Multiplayer (43 page)
Authors: John C. Brewer
Tags: #racism, #reality, #virtual reality, #Iran, #Terrorism, #young adult, #videogame, #Thriller, #MMORPG, #Iraq, #Singularity, #Science Fiction, #MMOG
Hector’s friends all began talking at once. “FBI! Agent! Cool!” said Darxhan. “Do I get a gun? Or maybe krav maga training! Or…”
“FBI Agent?” Veyron questioned, not sounding nearly as thrilled. “That’s not exactly what I had planned for my life.”
“Me?” Alkindi squeaked in disbelief. “You arrest my father, and now want
me?
” Hector couldn’t tell from the tone if he was honored or frightened.
Izaak held up his hand to stop their babble. “What exactly does this mean?” he asked skeptically. “I don’t know if you noticed, Mr. Murray, but the terrorists nearly killed us this last time. They did kill Chaz. Now, you’re telling us we work for you? Not asking,” Izaak noted. “Telling. But you aren’t being honest with us. Sounds like a raw deal to me, if you won’t even tell us what happened.”
“The information is classified,” the vanguard responded coldly. “But I can tell you that the drug dealer who went by al-Nib is still out there, and we suspect still using this game. All we are asking is that you keep your eyes open when you are here. And in exchange, you’ll have FBI-trained cybertechs making tools and weapons for you. We could help you become quite powerful.”
“Or quite dead,” Sanjar replied.
“Naturally, we’ll be watching in this world too,” Mr. Murray added quickly.
“Give us a minute,” said Izaak. Hector sensed this would go nowhere as long as adults were involved and switched off his mic. The others did too and Sabrah called Deion on her phone, and put him on speaker.
“So what do you think?” Hector said, looking at his friends.
“Man, this sounds cool, but I don’t want to get killed,” Deion said again. “Look at Chaz! No respawn, Hector.”
“We stopped a war,” Sabrah interjected. “But, I don’t trust this guy.”
“Trained cybertechs,” Sanjar added, sounding impressed. “We could do a lot.”
“We don’t need their techs,” Deion shot back. “We got you, Alkindi. Your stuff’s better than anyone’s.”
Hector listened to them go back and forth. The specter of death against defending the nation – which they’d proven they could do. The inconvenience of dealing with this Murray-guy against having trained cybertechs build who knows what for them.
Hector held up his hand for them to stop. “You guys didn’t know my dad,” he said slowly. “My dad was awesome. But he didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to leave us and go to Iraq. But he did. He did because he was part of something bigger than himself. I didn’t want to climb that tower the other night. Sanjar, you didn’t want to run off in the dark by yourself and try to start that truck. Deion, you didn’t want to have those guys after you. But we all did those things because they were what we had to do.”
“Tell that to Chaz,” came Deion’s voice from the tiny speaker.
“We can’t bring Chaz back. Nothing we do now changes that,” said Hector. “But dying isn’t the worst thing that can happen to you, Deion. And our hardships – the physical wounds that will heal and the friend we’ve lost – that’s what makes us strong,” he added, knowing he wasn’t making sense, but also knowing the words were true. “Would any of you trade that night for an evening of sitting at home on your nice and comfortable couch, now that you know what the outcome would have been?”
“That’s what I did,” said Sabrah dejectedly.
Hector shook his head. “Sabrah, your mom found you passed out on the couch. That’s hardly comfortable.” He paused and looked at all of them. “Sanjar is right. DD is a chump, and I don’t trust a guy who won’t tell us the truth, even if he says he can’t. But that doesn’t matter. al-Nib is still out there. Still using the game. We have to do this, guys. We have to do it because it’s the right thing to do.”
Silence fell over the room for a moment, until Sabrah finally spoke with soft determination. “I’m in. For Chaz.”
“Me too,” Sanjar chimed, and nodded. “I fight for the honor of my people.”
Hector looked down at Deion’s face glowing on the tiny screen. “Deion?”
The image nodded. “Lets do this, bud.”
“So what did you decide?” the Deputy Director asked when they returned to the game.
Hector sighed deeply. The war that had taken his father’s life had followed him here. But, like his father and his grandfather before him, he was a warrior. Descended from Spartans of old. Backing down wasn’t an option. “We’re in.”
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Author Bio
John C. Brewer grew up the son of a naval aviator and has lived in Canada, Florida, New Mexico, Washington State, Virginia, and Alabama. At Auburn University, he earned a B.S. in physics and an M.S. in aerospace engineering. He lives in Huntsville, Alabama with his wife April and his three sons, and is working hard on his next book. To learn more about John and what he is doing please visit www.JohnCBrewer.com.
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