by Rick Scott
“Is he always so intense?” Val Helena asks still staring at him.
I sigh. “Pretty much.”
“Wow,” she says absently. “An older version of you with attitude…? That’s kind of hot.”
Both Gilly and I balk up at her. “What?!”
“Does he have a girlfriend?”
* * *
We stay in a tight group as we run across the desert. Rembrandt stays in front, since his mirror shades give him some kind of night vision. A few times we stop to change direction, according to what, I presume, is him spotting sentries, and then we skirt around them to continue on.
We travel for about half an hour and keep talking to a minimum.
Which is just fine with me. I got no idea what I’m going to say to Mike anyway. But I have a feeling I’m bound to have more questions for him. How is he Maxis? And why is he in the game world instead of the surface? Unless this test shard or whatever it is, is connected to it somehow? My mind is so confused I’m not sure what to think. Maybe I heard the conversation entirely wrong that night.
Maybe I’ve been wrong about a lot of thing.
We stop on the crest of a ridge and my brother curses.
“What’s wrong?” Val Helena asks as she sidles up next to him, dwarfing him with her eight foot frame.
“We’ve got watchtowers between us and the safe zone,” Maxis says. “Plus dogs.”
I scan the desert below and while it flattens, I faintly make out tall metal structures that look like lamp posts spaced every hundred yards or so in a straight line. And the line is about the same distance from the edge of what appears to be forested woodland. Patrolling in between the lampposts are packs of sentries, five and six strong.
“No bloody way we’re getting through that, mate.” Rembrandt tucks his hands into his trenchcoat as he scans left and right. “Looks to go for miles.”
“So how do we get past?” Gilly asks.
“That should be your job, mage,” Maxis says with a hint of disdain. “But you’re probably too low level to be any use.”
I feel like socking him one for that, but I get a PM from Gilly that almost makes me laugh instead.
Gilly: Geez, your brother… D: You sure he’s worth saving?
I suppress my laugh with a grin. The last thing I need is Mike going all crazy on me again.
“Is there some way to disable them?” Val Helena asks.
“Not without alerting everything,” Maxis says.
“Wait a minute,” I say and recall one of the scrolls I bought earlier. “I think I have a spell that could help.”
I check and find the spell Shadow Wall.
Shadow Wall
Used your power over shadows to create an illusion that masks your party’s presence.
Cast time: 10 seconds
Duration: 1 minute
Recast: 2 minutes.
Cost: 10 TP
I cast it and dust rises up from the desert floor and surrounds us until we each disappear from view.
“Nice one, mate. Your brother’s got tricks, Max.” And with that Rembrandt runs ahead, his form an undulating piece of glass as he moves. “I’m scouting.”
We trail after him down the slope of the dune and stop when he pauses, waiting for a group of dogs to pass.
“This only lasts a minute,” I say through party chat.
“Got it.”
We progress on and pass beneath one of the lamp posts and thankfully nothing happens.
“Thirty seconds,” I warn when I note we’ve still got a good hundred yards to reach the forested area.
Rembrandt halts as a sentry wolf about fifty feet away stops and perks its ears.
Oh crap…
“Hey, numb nuts,” Maxis says in party chat. “Was that spell sneak and invis or just invis?”
“Er…” Dang I hate my brother sometimes. “I’m not sure?”
“Ah to hell with it,” Maxis says. “Just run!”
We all take off running and the wolves bark and growl in our direction and start giving chase. My heart hits my throat as we bolt for the treeline and I grab Gilly’s hand to make sure she keeps up with me. The spell wears off about thirty feet from the edge and the watch towers alarm with a klaxon wail and red lights as we phase into existence with a flash of dust.
“Keep going!” Maxis yells. “Don’t look back!”
I have the pressing urge to do so as a savage growl sounds like it’s coming from right behind my head! We cross onto lush grass and behind me I hear a series of yelps and thuds. I look over my shoulder then, just in time to see one of the wolves run straight into a barrier of some kind, a honeycomb lattice work becoming momentarily visible as it impacts.
The beasts yelp and growl a bit more, some shaking off a momentary daze from running into the invisible wall. But soon enough they lose interest in us and return to patrolling between the watch towers.
“Geez, that was close,” I say my heart still pounding. I then look to Gilly. “You all right?”
She nods winded, her hands resting on her knees, but otherwise seems fine.
“Close one, thanks to you,” Maxis says already heading deeper into the treeline. “Check things out more carefully next time. Now come on, you got explaining to do.”
* * *
I mutter a cuss under my breath as we follow Maxis deeper into the woodland. The air is cool here and I notice the sky is actually not as dark as it was in the desert. And while it’s not broad daylight, the sun is still visible in the sky and looks about to set in a few hours. Birds sing as they fly from tree to tree and tiny inspects buzz in my ears.
“What type of world is this?” Val Helena says looking up at the pine trees that tower over us about a hundred feet in the air.
“Fantasy probably,” Maxis says. “Don’t know if it’s Nasgar based, but close enough.”
“Brilliant,” Rembrandt says sardonically. “Means I’m piss out of luck for upgrades then.”
“We’ll get you some,” Maxis says. “Even if it means hiking back through the wild to find a tech world. We’re both going to need to upgrade to pull this one off.”
“Pull what off?” I ask.
Maxis fumes as he looks back at me. “I’m asking the questions first.”
We travel a bit further and I hear the burble of running water as we approach a stream running through the forest. The water cascades over moss covered rocks and flows back the way we came toward the desert. As I see the crystal clear water, I again experience something I never have before in game.
I’m thirsty.
And I’m not the only one apparently, as Maxis and Rembrandt cup their hands to the flowing stream for a drink. Gilly and I follow suit, as well as Val Helena. The water is cool and refreshing and tastes better than anything I’ve ever drank before.
Maxis points to a large granite rock at the edge of the stream. “Sit and start talking. Tell me how you got here.”
Before I can say anything Val Helena jumps in. “He’s here because of me,” she says. “I gave him the money to fix his legs and I forced him to fight the World Boss and come with me afterwards. If you want to be mad at anyone for him being here. It’s me.”
Maxis looks up at her with a grimace. “He’s just a damn kid!”
Her eyes soften. “I know…I’m sorry.”
“Hey, I’m not a kid,” I protest. “And I have Shadow Copy. That’s why she needs me.”
Maxis runs his hands through his dark hair, which in this world is full at the top and braided on the sides instead of being shaved. Looking more closely at him, he still pretty much looks the same as in real life, and he even has his goatee hiding beneath his scarf.
“I still can’t believe this,” Maxis says. “You’ve been lying all this time? About this job of yours? About your legs? How long have you been playing the game?”
“Me lying?” He had to be kidding! “What about you, man? I’m thinking you’re in some gang or something and you’re really Maxis, the top PVPer
on the shards? And what’s up with you always downing me out about playing my ‘stupid’ game, when you’re a pro at one? How can you be such a hypocrite?”
“Because they are just stupid games,” he snaps. “All of them. They’re nothing like here.”
“Um…” Gilly says. “And where is here exactly?”
“Who are you anyway?” Maxis questions Gilly dismissively.
“She’s my girlfriend, okay?”
Maxis looks back at me like that’s even more impossible than seeing me in the game. “Well I’ll be…”
“What?” Gilly says. “Is that so hard to believe?”
Maxis scoffs. “If you knew him like I do, yeah.”
“You really are a jerk, you know that?”
His brows rise above his shades at Gilly’s retort. “You’ve got moxy, I’ll give you that. But this is a family matter, so please stay out of it.”
“I’m not staying out of anything!” Gilly snaps. “I’m here just like you and I want answers. What is this place?”
I want the answer to that one myself. Mike said he was going to the surface. But it just doesn’t make sense. “Yeah, I want answers too.” And I look to Val Helena as well. “From both of you. Where are we? Is this still in the game?”
Val Helena defers to Maxis. “He might be able to answer that, better than me.”
I look back to my brother. “Well?”
“Yes and no,” he says. “This is the real world, Ryan. But it’s changed. It’s not what you learned about in your education feeds.”
“What do you mean?”
He sits down on the rock and lets out a sigh. “It’s not been two hundred years since a nuclear war. No one knows how long it’s really been. It could be thousands of years.”
My stomach lurches.
“What are you saying?” Gilly says her face growing pale.
“I’m saying this is the surface. This is what the world looks like now.”
I feel a bit dizzy as my knees go weak. “What?”
“That’s as much as I’ve been taught anyway,” Maxis says. “About the truth that we still have of our history. In the game, when you transfer to the surface they call this place citadel. But in actuality, the place where we live, our city. That’s its true name. Citadel.”
“Is it really underground?” Gilly asks.
“What about the radiation?” I ask. “Does it still exist? Isn’t that how mom got sick?”
“Yes it’s underground. And yes there is still radiation above us. And yes that’s how mom got sick.”
“Then how are we not dead? How is all of this not dead?” I say, looking about at the trees and wildlife around us. “And how are we even here? As our game characters? In the real world?”
“There’s no radiation because we’re not in the same location as Citadel,” Maxis says. “When you transfer to the surface, you’re placed randomly.”
“What?” Gilly says. “Why?”
“So Citadel’s true location won’t be discovered.”
“By who?” I ask.
“The machines,” he says. “The Builders.”
A chill runs down my spine. Crap I nearly forgot about them. He’s supposed to go and fight one or something. “What exactly are they? And did they really make the city? Why are we hiding from them?”
“Okay look, stop with the questions,” Maxis says. “Just let me speak.”
He takes a deep breath and we both shut up and listen.
“As far as we know, yes, the builders made Citadel originally. And they also made all of this.” He waves his hands at our surroundings. “We think they were created to restore the Earth after the war or something, but we’re not sure. The only thing we do know is that we’ve lost control over them. They’re sentient AIs and in worlds like this, they’ve become like gods. As for how they’re connected to the game, that’s another mystery. Some people think we tried to use the game as a way to control them again; to make them build a world with rules where we could gain an advantage over them. Other people think that the game is what made us lose control of them in the first place and that the Builders were somehow infected by it and are now replicating it mindlessly. But either way, these AIs are now basically recreating the Earth into the worlds that we know as Crystal Shards.”
My stomach does a little dip and Gilly and I share a frightful glance.
“As for how you’re here. You’re not really. At least not all of you. Your bodies are still back in Citadel, but your consciousness has been transferred to a nanotech body. You’re flesh and blood, sorta. Or as much as the nano can replicate all of that anyway.”
“Are you saying this is a real body?” I say thumping against my chest.
“As real as it can be, copied from your character. Stats, abilities and all.”
Holy crap! I think back to when I saw Val Helena materializing and it all makes sense now. We weren’t logging in. We were being printed just like a nano processor! “I think I’m going to pass out.”
“Which brings me back to why I’m so pissed at you for being here, Ryan.” His countenance darkens with a scowl. “You got any idea what trouble you’ve caused? You were supposed to stay with mom, man. That’s the main reason I even felt comfortable doing any of this! I knew that no matter what happened to me, at least you’d still be there for her. But now she’s going to see them come for you, and who knows what that’s going to do to her…”
“Come for me?” What was he talking about?
He shakes his head. “Why do you think I stayed away from home so much? I didn’t want mom to know what I was doing.”
“What do you mean come for me?”
“Your body,” Val Helena says. “They transfer your real body into stasis once you make the jump here.”
My blood freezes as I remember that person in the capsule during the meeting I followed Mike to. Was that me now? Is that what happens to you when you really go to the surface?
“Is that going to happen to me too?” Gilly asks looking pale.
Maxis nods. “Probably. Unless you’re already plugged into stasis. And that’s becoming more and more common these days.”
Gilly just goes quiet and I can only imagine what she must be thinking.
“How come no one knows about any of this stuff?” I shout almost angry. “I’ve never heard of any of it before. None of it!”
“Because the world would fall apart if everyone knew the truth, Ryan. So they mask it,” Maxis says. “When it happens, people just think it’s evictions and bodies are being taken to the vats.”
I have the grisly vision of my mother thinking I’m dead. “Who does all this?”
“The board,” Maxis says. “But only a select few know what’s really going on.”
My skin grows cold again. I think back to Gilly’s dad and hope she doesn’t mention who he is right now. If anyone knows what’s going on it would be him. How she’s processing all this I don’t even know.
“When they come for you, they blame some glitch in the system, and the whole family has to sign waivers not to talk about it.” Maxis shakes his head. “Mom’s going to be gutted, man. Crap, you’re such an idiot!”
“Hey! I was just doing my best to save her, okay?” Hot anger lights inside my stomach. “And speaking of which? Why haven’t you done anything for her? If you’re Maxis then where’s all your damn money? Don’t you have millions by now?”
“I keep telling you,” he says. “You don’t know what money really is.”
“Then what the heck is it?” I shout.
“It’s this,” Maxis says and holds out his hand. Slowly, a sparkling gray sand begins to fill his palm. “It’s nano, Ryan. That’s what real money is. Every credit is a nanite. Or supposed to be anyhow. It makes our food, our air, our water. Each person requires over 3000 of them a day, just to survive. And our city has just about run out.”
“What?” Van Helena says.
“You want to know how much money I really have?”
&n
bsp; Maxis wishes to trade with you.
Maxis offers you 20,126,743 credits.
What the heck?
“It’s all make believe money, Ryan,” he says. “We can’t spend it. Not in the real world anyway. Why do you think they keep pushing us to live in those damn games so much? And that buying anything in the real world is so expensive? It’s cheaper. It avoids us spending the real money.”
“What?”
“With the shortage, every citizen has a hard limit now. And it’s down to 700k. And you’ve probably gone and blown most of yours on fixing your damn legs.”
700k? I remember that number now from that meeting. And I also remember that weird warning I got about a spending limit. “So you’re saying, that even if I had gotten the money, I wouldn’t have been able to buy mom’s treatment?”
“No,” he says. “If it were possible, I’d have done it a long time ago. For mom to get her treatment, five other people would eventually have to die. And no one’s going to make that kind of call, even though they promised me they would this time. It’s a complete lie. And it doesn’t even matter anyway. All the credits in the world isn’t going to save mom.”
The floor opens up beneath me as everything I’ve worked for comes undone. I’ve been chasing fool’s gold all this time? I look to Val Helena with anger building in my heart. “Val, did you know about this?”
She shakes her head. “I had no idea. I swear. What does this all mean?”
“It means that if we don’t bring more nano back to the city this run, it won’t even matter if we save our mother or not.”
“What?” I say.
“Because in half a year, everyone in Citadel will be dead. Including us.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Thanks for reading right through to the end. And even for reading this! I hope you enjoyed Book 1 of Crystal Shards Online.
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