Gamers' Rebellion (9 page)

‘Who in heck is he?’ asked Tark.

‘Um …’ Zyra stared at Robbie. He had hair, arranged in a neat side part, eyebrows and lashes. ‘That’s Robbie. He’s a robot clone.’

‘How cans he be a robot and a clone?’ asked Tark.

‘Long story.’

The sound of trees being ripped apart announced the arrival of the first of the metal men. Tark, Zyra and Robbie looked up to see the mechanical man’s chest plate swing open with a hiss of steam. The barrel of a gun extended out.

‘Now that’s a robot,’ yelled Tark, grabbing Zyra and pulling her to the ground.

The gun boomed.

‘We do not appear to be the target,’ said Robbie, calmly.

Tark and Zyra looked up to see where Robbie was pointing. High up in the air a gigantic airship was manoeuvring through the smoke. The shell stuck the gondola. There was an explosion and then flames and smoke belched from one side.

The metal man’s gun burst into life a second time. There was a massive
woof
of flame as the entire airship disappeared in a huge burst of heat. Flaming wreckage rained down into the trees around them.

‘I really would advise vacating this environment,’ said Robbie.

‘How?’ asked Zyra.

Fire spread through the trees while three more machine men crashed through the forest towards them. From the opposite direction they heard a mechanical droning sound, like a giant saw cutting through wood.

The first mechanical man’s gun retracted, its chest plate swinging shut. It inclined its head, the beams from its searchlight eyes slicing through the accumulating smoke and focusing on Tark and Zyra. The two of them jumped to their feet.

‘I wants a weapon,’ announced Tark. ‘Shows me wots I can has.’

A series of holographic images sprung up in front of him – several swords and a couple of knives.

Zyra caught on quickly. ‘Available weapons!’

Tark and Zyra made their selections as the metal man lifted its arm and an enormous Gatling gun popped up from a concealed hatch.

Tark was now holding a sword and Zyra had two knives. They looked up into the barrel of the Gatling gun.

‘I don’t think they will be very effective,’ said Robbie. ‘Take my hands.’

Tark and Zyra dropped their weapons and each took hold of a hand. The Gatling gun fired, bullets ripping up the vacant ground.

***

Still holding Robbie’s hands, Tark and Zyra stood in a field of golden flowers, a blue-as-blue-can-be sky above them.

‘One minute to exit.’ Josie’s disembodied voice rang in Tark’s head. ‘Are you safe?’

‘I is fine,’ said Tark, dropping Robbie’s hand and looking around. ‘Wot is this place?’

‘I’ve been here before,’ said Zyra, looking around.

‘It’s Bobby’s thinking place,’ said Robbie.

‘Is Robert going to be joining us?’ asked Zyra.

‘No,’ answered Robbie. ‘When Designer Prime plays the Game, it is always as Bobby. I think he feels that Bobby would not necessarily be helpful right now.’

‘Wot is going on?’ demanded Tark. ‘I thoughts Bobby was this Ultimate Gamer. And he’s dead! Wot’s he gots to do with all this?’

‘It’s a bit difficult to explain,’ said Zyra. ‘Yes, Bobby died. But he’s Designer Prime in the outside world. So he could go into the Game and be Bobby again. He got us out of the Game.’ Zyra paused for a moment to think. ‘And this is Robbie. He’s a clone of Designer Prime. But he looks different on the outside.’

‘Fifteen seconds,’ said Josie.

Zyra stared at Robbie. With hair and eyebrows and eyelashes, he didn’t look weird at all. In fact, he was quite good looking. A younger version of Robert. An older version of Bobby.

Zyra smiled.

Robbie smiled back.

‘Why the hell is ya still holding his hand?’ Tark blurted out.

‘Exit!’ Josie’s voice called out.

And Tark was gone.

‘Tark! Why did you –’ Zyra hurriedly let go of Robbie’s hand. ‘What about us? How do we get out?’

‘Our nanobots were programmed for emergency exit,’ said Robbie. ‘We can exit at any time.’ He looked thoughtful before continuing, as if he were trying to decide whether or not to make a revelation. ‘You really must beware of the Designers. They are dangerous. And they play games with people’s lives.’

‘What about Robert?’

‘He is Designer Prime.’

The flowers shifted,

‘What was that?’ asked Zyra.

‘The security program has located us,’ he said. ‘It is time to exit.’ He took her hand. ‘Ask Robert about the missing children.’

And they were both gone.

16: Kiss

Tark’s eyes snapped open. Josie was staring down at him, face close to his. On impulse, he took her face in his hands and kissed her.

It took her a moment to recover from the surprise and to pull back. She quickly jumped to her feet and stepped even further away, glaring at Tark.

Tark, muscles still a little sluggish in responding, slowly sat up and then stood. He sniffed and wiped his sleeve across his nose, then faced Josie and smiled.

Josie stepped forward …

And punched him in the nose.

It was not a particularly hard punch. But it did hurt. And it took Tark completely by surprise. He staggered but just managed to keep his footing. He put a hand to his face and wiped away a trickle of blood and a smear of green.

‘Do that again and I’ll …’ Josie clenched her fist again, leaving the threat hanging.

‘Wot?’ demanded Tark. ‘Sticks me in the eye with a needle?’

Josie unclenched her fist.

‘Or zaps me so I can’t move?’ His jaw tightened. ‘Or kidnap me?’

‘If that’s what you do when you’re angry with someone … what happens when you like them?’ asked Josie.

Tark stared at her for a moment, then his face broke into a smile and he chuckled.

‘I wuz confused,’ he said, looking a little embarrassed. ‘That’s all.’

‘Uh-ha,’ said Josie, nodding. ‘Fine. Let’s forget it then.’

‘Yeah,’ agreed Tark. ‘Forgets it.’

It was at that point that Tark realised that he had an audience. Devon, Len, Tara and a couple of other kids were standing to the side of the room, silently staring at him and Josie.

‘Wot is ya looking at?’ growled Tark.

The kids hastily dispersed, some leaving the room, others getting on with chores.

‘Me eye aches,’ said Tark, changing the subject. He rubbed at it. ‘I thoughts ya said there wuz numbing thingies in that needle.’

Devon walked up to Josie. ‘All good?’

Josie ran a hand through her unruly hair. ‘Now that we know Tark can get into the Game we can move on to the next step.’

‘And wots would that be?’ Tark fumed. Josie and Devon looked at each other and then at Tark.

‘We need to send you back into the Game, of course,’ said Josie. ‘This time, with a purpose.’

‘Greats!’

‘Not straight away,’ assured Josie. ‘Go get some food and rest first.’

***

Tark was back at the trestle table with Devon, staring at another bowl of mush.

‘I mixed some orange juice in this time,’ said Devon.

‘You’re a real … Ya is a real chef.’

Devon smirked.

‘Wot?’

‘It’s not a natural way of speaking,’ said Devon. ‘Probably felt fine inside the Game, but now that you’ve got a real mouth and tongue that hasn’t been programmed, it sounds like it’s actually difficult for you to keep talking like that.’

Tark scowled and shoved a spoonful of mush into his mouth.

‘It’s kind of silly to keep talking like that if you’ve got to concentrate on it.’

‘Got any ice-cream?’ asked Tark.

‘I wish.’

Tark dropped the spoon back into the mush.

‘So what’s with Josie?’

‘She’s our leader,’ answered Devon. ‘Our boss. She got us all together. Got us organised. Found this place.’

‘Yeah, but what’s her angle? Why’s she doing all this?’

‘Her brother,’ said Devon. ‘She and her brother used to live in an orphanage. Then the Designers showed up, wanting kids. They did these tests, getting them all to play games. And they chose some of the kids. Took them. Josie’s little brother Alex was one of them. And he –’

‘Never came back!’

Tark and Devon turned to see Josie standing in the doorway.

‘The official story was that he ran away,’ continued Josie. ‘I know that’s not true. The Designers took him. And they did something to him. And I want to know what.’ She walked over to the table. ‘He wasn’t the only one they took.’ She pulled a chair out and sat down. ‘Mel and I are pretty good with computers. So we started to do some snooping. Other orphanages had lost kids. And then there were the homeless kids who disappeared. And the runaways who were never found. Of course, the police don’t care about them.’

‘And you think the Designers have all these kids?’ asked Tark.

‘Yes. But the more we’ve investigated, the stranger things have become. When we hacked into the Design Institute computer system –’

‘You broke into the Game?’ Tark interrupted.

‘No,’ said Josie. ‘That’s a separate system. A biological system. I mean their regular computer network. When I hacked into that, someone at the Design Institute caught me. But they didn’t turn me in. Instead, they helped me. Gave me info. Gave me tech info. Even sent some equipment. I mean, it’s old equipment. Real old. Like it was destined for recycling or something. But we use it. That’s how we’ve been able to make the nanos to get you into the Game.’

‘So what’s the big deal about getting me into the Game again?’ asked Tark.

‘Something is going on in there,’ said Devon.

‘There is a sealed off section,’ explained Josie. ‘A hidden environment. Even our informer doesn’t know what’s going on in there. But he thinks it’s something bad. And it’s connected to the missing kids.’

‘What makes you think I can do anything?’

‘I’m not sure that you can,’ admitted Josie. ‘But we’d really like you to try. Especially now that they have Mel.’ She looked at Tark with a defiant stare. ‘It may be too late for Alex. But I won’t let them keep Mel. I will get her back.’

Tark nodded slowly. ‘Does it have to be the eyeball?’

‘Sorry.’ Josie shrugged.

17: Children

‘Is Tark all right?’ asked Robert, as Zyra opened her eyes.

‘Yes,’ Zyra answered, rubbing her face and sitting up. ‘He got out.’

She blinked. The left eye was a bit teary and felt sensitive.

‘What was he doing in there?’ asked Robert. ‘And how did he get in?’

‘The rebels put him in there,’ said Zyra, rubbing at her eye. ‘I’m not sure why.’

‘He had time-limited nanobots and a communications link to the rebel leader,’ Robbie explained further.

Zyra glanced at him. He was hairless again. After seeing him in the Game, it struck her just how weird his appearance was in the real world. He was standing by the dispenser, an empty syringe still in his hand. It occurred to Zyra that he must have injected the nanobot solution into his own eyeball. The thought made her shudder.

Robbie caught her staring at him and blushed. He quickly turned his attention to the wall of tech. Zyra wondered if robot clones were supposed to blush.

‘How did they get the tech to do that?’ Robert wondered.

‘A good question,’ said Robbie, taking a glass of water from the dispenser and passing it to Zyra.

Zyra took a sip of water and ran her unexpected Game experience through her mind.

‘It felt different,’ she finally said, ‘being in the Game just then. I can’t put it into words, but it felt different from when I was living in the Game.’

‘Of course,’ said Robert, as if it were the most logical thing in the world. ‘You are no longer a Game entity. And you can never truly go back. You are now a player. It’s very different.’ He chuckled to himself. ‘A Game entity who is now a player. Bravo.’

Zyra took another mouthful of water and considered this information. She sniffed, her nose feeling a little dribbly, and wiped at it with her hand. She was shocked to see a smear of green on her hand.

‘A side effect of the injection,’ said Robbie. ‘There is a connection between the nasal cavity and the nasolacrimal duct in the eye. Excess liquid drains from –’

‘Yeah, yeah, fine,’ interrupted Zyra. ‘I don’t need the details.’ She then turned her attention back to Robert. ‘Mel mentioned kids. She said I should find out what happens to them. And you play as a child version of yourself. What is it about the Game and children?’