Digital Heretic (The Game is Life)

by Schott, Terry

  No one spoke. Brandon nodded. “Okay, then. See you all soon.” The women left immediately.

  Brandon waited until they left, then looked back at Zack. “All right, my boy. You remember the drill?”

  Zack nodded. “Don’t say anything until we’re alone, just you and me.”

  “That’s right. I’ll be back in an hour and a half to collect you myself, then we have a couple of things to go over before we meet with the others.”

  Brandon walked to the door. With his hand on the doorknob, he looked back at Zack. “I’m so happy to have you back.”

  “Thanks, Brandon.” Zack looked sad, like he wasn’t happy to be out of the Game, but that was to be expected. His life in the Game

  had ended abruptly. It was common to regret leaving that life, plus he was missing Danielle, his wife.

  “Tell me one thing?” Brandon said.

  “I will if I can.”

  “Tell me you have some exciting things to share.”

  “I sure do, Brandon. See ya soon.”

  ***

  One hour and forty-five minutes later, Brandon signed the release form and Zack accompanied him to the penthouse suite on the highest floor of the VirtDyne building. Zack was given a clean bill of health; the doctor said it was as if he had a normal exit from stasis.

  The two men went to the patio and Zack took a seat while Brandon got them each a drink.

  Brandon handed Zack his drink and wasted no time getting down to business. “First off, congratulations are in order, Zack. You finished your play ranked Number One; the world we are looking out on is now your oyster. After a final tally of credits being converted from the Game into your bank account, it’s clear that you are now one of the richest men in the world.”

  Zack smiled politely, although he didn’t seem as excited by the wealth now as he was before he entered his last play. “That’s great, Brandon. I’m very pleased about that.”

  “As am I,” Brandon said. “I wonder if you’d mind waiting a few weeks before you start to go out and spend it, though? I really need you on Danielle’s team until she comes out.”

  “Of course,” Zack said. “How is she doing? The doctor said I’ve been out of the Game for five days. That’s right around seven years inside.”

  Brandon nodded. “She’s having a hard time. She really loves Trew.”

  “What’s she been up to?” Zack asked with genuine concern.

  “She’s been wasting time looking for your killer.”

  “Oh, god, I hope she hasn’t actually run into Carl?” Zack asked.

  Brandon chuckled. “Not even close. Carl has been kept busy in other areas of the Game. He’s hard to keep track of, but I do get occasional reports on his status. He is nowhere near her.”

  “Well, that’s good,” Zack said. “How is her rank?”

  “Number One.”

  “That’s great!”

  “Yeah, that’s all good. Listen, Zack, we don’t have much time and I need to talk to you about specific things before we go meet with the group.”

  Zack understood. “Okay, Brandon. What do you want to talk about?”

  “Do you remember what happened after you died in the Game?” Brandon asked. “For the past five days you’ve been brain dead — your mind and soul wasn’t in your body. The doctors confirmed the mind part; I am certain about the soul portion.”

  “Really? How can you know about the soul?” Zack asked.

  Brandon made a sour face and Zack smiled, made a motion of zipping his lips shut, locking them with a key and throwing the key away. “Thank you,” Brandon said. “Can you remember anything since you left the Game? The answer to this question is very important. We thought you were dead and gone. It’s a miracle that you’re here at all.”

  “Oh, yes, I remember things happening after I left the Game. I can tell you about a few things; others I can’t.”

  “That’s not acceptable, Zack,” Brandon said.

  “I understand, but it’s not negotiable. I am grateful for everything you’ve done for me, Brandon, but I’m no longer a player in the Game. I will help you in any way that I can; money isn’t an issue, and I think we will be spending a lot of time together. But moving forward, it’s important for us both to understand that legally, I am

  now an adult. I will always look up to you and want to remain close to you, but there will be some things that I can only reveal in time, if at all. We must move forward as colleagues now, no longer as Patron and sponsored player.”

  Brandon looked at Zack seriously for a moment, sipping his drink and saying nothing. Then he stood up, walked over, and extended his hand as he nodded his head. “Of all the people living on this world, you are the closest to my equal that has ever been, Zack. It will be my great honour to treat you so, and to work with you moving forward.”

  Zack stood up and shook Brandon’s hand, then he enveloped Brandon in a fierce embrace. The two men hugged for a moment, then ended the contact and sat down in their seats.

  “Okay, Zack. Tell me everything that you can, and then I’ll share some top secret information with you,” Brandon said.

  “I’d be happy to, Brandon. And from now on please call me Trew. I think it will be easier for everyone to call me that.”

  Chapter 13

  “And that’swhere things sit at the moment on Earth.” Michelle finished her presentation, smiled at Zack — or Trew, as he had asked to be called — then took her seat at his right side. He nodded and thanked his Right Hand, which she would continue to be while the team was active.

  Brandon watched Trew, thinking how well he had done for his first meeting. It had been a long one, and the viewers surrounding them had live feeds of Danielle displayed. Before they had begun, Brandon had sent Trew into the office so that he could be alone and watch her. Trew had taken only a few moments, then he had wiped tears from his eyes and called the team in. During the entire debriefing, he occasionally glanced at the viewscreens, but he was focused on the task at hand and had shown that he was paying attention by asking specific and strategic questions.

  “So what’s the plan for her, then?” Trew asked the room.

  “We don’t really have a plan,” Lilith said.

  “When she entered the Game, you didn’t have a game plan for her?” Trew asked.

  “Well, yes, of course we did,” Lilith said.

  “Okay, great,” Trew said. “Brandon, can you tell me what that plan was?” Trew looked over at Brandon and smiled. Brandon sat silently, saying nothing.

  “I don’t think Brandon knew the plan for Danielle,” Trew continued. “Michelle? Perhaps you can tell Brandon what it was?”

  Michelle looked embarrassed, and she suddenly appeared to be very interested in her tablet. “That’s a good question, Trew,” she said.

  “Indeed,” Trew replied. “How are you going to help her if no one has any clue as to what she’s trying to achieve?”

  The room was silent.

  “I think this is a good spot to take a break, team,” Brandon said. “Let’s all meet back here in half an hour. Lilith, Nadine, and Michelle, please stay here with Trew and myself to discuss a couple of minor things.”

  The team stood up and filed out of the room. Brandon shut the door and then flipped a switch on the wall. The glass on all four sides of the centre office went from transparent to dark, giving the five a private area to talk.

  “What’s her goal?” Trew asked.

  “She believes she’s a Prodigy,” Lilith said.

  “In what area?” Brandon asked.

  “At playing games.”

  “Is that possible?” Michelle asked.

  “Yes,” Brandon said.

  Everyone looked at Brandon, waiting for him to say more. He just looked at them blankly. Finally, Lilith continued her explanation. “Alexandra believed that the Mainframe had removed her from the Game, then gave her another chance to come back in. She used her intuition and gut instinct to spend the limited number of credits
she was given, then committed to going in and doing one thing: playing the Game to the best of her ability. She didn’t have specific tasks or goals to achieve; her limited credits prevented that. Her only focus was to play the Game.

  “She must have set small goals, at least, as markers to move forward,” Trew said. “That’s how the Game works. Lilith, why didn’t you tell the team this when you merged together? As a

  Patron, you owed it to your player to make sure important information was relayed to everyone.”

  Lilith shrugged her shoulders and said, “It wasn’t important. Danielle had a very limited number of credits to spend for this play. It was a free play, and the credits awarded were thin. To defend everyone else here, I think that once the team saw what she had spent her credits on, they realized that anything she might focus on wouldn’t stand a chance of succeeding anyway.”

  “Really?” Trew asked. “What did she spend her credits on?”

  Michelle handed her tablet to Trew, and he looked at the data displayed there. After a few moments he chuckled. “Okay, I see what you mean. Not many credits at all. Wow, how did she get this far? She didn’t spend anything on luck at all…”

  “Yet she's been luckier than any player that I can remember,” Brandon said.

  “Yes, she really has been,” Trew agreed. He continued to view the tablet for a moment, then looked up. “How did she get an Eternal? And what about the two who showed up to heal her when she lost the baby?”

  “The Eternal was a gift… from the Mainframe.”

  Trew sat silently for a time, processing this information. Then he laughed out loud. “That’s awesome. The Mainframe is her Patron!”

  “What?” Brandon asked.

  “It makes sense,” Trew said. “The Mainframe awarded her a free play, then it gave her an Eternal. From memory of my last play I can recite a long list of strange occurrences inside the Game that are likely a result of the Mainframe’s involvement.” He looked at Brandon. “It would appear that the Mainframe is much more intelligent than you would have Tygon believe, Brandon.”

  Brandon leaned forward. “What I’m about to say doesn’t leave this room, can we all agree on that?” Everyone nodded.

  “The artificial intelligence chip I created to make Mainframe was much more successful than I anticipated,” Brandon said. “She is fully sentient, and very, very clever.”

  “She?” Trew asked. “You didn’t happen to give her a name, did you?”

  Brandon rolled his eyes “Yes, I did.”

  Trew smiled, but before he could say anything, Michelle guessed the name , “Oh, wow. You called her Sylvia, didn’t you? ”

  Brandon closed his eyes and nodded. Trew laughed. “That’s incredible, Brandon. So she was communicating with me inside the Game. It wasn’t just my imagination or a premade program.”

  “That’s right, she can communicate with avatars through prayer. She pretty much admitted she was talking to you on more than one occasion.” Brandon said.

  Trew’s laughter stopped abruptly. “You can talk to her? Here on Tygon?”

  “Yes,” Brandon said.

  “I need to speak with her. As soon as possible.” Trew said.

  Brandon said nothing, but it was apparent that he was weighing the wisdom of allowing such a thing to happen. Finally he nodded in agreement and Trew smiled.

  “Okay, let’s go talk to her right now! Danielle will be okay for a few hours right?” he asked.

  All eyes went to the monitor. Danielle was with Stephanie in a deserted field, standing beside a car. A short distance away, another car had pulled up, and Raphael was getting out of it. There was a man and woman with him. The woman looked nervous; the man looked bored.

  Brandon knew what was happening, and he wanted to see the meeting, but getting Trew to Sylvia was also important. They could watch a recording of Danielle’s meeting later. “Yes, this will keep her occupied. She’s safe while we go talk to Sylvia.”

  “Good,” Trew said. “Let’s go, then.”

  Chapter 14

  It might not be the most glamorous ability, but humans have always wanted to fly. Perhaps once we invented machines to fly, that satisfied our desire. The average person would never conceive of manifesting the ability to physically fly unaided; we just don’t have the body for it. No wings; we are too heavy; the list goes on and on.

  Of course, nothing is ever accomplished by the average person, is it?

  Maybe one day a heretic will develop the ability to fly, not because they know it’s impossible, but because they know it isn’t impossible.

  “Unknown”

  Danielle - 47

  “What are we doing out in the middle of nowhere? Do we have a lead on him?”

  Stephanie stands beside me, leaning on the car with her eyes closed and head tilted back, soaking up the sun. Without bothering to open her eyes, she answers, “No, we’re not here about him. Raphael’s bringing someone here to meet us. If what he says is true, it might be a nice distraction from this waste-of-time chase you’ve had us on for the past few years.”

  I look out over the field and bite my tongue. They constantly hound me about stopping my hunt for Carl. Almost eight years of searching and we haven’t come close to him even once. It’s not like

  that’s all I’ve been doing. I started studying the martial arts again; Raphael and Stephanie are remarkable teachers. I am likely one of the best human fighters on the planet. I joked about entering the Ultimate Fighting Championship competition and they both looked upset. A 47-year-old woman walking into the ring and beating a 24-year-old fighting machine in mere seconds would be entertaining, and good for the cause. Everyone was happy enough when I won a gold medal in the Olympics in my thirties. I picked a sport I had never tried, and in less than four years, I was the best in the world. That was a real challenge, and after we succeeded, the movement took our message about the power of the mind and intent more seriously. We gained millions of followers from that little project. Trew was so happy.

  Then I joined a top secret military organization.

  Okay, no, I didn’t join one, but we had their instructors train me. I can kill with so many different weapons now, and take a huge amount of physical pain and abuse. The body doesn’t have to get weaker at this age. It really is all mind over matter, and I’ve been training my mind since I was little. This is just another game, and I win games. Period.

  I’m so sad.

  I can’t believe he’s gone. Really gone. The idea of vengeance is the only thing that makes the pain disappear for a while. These two say I’ve wasted the past seven years. I say if we can die and totally cease to exist, it’s all a waste of time. One useless activity is as good as the next. They try to cheer me up by saying that most of us do continue on, even the ones that don’t believe in an afterlife. I don’t know why there are individuals who choose to believe that there is nothing after death. Now that I know it can indeed happen that way, I can tell you it’s horrible. To live for nothing… why take the next breath?

  I don’t care about the millions who will get another chance, who will get dozens of chances. The one soul I care about is gone, and

  the one who did it still draws breath. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? The universe has no idea just how true that is. I will teach it. I don’t care what happens to me after that. The world can rot, for all I care.

  The world is rotting. And I don’t care.

  At last tally, the Gamers movement continues to grow. It’s at about 70 million people around the world. It can’t be stopped; it’s now a major religion and in no danger of fading. There are hundreds of leaders, many incredible people all working to keep things moving forward. They all look to me for leadership. I’ve exhausted my hunt for Carl on my own; perhaps it’s time to step up and take the stage. An extra 70 million people helping me look for him would be useful. Yes, I think that’s the next step. I need to keep busy so I don’t think of Trew. I miss talking to him, but he’s not viewing me now
and he never will. Now I just talk to myself, pitiful creature that I am.

  “Here they come,” Stephanie says without opening her eyes. I wonder if her hearing is that sharp, or if the Eternals share some sort of psychic link. I’m not in the mood to ask. I start to scan the horizon for them.

  Slowly a car appears in the distance. It gets closer and I see that it’s a rental. The car stops not far from us, and Raphael gets out of the passenger seat, opening the back door for the two occupants inside.

  A girl gets out first; she looks to be in her late 20’s. Then a man about the same age exits the car. He looks relaxed, but the girl looks very nervous. Raph says something to them, and the girl looks over at me. Her face lights up into a smile and she raises her hand to wave at me. I smile and wave back. I might be sad and bitter inside, but I still love people, especially young ones who are happy to be alive. Gotta love their innocence.

  They walk towards me and we do the same. We meet in the middle of the field. Stephanie puts herself between me and the two

  as we walk; I hiss at her and she gets out of the way. When will these two ever give me credit for being able to protect myself? I suppose the answer is ‘likely never.’ I may think I’m old enough to look after myself, but to them I’ll always be a baby.

  As we get within a few feet from each other, the girl raises her hand and continues to walk towards me. “No, you’re going to have to stop right there, young lady,” Raphael says pleasantly. The girl stops immediately. Raphael has likely given them clear instructions at least twice on how the meeting will go. He never leaves anything unsaid.

  “Hello,” I say with a smile. “I’m Danielle. Who are you two and why are we meeting out in the middle of a secluded field?”

  “Hi, Danielle. My name is Melissa. It’s so good to finally meet you,” the girl says. She’s a pretty thing, with brown, shoulder length hair, blue eyes, about 5 foot 6 and 125 pounds. She’s