Gamers' Challenge (6 page)

‘Okay,’ said Tark slowly, trying to take it all in.

‘I don’t like this,’ said Tee. ‘There’s been too many

VIs about. Why?’

‘We should get back to base,’ suggested Hope.

‘Agreed.’ Tee led the way out of the building.

‘Keep your eyes peeled for more of them.’

They continued into the grounds and through the hole in the fence. They had barely started their journey through the City, when Zyra glanced over her shoulder and gasped. Three VIs were flying down past the smokestack to the power station.

‘Get down,’ ordered Tee.

They all ducked behind a pile of rubble.

‘They’re searching for us,’ whispered Hope.

Tee pointed to the right of the power station where another VI was making its way along a City street.

‘And over there,’ said Tark, indicating another two

VIs on the other side.

‘We need to move quickly and carefully,’ Tee instructed in a hoarse whisper. ‘And load up, just in case.’

Hope checked her gun as the others loaded theircrossbows.

‘How come ya gets one of ‘em?’ hissed Zyra.

‘I found it,’ answered Hope, flatly.

‘Guns tend to be used only by inhabitants of the Hill,’ explained Tee. ‘They’re difficult to acquire.’ He raised his crossbow. ‘Whereas these things are as common as muck.’

Tee led the little group from the rubble to the nearest partially standing building, then along the City streets, keeping to the shadows wherever possible. As they rounded an almost intact courthouse, they came upon another VI. Within seconds, all four had raised their weapons and fired. The VI didn’t even have time to react. It burst apart with a louder than usual crack, and dissipated.

‘Well, that’s done it.’ Hope threw her arms up and glared at Tark and Zyra. ‘They’ll be all over us in moments.’

‘Oi,’ spat Zyra. ‘It ain’t our fault. Ya is the one with the noisy weapon.’

Hope grunted.

In the distance they could already see a VIspeeding toward them.

‘Follow me,’ said Zyra, taking command. Without waiting for an answer, she ran off down a side alley. Tark followed automatically.

Hope looked questioningly at her father. Tee shrugged and the two of them also followed.

Zyra led them down the alley, over a low chain-linkfence, through a garbage tip and towards a scorched park, the VI in hot pursuit. They crashed through a grove of dead, blackened trees, branches falling and disintegrating into ash around them. Another two VIs joined the chase.

‘We’re just collecting more of them,’ shouted

Hope.

Zyra didn’t answer, she just kept running - out of the park, through the rubble of one building and into the decaying shell of another. They emerged from the other end, dodging debris, and yet another VI joined the hunt.

Tee spotted their destination. ‘Keep following her,’ he called to his daughter. ‘She knows what she’s doing.’

They ran past more collapsed buildings before entering the graveyard, the VIs getting closer every second.

‘Perfect!’ panted Hope. ‘We’re going to die in acemetery.’

‘We ain’t gonna die,’ Tark shouted.

Zyra put on a burst of speed and pulled even further ahead of the others. She headed for the door at the back of the Temple of Paths. She ground to a halt, slamming her shoulder into the wall between door and window, hands fumbling with the handle. As the others caught up she flung the door open, ushering them in. They ran past her and she looked back to see the VIs almost upon her. She threw herself through the doorway at the last second, and Tark slammed the door shut.

‘Oh great,’ complained Hope, as she looked about.

‘Now you’ve trapped us. You stupid -’

‘Well done,’ said Tee to Zyra, cutting off his daughter with an annoyed sideways glance.

Hope looked to her father as the sound of rhythmicchanting drifted into the vestry.

‘The VIs can’t get in here,’ explained Tee. ‘Don’t know why. Something to do with the Oracle, I suppose.’

Hope raised a sceptical eyebrow.

At that moment, a VI appeared at the window, attempting to press itself forward. It roiled and sparked, but couldn’t get beyond the glassless frame.

‘See?’ said Zyra, triumphantly.

‘Yes, I see, thank you very much.’ Hope crossed her arms and turned away, saying ‘stupid gamer’ under her breath.

‘Gamer?’ asked Tark.

‘That’s what we call those who play the Designers’ games,’ said Tee quickly.

‘When we’re being polite,’ added Hope, with a smirk.

‘So wot does ya call garners?’ Zyra challenged.

‘Hope ...’Tee’s warning voice was stern.

‘Zombies,’ answered Hope, ignoring her father.

‘Mindless creatures, not truly human, just following their programming.’

‘Well, we ain’t no zombies,’ said Zyra. ‘Notsanymore.’

‘Well, you still sound like it.’

‘Stop it,’ demanded Tee. ‘Look.’

Another VI had arrived, joining the first outside the vestry window. Long sinewy fingers of static reached out from each VI, intertwining and drawing them together. Merging into each other, they formed a larger ball of fizzling, static menace.

‘I’ve seen them split apart, but never merge likethat,’ Tee murmured to himself, scratching at his beard.

The new, large VI renewed its endeavours to gain entry through the window. And it actually moved forward - just a little, but it was enough to worry the occupants.

‘0-oh!’ said Tark.

Tee leaned in for a closer look. ‘I don’t like this,’ he said, forehead creasing into a frown.

Wispy tendrils of grey reached out from the edges of the VI, touching the edge of the window frame. The frame wavered as, particle by particle, it was wiped from existence.

Hope snatched her gun from its holster.

‘The door,’ exclaimed Zyra.

They all shifted their attention. There was a hole in the centre of the outside door - a very, very small hole, just big enough to let in a pinprick of light. That tiny glow grew and the particles of wood around the hole blistered and disappeared.

‘So we’re safe in here, huh?’ Hope threw her arms up and paced the room. ‘Yeah, safe. I feel really safe.’ She brandished her gun. ‘So now, we fight! Even though there are probably dozens of them out there now, and we don’t stand a chance.’

‘Not yet,’ ordered Tee.

‘I don’t gets it,’ said Zyra. ‘They is neva been able to gets in ‘ere before.’

‘Yes,’ said Tee, biting at his lower lip. ‘But you and

Hope have never been together before.’

‘Wot is ya on about?’ asked Tark.

‘This room is not part of the Temple, proper,’ said Tee, ignoring Tark’s question. ‘Let’s get into the main building. We may have better luck in there.’

8: Sanctuary
 

Zyra hastily led the way into the Temple of Paths. Tark brought up the rear, shutting the door to the vestry behind them and letting the drape fall into place. The monks were doing their usual thing - kneeling, chanting and occasionally prostrating themselves.

‘What if this doesn’t work?’ demanded Hope.

‘Well, if they start to break into here, I’m banking on the monks noticing it,’ said Tee. ‘They’re programmed to protect the Oracle at any cost.’

Tark stepped up to Tee, standing right in front of him, where he couldn’t be ignored. ‘Wot dids ya mean about Zyra and Hope bein’ togetha?’

‘I had hoped to explain this properly under better circumstances,’ Tee said. ‘But I suppose I’ll have to tell you, now.’ He indicated the step leading up to the altar behind which the red-robed monk silently kneeled. ‘You had better sit down.’

‘More secrets,’ Zyra whispered to Tark, as he joined her. ‘Why can’ts he just gives us the whole story?’

Tark and Zyra sat down together, Hope a little to the side of Zyra. Tee stood before them, addressing them as if he were making a speech.

‘There is a cheat code,’ began Tee.

‘Actually, there’s more than one,’ corrected Hope.

‘Yes, thank you, there is more than one,’ said Tee, a hint of irritation in his voice. ‘But let me deal with one thing at a time. There is a cheat code, handed down -’

‘Wot’s a cheat code?’ asked Zyra.

‘It’s a code that lets you cheat,’ stated Hope, flatly.

‘Oh yeah, great.’ Zyra glared at Hope. ‘Thanks. That explains everythin’.’

‘It is a code,’ Tee quickly cut in, ‘that contains instructions on how to circumvent the will of the Designers.’

‘Instructions?’ Hope’s voice rose in pitch and she snorted in a half laugh.

‘Yes, well,’ Tee corrected. ‘It’s more like a series of hints. Or a prophecy. It has been passed on from Outer to Outer over many series of repeating characters. In fact, the previous Tark gave me it. And the Tark before gave him it. And so on, all the way back to the original Tark and Zyra.’

‘The original us?’ asked Tark.

‘That’s right,’ said Tee. ‘It seems that they may have been the first Outers. Or so we think. It was a very long time ago. No one knows how they came upon the cheat code, only that they -’

‘Cuts ta the chase,’ Zyra interjected. ‘Wot does it says?’

‘It says a lot of different things.’ Tee paced about in front of the others. ‘Most importantly, it says that two generations together, parent and child, a father and son or a mother and daughter, will have the ability to travel between the game worlds.’

‘Anyones with a key and enough money ta getsinta Designers Paradise can gets inta other worlds,’ said Tark.

‘Yes, but Zyra and Hope, together, in theory, don’t need a key or money,’ said Tee.

The monks’ chanting echoed around them, as Tee paused to let his words sink in.

‘Wow!’ Tark looked at Zyra with wonder in his eyes. ‘Who woulds have thunk ya’d be so special.’

Zyra punched him on the shoulder, and then looked at Hope. ‘How?’

‘No idea,’ said Hope.

‘That’s the problem,’ Tee admitted. ‘The cheat code is not very specific.’

‘Well, wot does it says?’ Zyra rolled her eyes and huffed. ‘Exactly?’

‘Exactly?’ Hope mimicked. ‘Zero. One. Zero. One. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero -’

‘Shuts up!’ yelled Zyra. ‘Wot’s with ya?’

Hope produced a handheld screen from a pocket and tossed it to Zyra. Tark leaned over and the two of them saw a stream of green numbers scrolling across the screen.

      01010000   01100001   01110010   01100101

01101110 01110100 00100000 01100001 01101110

01100100 00100000 01101111 01100110 01100110

01110011 01110000 01110010 01101001 01101110

01100111 00101100 00100000 01110011 01100101

01110000 01100001 01110010 01100001 01110100

01100101 01100100 00100000 01100010 01111001

00100000 01100111 01100101 01101110 01100101

01110010 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111

01101110 00100000 01100010 01110101 01110100

00100000 01100011 01101111 01101110 01101110

01100101 01100011 01110100 01100101 01100100

00100000 01100010 01111001 00100000 01100111

01100101 01101110 01100100 01100101 01110010

00101100 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100111

01100001 01101101 01100101 01110010 00100000

01101110 01101111 00100000 01101100 01101111

01101110 01100111 01100101 01110010 00100000

01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01101111

01101110 01100101 00100000 01110111 01101000

01101111 00100000 01110111 01100001 01110011

00100000 01101110 01100101 01110110 01100101

01110010 00101100 00100000 01110100 01101111

01100111 01100101 01110100 01101000 01100101

01110010 00100000 01100011 01100001 01101110

00100000 01110100 01110010 01100001 01110110

01100101 01110010 01110011 01100101 00100000

01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110111

01101111 01110010 01101100 01100100 01110011

00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100

01101000 01100101 00100000 01000100 01100101

01110011 01101001 01100111 01101110 01100101

01110010 01110011 11100010 10000000 10011001

00100000 01101101 01110101 01101100 01110100

01101001 01110110 01100101 01110010 01110011

01100101 00101110 00100000 01010100 01101000

01100101 00100000 01110000 01100001 01110010

01100101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01100100

01100101 01100011 01101001 01100100 01100101

01110011 00101100 00100000 01110100 01101000

01100101 00100000 01101111 01100110 01100110

01110011 01110000 01110010 01101001 01101110

01100111 00100000 01101001 01101110 01101001

01110100 01101001 01100001 01110100 01100101

01110011 00101110

‘Ya thinks ya is so clever,’ said Tark, glaring at

Hope. ‘Ya is nuthin’ but -’

‘Would everyone please calm down?’ Tee did not shout, but he injected his voice with authority. ‘We don’t have time for bickering.’ He stepped forward and snatched the screen from Zyra.

‘It’s binary language,’ he explained, tucking it away into his pouch. ‘Translated, it says: “Parent and offspring, separated by generation but connected by gender, a gamer no longer and one who was never, together can traverse the worlds of the Designers’ multiverse. The parent decides, the offspring initiates”. I think this is why the VIs have gone on the attack. They are trying to keep Hope and Zyra from using the cheat code. Zyra is the parent, the one who is no longer a gamer, the one who can decide on a destination. Hope is the offspring, the one who never was a gamer, the one who initiates the jump from one environment to another.’