Digital Heretic (16 page)

Chapter 34

Trew

 
“
It feels
a
little bit strange.”

  “
What does?” Hack asked. He was wiring the helmet and getting ready to place it on Trew’s head. Trew was getting used to the ritual; he’d been in the Meditation Chamber many times in just the short time since his return to Tygon.

  “
It feels very isolated inside the chamber. After watching players inside the Game and being a celebrity among the fans for so long, it’s just a bit disconcerting knowing that no one’s watching me.”

  “
Ahh,” Hack said. “Yes, I can see how that might be a bit unsettling. If it makes you feel better, I can strap a video camera to your helmet. I’m sure fans of your channel would love to see what goes on.”

 
Trew smiled at the joke, glad to see Hack’s sense of humour make an appearance. Hack had thought Trew was serious the first time he joked about bringing his camera crew down to this level and he hadn’t laughed much then. Other than that first shaky moment, the two men got along very well. Hack didn’t see many people since he had accepted the top secret Games Master position, and the two were becoming friends.

  “Okay,
Trew, you’re all wired up and ready to go.”

 
Trew watched Danni on the monitor. She’d just entered a quiet room and was about to seat herself for a meditation session. Trew

nodded to Hack and pressed a button, the door slid open, he entered the chamber and sat down in the single complex chair. He lowered the visor on the helmet, shifted to get more comfortable, then placed both hands in the enclosed arm rests and closed his eyes. He breathed deeply, felt his consciousness slowly slide away…

  …and opened his eyes to find himself in a familiar white room that seemed to be where his mind brought him for these sessions. It had been an incredible surprise the first time he found himself here. Brandon had told him the process involved speaking to the target, but he never guessed that he would astrally project to a room and feel physically present. He heard a door slide open behind him and he turned quickly…

  …just
in time to catch Danielle in his arms! She almost knocked him to the floor as she hugged him tight and lifted her feet off the ground, hungrily pressing her mouth to his in a fierce kiss. Time stopped. He could smell her, and feel her, and taste her sweet breath as they kissed. They had always closed their eyes when they kissed, the romantic and proper thing to do, but here they kissed with eyes wide open. Neither one wanted to miss a detail during their brief time together.

 
It was magical.

 
Trew watched Danni, her eyes smiling with joy. After a few moments, her look shifted from happy to sad, then tears began to form. He ended the kiss and cupped her head tenderly in his hands.

  “What’s
wrong, love? Don’t cry, this is happy! I know it won’t last for long enough, but we get to do it again soon. Please smile, baby. Let’s spend these few moments happy.”

 
Danni nodded and smiled, wiped the tears from her eyes and rested her forehead against Trew’s. “I am happy, Trew. It just hurts so bad to wait for months to pass until I see you again.

There’s
so much sorrow and pain in the game at the moment, and I miss you.”

 
Trew nodded sympathetically. “I miss you, too, and it must be horrible, love. I’m sorry you have to go through it. But I’m here today to give you a pep talk. And you have to try really hard to believe what I’m going to tell you.”

 
She hugged him again, a fierce grip that she refused to let go. He could feel her warmth, her energy, and he struggled to remember how to put a sentence together. Suddenly he was the one holding back the tears, he couldn’t bear the thought that in just a few short weeks she would be gone forever. He couldn’t tell her. He wouldn’t tell her.

 
He would save her, somehow.

 
Instead of crying, he laughed, thankful for the gift that was right now. He hugged her and said, “Keep hugging me, babe. I can talk just fine like this.”

 
She giggled, “Thanks for your permission, as if I was going to let you go. Now pep talk away. But hurry, because I still need more kisses.”

  “Okay
, then,” he said. “Here it is. It’s time to stop being sad. I understand it, I really do. If I had lost you, I don’t know if I would have ever smiled again, but now that you know I am alive, there’s no need for sadness.”

  “
I know Trew, but…”

  “
No buts, love,” Trew said. “You found out I was okay, and then not long after that, the Culling started. I know how many have been ejected, and I know how many of them were our friends and followers. I see your sadness, and I share it. It’s not our fault that they’re gone from the Game, babe. Please feel better knowing they are all safe and sound on Tygon, and they aren’t sad about having been ejected.”

  “Okay…”
she said.

  “I’m
serious. Life is hard inside the Game, but that’s how it is outside, too. You’ve spent ten years being sad; if you mourn those who’ve been ejected, you could be sad for another ten years. It’s just too long, and it’s not healthy or necessary. Remember who you are, that little girl who spits in the eye of bullies and is the first to cross the finish line.”

  “
Usually because the rest don’t know we’re racing.” Trew felt her nod as she said it.

  “
Exactly! There is much to accomplish before you leave the Game, but you have time. And we have time. Let’s make the most of all the time we have, both in here, in the Game, and outside of it.”

 
Danielle broke off the hug and looked at Trew lovingly. She stroked his face and Trew could see from her eyes that she agreed with him.

  “Okay
, love,” she said. “Since they are all out of the game and doing fine, I’ll move on with the living. I have some plans — aggressive plans — for the future. How ‘bout you? Any ideas or recommendations?”

 
Trew kissed her again, and when they separated, the two of them gasped for air.

  “
Babe,” he said, “I have lots of ideas for you.”

  “
Good,” she said. “Let’s hug and talk about them.”

 
Trew grinned at her. “Let’s do something else first, and if we run out of time we can talk about plans the next time…”

  Danielle’s
grin widened. “Oh, we’re going to run out of time for sure! That’s the best plan I’ve heard in months.” She grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him onto the bed.

Chapter 35

Many Game experts condemn low ranking players for their poor performance. They complain that you gave them nothing worth watching, that you wasted your opportunity and credits on a potentially fun and good play. They say the majority of players don’t do well and learn nothing, that the Game is a waste of time for our children.

 
I disagree. 

 
I say that you learn the most powerful lesson by doing
nothing
in the Game, by sitting by idly and letting virtual life pass you by.

 
You learn the price of wasting your time and opportunities.

 
By doing nothing, you gain nothing. Letting your doubts and fears and the negative influences of others stop you from doing something, doing
anything,
provides poor players with a powerful lesson. They return to this world with a better understanding of the consequences of wasting a lifetime, and the lesson is clear to those of us who are willing to learn.

 
For any who might argue that effort is a waste of time, they need only look at the top players to see this isn’t so. Fortune does favour the bold in the Game, as it does in life.

 
When you look at both the winners and the losers together, you see what is possible for trying, and the results of doing nothing. With these valuable lessons you then become an adult and begin your one ‘Real’ life.

 
If you have learned anything in the Game, you will live real life to the fullest. The beautiful thing about the Game is that it can teach you this lesson even if you never played it. Fans and viewers can also see the message so clearly, if they are looking for it.

 
Do you see what I’m talking about?

 
Has the Game changed your life for the better? If it has, then I commend you.

 
If it hasn’t…there is still time to change today.

Excerpt from
Trew’s first address to Tygon

Trew

 
The centre office
is full, everyone appears nervous.

 
The main monitor shows Danielle sitting calmly in the centre of a large room, reading a book and apparently waiting for someone to arrive.

  “
What if a regular human sees her and starts shooting from a distance?” Michelle said.

  “
That won’t happen,” Brandon assured her. “No shots are fired by accident. Plus they prefer the close work of knives and hammers. Over 112 million murders, and only a few hundred thousand have been from bullets.”

  “
Sick bastards,” Nadine said.

 
Small conversations took place around the table while they waited. Brandon used this opportunity to lean in close to Trew and whisper, “Danielle looks so much happier than I can recall seeing her since you left the Game. Your last talk with her must have been very motivational.”

 
Trew grinned, “Our last conversation involved almost no talking. It was mainly physical.”

 
Brandon frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

 
Trew looked at him curiously. “It means what it means. We didn’t talk much. We also kept the clothes to a minimum.”

  “
We need to discuss this more,” Brandon said.

  “What’s
to discuss?” Trew asked.

  “
The meditation chamber involves verbal communication only. When you go in there you are inside the mind of the player. Verbal communication is the only type of interaction that’s possible between the two. You’re talking as if you could see and touch each other.”

  “That’s
exactly what we can do,” Trew said. “We enter a room and both of us are physically present during the meetings.”

  “That’s
impossible,” Brandon whispered.

  “
Add it to the list, then, because that’s what happens,” Trew said.

  “
Another miracle,” Brandon said.

  “What’s
that?” Michelle asked. Brandon looked in her direction, realizing he must have said the last part a bit louder than intended.

  “
Nothing,” he said. “Eyes on the monitor, people, it looks like Danielle has company.”

***

Danielle - 52

  “You’re looking good, Danni. Too good to be sitting all alone in an empty warehouse like this. It isn’t safe for Gamers to be alone.”

 
I hear his deep, raspy voice coming from my right, but don’t bother to look up from reading my book. In a relaxed manner, I answer him: “I’m one of the few safe ones, Carl. The mark protects me still.”

  “
It protects you from the Timeless,” he says. “Many of my men are just humans. What if one of them were to take you out before I could stop them? Especially when we walk in to find this type of

deception. I was told there would be over 3,000 of you here, yet all we find is one lonely girl
.”

 
I look up from my book and smile directly at him. He’s standing about thirty feet away from me with his arms crossed. I can tell from the angry look in his eyes that he realizes this large room contains only myself. I leaked information that over a thousand of us would be meeting here today. A setup; looks like the one person I told is a traitor. Glad that we never trusted her with any important information.

  “What’s
wrong, Carl? Aren’t you happy to see me?” I ask.

 
He makes a hand gesture and the ten men standing behind him move. I sit calmly as they surround me completely. Carl hasn’t gotten any closer.

  “You’re
really starting to piss me off, Danni,” he growls.

 
I laugh out loud. “Ahh, poor Carl. Is your master getting angry with your inability to kill off the last few Gamers? You were doing so well at first, but now it seems you’re having difficulty getting to your number.”

  “
Maybe I’ve reached my number and still want to continue on,” he says. “It’s been so delightful.”

  “
No, I get a sense that you’re ready to move on to other projects, if we’d only be so accommodating as to stand out in the open so you can kill the last few that you need.”

 
Carl grins, “It will be soon, Danielle. One hundred thousand more and I’ll be done. Why don’t you give them to me so I can leave you alone and let you all get on with your agenda?”

  “
Oh, Carl, you’re so delightfully stupid. All these centuries and you’ve spent most of them just killing. Haven’t you figured it out yet? You are part of my agenda, a rather large part of it, actually. As long as I live, you will be searching for enough of us to fill your quota. Your only chance to move on is if your masters let you quit short of the goal. One hundred and thirteen million, right?”

He nods
. “Yes, you know the number, girl. You also know they won’t let me stop short. It’s an important number, symbolically.”

  “
Oh, yes, I know.” I stand up and place the book carefully on the table, then shake my arms to limber up.

  “
I think it’s time to take you as a hostage to get the rest,” he says. “You’ve made a stupid mistake today, coming here alone.”

 
He nods at his men and two of them rush me, one from each side. As they get close enough, I grab one, spin him into the other, twisting their heads together with explosive force. They both thud silently to the ground, dead before they land.

  “
Did you only bring ten?” I reach behind me and remove the Sever Spike from a hidden sheath. I smile wickedly at the remaining eight men and activate the device. It begins to hum warmly in my hand.

  “
Careful, girl.” Carl warns. “You don’t want to open that door. Put it away and let them die cleanly.”

  “
You opened this door when you killed Trew,” I say. “I wasn’t prepared to walk through it; blame yourself for encouraging me to do so.”

  “
They are just avatars doing their best in the Game, Danni.” Do I detect compassion in his voice? “You’re welcome to use that on me if you ever get the chance, but just eject them. Give them the same courtesy I give to the majority of little ones I remove.”

 
I’ve trained hard; I’m very good. I lash out and bury the spike in the eye of the closest soldier. I hear Carl scream out in anger.

  “
Relax,” I pull the spike out and give it a quick flick to remove the excess blood. “I turned it off just before it went in.”

 
I look over at him, surprised by his reaction. “Have you always been this way, Carl?”

  “
What way?” he looks angry.

 
I move forward and attack the remaining soldiers, taking them down quickly. I wipe the spike on the last man’s sleeve. “So compassionate? You’re weaker than I would have guessed, Carl.”

 
I can hear him behind me, still a safe distance away. “It’s not compassion. I spend a lot of time training these boys. Now I have to make more. It’s a pain in the ass.”

  “
Before I’m done, you’re going to be training quite a few.” I walk casually towards the far door.

  “
Careful, girl, you’re starting to make this fun again,” He says.

 
I hold up the Sever Spike so he can see it as I continue to walk away. “When I bury this in your eye, that’s when the real fun starts. You’re not getting your number any time soon. Bring more with you next time; this was boring.”