The carriage stopped, the doors opened, and I saw this was an indoor transport stop. The blue and grey United Law sign on the wall opposite us was the same as the one at the facility where I’d been questioned, but about twice the size. Hawk gave a barely perceptible sigh as he saw a crowd of controlled droids waiting by the sign. Obviously the Unilaw investigation team included some big Hawk fans.
As I stepped out of the carriage, I got a wider view of the platform, and saw there were four more controlled droids standing apart from the others. They were carrying bulky guns that were clearly designed to have massive firepower. I had a sick moment as I remembered the Unilaw droid that had taken me in for questioning and held me at gun point.
Hawk responded modestly to several compliments, and hurried on to talk about the hunt for the bomber. “Is there any news yet about who fitted the delivery trolley hub?”
One of the controlled droids stepped forward to answer the question. Nathan would probably have been able to work out the rank of the Unilaw official controlling it from the markings on the droid, but I couldn’t.
“The hub was fitted a month ago in response to a standard requisition from Game. We asked the Game investigation team to trace the requisition’s origin, but they report that all records relating to the request have been deleted.”
Nathan groaned. “Of course they’ve been deleted. If the bomber can delete records from an audit trail, then it would be easy to delete the records of a simple administration request.”
“I thought it would be hard for the bomber to get a delivery hub fitted,” said Hawk, “but it probably took less than five minutes for our rogue Game Tech to send a standard requisition and delete a few records. Have you made any progress on finding the delivery trolley that used the hub?”
“The delivery system has no record of any delivery to the Avalon server complex,” said the Unilaw droid, “but the parcels could have been handed directly to a delivery trolley. We’re currently checking the memory information on all delivery trolleys in the area.”
I opened my mouth to ask how big an area they were checking, but closed it again. There was no point in me asking for details. I had a low opinion of Unilaw, and felt they were more likely to find a flying pig than the right delivery trolley.
Hawk didn’t demand any more details either, just nodded and asked to be shown to Nathan’s accommodation. After a brief walk through corridors, where we passed two more sets of armed guards, the three of us were alone again, inspecting an impressive luxury apartment. The living area had lavish, colour co-ordinated furnishings, but one wall was covered in a mosaic of screens, and there was a complex array of controls beneath them.
“This is wonderful.” Nathan hurried up to the wall and began tapping on the controls. Game gobbledygook appeared on one of the other walls, and the contour lines of a hologram monster started forming in midair next to where I was standing.
I was still tense after seeing the armed guards, and reacted by sidestepping rapidly, grabbing a nearby vase to use as a makeshift weapon, and turning defensively to face the monster. The contours filled in with colour and detail, and I saw it was a werewolf, with worryingly realistic blood dribbling from its jaws.
Hawk laughed at me. “Don’t be scared, Jex. Hawk the Unvanquished will slay the beast if it dares to attack you.”
I could feel myself blushing. “I was just admiring the ornaments,” I said, in my most dignified voice, and faked studying the vase before putting it down again.
A worldscape appeared beside Hawk, and he studied the desert land. “That’s Anubis, but I can’t see the pyramids.”
Nathan tapped a button, and a cluster of pyramids appeared.
“I see you’re getting the hang of this well,” said Hawk.
I stuck my head into the bedroom and raised my eyebrows at the sight of the palatial bed. “Glitz!”
“That’s the first totally unfamiliar word I’ve heard either of you use,” said Hawk. “What does it mean?”
“Glitz means that someone or something in the real world is almost as fancy as in Game,” I said. “The word’s been around a long time, but no one would be likely to say it within Game.”
Nathan stopped messing around with worlds, took a look at the bedroom too, and gave one of his appreciative whistles. “Very nice.”
He wandered on into the shower, reappearing after a moment with a puzzled expression. “Why did my shower run a medical scan on me?”
“I’ve no idea,” said Hawk. “Are you feeling ill?”
I burst out laughing, and they both turned to look at me.
“Would you care to explain the joke?” asked Hawk, with a raised eyebrow.
“The only Unilaw staff physically present in the real world will be kids working as cadets, and women taking the option of having babies to reduce their career term by several years. The cadets all have rooms in separate accommodation blocks, so this apartment will be specially designed to care for pregnant women.”
Hawk joined me in laughing, while Nathan gave us a wounded look.
I grinned at him. “It’s a really luxurious apartment, Nathan, so I don’t think you’ve got too much to complain about.”
“Jex and I had better be going,” said Hawk. “Nathan, you should be physically safe here, but the bomber may have found a way to eavesdrop on communications. Remember to set your controls to use a secure, encrypted link whenever you call anyone, especially me. Which reminds me that I asked for ...”
He glanced round, went across to a shelf, picked up a fancy looking phone, and handed it to me. “Jex, if you make any calls to Nathan or anyone else connected with the investigation, remember to use this so your conversation is encrypted.”
I tucked the phone into a pocket, Hawk and I went back to the transport stop, and headed off in our carriage again. I was relieved to have escaped from the Unilaw facility with its lurking armed guards, but feeling subdued after saying goodbye to Nathan. I was alone with Hawk now. A scruffy girl from the body stacks was keeping company with a Game legend.
The situation hadn’t seemed so strange when I was with Nathan. The two of us had managed to chat a bit, and even when we daren’t say anything aloud we could still exchange expressive glances, but now ...
“You’re very quiet, Jex,” said Hawk.
“I’m a bit depressed,” I said. “There’s no way to trace who bought the components used in the bombs. The requisition for the delivery trolley hub came from within Game, and our rogue Game Tech has deleted any clues to who sent it. We don’t seem to have any way to make progress now.”
“We may still learn something when Unilaw find the delivery trolley that carried the bombs,” said Hawk. “The trolley must have a record of who asked for the delivery and how they paid for it.”
“I don’t believe Unilaw will ever find that delivery trolley.”
Hawk gave me a startled look. “Judging from the bitter tone of your voice, you don’t like United Law very much.”
“I don’t like them at all at the moment. Being at that United Law facility, seeing all those armed guards, brought back horrible memories of being dragged out of bed at gun point, locked in a cell, and interrogated.”
“Dragged out of bed at gun point?” Hawk repeated my words in a shocked voice. “There was no need for them to treat you that way.”
“That’s just typical of the way Unilaw officials treat kids.” I tried to put my feelings about Unilaw aside and focus on the facts. “The problem with looking for the delivery trolley is that those things roam round all day, delivering orders and taking back things that the customers didn’t like or turned out to be the wrong size. At some point during the night, each delivery trolley will call in at its local depot for a few minutes, get checked for damage, and dump the day’s delivery information onto the main delivery system.”
I paused. “The Unilaw investigation team didn’t want to tell you the bad news, but the truth is the delivery trolley that delivered the bombs can’t be in a
ctive service any longer. If it was, then its information would have been added to the main delivery system by now.”
“It isn’t in active service any longer,” repeated Hawk. “You mean the bomber has somehow disposed of it?”
“Yah,” I said. “The bomber wouldn’t want that delivery trolley reporting back about a Game droid giving it parcels to deliver to the Avalon server complex. There’d also be the problem of the payment potentially giving clues to the bomber’s identity. It would be easy to destroy the trolley after it had done the delivery. The bomber just had to order the trolley to return to collect more parcels, and the poor thing would dutifully come back to be murdered.”
I realized that Hawk was giving me an odd look. “Sorry, I know perfectly well that delivery trolleys aren’t alive or intelligent, but there’s something about the way the lights flash when they’re processing instructions that makes it look like they’re thinking. I feel sorry for the poor things. Kids are always hijacking them to do things like move furniture, or playing tricks like blocking the depot corridor late at night so there’s a whole herd of confused delivery trolleys stuck outside.”
“I understand what you mean about the delivery trolleys seeming intelligent,” said Hawk. “I thought the same thing when I watched the one delivering crates to our carriage. I’m just surprised that you know so many details about them.”
I blushed. “I found out most of those details the hard way. I once borrowed a delivery trolley and attached a lot of painted cardboard to make it look like a dragon. Unfortunately, it decided to head back to its depot in the middle of the night. I had to go chasing after it and drag it back, the trolley kept trying to break free and crashing into walls, and I woke up half the kids in my accommodation block. They kept teasing me about it for years afterwards.”
Hawk blinked. “I see,” he said, in a confused voice. “Why did ... No, never mind that. Getting back to the bombing, wouldn’t it have been simpler for the bomber to just blow up the trolley along with the server complex?”
“That would have left a lot of pieces of trolley at the bomb site. Those would have serial numbers that showed the home depot of the delivery trolley, and there’d have been a risk of the memory unit surviving the blast as well.”
Hawk nodded. “So Unilaw need to look for the remains of a delivery trolley.”
“Yah, but it’s a pretty hopeless search,” I said. “You can see broken delivery trolleys everywhere you go. If I was the bomber, I wouldn’t have taken a glaringly conspicuous Game droid anywhere near the Avalon server complex. I’d have sent the bombs with a delivery trolley from a hundred miles away, waited for the trolley to come back, smashed it, and dumped the remains in the nearest river.”
“A hundred miles away?” Hawk’s voice rose in disbelief. “How long a distance can these delivery trolleys travel?”
“They can’t go far under their own power without recharging, but they can interact with the transport system and call a pod to travel long distances.”
Hawk frowned in thought. “The bomber has been incredibly careful not to leave clues. I can’t believe they’d risk letting a delivery trolley make a record of them. What if something stopped the delivery trolley from returning to be destroyed? A teenager playing a joke or accidental damage.”
“Someone had to give the parcels to the delivery trolley and arrange payment.”
“Someone had to attach a phone or something to the delivery trolley to transmit the force field code too,” said Hawk.
“Point.” I yawned. “I’d forgotten about that. I’m a bit tired.”
Hawk shook his head. “I’m useless at remembering you need to eat and sleep. How long is it since you slept properly?”
I tried to work it out, but things were a blur. “I’ve lost track of time.”
“I’ll let you get to sleep soon, I promise,” said Hawk. “I just need to finish this conversation first. What if the bomber recruited a teenager to deal with the delivery trolley? The bomber could get the teenager to meet their controlled Game droid a long way from the bomb site, and give them the bombs and a device they could fit to the delivery trolley to transmit the force field code. Wouldn’t that be a safer way of doing things?”
“Yah. That would avoid the danger of the delivery payment giving clues to the bomber’s identity, and nobody would think it odd to see a kid messing about with a delivery trolley, or even dragging a broken one away to be dumped. How would the bomber persuade a kid to help them though?”
“Bribery,” said Hawk. “The bomber could offer to pay their lifetime Game subscription. A Game Tech wouldn’t need to give them actual credits, just flag their account as paid.”
“Point.” I thought about it for a moment before shaking my head. “The kid wouldn’t take the risk.”
“The bomber could make up a story about playing a joke on friends. There haven’t been any bombings in centuries, so a teenager would have no reason to suspect the packages contained bombs.”
“A kid wouldn’t think of bombs, but they’d guess the packages contained something highly illegal. There’d be no reason to ask them to deal with the trolley otherwise, because a prankster could just arrange the delivery themselves. Any respectable kid would stop and think about the risk they’d be taking. Just being brought in for questioning by Unilaw would destroy their chances of getting into a decent Game world, so most of them would turn down the bomber’s offer, and the bomber couldn’t approach dozens of kids in the hope of finding one who’d agree.”
Hawk frowned. “What do you mean? Someone couldn’t get into trouble just for being questioned about a crime. You’re innocent until proven guilty.”
I was tired, I was upset about saying goodbye to Nathan, and seeing those armed droids at the United Law facility had brought back vivid memories of the interrogation that had wrecked my life. The whole lot was piling on top of me, especially the fact that Hawk had been one of those interrogating me, so his naive words hit me on a bitterly sensitive area.
“Maybe that was true four hundred years ago, Hawk, but things don’t work like that today. A kid isn’t in Game yet, and if you aren’t in Game then you don’t really exist. Nobody cares about things like fairness and justice for people who don’t exist.”
“But surely ...”
I drowned him out with my angry torrent of words. “A year ago, I was a medical cadet, one of the best in my class, but then I helped our instructor treat a pregnant woman. The instructor made a mistake with the medication, she was about to give the woman an overdose that could harm her babies, so I had to intervene and stop her. The instructor didn’t want that incident going on record, so she immediately changed my class grades to be failure level, and dropped me from the medical training programme. There was nothing to stop her doing that, no checks on what she did at all, because no one cared about justice for kids who weren’t in Game.”
I paused to grab a breath before ranting on. “A year ago, I had my future destroyed because I saved a patient from getting a dangerous overdose. Exactly the same thing just happened to thousands of kids in the body stacks. None of us had done anything except try to save the lives of defrosted players, but Unilaw pulled us all in and interrogated us about the bombing. The fact we were questioned about the Avalon bombing is permanently on our records now. Do you think there’s a single Game world that will accept any of us as residents when they see that?”
My fury suddenly burned out into depression. “My dreams of life in Game are wrecked. Nathan’s dreams of becoming a Game Tech are wrecked. All the kids Unilaw questioned have had their futures wrecked as well. We’re all Game rejects.”
I finally realized I’d been yelling at a Founder Player. “I’m sorry,” I said hastily. “I know what happened wasn’t your fault, it’s just the way the world is now.”
“Moment.” Hawk snapped the word at me with a harsh note in his voice.
There was silence for several minutes. I’d completely lost my head and mouthed off at a Foun
der Player. I’d destroyed my only chance of ever entering Game, and I’d probably ruined things for Nathan too. I bit my lip. If we were lucky, Hawk would just send us back to the body stacks. If we were unlucky, he’d ...
“You were right about the questioning,” said Hawk at last. “It was mentioned on both your and Nathan’s records, but it isn’t any longer. I’m listed as a sponsor for both of you now, and if you ever have a problem getting entry to any Game world, you can tell the Admission Committee to talk to me about it.”
I stared at him blankly for a second. Hawk hadn’t just sponsored us; he’d got our records cleared! I hadn’t known that was possible.
My head struggled to adjust to my new reality, not quite daring to believe it was true. If it was ... I had a future again. I’d screeched my anger at Hawk, but he’d still given me back my dreams. The Game Jex would live after all, and walk the beaches of Ganymede with the magnificence of Jupiter overhead.
“Thank you.” My voice shook as I said the two hopelessly inadequate words. I remembered myself at fourteen years old, gazing in blind adoration at the images of Hawk on my room wall. I’d thought him the most perfect, the most flawless, the most wonderful hero in Game. I’d been right. No, I’d been wrong, because the real life Hawk was even better than the one I’d imagined.
“I apologize for sitting in on your questioning,” said Hawk. “I thought I might learn something useful from it, and I did, but I’d no idea that simply being questioned could harm the future of anyone. Now I understand why most of the teenagers were hysterical with fear.”
He paused. “I’ve asked the Game Techs to remove Unilaw’s questioning from the other teenagers’ Game records too. It’s hugely unjust for innocent people to be excluded from Game worlds because of the bombing.”
Hawk was using a controlled droid rather than being physically present himself, but he still visibly simmered with anger, while I was having a full blown attack of hero worship. I restrained my urge to do a lot of inappropriate things, including a few that probably weren’t physically possible with a droid, and there was a pause while we both got our emotions under control.
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