattle off the talking points like a scholar on any subject, and with an offscreen expert feeding him lines through his brain implant chip, he could repeat his lines with enough authority and sincerity to debate any guest on any topic.

  The camera switched back to Martha, with her expansive personalities dead center in the holoscreen. "I can't believe it's finally here. The first update to Primacy Online in nearly 200 years is sure to be something extra special, isn't it, Moe?"

  The holo camera moved out to show both hosts with Martha being in the center.

  "Oh yes, Martha. It certainly is. You better believe it. The Church of the Resurrection saved the Earth from repeating the insanity of war on Earth with the release of the first CRMMO Primacy Online over 1300 years ago. Now, with the newest release, it looks like World War IX will be starting in just a matter of weeks. This is so super exciting, I have a tingling down my leg.

  "From the promo holovid, Primacy Online VI: Legacy of Balor looks to be the most spectacular release in the Church's flagship series to date. What was that giant tower with the nine glowing thingies on it all about? And the huge energy curtains cutting the continent into nine separate parts? This one looks to be an extra special game." The holo camera zoomed in on Moe's perfect smile, while making certain to have a light reflecting off his eyeballs to hide the vacuous lack of comprehension in them.

  The camera switched back to Martha, with her assets center screen, as always. "Well, Moe, it looks like it's time for a commercial break. Yukon City, stay tuned and we'll be right back!"

  "Cut!"

  "Stop ad-libbing, Moe. Read directly from the teleprompter!"

  Moe rose to his feet and put one hand on his waist. With his other arm bent in a V shape and his shoulder height fingers pointing at the ground, he looked around. "Hey, which one of you plebeian deplorables is bringing my coffee. I'm just dying for a caffeine here. Oh God, these early mornings are just killing me."

  "Damn, Moe! We've been doing this for fifteen years. Will you ever stop whining like a little girl. You don't have to get up at 2:00AM to get through makeup in time for the show." Martha was examining her nails as though they were the only important thing in the world.

  "Moe, adjust that sock in your pants. It's sitting over your left leg and looks like shit on camera."

  Martha sighed. "Moe, that stupid sock is getting old. You really need to get a Mr. Stud implant and be done with it."

  Moe glared at Martha. "I'm afraid of needles. I don't like strange things poking me."

  "Yeah, right." Hidden by the bright stage lights, someone snickered.

  "Who said that? Show yourself, so I can get you fired!"

  "Oh God, Moe. Will you just shut up and sit down."

  "Where's my damn coffee!"

  "Here you go, Mr. Westborough." A girl in her early twenties, with a naturally pretty face and a friendly smile, ran over with a liter size mug.

  "Oh, finally! You don't look familiar."

  The girl smiled. "Today's my first day! It's such a pleasure to be working with you and Ms. Brezson!"

  Martha looked at the girl, who was less than half her age, and felt a stab of jealousy. "Michael, what's this ugly girl doing on my set? Fire her!"

  "Penny, your fired. Don't bother unpacking your things and get out of the building. Security, escort the new girl to the door."

  "On air in fifteen seconds!"

  "Someone take this damn mug! Hurry!"

  As soon as the mug was taken from his hands, Moe stuffed his hand down his pant and adjusted the rolled up sock in his underwear. "Mikey, how does it look, now?"

  "Perfect. Now sit down!"

  "5...4...3...2...1...On the air!"

  "We're back, Yukon City! And it's time for our extra special guest." Martha smiled into the camera.

  "That's right! Today, we have Archbishop Green! Welcome, Archbishop!"

  Clapping wildly, Martha and Moe rose to their feet.

  A vigorous, middle-aged man in a black suit and clerical collar walked onto the stage. His smile was as plastic as the morning show hosts. "Thank you, Martha. Thank you, Moe. It is a pleasure to be here."

  After Martha and Moe kissed Archbishop Green's ring, they sat on the couch together, with Archbishop Green in the middle.

  Looking at Archbishop Green with glowing eyes, Martha clasped her hands together in front of her chest. "Archbishop, I just have to know. Are the rumors that you're one of the Holy Church's Holy Crusaders in the Primacy Online V true?"

  Keeping his eyes off Martha's assets with difficulty, Archbishop Green smiled at her. "Well…the real-life identities of the Holy Crusaders is supposed to be a closely guarded Church secret, but for many of us, it has become an open secret. Yes, I am."

  "Does that mean that you're a veteran of World War VIII?"

  "Yes. Yes, it does." Archbishop Green's mouth smiled, but his eyes were cold.

  Fearing the coldness in Archbishop Green's eyes, Martha desperately looked over his shoulder, trying to get Moe's attention.

  Prompted by the programming director, Moe interrupted. "Archbishop, from the promo holovid Primacy Online VI looked like it is set on a huge continent. Could you tell us just how big the world is?"

  Turning to Moe, Archbishop Green smiled. "Of course. It's just over six hundred million square kilometers, and that does not include the surrounding islands."

  Without getting any follow-up questions from the teleprompter or through his brain implant chip, Moe returned Archbishop Green's smile with a vacuous one of his own. "Um…how big is that?"

  Archbishop Green's smile remained in place, but his eyes were filled with contempt. "About ten times the size of the Earth."

  With still no prompts from the production staff, Moe's mouth fell slightly open in a match for the lack of comprehension in his eyes.

  Unable to ignore the production director's angry orders reaching her through her earbud any longer, Martha cleared her throat. She considered herself a professional, and despite the fear she felt toward the archbishop, the interview must continue. "That's truly amazing Archbishop. Could you give some details on the structure of World War IX?"

  Archbishop Green was much better at maintaining a professional facade than the pair of talk show hosts interviewing him and kept his public smile in place. "I am sorry, Martha. It is still too early for me to release any details. There will be an official announcement coming from the Church's Office of Public Relations in the near future."

  "Well, many of our viewers are probably a bit unclear on what a CRMMO game is. Could you give us a layman's explanation?" Martha put on her sweet, innocent blonde smile.

  "Of course, Martha. CRMMO stands for Constructed Reality Massive Multiplayer Online. Now, the MMO part should be easy enough to understand since there are all kinds of other MMO games out there f
or people that cannot afford the Church's CR capsules, but many of them are probably asking themselves, just what in God's Holy Name does Constructed Reality mean? Correct?"

  Martha laughed politely. "I think you pretty much summed it up, Archbishop. I have to admit that I'm a little shaky on this whole Constructed Reality thing myself."

  Archbishop Green smiled and patted Martha on her knee. "That is A-okay, Martha. You would be amazed how many people really do not understand. To put it in simple layman's terms, a Constructed Reality is a perpetual quantum reality construct. What that means is that as long as the power keeps flowing to the quantum reality generator, the game world is perpetual. Once we create the logical conditions and rules for the game world and activate the generator, the world exists in perpetuity for as long as we keep the power on. If we turn off the power, the quantum reality construct would cease to exist, and when we turned the power back, there would be a new quantum reality matrix built with the same rules. So, we cannot do maintenance, nor can we create new game updates. Everything is controlled through the Quantum Control Program, we call it the QCP for short, that runs the world, and it creates any and all content updates. The QCP is governed by the rules we implemented on creation of the quantum reality construct and is absolutely impartial. For the game world, you can think of the QCP as the ultimate god. God with a little g. There is only one true God."

  As he stared into Martha's eyes, Archbishop Green's smile never wavered, and the light of unquestioning fanaticism burned in his eyes. "You look a bit shocked, Martha."

  Without any prompting from the programming director to save her, Martha could only fumble for a response. "Ah. Um. Ah. The way you describe the game sounds…"

  "Sacrilegious?"

  "Haha. I really didn't want to use that word, but it sounds so counter to everything I learned in Bible Study during school." Despite her smile, Martha had a sick look in her eyes.