Authors: Curtis Hox
Versim (25 page)
“You wouldn’t.”
Hark leveled his Blaster at his sister. “You’re wrong, Krista. Goddamn it, jump out now. I know you’re not the host. You’re being tunneled temporarily like you were before. It’ll hurt and be a headache for you, but I’ll do it. So, leave, before it goes bad.” He then leveled his Blaster at Binda. “I’ll do it.”
“You won’t,” Krista said, but she backed up a few steps. “Just like you would never hit me in the face.”
He leveled his weapon again at her. “Now, Krista. Out, so I can see you’re not the host. I need to know.”
“Hark, please …”
Miesha chuckled. “Oh, this is good, so good. Shoot her, Hark. You’ll know for sure. We all go up in smoke or …”
“A specialist kills an inspector in-V. You’d love that, you meddling bitch.”
“A brother kills a sister,” Miesha said.
He kept his weapon on her. “Krista, go now. I know you’re not the host.”
She looked off, infuriated, and a second later she was gone. Hark breathed a sigh of relief edged in pain, one he knew that everyone watching heard. He would have shot had she waited a few more seconds, and she had seen it. She knew it. Magdalena could sense his pain. She was waiting to douse him, but he’d commanded her not to. Not now. Not when so much was up for grabs.
“She’s not the host.” Hark leveled his Blaster at Binda.
Miesha’s laugh again. “You think I’d be so stupid?”
“I have a new contract negotiation for you, Specialist Cole. First offer: you agree to it, the boy is out of this V, out of
The Borderlands
. He’s granted full legal personhood, and you’re released from your original contract of fulfilling your promise to Paul Stammand.”
He lowered his weapon. “Go on.”
“You know who the host is, don’t you?”
Magda
?
That information is blocked to me for some reason, sir. It’s odd. I have no idea why such a simple request would be—
“My sister was telling the truth: she’s here legally,” Hark said. “EA did find our illegal host.”
“Yes, we did. Funny thing about you, Specialist Cole. You scored off the charts when tested for cognitive mapping skills.”
“Yes, I did.”
“You chose to be a specialist, instead of a Sersavant, or a Spinner, or—”
“Did you make me the—?”
“Another brilliant move on my part. Switching hosts is common enough, as you know. Rend-Vs can continue without a single hiccup. Garce is now acting as your buffer for the entire Sersavant hacker corps dedicated to this V. And he’s more powerful than Celia, so we’ll have no trouble directing as need be. But your imaginative mind is now the home for all of this, while Garce serves as your second. A backup, really, if you decided to bail. An awake host is … risky. We had to limit the scope, of course. Celia Preston had spent two decades building this out. But for what I have planned, we don’t need that much space, or time.”
“What’s the deal?”
“Oh, simple, you survive for a year in-V.”
“That’s it? Survive?” Hark began to feel as if he might come out of this shining. “Let me guess: I play the part of a host being hunted? Your ratings skyrocket because no V has ever done this. In fact, if you catch me the entire V goes up in smoke, except you have Garce you can write in to save the V. Riveting entertainment.”
“That’s it. That’s my contribution. Vs will never be the same again.”
Hark grunted, as if he’d stepped on a sharp stone. “You got a deal, Director Preston. I keep Magda and my gear.”
“Of course.”
Hark waited, knowing there had to be a catch. “Well, what is it?”
He could see by the way she was grinning, she had something to tell him. “Ervé will eventually be back.”
“Figured that. Unless he doesn’t recover.”
“He will. We’ll give him an undead upgrade. You did kill him. Versim integrity requires it.”
“Of course. That’s it? I have my own demands.”
Again, the giggle. “One more thing. Here’s the premise: Specialist Harken Cole struggles as a host in a Rend-V to survive for one year. He’s hunted by a city of monsters.” Hark grinned at that, happy for the chance to fry some uglies. “But, in the spirit of this new V called
Versim,
we’re allowing the viewing public to vote on which principal antagonists will hunt him. We’ll offer a wide range to choose from: a variety of old nemeses will top our lists, plus options for customizable villains the public can outfit how they choose. How does that sound? Revolutionary, no? We’ll also allow them to immerse and join the hunt. The applications are already pouring in.”
You against the world, sir. Just as you like it.
Magdalena could read his mind when he let her. And she could also feel his emotions. Relief cascaded through him, and she gave him her version of a hug. If Miesha Preston thought he’d be quaking in his boots, she had no idea who Harken Cole was.
“Give me back Binda,” he said, “and Frankie as a principal with the full package: make him interesting so he’s got weight. And you have a deal, Director Preston. It’ll be good to be working together.”
Binda went rigid as a paused proxy. A half-minute later, Miesha said, “Then it’s settled.”
Hark waited, watching. Binda stood in the middle of the room, eyes still glowing that infernal gold as if fueled by some evil intelligence; then the eyes dimmed, and Binda Avey stumbled forward, righting herself at the last minute.
“Hark?” she asked.
“You got your role, girl,” he said. “Now let’s go find Frankie. He’s probably waking up somewhere scared to death, wondering what happened.”
“I remember everything.”
“Yeah, they’re playing it that way. You get to be yourself.”
“And you?”
“Who else? I’m Harken Cole, antagonist of
Versim
.”
THE END
Thank you for purchasing this book. If you enjoyed it, please leave a comment or review at the site of purchase. Check out my website at
curtishox.com
for new releases or contact me at
[email protected]
.
About the author
Curtis Hox is an English professor by day and a science fiction writer by night. He launched his debut novel,
Bleedover
, in Nov. 2011, and in 2012 he released his YA Transhuman Warrior Series. He's also blogging his journey as a self-published author. He lives with his wife and two year old son, who often pretends to type on his keyboard.
Stand-alone novels
:
Novella:
Bottomland
(Coming Soon)
Short stories
:
Connect with me online:
http://www.twitter.com/curtishox
