The Cheater's Return

by Brian McGoldrick

  "You're Claudius?"

  "Where did you get that?"

  I shrug. "Answer my questions, and I'll answer yours. Since you want to insult me, you can answer all of mine first."

  "I am Deacon Claudius of the Holy Church of the Sun." The undead glares at me, but its pride is obvious in its posture and tone.

  "I thought the Church of the Sun destroyed undead on sight. Wouldn't being one make you a heretic at best?" I deliberately sneer at Claudius.

  Claudius does not respond, and even though it is a partially rotted undead, its pain is still visible in its face.

  "You don't need to answer that one. It was rhetorical. What were you looking for in the Dead Islands?"

  Claudius deliberately clamps its decaying jaws shut and glares sullenly at me.

  At my side, Raven Goddess smiles at Claudius. "There should only be two things that would interest the Church here: The tombs of dead Gods and the rift to another continent."

  As his eyes snap toward Raven Goddess, Claudius' sullen glare changes to shocked consternation.

  Raven Goddess smirks at the undead. "I thought so. Next to me, there is probably no one living that knows more about Tathlum than the Patriarch."

  "Did you release the Tomb Lord?" The smile that Raven Goddess gives to Claudius is anything but friendly.

  Claudius mostly conceals its surprise, but it is still a bit visible. Being an undead has probably significantly weakened its control over its emotions, and the more it decays the more difficult it will be for Claudius.

  Raven Goddess inspects a nearby brazier, and wearing an innocent smile, she puts it beneath Claudius' cage.

  "Did you release the Tomb Lord?"

  After Claudius remains silent for nearly a minute, Raven Goddess sighs theatrically. "If you do not want to answer, we can purify you with fire. If you doubt I would do it, I shall tell you my name. I am Raven Goddess."

  In continued silence, Claudius glares at Raven Goddess with a mix of sullen anger and fear.

  "Unless I am very mistaken, you should be fully capable of experiencing pain, and fire will be the greatest agony you can know. You should know that I am seldom wrong. Did you release the Tomb Lord?"

  With her smile never losing its innocence, Raven Goddess lights the brazier.

  "Yes."

  "Why."

  "It knew where the rift was."

  "Did it tell you?"

  "Yes."

  "Did your men betray you?"

  Without saying anything, Claudius stares at Raven Goddess in shock.

  Raven Goddess laughs merrily. "You do not need to answer that. I can see your response."

  "Did that Tomb Lord go to the rift?"

  "Yes."

  "What did you tell him that prompted that action?"

  Claudius shakes its head. "I don't know."

  "What was the last thing you told him?"

  "He wanted to know about the barrows."

  "The ones in the Sunset Lands?"

  Claudius nods its head.

  Ding!

  I check the updates in my quest journal.

  Find the Tomb Lord (Unique) (Storyline Quest: 2 of ??) (Difficulty: ??)

  » Explore the Tomb Lord's tomb: Complete

  » Interrogate the undead: Complete

  » Destroy the undead.

  » Reward: ??

  » Quest cannot be shared.

  Raven Goddess smiles and adds fuel from the other braziers in the torture chamber to the one beneath Claudius' cage.

  "Crom, would you please lower the cage some."

  "No! I answered your questions! Free me!"

  "I do not like the Church. The Church killed everyone that mattered to me. Most of them were burned alive. You ilk called it purification. You should enjoy being purified."

  "No! Don't! No!"

  Following the cage's chain with my eyes, I find the winch it is attached to and lower it to just a few centimeters above the brazier.

  In less than a minute, the few rags still on Claudius' body burst into flames. "No! Let me out of here! Set me free!"

  Ignoring Claudius, Raven Goddess smiles sadly at me. "You are questioning my sanity."

  I shrug without saying anything. I am not sure what to say. I am not sure what I think.

  "My Earth body has been outside of a cryogenic capsule for less than three decades, but I have spent more than fifteen millennia in my game sheathes. Everyone from Earth that means anything to me is the same. Everyone and everything that I have really cared about in my life have existed on this world. Most of that has been destroyed by the Church of the Sun. The Church of the Sun is no more than a branch and tool of the Church of the Resurrection."

  After a time, Claudius' screams cease.

  Ding!

  With Claudius' death, the quest updates again.

  Find the Tomb Lord (Unique) (Storyline Quest: 2 of ??) (Difficulty: ??)

  » Explore the Tomb Lord's tomb: Complete

  » Interrogate the undead: Complete

  » Destroy the undead: Complete

  » Follow the Tomb Lord through the spatial rift.

  » Reward: ??

  » Quest cannot be shared.

  "We need to acquire a boat." Raven Goddess heads for the stairs.

  "Do you know where the spatial rift is?"

  "Yes. What is on the other side is one of the secrets I intended to show you."

  Interlude: The Patriarch

  Earth: Holy Island

  May 14, 1337 AA

  Before World War III, Holy Island was known as Cuba, but in the tumultuous decades following the near destruction of the Earth, the man known only as the Patriarch came to the island. He and his army fanatical followers crushed all resistance and renamed Cuba to Holy Island. It became the home of the Church of the Resurrection.

  Atop a small mountain on the western side of the island, the Patriarchal Mansion rose like a bastion of white marble above the surrounding greenery. As the dawn sun rose in the east, the gleaming white marble of the Patriarch's Mansion was tinted in shades of pink, orange, and red, by the light.

  There was nothing humble or self-effacing about the home of the sole ruler of the Church of the Resurrection. Those were traits that belonged to the Christian religions of the world that existed before World War III. This building was a testament to the strength and majesty of the man that ruled the Earth in God's Name.

  In his private chapel, on the north side of his mansion, the Patriarch knelt before a cross with a sun disk behind it. On Earth, the Patriarch knelt to God, and the world knelt to the Patriarch. With the alien technology that he had recovered from the wreckage of alien spacecraft at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, he had rebuilt the Earth in a form that would be pleasing to God.

  The Patriarch knew what was pleasing to God. God told him so, or at least, the Patriarch told the Earth that God told him how He wished the Earth to be rebuilt. No one dared to refute the Patriarch's claims to his face, to do so was suicide. The Patriarch had the habit of crucifying anyone that openly disagreed with him.

  The Patriarch himself was a short man. Were he standing, he would not quite be 150cm in height, but his shoulders were nearly as broad as he was tall, and his massively muscled body was over 200kg in weight.

  It was rumored that the Patriarch was one of the mutated children born after World War III, but that was only one rumor. It was also rumored that he was the product of genetic experiments from before the onset of the War, but that was only another rumor. It was also rumored that the Patriarch was a member of an alien race, hence the technology that the Church controlled, but that was only a third rumor. There were at least two dozen rumors, as to the Patriarch's origins, but not a one was confirmed. In the end, the Patriarch was the Patriarch, and he alone was the ruler of the Earth.

  Silently opening the door to the chapel, a priest, in his early middle age, entered. He stood with his hands folded, and his head bowed. He was Father Mathew, the 289th Personal Secretary to the Patriarch.
In the entirety of the Church, he was the only man granted permission to enter the presence of Patriarch, at any time of day or night.

  While waiting for the Patriarch to finish his prayers to God, Father Mathew prayed to the Patriarch. Like every Personal Secretary to the Patriarch before him, Father Mathew was an absolute fanatic in his loyalty to the Patriarch, but like all fanatics, he would sooner rather than later overstep his bounds. In slightly over 1300 years the Patriarch had already put down his 288 predecessors for overstepping their bounds, but Father Mathew had so far lasted almost 21 years in his current position. That was almost a record for a Personal Secretary to the Patriarch.

  After the sun had fully cleared the horizon, the Patriarch rose to his feet and turned around. As he looked at the humble seeming Father Mathew, the Patriarch's eyes narrowed, as they always did while appraising one his Personal Secretaries.

  "It is not like you to disturb my morning prayers, Mathew. Is there something urgent?"

  Falling to his knees, Father Mathew banged his head on the polished marble floor of the chapel several times. "Forgive me, Your Holiness! There is news regarding Primacy Online . Over five million players have entered the game worldwide, but we cannot get any specifics about who has what character sheathe. The quantum control program is only responding to some of our queries, and there is the possibility that someone has tampered with the character creation program."

  The Patriarch frowned, and for just a second, he revealed a flash of anger in the depths of his cold blue eyes. "What do the technomancers have to say about the situation?"

  "Your Holiness, the technomancers believe that the quantum control program is on the verge of achieving true sentience and self-awareness. There is nothing that can be done to slow, let alone halt, the progress of its growth, any longer."

  A resigned look entered the Patriarch's eyes. "Very well. God warned me this would one day happen."

  Raising his head to stare at the Patriarch, Father Mathew's face was the picture of fanaticism, and once again, the Patriarch carefully appraised him.

  "What about the players that have logged in? Is there anything of interest?"

  Father Mathew composed his features. "Your Holiness, eighty-five percent of our forces scheduled for the early start period have logged in, and the remaining forces should have completed the preparations and logged in in the next twenty-four to thirty hours. Worldwide, over three million of the draftees and volunteers logged in within the first hour, and more are constantly logging in."

  Father Mathew paused and a look of disgust filled his face. "The Whore of Mann is still in Yukon City and the Apostate, Patrick Armagh, has joined her. They have both logged into Primacy Online , but we have no information about their characters. The problems with the quantum control program and the probable hacking of the character creation program have made it impossible to obtain that information."

  The Patriarch scoffed. "There is no need. Morgan Danan will take the name Raven Goddess, as she always does."

  Anger and hate transformed Father Mathew's face into a demonic-looking mask. "We can destroy the heretical whore with the Holy Assassins of the Holy Reclamation Crusade. Should I give the order, Your Holiness?"

  Shaking his head, the Patriarch sighed. "I admire your zeal, but do not take the disinformation we spread for truth. If you believe your own lies, you will become worse than useless to me, and I will put you down like the rabid animal you will have become.

  "That woman's real body is virginal, and there has never been any report of her fornicating inside the game. Her focus and willpower would be admirable were she not God's enemy. As it is, we can only wait, until the time is right to put an end to her existence."

  Father Mathew banged his head on the polished marble floor a few more times. "Yes, Your Holiness. I understand. All will be as Your Holiness commands. What about the Apostate, may we destroy him?"

  "No. God has told me to use and destroy that one. He can become the key to the Tower of Balor, but he must not be allowed to live, after the tower is opened. He is already ten times more dangerous than Morgan Danan could ever be. Pass my orders to the commanders of the Holy Crusade. Find a way to place our spies on the Apostate. We must be aware of every move that he makes."

  "Yes, Your Holiness!"

  Barrow Island

  Earth: Yukon City

  May 14, 1337 AA

  When he logged out, Patrick had checked the Earth time. It was 08:07. Looking at the display on the inside lid of his quantum connection capsule, the time read 08:07. It was another seven-minute logout.

  Why seven minutes? Patrick was confused about the extended upload and download times for his consciousness.

  Getting up, Patrick found Morgan Danan in the airplane's main cabin. She was reading the news forums on her pocket assistant and eating a light meal.

  Seeing Patrick, she smiled. "Your sister has agreed to our arrangements, and because she is suspicious, your mother is adamant on following her to the City of Mann. On the pretext of getting her into the trimester classes that just began in the First University of Mann, we have expedited the move. They will be leaving the city on a 22:00 flight today. The airline is owned and operated by a corporation based out of the City of Mann."

  Feeling a sense of relief, Patrick smiled. "That's good. Do you have an electric multimeter and a quantum phase meter on this heap?"

  An amused glint entered Morgan's eyes. "I think this might be the very first time anyone has called the currently operating City of Mann One a 'heap'. Kevin do we have repair equipment for quantum connection capsules?"

  "Yes, My Lady. I'll bring it immediately."

  While Patrick ate, the bodyguard cum servant, went into the lower hold to collect the tools and monitors for working on quantum connection capsules that were onboard the plane.

  "Mr. Armagh?" Kevin returned with two toolboxes and several cases.

  "Thanks. Just put it on the floor in the back cabin."

  While wolfing down the last of his food, Patrick returned to the back cabin and sat on the floor next to the quantum connection capsule. Proceeding to open the inspection panels, he connected the monitors and ran test cycles.

  After finishing his tests, Patrick frowned at the readings on the monitors and started making adjustments.

  "Are those not perfectly adjusted to the optimal factory settings?" Morgan leaned on Patrick's shoulder while reading the monitor equipment.

  "You understand how to tune capsules?"

  Morgan shook her head. "Not really, but that does not mean that I do not know how to read the monitors. Also, I am well aware of what the optimal factory settings are for these capsules."

  "The optimal settings are not optimal." Without elaborating, Patrick continued his work.

  After a few minutes, Morgan frowned. "Insufferable man, what do you mean?"

  "The optimal factory settings do not do a 100% upload of your consciousness. Even on a cryo-capsule, they cap out at about 96%. There are always gaps in your mind, but they are so small that under most circumstances you will never notice. You never have your full Earth memories or skills, but it tends to be spread out across the entirety of your mind. People always attribute slight hesitation or imperfect skills to imperfect synchronization between your body and your sheathe, but that is moronic. You are not connecting from your physical body to your character sheathe through the quantum network. Your mind is already uploaded when you start playing, so how could there be any synchronization between your body and your sheathe? With cryo-capsules your body is in a state of cryo-freeze, so even more than a normal capsule, how could there be synchronization?"

  Narrowing her eyes, Morgan observed what Patrick was adjusting. "That is supposed to be done for safety. In theory, a 100% synchronization could cause feedback damage on disconnection."

  "What's the point of leaving part of your consciousness behind when you're in cryogenic suspension? When you log out, do you feel like your thoughts are muddled and your coordination is
a bit off for maybe a minute or two? After a long sleep, is it a lot worse?"

  Morgan frowned. "Yes."

  "That's because you only do a 90-96%, upload. If you did a 100% upload, you wouldn't have that problem?"

  Morgan's frown deepened. "You keep saying upload and not synchronization."

  "Yep."

  "Are you saying that part of our consciousness is not uploaded? That cannot be right. In thirteen centuries, someone would have noticed before."

  Patrick shrugs. "I'm sure people have noticed, but anyone that tried to publicize it was probably silenced. The Church has pushed the idea that the capsules prepare our mind for synchronization with the sheathes, but that's not really accurate. The capsules just do not do a full upload of our consciousness to make it look like that. Every capsule can do a 100% upload, if you tune it right. It's generally safe to do."

  "What do you mean generally safe?"

  Patrick stopped working and stared at the capsule. "If you have the stable brain pattern of an adult nothing will happen, but the higher the upload percentage the more likely it is to cause Thompson's in a child. Also, if you have Thompson's, the higher the upload percentage the more it aggravates the Thompson's."

  "What are you setting this capsule to?"

  Patrick turned, his head, and only inches separated their faces. "One. Hundred. Percent."

  "Are you trying to commit suicide?"

  "I'm already dead."

  Dead Islands, Toraigh

  First Month 5, 10 RC

  As I open my eyes, I see a dark grey sea, dotted with islands, that stretches to the horizon.

  "How long?"

  Raven Goddess frowns. "It has been less than two minutes since I logged in."

  I nod. "That's not bad. I started the login process about six seconds after you. I have never done a dual login with anyone before this. I may have had this extended login issue all my life."

  Raven Goddess stares out to sea but does not reply.

  "Thompson's is supposed to complicate the process of uploading the consciousness. I don't really understand the reasoning. It's all based on medical crap, not technology."

  "You do not understand the process, and yet, you tinker with it? You use methods that you know will only harm yourself?"