Virtual Prophet (18 page)

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

“This is Lisa Rohansen reporting for the Game News Channel and we are coming to you live from outside of the Central Game Centre building.

“A major broadcast sent out to all members of the Gamer movement ended just a few moments ago. Trew was kind enough to allow me to listen in so that I could report this breaking news to you as accurately as possible. Something unprecedented has just occurred, and I must ask for your patience while I do my best to convey what I’ve learned.

“I...

“Sorry, let me try again. Trew has told the five hundred million members of the Gamer movement that…

“Okay, I think I can put this into words. I’m so sorry, I don’t remember being this flustered in years. Here’s what he said to them.

“He’s hired them all.

“Trew is paying each player who became a member of the Gamer movement to work for Strayne Industries for the next two weeks. I’ve seen the numbers and in two weeks Trew will spend a significant portion of his own personal money to cut a huge paycheck to over five hundred million children.

“They’ve been hired to observe the Game for the next few days, and after that they will all be sent back into the Game with one specific purpose. I am not at liberty to tell you what that purpose is, but let me assure you that when I heard the task it made absolutely no sense to me at all. We will have to watch the Game for the next two weeks to see how this affects both the simulated reality of Earth and our true reality on Tygon.

“Here’s the real kicker, folks, and I’m sorry if this is all coming out all jumbled, but I wanted to get this to you quickly.

“Trew has assured the players that there is a very good chance that all of them will die a permanent death if they go back into the Game. Most of Tygon has witnessed the disintegration of the matrix supporting the very form and function of the Game. Trew told the five hundred million children that it is very possible they will be caught inside the Game when it collapses.  This will result in permanent deaths for over a billion of our children...

“I can’t begin to convey how powerful Trew’s speech was. To give you some idea of how charismatic and inspiring it was, I can tell you this; when he’d finished speaking and completely outlined the risks involved...all five hundred million players unanimously agreed to go ahead and accept the challenge.

“This is, without a doubt, the best anniversary celebration in the thirty year history of the Game!

“Do not miss a second of the next two weeks, my friends, because viewers will witness either greatness... or absolute disaster.”

Trew

“That went better than I expected,” Trew said.

“Those kids are players,” Cooper nodded as they walked towards Sylvia’s office. “Of course, they’re hooked on the Game. When it came right down to it, they had no choice but to accept your offer. It’s the only life they know, and they want one last chance to come out on top or die trying.”

“I think it’s more than that, Cooper,” Trew said. “They believe in the movement. They want to make a difference. I’m proud of every one of them.”

“One portion of the speech did help decide the matter for them,” Cooper looked at Trew.

“I know,” Trew nodded. “Telling them if the Game ended then Tygon would soon end as well was the deciding fact. There’s no point in telling that to the rest of the world, though. Let everyone think they are all heroes if they succeed. If they fail, it won’t matter anyway.”

The two men walked into Sylvia’s office.

“Hello, Sylvia,” Trew said. “I need an update on game stasis table preparation please.”

“Five hundred million tables will be ready within twenty-four hours, Trew,” Sylvia said.

“Good,” Trew nodded. “I want Michelle here and the other team leaders as quickly as we can get them assembled.”

“I’m on it,” Cooper picked up a tablet and began typing commands.

“Brandon began speaking to Danielle just a few moments ago,” Sylvia announced.

“Good,” Trew said. “Can you begin playback please? I still have no idea what this plan is.”

Cooper laughed out loud. “Could have fooled me with that speech of yours,” he said. “It sounded like you were in complete control of everything.”

“That’s decades of acting,” Trew smiled. “Now be quiet and let’s watch what Brandon is cooking up in there.”

===

Danielle - 70

“What do you mean, Melissa has learned how to wake up?” I ask.

“We are currently existing inside a computer simulation,” Azrael said.

“I agree,” I say.

“It’s important that you do,” he smiles. “The creators of this simulation developed strict processes and procedures for entry and exit into this reality.”

“Makes sense.”

“This world exactly mirrors the world that you originate from. To stay within those limits, you enter this world and leave it the same way you do Tygon.”

“We are born into this world to enter, and we die to exit it,” I nod.

“Correct,” Azrael looks at Melissa and then back to me. “Melissa has learned a different way to exit this reality.”

“Really?” I furrow my brows in confusion. “What other method can there be?”

“She closes her eyes here, and opens them in the other reality,” Azrael says. “She leaves this body and wakes up in her real one.”

“You make it sound so simple.”

Azrael shakes his head emphatically, “It’s not simple at all, my dear girl. It’s the most complicated and magical feat that has ever been accomplished in this universe. It’s taken tens of thousands of years of evolution and pain and growth. Simple? This should never have succeeded. Never!” He smiles at both of us. “But it did succeed, and here we are.”

I look at Melissa and then Azrael. “I don’t believe you,” I finally say. “It’s impossible.”

“It was impossible,” he agrees, “until Melissa did it. Now it’s not only possible for her, it’s possible for everyone.”

“The universal law.”

“Exactly!” Azrael stands up and claps his hands together loudly. “If something can be accomplished once, then it can be accomplished forevermore.”

I look at Melissa and she grins sheepishly.

“So what do you want me to do?” I ask.

“You must learn how to do the same thing.”

“You want me to learn how to wake up?”

“That’s right.”

“Why me?” I ask.

“You’ve led millions on Earth,” Azrael says, “but on the world that you come from, billions watch you every day.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Trew leads them, and they watch and follow your life here.”

“So if I wake up, then that will accomplish something in the real world?” I ask.

“It will.”

“What will it accomplish?”

“You can discover that for yourself when you wake up and see Trew.”

My mouth goes dry. “I will see Trew?”

“Of course you will. He can’t wait to see you.”

I sit and consider what he’s asking me to do. I don’t fully understand what he wants, but it can’t be much different from flying. “What if I can’t do it?” I ask.

“I taught you to fly,” Melissa said. “I can teach you how to do this as well, Danni. It’s not that difficult once you get the hang of it.”

“You’ve woken up only partially,” Azrael says. “That part is easy. To fully wake up is much more difficult, but I’m certain that both of you can do it. After you’ve been fully trained, Melissa will do it first, and then you will go soon after.”

“What does this mean?” I look at Melissa. “Have you opened a door to destruction for us all?”

“It’s exactly the opposite, Danni,” Azrael says. “She’s opened the door to salvation.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Danielle - 70

I open my eyes and sigh in frustration. “It’s very difficult.”

Azrael looks at me with a patient smile. “I’ve watched you for your entire life,” he says.

“That’s creepy.”

He laughs. “Okay, not for your entire life, but for most of the important accomplishments.”

“Still creepy,” I say.

“The point I’m trying to make,” he continues, “is that you don’t give up, and you don’t find things difficult. You set your mind to something and you do it. Simple as that.”

“Yes, that is how I do most things.”

“It’s how you do everythin
g
,
”
he says. “What makes you so successful at everything you do is that you don’t overcomplicate things. To you, everything is simple. This is just another example of something that most people would find difficult and you will succeed at it when you view it as simple.”

I look at Melissa and she nods in agreement. “It’s all about the glow, Danni,” she says. “You’ve been meditating your entire life and this is just meditating.”

“I feel like I’m going to fall,” I say. “When I’m in there meditating. It feels as if I’m standing on the roof of a windy skyscraper and I’m about to fall off.”

“You’re not afraid of heights, are you?” Azrael asks. I give him a wry look and he laughs. “All kidding aside, flying girl, you’re closer to doing this than you think. The falling sensation is good; you just have to surrender and let yourself fall over the edge.”

“It’s taken months to get to this stage,” I say.

“Yes,” Melissa agrees.

“I thought time was running out?”

“It is,” Azrael says. “On your home world it’s very short, but here time works differently.”

“How long do we have?” I ask. “Here.”

“I don’t know for certain,” he says.

“Ballpark guess?”

“Fifteen to twenty years,” he says. “Twenty-five at the most.”

“Oh, wow.” I feel the stress melt away. “Sure, I can practice and get this nailed down by then. Why didn’t you tell me sooner that we had that long?”

“No, I’m afraid you misunderstand me.” He shakes his head. “That’s how long Earth and most of the population has. I need you to wake up much sooner than that.”

“How soon?”

“Within the next six months.”

“Me doing this is that important?”

“Danni,” his look says that it is. “You doing this is the most important thing in the univers
e
.”

I frown at the pressure, then I sit up straighter and nod at Melissa. “Okay, let’s try again then.”

===

Danielle - 3 months later

“Well, what do you think?” I ask.

Azrael and Melissa both look at each other and nod.

“I think we’re ready to go,” Azrael says.

He’s been so helpful during this process. Once I learned to open my mind better he was able to join me in the meditative state and provide subtle guidance. Suddenly a thought occurs to me.

“They say you guide souls back to their homes... is this what they mean by that?”

He nods slightly. “Most of the time I’m more direct, sending souls back to their homes by killing their avatars, but this definitely fits the description, perhaps better than the regular way of things.”

“You’re not an angel or an archangel, are you?”

“No. Those are just names people give to beings like the Timeless to help them feel better about the unexplainable things they can do.  Religion is a tool to guide mass groups of people towards common goals. God is just a computer running things, but people can’t seem to accept that. They’d rather believe that an invisible creature runs it all.”

“The computer isn’t an invisible creature?” I ask.

He smiles and shakes his head. “You know what I’m saying.”

I laugh. “Yes. Very few people are able to believe that this is all just a computer simulation.”

“Nor should they,” he said. “A core part of the program blocks that belief, although a few sometimes believe the truth and pass that on to others, like you and Trew did when you created the Gamer movement. More people believe the truth now than ever before.”

“Non-believers just call it another religion.”

“That’s exactly what it is,” he says,” which is what this world requires it to be in order to build followers, to work towards achieving a purpose.”

“Waking up.”

He nods. “Melissa, are you ready to attempt a full awakening?”

“I’ve been ready for weeks now,” she says. There’s a comfortable bed in the room and she moves to lie down on it. She folds her arms comfortably over her chest, and closes her eyes. She takes two deep calming breaths and then suddenly her eyes pop open.

“Is this it?” she asks. “Will I be able to come back here if I fully wake up?”

Azrael shakes his head. “If you’re successful in waking up completely, then you won’t be able to come back here. This is it, Melissa.”

I can tell that she is sad to hear the news. I nod at her reassuringly and squeeze her arm. “I know you can do this, Melissa. Don’t worry, everything will be all right. I’ll join you in just a few days, which is only a few hours on the other side.”

Melissa nods and stands up. She gives me a tremendous hug which I return sincerely. “It’s been an amazing adventure, Danni. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving a frightened, flying girl a safe place to be loved and taken care of.”

“The honour is all mine.” I feel tears beginning to form in my eyes, as if we aren’t going to see each other for a long time. I know that’s not the case, though; Melissa waking up will inspire me to go through my process even more quickly.

We separate, and she moves back to lie down on the bed. She takes a series of deep cleansing breaths and closes her eyes. I watch quietly as Azrael puts his hand on her right arm. After a few minutes her breathing begins to slow.

Then it stops. I look at Azrael but he doesn’t open his eyes. I begin to count the seconds. After sixty seconds of Melissa not breathing I stand up and move closer. Azrael senses me and raises his free hand to tell me to stay still.

Another sixty seconds go by, and suddenly Melissa’s body takes a sudden deep breath of air, and then begins to breathe again in a regular, rhythmic pattern. Azrael opens his eyes and removes his hand from her arm. Then he stands and looks at her. He places his fingers lightly on her neck to feel for a pulse, nodding at whatever he senses. Finally he looks at me and smiles triumphantly.

“She did it!” he says, grabbing me in a hug and swinging me around.

“She’s still breathing, though,” I say.

“She is now, but she stopped. That was when her presence, essence, whatever you want to call it, left her body.” He points to the body breathing peacefully on the bed. “That’s just an empty shell now, a vehicle without a driver. She’s back in her own body in the real world. She did it. She woke up!”

“Now what do we do?” I ask.

“We wait a few days,” he says, “and then you go through the same process.”

“I wake up and go home,” I say, still not quite believing it’s possible. “I get to see Trew soon.”

“That’s right, Danni,” Azrael confirms. “Very soon you will wake up to reality.”

===

Trew

“Sylvia?” Trew looked at the blank screen that had been Melissa’s feed. “Did it work? Is Melissa truly awake?”

“She has left her avatar, Trew,” Sylvia replied. “All signs indicate that she has indeed returned to her body outside of the Game.”

“Incredible,” Cooper whispered.

“It sure is,” Trew said. He reached for the remote and changed the channel from Melissa’s blank feed to Danielle’s. From Danielle’s view point Melissa lay peacefully on the bed.

“What now?” Cooper asked.

“Let’s go welcome Melissa home and celebrate!” Trew said. “Sylvia, which Game Centre is Melissa stationed at?”

“I don’t understand your question, Trew,” Sylvia sounded confused.

“I want to go and meet the gamer who was playing Melissa and be there when they bring her out of stasis. Which Centre do I need to go to?”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible, Trew,”

“Why not?” Trew asked. “Were there complications bringing her out of stasis? She should be awake, right?”

“I thought you knew,” Sylvia said. “Melissa isn’t on Tygon, Trew. She was an Earth NPC.”