Gamers' Challenge (3 page)

Zyra narrowed her eyes and glared at Tee. ‘So it’s yar fault.’

Tee held up a gloved hand in a placating gesture.

‘Actually, it was a VI. What you would call a ball of static.’

Zyra took a thoughtful bite of her apple, chewed, swallowed, and then spoke. ‘Okay,
old man,
ya saids ya had stuff to tells us. Well, we is listenin’. So, starts talkin’.’ She pointed to the mattress next to Tark.

Tee sat himself down. ‘Where to begin?’

‘Starts with the static balls.’ Zyra lifted herself up onto the table and sat cross-legged. She took another bite of her apple and looked down at Tark and Tee. They looked similar, she realised. Same height. Similar faces- though Tee’s was lined with many extra years. Same intense, violet eyes, but Tee’s seemed wilder. And while Tark slumped, Tee sat upright. He had a confidence that Tark lacked, even while sitting on an old mattress.

Tee rubbed his apple on his sleeve and looked upat Zyra. ‘Always have to have the higher ground,’ he muttered.

‘Wot?’ demanded Zyra.

‘Nothing.’ He looked back down at his fruit, took a deep breath and started talking. ‘Okay, the static balls. You’ll have noticed that they appear to be the same sort of ... well ... static, for want of a better word, that makes up the Interface between game environments. I assume you’ve been in the Interface?’

Tark and Zyra both nodded as they continued to eat.

‘Well, it’s as if bits of the Interface have leaked intoour environment and become intent on homicide. The theory is that they are like viruses - a spreading infection. Hence the name Viral Interface, or VI for short. Every time they consume something, they gain power and grow. I’ve even seen one ball split into two after consuming people.’

Tark swallowed hard, the apple not wanting to go down.

‘People?’ Zyra had stopped eating, her fruitdiscarded. ‘Wot people? We’ve neva seen ‘em attack anyone other than us. No one else even seems ta notice ‘em.’

‘Ah, yes.’ Tee looked at his apple again, shifting it from one hand to the other. ‘You see, there are other people who have refused to play by the Designers’ rules.’

‘People likes ya?’ said Tark, his eyes alight with excitement. ‘People that can sees us? People we can talks ta?’

‘Do you think you’re the only people ever to defy the Designers? Yes, there are others. Many others. People have been breaking the rules and living without actually playing the game for as long as the game has existed.’

Tee noted the surprise in the eyes of both Tark and Zyra.

‘We call ourselves Outers. We’ve got a communityset up on the edge of this environment. We established it after the VIs showed up. Those things consumed many of us before we found a safe place. Since then, we’ve been working on fighting them and ...’ Tee paused for a moment, apparently lost in thought.

Tark and Zyra glanced at each other.

‘You would be most welcome to join us,’ Tee said, finally.

‘Why shoulds we?’ asked Zyra. ‘We is safe ‘ere.’

‘Yes,’ said Tee. ‘Yes you are. And I’m intrigued that the VIs leave you alone while you’re inside the Temple. I assume it has something to do with the Oracle. But what happens when you step outside?’

Zyra looked away. Tee reached into the small quiver attached to his belt and pulled out a crossbow bolt, its tip static-grey.

‘This bolt has been charged with the substanceof the Interface.’ He held it up. ‘One of these can substantially weaken a VI. A second will destroy it.’ He returned it to his quiver. ‘And we have other weapons.’ He paused. ‘But there’s more than that. We are working on things. Big things. Things that could shift the balance of ... of everything.’ He shrugged.

‘Now, tell me about yourselves. How you discoveredthe Temple as a haven. How you survived.’

Tee looked expectantly from Zyra to Tark and then back to Zyra.

It was unnerving the way Tee kept watching her. There was something odd about it.

‘It started with a kiss,’ said Tark, smiling up at

Zyra.

Tee also smiled. ‘It always does.’

And suddenly it struck her. Family! It was a family resemblance. With both Tark and Tee smiling at her, it was so incredibly obvious. A sameness differentiated by years. It was like she was looking at father and son. Could that be it? Could Tee be Tark’s father? She marvelled at the thought. When they had been playing the game, the notion of parents had been irrelevant, had never even crossed her mind. Yet now, here was this strange man who looked like Tark

- who might be his father.

‘Things changed,’ continued Tark, shaking away the smile. ‘We couldn’t talks ta people no more. Or touch anyone. No one could sees us. It wuz likes we wuzn’t there.’

‘Like ghosts,’ added Zyra.

‘And in a way, you are ghosts,’ said Tee. ‘You are no longer part of the game. You are irrelevant to anyone in the game. To them, you do not exist.’

‘The weird things wuz, there were some things we couldn’ts touch,’ said Tark. ‘Anythin’ the games people wuz usin’.’

‘Yes,’ agreed Tee. ‘Anything that is actively in play is off limits to us.’

‘And thens ... suddenly these balls of . .. these VIthings shows up.’

‘And we starts runnin’,’ said Zyra.

‘And they is chasin’ us,’ said Tark.

‘And we is runnin’ past the Temple.’

‘And some dude is comin’ out of its.’

‘And I thinks maybes the Oracle can ‘elp us,’ said

Zyra. ‘So we runs through the closin’ door.’

‘But them VIs, they don’t follows us,’ said Tark. They were both panting now, as if having run thewhole escape all over again.

‘And was the Oracle of any help?’ asked Tee.

‘Nah.’ Tark shook his head. ‘Wouldn’t even talks taus.’

‘And now I can’ts even leave the Temple,’ complained Zyra. ‘As soon as I goes out, them things are onta me.’

‘They is more wrapped up in Zyra than me,’ said

Tark.

‘Hmmm.’ Tee tugged at his beard. ‘I think I can help with that.’ He dug in his pockets and pulled out what looked like two stickers. ‘Here. Put these on.’

‘What is they?’ asked Zyra, taking one and turningit over in her hands.

It was a soft, opaque plastic square with a plain white paper backing on one side.

‘Medical patches that have been adapted,’ heexplained. ‘We found a whole batch of them in a disused hospital. Each patch contains a very small amount of static from the Interface. If you look closely, you can see it.’

Zyra brought the patch up close to her face. Through the opaque plastic, she could just make out a little churning greyness.

‘The patches slowly release a minute amountinto your body,’ continued Tee. ‘Having a bit of the Interface running through you seems to confuse the VIs, hiding the wearer from them. It won’t stop them if they’re close by, but it will prevent them from homing in on you.’

Zyra looked suspiciously from the patch in her hand to Tee. He pulled back one sleeve to show the patch stuck to his arm, just above the wrist.

‘Wear one of these and you can leave the Temple.’

Tark grabbed the second patch from Tee. Pushing back the sleeve of his tunic, he yanked off the backing

paper and slapped the patch onto the underside of his wrist.

‘They don’t last for long,’ said Tee, peeling the patch off his arm and getting a new one from his pocket. n hour at most.’ He stuck the new one a little further up his arm. nd don’t put them in the same place twice in a row. They get itchy.’ He pulled his sleeve down again and stood up, stretching. ‘Now, I think it’s time I took you to meet the Outers.’

He opened the door, swept back the drape and stepped through into the Temple, expecting Tark and Zyra to follow.

Zyra stared at the patch a little longer. ‘Leaves the Temple, huh?’ she whispered. Then she peeled the backing off her patch and stuck it onto her right cheek.

‘Why’d ya do thats?’ asked Tark, getting up off the mattress.

‘Easier to gets it off quick, if needs be.’ Zyra jumped down off the table.

Tark raised a quizzical eyebrow.

‘In case he’s lyin’,’ she explained.

‘Oh.’

Zyra pointed an accusing finger at Tark. ‘Ya is too trustin’. We has only just met ‘im. He could be anyone.’

‘Who?’ Tark shrugged.

‘I dunno,’ Zyra snapped. 1 I is sayin’, is that we needs ta be careful.’

‘Okay.’ Tark held up his hands defensively.

‘Woteva.’

Tee stuck his head back in through the doorway, stared at Zyra, then looked over at Tark. ‘Bring along any food and weapons you may have.’ Again, he glanced at Zyra, before disappearing back into the Temple.

‘He’s a bits weird, ain’t he?’ Zyra stared at the door.

‘This comin’ froms the one with a bit of plasticstuck to ‘er cheek,’ said Tark, gathering up the weapons.

4:
The Outers
 

Zyra glanced around nervously as she walked through the City with Tark, following the mysterious stranger taking them to meet the Outers. They had used the monks’ old robes from the vestry, packing up the food and weapons into three bundles that they each carried over their shoulders.

Tee’s patches seemed to be working. Theywere almost at the edge of the City and had not encountered a single ball of static. Yet Zyra still didn’t trust him. The way he kept looking at her was unnerving. And he wasn’t giving them the full story she was sure of it. And then there was the fact that he looked so much like Tark. Could he be Tark’s father?

‘Oi, Tark,’ Zyra whispered, shifting her pack from one shoulder to the other.

‘Yeah?’

‘Notice anythin’ about the ways he looks?’ Zyra indicated Tee.

‘Nah.’

‘Don’t ya thinks he looks kinda familiar?’ she persisted.

Tark stared intently at the back of Tee’s head for alittle while before answering. ‘Nah.’

Zyra exhaled, long and loud. Tee glanced back at them over his shoulder and smiled. Tark smiled back.

‘I don’ts trust ‘im,’ Zyra hissed.

‘Why?’ asked Tark.

‘I just don’ts.’ Zyra swiped at her hair, trying to keep it back. ‘He coulds be leadin’ us inta a trap.’

‘But then why woulds he gives us the patches?’ Tark tapped his cheek knowingly.

‘Lullin’ us inta one of ‘em false senses of security.’ Zyra scowled. ‘Then, when we least expects it -’

Tark shook his head dismissively. ‘Ya knows, sometimes ya thinks too much.’

They continued in silence, Zyra brooding over Tark’s acceptance of Tee at face value. Zyra’s mood was matched by the dark, overcast conditions.

Reaching the edge of the City, they passed a gang of mutants lurking in the shadows of a partially collapsed building, the glint of their mirrored shades winking from beneath their hoodies. It looked like they were rifling through the pockets of a couple of dead travellers. None of them so much as glanced in the direction of Zyra and her companions.

Zyra eyed them cautiously as she passed. If Tee could see her and Tark, she reasoned, it was possible they might encounter others who could as well- others who might not be as apparently benign as Tee.

Entering the Forest, with its thick foliage, thingsgrew darker still. Zyra kept a close eye on Tee as he led on.

***

It felt as though they had been walking for ages,although neither Tark nor Zyra knew exactly how long. They were finding it difficult to gauge the passage of time. Since they no longer participated in the game, they had noticed that there was no regular pattern of night and day, and the sun in the sky could be anywhere at anytime. Not that they could even see the sky at the moment, with the thick canopy of trees blocking their view. Tee insisted on staying off the paths, so they had been fighting their way through dense vegetation.

It was a great relief when the Forest suddenly gave way to barren, rocky ground, which extended into mountains. At the base of the mountains, amidst the massive boulders, they could see a dark opening. That was where Tee was taking them.

As they approached, Tee motioned for them to stop. He unclipped a device from his belt. It made a musical chirruping sound when he flipped it open. He twisted a dial and lifted it to his face.

‘Tee here. Let us in,’ he said into the device. A muffied voice answered.

Tee clicked it closed and hooked it back onto his belt. The air in front of the cave entrance shimmered briefly.

‘Force-field,’ explained Tee as he led them to the mouth of the cave. ‘Keeps the VIs out. Always be careful. Touching the field feels like having a pile of rocks dropped on your head.’

They entered the darkness and walked alongthe rocky passageway. As their eyes adjusted to the gloom, Tark and Zyra noticed tunnels and alcoves branching off in all directions. Continuing, they realised they were heading for a dead-end. Zyra glanced nervously at Tark.

‘No need to worry,’ Tee assured them.

He placed his palm against the rocky wall. Light flared beneath it and the wall melted away, revealing another passage. This time the walls were lined with sconces, each supporting a softly glowing orb.

‘Magik,’ breathed Zyra.

‘Rechargeable batteries, actually,’ corrected Tee. He looked back at Zyra. ‘You can take the patch off now. You’re quite safe in here.’ He continued along the passage.