Rune Universe: A Virtual Reality novel (The RUNE UNIVERSE trilogy Book 1)

by Hugo Huesca

  “Hello, Cole,” the golden avatar said, his voice a faint echo, taken from a far-away place, “technically, I’m Captain Kipp Nebula, Diamond rank. But Kipp’s fine between friends, right?”

  “You… you can hear me?” Even my voice came out trembling.

  “No. Sorry for being blunt, but I don’t want to give you false hope, man. I’m dead as shit,” he said, with the same jovial attitude we had shared as we grew up. “The Translight Message is an expensive item, you can program it in some clever ways. Give it some pre-programmed responses to phrases you think your recipient will say and it almost looks like real-time communication. But this is a message, Cole, it’s not me. Sorry.”

  “It’s fine,” I lied, “I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up.” For a second there, I had remembered the stories that roamed the Internet. Of ghosts in the games. Perhaps Kipp had managed…

  Kipp’s avatar appeared contrite, “Cole, I’m very sorry to mix you in all of this. The things I’m going to say in a moment will sound crazy, but believe me, I’m not joking. They are the truth. And if later you decide you want nothing to do with all this, I’ll understand. I know you don’t feel the same way I do… about some things. I do think we are alike in the ways that matter. So, can I go on?”

  The avatar froze; the software that governed it awaited a response. Stunned, I nodded. “Sure, go on.”

  “Okay. First things first. You’re using my character after I reset him. I did that because, up until the moment of my death, I was being monitored. The last time I logged into Rune, I sent this message to myself with an hour of delay, and then reseted the character. This way, we should have some privacy to talk. You follow?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Now, there’s no nice way of saying this,” Kipp avatar composed himself, “so I’ll just go and say it. Cole, I didn’t die of an incurable disease. I was murdered. I was murdered by a team of rogue AIs hellbent on conquering the world. As we speak, their armies of android replicas are impersonating every world leader, and getting ready to launch a nuclear assault on the States. You’re the only person alive who can stop them.”

  “Holy s—”

  Kipp smiled treacherously and threw his arms in the air. “Damn, what I’d have done to see your face right now! Just kidding, man. No team of rogue AIs. Gods, if you really fell for that —I took it from a book—. Oh, man…”

  “Really funny, Kipp, you’re hilarious,” I said, forgetting I was talking to a glorified text message. “You’re making me die from laughter. Prick.”

  The Avatar snorted and then he flickered an instant. Then he was serious again. “Okay, sorry for that. I thought the idea of a post-mortem joke was too good to pass. Now I’m serious, Cole. I really was murdered. And I know who did it. It happened the same night my parents were poisoned. When my mother was pregnant with me.

  “The man’s name is Seitaro Ogawa, and he is the owner of Rune Universe.”

  My friend’s avatar was serious. He ignored my questions and said, “The official explanation was, my parents died in a laboratory accident. I know for a fact this is not true. When I was fifteen, I found a message. My Mom had managed to hide it in Rune Universe much in the same way I got this Translight to you. See, my parents were in the original team of developers. In fact, Rune Universe was pretty much their idea. Neat, huh? Nowadays is owned by some company called Nordic. But they were the first. They and Seitaro Ogawa.

  “The letter… Mom said Dad and she were government contractors before being game developers. She said they worked on some heavily classified information, something hidden from the public. She warned me not to let anyone see me looking for it, as they believed they had been murdered over it just one month before my birth. By way of a special poison, designed to alter the DNA of the persons it infected. Like a cancer, it was designed to keep spreading through its victim, no matter what. They got a full dose of it. She hoped I had escaped the exposure… But well, you know. My parents lived for one year after that, and I lasted seventeen. Later, digging on my own, I found out what poison had been used to do them in. Came from a pharmaceutical owned by Nordic. People started following me after that. Listening to my calls, monitoring my character on Rune. You taught me how to pay attention to that kind of stuff, remember? You called it ‘survival instinct.’

  I don’t know what they found that got them killed. I only know they thought it was important. They wanted me to find it, discreetly. Whatever it is, they have hidden it here, Cole, in Rune Universe. But it’s too late for me… I’m too weak, do you understand? I can’t give those people the slip. I tried to go to the media before, you know, but no one ever called me back. My social media accounts were shut down. I’m cut off, Cole—”

  “So you want me to find it for you,” I whispered.

  “Yup. No one is following you, man. For all those people know, after my failed attempts with the media, I never spoke to anyone else over it. You are free to find out as much as you want, as long as you’re careful…”

  “I’ll do it.”

  “Listen, it will be dangerous,” continued the avatar, ignoring me, “It got my parents and me killed. They thought, whatever it was, that I should find it myself. They didn’t go to the police, they didn’t go to anyone else. And so, I’m asking you. And if you want out, I’ll understand. Whatever your answer is, I’ll—”

  “I’m in, Kipp,” I said, this time louder. My hands sent shocks of pain towards my brain. In the real world, they were closed tightly into fists. I hadn’t even realized it. My best friend had been murdered, and his killer roamed free. Those two years, the impotency he must’ve felt… “You should have told me.”

  His avatar smiled. “Yeah. Then they would be after you, too. It’s better this way.”

  “What do you want me to do?” I asked, ignoring my real world body.

  “I set you up as much as I could. My mother’s letter asked me to go to the Prima System. There’s a temple hidden in a death-planet there, on an island surrounded by an ocean of acid. The temple will open only to my character —that means your character, now—. My Personal Assistant should be useful for getting you there. It will help you skip a lot of grinding, make your character into the killing machine he should be—”

  Whoops. I hoped the PA wasn’t crucial to Kipp’s plan…

  “I also got you a very, very special ship. Perhaps you’ll like it. I know a couple guys who will have a heart attack when you are seeing flying in it, so get ready to appear on some game streams. It’s registered to you, so just have it transported to any hangar. Have the PA get you a loan from a bank.”

  “Yeah, I’ll do that,” I lied to the avatar of my late best friend. “I’m going to do that right now.”

  “You can trust a friend of mine called Rylena. She’s on the level, too. If you hadn’t agreed to help, she planned to go at it by herself. She’s very good, and she may have been able to pull it off, but…” Kipp looked contrite. “I just don’t think she has broken any laws in the real world, you know? She doesn’t know how that feels, the fear… And there may be a couple of law breaking in your future, I think. Call it a hunch.”

  I nodded. My chest felt as if filled with a bucket of ice. Of course, Kipp had chosen me because I was used to being a criminal. It was the practical thing to do. The reasonable thing to do, if he expected criminal acts would need to be taken to reach whatever his parents had hidden in Rune.

  I understood.

  His avatar started to fade now, the pre-recorded message reaching its end. Somehow, he appeared sadder than me, as if he was the one who would be missing me —or someone else— and not the other way around.

  “Thank you, Cole. Really. You have no idea how much this means to me. I’m not looking for revenge. Please don’t go looking for Ogawa. Remain in the shadows. Find my parent’s secret and I’ll rest in peace, and be in your debt, and all that shit. At least until I’m revived a hundred years in the future thanks to the awesome power of science…” he muttered, al
most to himself.

  “Eh, what—?”

  He went on as if he had said nothing. “You know? I’m sorry I’m not going to be there when you find it. I hope it’s something very cool, or very expensive. I hope Seitaro Ogawa dies from the rage of not having found it first. But in any case, if things get really dangerous… It’s not something dying over, Cole. Please, say it.” He said, looking straight at me with those haunting gold eyes.

  “Of course, Kipp. I’ll be careful. I can take care of myself, but it things start to go sour, I’m out.” I said. I couldn’t maintain the avatar’s gaze, but the software wasn’t complex enough to recognize a lie. He was faint now, almost an after-image.

  “Goodbye, Cole. I hope we meet again. We probably won’t, you know, given my current state. So… Well, thank you for being my friend. You being there helped me more than you realize.”

  The message ran over and the golden light fizzled over like a cheap mechanical trick it was.

  I tore apart the mindjack over at the real world. This time, the dizziness didn’t even faze me. The pillows were wet with tears. If my breathing got louder, Mom would notice.

  So I tried to keep my mind blank. The confusion of the sudden log-out helped me. It distracted me. Sharpened my senses like a wet stone.

  Eventually, the tears ran dry and my heart stopped feeling as if it was trying to burst out of my ribcage. There was only cold, furious certainty.

  Kipp was wrong about one thing. I wanted revenge.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Tactical Retreat

  Dinner that night was quiet and forced. I ate in silence, thinking of the mess I had gotten myself into. I didn’t even realize Van and Mom were there with me, I was so distracted. Why would anyone murder two people and their kid for something inside a game? I’d heard of old news articles where a man tracked down his rival on a first person shooter to beat them down, but this had been done in cold blood.

  And if the Patels hadn’t been safe, the Dorsett, if found, definitely wouldn’t be either. Did I really have the right to put my family in danger like this?

  They are not in any more danger right now, except for The Ferals, and that’s on you. I thought.

  “You alright, Cole?” Mom asked. I jerked back to the present. Van and Mom were eying me with worry. “You are pale, tonight.”

  “I’m fine, Mom,” I mumbled.

  “You know you can talk to me,” she said, not ready to let the conversation go.

  “I know.” She thought it was about Kipp’s death. It was, but not in the way she believed. What could I say to her? I couldn’t put my family more at risk.

  “Mom,” I said, “remember that wanna-be gang that hangs here in Lower Cañitas?”

  She raised her eyebrow and her sullen face gained an amused expression. “Those kids? With the girl, you know the one, Van? Bubblegum or something, with Cole and the couch when I—”

  “Okay, yeah, those guys,” I stopped her. Hell, did these two ever intend to let me forget about that? “I told them I won’t be seeing them much now, with work and all. I mostly avoided them anyway, but, you know —they didn’t take it very well.”

  “Cole is worried about us,” Van said, ever helpful.

  “Don’t they have a twelve-year-old with them?” Mom told her. She turned to me, with a giant smile on her face. What was that all about? “It’s very sweet you worry about us, Cole, but your friends aren’t very dangerous. They are kids. You have always taken things so seriously…” she added, happily.

  I bit my tongue before I could say something very hurtful, like, maybe you should have taken things more seriously before you started drinking. Keeping quiet wasn’t easy. But most of my rage about those times had burnt out. It only reared its ugly head back at random times like this one.

  Except not exactly random, right? I thought. Only when Mom is being honest with you. When you see her happy.

  She did look healthier than a month ago. Less emaciated. With a pinkish tint in her cheeks, even. Perhaps, this time, it would last.

  “Cole.” Mom inclined forwards on the table and brushed my cheeks with the tips of her fingers. My face was like a stone mask, trying as hard as I could to drown the mix of instant fury, sadness, and love her touch made me feel. I would never know if she noticed, as she had a better poker face than me. Instead, she said proudly. “I know why you cut ties with The Ferals. You are going straight now, aren’t you? No more Scripts, no more run-ins with the police.”

  You may need to break some laws, Kipp’s golden avatar had told me, hadn’t he? That’s why he chose me. I looked down, feeling like a hypocrite.

  “Thank you, Cole.” Mom kept on. “I know how much you’ve sacrificed for this family. You have kept us afloat since… I know it has been hard. But soon, we’ll be alright, I can feel it. I’ll get a job, Van will go to college. You’ll get to be a kid again, you know? To have some fun. Maybe go to college. If you still want to.”

  Well, it’s a bit late for that, right, Mom? I’m seventeen now. I thought, and this time, I bit my tongue for real, until I could taste blood. Don’t say it, Cole. Control yourself, this time. My hands were shaking, so I hid them under the table.

  “Yes, bro, you’ll see, I’ll be the one supporting you,” Van joked. “But don’t get too comfortable with the idea. I’m no charity.”

  My family was smiling at me. I could sense their warmth, flowing towards me, surrounding me. God, why was I so furious?

  Please, don’t ruin this moment. Don’t say anything, Cole. Just keep quiet, so you can remember it later. You’ll regret it if you speak.

  I was angry at them, even if I hated myself for it, but I was mostly angry at me.

  My lips parted, even with my entire willpower fighting against it.

  “Cole?”

  Don’t. Say. Anything. Or just a thank you. That’ll be enough.

  Just let me have this moment.

  I logged to Rune one more time before going to sleep. I reappeared on the same repair shaft were I suddenly logged off. This time there were no mutants to eat me, I guess.

  Rylena appeared at the top of my communicator’s contact list, so I wrote her a hasty message:

  Got the message. We should meet. Tomorrow. I arrive home at 6pm.

  It was late and my communicator wasn’t advanced enough to tell me if someone was online, so after waiting for five minutes, I opened the screen to log-off —the mindjack was supposed to be safe, but I decided to stop teasing it. Her message arrived just then.

  Yes, we should. You’re on the Argus, right? Stay right there, I’ll get to you. Do not talk about this with anyone. Not in-game, not out of game. Do you understand?

  I logged off without bothering to answer that. What a presumptuous person.

  Next morning, I woke feeling glued to the bed. It was so cold outside… I threw my blanket away from me, like a priest rejecting the devil’s temptation.

  I arrived at work five minutes earlier and found Steve-the-Intern already there, submerged in a mountain of paperwork.

  “You should try tablets,” I suggested, “modern ones can revise the paperwork for you, you know?”

  “Yeah, but then I’d be out of a responsibility,” he greeted me. He looked like he hadn’t sleep since yesterday. “And I don’t want the big bosses to get any ideas about an intern-drone workforce.”

  “Fine,” I said. I walked towards him and grabbed a bunch of yellowish paper. I read a date on one of them. 2018. This was going to take a while. “Watching you is like seeing a duck fall down a storm drain, it’s just too sad. Here, let me help you.”

  Steve laughed, “Christ, with that mouth you are never going to get a raise, man. You sure you want to help? It’s bureaucracy.

  “Sure,” I told him, “why not? Not sure if you remember, but my Monday introduction was mostly ‘you should stand around looking busy and make yourself useful.’”

  “Well, that’s true of my job, too,” Steve said. He passed me another bundle of yellowish
legal documents and took the one I already had in my hands. “Start with this one, it’s simpler. What you have to do is order them according to…”

  Just like that I had made a new friend.

  Several hours later, I got out of the bus while I was still far-away from my apartment. The walk would help keep Darren unable to pin down my comings and goings, and would let me keep an eye on my neighborhood. I was prepared to run like a frightened animal if I saw him approach.

  I still eyed every rusty car with suspicion. He wasn’t big enough to hide behind one of the small, sometimes tire-less vehicles that littered my street. That’s probably what that poor guy he offed thought…

  The apartment greeted me with the familiar combat noises from Van’s room. Mom was out again, looking for work. This time I went straight to the living room and closed my curtain behind me. I wasn’t hungry at all. Steve and I had grabbed some donuts from the Xanz recreational room (think a hamster space for office workers). For hours, my stomach had been tied in a knot.

  I rushed the log-in process with my mindjack until I could see the words—

  Welcome to Rune Universe. Connecting to game servers…

  —appear in my field of view. Then it was time for Cole Picard to shine.

  I walked towards the hangars while checking my communicator for any new messages. None. Rylena must be on her way now, but heavens knew I had no idea how long-distance travel worked in Rune. Even with the greatly reduced distances, a quarter of an entire galaxy was mind-bogging. The ship I had used to reach Argus Space Station lacked any warp capabilities. So, we were supposed to use hyperspace, like in the movies? Or some kind of warpgate?

  The hangars were as busy as I had seen them yesterday. More, even. 6 pm was the time people got off from work, and most players hailed from the States’ time-zones.