by Phoenix Ward
“It’s a lot to maintain,” Tera commented. “It must have been enormous.”
“Now it’s a ghost town,” her partner said. “A ruin of concrete, metal, and glass. Looking at the state of it, it’s easy to see why they lost the war.”
“They”, Tera noted. Such a strange distinction.
“Abenayo,” she started, “when did you get installed?”
The senior officer slowed a little, casting a sideways glance at the rookie.
“Why?” she asked.
Tera drew back a little. “Just curious,” she said sheepishly. “It’s a long walk.”
Abenayo thought for a moment before continuing at her original speed. “It happened about twenty years ago. I was nineteen,” she said. “Just a year younger than you.”
“Do you remember what happened?” Tera asked.
“Of course,” Abenayo replied.
Tera waiting in silence for some sort of elaboration. She didn’t dare prod her partner, however.
“I was killed when a couple junkies broke into our shack,” she continued when the silence started to grow uncomfortable. “They were fueled up on something and I guess just wanted to get some action. When they were done with us, they slit our throats. Even my little niece.”
“Jesus,” Tera replied. “I had no idea you were a slum dweller.”
Abenayo raised her brow as if to warn the rookie to tread lightly. Then she gave a little smirk as if to forgive the offense.
“In a lifetime long ago, yes,” Abenayo said.
“I just never would have imagined,” Tera said. “What with your attitude toward them and all.”
“Well, now you understand,” Abenayo interjected. “I hate them, in fact.”
“Because of what the junkies did to you?”
“Because they’re animals, and those bastards only did what animals do.” Abenayo’s smirk faded, her features serious once again.
“But Abenayo, you were —”
“And I’m not anymore,” the elder cut in. “Getting installed was the best thing that ever happened to me. What about you, rookie? When did you get plugged in?”
“I was only three or four years old,” Tera replied.
Abenayo seemed a little surprised, her synthetic brow lifting up to her scalp. “Shit, that early?” she said.
“That’s right,” Tera said. “I don’t remember it, though. They say my parents abandoned me. They found me malnourished and dying of thirst and managed to download my brain before I died.”
“I can’t even imagine growing up as an installed intelligence,” Abenayo commented. “I don’t even understand how you would ‘grow up’, so to speak.”
“I mean, I didn’t, at least, not physically,” Tera said. “But I was educated and my mind expanded. I was raised in a sort of orphanage. Trained from the get-go to be a police officer. It was like my destiny was chosen for me.”
“Do you resent that?” Abenayo asked.
“I don’t know,” Tera replied. “Not really. It’s what I’m best at anyway. The way I can contribute the most to the world.”
She noticed Abenayo’s gait change a little, then saw some movement up ahead. Her partner noticed the people in front of them before she had.
“Quiet now,” Abenayo said. “We’ve got a job to do.”
As they continued walking, Tera was able to make out the people a little better. They were dirty, covered in shabby clothing not unlike those of the slum dwellers. A lot of them were wearing heavy ponchos and cloaks that must have been designed to protect them from the heavy winds and dust of the wastes. All of them looked at the two approaching I.I.s with distrustful eyes, peering out at them from behind bits of rubble and ruin.
Tera noticed some children darting around in the shadows of the broken buildings around them. They moved like critters afraid of the light, watching the two strangers.
Finally, one of the humans started to walk towards the cops. A rather broad-shouldered man, he moved with large swings of his arms. A huge brown beard covered most of his face, and a canvas hood covered the rest.
“Greetings, metal women,” the man said, closing the gap between them. “What brings you out of your walls?”
“You do,” Abenayo said. “I’d bet that doesn’t surprise you, though. What are you people doing this close to the city?”
“We’re just surviving, friends. Is that not allowed?”
Abenayo was quiet for a moment while she sized up the man. Tera kept her eyes on those around them; she didn’t want anyone to get the drop on her if things turned ugly.
“What crew do you represent?” Abenayo asked. Then, after the man shot her a confused look, she elaborated, “What human tribe are you from?”
“Formerly Truck’s Raiders,” the man replied. There was a gentle twinkle in his eye and a softness to his face as he spoke. Tera didn’t think he meant harm to anyone.
“Truck’s Raiders?” Abenayo asked for clarity. Her posture tensed a little. “The roving bandits?”
“Yes, but we’re exiles,” the man explained. “We are no longer members of any tribe.”
“Why were you exiled?”
The man looked around at his compatriots, who were starting to emerge and show their faces a little more.
“Some of us expressed interest in this place of yours, this Shell City,” he said. “We may have mentioned a desire to come here, to meet your benevolent Council.”
“I take it Truck didn’t like that?” Abenayo asked.
The man looked taken aback, like the police officer had smacked him in the face with the name. The others seemed a little alarmed at their former leader’s mention.
“It is a serious crime to fraternize with ghost people like yourselves,” the man said. “If we did more than simply contemplate such a thing, we would have been executed. Still, they want nothing to do with Council sympathizers. We are without a home now. It’s been a long trip, but we decided to see if your city would let us in.”
“I take it you’re all unimplanted,” Abenayo said, more as a statement than a question.
The man and a few around him nodded.
“Then there’s no chance you’d be admitted,” the senior officer replied. “You can turn around now.”
A worried look crossed the man’s face. For a moment, it looked like he might break down and weep or something. His mouth hung open as he looked around, as if someone might be able to deny Abenayo’s claim.
“All due respect, but we’ve come a long way,” he said. “I think we’d all feel a lot better if we could hear that from the Council themselves.”
“We are here on behalf of the Council, human,” Abenayo said. “You are hearing it from them.”
“But — where will we go?”
“That’s not our concern. You are not allowed within Shell City and we are here to tell you to vacate.”
The man seemed flabbergasted.
“We’re not in Shell City!” he replied, outraged. “If they won’t let us into the walls for whatever reason, can’t we just stay out here until we know where we’re going?”
“No.”
“But it’s just ruins!”
“It’s still property of the Council of Shell City,” Abenayo said with a firm voice. “You are ordered to pack up and leave immediately or you will be removed with force.”
The man’s face started to turn red with anger and indignation. Bits of spittle flew from his lips as he spoke.
“But we’ll die out there!” he pleaded.
“I don’t care,” Abenayo replied. “If you don’t leave, you will die out here.”
The man took a deep breath, then seemed to become resolute. Like, somehow in the last thirty seconds, he had accepted his fate.
“That’s the way it has to be, I suppose,” he said. “It has to come down to this.” He stepped forward as if to intimidate the female bodyshell with his sheer size.
“It does,” Abenayo confirmed. She stepped into him rather than backing up. Sh
e was not impressed with him.
Then, without warning, a ball of electricity appeared between the two I.I.s and the man. It was like a thunderstorm that grew instantly out of a single spot. For Tera, everything went dark.
Disconnect
Ethan started to grow a little skeptical. As he stood there in the forested valley of the Last Stand map with the strange man named Gauge before him, he remembered what Sharpe had said. About how Gauge was likely part of some new adventure that Replication Systems wanted people to test. Maybe they wanted to preserve the surprise hook by sharing it with just a few unwitting people. Sharpe’s logic was making more and more sense as Ethan thought about it.
There was another thought present, though. One that begged him to consider one terrifying possibility.
What if it’s real? he asked himself.
It could be some elaborate game, or maybe even a prank Sharpe and Taylor were pulling on him for his birthday, but he didn’t think it was worth the chance. If he plays along and it turns out to be a joke, then he’ll be a little embarrassed, but that’s all. If it’s true that his “captors” were going to lobotomize him, though, and he didn’t take the threat seriously…
He didn’t want to think about the implications.
“Okay,” he said after a long while of thinking. “So what do we do?”
“We have to make our escape,” Gauge said, grabbing Ethan by the shoulder. He started to lead him in the same direction that Taylor’s tracks went. “Now is our only chance. It has to be today.”
“Where do we go?” Ethan felt at a loss.
“Follow me,” Gauge said. He let go of the birthday boy and started to lead the way at a brisk pace.
Together, they weaved between the trees as they made their way through the rock-walled passage. Ethan had no idea how much farther the canyon went, but he imagined it let out soon.
“You see, I was the one who convinced Taylor to use this map for your guys’ birthday,” Gauge explained. “I did it subtly, but it was effective. I was able to alter the Last Stand map to make us a sort of escape hatch. Something they don’t know about. And we have to get to it now if we want to save your brain.”
“What about the others?” Ethan asked as he followed the redheaded man.
Gauge looked back at him as we walked. “We’ll do what we can,” he said. “I won’t guarantee anything, though. I need you to trust me, and I won’t get that by lying about things like this, even to make you feel better. But I promise you that we will try to get your friends and everyone else out — before it’s too late.”
They finally reached the end of the canyon, and the forest thinned out as well. Eventually, there were no more alpine trees; fields of grass stretched out for miles. The cliffs behind them started to look rather small as they continued at their hurried pace. The Last Stand map was enormous — probably one of the largest Ethan had ever been in. It was like an entire planet’s worth of biome’s packed into a county-sized plot of land.
The grassland transitioned to jungle. Ethan couldn’t help but feel amazed by the beauty of the area. Whoever had designed the map in the first place put a lot of detail into the jungle to make it seem authentic. Little ants crawled along the moss-covered tree trunks while snakes hissed form branches above them.
All the way, Gauge seemed to know where he was going. Ethan kept expecting him to stop and second guess his turns, but he never did.
There were ruins that Ethan started to spot between the palm trees and the thick ferns. They looked like something from the Aztec empire; pictographs covered all the weathered and worn stone faces. The ruins might have been a temple at one time, or at least, they were designed to look as such. There were several toppled pillars, but a few walls still stood. Ethan half expected Indiana Jones to sprint on by with his bullwhip in hand.
Gauge beckoned Ethan on farther with his hand. “This way,” he said.
Just as Ethan was about to follow the strange man through one of the ancient archways, a pair of gunshots popped from right behind them. The shots were so close that the sound made Ethan’s ears throb. He was so startled that he leapt forward, nearly tumbling to the jungle floor. Gauge jumped, too, and turned to spot their attacker.
“Get behind cover!” he shouted at Ethan. He reached out and pulled the teenager up against the walls of the arch.
Ethan breathed hard. For the last hour or so, he had nearly forgotten that he was fighting in a kill-or-be-killed competition. The fortune of points up for grabs to the contest’s winner had slipped his mind. He was now far more concerned about his brain.
“Stop shooting!” he shouted from behind the ruined wall. “I don’t want to fight!”
“Then you should have picked a different game!” the shooter shouted.
Ethan didn’t recognize the voice. If it was Sharpe, he might have listened.
Or he wouldn’t have missed, he thought.
“We can’t get killed here or the plan’s ruined,” Gauge said. The fear in his voice was obvious.
For the first time in all his experience with the simulation, Ethan was afraid for his life. He wished more than anything that he chose something lighthearted for his birthday celebration, like a concert or a feast. Instead, he was going to die and it was his own fault.
“Cease fire!” he yelled some more. “Come on!”
He tried to peek around the stone to see their attacker and managed to spot the guy taking a couple of steps in their direction. Then, with a loud pop, the shooter vanished in a hail of blood. A wooden crate sat where he was.
Ethan’s mouth fell open in shock, and when he looked over at Gauge, he saw the strange man’s doing the same. They both timidly emerged from their cover and looked at the spot where the attacker had been standing mere seconds ago.
“What the hell just happened?” Ethan asked.
Gauge bent down a little, poking at something with a stick. Looking over his shoulder, Ethan could see it was a jagged piece of metal.
“Landmine,” Gauge replied. “Looks like we got lucky. Come on, no time to waste.”
Ethan stared at the shrapnel for a moment longer before following the redheaded man further into the jungle ruins.
In the middle of the area, a small stone building still stood. Unlike the rest of the ruins, it was an intact structure, with all four walls and a ceiling. To Ethan, it looked like a tomb or a small mausoleum of some sort. Gauge disappeared into the tiny building’s entrance, and Ethan followed him in.
It was dark and hard to see Gauge. The redheaded man gave a simple nod, then stepped into the far wall of the tomb and vanished.
Ethan blinked. He looked around, assuming for a moment that he had just seen things wrong. He started to think it was some sort of software bug before realizing that this must be the escape hatch.
“Walk through the wall,” he heard Gauge’s disembodied voice say.
He did as he was told. He squeezed his eyes shut at the last second, expecting to collide with the cold stone. When he opened them, however, he found himself inside the wall. Turning around, he realized he could see all over the Last Stand environment, straight through all the walls and hillsides. It was as if none of the containers of the world existed, just their contents.
Gauge appeared beside him.
“Where are we?” he asked.
“Outside the map,” the man replied. “This is where I hid our emergency exit. This way.”
When they moved through this bizarre terrain-less world, they sort of floated like they were on motorized roller blades. It was strange to behold, but rather easy to control. Ethan didn’t need much practice before he was able to follow Gauge with ease.
Then he saw what appeared to be a simple door, hovering in the nothingness that existed outside the map’s boundaries. The redheaded man floated up to it and pulled on the handle. Inside was pure darkness.
“I should warn you,” Gauge started just before he lead the charge through the door, “you’re in for quite a shock. Brace yourse
lf. You’ll need to be on your feet and moving as soon as possible.”
“We’re leaving?” Ethan asked. “Where are we going?”
“The real world,” Gauge replied. Then, before he stepped through the door, he added, “See you on the other side.”
Ethan hesitated for a moment once the strange man vanished into the abyss. There was a tiny voice deep in his brain that told him not to go. To stay here and forget everything Gauge told him. That it was all just some elaborate adventure the simulation was tricking him into playing.
He told that voice to shut the hell up and jumped through the door.
Captured
With a pounding in her metal and plastic head, Tera started to come to. The world around her was a blur of colors and motion. She lifted her head and tried to make out up from down, but everything in her ocular receptors was swirling. A bit of static disruption lingered on the edge of her vision.
She tried to stand, but her extremities weren’t responding. Looking down, as things around her started to become clear, she realized she was tied up. Her legs were bound together and her arms were secured to her sides. Whoever did this to her had attached her to a nearby boulder with a short length of rope and a stake. She tried to pry herself loose, but couldn’t get any leverage with her arms and legs incapacitated.
Looking up, she saw Abenayo. Or at least, her bodyshell. All the subtle lights that usually glowed to indicate life within the machine were dead. The police-issued bodyshell that belonged to her partner and mentor lay dormant. Empty.
There was some movement off to the side that drew Tera’s gaze. The man who had pleaded with them mere moments ago to let them stay in the ruins approached her.
“Ah, she’s awake,” he said. Once he was within arm’s reach he knelt down so he could stare into her synthetic face. “If that’s what you call it, that is.”
“What the hell happened?” Tera asked. Her tone was seeped with venom. “What did you do to Abenayo?”
“We deleted her,” the man replied, a smirk on his lips. “The E.M.P. was supposed to erase you as well, but I guess you were just out of fatal range. Still, it was powerful enough to shut your systems down for a little bit. Might work out for the better, in the end.”
