Gamer (Gamer Trilogy) (2 page)

My relationship with Stefanie was the least of my problems
at the moment. Essentially I’d been selected, along with five
others from my school – including both Stefanie
and
Victor to participate in the second ever trial of Simulator – the
brand-new most realistic and technologically advanced piece
of gaming equipment in the world. Although, I’m not a hardcore gamer myself, the Omega, a prize that rivals that of the
Nobel in terms of prestige, was put on offer to the winner of
this Simulator trial.

I scrunched the envelope in my hands, listening to the
satisfying sounds of crumpling paper.
The first test of this gaming machine left five people in a
vegetative state, a disgracing mar on the reputation of Elitus
Academy. This award was the only reason that anyone,
including myself, had bothered applying to sample it –
despite rumours of its risks.
This Omega award itself was important enough that people
had, and would, kill for it. With the Omega behind me, or
anyone for that matter, one was guaranteed success in life, in
any way shape or form.
Prospective employers, heads of government agencies and
even leaders of countries would all bend over backwards to
satisfy the elite few, who through some miraculous feat, had
managed to acquire the Omega Award.
Basically, all we had to do was make sure Simulator worked
as it was supposed to. And there were two ways in which we
could win. The first and probably more dramatic way - one
had to kill all their opponents. It would be hard, probably
emotionally damaging and probably not the chosen path, but
all it took was one person intent on doing this, in order to
force everyone else to do the same…
The second way allowed more than one person to win.
There was a ‘portal’ in the game, through which we could
also exit.
And so this meant that we all had a choice. Cooperate or
kill. I was more than confident in my ability to carry either of
these out, it was all only a game, anyway.
The interesting thing about the technology, however, was
exactly this. Supposedly the game used a new type of realimagery chip, something that made the game seem as realistic
as, well, real-life - which was the real danger. It became a
matter of telling the difference between the game and reality
and this was the first group’s undoing. Applying for that spot
in the trial, however, was like applying for the Midas touch.
I straightened out my bed and began to button my shirt
when I heard a knock at the door for the second time that
day. Right now, if it wasn’t Jacob or Stefanie again, I’d be
pretty annoyed. I was in one of those moods.
I got up, ready to depart and answered the knock.
I struggled to conceal my surprise. One of the more
dangerous competitors, Lily, was standing at my door.

I resisted the urge to just stare at her silently, giving her a
chance to explain her presence. She smiled meekly. “Hey,” she
said. Her voice was soft but still had a slightly hard edge to it
that I remembered from when we first met.

“Hey to you too,” I replied, trying to keep the bemusement
from my tone.
“I-I was coming this way anyway and thought I’d stop by…”
Was she blushing?

“It’s fine,” I waved her apology away and walked out with
her.
Attending Elitus Academy was no easy task. Being one of the
most secluded education facilities on the planet - the students
here were handpicked, making them the elite of the elite. If
you were here, you had to be either famous, a genius or filthy
rich. Stefanie was all of the above. I myself was none of them
and had it not been for my dearest mother, I wouldn’t have
been here full stop.

My mum was a former student herself and she managed to
pull some strings with the staff here - no doubt her stardom
helped as well. She was well connected and sending me away
to boarding school, especially Elitus, was both convenient for
her and something she could boast about to her fellow actors;
something that frustrated me.

I wanted to be my own person, I needed to make my own
name – I was here on my parents’ merits, not my own. I
needed that glorious Omega. If I didn’t get it, I was pretty
much just another student at the Academy. In fact, I was less
than just another student; I was a useless student at the
Academy – a status that could very well get me kicked out all
together. My mother made it clear that if I wasn’t successful
here, she would have nothing to do with me after that –
thanks mum.

What a random question to ask, maybe Lily was doubting
her validity as a candidate or something. For me, however,
my actual selection had an underlying motive to it.

“Look,” I told her honestly, “I think the Academy has some
interesting reasons for choosing who they did. I think yours is
an easy guess, you’re bloody smart.” She seemed overly
flattered.

“And it’s whom…” She corrected me quietly, smiling. Mental
note – speak less in front of Lily, I told myself.
Getting that spot to trial Simulator was, to be honest, really
out of the blue. I had a feeling that I was purposely picked so
that I could be given a chance to prove my worth to the
Academy. More so, they were expecting me to fail and
wanted an excuse to kick me out. Either way, I didn’t have
time to think about the hidden motives of elite education and
so with Lily, I ran through the other applicants, calculating
my odds.
“Stefanie, Victor, B3ast, you, Grace and myself,” I said out
loud. Lily looked up at me.
“Six people,” she added. I was sure she’d done these same
calculations.
“Stefanie and Victor obviously got in because they are
supposedly what every Academy student should aspire to be
like, right?” I asked Lily. The question was a rhetorical one.
Rich, good-looking, smart and with billion-dollar empires
awaiting their graduation, there was no better
exemplification of the Academy ideals than them.
“They’ll probably team up too,” Lily added, “making them all
the more dangerous.
“Mm.” I nodded. “I doubt that they’ll hesitate to do what they
have to in order to win.”
Lily agreed.
“What do you think about Grace?” I asked. To me she
seemed an odd choice. Younger, more a party girl, well on
the way to becoming a Stefanie of her year level, she seemed
almost weak and not much of a threat.
“I think that it wouldn’t be a good idea to underestimate
anyone.” Lily’s response didn’t just apply to Grace.
“And B3ast?” I asked.
“Well, you know B3ast.”
B3ast, the country’s number one gamer – and therefore
obviously a student at Elitus – was guaranteed a spot,
though, how could he not be? He’d be somebody to watch
out for.
Both of us paused, in silence as we both considered the only
two remaining competitors – ourselves. Lily was also
younger. She’d been accelerated up to our year level apparently at genius level as far as intelligence went but her
selection was quite random. She was small and fragile. Her
comment about underestimating the other competitors
sounded almost dangerous though…
Finally we were free from the dorms, out in the weak
sunlight of the early morning. We were now power walking –
we both boarded in one of the most inconvenient parts of the
school – clearly neither of us were high on the Academy’s
priority list. In comparison, Victor had a dorm on the highest
floor of the Central Building that had walkways directly
leading to the lecture halls and as implied in the building’s
name, was in the centre of the campus. Thinking of him, my
teeth instinctively grinded against one another.
The lab, which was where we needed to go, was directly in
the direction we were travelling, just a significant distance
away. It was easily a good ten-minute walk, time we didn’t
have.
I quickened my pace again and could now see the giant
fountain that stood out the front of the academy’s hall, in the
centre of the huge circular drive. Everything at this school
was disproportionately big for no apparent reason besides the
fact that it looked good.
We began to jog along the cobblestones now, the edge in
the air chilling us a little.
“Are you nervous about the fact that in less than twenty-four
hours we could be well on the road to a mental institution?”
Lily called out over our rhythmic footsteps.
I think we’d both come to terms with the fact that we were
about to enter the unknown.
“Yes and no,” I called back, “but what can we do about it?” I
shrugged.
I realised these were the last few minutes I’d have to myself.
For the first time since I’d woken up, I paid attention to my
nightmare.
Glass trees, moonlight, death by Victor and a mystical portal
that I couldn’t reach – definitely nightmare material. It wasn’t
the first one that I’d had in the past few days, my mind had
been conjuring up all sorts of scenarios of what might be
awaiting us, but this had seemed so thought out and too
realistic for comfort.
“What do you think it will be like?” I asked Lily, still halfrunning, half-walking. I remembered the feeling of that axe
cleaving my ribs. Then the crash as I fell to the ground, and
Victor’s wolf-like laugh…
“Dangerous,” was all she said.
I really didn’t like Victor. He was just that stereotypical, up
himself kind of guy and it didn’t help his ego that he was the
only heir to his father’s real-estate empire. He went around
like he owned the school, and even though he pretty much
did, it annoyed the crap out of me. People bent over
backwards to please him, and not just in a metaphorical sense
either. Speaking of, my thoughts changed track to Stefanie.
With Stefanie on his arm, he was king of the school, but to be
honest, I didn’t think she even liked him – she just wanted to
be the queen. I considered again if their relationship would
change anything in Simulator. Thinking about it carefully
this time, I decided it probably wouldn’t, in fact, I was willing
to put money on their relationship ending because exactly
how superficial it was, would be exposed. They’d never take a
bullet for each other – something that we might literally be
trying to save ourselves from.
I kept on processing information about the other
contestants, remaining in silence, right up until we were
standing in front of the glass doors of the lab, with just two
minutes to spare. Lily was now beside me and as the doors
slid open, we both instinctively stood closer to one another.
“Whoa,” I breathed.
It was impossible to completely describe the inside of the
lab. From the outside, it looked like just a glass dome,
wrapped around in a ‘modern’ looking network of black steel
bars. From from the inside it was like standing next to one of
the Giant Pyramids, or inside those ancient cathedrals. It
made me feel so… insignificant.
The doors had been shaped to fit the curved edge of the
building and the entrance, which was also the ground floor,
actually lacked a complete roof. This was strange because
that meant the level above couldn’t have a complete floor.
Looking up, it looked like something you’d see in a circus
tent. Cables attached to the curved edge of the building
supported the incomplete roof-floors. They were more like
platforms than anything else. Against the edge of the
building, on every level, there was a thin, metal walkway. It
was from these walkways, on every level, that paths at even
intervals extended to the platforms. This complex
arrangement created the sensation of standing inside a giant
machine. Looking up, through the gaps between the bridges,
the distance to the roof seemed endless.
I looked at Lily, trying to catch her eye. She, however, was
absorbed in the whole thing, mouthing silent words to
herself.
Looking around, I wondered how exactly somebody could
get to the platform above… In the centre of the ground floor,
I saw a simple glass elevator that ran straight through the
middle of every platform, probably right up to the top.
“Look at all the people,” Lily finally whispered.
The immensity of this place was emphasised by the fact that
there also seemed to be an infinite amount of people
everywhere. Lab technicians swarmed in and out of the
elevator, parting around us to reach the exit, stopping briefly
to chat about their findings or, further up, crossing the
bridges along the catwalk to get to the platform they needed
to.
It was like an ant colony, eerie in how well everything
seemed to work.
Right now, Lily and I needed to get to Simulator though.
While at first we were both kind of swept away by the goings
on inside lab, the time was ticking.
I had no idea which way to go, the simulator could’ve been
anywhere in the entire building. And I meant
anywhere.
In
fact, the height of the building simply looked never ending.
I looked over to Lily, “Do you know where to go?” I asked
her.
Her eyes were narrowed and an expression of scrutiny
crossed her face. She remained like that for a whole minute
and just as I was about to go off and find my own way, she
simply said, “This building is an illusion.”
Confusion swept across my face. For a second I thought she
was joking - what are you supposed to do when someone calls
something that you’re looking at an illusion? My first instinct
was that she was just messing with me to make me an easy
target, however, this was Lily and she was definitely smarter
than me, so I decided to hear her out. To an extent, I also
thought we might have bonded a little… As I contemplated
walking off, she grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the
entrance of the elevator directly ahead of us. The doors
opened.
Peering inside I saw what looked like an ordinary elevator. I
noticed a mirror that was hung on one of the walls, reflecting
thousands of people… that weren’t there. I noticed a
miniscule red light flashing in its top-right corner and then
realised it was actually a screen, alternating between the
different floors.
I looked at her questioningly; this wasn’t anything she
couldn’t figure out by herself.
She rolled her eyes and said, “Look at their faces.”
I had no idea what she was talking about and even after
looking at the face of one of the people on the screen it
seemed perfectly fine, I began thinking more and more that
we never really hit it off before for a reason. Then I began
looking at the other faces of the workers and I realised what
was wrong. They were all the same person.
It was such a weird feeling, watching the same face over and
over. It made me feel kind of dizzy.
Looking around me, not in the elevator, all the people
edging past us were the same as well, I resisted the urge to
yell out. I decided that if they were a threat, they would’ve
done something already.
How I hadn’t spotted this, however, I had no idea. But then
I realised that the people did a good job of hiding their faces
enough to avoid suspicion. Stacks of books, hunched
postures and even a couple of hooded jumpers hid most of
them from sight. Definitely a creepy feeling.
“Well, they don’t seem dangerous – what do we do now?” I
asked Lily.
“We go in,” she replied, gesturing towards the elevator.
She seemed so sure about what she was doing that I didn’t
question her. Since seeing that screen, the elevator had shot
up and back several times. Currently absent, Lily reached
forward, pressed the up arrow and waited for the elevator to
arrive. When it did, the doors slid open, an impossible
amount of people came out and we entered. Chaos erupted.
It was strange that we were alone in the elevator but also
extremely fortunate. For some reason, the workers began to
almost hum, quite like a stirred beehive. It was agitating and
intimidating to watch, none of them seemed to come close
enough to the elevator that their faces were distinct. The
noise was dulled through the transparent elevator walls that
we were now sealed inside of.
And then the people began to vanish.
The things people were carrying lay abandoned on the floor
until they too vanished and after minutes of turmoil – during
which I had no idea what to say or do – it was eerily silent.
I was on my toes, waiting for absolutely anything to jump
out from nowhere and then realisation swept over me –
Simulator, had already begun.
“Lily,” I looked over to her, equally tense and prepared, “it’s
happening.”
Her eyes were wide but also reflected determination. “I
know.”
Together we stood alone until everything began to darken.
Eventually the elevator itself faded away and we waited, on
edge.
I decided I needed to stick with Lily, hoping that her brains
would get me through safely.
Looking over to her once again, I saw that same look of
intense concentration that she’d had when she first spotted
the illusion of the building.
Without warning, the silence was shattered.
“MOVE!!” Lily yelled out.
As she pushed me forwards the world lit up with a flash of
bright light and right where I was standing an enormous tree
erupted out of the ground, smashing the tiles and crushing
through the glass dome roof. Jagged shards of glass fell from
the sky, glittering like snowflakes but crashing into the
ground with vindication.
I yelled from the shock and darted away, heart racing and
my surroundings taking on a sudden sharpness. A massive
tree that had forced its way out of the ground had almost
impaled me. Fissures large enough for me to lie down and
stretch my arms out in had formed at the base of the tree and
then the ground began to rumble again.
The white floor panels beneath our feet then began
morphing into grass and more trees began forcing themselves
up. All I could do was wait for Lily to let out a warning call
and pull or push me out of harm’s way. Somehow, she could
tell where they were coming from and also when.
“How are you doing that?” I called out as another cluster of
trees surged upwards.
Lily just shook her head and pushed me back several meters.
Thorny branches grazed the tip of my nose; I shuddered
involuntarily at the thought of what might’ve happened if Lily
hadn’t saved me.
Glass smashing, earth growling and floor morphing went on
for what felt like hours, but could easily have been just
minutes. Lily and I were both fatigued, twice we had nearly
been killed, barely escaping trees that had branches thicker
than the two of our bodies combined. I laughed almost
manically when I realised that our clothes had been ruined
and that Lily and I were both sporting several cuts, scrapes
and bruises of varying sizes. This is what Elitus truly made of
its students, I thought. Looking at my watch, I saw the
screen had cracked.
The trees themselves, I realised, were wondrous; I wouldn’t
have even been a fifth of their thickness, or a thirtieth of their
height. To say they were huge would’ve been an
understatement.
The gruelling strain started to take a toll on us and Lily and
I began to pant heavily. Perhaps this was the start and end of
Simulator. Maybe the test was to outlast fatigue and the
challenge lay in avoiding impalement. There would be a
winner, that’s for sure. But then it didn’t matter what the test
was, did it, so long as I was the one to survive.