The Cheater's Return

by Brian McGoldrick

  Ignoring Raven Goddess, I touch my loot Shackle and a tile menu opens up. There are pictures of more than a hundred items.

  "I can't get any item descriptions."

  "Of the few people I have ever encountered with the ability to open the loot Shackle, no one has ever been able to bring up an item description. A few have managed to get item names, and they all suffered from Thompson's D like yourself."

  No matter what I try, no names appear for anything.

  "I'm not getting any names, but I have a Talent tome in the list."

  I grab the tile with the Talent tome, and both the menu and loot Shackle disappears. With my selection made, I hit Yes in quest reward dialogue and accept my quest reward.

  "These are tokens of appreciation from the village." The village head has the same kind of displeased expression as when he gave Raven Goddess her rewards.

  Ding.

  Save the Village from the Walking Dead .

  +1000 XP

  Talent Tome: Item Ancestry

  A burst of golden strands rise into the sky from the village head, and both Raven Goddess and I grab at them. I manage to absorb one for another 1000 XP, but Raven Goddess looks like she absorbs three of them.

  Item Ancestry ? What is that?

  Item Ancestry

  » This talent allows the possessor to read the powers, history, and origins of an item. The target may be a corpse, but it will not work on a living creature. If the item has a sufficient pattern, the knowledge extracted with Item Ancestry can be used to Soulbind it to the user.

  » The stronger the user's Perception, the more detail and they can obtain from the item.

  » The stronger the user's Willpower, the farther into the past they can read.

  I show the Talent tome to Raven Goddess, and for a moment, her eyes open wide in shock. As she continues to stare at the tome, her eyes narrow, and her shock changes to anger.

  "This should not exist. We must quickly reach Level 10. There is a place we must go to, as soon as possible."

  "What do you mean this should not exist?"

  "The operational rules of the Quantum Control Program do not allow for this Ability to be bound into a tome. The Church may have finally learned how to manipulate the operational parameters of the Quantum Control Program."

  With eyes narrowed in suspicion, I stare at Raven Goddess. "You know the rules that the QCP runs by?"

  "Yes."

  "Are you sure this QCP uses the same rules as the ones in previous versions of Primacy Online ?"

  Raven frowns and stares at me for a long time. There is no telling what she is looking for, but after a few minutes, she sighs. "There is only Quantum Control Program. There is only one Primacy Online . All versions of Primacy Online take place on the same world. This is the last unconquered continent."

  I am not sure how long I gape at Raven Goddess, but I think it is probably more than a minute. "How? Why?"

  "For more than twelve centuries, the Church has been using Primacy Online to test the effects of uploading human consciousness into a quantum network and downloading it into another body. You have surely heard Church representatives say that for as long as the power is on a Constructed Quantum Reality is just as real as the real world.

  "The Church can already take the consciousness of a person and put it into a new body, and they can modify the memories of most people that connect to the Quantum Network."

  Fuck. How much of what Raven Goddess is saying is truth? I have never caught her directly lying to me, but she always leaves something out.

  "If this is true, why do you still play Primacy Online ?"

  Raven Goddess frowns. "The Quantum Control Program is not Earth technology, and there may be a way to take it over from inside the game."

  "Bullshit."

  Raven Goddess shakes her head. "No. I speak the truth. Do you want to take over the game? Do you want the chance to have a new body, one that is not afflicted Thompson's Syndrome?"

  "You're not bullshitting me?"

  "No. I am not."

  I take a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Where do we need to go?"

  Raven Goddess smiles. "I will show you when we both reach Level 10. For now, we just need to Level up, but you should absorb your Talent first."

  I place my palm on the cover of the tome, and black light surrounds me. Absorbing a tome is always a weird feeling in Primacy Online . You get this feeling like thousands of insects are running around in your head, and the knowledge of the Ability, Skill, or Talent suddenly appears in your mind.

  I take a look at my character sheet.

  Crom Cruach

  Half-Giant : Neophyte

  Fighter : Level 3

  HP: 177/177

  MP: 75/75

  Basic Attributes

  » Strength: 58

  » Agility: 16

  » Toughness: 54

  » Reason: 12

  » Perception: 12

  » Willpower: 20

  Hidden Attributes

  » ???

  Derived Attributes

  » Physical Attack Bonus: 11

  » Magic Attack Bonus: 2

  » Physical Damage Bonus: 17

  » Magical Damage Bonus: 2

  Talents:

  » Item Ancestry, ???

  Abilities:

  Identify Monster (Active)

  Skills:

  Basic Melee Weapons; Martial Melee Weapons; Basic Ranged Weapons; Martial Ranged Weapons; Armor Proficiency: Cloth, Light, Medium, Heavy

  System Assist Mode: Off

  Earth: Yukon City

  May 13, 1337 AA

  Archbishop Green stared coldly at the seventeen men seated in the conference room. They covered a spectrum of racial and phenotypes, but they all had one thing in common. The seventeen men were all perma-banned cheaters from Primacy Online V , and now, they were the recruits for the Church's newly found Special Forces unit in Primacy Online VI . Archbishop Green was to be the commander of a company of one hundred cheaters that would form a guild under his rulership. The seventeen men in the room were a portion of those hundred men, the members that were residents of Yukon City.

  The left side of all their heads had been shaved, and they had the scars of recently healed incisions above their left ears. All seventeen men had been the recent recipients of specialized brain implant chips. The chips were far more effective at mental manipulation than the Church's quantum cloud memory reprogramming techniques, and the seventeen men were, now, incapable of even thinking about resistance or being discontented with their lot. At least, that was the case as long as their consciousnesses were not uploaded into the quantum cloud. Once their consciousnesses were uploaded, the brain implant chip could no longer monitor and modify every bit of sensory input and adjust it to fit the parameters installed in the chips.

  The only problem with the Church's mind control chips was that they had no duplicate for them that would work inside Primacy Online .

  "You are the trash of society. You are the scum of the Earth. You are pathetic cheaters. For your own personal gains, you violated the rules the Holy Church's Holy Game that has prevented the horror of war on Earth for more than thirteen centuries. You do not deserve to live, but in His infinite mercy the Holy Patriarch has granted you the chance to atone for your sins."

  One at a time, Archbishop Green met the eyes of the men. "Because you are despicable sinners that cannot be trusted, the lives of your families will be held in trust by the Holy Church to ensure your good behavior. Your families will be placed in cryogenic suspension, and then uploaded into game sheathes. Should you betray the Church's interests in any way, they will pay the price."

  Archbishop Green scanned the room, again. "Right now, you might think yourselves incapable of betraying the Holy Church. You might be devout in your love of the Holy Church, but within the Holy Game, the war could drag on for a millennia or more. In the past, you have been heathen sinners, and there is no telling what any of you treasonous scum
might do in the future.

  "Report to the cryo-capsule facility. You are to be fully uploaded tonight."

  "Yes, Your Eminence." The seventeen men all responded in the same emotionless tone of voice, and they all stood and left the room.

  After the seventeen men left, a priest, who had been standing in the corner of the room during the Archbishop Green's lecture, stepped forward and silently bowed to the archbishop.

  Without so much as a glance at the priest, Archbishop Green continued to stare at the door, through which the Church's impressed recruits had disappeared. "What is your opinion of those five that will be in your platoon, James?"

  "Apostate scum, Your Eminence. They are worse than the gangsters and other criminal scum allowed to run rampant in the city-states. We should have just executed them." James Harris, the priest, was a man with the appearance of a man in his late 40s. In actuality, he had lived for more than seven centuries, but he spent most of if it in cryo-sleep, while serving in one Church of the Sun Holy Reclamation Army or another. He was a fanatical believer in the necessity and Holiness of the Patriarch's mission to dominate and control the future of the human race, for the Glory of God.

  "That is true, but the Holy Patriarch has said that we need them to attain access to the Tower of Balor. The Church being the first to reach the top and controlling the Eye of Balor is an important factor in His plans for the future of the Earth. The Church needs to show its dominance, but we have never had a priest that could come close to breaking through to Rank 7 in the game. Only, scum like these, those that scorn the Holy Church, have ever reached the threshold. You must keep a careful eye on them and understand what is different about them." Archbishop Green sighed and looked at James.

  James still stood with his head bowed. For a priest of the Church of the Resurrection, without permission, it was a sin to raise one's head or meet the eyes of a superior in the Church Hierarchy.

  "Raise your head, James."

  "Thank you, Your Eminence." Raising his head, James still did not look directly at the archbishop and kept his line of sight focused just to the right of the man's face.

  "Your centuries of service have been noted, and you are raised to the rank of Deacon and Deacon-Lieutenant in the world of Toraigh. Your new rank takes effect at midnight."

  "Thank you, Your Eminence." A slight smile appeared on James' stern face. It was the most overt sign of pleasure he would allow himself.

  "Your platoon, including those five, consists entirely of those with abnormal Leveling speed that could not be pinned down basic exploitative tactics. They were capable of advancing at a speed that rivaled that of the Apostate Crom Cruach. Your main duty will be to observe those Apostates and determine how they Level as quickly as they do. Nothing is more important. If we understand why they can advance in Level and Rank so quickly, we can train a force of our own priests to do the same and dispose of all the Apostates."

  "Yes, Your Eminence." The cold malice revealed in James' eyes was a disturbing contrast to his beatific smile.

  Hearing the noise of running feet, Archbishop Green turned his attention back to the door of the room.

  A priest entered the conference room, at a brisk pace, and knelt in front of Archbishop Green. "Your Eminence, I have the latest intelligence report on the Apostate Patrick Armagh."

  "Tell me."

  "He is at the airport, outside the scramjet belonging to the Agent of the great Satan, Morgan Danan, but for unknown reasons, he is only watching it, without approaching it."

  Archbishop Green almost smiled. Could there be tensions between the heretics? It would only make sense if the forces of evil were not in accord and might engage in conflicts with one another.

  "You have done well. Is there anything else?"

  The priest bowed his head. "Thank you, Your Eminence. The Apostate whore Mi-Cha Song is still waiting outside your office."

  Archbishop Green smiled. "Keep her waiting. I wish to see what she does. I will be entering the Holy Game before I deal with her."

  "Yes, Your Eminence."

  Earth: Yukon City

  May 14, 1337 AA

  Mi-Cha Song awoke with a start. Looking at her watch, she saw that the time was just after midnight.

  Sitting in a chair outside the office of Archbishop Green, she had been waiting since noon the preceding day, but she was afraid to go home. Every time she asked, the Archbishop's secretary told her that the Archbishop was in meetings and would call for her when he was free.

  Her sister Chin-Sun should have been exempted from the Yukon City draft, but an officer from the Yukon City Civil Penal Code Enforcement Bureau had arrived mid-morning with a draft notice. After getting nowhere with the Civil Penal Code Enforcement Bureau, she had rushed to St. George's Cathedral to meet with Archbishop Green, but she had been put off for the rest of day. At some point in the evening, despite her worry, she had dozed off in her chair.

  If the archbishop refuses to help, what will I do? Chin-Sun is too young. She never showed any interest in the game. She's not equipped to survive. Mi-Cha looked around nervously. There was no one but herself and the archbishop's secretary, a different one from before she dozed off, in the archbishop's outer office.

  Rising her feet, Mi-Cha approached the secretary's desk. "Excuse me, is there any word on when the archbishop can meet with me?"

  With a blank expression, the secretary, a priest, looked up at Mi-Cha. "I am sorry, miss, but there is still no word. With the launch of the new game, the archbishop is extremely busy, tonight. Would you like to make an appointment and come back at a later date? I can fit you in two weeks from tomorrow, if you would like. Archbishop Green is scheduled to be offline on that day."

  With an emotion near terror filling her eyes, Mi-Cha shook her head, frantically. "No. No. I'll wait."

  Still not revealing any emotion, the secretary put on a fake smile. "Miss, you should understand that the archbishop might have already logged into the game. He is the Vicar-General of one of the Holy Reclamation Armies."

  "I'll wait. I'll wait." Struggling to keep her hands from trembling, Mi-Cha returned to her chair.

  * * * * *

  After more than an hour had passed, Archbishop Green walked through the outer door of his office, and seeing him, Mi-Cha shot to her feet. Keeping her head bowed, Mi-Cha prayed she would be noticed, but she was too afraid of offending the archbishop to approach him or say anything.

  Archbishop-Green walked past Mi-Cha, without so much as glancing in her direction. "Albert, is there anything of import, before I log into the game?"

  "Nothing, Your Eminence."

  "Very well, I will be logging in from my cryogenic capsule. What is the next date I need to be offline?"

  Mi-Cha surreptitiously moved so that the archbishop would either have to move around her or acknowledge her presence to leave the office.

  "May 29th, Your Eminence."

  "Very good. If there is anything important, you can message me in game. The grinding pits are already prepared, and I will hit Level 10 and have a class before noon."

  "Yes, Your Eminence. Enjoy your time on Tathlum." As he thought of his own time playing Primacy Online , the smile on the face of Albert, the secretary, revealed a level of lust and malice that seemed out of place on the face of a man who had supposedly given up worldly concerns for his calling.

  Archbishop Green returned the smile, with one even more disturbing. "Keep your faith, Albert. You will have your chance to rejoin the Crusade of Holy Reclamation. I will be in need of your services in the game in a month or two. There will be many, many heathens in need of conversion and absolution. There will be much of God's work to be done."

  Albert bowed to Archbishop Green. "Thank you, Your Eminence."

  As Archbishop turned to leave the outer office, his eyes fell on Mi-Cha, blocking his path. If she could see it, the disdain and mockery in the archbishop's eyes would have chilled Mi-Cha's heart.

  "Did you need something, Mi-Cha?" The disdai
n in Archbishop Green's eyes was reflected in his voice.

  Without raising her head, Mi-Cha shivered. "Your Eminence, Chin-Sun, my sister, has been drafted."

  "What concern of mine is that?"

  "Please, Your Eminence. Can you have Mi-Cha's draft rescinded?"

  Archbishop Green made a sound somewhere between a snort and a laugh. "Your target has entered the aircraft belonging to Morgan Danan. In the five, years you should have been his watchdog, you have failed to account for nearly a quarter of his time. What possible reason could I have to save your spoiled sister?"

  "Please, Your Eminence!"

  "No."

  "My ban from playing the game, can you lift it?"

  "No."

  "I have no one else to turn to. Please help me save Chin-Sun! She's all I have left." Without thinking, Mi-Cha raised her head to stare pleadingly at Archbishop Green.

  Crack!

  The archbishop's slap sent Mi-Cha sprawling to the ground. "You are impudent. You failed in your mission, and you expect me to help you. Do whatever you want about your sister. You are forbidden from entering the game. I am very upset with an Apostate tool like yourself stepping beyond its bounds. On May 29th, report here for absolution."

  Keeping her head bowed, Mi-Cha struggled to her knees. "Yes, Your Eminence."

  "Get out of my way."

  On her hands and knees, Mi-Cha moved to the side, and Archbishop Green left the office.

  Only seconds after archbishop disappeared, two men in body armor entered the room.

  "Remove this woman from the premises and do not allow her into the administrative section without authorization from this office, again."

  "Yes, sir."

  Grabbing Mi-Cha by the arms, the security guards frogmarched her out of the building.

  Follow the Dolly's Trail

  Dead Islands, Toraigh

  First Month 2, 10 RC

  As I close my character sheet, I meet Raven Goddess' eyes. She is staring at me with such purely nonplussed look that it almost makes me laugh.

  "What?"

  Raven Goddess' eyes narrow slightly. "You are accepting my words without question. Are you not worried I am lying and trying to bait you with false hopes?"