Raine VS The End of the World (47 page)

What he spotted next terrified him: a continuous expanse of helmeted troops guarded the outer walls, keeping the poor folk trapped inside. Yossa’s first instinct would have been to help the people, but that was out of the question given what they were up against.

“Guys, we have to regroup and take care of the immediate threats first.”

Hector nodded, and then held up a closed fist for silence.

They rounded the next corner carefully. A large armed personnel ground vehicle made donuts, trying to shake off a horde of hardy revolutionaries in the process of scaling its outside. The top hatch flipped open and a soldier from within opened fire on them.

Fueled by adrenaline, Hector ran screaming towards the hatch, jumped above it, and yanked the soldier out by his vest. He tossed the unfortunate man on the ground, where the others made quick work of him. The kid dodged more bullets from the inside, then stuck his scythe into the hatch and swirled it around. Blood spurted out from the vehicle, and Hector jumped inside to end the screams for mercy.

Seconds later he threw three men down from the cabin, one by one.

Yossa watched, horrified, as the bodies hit the floor; the people were dead, their faces grotesquely damaged. No spirits appeared. Their consciousnesses would not regenerate. This was true warfare, and it was indeed horrible.

“Get in!” cried Hector, and a few men were brave enough to climb the blood-soaked vehicle and get into the blood-soaked hatch.

“I’ll lead the ground unit,” Yossa called, picking up one of the discarded rifles and testing it on a bale of hay. “Where are we headed?”

Hector pointed North, at the inner rings of
Neo Eden
.

“We’re going to show them what we think of their infernal prison!” he cried, to many enthusiastic cheers.

Yossa was despondent, but he knew there was no changing the minds of these men and women. He was of the opinion that they needed to regroup at the safe house, not charge. They had to think this through, lest they be killed. Whatever it was that crashed those two ships together would probably not work a second time.

╪

Walking briskly, Henry made his way out from the lift atop the
Nexus’
ten-storey docking structure, scanned his wrist ID, and was no less than a hundred feet from his personal cruiser when it exploded in a ball of flames. He jumped in terror and spun around. The ringing in his ears subsided to creepy laughter.

So much for a smooth transition to Phase Three.

“That was a risky trick, hacking into the centralized autopilot program and activating the Supreme Lorelei Override,” Jon Wrathman pronounced. Beside him, a beefy
M-Geared
marine reloaded his heavy-duty rocket launcher. “And I know there are others. A particularly meddlesome individual took the ID locks off the weapons and sent our weakest androids in first to reduce human casualties. Ingenious. How did you pass her retinal exam?”

Ayumi’s gambit worked. Thank God.
“Didn’t need to, Sherlock. I programmed a backdoor into the latest security protocols.”

“So we know who our mole is. I was starting to think we’d never find the bad apple in our bunch.”

“I can’t imagine what you’re talking about. Beech’s plan will end in genocide. This was my first and only act of insubordination.”

“Don’t take me for a chump. I’m the damn president in every single server. The Queen may own the
Metaverse
, but it’s my playground. I know a liar when I see one. You’re with
them
, so act like it.”

Henry took a deep breath. This was it. He’d been found out. He’d be arrested and imprisoned, kept alive just long enough for them to torture information out of him. Dr. Zee hadn’t been responding to calls. Things weren’t looking good for the old man, and if his memory was being scoured, it was only a matter of time before they got Ayumi, too.

“You said it yourself. It’s not just me, Wrathman,” Holdfast began. “We’ve got this whole place on our payroll.”

“What did I just say about lying? It’s all so obvious you want me to believe that. Because hey, maybe if the money’s good, I’ll switch sides. Maybe I’ll turn to your ways. Maybe I don’t want to do this terrible job anymore.”

Henry was not thinking a single one of those things. He was considering how horrific it would be to die like this. His lunch burrito had been hastily devoured. Upon departing to the great mainframe in the sky, his bowels would evacuate and stink up the entire floor. Ayumi might even be watching. It would be a most embarrassing way to go and he had to prevent it at all costs.

“Maybe?” he echoed.

“Or maybe not,” Jon said, putting down the gun. He took out a cigar case. Henry recognized it as being from Queen Lorelei’s private stash. He lit one up and handed it to Holdfast, who took it reluctantly in trembling fingers.

Motioning for his guards to leave, Jon beckoned an astonished Henry to the lift, which they rode down to ground level.

Jon ordered two bratwursts from the nearby hot dog stand, and strolled into the hedge garden. Suddenly remembering that he didn’t smoke, Henry put out the cigar and returned it.

“Help level with me here,” Jon began. “You’re a pretty high-ranking officer, aren’t you?”

“I do have some authority,” he bluffed.

“Your side is going to win this war, no?”

“That is our intent,” uttered Henry.

“Intent, hah! Your boss is smarter than that. A siege like this doesn’t happen unless someone’s crunched all the numbers. And I believe your Lillian, young and crazy as she is, has crunched them twice over. So you’ve won the war. What then, old chap? What do you intend to accomplish with all these peasants?”

“We will rebuild. And we will endure,” Henry stated. “We’ll teach these
free people
how to live off the land. Countless sustainable communities thrive independently of this tyranny. We’ll take them in. Move to the old cities and rebuild.”

“And the
‘Verse
?”

“It will be destroyed, of course. Abandoned like yesterday’s garbage.”

“Oh, but surely that’s a bit harsh,” Jon twitched. “After all, you can’t be naïve enough to believe that everyone is going to want out of it.”

Henry shook his head. “Honestly, Mr. Wrathman, these people have been misled. They need to be shown the truth about our world.”

“But what if they don’t
want
to, Henry? Privileges like the
Metaverse
are not so easily withdrawn. And please, no one’s fired you yet. Call me Jon.”

“Well… Jon, I think their help will be needed to rebuild this planet, to cease nuclear activities, and the wasteful mining, and---”

“Ah! But they can help, can’t they, even with the
M-Gear
? The assets can do as much physical labor as the rest of us, even more, some would say, without even feeling the pain and toil. They can escape from their bodies. Wouldn’t you say that would be a kindness to them?”

“No matter how kind, it is still a delusion,” Henry said, though not so boldly. “I believe at the very least that players should have the active choice between their delusory world and the real one.”

“So we’re making progress. Your sentiment is touching,” Jon shot back, “but think, matey: how many of those people are contemplating suicide right now, upon seeing their true faces for the first time? After seeing the filth and poverty in this city, in this world? Consider the millions of nobles in
Maya
’s Upper Courtham, the
Verse’s
original shareholders. They’ll call for your heads. The public demand to be plugged back in, that’ll far outweigh the minority touting you as heroes. How many minds will you have to cleanse? There are… statistics relating to
Endless Metaverse’s
failures in the past that you have not yet had the privilege of accessing. They are not pleasant to stomach.”

Henry sat down on a nearby bench and finished his bratwurst. He wished he could believe that Jon was lying. It was his job to lie, after all, but these words struck him as truth.

His eyes went to the edge of the maze, past the trellises and their succulent fruit, to the obscured view of the levels below. For all the five years he’d lived in
Neo Eden’s
upper crust, he’d never ventured into the murky horrors of its outer levels. His home in the outback, well tended by permaculture farmers, had provided the most ample comforts. Never having truly suffered for food or health, he had much to be grateful for. Jon was correct on one account, though – almost eighty percent of the
Endless Metaverse
assets were poor, beyond the poverty line. The shock of seeing the real world for the first time might very well be inducing symptoms ranging from anger, shock, and depression to even heart failure at that very minute, Henry reflected.

“Cognitive dissonance, man. You’ve been blinding yourself,” continued Jon. “I estimate seventy percent will want back in. The great game must continue in some shape or form, Holdfast. Surely you can understand. Once you set a sequence in motion--”

“All right, all right. I assumed that once they knew the truth, it would be an automatic response. I’m a programmer, not a psychologist,” he began, but dialed back when Mister Senior’s most winning grin appeared on Wrathman’s face. It was downright creepy.

“Jon, don’t think this means I’m going to help you, because I’m not.” Henry peeked at his watch. “In fact, I really should get going.”

Henry about-faced and made briskly for the
Spire
. Jon’s Cheshire cat smile seemed to not only stretch ear-to-ear, but around his entire skull. He stopped mid-walk to redistribute the sauerkraut on his meal.

“Assumption after assumption. A common mistake you young folk make. Here, boy,” he insisted, trying to coax Henry in the other direction. “Let me tell you a little something about supply and demand.”

He declined the offer. “Look, if you want to talk business, you'll have to do it while I'm working. I'm kind of in the middle of something big, and thanks to Beech, tens of thousands are dying out there.”

With that, Henry simply continued walking away. He now had the upper hand, and the trick would be not letting Jon know how much his assistance was needed. Jon gritted his teeth, trying to match Henry’s pace back towards the mega-structure.

“Come on, what's more important than this? We have a business plan to work out. There’s no reason to re-enter the lioness’ den.”

Henry grabbed Jon by the collar and pushed him up against the hedge.

“Are you with us, or with her? Figure it out now. I hope you're aware there's a bloody armada about to be right above this city.”

“Hardly.”

“You said it yourself, mate. The numbers have been crunched.”

Despite his doubts, Jon looked worryingly at
Neo Eden’s
patrolling android-and human-run armada. Though the coast remained blockaded, most ships had left due east to meet the invading forces.

That eastern front is a diversion. Does this reptile get it now?

“I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt on that, Holdfast. But do we really, really, have to go into that building?”

“Absotively posolutely. Plus, one of our top guys is in there, and since I can’t get in touch with my point man, it’s my job to make sure he gets out safely.”

“Wait, kid! Hold up! Are you seriously going to just walk in there? The ID scanner's gonna nab us. S-she'll have our heads!”

“We have seventeen minutes before this hill turns into a war zone. If you've got something else in mind, now's the time.”

Jon gulped.

“There might be one way. The Queen has a private elevator for special deliveries.”

√

The mainframe circuits had grown jam-packed with faulty security protocols, Tony noticed with some relief. Now that the rebels left the
Avidya
backup’s security compromised, the primary
Avidya
server was struggling to stay afloat as its users rose up in dissent, siphoning electricity and computing power from the entire system.

Endless Metaverse
was systematically unraveling, all due to one loose thread being pulled very methodically by Lily’s exploits.

Because the mainframe was not directly connected to any server and instead routed through complex channels, the global pipes were completely swamped with Exabytes of conflicting traffic.

Super BlastBoy and four aerial Groups of the EDC’s assault program sped far overhead of this mess, zooming over the congested data ceiling, visible in glimpses from their hidden tunnels. They had circled the mainframe twice already, barely avoiding detectors.

They awaited only the Sky Admiral’s signal.

It was quite unusual for a time traveler to be behind schedule for her big day. Tony worried that something might have gone wrong. It was especially dangerous that Lily needed to keep radio silence until she’d arrived at the mainframe.

“Grey Wings, looks like we’re going around again,” he announced.

“Roger,” came the collective response.