The Forever Gate Ultimate Edition

by Isaac Hooke

  "Can we change the flags on his avatar?" Hoodwink said. "And remove those invincibilities?"

  "We've tried," Stanson said. "We haven't been able to isolate his avatar in the system. The data is encrypted across multiple drives. It's like trying to find a needle in a million haystacks."

  "Remind me to schedule a rewrite for the search function sometime," Hoodwink said. "We need to make it easier to look-up avatars."

  "We're still recovering from the aftermath of the virus Jeremy put into the system," Stanson said. "We lost much of the source code, and we've had to construct several pieces from scratch. Kade was responsible for most of it, as you may or may not know. I think he purposely wrecked the avatar search function."

  "You're all missing the obvious here," Tanner said. "And that is: Amoch is probably Kade's avatar. We unplug Kade, we unplug Amoch. And if we can capture Kade and his little group, I have no doubt we can get them to revert all the hacks they've implemented. Sit him down with me to watch him work, and give me that blaster of yours, Hood, and I'll get the system fixed. Right quick, as you would say."

  Hoodwink smiled.

  One of the operators in Jacob's group spoke up. His name was Bronson.

  "What about one of the Dwarfs?" Bronson said. "The representations of the sub-AIs in the system? Because they can veto the instructions of the main AI, they could ignore any code changes that are masking Kade's location. They might be able to help pinpoint the position of him and the others on the ship."

  Tanner nodded. "That's a good idea. They might be able to help us in other ways, too. Such as tracking down some of those code changes that have given Amoch all of his powers."

  "All right," Hoodwink said. "Some good, solid ideas there. But now I want to talk about the second problem that's ailing us." On cue, the compartment rumbled from an attack. "The Satori mothership in orbit."

  38

  "We have to eliminate that mothership," Hoodwink continued. "And soon. She's more powerful than the previous ship we had to deal with. Our human vessel won't be able to withstand her for more than a few days, at most."

  "But what else can we do other than let the automated defenses wear them down?" Tanner said.

  Hoodwink turned toward Stanson. "The Hercules class of colony ships come with shuttles, don't they?"

  Stanson nodded. "They do. And in fact we've been sending our shuttles out on exploratory runs already, to survey the moon for mineral deposits, and to retrieve chunks of ice from the surface to melt into fresh water. There are ten shuttles aboard, but only five of them are still operational."

  "Is there enough propellant to achieve escape velocity?"

  "If we dig into the storage tanks, yes," Stanson said.

  "And the stuff is still volatile after all these years?"

  "Should be," Stanson said. "According to the archives, the standard protocol is to fill the tanks with preservation agents before long-term storage. We used one of those tanks to fuel the existing shuttles, after all, and that worked."

  Hoodwink nodded. "All right. Have an engineering team get each of the working shuttles fueled, and then instruct them to run full diagnostics."

  "Wait, you're not planning on using these shuttles to assault that massive Satori mothership are you?" Jacob said, the incredulity obvious in his voice.

  "Perhaps I am," Hoodwink said. "Tell me, Stanson, what kind of weapons are aboard each shuttle?"

  "Nothing that could harm the Satori ship," Stanson said. "A couple of X2 lasers, nothing more. Not even any missiles."

  Hoodwink tapped his chin. "We'll need a bomb."

  Jacob threw up his arms. "A bomb. Is that the best you can come up with? And where are we going to get one?"

  Stanson pursed his lips. "This colony ship was equipped with nukes as part of its offensive weaponry. I think there are still two aboard that were left unfired. The AI probably stopped launching them when it realized the nukes had no effect on the enemy's shielding system. I'll have to confirm the inventory." He reached for the terminal.

  "I already confirmed it," Hoodwink said. "There are indeed two." He had been hoping to find a way to use the material in those warheads to prolong the ship's nuclear power source, which had a current lifespan of about fifty years, but if they needed those warheads for a bomb, well, there was nothing for it.

  "We'll never get close enough to detonate those nukes," Jacob said. "They'll shoot us out of the sky."

  "We will get close," Hoodwink said. "You forget, I still have my alien flyer."

  "What makes you so sure they won't fire anyway?"

  Hoodwink grinned. "Some creative social engineering."

  "All right," Stanson said. "Let's say you do get close. What about the black mist that shields them? You've all watched the archives of the invasion of Earth? Not even nukes could penetrate it."

  "Again," Hoodwink said. "Some creative ingenuity on my part. I plan on bringing the entire shielding system down. Once that's done, they'll fire at the shuttles with all they have. That's where you guys come in. You'll need to take out two key point-defense turrets, which I'll indicate on the data the Hercules sensors have been gathering. We'll never be able to land while those turrets are active."

  "You want the colony ship to use its defensive weapons offensively?" Stanson said.

  "That's exactly what I want. The shuttles might be able to take out the turrets with the X2 lasers, but it's risky, and I'd rather rely on the more powerful weaponry aboard the Hercules. Any objections?" Hoodwink waited. "Good. Stanson, I want you to start prepping both nukes for transfer to the shuttles. We'll use the first to blow a hole into the hull of the mothership. Then a couple of us will land on her and make a trip inside, porting the bomb with us. We'll plant it close to her reactor core. When that detonates, the whole ship goes with it." Hopefully the evac pods would trigger before then, so not too many Satori would die in the blast.

  "That's the craziest plan I ever heard of," Jacob said. "First of all you want to fly past their defenses, including their shield system, which no human weapon has ever penetrated. Then you want to plant a nuclear bomb on their hull, and once that detonates, you want to send a boarding party to wander around inside their ship until they find a good spot to place the second bomb. Likely said boarding party will face resistance the whole time. And once the bomb is situated, they're supposed to get the hell out of there before it detonates."

  Hoodwink grinned stiffly. "Yep. That pretty much sums it up."

  Jacob looked to Tanner and Stanson. "He's a madman."

  "A madman is precisely what we need right about now," Tanner said.

  "What about you, Stanson?" Jacob asked. "You're going to go along with this?"

  "I can't see that we have any other options," Stanson responded.

  "I'm glad that we're all on the same page," Hoodwink said with an ironic grin. "Now, I'll want to bring all five shuttles to give the Satori something else to shoot at other than my flyer and the two shuttles carrying the bombs. For that, I'll need some good pilots. Know where I can find any?"

  "Why not rely on the AIs?" Stanson said.

  Hoodwink frowned. "I don't trust AIs to man the shuttles. Not when Kade or one of his lackeys could have potentially infected them."

  "Good point." Stanson tapped his chin. "I think I know at least one person who might be a good fit. Someone who recently emerged, as luck would have it."

  Hoodwink cocked his head. "Oh?"

  39

  Hoodwink made his way through the crowded relearning center. He had to play the usual cat and mouse game to get inside, as five robots guarded the entrance, and he wasn't keen on destroying them all. Despite their predicament, the people trapped within seemed in relatively high spirits. Most of them probably didn't even know that robots hemmed them inside—the individuals who resided there for the most part ate, drank, and slept in that compartment. Gel tubes distributed rations and water to that portion of the ship, toilets allowed for sewage disposal, and a profusion of mats allowed anyone
to sleep comfortably on the floor.

  Around him those members of the recently awakened exercised on the various machines, or sat together in cleared areas on the floor. They all wore aReal glasses and short-sleeved patient gowns, with roughly two-thirds of the occupants clad in mechanical exoskeletons.

  Hoodwink spotted Caylin but the little girl promptly scowled, crossed her arms, and turned her back on him.

  He saw a woman lying on the deck beside her, tethered to a terminal. It could only be Ari.

  Hoodwink approached. Yes, that was indeed his daughter. She looked rather thin compared to her avatar on the Inside, but she was otherwise none the worse for wear.

  She was wearing a blue patient gown, and a total parenteral drip was connected to her body via the cephalic vein in the crook of her arm. Two tubes led out from underneath the hem of the gown and connected to an excretion collection device. All those support lines reminded Hoodwink of the surrogate bodies he had seen on Earth—lifeless, soulless beings who waited to receive Satori consciousnesses. He shuddered involuntarily.

  She's not a surrogate, she'll never be a surrogate.

  He rested a hand on her shoulder.

  Ah, my Ari, but it is good to see you. I wish you were here with me now. You're breathing the same air as me, lying on the same deck, and yet you're so very far away.

  "You need to feed Commander Ari more," Hoodwink told Caylin. "Would you do that for me, when she wakes up?"

  Caylin glanced at him but quickly looked away.

  "Caylin, are you listening, lass?" Hoodwink pressed.

  "Why should I talk to you?" Caylin said. "You left us."

  Hoodwink sighed. "I didn't leave you on purpose." Actually he did, but just not for the reasons that she thought.

  "You're one of the Enemy," Caylin said stubbornly.

  "And so I am. Mind, that doesn't actually make me an enemy. It's a bit confusing, I know. Half the time I'm confused myself." He waited, but the little girl didn't look at him. "All right, it was good to see you again, Caylin. You take good care of my Ari, you hear?" Hoodwink turned to go.

  Caylin abruptly spun about and wrapped her arms around his legs in a tight hug. "Please don't go, Hoodwink."

  Touched, he rested a hand on her head and wrapped his fingers around her thick locks. "I'll be back, soon. I'm here to see someone named Zak."

  Caylin shook his hand from her head and looked up. "Zak? I've met him. He hates me."

  "I'm sure you're imagining it, you are. No one could hate someone as adorable as you."

  "No he does," Caylin insisted. "He hates all of us." She swept her hand around the compartment. "All of this."

  "It sounds like a reaction we've seen in other Children before," Hoodwink said. "He's blind to what is real."

  "Is that because he's dipped headfirst in shit?" Caylin asked innocently.

  Hoodwink couldn't suppress a small laugh. "I taught you that, didn't I? Don't be repeating the words you hear me speak, little one. They're not for your clean mouth. Anyway, I really must go. You don't know where Ben is, do you? He's the relearning specialist in charge of Zak."

  Caylin shook her head. "One of the other specialists will know. Or Helen."

  "All right," Hoodwink said. "Please keep an eye on my dear Ari for me."

  "I'm going to protect her," Caylin said proudly. "And make sure no one harms her. When the needle people came, I wouldn't let them hook her up to the sugar water until they confirmed their credentials."

  "Well done, Caylin." Hoodwink gently extricated himself from the little girl. "I'll see you soon."

  "Goodbye, Hoodwink," she said sadly.

  Hoodwink glanced one last time at the unconscious Ari and then quickly moved on.

  He hailed one the relearning specialists, who was readily identifiable by the dark blue service utilities he wore, and asked him where to find Ben. The individual pointed toward the far side of the center.

  Hoodwink made his way toward that spot and finally spotted another blue uniform on a young, bearded man seated on the floor beside several unconscious people who were tethered by umbilicals to terminals. The man's eyes were slightly defocused—he was obviously viewing something on his aReal.

  Hoodwink sat cross-legged beside the man. "You're Ben?"

  The man nodded absently. "I am."

  "You count a Zak among your students?"

  Ben looked at him for the first time. "Zak is one of my students, yes."

  "I hear he has the potential to be a pilot," Hoodwink said.

  "Potential, perhaps," Ben said. "But attitude in equal amounts."

  "Is he here?" Hoodwink glanced at the dreamers beside them.

  "That's him," Ben said. "Third from your right. The one with the clenched jaw."

  The indicated individual was young, no more than nineteen or twenty. His features were gaunt—all bony angles—but somewhat handsome, Hoodwink supposed. Ladies would certainly like him once he filled out a bit. Tiny welts and scabs lined his beard area, evidence that he had recently started shaving. His cropped hair was so thin that Hoodwink could see the scalp underneath. And his jaw was indeed clenched, the muscles standing out on the sides of his face.

  "What kind of simulation do you have him in?" Hoodwink asked.

  "It's basically a shuttle landing on a moon during an attack," Ben said. He gestured toward the others. "All of them are participating."

  "A shuttle landing during an attack?" Hoodwink said. "Sounds just like what I'm looking for. Mind tapping me into his feed?"

  Ben didn't answer. Instead, a view authorization request appeared on Hoodwink's aReal. He accepted.

  A video feed appeared in the upper right of his vision. Hoodwink maximized it to take up his entire field of view.

  He was looking out on the world from the eyes of the shuttle pilot. Hands were visible at the periphery of his vision, and they operated the controls.

  Through the main window he saw the pocked, yellowish surface ice of a moon, presumably Ganymede. Long, bright streams of plasma fire rained down from above. More plasma bursts came at the craft from directly ahead.

  The pilot steered through them with exceptional skill.

  Hoodwink heard a voice. "Stay tight, people! Follow my lead. Remember, I'm your shield. If I make a mistake, I go down. But the rest of you will fly on."

  "Until the next person in line goes down," someone quipped.

  The pilot glanced at the overhead map. Four other shuttles were arrayed in a straight line behind his own craft; they were doing a good job of mirroring his movements and staying behind him.

  "Making final approach," the pilot said.

  Up ahead, a flashing target indicated the landing area on the surface of the moon.

  "This is the tricky part," the pilot said.

  The pilot initiated reverse thrust, canceling all forward motion so that the craft was positioned over the target. The craft then began its descent.

  The pilot glanced at the map and continued to dodge the incoming plasma beams.

  Until the display abruptly turned black.

  "Direct impact," a computerized female voice said. "Your shuttle has been destroyed."

  The video feed terminated.

  Zak abruptly sat up.

  "You cheated!" he told Ben.

  The specialist sighed. "No, Zak. You were hit."

  "You increased the intensity of the plasma bolts that were coming in just when I was about to land."

  "I didn't do anything," Ben said. "It only seemed like there were more incoming bolts because you were standing relatively still. You were basically a sitting duck. You should have rocked the shuttle to the left and right more, and back and forth, to make yourself a harder target to hit."

  "I was dodging as best as I could," Zak complained. "If I moved any more, I would have put the other shuttles at risk. They were relying on me to be their shield."

  Hoodwink stepped in. "And what if the cargo you possessed was more important than theirs? What if you were the one in ne
ed of shielding?"

  Zak glanced up at him. "Who are you?"

  Hoodwink looked at Ben. "Make sure none of the others awaken from the simulation. Respawn them as necessary until I'm done with Zak."

  Ben shrugged. "You got it."

  Hoodwink studied Zak. "I'm looking for a few good men to fly a top secret mission with me. I hear you're one of the best."

  Zak narrowed his eyes. "I asked you who you were."

  "Perhaps you've heard of me," Hoodwink said, all confident-like. "I'm Hoodwink Cooper."

  Zak's expression crumpled in confusion. "Hood who?"

  Hoodwink sighed. "Guess not. I'm the one who saved your little behind when you were still being nursed on the Inside by your mother."

  "No one nursed me," Zak said bitterly. "I grew up on the streets. You can go back to wherever you came from, because I'm not interested."

  Hoodwink tapped his chin. "They weren't kidding when they said you had attitude."

  "Why should I treat you with respect?" Zak asked. "None of this is real anyway."

  "Is that what you think?" Hoodwink said. "Perhaps we should test your theory. We can walk to the nearest airlock and open her up. When you're sucked outside, I'll proceed to the viewing area in the mess hall and point out your mummified corpse to the other students. 'Do you see him?' I'll tell them. 'He's the one who thought none of this was real. Well, he got his wish in the end. None of this is real to him. Not anymore.' What do you think of that?"

  Zak shrugged.

  "Don't you get it?" Hoodwink said. "The world is what you make it out to be. All of this is as real as you allow it to be. The Inside is real. The Outside is real. What the eyes see, the ears hear, and the senses feel... the brain interprets these signals and forms the various notions of the world that constitute reality. Light reflects from surfaces to our eyes, which in turn directs that light to our brains in the form of an image, but because of the nature of our irises it appears upside-down. Our brains flip the image, creating the reality that all of us walk through this world right-side up. And that's just the first interpretation. When the image is presented to the subconscious, even more stereotypes and preconceptions are applied. We create our own realities.