The Game of Lives (23 page)

Helga gave a firm nod. Gabby said yes with her eyes, not a hint of doubt there. Bryson gave two thumbs up.

“Let's do this the old-fashioned way,” Michael said, stepping closer to Gabby and motioning for the others to move in. “We'll hold hands, keep a solid connection between us. Let's stay in constant communication. I wanna do this fast, and I don't want anyone to be alone in case trouble comes.”

“Trouble?” Bryson repeated. “You expecting trouble from you-know-who?”

“He'll understand” was all Michael said. He knew he should explain his plan to Kaine first. Things would go much better if they really did stay on the same side, but Michael didn't want to burn any more time. “We can only do what we can do, right? He's not here.”

“You're just bursting with confidence,” Bryson said. “Look, man, if you think this is the thing to do, then I'm in. Let's get it over with.”

“Come on, then,” Michael responded, holding out his hand. Bryson took it. Gabby took the other. Then Helga joined in to complete the circle.

“Seek and destroy,” Michael whispered as they closed their eyes.

6

Down, down, down they went, sinking into the code. It felt to Michael like slipping into a warm bath, a comfort after the awkward conversations with his friends. Blades of grass became lines of symbols, trees became towering blocks of data, the castle a jumbled mess of letters and numbers, the sky awash in that purple haze that so often represented the most basic formative programming of the VirtNet. Michael felt the reassuring pressure of Bryson's and Gabby's hands, felt the links between them all. They combined their skills and knowledge and began to dissect the massive amount of information in which they found themselves.

An hour passed. Two. Three. Michael kept a timer within his files, knowing how prone he was to losing track of minutes and hours when he was in the zone. He didn't want to go too long without a break or they might make errors.

At four hours, no one wanted to stop. They'd discovered so much, come to understand so much. Michael was swept up to the point that he'd practically forgotten the dire circumstances that had made the task necessary in the first place.

He had been right. The Mortality Doctrine lived and breathed within the Hallowed Ravine program, like the basic building blocks of genetic code. Michael had never seen anything like it. If the Ravine had veins, the Doctrine was the blood that pumped through it. You couldn't look at the code for one without seeing the other. All of it was linked together, like some beautiful man-made biological creation.

And Michael planned to destroy it.

“Let's go out,” he messaged to the others. Sensing their reluctance, he let go of Gabby's and Bryson's hands and opened himself back to the visual side of things. The universe of code disappeared, replaced by greenery and blue sky.

Helga blinked against the brightness of the sun. “Well, that was…fascinating.”

“Weird,” Bryson said. “And cool.”

Gabby nodded her agreement. “I wonder if my dad knows about this place.”

Michael's heart skipped a beat. He'd totally forgotten that her dad worked for the VNS. Had he been in one of those Coffins back in that enormous building?

Gabby obviously sensed his concern. “Don't worry, Jax. I mean, Michael. I know my own dad. There's no way he's one of the bad guys. I've been messaging him—he's safe and nowhere near the office. I guess you could say he called in sick.”

She gave him a weak smile, and it made Michael think of the last time he'd seen Sarah do that. She'd always tried to deflect his worries with a grin, too—even if it was a weak one.

“That's good to hear,” he said.

“So what're we going to do?” Bryson asked. “You really want to destroy this place?”

Michael nodded. “We don't have a choice.”

“We need rest,” Helga said.

Michael couldn't have agreed more. “And food, but we can't afford to Lift right now. Bryson, you were always the best at it. Code us in some grub from Dan the Man Deli.”
Back in the Coffin, they'd be fed with an IV—nothing to write home about—but here in the Sleep it'd all taste divine.

“You got it, maestro.”

7

They ate. They took naps. They spent two or three hours strategizing and planning. It was going to take a monumental effort—they all knew that. But not one of them doubted it could work. Linked together, with a lot of hard work and brilliant coding, they could destroy the Mortality Doctrine program. Michael knew it. They were hours from victory.

“When we're done,” he told the others as they prepared to join hands again, “the Hive is the last step. But I think at that point we can ask for help. Lots of help. The world can't expect us to do everything.” He was mostly joking, but he felt a stab of pride all the same. As absurd as it sounded, he
had
saved the world. With a lot of help from his friends. He smiled, and it felt good.

“Let's do us some deconstructing!” Bryson yelled, followed by obnoxious hoots and hollers. Surprisingly, Helga joined in. Gabby just glanced at Michael, exaggerating a mortified look.

“Kids these days,” Michael said to her.

He held out his hands. Gabby and Bryson took them, then linked with Helga.

Michael's eyes were halfway closed when a man's voice spoke behind him, snapping them open again.

“Enough of that.”

Michael let go of his friends' hands and spun around, but he already knew who it was. Kaine. The Tangent stood there in his youngest Aura yet, sharply dressed, tie loosened, sleeves rolled up a couple of times. He looked like some movie star on the cover of a StyleBop.

“Hey,” Michael said, hurrying to stand. “I was going to talk to you about all this—”

“Stop.” Kaine held up a hand, bowing his head slightly. His expression was unreadable. “Don't say another word. This is the point when, for once in your life, you are going to listen.”

“Kai—”

“I said be quiet!” the Tangent screamed, his eyes flashing. “Act like a child, be treated like a child. Do not say another word, any of you! How could you do this to me, Michael?”

Michael realized at that moment how terribly he'd misjudged Kaine. Despite what he'd been telling himself, this end had been inevitable. Kaine wanted immortality, at any cost. Michael had to kill him or die trying.

Kaine folded his arms over his chest. “After all I've done for you. I saved your life. I helped you bring down the VNS. And now this.” He held his hands up to the sky, looking around at the world he created. “This is how you repay me. You want to destroy my very reason for existing!”

Michael wanted to explain, but he didn't dare speak.

Kaine shook his head in disgust. “What a stupid, stupid thing you've done, Michael. It was your idea to send
my
people
to the very place where your body rests in a Coffin, right now, right this second.”

Fear—fear like he'd never known before—exploded in an icy burst within Michael.

Kaine gave him the coldest glare he'd ever seen.

“And I'm sure at least one of them doesn't care if you live or die.”

1

Helga marched past Michael before he could stop her. He thought for one terrible moment that she was going to attack Kaine, but instead she dropped to her knees in front of him. The Tangent never flinched.

“Please,” she said. “Spare this boy. I'm begging you, Kaine.”

“What is this?” He stepped away from her in disgust. “Some kind of tri—”

Before he could finish, Helga lashed out with a wire-thin rope hidden in her sleeve. Kaine had barely reacted before it wrapped around his neck, cinching tight. She gave it a hard pull and he crumpled to his knees. In an instant Helga had him facedown and she was tying his wrists behind him.

Michael watched in disbelief, not sure what to do. He took a step forward, but stopped when he saw Kaine's face.
Instead of the look of anger Michael expected to see, Kaine was perfectly calm, almost smiling.

“Really?” he asked, his speech muffled with his face pressed to the grass. “You really think some whip conjured from a cheap game is going to stop me? Here? In the place I built?”

Helga rapped a knuckle against his ear, just hard enough to garner a wince from the Tangent. “Nope,” she said. “But it distracted you enough for me to throw up a firewall to your communications. Go ahead and order your goons to slash my boy's throat. Try it.”

To Michael's shock, panic flashed across Kaine's face.

“It won't last very long, now, will it?” Kaine said. He puffed out his cheeks and everything around him suddenly blurred with motion. He flew off the ground and landed on his feet, while Helga was sent windmilling backward through the air until she slammed into a crumbling castle wall. She fell with a crash among the rocks and lay still on the grass.

She's okay
, Michael thought.
It's the Sleep. She's okay
.

He was still looking at her when she disappeared, fading from existence. It was a good sign. It meant she'd been Lifted out. This place was like a game, after all.

Michael turned his attention back to Kaine, who still looked troubled. Maybe Helga had pulled off a miracle that would last just long enough to give them the time they needed to fix this mess.

“Listen,” Michael said. Gabby and Bryson had moved closer, standing on either side of him. “I know you're angry. But can we talk this through?”

Kaine's eyes narrowed. “No. We can't. I saw what you did to Weber. I heard the things you said here. Your intentions are clear, and they're not acceptable. There's no room for negotiation, Michael. I've given you chance after chance to join me in a noble cause. And it always comes back to this. You, standing before me, thinking you have the right of it. Thinking that you can…win this game of yours. Well, as they say in your gaming halls, game over.”

“Man, I hate this guy,” Bryson said loud enough for Kaine to hear.

Kaine ignored him. “I had
such
a plan. For the benefit of everyone. And all I've been met with is betrayal. Weber, the VNS, now you. You're tied to all this, Michael. You're a part of it. You should be able to recognize its potential more than anyone. And yet you came here to destroy it? Do you have any idea how much that hurts me?”

Michael didn't want to fight. He didn't know
how
to fight Kaine even if he wanted to. It had been an uneven match from the start. His only hope was to reason with him.

“It's not an answer,” Michael said. “You're right—I totally get the Mortality Doctrine now—better than most. I've seen what it does to people. To the world. And I'm telling you—nobody can be trusted with this much power. Nobody. It has to end, Kaine. It has to.”

Kaine stood there, taking one deep breath after another, as if he were about to dive underwater for a long swim. “If that's what you think, then you don't understand, son.” He looked at Gabby, then at Bryson, then back at Michael. “I'll give you one last chance. Help me make this dream a reality.
Immortality, Michael. No more physical death for humans, and no more Decay for Tangents. We'll all live forever. If you don't see how…glorious that is, then something's wrong with you.”

Gabby started to say something, but a sharp glare from Kaine made her stop.

“Just give me an answer,” Kaine snapped. “Yes or no. With me or against me. Those are your options. I can tell you right now, you've caused me enough trouble that I can't afford to…Let's just say that choosing to go against me wouldn't be the wisest thing right now. Choose eternal life or misery. What'll it be?”

Gabby squeezed Michael's arm. “Let's finish what we came here to do,” she said, not a trace of fear in her voice. And Michael knew why. The Mortality Doctrine had stolen her best friend from her.

“Yeah,” Bryson added. “There's one of him, three of us. He already knows our answer.”

Michael looked gravely at Kaine. “It doesn't have to be this way.”

“What's your answer!” the Tangent screamed. Michael swore he saw a flash of red behind his eyes, like a demon coming to the surface. Fear chilled him to the bone.

“We have to destroy your program,” Michael said. “I'm sorry.”

The manic anger vanished from Kaine's face, and he actually smiled. “Then by all means, give it your very best shot. At least you'll finally be out of my hair. I'll just have to establish another connection to replace yours.”

He brought his arms up and blinding lights flashed from the palms of his hands. The ground beneath their feet suddenly lost all solidity, turning into a mist of green and brown.

And then they were falling.

2

Chaos took over Michael's world.

His feet landed in a mysterious substance. It was purple and looked slick, like it could be wet, but it was firm, like hard rubber. It rippled out from where he stood, as if a giant rock had landed in a pool right before it froze solid. Bryson was above him, Gabby below, but they were still together.

“What's happening?” Bryson yelled.

“And where's Kaine?” Gabby added.

A shadow passed over them, answering her question. A massive winged creature descended from a misty green sky, each flap of its wings sending a fierce wind blowing over Michael and his friends. It sailed downward and landed in front of them, huge claws digging into the rubbery surface beneath their feet. Its scaly golden skin glimmered like oil on water. Kaine sat on the back of the beast, in a saddle, holding tight to reins. Michael had never seen a creature more terrifying. It had enormous horns protruding from its head and eyes like black marbles. It opened its huge mouth to reveal impossibly large teeth, and then it screamed, a sound so piercing that bright stars burst in his vision.

“I should never have offered you one last chance.” Kaine
spoke from the monster's back. “I was wrong, but I've learned my lesson. Now here we stand, the very core of the Mortality Doctrine at your feet, Michael. How fitting that you and your friends will die right atop its skin.”

Figures began to step out from behind Kaine's beast, as if a trapdoor had opened and released his minions. There were KillSims, mostly—enormous wolves and black-cloaked ghosts, an unseen wind blowing around them. And there were other creatures. Demons, similar to those from the place Gunner Skale had gone to hide along the Path, big and bloody and angry. Monsters from storybooks—trolls and goblins and wights. Two dozen, three dozen, four dozen creatures, amassed in a line behind Kaine and his winged beast.

“Maybe you should've brought a bigger army,” Kaine announced from his perch. “For the good of both man and Tangent, I can't show mercy today. For that, I'm sorry.”

He raised a hand, then slowly lowered it to point directly at Michael.

“Kill them,” he commanded, his voice booming. “Starting with him. But first, remove their Cores. Let's give them this true death they keep harping about.”

3

The Core. The link that kept a mind tethered to reality. Part of the NerveBox programming. Almost impossible—not to mention illegal—to code.

Michael snapped into action as Kaine's army charged. He ran over the slick surface, slipping twice, to reach Bryson and Gabby. “Use the fly program from
Invisible Wings
!” he yelled, transferring the code to them in case they didn't have it. “We'll survive a lot longer if we're in the air. Pull in every weapon you can think of, fight them off! I'll take Kaine—I need his link to deconstruct the Doctrine.”

They had to be in the air for this or they'd never last. The first KillSims were almost on them, loping across the ground, growling those awful electronic growls.

“Got it!” Gabby shouted, even as she rose twenty feet off the ground. Bryson and Michael used the same program and leaped up to join her, just missing the first wave of attack right below them.

“What if we can't do this?” Bryson yelled at Michael, his eyes wild with fear.

Michael understood. He smiled at his friend. “Give it your best shot, man,” he said. “But kill your Aura and Lift before you let them get to your Core. Deal?” Bryson nodded and they both looked at Gabby, who nodded as well. They were in it together.

A gust of wind blew over them, and the three friends turned to see Kaine's creature flapping its giant wings, rising into the air. Kaine stared straight at Michael. The demons and KillSims had followed Kaine's lead and had begun igniting their own flying programs. It looked like it would be an aerial battle.

As it all unfolded before him, Michael felt a sudden and complete loss of hope. It was just the three of them against
so many. He knew they didn't have to win the fight, they only needed to hold them off long enough to destroy the Mortality Doctrine code. But how could they even do that? He turned to face his friends, to tell them they should all just give up and get out of there. It'd be much smarter to regroup with more backup.

But Bryson and Gabby were gone. Michael looked up and saw them flying through the odd-colored sky, fighting, twisting, and turning in battle. His heart sank.

Something crashed into the side of his head.

Crying out, he lost control and plummeted; he hit the rubbery ground hard and bounced twice. The winged beast landed next to him, its enormous claws piercing the purple substance. Michael looked up at its hideous face—its black eyes, its sharp teeth. The creature screamed again, and Michael threw up his hands to cover his ears.

He stood. Fear trickled down his back, and he shuddered. He'd never been so terrified. Never. But he brought his hands up, curled them into fists, and searched his mind for the right weapon to pull from his files. And then he froze. Everything was blocked. He'd hoped the whole time that in the weakened state of the Sleep, they'd have more power to manipulate and swing in code from other sources.

He'd been wrong.

He had nothing. His fists. That was it. Well, his fists and Bryson and Gabby. And now they were all about to be pummeled.

Kaine's beast lashed out with a wing, hitting Michael hard in the face. It knocked him off his feet and sent him flying.
He landed ten yards away, on his back, pain consuming his whole body. The creature leaped into the air, flapped its wings twice, then dove at Michael, landing with a terrible thump on his chest. Every molecule of breath left his lungs. He choked out a muffled cry.

Kaine jumped down from the monster's back, and after another piercing scream, the creature flapped its wings and rose into the air, leaving Michael for his true nemesis.

“You could've had it all,” the Tangent said. Then he kicked Michael in the ribs. “Immortality.” Another kick, even more vicious. Blinding pain filled Michael's world. “A place by my side.” Another kick.

Kaine leaned over him. “You should've known.” This time, a punch to the face. An eruption of more pain. “You should've known from the beginning that I couldn't be defeated. Not by someone lesser than me.

“I will have my way.” Kaine's voice was suddenly calm, almost soothing. He spoke slowly. “And you will die. I don't need your connection anymore. It's been—how did they used to say it?—corrected with troubleshooting. That's the beauty of the code, Michael. In time, anything can be programmed. Anything.”

He reached down and touched Michael's temple with his finger, and a sharp claw suddenly snapped out of its tip, aimed at the very spot where Michael's Core resided. Michael pulled his head away, but the pain from his beating was unbearable. He leaned over, threw up. He had no strength left to fight.

“Sarah,” he whispered. “Sarah.” He'd sworn to die with her in his mind.

Kaine brought up his newly clawed finger, making sure Michael saw it.

“I do this for the future of intelligence,” he pronounced. “For the next step in evolution.” He reached for Michael, who had no power to resist.

And then, as had so often happened in Michael's life, things changed in an instant.

There was an eruption of noise and a searing wind of heat, and Kaine's body catapulted into the air, disappearing in the distance.

Michael lay on the ground, so exhausted and weak from pain, he thought he'd never move again. It took everything he had left in his body to turn and look up, only to see his salvation.

4

Portals were opening all around him, dark spaces through which countless figures poured. They swarmed Kaine's massive winged beast and his KillSim army, falling on them with every weapon imaginable. Some of the newcomers were familiar—warriors and robots and superheroes and aliens from dozens of games Michael had played with his friends over the years. Others were new to him. A thing that looked like a giant tree with a face, swinging its many branches with ruthless force. A rock creature, sharp angles of stone erupting from its chest. There was even a six-legged steel horse with a humanoid on its back made from a hundred sharp blades.