Black Sun (Phantom Server: Book #3) (17 page)

“That’s interesting,” Jurgen paused, thinking, then nodded to his own thoughts. “This definitely should never have worked, even if only as a temporary measure. They must have multiplied the vendor’s own neurograms and integrated them into all the other identity matrices.”

“Which worked until Zander returned to Oasis after his Darg mission and began applying pressure to the hybrid, provoking him with his questions,” Arbido added sarcastically.

“Don’t blame me! Kim, when did the disaster happen?”

“I can’t tell you. Time is relative here. But still,” Kimberly tried to bring the conversation back on track, “how can events in the Darg system explain the arrival of the Reapers?”

“The hybrid must have created them,” Arbido offered.

Foggs kept casting wary glances around. “The Corporation couldn’t have been that stupid. Didn’t they realize it could all backfire? A mind comprised of a hundred personalities? It would have gone nuts the moment it was activated!”

“This is an entirely new domain,” Jurgen’s voice was dull. “Something as simple as a craving for revenge could have fused the hybrid’s neurograms. The green mist Kim was talking about could have come into being as the result of some desperate — and possibly unconscious — mnemonic attack. With fatal consequences. The hybrid absorbed the minds of the Corporate workers who, let me tell you, were some of the most prominent experts in just about every relevant field of human knowledge.”

“Yeah right,” Arbido cringed, skeptical. “And by absorbing them, he immediately grew smarter, is that it?”

“Exactly. By absorbing the workers’ neurograms, he received all the knowledge necessary plus the access to servers and the ability to consolidate them in order to develop and install the fatal upgrade.”

“But why would he want to wreak revenge on other players? You have any idea what happened in other worlds?” Foggs seemed to be unable to face reality. He couldn’t accept the fact that our civilization had fallen.

“The hybrid wasn’t trying to wreak revenge on anyone. He was trying to protect himself. He was simply playing for time. He knew that the experimenters were about to destroy him seeing as the entire experiment had proven to be too dangerous and unfruitful. By merging gaming worlds and introducing this unexpected NPC upgrade which caused the deaths of in-mode-bound players, the hybrid presented the Corporation and the military space forces with a much more serious problem which took all of their available resources and gave the hybrid some time to consider his next step.”

“Jurgen, you can’t know any of this!” Kimberly shook her head. “What makes you so sure?”

“I simply follow the facts. The only way the security weapons could have failed was if they’d been blocked with special classified codes!” Jurgen snapped. “Their gear was supposed to grant protection from all known mobs — but it turned out to be useless! The defense programs failed to destroy the station model! Should I go on? How did the Reapers know all this? The answer’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? They used the Corporate workers’ neurograms!”

“Talking about the station model,” Charon said. “I don’t think we’ve even seen it.”

“It disappeared shortly before the Reapers’ first attack,” Kim said.

“Wait a sec,” Jurgen sounded surprised. “Didn’t they arrive here straight away?”

“Not really. It all started soon after the testing grounds had stabilized again. It might have taken a couple of days... I’m not sure.”

“That’s interesting. It took them a couple of days...” Jurgen repeated, pensive. “But that changes everything! By then, the hybrid was out of danger! He'd already transferred his identity to the Darg system and was about to begin restoring Oasis. What was the point in him creating the Reapers, let alone providing them with neurochipped weapons?”

“Please,” Arbido raised his hands. “I’m completely lost. What do you think happened here?”

Jurgen frowned. “It’s true what they say that the sleep of reason produces monsters.”

“Which is-?”

“I’m afraid the situation is even worse than we thought. Kim, you say you ran away trying to escape the data destruction. Did you see anybody?”

“Of course I did. Lots of workers used personal defense programs. They look like transparent domes. I also saw some top-level NPCs which must have escaped from some database or other. The green mist I told you about eroded the domes and dissolved the NPCs. As I ran, I saw three respawn points. You can’t imagine the mess. They all seemed to resurrect there, both workers and mobs. I just can’t describe it.”

“The green mist,” Jurgen walked to the edge and peered into the abyss, “if I understand correctly, it’s produced by the location’s neurocomputers, right?”

No one answered.

“In emergency mode, the testing grounds should be able to support all types of identity matrices,” Jurgen seemed to be speaking to himself as we listened, unwilling to interrupt him. “The upgrade created by the hybrid affected the experimental NPCs whose data was stored on the servers. As the disaster struck, they found both freedom and plenty of fragmented identities to feed upon. It must have been them who became the Reapers.”

“You mean it was the excess of available neurograms that triggered their advent?”

Jurgen nodded. “Exactly.”

“You want to say that they built the neurochipped weapons themselves?” Arbido cowered.

Jurgen didn’t answer. He crouched by the edge. “All the knowledge we used to harvest at the Founders stations accumulated here. And then all this data got mixed up and became available to the mobs who were now capable of independent thought! They craved everything new and yet unknown. And now that the hybrid had removed all restrictions, they have none! Can’t you see what’s just happened?” he said, about to freak out. “Earth is gone! Our civilization is no more! The gaming worlds have all merged together — but the servers will keep working, generating this kind of warped virtual reality for hundreds of years as long as their reactors keep producing power.”

* * *

By then, the fine dusting of frost framing the entrance into the cave had melted completely.

Foggs ran his hand across the rough damp wall. “There’re no Reapers around,” he stepped into the dark. “It’s warm enough. Charon, mind giving it a quick check? I can’t see fuck all in front of me. Kim, you know where this tunnel is going?”

“It ends in a location I used for hiding. There’s also another exit from this cave which opens up onto a road in the mountains.”

“Any service lines there?” Jurgen asked.

“Loads.”

“In that case, let’s move it.”

Kimberly activated her ancient 3D Optos and put on the tinted goggles. She glanced around herself, checking the device’s work, then motioned for Charon to stop. “I’m going in first. You’d better put out your torches.”

“Zander?” Charon cast a quizzical glance at me.

“Yeah, you’d better go with her. You might need to cover her if necessary. We’ll follow. Arbido,” I turned to him, “try to keep up.”

By then, Kimberly had disappeared into the darkness.

I had a hunch that her neuromatrix too might be the result of some experiment. The military had kept tabs on everything that had happened here, that’s for sure. I knew nothing about them but I knew what outer space was like. This was a hostile environment. The military space forces were staffed with experts, knowledgeable and well-trained. Somehow I didn’t think they’d have overlooked something as “innocent” as one of the test subjects’ sporadic identity recovery. Most likely, they had made it happen.

I wasn’t going to tell her about it. She’d only get upset. She’d been eking out a new life for herself. She defied fate. Kimberly was a very strong person.

The cave wasn’t that big. Soon we scrambled out of it.

The wide gray strip of cellular concrete looped downward, forming the smooth spiral of a mountain road.

Foggs stopped and raised a warning hand. “I just don’t get it,” he muttered, dumbfounded.

The opening vista took my breath away. It looked as if by descending we’d just crossed the mountain ridge and walked out into a gloomy sunrise.

“Zander, look,” Arbido pointed at the horizon replete with a tiered urbanscape. “This looks like the megalopolis of Europe,” his voice was muffled.

“Oh please!” Foggs said in disbelief. “What would a city do here?”

“He’s right,” Jurgen peered into the misty twilight. “This looks like a model of the real world. We seem to be in the Alps. It’s one of the mountain ranges back on Earth, in case you didn’t know. I remember because these mountains hindered urban development. There was a lot of fuss about them until one day the Corporation bought them out. They cropped a few of the more famous summits and built their technoparks on top. Kim? The location where you used to hide, where is it?”

“It’s a bit further on,” she replied. “Once we turn the corner, you’ll see it.”

Charon alone didn’t speak. He didn’t even look around himself, just kept blinking and shaking his head.

“Are you okay?”

“The mind expander,” Charon wheezed. “It came on, but only for a few seconds. Then it disconnected again.”

Jurgen heard us. “Impossible,” he snapped.

Charon shook his head again.

“Could it be your eyesight playing up?” Arbido asked, sympathetic.

“
Nowr.
”

“Can you walk?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t slow you down,” Charon strode ahead, unwilling to discuss it further.

I too tried to concentrate on my own sensations. Still, I couldn’t detect any obvious signs of my implants working.

“Keep to the road,” Kimberly warned. “The roadsides are full of deformations and unstable areas. You won’t like it if you get caught in one of them.”

We turned a bend and faced a totally new panorama. Just as Jurgen had said, the artificial plateaus were densely built-up and interconnected via a complex road network.

I stopped and took a peek down. My heart dropped.

The dull light of daybreak was seeping onto a small mountain location.

The familiar lake was framed by a thin strip of golden sandy beach. No signs of ice or snow anywhere. I could just make out some overturned deck chairs lying around. Further to my right lay a park, its branches enveloped in the crimson of autumn leaves.

The buildings looked long abandoned.

Kimberly stopped next to me, gasping in excitement. Jurgen, Arbido and Foggs stared at the familiar scene, dumbfounded.

“We’ve been here already, haven’t we?” Charon looked confused.

“I don’t think so.”

“But this place looks identical!” Charon insisted.

“The lake isn’t frozen,” Jurgen’s voice was hoarse. “But we kept descending! How come the recreation zone is now below us?”

He paused. “What if this city isn’t a location setting?” he suddenly suggested. “What if this is the frontier between virtual reality and the real world?”

“Are you freakin’ nuts?” Foggs said.

“No, I’m not. If you use the Founders’ technology, that could make it possible. Remember Darg! Didn’t your identity matrix interact with the planet’s real world?”

“I just try not to dwell on it,” Foggs snapped. “Questions like that aren’t healthy.”

“But you do realize, don’t you, that the Founders’ stations are material objects?” Jurgen asked.

“Honestly, I don’t know. I’m not sure. Is it so necessary to discuss it right now?”

Arbido smirked. “See no evil hear no evil?”

“Piss off,” Foggs said.

I understood him really well. All we’d wanted to do was play a game in a new exciting virtual world. Instead, we’d got ourselves caught between the millstones of an alien civilization. None of us had been prepared for this turn of events. So what were we supposed to do now? Ignore the inexplicable? Or just try and find a few answers?

The cyber space of planet Earth

“A
ll right, all right, let’s go and take a look!” Foggs took a few steps and stopped, staring at his hands in terror. Without making a sound, he collapsed to the ground.

Charon darted toward him.

“Charon, no!” I shouted.

“He needs our help!”

“Let me do it!”

The location was quiet and deserted. None of us understood anything.

My clothes and my hands began to surge with bluish light. My mind expander sprang to life, then disconnected again. The surrounding air exploded in a multitude of object signatures which faded almost straight away.

Foggs wheezed, stirring. “It hurts,” a groan escaped his chapped lips.

I was shuddering. My left arm became transparent, flickered, then disappeared. My left sleeve hung empty. The elements of gear connected to it clattered onto the road.

“Zander... your face!” Foggs’ eyes filled with fear.

Three translucent figures materialized nearby, floating in the air. They resembled ghosts after being attacked by an apprentice wizard who’d failed to summon them properly.

“Reapers!” Kimberly made a dash to help us but couldn’t move.

I pulled Foggs to his feet. “Can you walk? Turn back, now!”

“And you?” his insane stare searched for his weapons but found none. His unique swords were gone. His clothes and gear kept fading.

The invisible line dividing the two realities seemed to be here somewhere. Yes, I know it sounds crazy but the Founders’ technologies could make cyberspace interact with the real world!

This was my chance. The warped cyberspace of the testing grounds had offered us no exit into reality. We could travel them forever with zero results. But my Darg mission was living proof of our identity matrices being able to engage with the real world.

All I had to do was overcome my fear. I had to try.

“Zander, where’re you going?”

“I just want to take a look what’s there. I’ll be right back.”

“That’s crazy! You’re gonna die!”

“Get back
now
!” I shouted.

Mechanically, Foggs obeyed the order and staggered back. His outline rippled as if he’d crossed an invisible barrier.

I did exactly the opposite and ran down the slope. The “ghosts” hovering nearby seemed to be very happy with my unwise behavior. They came for me.

The descent became a struggle.

If I’d been wrong, it would have been the end of me.

My legs gave under me. I dropped, rolling to a halt down the slope. My body slackened. I couldn’t use a single muscle.

Familiar icons glowed in my mental view. This was my interface coming back on! Jurgen had been right! The city wasn’t a setting. I had just crossed into the real world!

The Founders’ navigator flared up and disintegrated, its particles forming the vague outline of my own body.

You have left a cyberspace incompatible with your interface.

Your identity matrix is stabilized.

Your combat ability The Call has been activated.

The Call worked like a dream, pulverizing the three ghostly figures into a shapeless cloud.

You have received 70986 nanites.

Your neuroimplant version is out of date. Conditions for new ability activation met.

A mind expander malfunction has been detected. Now attempting to rectify the problem.

Warning! You don’t have enough nanites to replicate your human form.

New function activated: Interaction with Environment.

You have arrived at the planet: [ ... ]

Navigation error. No data received.

Now scanning the area for available source material to commence replication. No source material found.

New ability received: Pioneer.

Level: 1

In order to advance to Level 2, you need to visit a new yet unexplored planet.

New ability received: Interaction.

Your integration into the planet’s environment is currently minimal. In order to improve it, you need to increase the number of nanites.

Reality — naked and at its ugliest — fell upon me like a ton of bricks.

My hand felt the rough surface of cellular concrete. The jagged stump of a multi-level highway junction was listing, barely supported by two leaning trestles.

The ruins of a building rose over the cliffs’ precipitous outline. Its façade had crumbled but the framework had survived. Indicator lights glowed within the darkness of some of the rooms: apparently, some of the equipment was still working.

Charon, Kimberly, Arbido, Foggs and Jurgen — they were all gone. All I could see overhead were fat bundles of optic cables swaying in the wind.

Here it was, the border between two realities! My friends had stayed in the virtual world — they were all still there, inside the fraying lengths of optic fiber. They had no nanites available which meant they couldn’t cross.

Once again sickness overcame me. Reality blurred. Still, I knew this was only temporary. I’d have to reconsider lots of things. This glitch in my perception had nothing to do with any old ideas about health.

What I felt was stunning. The nanites weren’t dense enough and I could literally sense the morning breeze blow right through me. Now I knew how Liori must have felt when she hadn’t had enough nanites for a complete materialization.

My heart was pounding. These authenticity levels were way too high for me.

Unable to help myself, I reached out to touch the cellular concrete of the parapet. It was rough — cold and damp. Touching it almost gave me an electric shock.

I was back on Earth. The realism of my experience was mind-blowing.

By then, the diagnostics of my mind expander was complete. The cyber modules of my mind worked at barely one-third of their potential. Until I laid my hands on more nanites, I’d have to make do with using the good old five senses.

Gradually I stopped shivering.

I took my bearings.

What I’d taken for a “mountain range” was in fact a man-made skyline. The silhouette that I’d mistaken for jagged cliff ledges in the mist were pyramids of tiered skyscrapers.

A holographic road sign blinked nearby, its 3D surface rippling and expiring, then turning back on. I struggled to make out the letters,

Infosystems Corporation. Mont Blanc Service Facility

The arrow was pointing down to the right.

Dawn was breaking, a new day justifying its presence. The skyscrapers were enveloped in sheets of fog which drifted past, avoiding the recreation zone to my left below: it must have had some artificial climate device installed. I could use this location as a reference point. Jurgen had recognized it, hadn’t he? Hadn’t he said that his and Frieda’s in-modes were somewhere nearby?

The road spiraled smoothly downward. My bare face was exposed to a light drizzle. I had no weapons. Every little sound made me jump.

My nerves were not good. I bent down and picked up a piece of construction steel. The nanites reacted by regrouping to reinforce my hand. Strangely enough, the sheer weight of this useless piece of steel added a touch of confidence. I know it sounds stupid but that’s the way it was.

The spiraling road joined an elevated highway. The roofs of the skyscrapers served as parking lots, connected to the road by short exits guarded by security checkpoints.

I gulped chestfuls of mountain air, cold and slightly rarefied, emission-free. All my danger indicators sat snugly in the green.

The sun was rising over the Corporation’s domain. Diffused by the buildings, its light illuminated the fine web of multi-level highways below. Not a stir anywhere. The world froze in a crystal-clear silence.

The crimson disk of the sun sported dark diamond-shaped spots.

I didn’t think much of it. I gathered it must have been some of the technopark installations obstructing the view.

The mist began to fade. The nearest parking lot was crowded with the latest models of luxury flybots. The digital disaster must have struck at the height of the working day.

Further on, I could see a cluster of gravity elevators. They were exactly what I needed.

My plan was simple: I wanted to penetrate the building and find the lab where they’d experimented with nanites. In order to replicate them, I needed suitable source material.

I scrambled past row after row of parked cars. The wind screeched over a loose sheet of steel. The taut cables supporting some sort of latticework tower were vibrating, emitting a low-frequency hum. Not a soul in sight.

Just when I thought about it, I noticed a group of dark specks in the sky, quickly approaching from the west: winged creatures looking suspiciously like harpies.

Where the hell had they come from?

You can’t surprise a player of my experience with a mythical beast, and still my blood ran cold. Realities had merged completely! Our skies were circled by monsters we’d built using alien technologies!

One of the harpies noticed me and banked, coming for me. I’d barely had time to dive under a car when the monster’s claws screeched against its bodywork, tearing it apart.

Squawking indignantly, the harpy soared upward, preparing to strike at me again. I’d dropped my piece of steel. A film of cold sweat clung to my body. Who was I afraid of? These were ordinary mobs! And — they were an excellent source of nanites. I was pretty sure the Call should work against them.

A burst of a submachine gun rattled nearby. I heard the sound of something heavy plopping to the ground.

I crawled from under the car and darted for the nearest cover. The flock of harpies was panicking, trying to escape. One of them lay dead about fifty feet from me. Its body rippled with interference, its claws still scraping on the concrete. Its sprawled wings were rapidly dematerializing.

The mist was fading away, dissipating into the finest haze. The visibility had improved dramatically. I could now see seven people stealing past the rows of cars. They were armed with stub-barreled pulse guns. I didn’t recognize the make. The combat visors of their battle helmets concealed their faces. Their clothes were threadbare, their gear tired and covered in dark brown spots which looked suspiciously like caked blood.

Survivors?

37,549 nanites detected. Status: deactivated, inoperative. For immediate re-use, enter reload code.

By then, the silhouette of the downed harpy had faded into nothing, leaving behind a small puddle of gray liquid on the damp roof. I lingered, wary of activating the Call for fear of attracting attention. I had no reason to trust Corporate staff.

I watched them.

The strangers acted in calm confidence. They didn’t look like researchers. Security, probably. How on earth had they managed to shoot down a nanite-generated harpy with a regular pulse gun?

“Keep looking!” a voice said nearby. “Keep looking.”

One of the men stopped by the puddle of gray liquid and doused it with a spray can. The liquid foamed. The man unclasped a small cylindrical container from his belt and began collecting the foam into it, then screwed the lid tightly back on.

He'd taken the remaining nanites. What a shame.

“Sector scanning completed. No targets detected,” the fear and confusion in his voice were palpable.

“Same here,” another voice reported calmly, as if the speaker was past caring.

Another burst of gunfire rattled through the air.

“Don’t waste your ammo!” the group leader snapped at the man for firing blindly.

I didn’t like their aggressive attitude. The men were apparently busy mopping up the area. They would shoot anyone on sight. I might not even get the chance to explain myself to them.

Nanites were my flesh and blood, and right at the moment, I simply didn’t have enough. My combat and defense ability icons were colored gray. In order to negotiate with them on equal terms, I needed more nanites.

A single shot rang out in the silence.

The bullet hit one of the men in the head, striking sparks from his combat helmet. If that wasn’t enough, his gear began to blur and fade, rapidly covering with interference. The man’s body began to melt into thin air.

“Neeeeuuuro!” the already familiar blood-curdling shriek echoed from the surrounding walls. A shadow strobed behind the windows of a nearby building, followed by more bursts of automatic fire.

So much for survivors! These were Reapers!

“I found another one!”

I barely had time to duck, shattered glass showering me from windowpanes above. They were firing at me now!
 

You’ve lost 13,000 nanites.

You’ve received a fragment of an unidentified control code.