by A. G. Riddle
Desmond, with a shaking, bloody hand, was holding a smartphone, tapping away.
Peyton stopped at his side. “What are you doing?”
“Opening Rendition.” He motioned to the four cots that held the programmers. “I need to bring them out.”
“How long will that take?”
“I don’t know.” He looked over at Avery. “Help her. She saved my life, Peyton. Please.”
Peyton gripped his forearm. “Okay.”
She applied bandages to Avery’s wound, front and back. It would slow the bleeding, but the woman needed to get to an OR soon—and there wasn’t one within a thousand miles. Not good odds. “Hang on, Avery,” she whispered.
Her mother was typing furiously on the keyboard inside the suitcase. She unsnapped a corded phone and held it to her ear. It reminded Peyton of a bag phone from the nineties.
“Head of watch, please,” Lin said.
A pause.
“This is Lin Shaw, Miss Whitmeyer. I’m initiating an upload.”
Peyton didn’t understand. Who was she calling?
“Mom.”
Avery wiggled. Reached for her gun.
“Don’t,” Avery called to Lin. Her voice was weak, and her hand trembled.
Lin saw the gun in Avery’s hands. “Stop her, Peyton.”
Avery steadied the gun.
Lin didn’t even blink. “My authorization was issued by Yuri Pachenko. Access code Alpha-Omega-Sigma-4828-47-29. Verify.”
“Put the phone down,” Avery said. She tried to sit up, but fell back to the floor, still holding the gun. Her entire arm was shaking now.
Lin moved the mouthpiece to her neck, but held the phone to her ear. “Would you like to see your father again, Miss Price?”
Avery blinked.
Peyton stood. “Mom, what are you doing?”
Lin squatted down, her face inches from the gun in Avery’s hand. “This is your only chance. He’s in Rook right now. Waiting on you. Uploaded with the first cohort—advanced stage Alzheimer’s patients.” Lin studied the younger woman. “That’s why you joined Phaethon Genetics. Or so you said in your interview. You said you wanted to help him, and others like him. Was it true, or just a cover story? The best cover stories are true, aren’t they? Like telling an asset you love him…” Lin’s eyes darted to Desmond, who was now lying still. “… when you really do.”
Peyton backed away. Her mother was a monster. A manipulator playing a game Peyton didn’t understand.
“He’s waiting,” Lin said. “And millions of others. You stop the upload, and they die forever. You took an oath to protect those people.”
A boom echoed in the vast space.
Chapter 80
The Rendition instance wasn’t what Desmond expected. The simulations they had tested during development had mimicked the real world, which was the entire point of Rendition: to create a virtual world indistinguishable from real life. For those in the Looking Glass, it became real life.
This place was like nothing he had ever seen in real life—but he recognized it all the same. Rolling green fields surrounded him. Ahead lay a round door to a home built into the earth. It was a smial, or hobbit-hole, in the town of Hobbiton. The residence had a name, too: Bag End. In the Lord of the Rings series, it was home to Bilbo Baggins and then Frodo Baggins.
So, Desmond thought. This was where, at the end of the world—during the end of the world—the Rendition developers had chosen to spend their time. They were certified geeks. There was no denying it now.
Desmond pushed open the round wooden door and stooped to enter.
A likeness of Bilbo Baggins was smoking a pipe, telling a story to Raghav, Langford, Kevin, and Melanie, who sat around a table.
Langford threw up his hands. “Okay, who programmed Des in here?” He looked at the other three. “It totally breaks the illusion.”
“I’m not an illusion. I’m here, in Antarctica. Lying three feet from your cot in the ice hotel.”
They all froze.
Kevin burst out laughing. “Oh my God, seriously, who did that? Okay, I don’t care. How did you do that? Camera on the server? Program it while we were offline? Just tell me—”
“Shut up, Kevin. I’m here. I—”
Desmond saw movement through the open door—another figure coming up the path toward Bag End. It couldn’t be.
The visitor stepped inside, stooping just as Desmond had, and glanced at the programmers around the table.
“All right, who is this?” Raghav asked. “Someone’s grandpa?”
Desmond addressed the visitor. “How are you here?”
“I don’t know.”
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
“I was in the administrative building, with you, on the Isle of Citium. You left the server room. I tried to buy you some time, but I was captured. Yuri took me to a room and scanned me. Where’s Peyton?”
“Here, with me,” Desmond said, his mind racing. “In Antarctica. Your daughter’s safe.”
William Shaw nodded. “Good. What happened after I was scanned?”
“You died.”
“Then that means…”
“You’re in the Looking Glass,” Desmond said. “Somehow, the main Rook array has been connected to the Rendition instance here, in Antarctica. It’s live—all of it. Someone has done it. It’s over.”
Chapter 81
Peyton turned at the booming sound of the hotel doors flying open. Soldiers in white camouflage parkas rushed through the lobby and poured into the rotunda, fanning out, covering all three exits, rifles at the ready, the green dots of their laser pointers dancing on Peyton, Avery, Lin, and Desmond. Peyton counted at least twenty of them. Too many.
Avery shifted her gun to point at the closest soldier.
Peyton put her hand on Avery’s wrist. “Don’t. There’s too many.”
Lin Shaw raised her hands. Her voice rang loud and clear in the rotunda. “Stand down. We’re on the same side.”
One of the soldiers touched his collarbone. “We’re secure.”
Footsteps echoed in the lobby. Two men entered and came to a stop. They were mirrors of each other: posture rigid, expression blank. Yuri Pachenko and Conner McClain silently scanned the room.
The last time Peyton had seen Conner, he had been interrogating her on the Kentaro Maru hours after he had killed Jonas and her EIS agents. She hadn’t known then that he was Desmond’s brother. Now, as Peyton looked at the scars on his face, she had a new understanding of the pain he had gone through. But that didn’t change how she felt about him. He was a monster.
Yuri was the same. He had killed her father and kidnapped and imprisoned her brother. He had taken so much from her.
Below her, she felt Avery struggling, trying to raise her arm, to point the gun at Yuri, like a zombie reaching out to take a life. Peyton held her down. They were outnumbered—and a firefight would damage the Rendition server, possibly killing Desmond.
Avery looked up at Peyton with fire in her eyes.
Wait, Peyton mouthed.
“I’ve fulfilled our agreement,” Lin said.
Yuri drew a sat phone from his parka and held it to his ear. “Does it work?”
“What agreement, Mom?”
Lin said nothing.
“You led them here, didn’t you?”
Her mother’s silence was all the confirmation Peyton needed.
“In return for what? What did he promise you, Mom?”
No response came. Lin’s gaze was fixed on Yuri. A cold, confident smile crossed his lips.
“I told you,” Lin said, “I did my part. Rendition is yours. The Looking Glass is complete. Now honor our bargain.”
“Very well,” Yuri said. He moved the phone back to his mouth. “Miss Whitmeyer, it seems Doctor Shaw has had a change of heart. Reinstate her privileges as a full member of the Citium.”
Lin exhaled. Finally, her gaze shifted to Peyton. “I did it for you.”
“N
o.”
“It was the only way out of that cave, Peyton. The only way to save you.”
“You freed him.”
“It was the only way.”
Conner walked to Desmond’s side. “He’s inside?”
“Yes,” Lin replied. “He may already know that Rendition has been uploaded to the main Rook array, not just this portable instance. Either way, he’ll know soon enough that the Looking Glass is live.” Lin’s voice grew soft. “And he will change then, Conner. He’ll know it’s over. And so is your disagreement—that’s all this was. Brothers fight. That’s what they do.”
Conner nodded, still looking at Desmond.
Yuri glanced at one of the troops nearby. “Turn it off, Colonel.”
“No!” Peyton yelled. “You’ll kill him.”
The Citium officer marched toward the server rack.
Conner held up a hand. “Stop.”
The man hesitated, glancing back at Yuri, who said, “You have your orders, Colonel.”
“I remind you,” Conner said calmly, “that I’m the head of Citium Security.”
The colonel nodded and took a step back.
Yuri slipped the phone into his parka. A gun was in his hand when he drew it back out.
“Gun!” Peyton yelled.
Conner spun to face Yuri. “I want to talk to him.”
“We’ve discussed this, Conner. We have a plan.”
Lin’s voice was just loud enough for Conner to hear. “Desmond will see now that he made a mistake. You’ll regret it your entire life if you don’t at least talk to him.”
Yuri raised the gun.
Conner stepped toward Yuri.
The older man pointed the weapon at Desmond and pulled the trigger.
Chapter 82
The shot shattered a pane of glass on the rotunda’s dome. Shards of glass fell around Peyton like rain. Cold air rushed in, like a freezer door being opened. Conner had caught Yuri’s arm just before he pulled the trigger, forcing the shot up and away from his brother, who lay unharmed—for now.
Peyton drew her own pistol, but her mother held a hand out. “Don’t.”
Conner held both of Yuri’s arms, looked him in the eyes, pleading. “Yuri, please.”
The Citium Security operatives exchanged glances, but no one moved.
Slowly, Lin paced closer to Yuri and Conner.
Desmond opened his eyes.
“Des,” Peyton whispered.
He tried to sit up, but fell back to the cot. He was groggy—as he had been when he had recovered his memories. He lifted his head toward Peyton, huddled over Avery, then looked past them to where Conner struggled with Yuri, Lin cautiously moving toward them. He must have seen the troops next, because his eyes went wide. He struggled and was finally able to sit up and swing his legs off the side of the cot.
His voice was hoarse and faint. “Conner.”
His brother turned his head. At the same moment, Yuri’s gun hand broke free, and Yuri aimed at Desmond.
For the second time, Conner was quicker. But this time, he was unable to redirect Yuri’s shot.
He could only step in the way of it.
Desmond’s scream rattled Peyton to her core. It was almost inhuman, a mix of rage and shock and pain. The look on his face broke her heart.
Chapter 83
The gunshot went right through Conner, shattering another pane of glass in the rotunda. The flow of cold air increased. Glass fell on the ice floor, the impacts like the sound of wind chimes. A streak of blood painted the Rendition server. Conner’s blood. But he hung on to Yuri, both hands now gripping the older man’s arms, struggling, wrestling, blood pouring down his back.
Peyton rose, but stopped. A Citium Security operative raised his gun and shook his head, silently warning her.
Desmond staggered toward his brother, who was on top of Yuri now, using his last bit of strength to pin him to the ground.
Lin Shaw got there first. In a quick motion, she drew a gun from her parka and fired at point blank range.
Yuri’s limp body fell to the ice.
Conner looked back at her in horror.
Desmond reached his brother a second later and pulled him off of Yuri, into his arms.
Peyton saw the wound then. The bullet had pierced Conner’s neck and passed through his carotid artery. Blood was gushing freely. He wouldn’t last long.
Desmond must have realized this as well. He sat on the ice floor, his brother in his arms, tears rolling down his face. “I’m sorry, Conner. I’m so sorry.”
Conner said something Peyton couldn’t make out. Then his shoulders sagged and his hands fell to the ice. Desmond bowed his head and closed his eyes.
“Desmond,” Lin said.
He looked up, eyes filled with tears.
“Finish it.”
He looked confused.
She pointed to the open suitcase, the one she had used to upload Rendition.
“That terminal has root access.”
The words seemed to mean something to Desmond. He nodded. Gently, he placed his brother’s head on the floor and began moving toward the suitcase.
Around the room, the troops raised their rifles and trained their laser sights on him.
Chapter 84
Desmond stopped and held up his hands. A cold wind was blowing through the gaps in the rotunda’s glass ceiling, and his breath came out in white steam as he looked around at the soldiers.
The Rendition programmers were starting to stir and sit up on the cots. The soldiers took aim at them as well.
“Stand down,” Lin called out. “Ladies and gentlemen, I remind you that Desmond and I are the last remaining members of the Citium. If you’ll recall, Yuri reinstated me before his death.”
The troops looked confused, but they didn’t budge. Most looked to the colonel.
Lin addressed him. “Colonel, this is the only play. The only way out for all of us.”
He grimaced, but said, “Stand down.”
The troops lowered the rifles, and Desmond raced to the suitcase terminal. It had full access to Rendition—which made sense, since it had uploaded and created the instance. He opened the archives and stared in shock. Over two hundred million lives. All of them now living in the virtual-reality space he had created. Rendition.
The Rapture backups for Citium personnel were stored in a protected area that only Desmond had the password to. He entered it and scanned the log. Last backup was ten hours ago. Both Yuri and Conner had been mapped.
He clicked Yuri’s name, and a listing of all of his Rapture backups appeared—going back almost ten years, to when the technology was still being tested. He selected all of them. And clicked delete. He had to verify the command twice and re-enter his password. He pressed enter—and Yuri was gone forever.
In the real world, Lin had taken his life—avenging her husband and son.
Inside the Looking Glass, Desmond had ensured Yuri would never live again, never enjoy the machine he had killed so many to create.
Desmond nodded at Lin. She took the sat phone from Yuri’s pocket and dialed the last number called.
“Miss Whitmeyer, it’s Lin Shaw. We’ve had an unfortunate accident here. Yuri is dead. As is Conner. Desmond and I are the last living members of the Citium.”
A pause.
“Yes, of course.”
Lin handed the phone to the colonel. He listened for a moment. “Confirmed. My authorization code is Jackson-Auth-Delta-India-Romeo-Victor-X-ray-39382.”
He listened, nodded, and handed the phone back to Lin.
“Miss Whitmeyer,” said Lin, “give me a status update.” She paused to listen. “Good. Your first priority is to ensure that the Looking Glass remains running. Second, you are to stop all transfers immediately—including any actions being taken or scheduled to proceed against government officials or individuals deemed enemies of the Citium.”
Desmond was suddenly aware of the pain from the knife wound in his ribs. But he had a more urg
ent matter to attend to. He walked over to Peyton and Avery, whose breathing was shallow. The pool of blood was massive. Too big.
Peyton met his eyes. “She needs an OR. And blood. Right now. In the construction habitat—”
“I’ve got something better.” To the colonel, Desmond said, “We need to get this woman back to the plane and over to McMurdo Station.”
Chapter 85
Desmond was still sore from the brief operation. The anesthesia had worn off, but the bandage on his side itched.
He and Peyton sat in the waiting room at McMurdo General Hospital, the largest medical facility in Antarctica. It was part of McMurdo Station, a research center operated by the United States. The base was home to nearly eight hundred people, and they were in near-constant danger. McMurdo General had seen more than its share of trauma wounds, and the doctors had impressed Desmond as capable.
He just hoped they had gotten Avery there in time. Upon seeing her, the surgeon had looked grim. He had given no reply when Desmond asked if they could save her.
Peyton stood. “Want some coffee?”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
“Still drink it black?”
“Yeah.”
“Cream and sugar hard to come by on remote oil rigs?”
He laughed, feeling some of the nervous tension flowing out of him. “You could say that.”
When Peyton returned, they sat in silence, sipping their coffee. His thoughts wandered, and finally she said, “Sorry about your brother.”
He glanced over at her, but she didn’t make eye contact. “Me too. And I’m sorry for what he did. He was… a very troubled person. Still a boy in so many ways. One who… who never got to grow up. Or know love.”
“Until he met you,” Peyton said quietly.
“It was too late then. Our world was not for him. But he’s in a better place now.”
Peyton looked at him. “The Looking Glass.”
