Digital Heretic (22 page)

Chapter 47

Danielle’s Command Centre             

 
“
Can you repea
t
that?” Trew said. The past hour had been a flurry of panicked activity, everyone scrambling to do whatever possible to find Danielle. Inside his head, Trew was screaming at how quickly time was passing inside the Game while they worked outside of it. Their opportunity to help Danni was disappearing.

  “
We looked further into Mark Aunders, the kid playing Jason’s avatar,” Michelle said. “It turns out the location of his table in the system was not correct. Further investigation has revealed there is no such person playing the Game.”

  “
This kid doesn’t
exist
?
How is that possible?” Trew asked, looking at Brandon in confusion.

  “
That means Jason is likely a PlaceHolder,” Brandon said.

  “
A computer generated individual, designed to perform in the Game for specific purposes,” Trew said. “Something randomly generated by Mainframe?”

  “
Likely,” Brandon confirmed. Trew stood up and headed for the door, intending to speak with Sylvia. “There’s no point in confronting her, Trew,” Brandon said. “Whoever set up the identity for us to find knew enough about our resources that they were able to build a fake trail that looked legitimate. Either she has this set in motion and will deny it, or it’s a random construct, just bad luck.”

  “
Or it was a hack,” Michelle said.

  “
Likely,” Brandon agreed.

 
Trew sat down. “The more I learn about this Game, the more I want to scream and throw chairs out of windows,” he said. “Who the hell can hack like this? The official story is no one can hack the Game from Tygon. Mainframe won’t allow it. If anyone tries something like this then they are easily caught and given the death penalty.”

  “That’s
absolutely true. Mainframe catches any hackers. Trust me, we know too well how good her security system is,” Brandon said. “It’s definitely a hack from the inside. I would bet everything I own that it’s Shane.”

  “
Or this Jason guy was taking her to Carl?” Trew said. “That’s a good guess, too, isn’t it?”

  “
Yes,” Brandon said. “And I sincerely hope you’re right, Trew. Carl would be a better opponent right now, but it stinks of Shane.”

  “
How long can her signal be scrambled?” Trew asked.

  “
Indefinitely,” Brandon answered. “There are no harmful effects from long term scrambling, no chance of being ejected from the Game. The communication between her consciousness and avatar won’t be affected, just our ability to see her. There have been avatars scrambled for…”

  “Okay
, I get the picture,” Trew said. He didn’t want to hear that it was possible for them to go for decades without seeing Danielle in the Game.

  “
The building has been scoured from top to bottom. She’s not there, guaranteed,” Michelle said.

  “
Another clue pointing to Shane. He could transport them out of there easily. They could be anywhere on Earth by now.”

  “
So what do we do?” Trew asked.

  “
We just keep trying, hoping something or someone can help us,” Brandon said.

 
Trew looked intently at the black screen of Danielle’s feed. After a few minutes he closed his eyes and prayed.

 
The flurry of activity continued on around him.

***

Melissa

  “What can I do, Raphael?” I ask.

 
Raphael looks angry and frightened, meeting my eyes with grim determination. “I can’t sense her anywhere. That’s not good because I’m a tracker.” He sees my confused look and explains, “I have the ability to track individuals by their unique energy patterns. Once I have your pattern, I can find you anywhere within five hundred miles. And I know Danni’s pattern extremely well.”

  “
Oh,” I say. “So I guess there’s no point in me taking to the air to see if I can spot her.”

  “
No, but thank you for offering,” Raphael sighs. “I honestly don’t know what to do. We will find her but it won’t be quick. Damn it, I knew I should have been right by her side the entire time!”

 
I hate to say it, but I have to. “Is there a chance she’s… dead
?
”

 
He shakes his head absently, “No, she’s alive. We would know instantly if she was dead.”

  “
How would we know that?” I ask.

 
Raphael looks at me strangely. “I would know,” he assures me. “She’s alive, somewhere. You head back to the compound and meet up with Stephanie to see if anyone has any ideas.”

  “
Where are you going to be?” I ask.

 
He has a heavy, hooded jacket on, and goggles hanging around his neck, which he puts on. “I need to be within five hundred miles to sense her. I also have to make sure I don’t go past her too quickly, or I’ll miss detecting her. There’s a slim chance I can find her,

although they likely have her shielded, so this trip will be for nothing.
But I’ve got to try; it won’t take me too long.”

  “
Try what?” I ask.

  “
You might be the first human to fly in the history of this planet,” he says. “but you’re not the first avatar to do so.”

 
He positions the goggles, bends his knees, and jumps upwards. Wow, he’s fast! He floats in the air about twenty feet up and yells down at me, “Hurry, get to Steph. Tell her I should be back in about twelve hours.”

 
In spite of my surprise, I manage to yell up at him, “Where are you going?”

  “
Gonna circle the globe, at least a couple times, to try and find her. It’s worse than looking for a stinking needle in a haystack, but I have to try.”

 
In the blink of an eye, he’s gone. I hear the boom from air rushing in to fill the void his lightning-quick exit created. I take to the air and head for Stephanie, thinking to myself,
It’s possible to break the sound barrier? It looks like I’m still a baby when it comes to flying.

Chapter 48

 
What is a PlaceHolder inside the Game?

 
This is a question I hear often.

 
The quick explanation is this: A PlaceHolder is any avatar inside the Game that is not controlled by a player.

 
At last count, we had just under two billion players inside the Game. Our young students are incarnated in the Game as animals and plants and insects and such; I’m not sure of the exact number, but it’s over half a billion. The remaining players are incarnated as humans, approximately a billion and a half of them, living in a world with a human population of just over seven billion people.

 
Yes, that’s a lot of PlaceHolders walking around.

 
Now, before you have visions of zombies stumbling about attempting to destroy the world, let me assure you that PlaceHolders are very complex programs. They are born, they live, and they die just like any player controlled avatar. The average viewer usually can’t tell the two apart. If I allowed you to watch the life of two humans and asked you to pick which one was the PlaceHolder, most of you would guess incorrectly; they are that realistic. We had to implement the player directory because we were flooded with calls of viewers wanting to subscribe to follow players who were actually PlaceHolders. The way it works today, before you call us to subscribe, you search out the human and find the corresponding player, a much better system.

 
So you see, PlaceHolders are humans, and they are needed in the Game to allow the real players enough variety and opportunity to play a more exciting Game. The world needed to grow and expand beyond the available players. PlaceHolders allowed this to happen.

 
PlaceHolders are the automatons, the cogs and gears that allow the Game to function for a smooth playing experience. A shopkeeper who sits all day and sells items? Often a PlaceHolder. Factory workers that go to work day in and day out to complete a simple, repetitive task? Best done by a PlaceHolder.

 
That doesn’t mean players don’t get stuck doing these types of things. Sadly, most of them stand beside PlaceHolders for their entire lives, stuck in the same ruts with the same unfulfilling results.

 
See what I mean when I tell you it gets tough to tell the players from the non?

 
One of the fun parts of watching the Game!

Brandon Strayne - the Game Explained

Miranda

 
Sensations of col
d
and pain force me to open my eyes.

 
I feel icy wet concrete pressed against my cheek; not the type of pillow I’m used to. I raise my head and slowly look around. This is no cell — it’s a filthy alley. Dirty snow and dark, stinking water drips from my matted hair and face as I sit up.

 
This can’t be good.

 
My hands and feet are numb and bare. I’m shivering fiercely; that’s likely what woke me up. I’m dressed in light pants and a sweater covered in dirt and grease, soaked thoroughly with alley water.

 
I stand up and reach out to catch the edge of a dumpster to stop me from falling. A wave of hunger and dizziness sweeps over me;

my thoughts are sluggish
. It’s a good guess I’ve been drugged. Here’s hoping it’s wearing off.

 
Ten feet to my left is a row of cardboard boxes, I can hear someone coughing inside. A large, dark rat squeaks loudly to my right, scurrying towards the shadows, something hairy hanging from its mouth. The alley extends deeper behind me, getting darker as it goes. The lights on the walls are mostly broken and useless. My best option lies ahead; a dull grey light shines on a street. I can see cars and people moving past the alley opening.

 
I take a step forward and intense pain spikes upwards from my heel into my hip, like a white-hot electric current driving straight into my stomach. I bite my lip and try not to cry out; only a small whine escapes, echoing off the walls. Pursing my lips, I give it another try. The pain increases. Getting out of this alley is my goal and I’m going to do it, even if I have to crawl.

 
Slowly I move towards the street, counting the steps as I go. Twenty-four steps, each one an agonizing moment of torture, lasting for eternity. I take a step, wait until the bulk of the pain subsides, then grit my teeth and take the next one. As I count twenty-four my hand grips the wall and I clear the alley. I want to sit down, just for a minute, but I know that if I do it’ll be impossible to get back up. I decide to head for the café on my left. A quick calculation tells me that salvation is only fifteen steps away. Fifteen impossible steps. I can’t move another inch. Tears begin to form in my eyes.

 
Wait a minute…

  ‘Sparx
? Where the hell are you? How come I just remembered you now? Come on, ol’ buddy, kill the pain sensors in my leg so I can get to that café over there.’

 
Nothing. I can’t sense Sparx at all. Something’s wrong. Very wrong.

  ‘
Sparx!’ I yell in my head. ‘Can you hear me? I need you, just for a few moments, then you can go back to whatever it is you’re doing…’

 
I close my eyes and try to focus within, to search for some trace of Sparx, but the pain is too great; I can’t calm down. ‘Fine, then, don’t help. I’ll do this myself.’ I try to sound confident, but I’m holding onto sanity by a thread. The pain, and no response from Sparx… and where the hell am I?

 
I decide to think about what’s happening while I walk. Maybe it will help me keep moving.

 
Step…
When’s the last time I lost contact with Sparx? Total contact, complete silence? The answer is never.

 
Step…
I can always sense her, even if she doesn’t respond.

 
Step…
Where the hell is Shane? What happened, for me to end up here?

 
Step…
Did he find out about me? Why didn’t he just kill me?

 
I stop and lean against the wall, gasping for air. The world is spinning. I look around to see if anyone will help me. Everyone is staying very far away from me, not that I can blame them.

 
I grit my teeth and move one painful step at a time. I expend my last ounce of energy and fall, about two steps short of the café. With a grunt and a moan, I crumple like a wad of wet toilet paper, falling with a heavy thud onto the sidewalk. The pain lessens when the weight is taken off my leg. Sounds from the street are less clear. Maybe I’m lying in a pool of water. Perhaps if I close my eyes, just for a minute… ahh, yes, that’s better. I’m starting to feel warmer now…

 
I feel hands grab and lift me. I can’t muster the strength to open my eyes. I try to mumble ‘Thank you,’ not caring if whoever has hold of me intends to do harm or good. Oh, god, they’re standing me up. The pain shoots up my leg and explodes into my head with a blast of heat.
Sparx, where are you…?