“Yah,” I murmured. I could understand that. Hawk had always been one of my heroes. If anyone had tried to tell me something bad about him, I wouldn’t have listened.
Hawk sighed. “Myths seem to develop a life of their own. Anyway, I gave up entertaining adoring girl fans after meeting Susanna. I decided I was better off being alone and myself than constantly acting a part, and moved back to live on Celestius again. When I visited other worlds, I still played my role of Hawk the Unvanquished, but I trained myself to be distantly polite to admirers. I focused on the hunting and trying to beat every impossible challenge in Game. It’s been fun on the whole. I’ve spent four hundred years as an immortal, legendary hero.”
He paused. “It’s odd to think back on everything that’s happened. My parents kept telling me to get out more, and they were killed in that stupid accident.” He pulled a sad, wry face. “Maybe if they’d got out less, they’d have entered Game with the First Wave, and still be alive right now.”
I kept silent because I’d no idea what to say.
“Some of the female Founder Players changed partner over the years, but they’d met the real Michael so they never looked at me. I never considered trying to have another relationship with a girl until I recruited you and Nathan to help me.”
Hawk smiled. “Once you’d got over the initial shock of meeting me, we started having proper conversations. I risked telling you about my childhood, the problems I’d had with bullies, and how I’d started hiding in my bedroom and playing computer games. You didn’t laugh at me. You talked about the time you’d spent living in dormitories, and how wonderful it was to finally have your own room and feel safe. I felt you understood exactly how I’d felt as a boy, and why I acted the way I did. I started wondering if I’d finally met a girl who could accept me for who I really was.”
Hawk took a deep breath. “When I decided to defrost for a few days to chase the bomber, I realized I had the chance to meet you as Michael. I knew I’d probably just get rejected again, but I also knew I’d never get another chance like this. If I met a girl in Game, and suggested we both defrost so they could meet Michael, they’d know who he was and be studying him, judging him, comparing him unfavourably to the Game Hawk.”
He leaned forward to study me intently. “You were different, Jex, already in real life so I could meet you as a random stranger. I wasn’t expecting you to work out who I was. I certainly wasn’t expecting you to accept Michael but reject Hawk. There has to be a way to get past that and convince you it’s worth us getting to know each other better. There is no four century gap. There is no Hawk. There’s just an insecure, eighteen-year-old boy that’s been frozen in time.”
I shook my head in bewilderment. “You seemed very competent fighting Tomath.”
“I find fighting easier than socializing,” said Hawk. “You saw Michael’s inept attempt at flirting with you. There are other things that I struggle with too. When you’ve seen more of me, you’ll understand what I mean.”
“Even if I ignore the legendary Hawk and the four century age gap, you’re still a Founder Player and I’m nobody. You live on Celestius and I can’t even go there.”
“Once you enter Game, I’d be happy to visit Ganymede or any other world you choose,” said Hawk. “If things worked out between us, I could move there permanently. Several of the other male Founder Players live outside Celestius with their partners.”
“I’ve heard all about those relationships,” I said. “The Game gossip reporters study them relentlessly, looking for signs the Founder Player is getting bored.”
“Some of the relationships have worked extremely well for a very long time,” said Hawk.
“But the vast majority don’t,” I said flatly. “The pressure gets too much and things end in a messy break up. The man either goes back to Celestius after that or gets a new partner. In the case of Merlin, four new partners.”
“Merlin’s trying to show the whole of Game he doesn’t care about breaking up with Stella,” said Hawk. “He’s doing his best to make it look as if he dumped her, when she was the one who dumped him and he’s devastated about it. Anyway, this isn’t about Merlin and Stella, it’s about us. I’ve always wanted a proper relationship with someone who knows and understands the real me. I think you could be that person, and we can take things as quickly or slowly as you like.”
He paused. “At least think about it. Tell me what you see as the problems, and we can work out how to avoid them.”
I sighed. “There is only one problem, and there’s no way to avoid it. I’m not getting involved in a relationship with anyone unless I’m an equal partner. Even if people in Game are unchanging, frozen in time, I ...”
I broke off my sentence. “Moment.” I buried my face in my hands for a full minute, desperately chasing a train of thought, and then looked up at Hawk again.
“I remember saying exactly the same thing – that I didn’t want to be in a relationship unless I was an equal partner – to Nathan. He’d warned me not to get involved with you because ...”
“He warned you not to get involved with me!” Hawk almost yelled the words. “When Nathan gets into Game, I’m going to kill him!”
“You can’t kill Nathan for three reasons. Firstly, it’s wrong to kill people. Secondly, you’ll get into trouble. Thirdly, if you’re right about Nathan becoming a Game Tech not a player, you’ll never have the chance to attack him.”
“Point.” Hawk frowned in frustration then brightened up again. “When we’ve finished this job, I can go over to the United Law facility and beat Nathan up in real life.”
“Oh yah,” I said, with heavy sarcasm. “The middle of a United Law facility is the ideal place to try beating someone up.”
Hawk’s frown returned.
“I’m beginning to see what you mean about Michael having a few problems with social interactions,” I said. “The only reason Nathan warned me not to get involved with you, was because he thought you wouldn’t be interested in me. Nathan has a protective and caring nature, and was worried I’d get hurt.”
“Oh.” Hawk seemed to calm down a little, but still had a petulant look on his face. “Maybe I won’t actually hit Nathan then, just tell him to mind his own business.”
“I’ve already told Nathan to mind his own business. There are times when his caring nature crosses the line into nosiness.” I hurried on with my explanation. “My point is that all candidates applying to be Game Techs go through a screening programme. The Game Techs keep the details of that screening secret, but Nathan told us that he scored very highly on the technical aptitude test, and the personality assessment test rated him extremely suitable. Doesn’t it make sense that the screening programme is carefully choosing quiet, protective, caring people like Nathan to be Game Techs? People who’ll be benevolent, self-effacing guardians of the Game and its players?”
Hawk nodded. “It does, but if that’s the case then our rogue Game Tech must have changed drastically over the years to turn into a destructive bomber.”
“You’ve just been telling me that people’s fundamental personalities can’t change when they’re within Game.”
“Yes, our bomber must have spent a very long time outside Game to have changed that much. We should get Nathan to check for Game Techs who’ve spent many years outside Game. Leaving Game must be very unusual behaviour for them, so we might be able to narrow our list of suspects down to ...”
“Or there’s the other answer,” I cut in. “The bomber’s personality hasn’t changed at all. He never had a caring and protective nature, because he was recruited as a Game Tech before the screening programme started. You described the early days in Game, how different the test world and the players were back then. What about the Game Techs?”
Hawk stared at me, his eyes wide with shock. “You’re right. The original Game Techs weren’t chosen for anything other than their technical ability with computers.”
He scrabbled in his pocket for his phone, and urg
ently tapped at it. I heard Nathan’s voice speaking. He sounded confused.
“I think you’ve called the wrong person.”
“No, I haven’t,” said Hawk. “I thought you’d been told about me defrosting.”
“You’re Hawk?” Nathan’s voice rose in surprise. “Yah, I’ve just been told about that, but I was expecting you to look a bit more ... a bit better dressed.”
Hawk sighed. “Let’s skip past the whole disappointing Michael discussion. Can you vouch for me, Jex?”
Hawk propped his phone on the windowsill where we could both see it, and I waved at the tiny image of Nathan. “He really is Hawk.”
“Sorry,” said Nathan. “It was silly of me to expect ...”
Hawk didn’t let him finish the sentence. “Nathan, do you have access to any information on the early history of Game?”
“The Game Techs seem to have given me access to all their technical information and the whole history of Game,” said Nathan. “It’s incredible. Frightening too, because it shows just how worried they are about this situation. They’re trusting us because they can’t trust each other.”
“I need you to check some historical details,” said Hawk. “During the ten year trial period, only the players lived inside Game. Once the trial period finished, and Game opened to the public, all the Game Techs entered Game as well. That was the point where the Game Company brought in all the regulations about Game Techs staying discreetly in the background. When did they add the psychological test to the Game Tech recruitment process?”
“Moment.” There was a pause before Nathan started speaking again. “Both things happened at the same time. When the Game opened to the public, the Game Company needed a lot more Game Techs to deal with the rush of players. The new Game Techs were selected for a combination of technical ability and psychological suitability for the work.”
“Has the nature of the psychological test changed much over the centuries?” asked Hawk.
“There’ve been a lot of minor adjustments, but the test is still aimed at recruiting the same type of personality.” Nathan hesitated. “You don’t look very happy to hear that. Is it bad news?”
“It’s very bad news,” said Hawk, in a grim voice. “It means that our bomber isn’t just a senior Game Tech, but one of the original designers of the Game!”
Chapter Fourteen
“We can’t tell anyone that we suspect the bomber is one of the original Game designers,” said Hawk. “The bomber must have an immensely powerful position among the Game Techs. He or she will definitely be able to access the reports from the Game investigation, and possibly even those of the Unilaw investigation as well.”
Nathan nodded, his face showing he was still suffering from shock.
“We don’t know how the Game Techs would react to an accusation against one of their original Game designers either,” I said. “They might hero worship them in the same way that all the players hero worship the Founder Players, and refuse to believe that one of them could be involved in the bombing.”
“That’s true,” said Hawk. “The Game Techs might be less willing to help us if we start making accusations against their heroes. Nathan, do you have any information on the original Game designers?”
“All the details about them will be held on the Game personnel system,” said Nathan. “I don’t have access to that. I could request it, but ...”
“You’d better not risk it,” said Hawk. “We have to assume the bomber is monitoring all your requests to the Game investigation.”
“I do remember one mention of the original Game designers though,” said Nathan. “I skimmed through a whole mass of information about Avalon, including a bit about the design history. Avalon was the first Game world that the new wave of Game Techs created without any help from the original Game designers.”
“And that must be why Avalon was attacked,” said Hawk. “The bomber resented new people creating Game worlds enough to still hold a grudge against Avalon centuries later.”
He paused. “Do you have any idea how many original Game designers there were, Nathan? Since they were outside Game during the trial period, we just heard disembodied voices talking to us. I don’t remember more than a dozen of them, but there would have been a lot more working on the purely technical side of Game. Possibly as many as a couple of hundred.”
“There must be a mention of the team sizes in the Game history.” It was a minute before Nathan spoke again. “I’m afraid you’re underestimating the numbers. There were just over twelve hundred Game Techs back then. They had to create the basic Game before the ten year trial even began, then they were busy working on enhancements and designing new worlds ready for the Game to open to the public.”
Hawk groaned. “We can’t ask the Game Techs to lock up twelve hundred original Game designers. Jex and I have to go now, Nathan.”
“Be careful,” said Nathan anxiously.
Hawk ended the call and put his phone back in his pocket. I was sitting in silence, thinking through exactly how dangerous one of the original designers of the Game could be, when Hawk started talking again.
“Jex, I told you what the Founder Players were really like behind all the myths, but there was a detail I didn’t mention. Game Techs keep it hushed up, and the family never talk about it to outsiders. We’ve been together a long time, we don’t always like each other, but there’s loyalty involved. Anyway, it turns out to be very relevant, so I need to tell you.”
He hesitated. “This is surprisingly difficult to say. A couple of Founder Players had even bigger issues than me when they entered Game. Within the first few months, it was clear they were a danger to others.”
“They were bullies?”
“This went well beyond bullying. Marcus can be charming sometimes, but has no empathy and isn’t limited by feelings of guilt. He seems to regard other people as toys for his amusement. Chiron is less of a problem. He’s aware that he’s not in control of his own actions, and that confuses and distresses him, so he’s eager to be prevented from accidentally harming anyone.”
Hawk grimaced. “Once the situation became clear, the family took appropriate measures to keep ourselves safe. We had the situation under control during the ten year trial, but then the Game opened to the public and a whole mob of new players arrived. That didn’t cause any difficulties with Chiron, because he’d voluntarily agreed years earlier that he wouldn’t leave his castle let alone Celestius. Marcus moved to live on Camelot though, and the First Wave’s adoration of Founder Players gave him new opportunities.”
I frowned. “Opportunities to do what?”
“Killing people in Game wasn’t as bad as it would be in the real world – Game deaths are painful but not permanent, and weirdly enough a couple of the girls seemed quite flattered – but it obviously had to be stopped. So it’s kept very quiet, but we have two Founder Players who spend most of their time under house arrest in their castles on Celestius.”
I remembered something. “Back when we thought the bomber was a maintenance worker, and were discussing possible motives for crashing Avalon, you said that the bomber might enjoy killing random people. You talked about people you’d met in the Battle Arena, and said a sentence in a very strange voice. ‘Killing someone in real life, knowing they’d died a permanent death, would be far more satisfying.’ Were you actually quoting one of those two Founder Players?”
“Yes,” said Hawk. “I’d met a few people in the Battle Arena who said similar things, but I was on Celestius when I heard those particular words. It was Marcus who said them, and his tone of voice when he said the word ‘satisfying’ stuck in my mind as especially unpleasant.”
He paused. “My theory is the bomber is an original designer of Game with similar tendencies to Marcus. We’ll need to attract his interest and keep him talking long enough for Unilaw to track his identity. The best way to do that is ...”
Hawk let his words trail off because the pod had started slowing down. I hastily b
roke in to complete what he was saying.
“The best way is to act the part of someone like the bomber. You’ll have to do that, because I’d have no idea what to say.”
“Yes, I’ll act the part of Marcus. You play my obedient, terrified girlfriend. I just hope the core Unilaw investigation team have followed my instructions about keeping the fact I’ve defrosted from Game totally secret, not even mentioning it in their own internal reports. If the bomber has found out that I’ve defrosted, then Tomath being blackmailed will seem a very suspicious coincidence.”
I moistened my lips. “You mean that we could be walking straight into a trap?”
Hawk nodded grimly.
The pod had stopped now and the door was opening. Hawk tapped at his phone, slid it back into his pocket, and we both stood up and stepped outside. The bomber could be watching us now, listening to every word we said. I couldn’t help looking around the platform for spy eyes, though there was no chance of me seeing the microscopic things.
“We have to go through these doors and take the first corridor on the left,” said Hawk.
He strode off rapidly, with me chasing after him. We made the left turn, and I saw heavy double doors with a sign saying “Male Dormitory 87166”. The doors were newly painted in the standard yellow used by all dormitories, and awoke grim memories of my childhood. Every time I came back from school, I’d been scared of what would be waiting for me inside my dormitory.
I was scared of what would be waiting for us inside this dormitory too. We could be about to meet the bomber or at least his controlled droid. As I followed Hawk up to the doors I felt a tense, sick feeling of apprehension. When I entered Game, I’d probably be stuck with an unshakeable phobia of yellow double doors.
Reaper Page 17
