“I was merely stating facts.”
“Your interpretation of them.”
“No one else has a grasp of them at all.”
Lauer narrowed his eyes into slits. “Present company excluded, I hope.”
She ignored him. “They’re effectively committing suicide. This may be the moment that historians look back and realize Varidian’s board of directors betrayed the entire human race. If there are any historians left to look back.”
Lauer sighed. “You’re being overly dramatic.”
“No, I don’t think I am,” she said as she walked towards the door.
“Where are you going?”
“Home, like I was ordered,” she said bitterly. “Call me when they come to their senses.”
101
Daniel
Daniel paced back and forth in the tiny office. He’d been to the bathroom once under the guard’s supervision, and he’d had some food and water somebody had gotten for him, but other than that he’d been alone the entire time, with no idea of what was happening.
This is insane – it’s been, like, two or three HOURS!
Doesn’t anybody realize that for every hour that passes here, FOUR hours go by in the Shattered Lands?!
Jeez, you would think –
Suddenly the door opened and his father was standing there.
“Dad? What’s going on?”
Mr. Lauer looked grim. “You’re back on deck, Son. Let’s go.”
Daniel hustled out of the room before anyone could change their mind. “What happened?”
“Hold on, let’s get Mira so I don’t have to repeat myself on anything.” He looked at Daniel. “She doesn’t know about the AI, right?”
“No.”
“She’s still not… supposed to,” Mr. Lauer said, carefully stressing the one word after the pause.
While Daniel frowned and wondered what he was supposed to make of the comment, Lauer stopped at a door with another guard outside. He poked his head inside and asked, “You ready to go back in, kiddo?”
“Hell yeah,” came Mira’s enthusiastic reply. When she walked out and saw Daniel, she burst into a smile.
Seeing her was the best thing to happen to him in the last three hours.
Mr. Lauer started walking towards the elevators. “Let’s go, we’ve wasted a lot of time.”
“What happened?”
Mr. Lauer told them about the board meeting during the elevator ride to the top floor – including Rebecca’s removal.
“WHAT?! That’s insane!” Daniel protested.
“I know. She sure as hell didn’t do herself any favors with the board, though.”
Mira snorted. “Yeah, I’ll bet.”
Daniel glanced at her. “Look, she may not be the easiest person to get along with – ”
“But she’s the person who created it, so she’s the best person for the job – I know, I know,” Mira grumbled. “But on the other hand, maybe she’s too close, you know? Maybe we could use a fresh perspective.”
“Well, you’re going to get it, because they’re putting on several engineers to back you up,” Lauer said.
“I only want you as our contact, Dad,” Daniel said. “I don’t want to deal with three or five random people while we’re in there – if that’s okay with you, Mira.”
“Totally fine by me.”
“Alright, sounds good,” Lauer said as they reentered the lab. “Let’s get cracking.”
Where before it had just been Rebecca, now there were over a dozen people – mostly nerdy looking guys manning computer stations.
“Just a second, Dad – I need to talk to Mira,” Daniel said.
Daniel’s father gave a faint smile and nodded. “Make it snappy,” he said as he walked off.
“What’s going on?” Mira asked.
“Look,” Daniel whispered as he glanced nervously at the room of technicians, “when I tell you this, you can’t react, okay? You’ve got to keep a poker face. And don’t say anything. Let me just keep talking.”
She frowned. “Okay…”
“I’m telling you because Drogar, Vlisil, and Lotan found out, and I want you to know.”
“Know what?’
“The reason we’re doing all this is because Dr. Wolff thinks they accidentally created a self-aware, artificial intelligence.”
Mira’s eyes widened, but that was her only reaction.
“And while I was in the game before they pulled us out, I found out there might be more of them. I figured you should know in case you come across anything weird.”
Daniel filled her in on Hell, Korvos’ revelation, and his own inability to log out of the game.
“You can’t go back in there!” she whispered.
“I have to. Drogar, Vlisil, and Lotan have been in there with no way to get out.”
“But you can’t log back out!”
“I’ll have them physically pull me out every half hour or something.”
“But – ”
“Are you ready?” a tech called from behind a computer screen. He was a young black guy with glasses and a British accent.
“We’re ready,” Daniel said.
102
Mr. Lauer stood over him before closing the pod. “We’ll pull you out like you suggested, at 30 minute intervals. That’ll be every two hours inside the game. Once you get the ability to log back out on your own, let us know.”
“IF I get the ability to log back out,” Daniel said dourly.
“You’ll get it back,” the black tech with the British accent said.
“How do you know?”
“From what you’ve said, it sounds like Log Out is disabled only while you’re in Hell. That makes a little more sense, because it’s a pocket dimension.”
“A what?”
“A smaller game stage separate from the Shattered Lands. It’s a different programming environment, and it doesn’t have all the same rules, which makes it easier to manipulate than the main game. Nobody’s done anything with Hell since the launch – you’re pretty much the first to see it. But it’s still part of the game. It was put there for the purpose of exploration and adventures.”
“Yeah, but what if I can’t get out of it?”
“The game is based around an organizing principle that it wants to help you out of tough spots. If you don’t have the resources to solve a problem, it will try to get you the resources so you can continue. It’s built into the DNA of the game – every part of the game, including Hell. It doesn’t want you to sit around for days just because you can’t solve a situation. That sort of frustration and boredom doesn’t exactly make players want to keep playing, which means less money for Varidian, so… we made sure that helpfulness was baked into everything at a fundamental level.”
Daniel squinted at him. “So you’re saying there has to be some way out?”
“Yes. Or the game will provide resources for you to figure a way out.”
“What’s your name?” Daniel asked.
“Jerome.”
“Thanks, Jerome.”
“You’re welcome. Good luck.”
“Listen to Jerry, Son,” Mr. Lauer said. “He’s head of game engine programming, so he knows what he’s talking about.”
Daniel nodded. “Okay.”
“Okay, then,” his father said, and paused nervously. “…see you in 30 minutes.”
He closed the pod door and Daniel pulled on the helmet.
103
Eric
Eric pulled off the Virtual Reality mask.
He was lying on the bed in the strange apartment. It was evening, and everything was dark – though it wasn’t silent. The television was still playing fairly loud in the background.
He did a quick check of his body. His bladder was so full it hurt – which was a good sign. He hadn’t pissed himself again, thankfully.
He got up from the bed and turned on the light.
The guy taped to the hardwood floor was awake – which made
Eric nervous, but also relieved him.
He really didn’t want the guy’s death on his conscience.
Of course, everything that was about to follow depended on the guy not knowing that. Eric was going to have to convince the guy he would kill him without any hesitation.
That wasn’t going to be easy.
Then he remembered how the guy had ripped him out of the game.
And humiliated him.
It reminded him of Trent, the school bully, back in the lunch room on Friday…
Suddenly Eric didn’t find it so hard to be threatening anymore.
The taped-up man stared at Eric with hate-filled eyes.
“Ah, Sleeping Beauty awakes,” Eric said, and knelt down so the guy could see his face. “Good to see you’re still with us. I was wondering if you were going to die.”
“Mrm eww,” the guy grunted angrily. The words were unintelligible, but the intent was crystal clear.
“Be nice… Mike,” Eric said, mockingly emphasizing the guy’s name.
The guard’s eyes widened.
“Oh yeah. I saw your badge. I know where you work… Mike.”
Mike’s eyes went back to a hateful squint.
“Got a nasty bruise there, Mike,” Eric said as he pressed the purplish, swollen bump on the side of the guy’s head.
Mike winced in pain and screamed in his throat. “Mmmrrmm!”
“Uh-huh,” Eric said and nodded like he understood. “I hear ya. Well, if you don’t want any more of that, you better do what I say and tell the truth. Now, the way we’re going to do this is I’m going to ask you some questions, and you’re going to answer them by blinking. Blink twice for ‘yes,’ once for ‘no.’ You do that and be a good boy, maybe I’ll take off that gag and give you some water. Got it?”
Mike blinked twice. Yes.
“Good. First question: are you supposed to go into work tomorrow?”
There was a pause, during which the guy’s eyes glanced up and left. Then he looked back at Eric and blinked once.
No.
Eric sighed, stood up, walked over, and retrieved the ten-pound dumbbell he’d used to hit the guy’s head with. Then he walked back over, kneeled down, and hit the guy in the back with the dumbbell as hard as he could.
“MMMMMRRRRRMMMMMM!” the guy screamed behind his gag. Since his vocal cords could only vibrate through his nose and not his open mouth, it wasn’t that loud.
Eric felt a thrill of power. In the game he’d acted violently, but that was in the game. He’d taken it for granted that he couldn’t do anything similar in real life because either he couldn’t do it, or he couldn’t get away with it. Real life just didn’t work like the game world.
Apparently it did.
Or could.
On the other hand, he didn’t really want to hurt the guy that badly… so he waited a moment before he spoke again.
“I told you to tell the truth, Mike,” Eric said calmly. “You’re a bad liar. So let’s try that again. Are you supposed to go into work tomorrow?”
Mike’s eyes filled with tears from the pain, but he purposefully didn’t blink.
Eric raised the dumbbell again threateningly. “Not answering is the same as lying… Mike. The first one was on your back. Now I’m going to hit your balls.”
He obviously wasn’t going to –
Well, probably not.
But Mike didn’t know that.
“Mrrrrmmmm!” Mike screamed, and blinked twice in an exaggerated fashion.
Yes!
“Good,” Eric said, and lowered the dumbbell. “I didn’t see your phone over by your wallet, so I’m assuming it’s still in your pants pocket. Is that right?”
Yes.
“Good,” Eric said, and rooted in the guy’s pocket. “Don’t get too excited, now.”
Eric pulled out a phone and looked at the screen. One missed call from ‘Bob’ and a number of texts from different people.
“Your buddy Bob called, and Vihaan and Angela texted. Nobody’s expecting you to be anywhere tonight, are they?”
No.
“Good. Now, I can either unlock your phone using your fingerprint, which will be a pain in the ass, or you can just blink the number of times for each digit. That’s what we’re going to do. Keep in mind that I’ll know immediately if you lied to me if the password doesn’t work, so don’t lie to me. I’m more than happy to cut off your fingers one by one until I get the one that unlocks it. Understand?”
Mike’s eyes widened with fear, then he blinked twice. Yes.
Eric was enjoying himself now. “Alright – first number.”
It was a tedious process counting the guy’s blinks, then getting him to confirm them – Six? Yes. Okay, next number – but in the end the password worked.
He read the texts. Nothing pressing, just a couple of What are you doing tonight? messages.
Eric flipped through the Contacts on the phone. There weren’t many, but there was one labeled ‘Work.’
“Okay, Mike, for this next part, I’m going to have to take off the gag. If you scream, I swear to God I will hit you in the head again, and this time I’ll kill you. Understand?”
Yes.
Eric tried to pull off the tape, but he’d done too good a job of looping it around Mike’s head.
“Mrm!” the guard grunted in pain as Eric tried to pull it loose.
“Hold on – don’t go anywhere,” Eric joked as he went out to the kitchen. On the way back he went to the bathroom, then returned carrying the knife he’d retrieved.
Mike’s eyes widened in fear. “MRMM!”
“Shut up, it’s just to cut off the tape,” Eric snapped. “Don’t move – I don’t want to take off your ear. Unless you make me.”
Eric worked the blade between the adhesive and the skin, then nicked just enough of the tape that it would tear cleanly.
“Buckle up, Mike, and don’t scream,” Eric warned him. “This is gonna hurt.”
With one fast motion, he ripped the tape off Mike’s cheek and mouth.
Mike did scream, but he kept his mouth closed so it was muted.
“Close enough,” Eric said.
“You ASSHOLE,” Mike hissed.
“Seriously? I not only have the dumbbell, I’ve got a knife now. Are you really so stupid that you want to make me mad?”
“Dude, you gotta let me up,” Mike moaned. “I gotta piss really bad.”
“Haha – no. Go in your pants. I did, and it was fine,” Eric smiled. “Nice warm feeling.”
“Please – ”
“No.”
“Then water – I need water – just let me up, I swear to God I won’t do anything – ”
“I’ll give you some water and food if you answer my questions like a good little boy. But you’re not getting up.”
Mike glared at him hatefully. “What do you want?”
“Information on your workplace.”
“No, I mean, what are you doing here?”
“Well, I was using your gaming platform, until somebody came in and decided to be an asshole.”
Mike stared at him for a second, like he vaguely recognized Eric – and then a flare of recognition went off in his eyes. “You’re that guy – that hacker guy!”
Eric sighed. “I’m getting tired of this, Mike. I’m the one who asks the questions from here on out. Now – where do you check in for work at Varidian?”
“Why do you want to know?”
Eric held the tip of the knife just an inch away from Mike’s eye. “I’m not going to repeat myself again.”
“First floor,” Mike said hurriedly as he stared cross-eyed at the knife. “You have to check in through the main security station everybody goes through, and then the guard station is on the first floor.”
Eric asked him a series of questions:
What’s the main security station like, the one that everybody goes through?
Do you always know the guard on duty?
Do the guards carry gun
s?
What’s the guard station like? What’s the layout?
Do any of the check-in points require handprint or eye scan identification?
Do all the guards know every other guard by sight?
Do you have a supervisor? What’s his name?
Once he was finished, Eric said, “I shouldn’t have to remind you, but if you’re lying to me and I find out – which I will – ”
“I’m not lying to you,” Mike snapped.
“Well, if you are, I’m not going to hit you again. I’m going to cut your dick off. You got it?”
Mike’s mouth moved slackly for a second before he spoke. This time he was a lot less belligerent.
“I’m not lying, I swear to God.”
“Good. For all your help, you get a little water, and maybe a little food.”
Eric started to replace the duct tape gag.
“Wait, no, what – ”
“I don’t trust you not to scream, so you’ve got to wear it while I’m out of the room, but I’ll take it off again once I come back.”
Mike submitted. Eric replaced the gag, then stood and walked into the kitchen.
He realized something odd as he poured a glass of water from the tap:
The Unnamed One’s plan was absolutely insane, and crazy dangerous, but… he was really enjoying himself.
Maybe it was having power over another human being – a real human being, not some stupid computer program NPC.
Or maybe it was the renewed sense of purpose. Having a mission and something to do again.
Not to mention, it was good to be out of the palace – even if it was in a crappy one-bedroom apartment.
And it was always fun going on a new quest.
104
Daniel
There was a jarring sensation – a swirl of colors, heat prickling at his skin – and he was back in Hell.
He looked around. Drogar was bathed in sheets of sweat. Vlisil was crouched over, his hands on his knees, and Lotan looked horrible – dehydrated and withered, like a fish left out under the blazing sun for days.
“Are you guys okay?” Daniel asked.
Shattered Lands 2 The Fall Of Blackstone: A LitRPG Series Page 23
