by Tony Corden
Atherleah just sat there looking mournful. Finally, Chéng Shí said, “Atherleah, a viewer question has reached a million votes. It was initially asked by Dài Chūn, a viewer from the protectorate of Hong Kong. He wants to know if this is true?”
Atherleah said, “No! It isn't true, and I imagine that Mrs Kodoman already knows the type of man who would make such an accusation; he was in her clan. She has admitted the necessity to expel this person. I’ve checked the timing, and I’m happy to provide the feeds that prove I was not there at this time. In fact, just to be safe and to ensure I have not tampered in any way with the feeds, I grant Dunyanin the right to show my feed from the time in question. This will clear up the confusion. What puzzles me most though is the behaviour and reaction of Utsal. Maybe there is a glitch or something in the AIs that run the Gods. I’m confident that Dunyanin is checking on this.”
Gèng said, “You have a message from an untraceable source. It says, ‘Get up and leave the interview without explanation or we will hurt your mother.’ They have included a picture of your mother with a still photograph of the current interview.”
Leah sub-vocalised, “Send the following to Merideath, ‘Back off bitch. Withdraw the threat, or I’ll scrub every piece of data from the ship and drop it in a gravity bomb. Well, not every piece, I’ll take the data you want and broadcast it to the whole multiverse. VILKAS-42316. I suggest you also get me back into Dunyanin or I’ll be able to spend all my time destroying you. You have my mother, and I’ll do everything to get her back, but not here and not now.’ Translate the message into Arabic and send.”
While the conversation had been happening Dr Masters had been discussing the way Dunyanin kept a rigorous check on its high-level AIs. Leah kept an eye on Merideath and saw her face go blank and then tighten. Leah waited for a message, but none came. Finally, she decided to up the pressure. She said, “Sorry to interrupt, Dr Masters, but I’m sure this isn’t the first time one of the Gods has gone off script. Some of the viewers have commented on my lack of titles. I do have a few. It is just that I am a little reserved. One of my titles is Counsellor to the Gods, which I received when I visited the Pantheon of Heaven; there I met a goddess there called Suzluk. She was a little miffed with me and trapped me in a dungeon a few days later. She was raving mad, and in the end, I had to kill her. That’s where I got another of my titles, God Slayer.”
Before she could continue, Merideath interrupted and said, “That was you. I so wanted to meet the person who did that. I once had dealings with Suzluk and thought she was both wicked and crazy. I wouldn’t dream of believing anything she said. Your story reminds me of the time I had to fight the crazed leader of the orcs. Actually, Lisa, let me send you the feed and I’ll describe what happened. …”
As Merideath continued, Gèng said, “Merideath has sent a message. It reads, ‘Deal. The threat is withdrawn. Solve your problems with Dunyanin on your own. I, or my husband, will be in contact.’”
“No response. Is Stephen having any luck with Dunyanin?”
“He’s still meeting with them. He suggests you tighten the screws just a little.”
Leah waited as the conversation continued. The discussion moved to the other three contestants and their thoughts on the upcoming competition and the difficulty of the clues. Lisa turned to Leah and said, “What will you be doing about your account being suspended?”
“I’m sure that Dunyanin is reviewing my gameplay with as much rigour as my legal team. I can’t think of anything that I’ve done which is against the rules. The biggest issue for me is the way this has had a negative impact on my reputation. I’ll need to talk with the legal people about ways to redress that. Still, in the end, this action will damage Dunyanin’s reputation more than mine. As I suggested before, if I need to I will release my full feed to clear my name.”
Gèng said, “That did it, they caved. Stephen wants to know how far to push it?”
“All the way Gèng, tell him to take it all the way. They were always reasonable before, but not this time. Tell him to push hard. I want Masters here to break out in a sweat.”
Chéng Shí said, “It appears, Atherleah, that even if the Dunyanin administrators restore your account that you have become an enemy to every dwarf in the world. What will this mean for your gameplay?”
“Nothing Chéng Shí, it will be the same. I am used to fighting unfair criticism and oppression. Ever since I was born, I’ve had to deal with people like Gottes_Krieger here. He looks down on me and judges me as a half-breed. In real life, I’ve found that people are no different. Some are like him, but many people are like Ivan here. He spends a little time and looks a little deeper, and in the end, he comes to know me, the real me. He sees me not through the lens of prejudice, position, or power, but with objectivity and openness. Believe it or not, but most of the dwarves I meet will be the same. At first they’ll respond to the programming and despise me, but then they’ll look closer, they’ll interact, and they’ll do something that this Paladin can’t do, they’ll adapt and change. In the end, I expect you’ll find I have many dwarves who’ll see the real me.”
“Gottes_Krieger, Atherleah just made some comments about you that seems harsh, would you like to respond?”
“What do I care what this little girl has to say? She does not deserve to be in the same competition as Merideath or I. Take note of her competition, I bet she will be destroyed in the first round. She is all bluster and wind.”
Боевой_молот said, “I will take that wager, how much?”
“What, what wager, you Russian peasant?”
“You said, ‘I bet she will be destroyed in the first round.’ Well, I want to take that wager, or are you 'all bluster and wind'?”
“You’d bet on her? She is Level 270 and has spent all her time preparing by banging away at a forge. Both her mounts are less than Level 100, and she struggled against a single snow leopard. I could defeat her with my eyes closed. But all right, I will make the wager. I bet one diamond.”
“A diamond, that’s all you wager, one measly diamond. You must be poorer than I imagined. I was thinking something of greater value, say your armour?”
“My armour, are you crazy? This was a gift from my God. You have nothing which is close in value to offer.”
“Sure I do. My underpants are similar in value to your tin plate, you cheapskate. Come on, give me a manly wager.”
“All right. I will wager ten diamonds.”
“Bah, I’ll take it, but you have no soul.”
Dr Masters spoke into the silence and said, “Well, here is some good news, it appears that our team has finished the audit of Atherleah’s account and find no evidence at all of any wrongdoing on her part. We will be reinstating her account and will talk with her about redressing any negative press she received. Unfortunately, the feed from today, as you have seen, has several issues in which we believe someone has sought to manipulate our data and cause Atherleah harm. We are isolating the complete data stream and will spend time trying to find the culprit. Her feed will return at the start of her next day of play. Atherleah, please accept our most sincere apologies. I shall contact you after the show and discuss any compensation that might be owing.”
Not long after that, the hour-long show ended. Merideath and Gottes_Krieger disappeared as did Dr Masters. Chéng Shí walked over to Leah and said, “That was most entertaining. For someone so young you handled that well, except for your baiting of Merideath. You need to be careful. She is a dangerous enemy. I hear this was your idea, did you achieve what was necessary?”
“I did, thank you. I trust your viewers found it entertaining.”
“Most would have. Some of them, believe it or not, probably understood enough of the byplay to be even more entertained than I. I would request a more intimate conversation at some time. Would you be amenable to that?”
“Indeed I would. Please contact my public relations consultant, Sharon, or my AI Gèng for a time. I’ll have Gèng send you
the contact details.”
Chéng Shí bowed and wandered away. Ivan walked over and said, “You did well my little cookie girl. Are my diamonds safe?”
“I hope so. It depends, of course, on who I fight first. If it's you then you can always throw the match and pocket the money.”
“No, in the competition we are foes. Here, I hope we can be friends.”
“We can Ivan; I also hope we can.”
“Good, then take this as friendly advice. You need to up your game. If you don’t get stronger, you will be destroyed. What on earth are you doing? What is this banging away with a hammer? Get out and learn to fight better or you will be brushed aside.”
“That is good advice Ivan, good advice. The problem is this, the fight inside Dunyanin is only a shadow of the fight I’m waging outside. All my energy is focussed on other things. I go to Dunyanin to rest. Still, I will take note of your advice and do better. Thank you for caring.”
“You’re welcome my cookie, you’re welcome. I don’t understand everything you say, but I am glad you listen. Now I must go, I need a shower after talking with that pious tin can.”
“There is nothing wrong with piety, Ivan. It's the hypocrisy which tarnishes.”
Both Leah and Ivan logged out.
Arriving back in the tower, Leah slumped over and burst into tears. Gèng came over and sat beside her. She carefully surrounded Leah with her arms and tried to comfort her. Leah rested her head on Gèng’s shoulder and slowly wept. Finally, after several minutes Leah looked up and said, “Sorry about that, I’ve been holding that in for an hour. Thanks for the support.”
“It’s perfectly understandable. Now that you’re calm, your father and John are waiting in the kitchen for you.”
Leah nodded and logged out. She took a quick shower and headed for the kitchen. Conner was sitting with her father and John was making some sandwiches. She walked over to give her father a brief hug and then she sat next to Conner.
Michael said, “We heard the interview, you did well. I would have reached over and bashed her a few times.”
“Don’t worry. I wanted to and to be honest, I intend to as soon as I can. Before we discuss mum, how are her guards? Gèng said two needed to go to the hospital.”
John replied, “They’ll be ok. Jerry had a bad concussion and a broken arm. Milton lost a tooth and hurt his back. They’ll be released later tonight I expect, I sent them as a precaution. Lacey suffered a light concussion and has a few bruises, but she’ll be fine. So far we’ve kept the police out of it as you and Michael requested. We’ve no clues at the moment, and I don’t expect any for at least another five or six hours.”
Michael said, “What clues? What do you expect to happen?”
John looked over at Leah and Michael said, “Leah, what is he talking about? You might be his boss, but you’re my daughter. Now, out with it.”
“I had John arrange for trackers to be placed in each of you. They were in your food. I didn’t tell you because it is certain that if one of you were taken, then you would be forced to tell the people who took you whatever you knew. While you are within range of your bodyguards, then the small trackers remain dormant and stay attached to the wall of your gut causing no harm. If you pass out of range of the device carried by your guards, then the small trackers are released gradually, one every four hours.
“They are still dormant until they leave your body as waste. Then they activate and send a signal every hour, on the hour, for twenty-four hours. The signal is encoded and only able to be read by a device with the matching code if it comes within one kilometre of the tracker. You each have twenty small trackers ready to be released. We have between eighty and a hundred hours to find mum. John, how many people do we have looking?”
“I currently have ten devices set up that can read your mum’s signal and another twenty will arrive tomorrow. The ten we have I’ve already deployed to the most likely areas for sewage to end up. She’s been gone for just over an hour and I expect nothing yet. I have forty of Jimmy’s gang spreading through the city to check places the Kodomans have buildings.”
“Good, contact Jimmy and say that I want him to call in any favours I’m owed. I want the other gangs to pitch in and help.”
Michael stared at them for a few minutes and then said, “You put trackers in us, without our knowledge. That’s wrong.”
John grinned and said, “Just so you know Michael, I had Leah take some without her knowledge. What else did you expect us to do? These people are bad, Michael, they are not only bad, but we know they are stronger than us and more highly skilled. So we need to be smarter.”
“You’re right. About the trackers and because I feel better knowing Leah was duped too.”
“Don’t get too smug John, I had mine reprogrammed and flushed the next day. Gèng sends a false response whenever you check if I’m still dosed. Don’t stare at me like that. I needed to be able to say I had nothing in case they took one of the family at the same time they took me. Now, although I hate to do it, I need to keep my head in the game. I’m going to skip the day in Dunyanin and make them sweat about whether or not I’ll play nice. I’m going to visit Pneumatica with Sharon and look for her sister. With mum gone I just realised how hard it must be for Sharon. After that, I need some time in Cosmos Online before some deep-sleep. I want to be informed as soon as anything is known about mum, or if we hear from her abductors.”
John nodded and said, “I’ll stay in reality and oversee everything. Michael, Leah has rushed ahead and issued orders, and I think they are the right ones. I also know you’re Lin’s husband. Do you have any questions or instructions?”
Leah nodded and said, “I’m sorry dad, John is right. What do you want?”
Michael said, “I want Lin back. I don’t care how, or even when, I just want her back safe and sound. I also want justice. I reckon Leah is right, John, but neither Conner nor I will be sitting down for this. Use us. We want to help.”
Conner swallowed and then nodded, “I want mum back, and I want those who took her to know it was wrong.”
John nodded and said, “Good, Leah you head off and do what you must. I’ll deal with things here. Jimmy will be here soon, and he’ll help with the coordination. We’ll find her, don’t you worry.”
Leah nodded and hurried back to her room and logged in to the Tower. She hoped she’d climbed high enough to be able to find her mum.
CHAPTER TWO
December 10, 2073 - Part 2
Leah asked Gèng to contact Sharon and see if she was free to begin a search for her sister. It was less than ten minutes later that Sharon arrived in the Tower. She found Leah sitting on the floor and researching the virtual world of Pneumatica. Sharon sat beside her and said, “Why now? I heard about your mother. I thought you’d be focussed on her.”
“I am. The thing is: I know I can’t do anything for her until I hear from her abductors or I can track where she’s being hidden. Dunyanin is out at the moment until they finalise terms with Stephen. Your sister has been missing for nine years. It’s time someone looked for her besides your AI. Have you decided on a name yet?”
“We have, it likes the name, Reed. There seems to be no reason that I can tell. Reed is different now, more useful, more a friend. I suppose that sounds crazy.”
“Why would that sound crazy? When I got back from the interview, I broke down because of my mother and the stress of pretending everything was normal. Gèng was the one who held me while I wept. She is a dear and close friend.”
“I guess I have a lot to learn about AIs. What are you looking at?”
“I was just researching the world Reed thinks your sister is in. Is Reed available to help refine the search?”
Sharon nodded, and Reed appeared. It said, “Atherleah I was distressed to hear of your mother, is there any way I can be of assistance?”
“With the search for my mother, I don’t think so, but I appreciate the offer. What you can help with is the search for Sharo
n’s sister. Why do you think she is in Pneumatica?”
“After becoming aware of Catherine’s plight I investigated everything I could find about her. One day when Sharon was visiting her family home, I saw a book which had belonged to Catherine. I knew it was hers because as soon as Sharon picked it up, she put it down and went to have a cup of tea. On the book was written the words ‘CT must hang’ and the stylised drawing of a noose. I had nothing else to do so I searched for the phrase and drawing wherever I could in the multiverse. One day I found a reference in a forum from the Game Saturn’s Rings, it referred to a miner in the asteroid belts of Saturn called C.T. Hang, and her call sign was ‘Noose’.
“I spent weeks delving through any and all publicly posted feeds from the game and finally saw the very same stylised noose on the side of a mining cart. There wasn’t much of a picture in the feed, but I was sure I had found Catherine. I focussed my search on the company she worked for and looked for ways into their files. I confess that I became quite adroit at breaking through firewalls.
“Several months after I found her she disappeared. It took several weeks, but I finally found an orphaned section of data which mentioned the transfer of personnel to Alexandria. Again I had to dig, but eventually found a reference to Alexandria, it is a city in a world dedicated to horror and the occult. In that city was a company that hired sherpas for people heading into the desert in search of lost tombs, mummies and cursed artefacts. The company name was similar to that in Saturn’s Rings. Finally, I found reference to a Sherpa known as CT who always wore a noose around her neck.
“Eight months ago, she was moved again. I have built up a list over the years of places that have branches of the company who keeps Catherine. Although I haven’t found any reference yet to CT, there is a band of airborne Pirates who operate around Aeolipile. One of these has a painting of the noose on the side panel of her machine.”
