by Shiloh Hunt
Beside him, Kitty wailed: “Lucy!”, although William had no idea why.
The Mustang struck the guy, the slow motion physics reverting to normal speed gameplay in a whip crack.
There was a thunk.
The Mustang screeched to a halt, and then nothing but smoke and rain filled the air.
Level 8
Jeezy Creezy, Lemon Squeezy
HUNDREDS AT RISK AFTER GENERAL GAMING’S MMOD GAME CRASHES
THE GLOBE BLOGGER (June 15, 2087)
Reports released by General Gaming earlier today indicate that several hundred players still remain trapped inside General Gaming’s newest blockbuster title, Life: Online.
While most players have been found and disconnected after Wednesday’s cataclysmic glitch that forced out millions of players across the globe and caused disruptions to the menu system in-game, hundreds of players are still trapped inside.
When asked to comment on the reason these players were still connected to Life: Online and hadn’t been disconnected yet, General Gaming spokesperson Izelle Hendriks cited fictitious registration forms as the predominant cause.
Izelle was quoted as saying: “This is a nightmare. We have no idea where these players are in the world. And the fact that they haven’t been disconnected by outsiders yet can only mean they’re reclusive people without close family in the region. It could be days before we locate everyone. They could be dead by then.”
Having supplied incorrect residential addresses when registering their gaming accounts, law enforcement agencies are unable to locate these players. While General Gaming ensures us they have their best software engineers working around the clock to track these individuals using IP and MAC addresses, we are yet to receive an ETA on when these players will be disconnected.
With players connecting to this newest gaming sensation — termed a “Massive Multiplayer Online Dreamscape” — using the controversial Mindware hardware designed and manufactured by General Gaming, the only method of disconnecting them from Life: Online is through manual removal of the Mindware unit. And where players cannot be found, the Mindware cannot be removed.
General Gaming have declined to comment on what actions — if any — will be taken if the remaining players have not been found within the next twenty-four hours.
28
So Lucy, it turned out, was a guy. And not even a queer guy, like the name suggested. William stared at Lucy, arms crossed, while Kitty let at him with a ferocity William had only seen on rare occasions. He almost felt sorry for the guy, if only because Kitty enraged was, in order: surprising, frustrating and finally, unbelievably annoying. But there was something about the guy that made the notion of feeling pity for him equate to feeling sorry for a lion being pestered by a fly.
“—say for yourself?” Kitty’s shouts died down.
The guy shifted to his other foot, the only movement he’d made since tucking his thumbs behind his belt.
The Mustang’s impact hadn’t done much to Lucy, it seemed. When the car had finally come to a halt and Kitty had leapt out to administer to the stranger — who it turned out wasn’t a stranger at all — the guy had been brushing himself off, glaring at the car as if it had done him an injustice. Like trying to kill him.
There had been no explanation of his miraculous arrival, his equally miraculous escape from death, or the expression of utter defeat that had painted his face at seeing Kitty.
Possibly because she hadn’t given the guy a second to address any of the issues before launching into a full-scale verbal bombardment that had William wincing on the guy’s behalf. Maybe if this scenario had played out in Chimera, it would have gone better. There, at least, all the swearing was in Latin or some such. Here it was… well… intelligible.
The guy studied Kitty, his eyes narrowing as they moved over her face. Then his gaze slid to William, pausing a few seconds, before returning.
“Did the glitch touch you?” Lucy asked.
It was the first time William had heard the guy speak. He had to give the guy a grudging nod — he hadn’t even tried interrupting Kitty. He’d just leaned back and watched the entire performance with his mouth set in a grim line.
“Forget about that. You’ve gotta explain—” Kitty began.
William stepped forward, his arm moving Kitty out of the way. He stuck out his hand, pulling his mouth to the side as he waited for Lucy to accept it. The guy glanced down, a tiny frown appearing on his brow, and then he gripped William’s hand and gave it a brief shake.
“Name’s Dashing William.”
“Lucy Fur. Everyone just calls me Lucy.”
“You don’t find that confusing?”
“No. Should I?”
“It’s a girl’s name.”
“Not the whole thing.”
William shrugged. “Brave.”
Lucy didn’t reply. His gaze turned back to Kitty. William stepped to the side, intercepting the man’s stare.
“Could you get us out of here?”
Behind him, Kitty growled.
“Sure. Why not. Just keep your bitch on a leash.” Lucy pointed at Kitty. “She starts foaming from the mouth, I’m outta here.”
William barked a laugh and glanced at Kitty over his shoulder. She gaped at Lucy, her eyes flickering over the guy’s face. Those same green eyes were confused when they settled on William again.
“But—”
“Man up or shut up,” William said. Turning back to Lucy, he cocked his head. “Let’s go. I gotta get the fuck out of this game ‘fore I lose my mind.”
“Yeah, that’s never a pretty sight.”
William glanced at the guy. Something in his voice hadn’t sounded right.
“So, you’re just your average boy scout then? Helping out a player in need?” William asked.
Lucy led them back to the Mustang, the engine still idling. He flung open the driver’s door and slid inside, not answering William.
Kitty refused to get in the car.
William made her.
After she’d stopped cussing at him, William slouched in the passenger seat, throwing a warning stare to where she sulked in the back.
“You didn’t answer me.” William twisted slightly, his elbow digging into the seat.
“Didn’t know I had to.” Lucy gave him a mirthless smile. “But yeah. You got the gist of it.” Lucy’s eyes shifted from William to the rear-view mirror. “You be texting your man non-stop on the way over, but you don’t tell him nothing about me, Kitty?”
Kitty didn’t reply.
“She’s sulking,” William said. “And no, she didn’t. Made it out that you were helping her since you were headed to the Arena too.”
“I was. I still am.”
“Really?” Kitty surged forward, grabbing both of their headrests and wedging herself between the two seats. “Then why the fuck did you jump out—”
William pressed his palm into her forehead and shoved her back into her seat. Lucy’s eyes flashed to him, returning to the road before they had a chance to settle.
“That’s good to know,” William went on, ignoring Kitty’s indignant gaping. “Don’t know if K told you, but we’d only ever been in Chimera. We weren’t planning on going into any of the other rifts, either.”
“Only into fantasy RPG’s?” Lucy asked.
“Not me.” William rolled his shoulders. “But this one’s pretty much useless at anything but a bow. I mean—” William laughed “—give her a sword and she’ll chop her own fucking legs off.”
Kitty gasped. The sound hissed through the cabin of the car. William’s eyes fell away from Lucy, fixing on the guy’s hand, where it clutched the gear shift. He wore the same fingerless leather gloves as William. In fact, their avatars were identical except for facial features and hair.
“Just kidding, K.” William gave her a small, quick smile. “Anyway,” he said, turning back to Lucy. “We could use your help getting to the Arena.”
Expecting an outburst that never ca
me, William turned to Kitty. She was huddled into the corner of the back seat, her knuckles pressed to her mouth, staring out the window.
Lucy’s voice drew his gaze. “Sure, mate. Like I said, just make sure your girl doesn’t accidentally chop my legs off or anything.”
There was a faint sound from the back seat, like a suppressed sob. William didn’t look.
29
Lucy drove them to a pier. It looked like any old pier, as piers went. The major difference was the flickering, shifting wall a few yards away from its edge. To William it looked more like a piece of coloured clingwrap someone had spanned through the air. Tight enough to be straight, but not tight enough to prevent the odd ripple shimmering through it.
“You want us to what?” William asked, again.
“Swim,” Lucy said, making the appropriate gestures with his arms.
“I know what it is,” William said. “I just don’t get why we can’t… I don’t know… fly a fucking car into it or something.”
William glanced down. The ocean was quiet here. Eerily so. It looked like dark glass.
“I don’t like the look of that water, man.”
“Neither do I, but you can ask Kitty what happens when you hit an exit at speed.” Lucy crossed his arms. “Go on, Kitty. Enlighten your Will.”
Kitty chose not to enlighten anyone, instead focusing on idly swinging her legs under her where she sat at the edge of the pier. She’d come alive about halfway into their drive to the exit, going on about how they weren’t going in the right direction, and that Lucy was a lying, sneaking something or other with a bunch of expletives tacked on, courtesy of the game. Then Lucy had plucked the map she’d been waving in his face from her and handed it back seconds later, telling her in a calm voice that she was wrong. She’d mumbled something a few times, and then sunken into another sulk she was yet to get out of.
“Can’t be worse than swimming through one.”
“It’s like—” Lucy’s eyes flickered away, his fingertips briefly touching his lips before gesturing abstractly “—belly flopping into a swimming pool. From like… the roof of a three storey building or something. Get it?”
William stared at the guy. Their avatars might have looked similar, but the man’s dark eyes were unwavering.
“So swimming’s better?”
“It’s not the mode of transport, mate; it’s the fucking speed. The slower the better. I don’t want to end up smeared all over Fantasia’s grassy meadows. I’ve got better ways to spend my time, thanks.”
“So we’ll find a boat then, and—”
There was a splash. They both swung to face Kitty. To the space where Kitty had been. A regular, deliberate splashing came from below. William leaned over the edge of the pier, crossing his arms over his chest when he caught sight of Kitty’s avatar slowly making its way to the filmy barrier.
“This wasn’t your decision, K!” William yelled after her. “You hear me?”
When it was apparent that she either didn’t hear him or wasn’t prepared to reply, William spun around again, drawing a deep breath.
“Fuck.”
“I really don’t know what you’re whining about,” Lucy said. “It’s just a little water.”
The guy sat down and slid over the side of the pier, twisting to catch its edge in his hands. William leaned over, eyes flickering briefly between Lucy and the receding Kitty. He crouched, grasping Lucy’s wrist. The man’s eyes widened, his mouth pressing into a line.
“I can’t fucking swim, okay?” William hissed. “I jump in there, I’ll sink like a stone.”
Lucy glanced away. When his eyes returned, they were thoughtful.
“Then you should probably get in first.”
“What?” William tried to rise, but it seemed Lucy had somehow gotten hold of his wrist. “Hey, leave—”
“Man overboard,” Lucy said.
He tugged.
William hit the water after an eternity of yelling and flailing. His body was struck with waves of cold. There was no sensation of water filling his mouth, of course. No breathlessness. But it was impossible to keep his head above the water. His vision was limited to fragmented scenes warped by the ocean.
Pressure around his chest indicated Lucy’s arm. The guy grabbed him, hoisting him to the surface of the water.
“Keep kicking!” Lucy shouted in his ear.
The guy swam forward, hauling William along behind him like a tug boat. William tried protesting, but it was too difficult to fight the guy while keeping his feet kicking. So he settled just for kicking, imagining Lucy’s head was an inch from the toes of his steel-studded boots.
“Here we go,” Lucy said.
William was still trying to look around when Lucy hauled him through the barrier. There was a moment of uncertainty. Around him, the game whorled and coalesced, pseudo-reality smearing into a gangrenous palette of colours. The film moved over him, dragging against his skin, reluctant to let him through.
His world went black. The liquid he’d been kicking turned to air, his heels impacting on something soft but solid. He blinked furiously, his vision returning slowly, too brightly. There was a moment of noise, a shrieking that tore apart the sky. Water crashed over William’s head, and a sound he dimly recognised as machine gun fire reached him in tattered waves.
The world tipped. His avatar stretched. Snapped apart. Reformed.
Then William’s eyes were assaulted with green. It glowed all around him, emerald and pulsing. He kicked at it, trying to break free. Bits of it flew up, attacking him. He cried out, his voice leaving him in a whining yowl of confusion and fright.
“Darn it, Will. Relax!”
Something soft pressed into his shoulder, and his face slammed into the green. It was grass. He stared at it, unbelieving, his ragged breath making it shift. Then his gazed moved closer, his eyes crossing until he stared at his own nose. All five inches of it. His gaze fixed with furious intent on the shining black blob at the end of it.
“What the fluff?” William scrambled up. Tried to scramble up. Someone was pinning him down. “Hey!” William swung his head around. “Let me—”
His voice died away.
A young, fluffy tiger had a paw on his shoulder. Black eyes gleamed above the orange-striped fur.
“Breathe, William.”
“You’re a—”
“Yeah, and you won’t believe what you are, either. But we can’t mess around. There’s no time. We have to go.”
The tiger released him, big, shining eyes regarding him warily. His whiskers twitched.
“He gonna bounce?” A familiar voice asked, hidden from sight by the freakishly large baby tiger in front of William.
“Hope not,” Lucy replied. “But get ready, just in case.”
William’s heart was pounding. He forced himself to his feet. His paws. All four of them. Then he caught sight of a flash of movement and tensed. It came again, just behind, too quick to spot. William spun around, making a grab for the thing, heart galloping in his chest.
“When you’re done chasing your tail,” Lucy said, “then meet us at the bottom of the meadow.”
Moments later, William’s bottom sank to the grass. He panted, a long red tongue lolling from his jaw. He lifted both paws in front of him, staring in silent amazement at the silvery-white fur that covered them. His ears pricked, and he ran a careful paw over them, too. Then over his face. He pinned his bushy white tail to the grass, growling at it when the tip flickered, trying to move out from under his paw.
“A wolf?” he asked.
There was no answer. He glanced up, spotting two animals at the bottom of the sloping rise.
He bounded down to them, backpedalling when he realized he was going too fast to stop.
“Jeezy creezy, Will.” Kitty squirmed out from under him, her green eyes slitting. “Watch where you’re going.”
She was a lion. Okay, a lioness he supposed. A baby lioness with huge, glittering eyes. She regarded him with heavy
suspicion.
“What?”
“You’re so…”
“What?” This time it was a warning.
“I wasn’t going to say cute.” William showed her his teeth.
“You were,” Kitty growled. “You piece of dander, I’ll—”
She leapt at him. William caught her in his paws, the two of them rolling a few yards down the side of the daisy-strewn meadow, trying to tear each other’s eyes out with soft, blunt paws.
“Cut it out you two,” Lucy called.
Kitty shoved William off her, shaking herself free of grass. She gave him another baleful stare before sauntering back to Lucy. William gave his body a shake too, caught sight of his tail, and had to force himself to release his bite on it.
He bounded over to where Lucy and Kitty were standing.
“Watch yourself in this rift,” Lucy was saying. “The last time I was here there were still plenty of players. They’re all like five years old, so prepare yourselves. They can be petulant.”
“You’ll fit right in,” William said, bumping Kitty with his hip.
She hissed at him.
“We’re going straight to the centre of the rift,” Lucy said. “There’s a witch there who should be able to help us get to the other side much faster than if we just leg it.”
“A witch? In a kid’s game? Gadzooks.” Kitty sank to her butt, her tail whipping around her front paws.
“You played any kid’s games lately?” Lucy sighed. “Just follow me.”
The tiger strode away, his orange tail slashing from side to side.
“Come on. Keep up.” Lucy shifted into a long, graceful canter.
William was beside him an instant later. “Race ya!”
“What?” Lucy’s teeth flashed. “You don’t know where we’re going, dumb-dumb.”
“Yeah?” William’s tongue was lolling out again. “So what? Come on, slow poke.”
William surged forward, his paws eating up the ground as he leapt over the smooth grass. Above, a handful of puffy white clouds had been pinned to an infinitely blue sky. The sun hung between them, cloaked in a white aura. The sound of bird call and rushing water was all around, along with calm, lilting music that drifted in from everywhere and nowhere.
