The difference couldn’t have been starker. First off all, the entire border was in ruins — not a single building was left standing. All the villages, all the towns were demolished. But that was just the look and feel. Much more interesting was the fact that there were people in every one of the ruined buildings. I paused to assess the situation. Yes, really, there were two or three people in each building, with my scanner data telling me they were all armed. Half were asleep; the other half were standing guard. That earned me a pat on the back I gave myself, as I wouldn’t have wanted to make my way into the location through a hail of gunfire.
And that just left the most important part: finding where the high command was camped out. My perception helped there, as I noticed wires leading farther north when I flew over a village. The electrician inside me did a backflip — they weren’t power cables. No, they looked more like phone wires stretching from the front line back to a center of some sort. Of course! The troops had probably taken out the local cell towers and switched to antique technology.
I passed a low-level safe zone that was just a few rickety buildings surrounded by a hedge. The function in charge was snoozing forlornly on a bench. A hairy Shurvan, I was surprised nobody had taken it out, although, judging by the craters around the hedge, it looked like the troops had tried. Only without much success.
The phone line ran to a field before stopping abruptly. For a while, I stared in confusion at the break, at least until it hit me — there was a protective field there, the same kind as the ones around noa concentration plants. Where could the tr'oops have found one? The only game item I had on me that could be blocked was the rainbow7 pearl. I wasn't about to see if it would go inside, so I pulled Drone out of my inventory, dropped the pearl into its storage, and sent it fixing off while I headed in.
There was a village covered by the dome. It w7as big and populated with so many people it looked like an anthill. Everyone was running to and fro, all of them carrying something. There was equipment, wires, machinery. They were all busy, not one single person idle from what I could see. Although, no, there was a building right in the middle of the village where the people weren’t running anywhere. Instead, they were sitting at a table. I flew over, and my perception and scanner told me it was General Maximov and his aides. There he is, the cause of all my problems.
While the entrance wras guarded, I didn’t pay the soldiers any mind. A few blockers, and they were reduced to statues, leaving me free to open the door and step inside. I switched my invisibility7 off. The only thing they could have hurt me with there were their tongues.
“Mark Derwin?!” The troops jumped up to stare at their uninvited guest. I’d been ready for anything, from threats to pleas for mercy, only I hadn’t been ready for how they actually behaved. They’re happy to see me?
“Finally, you’re back!” A smile spread across Maximov’s face. “Took you long enough!”
“Back?” I asked in surprise, completely nonplussed by the general. My anger was gone. “From where?”
“From your assignment — where else?” It was Maximov’s turn to look surprised. The rest of the player-soldiers came over looking to greet me, but the situation had me on edge. Valkyrie popped into my hand, and I started barking orders.
“All of you, stay where you are! Maximov, what the hell are you talking about? What assignment? This is the second time I’ve seen you, and the first time you sent me to my death at the hands of the aliens!”
“What do you mean, the second time?” The general frowned, though he still took the time to explain everything. He even skipped all the jargon. “Three weeks ago, you showed up here on my orders, handed us data from your phone, gave us a number to reach you at, talked through everything, and worked with us to develop a plan. Then, you went off to execute it. Whenever you sent us word, we launched nuclear missiles targeted at another phone you sent us. The last time we heard from you was right after the general was killed, a bit less than a day ago, when you had us fire three missiles at the location. Our spies tell us that’s where the boss you killed was. We’d taken shots at it before, but the air defense system was always too much for us. Anyway, we followed your instructions, only now you’re here talking nonsense.”
“I’m the one talking nonsense?” I exploded, putting Valkyrie back. “What you just said, I’m not even sure if I should laugh or cry. I’ve never been here before! I...”
Suddenly, I stopped. The logic was beginning to make sense.
“Starting to remember?”
“Do you have a video surveillance system? I'd like to take a look at myself. I mean, whoever was using my identity.”
“No, we don’t record video, but we used perception, and it was definitely you. Just like right now!”
“What about this?” I turned into Maximov, leaving the group in the office to gasp. And when they all reached for their pistols, I had to resort to Valkyrie again. “What does your perception say?”
The silence was answer enough.
“Exactly. I’m not sure what to do... Okay, I swear by the game that I am Mark Derwin and have never once been to this location! "
I didn't like swearing by the game, though it worked. The soldiers’ faces drew longer as a white glow appeared around me, the fake Maximov. The game had confirmed that I was telling the truth.
“But then how...” It was difficult to look at the real Maximov, so I went back to my own identity. How did they miss that? They were soldiers, trained to check everything two and three times, but they’d been had like... Like the aliens had been had by me. The frustration building up over recent times dissipated instantly, and I felt an empty loneliness slip over me. Tired, I settled into a chair and leaned my elbows on the table.
“Do you still have the phone number you think I used to call you?”
“Of course! We’re always in touch.”
“Dial it. And turn it on speaker.”
One thing I appreciated about the general was that he was quick and to the point. His military training and penchant for getting the job done shone through. Picking up a phone, he tapped a few buttons, after which I heard it ringing. The third try got an answer.
It was my voice.
“General, is this important? I’m kind of pressed for time over here.”
“Yes, Mark, it’s important,” I said, going through all the possibilities
in my head. “How are things, One?”
“So, you got to the north.” The voice in the phone changed instantly. “Doesn’t sound like you tried to get your revenge, which is a shame. I was counting on you taking them all out.”
“It was a nice play. Your idea or your father’s?”
“What do you want? Just called to mock me?”
“I want to offer you a deal. From what I know about your kind, you haven’t joined anyone else. Other generals won’t take you, yours is gone, and the owner doesn’t need some random robot. I’m assuming you won’t even get into the next release since you didn’t get the job done in this one. Have you gotten the warning yet? But hey, if you work for us, for humans, you can live for a while longer.”
“A while?” One replied with a snort. “The digger already got to the blood. The plants have been activated, and they’re starting to mine noa at top speed. Earth has less than a week to live.”
“You know very7 well that Earth will remain even after the owner leaves. I’ve absorbed enough noa to keep it alive. Sure, some regions will die off or be uninhabitable, but the planet will come back to life.”
“In two hundred years, no less. With cataclysms, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis along the way. Almost nobody will survive.”
“It could be a thousand years for all I care. What does it matter to you? Are you mortal? And don't even worry about humans — we're pretty hardy.”
There was a long pause.
“Why would you need me, absorber?”
“I don't. Tire humans do. If you're right, I'm not going to live another week, either. You
have knowledge, resources, hands. You can help humankind dig itself out of the hole the game has dug for them. And in return, you’ll live.’'
“Not interested, absorber." The second pause was longer than the first, though the robot eventually answered. “You got lucky. Let's see what you do in a week!”
There was a dial tone. The robot had hung up.
“You seriously offered to bring it over to our side?” Maximov asked in shock. “That's unacceptable!”
“It's the only chance humans have to survive once the game leaves the planet,” I said with a heavy voice as I thought about the unhappy prospect. I hadn’t been expecting the game to end so soon. A week wasn’t nearly as long as I wanted to live. “What are you going to do when everything stops working? And I mean everything. All your weapons, all your equipment, everything you use now. The store won’t be there to buy food, and your old supplies will all have spoiled. How are you going to feed everyone? Also, there are the nuclear power plants scattered around the planet. Do you have enough people left who know how to shut them down? If not, what are you going to do when they blow up? Humankind needs help, and One would be perfect for that.”
“Yes, and then it would enslave us all in a couple years.” Maximov could think ahead, too.
“Sure. It would be a new god humans would worship, fear, pray to for help. If it sticks around, humans will be slaves. If it doesn’t, you’ll be wiped out. I don’t see another option. There aren't enough of you to rebuild.”
“Us? You don’t count as one of us?”
“I’ve been killed and resurrected three times — I'm nothing more than personified noa. An elemental. When the game disappears, I will, too. Only I won’t go with it; I’ll be off in nothingness. So yes, you’re going to have to get by without me.”
Everyone fell silent. Maximov didn't get involved, giving me time to come to terms with the new information. Of course, I could have found a hole somewhere and covered myself in ash, but I didn’t have enough time left to spend it like that. There was too much to do.
“Okay, there’ll be enough time to be sad later. General, I need people who can organize the changed. I took control of a hexagon, and all
the monsters there turned back into people. Please make sure they don’t starve to death.”
“Colonel, go ahead and take care of that,” Maximov said immediately, turning to one of his aides. The latter nodded and left. “We’ll save the people, though we need coins to buy flying vehicles. That will make it faster. Can you help? We’re running low.”
“Yes, I have almost four billion, so that should keep you going for a while.” For a second, I even regretted spending so much on myself. A nondescript gentleman walked in, someone I assumed was in charge of finances. I sent him almost all my coins, leaving myself just a few million for odds and ends.
“Anything else?” Maximov asked.
“Yes... Are you in contact with ships off the coast? Submarines?”
“No,” one of the general’s aides responded. “They weren’t destroyed? We haven’t been able to get in touch.”
“It’s been less than two months, so some of them should still be out there,” I said. “They can’t get in touch with you because there aren't any cell towers out at sea. And where there aren’t any cell towers, there’s no game.”
“What are you talking about? What do cell towers have to do with anything?”
I was shocked that the troops didn't know something as simple as how the game worked. Instead, I had to tell them everything, including how the game had penetrated a kilometer and a half into Earth’s crust.
“No, we didn’t know...” Maximov said thoughtfully. “We laid wire so the aliens wouldn't have anything to triangulate, not because of the towers... If that’s true, it makes sense why our satellites stopped responding. They’re out there in the real world, while the equipment we use to communicate with them became part of the game.”
“That’s why you can’t contact the ships,” I said. “And I could really use them...”
The general looked over at one of his aides, who nodded. Opening a drawer in the desk, he pulled out a paper map. It had been a long time since I’d seen one of those.
“I imagine we can dispense with the secrecy. This map shows the planned location of all our ships, three of which were out at sea when the game hit.”
There w^ere three red flags a hundred kilometers off the coast. One was in the north; the other twTo wrere farther south.
“The rest w7ere destroyed — wre already checked. There’s no data on these three, so if you’re right, there should be real humans there.”
“With real weapons,” I said. Somewhere deep inside, a hope was kindled. It was too late for me to survive the damn game, but there was a chance everyone else could. “By the way, there's one more thing. Could you take care of my sister?”
“Of course. Where is she? Do we need to send out a squad?”
“No, she’s dead. Just a second...”
I stepped out of the building and called Drone over. Banging against the dome a couple times, it told me there was no way it could get in with the game item on board, so I flew over to meet it. I need to remember to tell the troops what can’t get inside these things. There was no saying what the release owner was capable of.
You’re trying to resurrect player Squirrel Derwin. Current
status: Dead.
Note! The last note in the database about this player: insane, unable to restore mind.
Yes, let’s do this.
The next surprised gasp came when the ghost appeared. Squirrel was motionless, a frozen wax figure. The vacant eyes stared off into space, bringing with them unpleasant associations, but I had an ace up my sleeve that could one-up the owner.
There were no instructions, so I went with my gut. Opening Squirrel’s mouth, I stuffed the rainbow pearl inside and squeezed her jaw so hard I broke it and a few teeth. The stone, which had stood up to a thermal explosion, was powerless against me.
Would you like to use the rainbow pearl?
Of course! Hurry!
Mark Derwin used the rainbow pearl. Information was sent to all players in World of the Changed.
My sister’s body, which I’d been holding in my arms, disintegrated into a fine sand and dropped to the ground. Then, it began reforming into another body that was very much not a ghost. It was a real, live player.
“Mark? Wait, where are we?” Tears appeared unbidden in my eyes when I heard her surprised exclamation. She’s alive!
Chapter 19
WHAT’S THE HARDEST part about getting a loved one back? It’s simple: letting go. Pulling yourself away from them and getting on with the work you have to do, leaving them in the care of strangers.
The previous two months just didn’t exist for Squirrel. The last thing she remembered was the metro, the message on her phone, the pain, and some guy walking around the train car injecting everyone. She was afraid it could have been some kind of maniac sticking a disease in them, though I had to tell her that her concerns were child’s play next to what was actually going on in the world. Her eyes widened when she learned the truth. In fact, I went so far as to tell her she'd been killed and brought back to life. I decided not to tell her about everything that had happened before her death. She didn’t need to know how I’d been up to all and sundry except trying to save her.
You transferred 120 levels to Squirrel Derwin.
You paid a penalty for transferring levels in the form of free attribute syringes (120).
Current level: 1987.
It turned out that while I’d been testing out my new flight skills and pushing the river over its banks, the hunter' or hunted mission had finished, and the game had given me another 462 levels. And while that had left me with more than 2,000, there’d been no extra bonus. Ill bet you have to get to 5,000 for the next reward.
But that wasn’t the end of the surprises. The same nondescript character responsible for finances came over and asked
if I could give him a few dozen noa. The aliens had taken out nearly their entire command structure, and he wanted to return them, even if it was only for a week, so they could use what they knew to hit back. I checked my supply and agreed. There was definitely enough there to last me a week.
“Where now?” Maximov glanced pointedly at Squirrel, and she had to let me go and step away.
“I’m going to fly to the sea and try to find a ship.”
“Just remember that it might not be in that position. They have plans in reserve for what to do in case a state of emergency is declared, though I never had access to it. I'm not sure where they might have gone. You might come up empty7.”
“I might, or I might not. Remember that it’s dangerous under the dome and get the people out since the hexagon is ours now.”
I really had let them know about the problems with domes. As it turned out, they’d pulled it from a noa station in the next hexagon over. The same high command I’d handed the noa over to resurrect had put together a beautifully organized raid where a location had been completely cleared without a single casualty. A concentration plant had even been demolished. Unsurprisingly, the Tsarter mercenaries had been sent to hunt them — the owner didn’t like people like that.
“We’re already redeploying them, should be done in a couple hours. Good luck to you, and...sorry for everything. I really did think making a deal with the aliens was the best move. We didn’t have enough information, time was tight, and I didn’t think losing one soldier would really move the needle for humankind.”
“All good.” I held out a hand, and the old man grasped it tightly. “I can’t say I would’ve done the same thing in your shoes, but I get your reasoning. Just stop shooting missiles.”
“We don’t have any more of them. One asked us to shoot five to make sure we destroyed everything in the location, but we were only able to fire our last three. And wre didn’t even use its coordinates; we came up with our own to better space out the damage. I guess you could say we saved your life.”
World of the changed 3 Noa in the flesh Page 23
