The Game (12 page)

  “Can you give us any inside strategy or big events planned for Trew’s next few years?” Lisa asked.

  “I could…” Brandon said. “But do you really want me to spoil things? Of course you don’t. If Trew lives as long as we hope, there will be much excitement over the next couple months. We all know it averages out to about one Tygon week for each decade of life, although the time passes a bit differently for each decade. He lived to the age of 74 on his last play, so if he’s able to do that again, we can expect another six weeks or so of fun! I can tell you to watch very closely on Trew’s 40th birthday. Something big will happen then. But don’t tune out until that day… there’s a lot of aggressive stuff leading up to that, and it’s already started.”

  “So he’s going for it? He’s going to try and finish ranked #1.”

  Brandon smiled, saying nothing. He knew the audience would fill in the blanks he was leaving with their own opinions. Some would say for sure Trew was going for it, while others would swear he was going to play it safe.

  “And what about rumours that Danielle has an Eternal watching over her?” Lisa asked.

  Brandon leaned back comfortably in his seat. “Lisa, for as long as the Game has been played there's been rumours about Eternals. People say Eternals are avatars that have been inside the Game since the beginning, hence the title ‘Eternals.’ It’s also said that Eternals can’t be Firsted or viewed on any channel, and that they have special powers. Some retired players have come forward and claimed that achieving a high enough player ranking unlocks a ‘Purchase Eternal’ option on their gaming menu, but they say the cost of purchasing one is too high to ever make the purchase. Over the years, there have been incredible events that occur inside the Game and people often claim Eternals are involved. Some think they are angels, and some think they are demons. But this is the 30th anniversary of the Game, and fans are expecting to see many wonderful things during this celebration. Maybe if Eternals do exist, we will see them step forward.”

  “But you created the Game, Brandon. Don’t you know about every aspect of it?”

  “The Game is pretty big, Lisa. I don’t think one person can know every aspect of the Game. I do know most of the major points, though.”

  “So, “ Lisa said, “Do Eternals exist? Or no?”

  Brandon paused dramatically, then leaned towards Lisa. She also leaned forward, as if Brandon was going to whisper a secret just for her to hear.

  “I have no idea,” Brandon said. “But if I’m ever able to confirm that they do… I will give you the exclusive.”

Chapter 22

  If life is a game, then I've done a poor job of playing it. My time on Earth has been boring and uneventful. I've wasted my youth, sitting around doing nothing when I was full of life and energy. Playing video games, working at simple jobs, trading my time for just enough money to pay the bills and survive; not really learning anything or traveling anywhere. I also wasted my middle years, abusing my body with lack of exercise and junk food. I wouldn't treat an automobile as poorly as I've treated my body. It's no wonder it fails me now. The greatest sin I've made is allowing my mind to sleep all these years. When I was young I had such plans, but I listened to the world when it told me I was silly and demanded that I grow up. Growing up made me forget how to play games, and that turned out to be the worst thing that could have happened. If life is a game, and we forget how to play games... what chance do we have of succeeding?

Excerpt from Earth book called ‘The Game Is Life’

George Knight (avatar)

Danielle - age 13

  “There’s a used book store,” I point out to my friend Tracey. “Let’s go in.”

  Tracey rolls her eyes at me, but she knows there’s no use in complaining. I can’t go past a used book store without going in to take a look.

  I love to read. Just love it! Since someone first put a book in my hand and showed me how to figure out what all the letters joined together to make, I’ve been hooked on reading. Most of my friends don’t read, which is a shame. Books contain so much knowledge, clearly written down and there for the taking! The best books provide other worlds to escape to or different lives and experiences to watch, if the story is set on Earth. It’s all great stuff, yet not many seem to know or care about it. If people knew how powerful books were, they’d all have one in their hand or a tablet loaded full of e-books, just like me!

  The real treasures lie in used book stores. Over the years paper books became more rare, and many people put all their books on a digital reader instead. Many books didn’t get turned into digital format. Old books that were out of print, and small, self-published books. I’ve read some great stuff in paper books that you just can’t find on the Net. It’s kinda sad, but I like to find the gems, so I stop into every used book store I go by, just in case there’s something new and exciting to read.

  Tracey offers to wait for me outside. I walk in and say hi to Jordan the clerk. She smiles and says hi back. I come in here once a month and she knows me.

  “Anything good and rare lately, Jordan?” I ask.

  “I saved a box full of stuff that we don’t normally get in for you, Danielle,” she says. “It’s over in the back corner in a brown box.”

  “Thanks,” I say and walk to the back.

  It’s not a very big box, but I open it up and start skimming through the books. I’m not really sure what I’m looking for, but sometimes I just get a feeling when I hold a certain book. When I get that feeling, the book goes into my ‘buy’ pile. There’s an old book on karate, and I place that in the not interested pile. I quit karate years ago. I learned everything I needed to from karate, and it led me to my buddy Trew, but I’m not really interested in pursuing it. I do that a lot. Study something and give it everything I’ve got. Then my gut tells me
that’s enough
and I drop it just as quickly as I picked it up. There’s lots for me to do and see in this life of mine. I don’t have time to waste studying just one or two things for 50 years. Oh, the poor people who do that! Not playing the game very well at all, if you ask me.

  I’m almost to the bottom of the box and nothing has really jumped out at me. A couple of old books on art, some gardening titles, a few old murder mystery books that I’ve already read… then my hand touches a book and before I even look at it I feel a big tingle of energy shooting up my arm. I almost drop it; I did the first few times this happened. But now I know it’s a sign from somewhere or someone, I need to read this book in my hand!

  I close my eyes for a minute, excited that I’ve found a new prize. I sit there and play a little game in my head. What’s this book going to be about? How will it change my life?
Will
it change my life, or just help point me in a new direction as I try to learn something new? Is it an old book written in a foreign language? Will I have to go make a new friend to help me read the book? The last time that happened I met Mr. Chan and he helped me read that excellent Chinese book about karma and energy. I really should stop by and visit with Mr. Chan. He makes the best tea. Bah! My thoughts are starting to run around! Time to open my eyes and see what I have.

  I open my eyes and look at the title. Wow! I can’t blink. Is what I’m seeing real? I hold the book in my hand, looking at it until I start to get dizzy, then I realize I’ve forgotten to keep breathing. I gulp a huge breath of air and start to sweat a little. Then I sit down.

Slowly I read the title out loud. “The Game Is Life, by George Knight.”

  Quickly I look around, expecting one of my friends to start laughing from around the corner. So many of them have heard me talk about life being just a game that I wouldn’t put it past them to make a fake book and plant it in an old box just to tease me. But there’s no one jumping out at me and laughing.

  I turn the book over and read the back cover. It’s for real. This guy George thinks the same way I do, and he wrote a book about it! I quickly look inside the back of the book and find the information about the author. George R. Knight. Hmm. He was 74 when the book was written. Darn it, he’s dead. Says so right there in the description. I would have loved to meet this guy and talk to him. The book was written years before I was born, so he’s been gone a long time. But the great news is I still get to talk to him, in a way, by reading this wonderful book he left behind!

  I flip open to the first chapter and start to read:

  “We live in a game. Somewhere ‘out there,’ our real bodies are plugged into a very real virtual reality simulation. Earth isn’t real, but it’s important to those running the game. What we call God, or Allah, or the Universe, or whatever spiritual name religion gives it… is simply the supercomputer that runs our universe. How can I be so sure of this? Because I’ve spoken to it. And it has spoken to me…”

  Oh, this is going to be fun to read! I walk to the counter and pay for the book. “You find something good?” Jordan asks.

  “I think I did,” I say.

  I walk outside and tell Tracey I’m feeling a bit tired and need to head home. She gives me a hug and we each go our separate ways. Once I go around the corner I sprint as fast as I can to get home.

  I run into the house and up the stairs, not bothering to take my shoes off. No one is home until tonight, so that gives me a few hours to get into this book. Before I start to read I sit down at my computer and log in to the video chat program, hoping to see that he’s near his computer. Yes! He’s there.

  I turn on my camera and then click on his name. A couple of seconds later, the blank video screen comes online and there he is, that great smile on his face, his messy room showing in the background. “Hey, Danni. What’s up?” he asks.

  I smile excitedly. “Hiya, Trew. I just found something super cool! You need to go hunting.”

  Trew leans forward. “What have ya got, hun?” He’s started calling me that, and I kind of like it. The guy is incredible. If I could put a poster of who I want to date on my wall, it wouldn’t be any movie star or famous singer. It would be Trew. Of course, I haven’t
told
him that; I’m not crazy. We talk all the time, and we really do like and do a lot of the same things. He’s just a bit older than me, but not even a year, so no big deal, right? He loves old books too, and we constantly share when we find good ones. He even shares my ‘crazy ideas’ about this all being just some game. And we both have the magic. It’s fun when we get together, which is tough since we live about four hours away from each other. When we get our driver’s licenses, though… well, that’s too far away to think about.

  “Trew, you have got to go hunting for this old book I just found.” I hold it up close to the camera for him to read the title.

  He laughs out loud. “Awesome.”

  I smile. We really do think alike. “Tell me about it! Some real old dude wrote it years before we were born. I can’t wait to get to reading it. You should go out and try and find a copy
right now
. I want to read it at the same time. What do you think?”

  “I think that’s a great idea, hun,” he says. “I also think the universe has one hell of a sense of humour. Look what I just got home with and was going to log in to show you.” He holds up a copy of
the exact same book
in his hand.

  I laugh out loud. It’s always a surprise when this kind of thing happens, although it seems to happen more and more. “That’s so cool!” I say.

  “It sure is,” Trew says. “I wonder who this guy was. George R. Knight really rings a bell in my mind. A loud bell. I wonder if I knew him in a past life?”

  I shrug, “It’s possible. So let’s get to reading it?”

  Trew grins, “Well, then, since you have a copy too, it looks like a fair race. On your mark.”

  “Go!” I laugh and open the book. We keep the video link open and start reading together, as close as we can be.

  For now.

Chapter 23

  “Tygon has benefited from the Game in many ways. Most see it simply as a form of entertainment for viewers and learning for players, but it has become much more than that. Take flight, for example. Before the Big Bang gave life to the Game, Tygon was a flightless world. When the Wright brothers soared through the air inside the Game, it became considered safe and easy to recreate their inventions in real life on Tygon. A few months later, Earth had perfected the technology and we safely began to manufacture our own aircraft here. Think of the comforts that most of us take for granted today, and remember that many would not exist if not for the efforts of players inside the Game. It might be fun for us to watch the lives and history of Earth’s people as they unfold, but we must not forget the other incredible benefits it has brought us as well!”

Excerpt from documentary “More Than A Game”

  Michelle walked towards her private office. “Get me a clean line to Brandon, please,” She instructed her receptionist and closed the door. She sat down and picked up the phone, waiting patiently for it to ring on the other end. It began to ring a short time later, followed by someone answering it.

  “Yes.”

  “We have a problem, Brandon.” Michelle said.

  “That seems to be the common theme for this play, Michelle. To be expected, I suppose, but still very tiring. What is it?”

  “They found a copy of the book. George’s book.”

  There was silence on the other end of the line.

  “They found a copy of the book which was never made digital and limited to only 100 printed copies, after we did our very best to make sure the world wasn’t interested in it? We paid players to spend all their credits and enter the Game with one purpose… to find and destroy
all copies
of that book. Is that the book you’re telling me they found?”

  Michelle nodded. “Yes, sir. The very same book. ‘The Game Is Life’ by George R. Knight.”

  “I know it makes no real difference, but for my own curiosity, who found it, Michelle? No, wait. Let me guess. They
both
found a copy at roughly the same time, right?”