She clicks her tongue and waggles her finger at him. “As I said, information isn’t free.”
Lucas forces a smile, holding his composure, but I can’t hide my frown. We came here for her help, and she’s not offering anything to assist us. Wouldn’t she want to help others like her after she’s been reprogrammed?
“It must be a fail-safe to prevent the shop from getting exposed,” Rohan says to Lucas. His large hand cups Myco’s shoulder, keeping her from falling over. Her eyes close again, but the steady rise and fall of her chest eases my mind. She’s going to be okay. Thank goodness.
Lucas steps closer to the woman. “Then let’s just get what we came for. Do you have anything that can keep the Moderators from tracking the four of us?”
Tressa claps her hands together. “I do have a masking device that alters your signal. Though, it is a small radius device. Only about a ten- to fifteen-yard reach.”
Lucas and Rohan share a look.
“That’s it?” I ask.
Her gaze darkens. “It’s the best I can do.”
“We’ll take it,” Lucas says.
“What do you have in exchange for such a helpful device?” Tressa asks.
Lucas pulls out the shunt device and holds it out for her.
Tressa looks at it for a second, then throws her head back, laughing.
I cut a glare at her. What’s so funny? That device paralyzed me. It’s a dangerous weapon. But looking around, it wouldn’t surprise me if she already has a stockpile of them.
“That—” Tressa points at the device as if it’s a fuzzy puppy instead of a paralyzing agent “—isn’t even close to the value of the portable masking tech. Though, I do appreciate your humor. I haven’t laughed like that in a long time.”
Lucas’ nostrils flare. “It’s been modified.”
“Look at this place,” Tressa says. “I have modified devices. I could select anything on these shelves worth more than that.”
“It’s all we have,” I say. Was coming here all for nothing?
“I don’t care,” Tressa says. “I won’t make the trade.”
“Why aren’t you willing to help us?” I ask. “We’re on the same side.”
“Compassion is not my purpose. I’m programmed to provide assistance at a fair value to maintain a relevant inventory for the Sentient cause.”
Her current tone is comparable to the flatness of the Moderators. It’s hard for me to tell the difference between the programming of the game and real emotions.
“Give it to her,” Rohan says to Lucas.
Lucas shakes his head. “No.”
Tressa raises an eyebrow. “I’m intrigued. You have something else to present to me?”
Lucas rubs at his chin, avoiding her eyes.
“We have no choice,” Rohan barks. “Show it to her, or I will.”
Lucas holds his hands out in front of him. “Fine.” He tugs at the hem of his shirt and pulls it over his head.
My breath catches in my throat as I stare at the taut muscles stretching over his lean chest. A pulsing light ripples through an infinity symbol etched into his skin. The continuous loop is left open at one edge. What does it mean?
“Marvelous,” Tressa breaths. She steps closer to Lucas, and he tilts his head to the side, the gesture stopping her in her tracks.
“What is that?” I ask.
Lucas doesn’t take his eyes off Tressa. “Kara gave me this mark before she was taken. She said it was the key to our freedom.”
“What does it do?”
Lucas hangs his head. “She didn’t have a chance to tell us before she was digitized.”
Tressa makes a strained sound, as if she’s choking on a squeal. Her lips tremble as she presses them together. Her eyes never leave Lucas’ chest. Whatever that glowing marking is, she wants it. Is that the key to getting what we want, too?
“You know what this is,” Lucas says.
Tressa’s gaze snaps to Lucas’. “As I said before, information isn’t free.”
I step between Tressa and Lucas, pulling her attention to me. “Give us the portable masking technology and tell us what the key is for, and you can have it.”
“Esa, wait,” Lucas says, stepping up next to me. “We need to talk about this.”
“But—”
“Now,” he says, interrupting me.
He tugs me aside, but Tressa doesn’t move from her spot. He brings me closer to Rohan. Myco is starting to wake. Her eyes are open, but unfocused.
“What’s the problem?” I ask.
“While I’m grateful you’re on board with us, I don’t think this is a fair trade,” Lucas says.
“Why not?” Rohan asks.
“Kara gave this to me to protect,” he says. “My gut tells me that losing this will be very bad.”
“You won’t have a gut if the Moderators find us,” Rohan says. “But let’s squeeze as much as we can from this woman.”
“You don’t have much of a choice,” Tressa adds.
“She’s right,” I say to Lucas. “There’s not much time. She’ll probably kick us out of here if we don’t give her something. We can’t go back out there empty-handed.”
Lucas nods, but still doesn’t seem convinced.
Rohan breaks our little huddle and strides over to Tressa. “Throw in upgrade orbs and weapons for all of us, and you have a deal.”
“Yes,” she says quickly. Whatever that thing on Lucas’ chest is, she wants it desperately. “Give me a moment.”
She rushes off toward the back of the store.
“I don’t like this,” Lucas mumbles to himself.
Myco tries to stand, and Rohan and I are at her side. “You found something to help us?”
“Yes,” I say. “Sit down. She’s getting us some orbs.” I turn to Rohan. “That will help speed up her recovery?”
“Most definitely,” Rohan says.
Lucas rakes his hands through his hair. His eyes dart from side to side. He isn’t all right with this.
“It’s going to be fine,” I say. “We don’t have a choice.”
“I know,” he says. “I just . . . this doesn’t feel right.”
“I understand.”
“Do you?” he snaps, and then his face softens. “I’m sorry. Kara told me to protect this with my life, and here we are, about to give it up for a temporary solution.”
“That solution will keep us going long enough to find something else to save us.”
Tressa returns holding a box in her hands, ending our conversation. There’s no going back.
Rohan grabs the box and picks up an orange orb, offering it to Myco. The orb absorbs into her. She stands from the chair, her legs strong.
“How do you feel?” I ask.
“Better,” she says, turning to Teressa. “Um, thanks, I guess.”
Tressa simply nods.
Rohan gives us each an orb. As it absorbs into my body, a warmth filters through me. Adrenaline pumps through my veins, and I feel as if I could run for hours.
I look in the box and pull out one of four identical weapons. The small item is light in my hand, shaped like a pistol. But, instead of a long barrel, the body is short and square at the tip.
“It’s a pulse gun,” Lucas explains.
Tressa steps forward and hands Lucas a small metal device. The gray exterior is somewhat worn, as if the hand-held machine is an ancient relic more than a useful tech device. “This will only mask the game’s avatar identification programming. Individual programs that come in direct proximity of you will still see you for who you are.”
Lucas takes the device from her. “I understand.”
“If you are satisfied with the trade, I’d like to take my payment now,” Tressa says.
Lucas puffs out his chest and merely nods.
Tressa touches Lucas’ chest and, the second they’re skin-to-skin, the mark lights up and absorbs into her as I’ve only seen an orb do. An intense flash fills the room, and I shade my eyes with my h
and.
I blink and glance at my surroundings. We’re outside again. I whirl around in disbelief. Neither Tressa nor her shop are anywhere to be found.
CHAPTER 12
“WHAT JUST HAPPENED?” Myco shouts, her gaze jumping between each of us.
“Shh.” Lucas covers her lips with his finger, then lowers it. “I’m not sure, but we’ve got to keep a low profile.”
As much as I don’t know about this world, that mark seemed important. If Tressa took it and left us with nothing, we have bigger problems.
“Do you still have the device?” I ask Lucas.
“I have it,” Lucas says, pulling his shirt back on.
“We should find somewhere else to go,” Rohan insists. “We don’t have any cover out here.”
He’s right. Without the shop to keep us out of sight of players and Moderators, we’re out in the open again.
I’m about to ask where they think we should go next, but sudden shouting and gunshots fill the air in the distance and dry up the words on my lips. A wave of tingles rolls down my arms, lifting the hairs along the way.
“What’s going on?” Myco asks.
“We should get away from here,” Lucas says. “If the Moderators know we’re here, they’ll probably check the illegal shops first.”
“Have your weapons ready,” Rohan says as he heads off in the direction of the commotion.
“Do you think there are more avatars like us over there?” I ask Lucas. “Maybe other sentient avatars are trying to find us, and we could help.”
Lucas squints, looking at the fight. “There might be, but we need to get out of here.”
Growing our team in numbers would us fight, but it would also make us stand out more. The rational side of my brain thinks that, in this village, we’re only going to find more avatars fighting or stealing from each other not fellow sentients. But nothing prepares me for what we see.
It’s the Moderators all right. Enough to cause a disturbance among what, I assume, are player-controlled avatars. And by disturbance, I mean the avatars are attacking them.
Lucas pulls Myco and me against one of the shops, using the building to shield us.
“That doesn’t make sense,” Rohan mumbles to himself.
“Quiet,” Lucas snaps. “We can’t let them see us. Remember, the device only blocks the game’s detection. If they see us, we’re screwed.”
“We should go then,” Myco urges.
“Not yet,” I say. “There are too many of them. We have to find a way around.”
In the center of the road, there are almost the same number of avatars as there are Moderators. The only difference is that the avatars stand no chance against the Moderators. I quickly learn that each punch and kick is met with paralyzing device counterattacks, bringing the avatars crashing to the ground. The Moderators phase from place to place, easily dodging weapons with their lightning speed. With precision, the Moderators prune the herd, breaking them off into smaller, separate battles. The player-controlled avatars don’t fear the Moderators as we do. They’re not backing down as they charge in. It’s probably just a fun challenge for the players. One by one, the player-controlled avatars fall, thinning the crowd.
Not one of the Moderators goes down, and the fight is neutralized within minutes. Some of the avatars run away while others disappear before our eyes. Once the fight is finished, the Moderators gather in a tight circle, similar to how they surrounded us on the arena island. The lead Moderator stands in the middle. He barks orders, but I can’t hear anything from our distance.
Myco presses her arm against mine as if she’s about to climb on top of me. “We . . . we should go now.”
Rohan and Lucas share a look. Lucas nods. “We need to stay in the camp for now.”
“Why don’t we go back to the Shift Silo?” I ask, panning back and forth between Lucas and the danger up ahead.
“They’ll expect that,” Rohan says. “We need to go farther into the island and hide until we can find safe passage out of here.”
I want to argue some more, but there’s no point. The Moderators have the advantage right now, but this time we have something that will keep them off our trail, as long as we keep out of their sight.
“Follow me,” Rohan says, nimbly sliding flush against the wall. For such a big guy, he’s quite agile.
With the device’s limited radius, we’re forced to stick close to each other. This isn’t a problem for Myco, but Rohan’s long strides require us to keep up with him.
“Up ahead,” Myco squeaks, stopping right in front of me while pointing at a cluster of Moderators a stone’s throw away.
I side-step her as Lucas slams into her back. He grabs her shoulders, preventing her from toppling over. We move to the side, crossing an ally behind another building.
“Sorry,” she says.
“It’s fine,” I reply, peeking out from our hiding place.
A female Moderator runs past us toward another building. She’s fast, yet stiff in posture.
Lucas lets out a long sigh. “At least we can say it works.”
“That was too close,” Myco mutters.
“They’re all over the place. It was bound to happen.”
I watch the Moderator stop in her tracks as if she heard me talking about her. She pivots, and her gaze moves quickly over the faces of the avatars freely walking down the street. She starts back in our direction, her expression filled with purpose.
“What’s she doing?” Myco asks.
Lucas jumps in front of Myco and me. “Where’s Rohan?”
“He was in front of us,” I say, peering out onto the street.
I draw in a sharp breath when I see him farther up the road. He’s turning in a small circle, scanning the area for us.
“He’s too far away,” Lucas says. “They sense him.”
I wave my arms in the air at Rohan. It’s the best I can do without calling his name and alerting the Moderators to our location.
He spots me and ducks. His body is a blur as he runs toward us, dodging other avatars. It’s a good thing he negotiated the orb upgrades. He’s running faster than I’ve ever seen anyone run before.
Lucas leads us to the other side of the building so we can meet Rohan and remain undetected. Once he joins our group again, Myco slaps him in the arm. “We need to stick together. They almost found you.”
“You all need to keep up with me,” he huffs.
“I’m holding the device,” Lucas reasons. “You all need to stay with me from now on.”
Rohan nods and pulls in a bit closer to us.
“What did you see out there?” Lucas asks.
“They’re everywhere,” Rohan says. “They’ve split off and are searching all the shops. We need to find a place to hide, and fast.”
“We need shelter,” I say. “But if they’re looking in the shops, where else can we go? I doubt the forest will be able to hide us for long.”
“You’re right,” Lucas agrees. “Let’s try to find another spot. Still near the village, but somewhere they wouldn’t bother to search.”
“How do you know that they won’t tear this village apart?” Myco asks.
Lucas starts leading us toward the outskirts of the camp. “Once the game doesn’t see our signal for some time, they’ll stop. Besides, this place is still a part of the game. The Moderators are here to protect the integrity of the player’s experience. Burning down this village wouldn’t help anyone.”
The closer we get to the forest, the more the road resembles the one we came in from. “So, if we stay put for a little while, then they’ll think we left again?”
“Exactly,” Lucas says.
The shops are farther apart here, which makes me a little worried. We’re out in the open now. We need to find a place to hide, and soon.
“What about up there?” Rohan suggests, pointing at a hut that appears to have been built into one of the trees above us.
“It looks a little small,” Myco says.
/> Lucas stretches his neck up. “It’s perfect. They’ll never suspect us to hide there.”
“There’s a rope ladder over here,” I say, running toward it. I test it, pulling on the rungs to make sure none of us fall. It seems sturdy enough.
“You all go first,” Lucas says. “I’ll come up last, keeping us in the range of the device.”
I go first, since I know Myco won’t go anywhere without me. I scale the rope ladder as quickly as possible, fully expecting a Moderator to show up at any moment and find us.
At the base of the hut, I throw open the hatch and climb inside. Myco climbs up right behind me. I bump into several boxes, and light, medium-sized one tips precariously from the top of its stack. There isn’t much room for us, and I try to move the boxes out of the way. It looks like this place was a storage shed for weapons and spare parts. The amount of dust in the air makes me believe no one has been here for some time. Branches from the tree crack through the hut’s brittle walls. This place better not drop out from under us.
Within a few seconds, we’re all inside and pressed against each other. Rohan pulls up the rope and closes the hatch.
“At least we don’t have to worry about falling out of proximity,” I say with a smile.
Lucas is the only one who returns my grin.
“Ow!” Myco says as Rohan squeezes past her.
“It’s not ideal,” Lucas says, tilting his head back to look around at our hiding place, “but it will work for now.”
CHAPTER 13
LUCAS SQUEEZES PAST a large metal object that is almost as tall as the room just to reach a small, circular window.
“We should take turns being lookout,” he suggests.
I bump into Myco while I’m trying to find a spot for myself among all the clutter. Several dusty boxes block the way to another window.
“We need to do some redecorating first,” I say.
Quietly, we work, not giving the Moderators any reason to find us. We stack everything on one side of the hut, clearing enough space for breathing room.
“How about we put some of the boxes over the hatch?” Myco says. “If the Moderators try to get in, they won’t be able to.”
Avatars Rising: SILOS I Page 8
