Gamers' Rebellion (18 page)

‘That was quick,’ said Robbie.

‘Knew it would be.’ Zyra grinned.

‘Okay then, we’re good to go,’ said Robbie. ‘But that still leaves the question as to whom we are going to download. We cannot simply pull an entity out without warning. Ideally it should be an entity capable of understanding the concept of the real world. Someone who knows –’

‘The Outers,’ Zyra broke in. ‘The Outers helped me and Tark to get out of the Game. They wanted to get out as well.’

‘Good,’ said Robbie, eyes and hands still working over the coding. ‘You will need to go into the Game again and prepare them. I will give you exit key cards like the one Bobby gave you. Now, there are ten cloned bodies on standby. I will have them ready for download shortly. I can set up another round of clones, but we will have to activate the process manually as each of the clones is revived.’

The display changed. ‘I will prepare nanobots to take you straight to your old environment, homing in on the largest conglomeration of non-playing entities. Wait …’ His hands played through the holo-displays. ‘Tark is still in the Game! And he is in your environment.’

‘What is he doing there?’ asked Zyra. ‘Is he okay?’

‘Don’t know,’ said Robbie. ‘I’ll send you straight to him. Okay?’

‘Sounds good,’ said Zyra.

‘I’ve given you twenty exit cards,’ continued Robbie. ‘They are numbered in download order. And are marked male or female, corresponding to the waiting clone. Choose the most resourceful of people for the first ten. The ones who are most likely to adapt quickly and be ready for action. When a clone is ready to receive a consciousness, the corresponding card will glow. Tapping the card will activate the download. Got all that?’

‘Yep,’ said Zyra. ‘Got it.’

‘Okay then.’

Robbie pulled down on a holographic lever and a chair came up out of the floor near Zyra.

‘Sit in the chair,’ instructed Robbie. ‘The process is automated.’

Zyra closed her eyes for a few seconds, preparing herself mentally, before sitting down and reclining. A low hum indicted the activation of a force field to hold her still. The chair leaned back, until Zyra was almost horizontal. A syringe and needle descended from the ceiling on a mechanical arm, heading towards Zyra’s right eye.

‘And try to be quick,’ said Robbie. ‘It won’t be long before the guards break through.’

Zyra didn’t have time to reply, as the needle plunged into her eye and she entered the Game.

32: The Outers

‘Zyra!’ Tark’s voice was both surprised and relieved. ‘You’re okay!’

Zyra opened her eyes to see Tark lying amongst the rubble of a ruined building in the City. His hand clutched his leg and blood oozed through his fingers.

‘
You’re
not.’ Zyra crouched beside him to examine the wound. ‘What happened?’

‘Designer Beta had a gun,’ explained Tark.

‘Well, this is turning into quite the little reunion,’ said a voice from behind Zyra.

She turned quickly, going for her knives.

‘Hello, Mother dear,’ said Hope.

‘Hope?’ Zyra stared at the woman in front of her. A woman too old to be Hope. ‘But you’re …’

‘Old!’ Hope said through clenched teeth. ‘Yeah, I know. It’s already been pointed out to me.’

‘I think time moves differently in here from out there,’ said Tark

‘Yes,’ said Zyra. ‘I know. I just didn’t realise it was so different. It’s been stabilised now.’ She put her knives away and continued to stare at Hope.

‘So why are you here?’ asked Hope.

‘I’m here to ask for your help,’ said Zyra. ‘And to get you out of the Game.’

Hope didn’t say anything.

‘Well?’ Zyra spread her arms. ‘Will you help? Do you still want to get out?’

‘After all this time,’ Hope whispered. ‘After all these years.’ Her voice regained a little volume, but was still subdued. ‘You know, I’d almost given up. All those years of waiting and hoping. All those years of searching for more cheat codes but never finding them. All those fruitless years of watching and waiting for another Zyra to join us.’

‘There weren’t others?’ asked Zyra.

‘No. You two were the last Tark and Zyra to become Outers.’ Hope looked around the ruins of the City. ‘After you left, after the anti-virus program and its antibodies were defeated, after the Ultimate Gamer died, there were no more dangers to face. And we’ve grown in numbers. There are hundreds of us now, scattered throughout this environment – living on the edges; eking out an existence.’

Hope tilted her head. ‘Okay. So how do we get out? And what sort of help are you after?’

Zyra reached into her coat pocket and pulled out the first of Robbie’s exit cards. She held it up.

‘This’ll get you out,’ said Zyra. ‘You’ll be downloaded into a cloned body, so you won’t look like you anymore. In fact, you’ll look like me.’

‘I’m not sure I like the sound of that,’ quipped Hope.

‘Not this me,’ said Zyra. ‘I look different on the outside. And so will you. All the clones have been created from the same two real people.’

‘And that sounds so much better.’

‘Would you just shut up and listen,’ said Zyra. ‘We don’t have much time. I’ve got twenty exit cards in total.’ She handed the first one to Hope. ‘Are there any more Outers around here?’

‘We’re not far from our base,’ said Hope. ‘Ten minute walk.’

‘Okay, I’ll explain on the way.’

‘Um … hang on,’ said Tark. ‘What about me?’

‘You’re in with these rebels, aren’t you?’ asked Zyra.

‘Well, sort of, I guess.’

‘We need as much help as we can get in the real world,’ said Zyra. ‘Any chance you could get them to break into the Design Institute?’

‘What can they do?’ asked Tark.

‘I’m not really sure,’ admitted Zyra. ‘But just having more people on our side actually there, would be really good.’

‘Yeah, I guess,’ said Tark.

‘Great,’ said Zyra. ‘Now, we should all get moving.’

‘I’ll see you soon.’ Tark looked at Zyra. Then in a loud voice he said, ‘Exit!’

‘Come on,’ said Hope, heading off through the rubble. ‘Follow me. And start explaining.’

33: Breakdown Begins

‘Done!’

Robbie mouthed the word and sent off the last of the secure commands to prepare the clones, hoping that Designer Alpha wouldn’t pick up on what he was doing. Then he called up the menu of Game environments.

‘Okay,’ he said to himself. ‘Time to check in on Zyra.’

He selected an environment and all the images flickered. It was just a momentary glitch, over in less than a second … but it should not have happened. He scanned over the multitude of images that surrounded him in the display. Everything seemed stable now … except for one image. Robbie’s eyes were drawn to a momentary flicker. He watched the image closely. It had stabilised again, but he continued to watch it, his hand running over a set of controls to set up a scan.

And there it went again – just the tiniest of flickers. Robbie checked the scan. There was a definite instability in the Game structure and it traced back to the hidden environment. The children were being freed!

Robbie’s hand hovered in the air, ready to select the hidden environment, when a high-pitched whining filled the portal room. Robbie looked around. On the far wall behind him, where the door had been, a tiny point of light appeared.

The guards and their drill were finally making serious progress.

***

Zyra woke in the real world to an annoying sound and a burning smell.

‘What’s going on?’ she asked, opening her eyes and looking around.

‘Lots,’ answered Robbie. ‘Lots of problems.’

Robbie was still in the midst of the programming portal, displays of coding swirling around him.

‘For starters, the guards are breaking through.’ He indicated the wall where the laser drill was burning a hole, smoke drifting into the room. ‘Secondly, the nanobots have done their work and the kids are all gaining physical presence in the Game. They need help but we can’t go in there now, because we need to go deal with the clones.’ Robbie was talking faster and faster. ‘And we have to get out of here fast because the grunts are breaking in. And –’

‘Don’t panic,’ said Zyra soothingly, echoing Robbie’s words to her when she had first woken in a new body.

Robbie took a deep breath and glanced at Zyra. ‘I do not panic.’ His voice was calm and there was a glint of amusement in his eyes. ‘Thank you for reminding me.’

‘My pleasure,’ said Zyra. Her hand unconsciously went up to her ear, fingering the metal studs that were not there. ‘Maybe there’s another possibility. Tark has gone back to the rebels. He’s going to try and get them to come here and help us fight the Designers and their guards. What if we can get them into the Game?’

‘Yes. Josie. Of course,’ said Robbie, eyes lighting up. ‘But they don’t need to come here. I’ll contact them now and get them to go straight to that environment.’

‘How?’ asked Zyra.

‘Ah.’ Robbie sounded rather guilty. ‘Well, you see … I’ve been in contact with them all along. I’m the informer who’s been feeding them information. I’ve been doing it very carefully, bit by bit, so as not to be caught. But I suppose secrecy isn’t such a big deal anymore.’

‘You are full of surprises, aren’t you?’ Zyra looked at him in a new light.

Smoke was now pouring in through a small section of wall that had melted away. Zyra looked at it nervously. ‘You’d better hurry.’

34: Exit

The lights were flickering as Designer Beta struggled with the controls of his computer equipment.

‘Out of here,’ he muttered to himself. ‘I will get out of here.’

Someone screamed and he looked back towards the tank. Another ghostly apparition pushed its way through the glass. It solidified into a young boy, still screaming. At his feet was a girl, sitting on the floor, rocking back and forth, head held in her hands. And then there was that rebel girl. He knew it was a mistake to hook her into the Game, but no, Alpha hadn’t listened. Of course, she was the first one who got out. And now she was trying to calm the other children as they emerged. Hugging them. Whispering comforting words.

Designer Beta turned his attention back to his equipment. Much as he would enjoy dealing with the escapees, his first priority was to get himself out of the Game.

‘Hah!’ He stepped back from his equipment. ‘Got it!’

Two metallic plinths rose up from the floor, each with a silver orb on top. The Designer positioned himself between the two. He looked at Mel and the other children by the tank and grimaced.

‘What a waste,’ he murmured.

He reached out, placed one hand on each orb and called, ‘EXIT!’

A fanfare of music echoed through the chamber. Designer Beta went rigid, his mouth twisted into a rictus grin, as energy crackled from the orbs through his virtual body. With a burst of light he was ejected from the Game.

***

Designer Beta groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. His eyes fluttered open and his body gave an involuntary shudder.

The light was dim, mostly coming from the monitors and equipment that surrounded him like a cocoon. It was a small room in an off-limits area where no one ventured.

He lifted an arm experimentally. It was aching and stiff, but the muscles were responding. His arm, and the rest of his body, was covered in electrodes that had been regularly stimulating his muscles, keeping them toned and operative in case he ever needed to use them again. An IV drip fed into a vein on his arm and computer equipment monitored his vital signs.