Virtual Prophet (The Game is Life)

by Schott, Terry

  “What is it you need to do here?” Trew asked.

  “We’ll get to that in a few moments,” Brandon said. “First, you two need to fill me in on what’s happening here. How is Tygon?”

  “You know about the Game, right?”

  “Uh, yeah,” Brandon said. “I invented it.”

  Trew looked at the boy, trying to understand why he was joking around. Brandon shook his head and raised a hand in apology. “Sorry ‘bout that,” he said. “I’m new to this body. It’s immature and I’ll need a bit more time for my personality to fully take control. Ignore most of my adolescent outbursts.”

  Trew paused as he recalled what he’d witnessed on the video Thorn had shown him. Rather than being born, Brandon had transferred his consciousness into an existing NPC avatar. He wasn’t sure what happened to the NPCs consciousness, but he had a feeling that was a question for a different conversation.

  “The Game feeds are down,” Trew said.

  “Ahh, yes. The Game feeds are down,” Brandon said. “How’s that working for everyone so far? It’s shaking things up properly, I bet?”

  Cooper chuckled and Trew made a wry face. “Yes,” Trew confirmed, “it’s shaking things up very nicely. I’m guessing that it’s intentional?”

  “It is,” Brandon said. “My old body drops, the feeds go down.”

  “For a preset amount of time?” Trew asked.

  “Kind of.”

  “What do you mean, kind of?”

  “How many Gamers are on Tygon now? Not players of the Game, but members of the Gamer movement from Earth.”

  “Over a hundred million,” Trew said.

  “Closer to four hundred million,” Cooper said.

  “Really?” Trew looked surprised. “Only one hundred million were culled.”

  “I’ve been making inquiries,” Cooper smiled. “Turns out that most of the players who exit their plays are joining the movement.”

  “Good,” Brandon said. “I hope you’ve been encouraging them to help bring the feeds back up?”

  “I was right, then,” Trew nodded. “If enough of us focus our intentions on that outcome, it will happen.”

  “That’s always been the truth of the matter,” Brandon said. “I tried to do it by making the Game a spectator sport, but it wasn’t enough to unite the masses. It took you and Danni to join enough minds to the same focus point.”

  “Did you set the feeds to come back up at a set time?” Cooper asked.

  “No, I couldn’t make it work like that,” Brandon said. “We need to know for certain that it’s the thoughts of millions producing the result.”

  “So the feeds come back up sometime, but we aren’t sure when. What purpose does that serve?”

  “It’s a demonstration, an exercise to show the masses what they can accomplish when they put their collective minds to it. When the feeds come back up, everyone will know that thoughts are real in this world and they have the power to alter reality,” Brandon said.

  “What do we do after that happens?” Trew asked.

  “Oh, no, you don’t,” Brandon smiled, and shook his head. “This part of the game is yours to play, Trew. I’m not here to take your spot; I’ve already been the leader of this world. The job belongs to you now, and you will be better at it than I was.”

  “Why are you here, then?” Trew asked. “Just to answer a few questions and live life anonymously?”

  Brandon laughed out loud. “I might be young, but I’ve lived long enough to have had my fill of vacations and roaming around with no purpose. That’s fun for a while, but it becomes boring.”

  “How old are you?”

  Brandon arched an eyebrow at Trew and gave him a serious look. “Thorn showed you my story; you do the math. I’m older than thirteen, but I don’t intend to grow up into an old man inside this skull.” He tapped his head with one hand and knocked the table with the other to make a hard rapping noise.

  “So what’s your plan, then?” Cooper asked.

  The boy smiled. “I’m gonna spend a few days with you and answer whatever questions I can. I have to be very careful; I don’t want to give Trew, here, any info that might change how he proceeds. When the Game feeds come back up, I’m going in.”

  “Into the Game?” Trew asked.

  “Yes, into the Game,” Brandon laughed. “There are things that need doing in there that only I can do.”

  “You need to talk with your Hand,” Cooper guessed.

  Brandon gave him a sideways look and a quick nod. “Yeah, that’s one thing I need to do.”

  “You made me to be like you, didn’t you?” Trew asked.

  Brandon nodded. “For decades I’ve been running the simulation and putting NPCs through a grinder to churn out one who would be as much like me as possible. I thought it would be difficult, and then I began to think it was impossible.” He looked at Trew with the fondness of a parent. “My whole plan rested on producing you, Trew. I’m glad we still have a shot at fixing all of this.”

  “Of waking your people up? The ones dying in the Dream?”

  “Yes.”

  Trew nodded thoughtfully. “So we have you with us until the feeds come back online.”

  “That’s right,” Brandon said.

  “It could be any time?” Cooper asked.

  “It could.”

  “If you had to guess, how long would you say you’ll be with us before you go back into the Game?” Trew asked.

  “You’re a clever lad. I like that,” Brandon smiled. “I guess there’s no harm in answering that question, since it’s just a guess.”

  Brandon walked got up and walked to the bar, grabbed a fruit juice and returned to the couch.

  “If I had to make a guess, I would say in three days I could be heading into the Game.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  “You’ve been in a bad mood lately.”

  Danni looked up and glared at the old man. The heat was heavy and uncomfortable, like a woolen blanket piled on top of her when she already had a fever. The sun burned through the sky and prickled at her skin, though the years of walking had toughened her to its attacking fierceness. They’d been plodding along the highway silently for most of the day. This had become their routine, and it had lasted for what seemed like an eternity.

  “This is ridiculous,” her tone was both angry and bitter. “I should never have agreed to follow you! I certainly should have stopped by now.”

  The old man turned to face her. His face was pleasant and he seemed genuinely surprised by her outburst. “We’ve had some fun times, Danni. Surely you can admit that.”

  Danni shuffled to the side of the road and sat down on the hood of an abandoned car. She reached down to pat Zeus on the head, remembering as she did that Zeus was no longer with her. She missed that dog; he’d died bravely protecting her that night.

  “We’ve had many adventures,” she conceded. “More than I would like to recall, if you ask me.”

  “Good.” The old man nodded in satisfaction and joined her beside the car. He reached into his backpack and pulled out two energy bars and a bottle of cool, fresh water. She reached for one; she’d long ago stopped wondering how he always seemed to have a supply of energy bars and cold water at hand when he reached for them in that pack of his. “For a moment there I thought you were going to tell me that the only thing you recall about this journey is the moments spent walking down the road towards our destination.”

  Danni drank as much from the bottle of water as she could, and handed the rest back to him. Then she opened her energy bar and took a bite. “It’s my birthday again, I think.”

  The old man shook his head. “No, ma’am, it is not.”

  “It’s soon, then.”

  He chuckled and ate his own energy bar, not bothering to remove the wrapping as he took a big bite from it. “Yes, girl, it is soon. I have a very big present for you this year.”

  Her eyes were flat as she stared at him. “I’m about to turn seventy ye
ars old,” she said.

  “Really?” he looked impressed. “I would guess maybe forty at most. You are a very fit and attractive woman, Danielle Radfield.”

  “I was sixty-three when we started this farce.”

  “Danni,” the old man’s eyes softened with sympathy. “I know you think this has taken too long. I know there have been times when you wanted to give up. Look at all that we’ve accomplished, though. We’ve covered a considerable distance in the past seven years. The lives we have touched, the memories made, and the people saved... you have no idea how important this journey has been to the world, but let me assure you, the feats you’ve accomplished will echo across time and affect more lives than you will ever know.”

  Danni said nothing. She looked at him tiredly. “I’ve decided that I no longer believe a word you say,” she said.

  The old man smiled. “That’s okay,” he assured her. “Perhaps you’ll believe me when I give you your birthday present. I can tell you what it is now, if you’d like? It’s tomorrow, by the way; your birthday.”

  She took another bite from her bar and shrugged indifferently.

  “You look like you could use a pick-me-up, so I’m gonna tell you, even though you don’t seem too interested.”

  Her eyes drifted back to rest on his as she waited expectantly.

  “We’re gonna meet with Shane on your birthday, girl!” he exclaimed. “Tomorrow we finally reach our destination!”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  “Any time now.” Brandon sat in what Trew referred to as ‘Sylvia’s office’ and strummed his fingers in boredom as he watched the static on the main viewer.

  Trew looked up from writing notes. “You’ve been saying that for the past three hours.”

  Brandon grimaced, not bothering to look in Trew’s direction.

  “I’m impatient,” he said. “Sitting in boring offices and watching grownups work hard to accomplish little is not why I came back here.”

  “You’ve shared much information with me,” Trew said, “and I’ve enjoyed spending time with you again.”

  Brandon looked at Trew; he forgot that he was the only father figure Trew had ever had. He smiled and walked over to Trew, nudging him in the shoulder.

  “Want to go outside and play catch for a bit?”

  Trew smiled. “There’s no time. I never did get to do that... in this life.”

  “We made sure you didn’t miss out on the experience, Trew,” Sylvia said. “There were multiple lives where you enjoyed those things in the Game.”

  “That’s true,” Brandon said.

  “She turns seventy today,” Trew said, changing the subject to wonder about Danielle.

  “I wonder if she’s still hot?” Brandon asked. He laughed and shook his head. “Sorry, thirteen-year-old boys sure do have simple thoughts in their heads.”

  Trew smiled. “I can’t wait to see her. I hope you’re right about the feeds coming back up today.”

  “Everything was on track when I saw things last,” Brandon confirmed.

  “What do you mean by that?” Trew asked.

  “Um...”

  “You could see the Game when you were in the Dream? You were able to watch what was happening in there?”

  Brandon walked back to the monitor and looked deeply into it as if searching for detail behind the static. “Yeah, we could see into the Game.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I just did.”

  Trew took a deep breath and sighed. He knew Brandon couldn’t reveal much. There was a master plan, and he could understand the need for keeping secrets. Still, a part of him wanted to learn more from Brandon’s mind before he departed. Trew controlled the impulse to begin interrogating the boy with questions that both knew couldn’t be answered.

  Minutes passed as the two went about their own activities.

  “I met him the other night,” Brandon announced. “In my dreams.”

  “Who?” Trew asked. “The old man?”

  “What old man?” Brandon looked at Trew sharply.

  “Dirty old man with crazy white hair all sticking up,” Trew said. “Dressed in black garbage bags and heavy military boots with no laces. Has the most interesting gloves I’ve ever seen; made from red pop bottle caps somehow laced together.”

  “I’d forgotten about him,” Brandon said.

  “That’s not who you’re talking about?” Trew asked.

  “No,” Brandon waved his hand, “but that’s who I want to talk about now. Did you find out his name?”

  Trew shook his head.

  “What did he say to you?” Brandon asked. “Have you only met him once? How many times have you seen him? Is it always in a dream? Do you remember ever seeing him here on Tygon? Or in the Game?” Brandon held up his hand to stop himself from firing out any more questions. “This is strange — I had totally forgotten about him, yet he is somehow in the simulation.”

  “Sylvia? Have you ever heard of this old man? Have you seen him in the Game?”

  Sylvia didn’t reply.

  “Sylvia?” Trew asked.

  “Yes, Trew?” she said.

  “Did you hear Brandon’s question?”

  “I did.”

  “Why didn’t you answer him?”

  “I’m trying to recall such a person inside the Game from the description you provided. Searching databases now.”

  “That’s odd,” Brandon said. “Your answers are usually immediate.”

  “I’m searching for more than just a grain of sand on the planet, Brandon. I’m searching for what was a grain of sand a hundred thousand years ago and has changed to become hundreds if not thousands of different things since then. That kind of search takes some time.”

  “Okay, I understand,” Brandon smirked. “You have limitations. It was bound to manifest eventually. You’re a thirty-year-old computer, after all... they usually go out of date every couple of years or so.”

  “I’m not even going to entertain your attempt to bait me into a reaction,” she said. “I’m as aware of my age as you are. I also know that you keep me updated with every new piece of technology as it becomes available, which makes me the most up-to-date technology on this planet. Good try, though.”

  “Thanks, old gal,” Brandon smiled.

  “My pleasure, young boy,” she said.

  “Still no luck?” Trew asked.

  “Putting an image up on the main screen now,” she said. “Is this who you’re talking about?”

  Both looked at the screen and nodded their heads.

  “Yep, that’s him,” Trew said.

  “Incredible,” Brandon said. “How did he get into the Game?”

  “No player is inhabiting him, Brandon,” Sylvia said. “Whoa, wait just a minute!”

  “What?” both men asked in unison.

  “Give me a minute,” she became quiet while Trew and Brandon looked at each other curiously.

  “You didn’t put him in there?” Trew asked.

  “I haven’t seen him since I was a kid,” Brandon smiled wryly at the humour in the statement. “I mean, I met him once, before Thorn began the simulations. He was in my own dream.”

  “When you were a child on your home world? The one you call the Dream?”

  “Yes, sorry, it gets confusing. On my home world... when I was dreaming... I saw him in there.”

  “I’ve only seen him in my dreams since I exited the Game,” Trew offered.

  “Let me write this down,” Brandon got a piece of blank paper and pencil.

  “I saw him as a boy in the dreams of my reality. You saw him in your dreams in this reality. Sylvia says he’s been inside the Game.” Brandon looked at the information on the paper and held it up for Trew to examine.

  “Looks like he can move into any reality he chooses,” Trew said. “I don’t see a reference to him walking in your world, or on Tygon, but my guess is that he has.”

  “He’s old,” Sylvia announced. “Now that I know what to loo
k for, I see him making appearances in the Game from the very beginning.”

  Brandon moved to the computer at the main desk. “That’s not possible,” he said. “For the first ten years of the Game there were no Timeless. Only my Hand and some of the Twelve were inside the Game during that time. It’s not possible for him to have been there; we would have noticed it.”

  “He was there,” Sylvia confirmed, “and none of us saw him, not even me.”

  Brandon sat with his brow furrowed together in thought.

  “Who is he?” Trew asked.

  “I don’t know,” Brandon said with a serious look, “but I will be sure to look him up when I get in there.”

  Brandon went back to watching the static feed of the Game while Trew looked to his plans on a tablet.

  A brief time later Trew looked at Brandon. “If it wasn’t the old man you saw in your dreams, then who were you talking about?”

  Brandon nodded his head at the reminder and flashed a grin. “Yeah, that’s right. I met Tygon’s version of Sylvia.”

  “What did he have to say?” Sylvia asked quickly. She was always interested in discussing the mainly quiet spirit of Tygon.

  “Some thoughts, tips, and recommendations for me,” Brandon said. “Nothing I can discuss yet, but I was glad to finally meet him.”

  “You never met him before?” Trew had always assumed Brandon had.

  “What was it like?” Sylvia asked.

  “Like nothing I’ve experienced in any of my lives,” Brandon smiled. “It was incredible.”

  “Perhaps I will meet him someday,” Sylvia said wistfully.

  Trew could tell from Brandon’s body language that he knew more than he was able to say.

  “Perhaps you will, Sylvia,” Brandon said. “With faith and belief... anything is possible.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Danielle heard a hissing to her right. She turned her head to look in the direction of the sound, knowing what she would see.

  The bright white outline of a doorway appeared in the air. The white spread from the outside inwards, until there was a large rectangular doorway of light suspended in middle of the green field.

  Danielle stood straighter as first the old man and then another individual emerged.