It was a new experience. Mia wasn’t accustomed to not being in control of her environment. She felt two sets of arms grab her and drag her through her home. Despite her petite frame and inability to resist, both huffed and puffed at the effort having to stop at several points to rest; the older man having most of the trouble, or it seemed to their captive.
Mia felt the rubber mats of the trunk on her bound hands before hearing the lid close and the vehicle start. Her mind raced, this was more than just a home invasion robbery. Where were they taking her and for what reason? A sense of dread and fear set in.
***
Gazing out to the cityscape below, Andy considered the earlier conversation with his girlfriend. Maybe Mia was right; this life is getting out of control. But if there is as much gold in that hidden vault as Keith told him, he would be a very wealthy man. Not to mention how it would enhance his reputation among the trophy hunters, hundreds of thousands that visited his website and read his blogs.
Andy thought about Keith. Like most team members he adventured with, he did not know much about the guy personally. Andy had a close group of friends like Logan and Mia that associated with each other IRL, or at least close to seeing them in real life through Skype or Facetime, which ironically was less realistic than being with someone in the Metaverse.
He thought he should try to locate Keith and at least give him a finder’s fee. He would have to get approval from his team and then somehow track him down. Digital Adventures would not provide his identity and frowned on anything that might take away from the realism. The Dead Zone like all their simulations was considered by the corporation to be a real-life experience, at least in that individual world. If you got killed there you were dead, and gone; period end of the storyline for you and everyone who knew you only in that context.
Sitting down on his large white leather couch the semi-famous digital adventurer leaned over his tablet. He scanned through the forums and blogs created or frequented by adventurers going into the DZ. He gave up after a half-hour. Maybe Logan would know something about the guy. That last thought brought Andy back to the present; he had to finish his current post on the latest going’s on in the Dead Zone.
A Near DEVO’s Experience was the tentative byline, a play on words illustrating how close he and Logan had been to falling prey to the creatures. Only Mia’s heroic flying saved them.
Andy stood and took in the view of the bustling city at night. The outline of Camel Back Mountain had disappeared into the evening. The still moonless early evening also hid from his view the drone slowly climbing through the night air.
After a moment, he turned to walk from the window of the great room and back to his home office, a spare bedroom down a hallway opposite his master suite with no external windows to distract him while he wrote. Sitting down at his desk Andy focused his thoughts to his writing. After about ten minutes of work, his earpiece buzzed and he tapped it with his right index finger to open the Line.
“This is Andy Crawley.”
“Mr. Crawley, it’s good to talk to you finally.”
“Who am I speaking with?”
“Graybeard.”
“I’m sorry I don’t recognize the name, have we met?”
“Only in passing Andy, the last time was when you flew off the roof of the Radio Building in that miraculous escape. Too bad about the two who fell from the aircraft though. That first one really squealed the second one not at all, the fall must have been fatal; lucky him.”
Andy rolled his eyes. Obviously, it was some other adventurer trolling him for free advice on strategy or tactics. Andy didn’t mind talking with fans, but they could suck all your time up if you let them.
“I’m preparing a post about that. I hope you’ll read it, which is actually something I need to get back to right now.”
“Are you going to write about the gold Andy?”
“Gold?” Andy played dumb, hoping the shock didn’t carry through in his voice but fearing he failed.
“I’m sure that our mutual friend, Keith, told you all about it after you rescued him, or I should say nearly did. Was he the lucky one?”
“Look, whatever you said your name was. I really don’t know what you’re talking about—”
“Oh, but I think you do, and the name again is Graybeard. Tell me did you read the article I sent you earlier about the death of one Cristopher Harvey?”
“Who?” Andy shifted his eyes to the monitor on the desk and scrolled through his email.
“Yes, of course, my apologies your fellow team member, Keith as you knew him. Type Graybeard in the search box in case you missed it.”
A quick search with Graybeard’s name and he found the message sent from a Gmail account. Andy glanced at the email for the first time. Like dozens of others in his inbox, it was from someone he didn’t know and hadn’t gotten around to reading yet.
“A student was shot and killed on a college campus, so what’s new?”
“Your teammate Keith is, or I should say, was that guy. He knew about the gold, from his father I presume,” Graybeard reminded Andy again of who died in real life.
Andy sped read the short article; a portion jumped out at him, the victim’s father was an executive with Digital Adventures. Andy sat back in his chair and tried to make sense of the news story and the telephone call. This whole conversation was getting creepy.
“Look, Graybeard, again I really don’t know what this is about, but I’m going to hang up now. Good luck in your adventures.”
“It would be a shame if you met the same fate as Christopher, AKA Keith. You should at least hear what I have to propose.”
“And what is that?”
“A partnership, half the gold and your life.”
“Are you threatening me? What kind of nut are you?”
“The kind that you need to be concerned about Andy, the kind that could either be a great partner or your worst enemy.”
Shattering glass and gunfire reverberated through the condo, Andy jumped to his feet before realizing what he needed to do was dive for the floor. Trying to make himself as small as possible, he hugged the rug spread over the wood floor.
“No need to be worry Andy. If I wanted to kill you, I would have done so earlier when you stood in front of the windows I just shattered. A little message shall we say to reinforce the seriousness of this matter, and more importantly the realization on your part that no one fucks with Graybeard.”
Andy was in shock and at a loss for words. His initial instinct was to tell the deranged person on the other end of the line to go fuck himself. Getting into a war of words with a madman aiming a gun towards his condo seemed imprudent though.
“I’ll be in touch, don’t talk to anyone else.” The curt voice cut through his earpiece like a rifle shot.
Andy low crawled out of his office and into the hall. He slowly got to his feet and hugging the wall moved towards the great room.
Andy gulped at the sight of the shattered glass littering his floor and furniture that just a few moments before formed the window panes he earlier stood in front of. He dared not go near them for fear that whoever had done that could still target him.
Andy buzzed the security desk and told them that some nut job had just shot up his home. While he awaited the building security and the Phoenix Police Department, he dialed Mia to tell her about the crazy thing that just happened.
The call went to voice mail.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Andy sipped the Nutrient, his dinner now, as he watched the workers place the plywood sheeting where his floor to ceiling window had been. It would take a couple of days to get the custom sized glass needed for replacement. He contemplated going to a hotel or possibly Mia’s home. He knew this would freak her out and debated how much he should tell her, that is if he could get a hold of her. The agreed upon time to pick her up for dinner had come and gone, and he had not heard from her. With the police gone and the workers nearly finished, he hoped he could leave
and head to her home. Andy tried Mia’s phone again, no answer. Earlier he had left her a message telling her that he was going to be busy for a while cleaning up a broken window and filling out a statement for the police. Surely, that message would have prompted her to call him back, if nothing else, and yet she had gone silent.
Andy didn’t tell the cops about the conversation he had earlier with Graybeard, or whatever his real name was. His concern wasn’t so much about his safety but considering what happened to the guy he only knew as Keith he had to be careful. Unmistakably the windows were shattered by gunfire. The cops even dug six slugs out of the opposite wall, the same number that Andy noted reportedly stuck down Keith, known as Christopher Harvey in the real world.
Of course, the primary reason that he didn’t mention Graybeard was the gold. It was both his leverage over his assailant as well as a significant amount of money; even if he had to split it with him, something he had no intention of doing. If he told the cops the whole story, the first thing they would do would be to call Digital Adventures who would change the storyline and remove the trophy. If they left it, then every other infiltration team and Outfit would eventually find out that such a haul was just waiting for the taking. While trophies of such size were rumored to exist, to date none of that scale had been discovered. Only he knew its location, now that “Keith” was dead. That information was of value only if he kept it secret.
Andy wanted the kid’s murderer to get caught as much as anyone. He racked his brain hoping that he could maybe find a way back into the zone and get the gold and at the same time uncover the killer. He considered for a moment how selfish that was but then he was in very real danger, the only protection he had against that danger was the gold and his knowledge of how to get at it.
“You’re losing your mind, Andy, this is crazy,” he muttered to himself.
The cops needed to know the whole story; he couldn’t do anything else. Amending his statement in the morning was the correct course of action after pondering about how he could protect himself, maybe get some more information out of this Graybeard that he could pass along.
His phone buzzed, the caller ID informing him through his ear piece that it was Mia.
“Hey babe! You’ll never believe what is going on.”
“Shut the fuck up and listen, piss-ant, we’ve got her,” a slightly accented voice said. Andy almost said the name Graybeard but thought better of it.
“Who is this? Where is Mia?”
“The name is Haus. I’m the one that nearly capped your ass in your rig next to the railcar, ring a bell mate?”
None of this made sense to Andy. The explosion and attack were still fresh in his mind. He didn’t need further description.
“Where’s Mia?”
“She’s right here with me. I’ll be sending you a text picture of her to prove it. In the meantime, I need you to suit up and meet me in-world. We’re going to go get my gold that your little teammate stole from me.”
“That gold got destroyed with the rig.”
“Don’t fuck with me piss-ant, we both know the bags Keith got out was just a part, a small part of what is still in the vault.”
“If you know so much about the gold why don’t you go get it? I swear if you harm Mia I will hunt you down and find you in the real world.”
Haus laughed. “Whatever, we’re all tough guys, right? So, listen up tough guy, you want to see your girlfriend alive again you follow my instructions. Make sure you answer when we call.” The line went dead.
A moment later, a text message arrived with a picture of Mia, sitting on the floor someplace with duct tape over her mouth. Andy’s heart sank, this was getting crazy.
His head was spinning. Graybeard didn’t mention anyone else calling him, in fact, he had been quite precise about that. Who is this “Haus?” He must be working with Graybeard.
Andy thought quickly. Who could he call?
The one guy he could trust through thick and thin came to mind.
***
“This is nuts. You’re telling me that the dude in Texas that got killed is Keith, our Keith? And now his killer is threatening you, and someone else has kidnapped Mia?”
“I know it sounds nuts Logan, two different guys for sure. I just don’t know if they are working together or something else. All I know is that Keith is dead IRL, my home was shot up, and Mia’s been kidnapped; they sent a photo of her to prove it.”
“You gotta go to the cops, Andy. Screw the gold.”
“It’s not that simple. Digital Adventures will find out and null and void the trophy. Besides look at what these guys have already done. They are nuts, you’re right. That is what makes them so dangerous to Mia. If I don’t cooperate with them, they will harm her.”
“I don’t get it; how do they think they can get away with this?”
“I’m sure they got that part figured out, or they are demented enough to believe that they can.”
“Yeah, Andy, but how will they collect the real money that the trophy represents?”
“It’s all timing, if they take that trophy to the exchange, the assets will transfer into M-dollars. Once they get control of those dollars, they can move it around and through the Metaverse. You know how easy that is, all they need to do is keep us quiet long enough to do that. That’s why they have Mia, as insurance.”
“Who is us?”
“You and me Logan, we’re going to help this Graybeard and whomever else get that gold.”
***
Ending the call with Logan Andy locked up his condo and made his way down to his personal H-Pod. He couldn’t sleep anyway, and he felt safer in the Pod than he might in his condo with all the glass that could expose him. His home had a beautiful view of the cityscape from most of the rooms, all with floor to ceiling windows. He realized how vulnerable it made him to a nut with a high-powered weapon, something one doesn’t typically think about when looking for a place to live.
The weapon used, or more importantly how, puzzled him and the cops. He lived on the 9th floor, 100 hundred feet off the ground. The crime scene investigators using lasers and other methods that Andy didn’t quite pay attention to seemed to indicate that the rounds impacted not at an angle like they should have if they originated from the ground, but rather as if fired from a position straight out in front of the great room. The investigators thought it was possible that the impact through the glass changed the trajectory. But all six of the bullets entered the wall at the same angle.
Andy recalled the article about “Keith” being gunned down. Witnesses, backed up by video said that a drone hovered near his body for a few seconds afterward before flying off. Andy felt the lump in his throat. That is what this Graybeard used to shoot up his condo. He did it as a warning, or Andy would be as dead as “Keith’s” lifeless body was right now laying on a cold, stainless-steel table in a morgue somewhere.
His H-pod, located in a windowless 25-foot high space accessed through a locked door from a secure area guarded 24/7 by both an animatronic device and real-life humans was about as secure as he figured he would be anywhere else, probably more so. Security upgrades were popular after a serial killer had recently struck the Metaverse. The killer was only physically present for one of his numerous victims. For that murder, he chose a pod with no security; cutting the victim, helpless to defend himself, in half with a chainsaw.
This Graybeard with his drone weapon wasn’t likely to or even able to sneak past the security and several locked doors to get at him. Especially considering what had occurred a couple of hours earlier. Out on the street or even in front of his large windows he would be much more vulnerable. Besides Graybeard wanted the gold, the only way he could help him get it was to go in-world. It was also where Andy felt safe, if not comfortable.
Entering the large room that housed his private pod, he glanced at the white egg-shaped contraption technically known as a Prolate Spheroid. It was attached to a boom arm, which could move it up and down as well as circl
e the base bolted to the floor. The pod, independent of the arm, could also move about both a longitudinal and latitudinal axis. This allowed the HE or Human Entity inside to move three-dimensionally. Walking, running, flying, falling or tumbling, or some other movement required by the digital environment, which as far as the HE’s senses could discern, became a physical one.
The H-Pod was Andy’s portal into the Metaverse, and from there he could enter the Dead Zone or any number of infinite locations, either replications of the physical world or created by the collective imaginations of humankind. Within the plastic casing was an exoskeleton that would wrap around his limbs, torso, hands, fingers and head. The exoskeleton moved in conjunction with every joint and direction that a human body could.
An inflatable bladder surrounding the exoskeleton provided the pressure that supported the HE. The combination of both the bladder and exoskeleton separated Andy from the real world physically while at the same time connecting him to the virtual world he would enter; one that would replace real life not only in a virtual way but also physically.
When Andy moved his body, that motion “reflected” into the simulation. Likewise, the simulation mirrored onto his physical body what it would be experiencing as if his body had been digitized and transported into the computer simulation like the characters from Star Trek.
When Andy handled a gun in the sim his hands “felt it.” The exoskeleton pushed back against them in the exact shape and configuration of the weapon. If he leaned against the wall, he would feel the firmness of it against his shoulder.
The application of a theory Newton had discovered 600 years earlier. But when paired with a visual simulation that was identical to what a person would see in the “real world” the simulation went beyond virtual; it was as genuine as our physical world. Or as Digital Adventures liked to regularly tout in their marketing: “As real as it gets!”
METAVERSE GAMES: OMNIBUS Page 20
