Raine VS The End of the World (51 page)

“There were some good things about it, I suppose,” Larson admitted. “Phil and I play chess from time to time. Gently Caress keeps me updated on trolling targets. Once in a blue moon some wandering code cracker accidentally makes his way here. I have an unlimited defense budget, see, so I get my choice of what to do with them. Smash, fry, roast, purée, that sort of thing. But it gets tedious. I haven’t had a challenge since, well, since you took off and started playing human.”

He rolled the whisky glass in hand and took another swig.

“I’ve often felt the same, about the tedium, I mean,” Tony responded. “My hermetic habits are to blame, but it’s a crying shame that neither of us has spoken to the other in so long. And now, this.”

Larson laughed. “The real mystery is how you survived for a decade holed up in a cabin in Atmoya. Tell me, friend, you’re as desperate as I am for one last fight.”

“I suppose we should get it over with.”

“So, this is the part when I’m programmed to try and persuade you to join me and do evil things,” Larson quipped, cleaning his lenses. He pulled on his coat and became Dr. Professor once again.

“Of course, I should be inclined to valiantly reject your offer, insist that there is no reason you should not support this human rebellion, and influence you to help us shut down the
Metaverse.
”

Larson considered this. “That… actually sounds like a great idea right now. If you can’t abide by the system, you burn it down.”

He looked invigorated at first, then a tad disappointed.

“That being said, I was very much looking forward to battling you again, brother. Do you remember my nuclear-core flying suit?”

“There were, like, a million suits, man.”

“The one with the pink lasers and the missile-launchers on the wingtips? It shot the electro-web spheres. It’s a bit of an oldie, but--”

“Oh, how could I forget that battle? Wait, don’t tell me you’ve fixed it.”

“More than that. I
improved
it. Raine’s data storms have given me all sorts of ideas.”

“In that case, yeah, I mean, why not? We can have one last fight,” Tony wagered, clipping his cape back on. “How about we configure a timed detonator on the virus? Make things interesting?”

“Now you’re talking,” Dr. Professor replied with a savage full-toothed grin. “But let me make a quick call. We need a third party to pass on our tale.”

Larson put his hand up against his face, extending his thumb to his ear, with his pinky a mouthpiece.

“Yeah, Phil? I require your services.”

A portal roared open. In its midst, the Overseer looked away from its unending multitude of functions; a rather weary look colored its pale, bearded face.

“What now, Larson?” the old man groaned. “I’ve got a war to run.”

“Duel to the death. Thought you might want to watch, and possibly arbitrate. Oh, and just a heads-up, pops. The
Metaverse
is about to be shut down.”

“Bah, I’m sick of you pulling my leg. Wait, Tony? Is that really you?”

SBB grinned. “Every pixel, Phil. Larson speaks the truth. At this rate, we’ll all be out of work.”

The Overseer’s snaking tendrils twitched in excitement; the AI had long awaited an end to this nightmare. “Ho! That’s the best news I’ve heard in years! I suppose I can spare a few bytes to play ref. But make it quick, please.”

Phil snapped his fingers thrice.

A glowing orb rose from the water, its expansive energy held into place by metal constraints. Immeasurable amounts of data surged in and out of the core from snaking conduits. Super BlastBoy set up the device concealing the virus under the heart of the backup server.

“Wait, what are you doing? That will never get the job done. Inside the orb, man, inside!” Larson grumbled.

Super BlastBoy complied, dropping the bomb into the sphere.

He flexed his muscles as his nemesis strapped himself into a sleek blue mechanized suit and did some stretching exercises.

“Whenever you’re ready,” yawned Phil.

The first dead pixels appeared in the sky. The color was slowly being drained from the virtual representation. So, the virus had already begun to take effect.

“Come on, then!” Dr. Professor called. “I’ve waited all my life for this!”

Super BlastBoy charged with every bit of his might. He’d been given one last opportunity to do what he was always programmed to do, and he was going out fighting. At long last, he felt like he was truly fulfilling his purpose. He was going to perish like a mortal. Whether or not there was an afterlife for programs mattered not; he could think of no final function more pleasing to execute.

That human Lily was right all along. In truth, letting go of
Endless Metaverse
was the easiest thing Tony had ever done.

▬

When Archie’s incessant barking became too much to bear, his unconscious master finally came to, and felt cold ceramic against her cheek. Claire Alexandria didn’t know why she was still hugging the toilet. The pills had come back out the same end not thirty minutes ago. She tried to recap the last few hours.

I’m loitering in the café lobby by the exclusive military
Nexus
elevator, veiled in black and sporting Lacie’s old ID chip. Beech spots me, and there’s the slightest hint of sympathy in his eyes. I make a beeline for him. He dodges my questions; naturally, he’s got other things on his mind.

“There must have been some word,” I demand. “Her Grace was just at the Mount--”

He shakes his head, averts his eyes. “Who told you that nonsense?”

“A woman has her sources.” But he’s waving me away.

“Errol!” I cry aloud, and the commuters all stop and stare. “This is torture! Damn you, and damn her! Damn all of you for keeping me in the dark!”

Never before did I see the man so close to breaking down.

“I’m sorry,” he says at last, eyes on me. He’s telling me what he can’t say.

She is dead.

Without a further word, the soldier takes his leave, disappears down into the realm of warriors, a place I cannot follow. I try to call Ayumi. No signal. Did last night really happen? I’ve still got the cloak to prove it. But her pep talk didn’t seem to help much. I leave a note and chase a liter of strawberry vodka with a few handfuls of 5-Oma to carry me across the river Styx.

Only, there’d been a snatch at the last minute. A revelation.

Poison might have sealed the deal for a certain other pair of unfortunate star-crossed lovers, but there was no way Claire could let her unfinished business be.

I am more than a piece on a board. Even if it might be too late, there’s one wrong I can yet right in this world while I still draw breath.

Claire sat and allowed her body and mind to recover. She willed herself to recall Lacie’s walk-in closet. Somewhere in there was a trigger to a secret room filled to the tilt with heavy weaponry.

◊

Before long Lily wheeled Raine out to an enclosed observation platform below the ship.

Reeling from the midsummer sunlight, Raine glimpsed down at the glistening Mediterranean, its waves gleaming like crystals. Filled with excess energy, Lillian fell into an exercise routine.

“The bulk of the
Eden
Armada is spread around the Apennine Mountains, but our forces there are a diversion. We’ll be sneaking far over the blockade from the Southern coastline,” Lily said in between push-ups. “My double Leandra will buy us some time in that regard. That gives us a window – about five minutes to burst through the energy shields that protect the city. I’ll disembark into the battle zone with four divisions. We split our forces into a moving net, protect the rebels, and make for the
Spire
. If all goes well, our efforts should allow my inside team to shut down the Overseer – that is, the mind-control defense thingy, which, quite frankly, should have been done already. Our Knights
and dropships will get as many people as we can out of there. The final confrontation shall be between Lorelei and myself.”

“You must be nervous,” Raine said. “Do you think she’ll try to escape?”

Lily stretched her arms out. “She won’t time jump, if that’s what you mean. She’s got too much pride for that. If she wins, this will truly be the end of everything. An abyss with no finale or purpose.”

“And if you win?”

“If we win, Raine, I’m going to keep my promise to you. I’ll do my damnedest to build my Ark and save the human race from extinction. Of course, even if we do somehow manage to survive by colonizing space, it’s not like we will last forever.”

“But we’ll last longer. That’s something.”

“Yes,” responded Lily. “If I can save even a fraction of the planet’s life, if I can prolong the existence and diversity of the human race… that would be something.”

Raine sat in silence, learning to breathe again. It took her a while to formulate the question she was almost too afraid to ask.

“So… there’s no going back to Chicago for me, is there?”

“We’ll discuss that another time,” Lily said, massaging Raine’s shoulders, an action that caused the latter girl to tense her muscles.

“Give it to me straight. I already know it ain’t gonna be what I want to hear.”

“You’ve trusted me this far.”

“No more secrets,” Raine said sternly. “From friend to friend, please.”

Lily acquiesced. “Here’s a promise. Once this battle is over, I’ll tell you everything.”

After some reflection, the girl nodded reluctantly.

“Thank you, Raine. You’ve performed leagues and leagues beyond our expectations. Now let’s get you some food. I need to meet with my subordinates and prepare for the operation. Plus there’s the obligatory big speech and yada yada.”

“Lily, wait.”

“Yes?”

“If there’s something I can do, if it will help… let me fight.”

“Not a chance, Raine. I’ve already put you in enough danger. You don’t know what we’re up against.”

“We… we need to save Gerrit, right?”

“Right, but-”

“I know you need me.”

“Wait, you
know?
You’ve… seen it?”

“No, not like that. Everything still kind of feels like a dream. But I know… when I was trapped in my mind, the one feeling I couldn’t shake was that there was something I still had to do. I came back for a purpose. Earth is my home, too. I want to fight for its future.”

Lily was struck by her determination. She recalled the message from her future self:
Final extraction and confrontation require assistance not attempt singlehand warn true.
Raine had done more than enough for the EDC, but they were significantly understaffed, and perhaps this world line will have led to a different set of circumstances.

“There isn’t much you can do with your physical body at this point as you’ve just come out of a tremendous shock,” she replied. “But I do think there’s a way around that.”

∞

When later polled, nearly one hundred percent of users remembered, or at least said they remembered, exactly what they were doing the instant
Endless Metaverse
ceased to exist.

The man who called himself Ricard Stabbington came to in a drab office. Gone were the four supermodels with whom he was engaged in an epic pillow fight, the adjacent four-poster beds, the candelabras, the spicy pistachios, and the silver goblets of Bordeaux. In their place: a cheap desk, and a lousy holo-screen with spreadsheets and numbers. Plastic walls lined either side. He stood and scoped out his surroundings.

There were a hundred other people wearing funky helmets, and they were just as surprised as he was. He then felt above his head, grabbed onto the
M-Gear
, and removed it.

“Hello,” a tall blonde man began. “I’m Pinoci, from Clyde. And who the hell are you people? Additionally, what just happened?”

“This must be some kind of bug,” an older woman opined nervously. “I was just with the Duke.”

“Countess Glenda!” Ricard exclaimed, recognizing her voice, although it was withered and grayer than he’d been used to hearing from the beauty. “Is that you?”

The sliding door activated. A twenty-something Hispanic dude poked his head through. “You guys are never gonna believe this. Come on outside.”

Ricard rushed out of the room, knocked over confused personnel in the halls, raced up a winding stairwell, and stood amidst thousands of others outside of a dusty façade, a military bunker made of metal and stone.

He pushed his way through the crowd. A rush of cold wind took away what little breath he could muster.

It was dark, and they were in a poverty-stricken town in the middle of a desert. Aside from the fenced-off gardens and chicken coops built around the bunker, the only visible vegetation was in the form of tall, slender plants with spikes on them.

A sign on the building they had all emerged from read, “
Endless Metaverse North American Chapter, Southwest Division, Quality Control Department, Rank D”.