Raine VS The End of the World (35 page)

Despite her faults, Lucille was one of the only people in my life to show me true kindness.

“That’s what we’ve been trying to do,” I pipe in. “If we share our knowledge, we may not need to figure out this answer alone.” A lame response, and a pitiful attempt at quelling some of the tension.

“The others concur. Lorrie, can’t we argue about metaphysics on a full stomach?” Lily protests, taking her seat with us and sipping down the hot miso broth.

“I want a solution to this!” Lorelei calls desperately. “I will not rest until I know whether we have quadrillions of lives and deaths on our hands.”

“Hey. Quadrillions of lives are still going to be there in five minutes. Soup’s getting cold,” Lucy replies in her deadpan manner, on cue as usual. She wipes the steam from her glasses. “Chow now. Science later.”

While I initially admired what Lucy did, neither Lily nor Lorelei spoke for the rest of the evening. Her intervention might only have deepened the rift. Perhaps this conflict could have been settled that very night. Or not. This was certainly not the first major altercation between Lily and Lorrie, and it would be far from the last.

I never knew what to do in these situations. I felt so powerless, a fly on the wall that could be called on at any juncture to hold up a scorecard. What good could the opinion be of a so-called scientist more concerned with the thoughts of everyone else in the room than with finding the truth?

But listen to me go on. Self-pity was never my style. Neither was arbitration. Call me lazy, but back then, I just wanted them to agree on something, anything, so that we could get to work.

Only now do I realize I was just avoiding the consequences of my actions.

Lily closed the book and swept away a stray tear.

Why did you choose her, Lacie? Was her logic truly that sound? What did you stand to gain – love, respect, power? All the things I could never offer you… or had I never thought to do so…?

Twenty years of life and Lillian had nothing to show for her efforts but the pain and suffering she’d caused others. Maybe things could change after
Operation End Verse.
Or maybe nothing would change. Even in most of the best-case scenarios, all the experiences, hopes, and dreams of this timeline would amount to nothing but a sob story in a red envelope.

No. I can’t think that. I’ll never know ‘til I try.

▬

Queen Lorelei strode out in silence to meet the transport ship. Captain Simon Thomas of the Royal Guard and twelve of his best stood at attention. Her Majesty was dressed in jet-black from head to toe, and a thick veil obscured her face. Her steps were quick and lithe, as if the Angel of Death were gliding across the raised platform.

The young Captain saw trembling from underneath the silk gloves as she lifted the tarp covering both General Lacie and her clone. Their faces were a pale green. Queen Lorelei studied her true sister’s features, identical to her own, and the sensitive Thomas was sure he sensed her thoughts – like him, she was wondering if she'd look as content at her own curtain call.

A tear fell from Thomas’ face as the Queen planted a kiss on her sister’s forehead, her purple lipstick giving General Lacie the appearance of a third eye.

Queen Lorelei then walked over to the Captain and handed him a letter bearing the royal seal. As she made her exit from the room, it appeared that her heart had sunk, and that she was weeping. Being the fearless and undisputed World Leader, it was inconceivable to suggest or even consider that Queen Lorelei was capable of emotion. But that day, he was sure he had seen her break.

As soon as she disappeared back into the elevator without dismissing the company, Simon unfolded the letter and read it twice to himself. Not a soul in
Neo Eden
was to know of General Lacie’s death; he and anyone with knowledge of the incident were to be escorted to the Overseer by armed droids and submit to memory cleansing. The information was not to leave the hangar.

Officially, the General was abroad on an important assignment. The bodies would be left covered for a clandestine funeral pyre that night, arranged by the androids, at which Queen Lorelei alone was to be present.

∩

In a private server far from the Developers’ prying eyes, Super BlastBoy toasted his feet in front of the fireplace. He watched in dreadful anticipation as the holo-feed from the night’s concert was interrupted and replaced by a warning message and a server-wide hunt-and-freeze order. Five hundred million Gold points, the sign read over the head of Yossa Kernani, standing in the midst of the Bowl. Smaller rewards would be given for information or assistance leading to his arrest.

“Player
Yossa_B13
has been declared an enemy of
Endless Metaverse
,” the reporter began. “Patched into the
Avidya
server via illegal channels, he is a cyber-terrorist, to be considered extremely dangerous. According to multiple reports, his organization is responsible for the disappearances of campaign workers, the attacks on daycare centers, the hunting of red pandas and raccoon dogs, the rises in defense taxes, and the database exploits scrambling the banking systems. If anyone is withholding information about
Yossa_B13
, they are in breach of
Metaverse
law and will be punished to the fullest extent.”

The game icon shook its old head. The time to act was approaching very soon.

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” - Rumi

“It’s a simple anti-spawn tracking error. Anyone could overlook it, Reno.”

“I disagree completely, sir. It’s a known issue. As per Hoshua’s orders, it was scheduled to be addressed in tonight’s update.”

“It’s one line in a string of millions. This was Guggell’s error in the first place, was it not? As I said, anyone could and would overlook it. Look, I’m just asking you to do one thing. In fact, scratch that. I’m not even asking you to do anything. I’m asking you to do
nothing
.”

“And that’s precisely what I can’t do, sir.”

“Stop telling yourself that. It’s easy.”

“I… I just… in all my years of service, I’ve never…”

“If you continue to make it difficult for us, then we will have no choice but to make things difficult for you.”

“Please, sir. I don’t want any part in this.”

“You were involved the minute you took over Janice’s office. If you won’t play ball, then rest assured our mutual cyborg friend will have no qualms about removing you from the court. Permanently.”

Having left the Coliseum reconditioning in Hoshua’s hands for the time being, Jon Wrathman dimmed his office window and listened intently to the flagged recording of a hushed conversation in the Developers’ lounge earlier that day.

The Templars were messing up left and right, and Raine was still nowhere to be found. But this had to have been the cherry on top of the crumbling cake: unbeknownst to anyone but himself, it appeared that Chris Marco was bullying his colleague, Dr. Cid Reno, into overlooking a serious bug in the known
Metaverse
.

The ‘cyborg friend’ is an easy peg: General Beech is godfather to Marco’s boy, and he and Reno were bunkmates at the Royal Academy. What are Marco and Beech playing at? Could
they
be the rebel spies? For once, I’m left in the dark.

“All right!” Reno responds at last. “But I don’t want to know nothing ‘bout this. Nothing, you hear?”

Marco laughed. “Not a peep. Not even if you’d asked.”

Thoroughly intrigued, Wrathman cut the recording and winked to retract his Holo-Lens. He gazed down into the Network chamber at Marco and Reno in turn, working with separate teams on
Avidya’s
opposite continents, and ordered the droids to prepare his
M-Gear
.

I really ought to confront or report them. But then there’s that other side of me, the one that wants to see how deep this treachery runs.

As for motives? Beech thinks Her Majesty has been too weak on the coalition rebels. That she hasn’t been ruthless enough in her seizure of power. According to my source in the Defense Ministry, he’s even found a way to keep personal records in between memory wipes. More than anyone else, Errol would recognize the right moment to make his move. Only… I fear for the
Metaverse
. If that machine-man and Macleod had their way, half the world would be in ashes.

And Marco’s hit the ceiling as far as career growth is concerned. He could be searching for that second chance. Or he could just have been in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Never would I have imagined that pencil-pusher courageous enough to support a coup.

Ah, well. I admire their dumb courage, though I rate their chances of success lower than the last five attempts to seize the throne. And if this wretched plan of theirs blows up in our faces, at least I’ll know that I didn’t turn away from it.

A sudden alarm sounded out from the Coliseum, compounding Wrathman’s worries.

“What? That’s preposterous!”

He’d been away from the main room for all of five minutes. In an act of brutal betrayal, the shields around the Coliseum had been breached. Hundreds of thousands of anarchists had infiltrated the arena.

Not now! Of all the days they could have scheduled a raid! Who messed up this time? Best to plug in ASAP, so I can at least get a closer look at what’s happening before the Queen comes a-calling.

╪

Back in the Coliseum, Yossa continued his speech.

The bowl was mostly empty now, with just a few stragglers. Chance busied himself about by munching on leftover concessions. Raine soon concluded that there were no doubts about it: this had to have been the very same Yossa that Gerrit told her about - the rebel Homo-Pachyderm. Half-man, half-elephant.

Wicked.

“You might be wondering why you haven’t heard of us. Why you don’t remember us. They have been regulating your thoughts, using electrical signals shot straight into your mind to elicit gut reactions, to restrict your higher brain functions, to make you forget that there’s more out there. Did you know that ninety-five percent of all
Endless Metaverse
players have less than six months of long-term memory?”

Yossa reached both arms out to implore the crowd. “What they haven’t done, because they will never be able to do it… is to control your hearts. Senses can be tricked. Memories replaced, instincts rewired. Nanites programmed to inhibit your judgment. Belief systems shaken down and destroyed. But the voice of the heart is stronger. It says, listen. Engage. Love. Seek.
Care
. I implore you to look within your own hearts. We are all seekers of truth. Come with us and we will show you what it means to be truly human. To remember the things you’ve been trained so hard to forget, to achieve a potential that you may be unable to imagine because you’ve been so deeply indoctrinated.”

I can see why Gerrit trusted him. He seems sincere enough.

Just then a threatening boom sounded out from above. The captive audience screamed in terror.
The
Nebula
reappeared over the bowl. Templars were rappelling down ropes. Terror took the crowd again. Sobs reached Raine’s ears. She spun around; the few people who remained cowered behind their seats.

“No, please! Stay calm! Join us, and we will protect your minds and bodies! We will fight for your inalienable rights! Give you a secure connection, patch you through to our hubs! Together, I know we can uncover the truth!”

The small electric device Yossa’s posse placed in the middle of the stage suddenly emitted an intense point that drew in the surrounding air, pressurized it, and then shot up a shining pillar.

“Have no fear!” Yossa yelled. “This is for your protection!”

Heavy rumbling shook Raine’s balcony; she shoved the balloon into her shoulder bag, and just in time. The pulse zapped every electric light in the area. Active Network visors short-circuited.

From the beacon, a clear barrier surrounded the stadium in a protective dome, and not a second too soon; Templars dropping down from the
Nebula
rebounded off the electrical pulses.

A rather large person knocked Raine against the wall, prompting a new strategy. Considering her options, she felt compelled to approach Yossa and introduce herself. A friend of Gerrit’s might be her only hope at bringing him back.

He was currently detailing a plan to quickly organize the audience into two groups – those who wanted to learn more about the revolution, and those who wanted to leave.

Some of the less battle-ready folk used Chimera Wings to teleport out of the area. Yossa offered them for free, but warned that the city was under Safety Lockdown, limiting warps to within its walls.

Raine moved swiftly towards the stage, where men and women from the resistance met with interested folk from the audience.

With Chance’s help, she pushed through the crowd, drawing quite a bit of attention.

“Hey! Was that…”

“It’s her! It’s the Rain dancer!”

Leaping from a fifteen-foot rampart into a roll, Raine was stunned to see thousands of people in the arena rushing towards her – some in reverence, others in full-on rage.

“Raine! Viva la revolucion!”

“Your data blitz erased by girlfriend’s memory! I’ll make you pay!”

“Beat it, dork! I want that bounty!”

“Didn’t ya get the memo, bottom-feeder?! She’s off the list.”

“Get away from her, ya goons! That crown means royalty!”

Raine made it as far as the sunken pit by the main platform before being mobbed to the ground.

“Dog, be it true zat you spared ze Pagoda Champion’s life?”

“Hey! I run a swaggy blog about you. Please to be my waifu?”

An effeminate voice drove the crazed fans back with an otherworldly battle cry. Its maker, a fabulous elven warrior, then pulled Raine out of the unruly flood of bodies.

“Bless my soul, sister! It’s really you,” he said, holding her by the shoulders. “But why are you here?”

The elf motioned to some gnomes, who worked crowd control while he escorted Raine to the stage, beside himself with unchecked joy.

“They dropped me off right in front of the Coliseum.”

“Of course! They must have sent you here for reconditioning, to be experimented on! In a stroke of blind luck we caught you just in time, girl! By gods, that will be one epic headline! YOSSA! Yossa, sir!”

He took Raine’s hand and led her up the stage, behind a sensor-shielded bauble to Yossa, who was now dwelling in the shadows, relentlessly checking a holo-map of the Bowl.

“Yes, Figwit?”

“It’s Raine, sir.”

The elephant man’s eyes shot open.

“She was here this whole time?”

“We couldn’t detect her. Player density interference.”

“Of course, of course. This is a most welcome development, to say the least! Have a seat, Raine,” he offered, sitting down in the lotus position. Following suit, she noticed he boasted thick elephant legs and a head, but his body and arms seemed to be akin to that of a rugged human. He was quite a prospect to behold.

“You’re beautiful,” Raine murmured, staring at him.

“Ha! That’s the first time anyone’s ever called me that,” he reflected. “It is said that during account creation, one chooses how their avatar will appear. That kind of information is not for us to recall, of course.”

“Strange. I can see it now,” Raine said, a little shocked. “My hub. I was given the choice. But only between being a man and a woman, and whether I preferred men, women, or… otherkin?”

“Hum. That is a clue you have been patched in from a system running an older installation client. It also means your memory is strong, like mine. Now, Miss Raine,” Yossa pressed, then darted his eyes to the corner, switching to the Private Channeler.

[Yossa_B13]: “Such information could be used for ill intent in the wrong hands. Let us not talk of these things here in the open. Come to Circuitron and we can work together. Set up cells. Destroy corporations. Bring down this prison from the inside.”

[rainorshine23]: “You mean, now?”

[Yossa_B13]: “As soon as we’re done here. It shouldn’t take too long.”

[rainorshine23]: “Before anything else, Mr. Yossa, I had a question for you.”

[Yossa_B13]: “Is it about Gerrit?”

[rainorshine23]: “Y-yes! Is he all right?”

[Yossa_B13]: “Erm…. we received a message a few hours ago that seemed to match his signature. Scrambled almost beyond our understanding, it was. Must have gone through a dozen filters.”

A gibberish-filled text file appeared in a corner of the girl’s field of vision.

“What does it say?” Raine asked nervously. “I just saw--”

“Young Gerrit’s whereabouts are beyond our sight. From what little we understand of his message we believe he has been removed from
Avidya
. Either transferred to a different server, or frozen … no one can know. But he’s a fighter, that boy. He won’t go down easily.”

Raine sunk to the ground, filled with worry.
I might have already missed my chance to save him. But Lily… Lily’s gotta have a plan.
Yossa placed a hand on her shoulder.

“He was a good man,” he said. “To think that I saw him just… very recently. Told me about you, said he wanted to impress you. And that was just yesterday, before you got all famous.”

Raine nodded quietly and hid her tears.

Stupid Gerrit.
I never asked for your help.

It’s so odd that I care so deeply for someone I’d only just met. Odd that a boy could have such an effect on me, as if I’d known him my entire life. Whether he’s my dream boy or not, I need to find him.

With her eyes closed, she saw them both in her mind’s eye, in a far-off time and place, hand in hand, facing incredible odds together. Only, they were older, not younger. Was this a memory, or a fantasy? Her head began aching, as if she’d been dealing once again in forbidden knowledge.

She was thankful that just then one of Yossa’s men, a samurai with the moniker
BrOmega
, ran up to his boss urgently. He whispered into Yossa’s ear, but he was loud and nervous enough for Raine to hear as she took the silk handkerchief being offered by the elephant trunk and used it to blow her nose.