The Unseen (8 page)

With the final seconds before the contest started, Kari added some orange accents to her mechs and named the final two mechs Gorilla and Birdy.
There, now we feel like a team with a plan.

The showroom went black, and a split second later her mechs were surrounding a platform that was projecting a beam of orange light up into the dark simulated night.
Her mechs were in the midst of a light forest with mixed trees that varied the landscape, but didn’t block out the horizon. Karold provided Kari’s point of view, but she also had access to a small map in the bottom right of her vision that showed her position and the position of the other three flags in the game.

“Oooh, orange. Very pretty, must have,” SeptemberMist said.

“You can try,” Kari said. She was trying to sound intimidating but everyone laughed when she said it. There was nothing telling her which color represented which player, so she sent her gorilla mech toward the green marker, as it was the closest.

“Really, Herm?” Motorcad said. “You didn’t think I’d see that coming?” Hermes didn’t respond but just kind of growled in frustration. Kari searched intently for any attackers but didn’t find any.

Her gorilla mech was taking a long, roundabout way toward the green flag to try to sneak up on it. She switched her perspective to Birdy and ordered it to fly several hundred feet into the air. Her mech engaged its jet engines and rocketed up from the forest and into the sky. Kari could see all locations where fighting was happening on the map. Far away, between the purple and red flags, energy blasts and explosions lined a section of the forest.
That must be where Motorcad and Hermes are fighting, which means SeptemberMist is green.

Kari scanned the section of the forest around the green flag, searching for signs of mechs. She located two of them circling their flag vigilantly, but the third was nowhere to be found. Alerts flashed into Kari’s eyes, warning her that her flying mech was under fire.
Well, there’s the third
. Kari ordered the mech to try to move away, but the jet engines lacked the mobility she desired, and the mech only managed to fly higher into the sky as large energy blasts flashed beneath its feet.

“Sitting duck,” SeptemberMist said. Her voice wasn’t malicious or even excited; it was just simply stating a fact. More alerts warned her of increased fire coming from multiple directions. All three of SeptemberMist’s mechs were unloading on Birdy. A second later, Birdy was floating down to the ground in burning pieces. A message flashed across the screen alerting everyone to the fact that Kari had lost a mech.

“Wow, way to go—easy on the new girl, Misty,” Hermes said.

“Don’t you have your own problems to worry about, Herm?” SeptemberMist said.

“Oh, he does,” Motorcad said, just as a message flashed across the screen stating that Hermes had lost a mech. Kari focused Karold to where SeptemberMist’s third mech had been and ordered it to fire energy blasts in that direction. It was a long shot, but Kari didn’t know what else to do. Meanwhile, her gorilla mech was approaching the green flag, so she switched her perspective to keep an eye on it.

“Why don’t you come help me out with Caddy instead of picking on her?” Hermes said.

“I can’t always take care of you, old man,” SeptemberMist said, causing Hermes to laugh. Despite being down a mech and playing a game she wasn’t all that interested in, Kari couldn’t help but enjoy herself. She’d never had a chance to hang out with talented people like this and just have fun.
I guess this is what it’s like to have friends who can hack.

One of SeptemberMist’s mechs had returned fire at Karold, and now the two of them were locked in a firefight. Karold had more power, but the opposing mech had more agility. Kari wanted to stay focused on that battle, but she wanted to strike SeptemberMist while she was distracted. She ordered Gorilla to run in and physically assault the closest mech. It lurched forward and made a direct line for the nearest enemy.
A second later, the opposing mech found Gorilla and started to fire at it, but Gorilla dodged the lethal shots and sustained only minor damage.

It extended its blades and heated them to a point where they glowed a brilliant red
.
Gorilla collided with SeptemberMist’s oversized mech and rammed its blades into its chest.
The heated blades cut through the mech with relative ease, dismembering it, which sent showers of sparks flying in all directions.

“There we go!” Kari shouted as the message announcing the elimination of one of SeptemberMist’s mechs arrived for everyone in the game.

“Freelancer got some game!” Motorcad said.

“Impressive,” Hermes mumbled.

Karold was still busy defending Kari’s flag, holding the assailing mech at bay. Kari ordered Gorilla to attack the other mech guarding SeptemberMist’s flag. As Gorilla approached its next target, it dodged an array of light fire and closed in on the enemy quickly.
It has bigger guns—why isn’t SeptemberMist using them? She’s going easy on me.
The thought frustrated Kari. She didn’t want any pity or help from her new friends; she wanted to be respected by them.
Well, she won’t make that mistake twice.
Gorilla heated its blades again and leaped for the kill.

A blue light flashed from SeptemberMist’s mech and washed over Gorilla while it was in midair, dropping it offline immediately. Kari’s perspective from the now defunct mech lasted long enough for her to see it collide haplessly with the enemy mech. A message flashed across the game, alerting everyone that Kari had lost another mech.

“Happens,” Hermes said.

“Only to you and her,” Motorcad said.

“Gotta watch out for that EMP, Freelancer,” SeptemberMist said. “Don’t get too close to a mech, or you’ll get fried.”
Well, that would have been nice to know about before this game started. So they have access to the EMP tech here as well? I should have expected that. Apparently, I’m the last person in the world to know about it.

Kari refocused on Karold, her only remaining mech. The forest in front of her was a war zone; trees were blown to pieces where energy blasts had passed through them, and fires were everywhere she could see. Energy blasts volleyed back and forth between the two mechs, as neither of them had managed to gain an upper hand yet.
I’m too slow to knock her out, and she’s too weak to defeat me.
Kari searched her mind for a way to even the score against SeptemberMist. Before she could think of way to win the battle, her mech exploded.

“Easy kill,” Motorcad said. Kari’s perspective left her destroyed mech and floated above the battlefield, where indicators marked where every remaining mech was on the map
.
Motorcad still had three mechs left while everyone else only had two. He had apparently sent his extra mech over to Kari’s flag to cause some unexpected havoc.
Guess we all can’t be professional gamers.

“You can’t be too focused on one thing, Kari,” Joseth said. “You have to keep the big picture in your mind at all times.”
Joseth’s voice was unexpected, but Kari managed to keep herself from jumping. She exited the game and let her eyes see reality once again. Joseth was seated in one of the cushy chairs across from her, one leg folded over the other and a smile on his face.

“Don’t tell her anything else,” SeptemberMist said. “Motorcad won’t be able to handle it if she starts to beat him anytime soon.”
It was the last time one of her three new friends addressed her, as they returned their focus and conversation to the game.

“Great tip,” Kari said. “That big-picture advice will keep me from running a mech into an EMP weapon that I didn’t even know was part of the game.” She wanted to come off as carefree, but the frustration from being eliminated from the game spilled over into her tone.
She tried to laugh at the end of it, but it only made her feel more uncomfortable. Joseth stood and motioned for her to join him on a walk. It was an invitation she gladly accepted.

“The EMP got you, eh?” Joseth said.

“Yeah—I thought only the Middle States had localized EMPs. I didn’t even know that technology existed until the other night when it blasted my mind chip and drones offline.”

“You didn’t think they invented that themselves, did you?”

“No, I had my doubts—but if you invented it, how do they have access to it?”

“Oh, I didn’t invent it personally; some of the guests here figured most of it out. My involvement was minimal, I assure you. It actually came as the result of the game you just played. We’ve found that when we compete against one another, some brilliant ideas come to the surface.” Joseth led her up a few flights of stairs to the top floor, which was a part of Valhalla that they hadn’t visited on her tour.

“So how’d they get it?” Kari said, insistent on getting an answer. She wasn’t usually so demanding, but her mood still had room to improve.

“We sold it to them, of course,” Joseth said.

“What?” Kari stopped following him. “You sold that to the Middle States’ military?” Joseth turned and tilted his head while he studied her.

“I did, and I would do it again.”

Kari shook her head as she tried to find words for her disappointment.

“I didn’t realize this was a government research facility.”

“Don’t be silly, Kari. You of all people, Freelancer, should understand the relationship we have with our clients. We’re builders, creators, artists, and engineers. We’re not farmers or miners—we need money to survive. We need money for our sanctuary and for continuing to save innocent people like yourself from being targeted by those with power.” Joseth closed the gap between them slowly while he spoke. His passion shone through every word, and by the time he finished, Kari had goose bumps.

“But, couldn’t you find any other clients?”

“Yes, but none that would pay so well,” Joseth said.

His answer made sense, but Kari didn’t like it. Selling to the government, either of them, just felt wrong. Joseth grabbed her lightly by the shoulder.

“I promise you, I didn’t do it without deep consideration first. We’ll license the technology to other organizations that can benefit from it and keep a close eye on whether it’s being abused or not, but we can’t control all our clients. Just like you can’t control yours. Besides, they have had access to EMP bombs for a long time; we just put that in a small, controllable format.”

Good point. It’s unlikely all of my clients were reputable or had honest intentions. But that was before . . .

“I see,” Kari said, still trying to process the new information.
None of this should be a surprise; someone had to pay for Valhalla.

They paused as a hacker wearing hover boots flew by them, desperately trying to stabilize herself as she glided, laughing, down the hall.

“I hope that Valhalla will be financially independent soon. I work every day so that we won’t have to be at the mercy of anyone but ourselves. It’s a subject that is of particular importance to me.” Joseth squeezed her shoulder again and let go. He shrugged, quirked his mouth, and waited for her to respond. Kari sighed.

“So, is Valhalla treating you well?” Joseth asked.

“Yeah, it’s been incredible so far, except for getting smashed in that capture-the-flag game.”

“You’ll get better. The trick with the EMP guns is that they have a limited range. If you can stay a few feet away, they are practically useless.”

“I don’t know,” Kari said. “I’m not sure I will get better—that game isn’t really my scene.”

“What do you mean?” Joseth asked as he scooted an inch closer to her.

“I’m just not that into fighting and weapons. I used to do simulations like that all the time and work on projects that could hurt people, but I’m not that person anymore.”

“I see,” Joseth said. Kari fought emotion from surfacing. She didn’t want to come off as a damaged person to Oedipus, but she was committed to being a different person. The prison escape had been traumatic, perhaps more than she even wanted to admit.

“Maybe we’ll talk about it sometime.” Joseth said.

“Yeah . . . another time.”

“Of course. Well it’s sort of the unofficial game of the Unseen, so don’t be surprised if you have to explain that a few times. But you’ll find that there are endless ways to stay entertained here while still being productive,” Joseth said. He put his arm around Kari’s shoulder and squeezed her in a half hug.

Truthfully, it was kind of awkward, but Kari still appreciated it.
I just hope he doesn’t think I’m too messed up. I’m not that bad, I just don’t want to hurt people anymore.

“So, can you show me what you do to relax if you don’t like playing games?”

“If you think you can keep up.” Kari loaded her simulation program and invited Joseth to join her in solving the new puzzle that awaited them. She had modified her simulations to no longer have violence, or military, but they were still challenging. Even though it was the first time she had ever tried to beat a simulation with another person, it felt natural to invite Joseth to do it with her. He joined the simulation, and they were both loaded onto the banks of a river running through a dense jungle. Kari started coding a new boat to travel up the river with Joseth, without a single thought of David.

At least he tries to talk to me every day
. Kari trudged through more reports about the assassinations, looking for more details she could add to her interactive map that served as her repository for all the information she had gathered so far.

She zoomed her perspective out to show the map of the two warring countries, where two dozen dots scattered across the former union marked where high-ranking officials had been murdered. Or at least officials that Kari believed had been assassinated; any untimely, poorly explained death she attributed to assassination.
But the problem with David is that when I do talk to him, it feels like a chore these days. All he does is ask me about how my homework is going.

Kari copied a few interesting details she had found on the social networks from people who worked in the same office as Secretary Meyers and added them to his file, which was centered in West Virginia. Meyers was an influential political figure in one of the most divided Coastal States and the most recent victim she had plotted on her map.
But David’s only that way because he wants me to come back to him. What’s Joseth’s excuse for not stopping by for a week?