The Game (17 page)

  Excerpt from “The Game’s Great Mysteries”

Raphael

  I can’t remember ever having such a boring, uneventful assignment. I’m not saying it hasn’t happened, but not for a long time.

  Since some guy got her mom pregnant and then skipped out on her seventeen years ago, I’ve been watching Danielle. Yes, I’ve saved her life quite a few times, but if the kid had just spent even a few extra credits in luck and fortune I wouldn’t have needed to step in. I can’t figure out what she spent her credits on — the girl certainly plays this Game differently, and that’s saying a lot, because I’ve seen many, many players. She has no sense of fear. Hell, I think even Carl would stop and take notice of her absolute fearlessness. For a human… well, she plays the Game more like an Eternal.

  Woah! Hey, is that what I’m seeing here? A new Eternal prospect? I start to laugh out loud at the thought, ignoring the strangers on the street who stop to look at me. If that’s the case, it might explain the new development I’m watching unfold.

  I’m standing outside the local library. It’s not a busy place these days, so few kids read. Instead they spend their time playing games and hanging out at malls. Not my girl, though, Danni’s inside, studying away. Every once in a while I go in and sit with her. I scramble most of our interactions, so I remain unseen to her fans.

  See that guy over there? The one in the red hoodie? Yeah, if anyone is bothering to view me, that’s the one you need to look into. He’s coming out of the Game today, courtesy of me.

  He strolled into town two weeks ago and immediately set up shop near the library, following my girl from here when she leaves. I can see he’s looking for a pattern to her routes, but lucky for us, I’ve spent time teaching Danni not to ever take the same route more than once or twice. When you hire me you don’t just get protection, you get training as well. Since I have no idea who put me here and haven’t heard any word that I’m doing wrong, I’m giving the platinum service that was purchased.

  Danni has been making it impossible for this hack to get a good bead on her, which has allowed me to get a real good pattern on him. He’s low quality. No clue that he’s being followed at all. Just because you’re the hunter doesn’t mean you can’t also be prey. This guy’s either a novice crack pot with some sick urge, or a very low class killer.

  You don’t get bonus points for being killed by an Eternal, do you? If so, I hate to help this guy out.

  Danielle comes out and crosses the street, on her way home, it looks like. He waits for her to get down the block, then starts to follow. I follow him; he seems to be unaware of me.

  Danielle turns the corner, and as he slows down, I get close and stumble into him. He takes a step back to avoid my clumsy fall, which puts him off balance. I lash upwards catching him right under the jaw, just hard enough to stun him for a couple seconds. As he falls backwards from my punch, I’m already behind to lower him to the ground. We are in a great spot — picked by me of course — and with two quick steps he’s off the street and in a deserted back alley. I let him fall down hard onto the ground and tie both of his hands together with a plastic tie wrap. I then slam him onto his back, hearing the breath forced from his lungs, tie wrapping his feet together as well.

  Just like I’m tossing a side of beef around, I pull him up onto his knees, using one more tie wrap to join his bound hands and feet together.

  There, now he’s kneeling in front of me with his back to the wall, properly secured. A quick hog tie, with no one around to applaud my skills.

  Okay, I’m turning on my scrambler. Channel 74552. I’ll count to twenty, you know, just in case someone's viewing me.

  He’s regained both consciousness and breath; still looks a little confused, though. I’ll help with that. I pull out a wicked looking knife from behind my back, the blade black except for a thin edge of silver. I kneel down, relaxed and smiling. “Hello, little hunter. This isn’t turning out to be your day, is it? I have three questions for you, and I’m not in a mood to play games. I realize in books and movies the young hero is caught and bound but still has enough bravery to resist cooperating with their captor. This isn’t a book or movie, little hunter. Think about this before the questions come. When they
do
come, you be sure to answer them quickly and truthfully. If you hesitate, it means you are lying, and I kill liars
immediately.
Don’t nod, don’t speak, just sit there and think about my warning. The only chance you have to survive this is to answer my three questions when they come.”

  I look at him calmly for perhaps thirty seconds, my eyes telling him that all I see in front of me is a curious creature that I would prefer to kill. It’s effective to do this; they sense my intention, and often it helps them cooperate. I search him thoroughly, looking through his pockets.

  In his back pocket I find a picture of Danielle, with her name, age and address written on the back. In another pocket I discover a cell phone and some identification. Identification? It’s likely fake, or this guy is very careless. There, see his name? Check it out when you view this. Next I feel inside his hoodie — there, I can feel a weapon. Let me just see what he has on him here…

  I pull the weapon out and almost drop it. It’s a thin rod, about five inches long and an inch thick, tapered to a point. There’s a small button on the handle of it, and the colour of the entire spike is gold and silver with a textured digital finish. It looks like a spike covered in gold and silver computer chips and solder points. It’s warm to the touch and gives off a soft humming vibration. My eyes and my mind turn to ice. This isn’t a replica, it’s the real thing. A Sever Spike.

  I hold it up in front of him. “You were going to use this? On
her
?”

  He answers quickly, “That’s what I was told to do, yes. Push the button and stab her in the left eye.”

  “Do you know what that would do?” I ask flatly.

  “Well, I imagine it would kill her,” he says.

  I begin to shake with fury. This idiot has no idea what he has. “It wouldn’t just kill her. It would kill her real body as well.”

  The bound man looks confused. “What do you mean? That makes no sense.”

  “Not to you, idiot. But it makes sense to whoever paid you to kill her.” I want to make him dead. Right
now
. Someone wants to use a Sever Spike on this little girl? They want to kill not just her avatar, but the actual player lying on a bed somewhere on Tygon? Stephanie said Danielle was Alexandra Montoyas. Who the hell would want to do this to her? Are you hearing me? Is anyone viewing me! If so I need some feedback. A Sever Spike put into play makes this a whole different, and
very
serious game.

  “Here are your three questions,” I say.

  “You already asked me three questions.”

  I hold the Spike up for him to see. “If I turn the button on and put this into your eye, you will feel pain like you’ve never imagined. It will take you minutes to die, and while you do, it’ll feel like you’re melting from the inside out. Then, when you can’t take the pain any more and you wonder how you’re still able to feel and think, your mind will explode into a million little pieces. Each piece will be an exact version of you, containing your thoughts and memories and consciousness. As the little pieces fall to the ground you will die again, painfully. One slow, painful death for each of the million tiny fragments. After you are fully dead, that’s it. Every other person on the planet gets to come back after they die, that’s a truth most don’t know, but I’m giving this knowledge to you for free. Believe me, it’s absolutely true. You won’t get that luxury. Because you’ve been killed by this Spike, which you intended to use on that innocent little girl, you won’t come back.
Ever again
. Do you understand me, maggot?”

  The little hunter looks at me with frightened eyes and nods his head frantically. I hold up three fingers, dropping one as I ask the first question. “Who hired you?”

  “I don’t know! Honestly I don’t. I was contacted and paid through email!”

  I drop the second finger. “Are there others after the girl?”

  He answers very quickly, “I don’t think so. Not that I know of. Please, mister, I have no idea.”

  I drop my third finger. “This last one is important, kid. What’s your real name? If you lie to me, I use the spike on you, and I already know your name, so
please
… lie to me.”

He tells me his name. It matches the ID. I know he’s telling the truth.

  I turn off the scrambler. Then I count to 20. Then I squat right down close to his face.

  “Please! I answered your questions. Let me go…”

  I cut his throat. As he slowly bleeds out, I look him right in the eyes, and speak my message to whoever sent him and is likely viewing him right now. “You don’t come into my territory playing this game, threaten mine, and get to walk out alive if you lose. When I find out who you are,
no one
will be able to save you.”

  Whoever gave this stupid kid a Sever Spike wasn’t very clever. Find them for me, please. And let me know who they are. This is a serious game.

Chapter 33

  It is very difficult to build a fan base. The average player will have visions of grandeur while they are planning their next session, spending credits and imagining scenarios that give them the best chances of ‘wowing’ the masses. The problem is, once they enter the Game, they forget their entire strategy. Life inside the Game is dangerous, because for all your planning and experience outside, it doesn’t guarantee fan interest. Look at the example of Tina Frey, a good player with many technically sound plays during her career. She planned a very exciting play, certain it would gain her fame and fortune. She paid to be born to very wealthy parents in a developed country, which enabled her to have the nurturing, funds, and resources to become a successful adult. She did exactly that, going to all the best schools, meeting all the right people through her family, making connections that would help her get the best jobs, advancing steadily and perfectly through her play as designed. She went into law, had a nice family, then did well in politics. Her marriage was happy, her kids grew up to be successful. She was a respected member of the community until she retired and then peacefully passed away in her 80’s. So how large did Tina’s fan base grow as a result of this play? Of course, it didn’t get any attention or fan following. Living a great life doesn’t assure one of gaining fans, but neither does living a horrible life. There are countless examples of truly sad and depressing lives played out by students in the hopes of fans tuning in, also with no results. Fans are fickle; what draws them in today won’t necessarily work tomorrow. Yet some players seem to consistently draw the attention of first a few, and then the many. These are the superstars, and we love them, even if we don’t know exactly why.

  Excerpt from “What Makes A Fan?”

  “Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Brandon.” Lilith sat down in the chair Brandon was holding for her. She had requested a dinner meeting, surprised when Brandon had agreed to host her at his penthouse apartment that very night.

  “It’s always a treat to be in your company, Lilith,” Brandon said.

  He smiled warmly. It seemed like only yesterday when they were both just two young business people spending considerable time together, laughing and planning how they would change the world with their grand ideas. Brandon had succeeded, while Lilith’s ideas had turned out not to be as popular as his. Yet she had still done very well for herself. Over the years the two of them had drifted apart, Brandon busy with the Game, Lilith quietly trying to save the world despite society’s apparent desire for self-destruction.

  “I see Alexandra is doing splendidly this time in the Game,” Brandon said.

  “She seems to be doing very well, despite her many challenges and limitations,” Lilith agreed.

  Brandon held up a bottle of fine wine, Lilith’s favourite, of course. She smiled and nodded. He poured the wine. “Zack is doing splendidly as well,” she said.

  Brandon nodded. “There are also many challenges for him.”

  The two continued to make small talk as the meal was served by Brandon’s staff. They discussed the past, the present, and thoughts about the near future in many areas of interest. Both laughed and smiled often during the meal, feeling comfortable in each other’s presence.

Finally the desert and coffee were served and the servants retired for the evening. The two of them could get down to real business.

  “So what really brings you here tonight, Lilith?” Brandon asked.

  “I’m not sure if you know, but somehow Alex acquired an Eternal for this play,” Lilith said.

  Brandon nodded. “I was made aware of that, yes. Not just any Eternal. Raphael is one of the best.”

  “I hear that’s true,” Lilith said. “I must admit, we weren’t too sure how or why he was purchased. I’ve never had a player able to unlock Eternals, and since our budget and resources are much smaller than the larger Patrons, it’s been a task figuring out how to make the best use of him.”

  Brandon chuckled. “I bet it has. I remember unlocking our first Eternal. We were so excited, then extremely confused. It took us quite a few plays to begin to get any type of results out of them. They often have their own agenda.”

  “Yes, well, he keeps asking for confirmation that he’s being viewed. I am personally viewing him, but the individuals allowed to know about their existence are extremely limited, as you know, and I have only one other person on my team that qualifies to know. I haven’t informed them yet. It’s a serious burden to place on them.”

  “If I may interrupt with some advice?” Brandon asked.

  “Of course.”

  “If you have someone in your group that qualifies, tell them soon. Part of qualifying is an extensive psychological profile. Most teams get enough credits to unlock an Eternal but still don’t see the menu choice because they have no one trustworthy enough to learn the secret. If you and one other person qualify, that’s excellent. Tell them soon. It’s too difficult to bear the burden fully yourself if you don’t have to.”