The NextWorld 02: Spawn Point (18 page)

“Down here, hackers have a few safe havens, places where DOTgov can't snoop around. We go to one of those places and we wait.”

“Are you sure we can trust him?” I ask, worried about the casualness of the plan, not to mention relying on yet another person.

“Nope. In fact the one time I
did
trust him, he ended up breakin' off our partnership for another girl.”

“You're telling me that the hacker we're trying to find used to be your partner?” Raev asks.

“Yeah,” Fantom says as she continues down the underground passage.

Xen catches up to her and asks, “Was this the one that broke up with you right before you played DangerWar 2?”

“Yup. Same one, yo.”

Xen sets his hand on Fantom's shoulder. “Are you sure you want to ask him for help? I can see the pain in your eyes, no matter how much you try to hide it.”

Fantom laughs. “Ain't no pain, yo.”

Xen tilts his head as if he's waiting for Fantom to tell him the truth.

Fantom laughs again. “What? I'm serious. I'm glad I'm done with his pretentious nonsense. He was always correctin' me and tellin' me how he wants me to be a better me and tryin' to school me on the ways of NextWorld. Forget that. I'm blazin' my own trail, yo.”

“If you say so,” Xen says, like he knows there's more to it than she's letting on.

“Not every woman needs a partner,” Raev says, “no matter what DOTgov or DOTgod tries to tell you.”

Xen stops as the two girls keep walking together. “Hey,” he calls out after them, jogging to catch up. “I wasn't trying to say... I didn't mean... I was just trying to show some sympathy.”

When they both laugh and keep walking, Xen turns to me and asks, “What just happened?”

I shrug my shoulders and say, “You don't seriously think I would have any clue, do you?”

He shakes his head, still visibly turning over the interaction in his mind, trying to make sense of it all. He digs into the inventory where he keeps his pills, but he finds an empty screen.

We don't travel far when Fantom stops. I'm confused by our destination. There's no discernible markings. It looks indistinguishable from the rest of the tunnels.

Fantom looks at one of the brick walls, leaning in close to search for a tiny detail. When she finds what she's looking for, she places her hand on one of the bricks and pushes. The brick sinks in, then slides back into place. The entire wall releases a cloud of dust as it breaks free and shifts to the side.

“This way,” Fantom says, stepping through the secret entrance.

On the other side of the doorway is a small room with red velvet covering every surface. Chairs line one wall and a concierge stands behind a desk, marking things down in a large book. On the far side of the room is an elevator door.

Fantom saunters through the room, nods at the man behind the desk, and steps up to the elevator door. There's no call button or any apparent way to open the door.

“Now what?” I ask.

“Patience,” she says. “You didn't think it would be that easy to get into this place, did you?”

“This is so cool,” Raev says. Seeing the surprised look on Xen's face, she defensively says, “What? I can't help it. I've never done anything illegal before.”

The concierge clears his throat.

Fantom whispers over her shoulder, “Would you play it cool, yo? We ain't doin' nothin' illegal. The people who run this site? That's another story. But we're just visitin'. So try to act like you belong. Okay?”

Raev nods her head.

Fantom places her hand on the elevator door for five seconds, then forms a fist and knocks five times. There's a pause before five more knocks. She presses both palms against the door. The door completely vanishes and we can see the interior of the elevator, with wood paneled walls and a flickering light above. She motions for us to step in. Once we do, the door reappears and we hear a chime before the elevator drops out from under us. I have a quick flashback to my escape from the tower as we plummet to the bottom of wherever we are. I let out a short yelp right before the elevator slows to a stop. There's another chime. Xen and Raev look at me with surprise, but Fantom ignores my outburst and presses both of her palms on the doors again.

The elevator doors disappear and we see a long white hallway extending into the distance. Every ten feet there is another hallway crossing it. Fantom walks boldly through the maze of intersections, turning at what appears to be random intervals. I'm lost within seconds. Left, left, right, left, straight, right. At one point she stops, spins three times to the left, and starts walking back the way we came. I'm ready to question her, to ask what nonsense she's leading us into, but she's leading us with an air of confidence that calms my apprehension.

After a few minutes of traversing the maze, she turns a corner and we're met with a doorway made of the same red velvet as the room with the elevator. Fantom flashes one last grin before she pushes open the door, revealing the interior of Club L33T.

Strange music pumps through the dark, bar-like interior, which is only lit by screens that cover the walls. Each screen is displaying something different: Statistical data on bandwidth usage, open and closed ports around NextWorld, bird's eye views of games in DOTfun, underground auction sites, news-casts, and hacked point-of-views from different user's accounts. The main area of the bar is scattered with tables that have shadowy figures hunched over them. Some are speaking to each other in whispers, while others are consumed by whatever is happening on their own private screens. Another gathering of avatars are placing bets on a DOTfun racing game that they're all watching on the wall. More groups stand around the actual bar, ordering strange inebriating downloads. Every person stops for a second to take note of us entering before returning to whatever they were doing before we stepped in.

I try not to make eye-contact as I follow Fantom through the crowd. She strides confidently past the cyborgs and robots next to the jukebox before sliding into a table in the corner, placing herself with her back to the wall. Xen, Raev, and I slide in next to her. We all hunch over the table like everyone else, leaning in close to speak in whispers.

Xen looks confused, like he's trying to think of a word that's escaping him. He keeps tilting his head from side to side until he asks, “What is this music? I've never heard anything like it before.”

Fantom shrugs her shoulder and says, “That's because DOTgov ain't gonna authorize it, yo. Independent pirate bands. You won't hear this stuff on the audio-casts.”

The singer is shouting over the squawking and chirping digital sounds and it's apparent why DOTgov's Department of Art would never authorize it.

“
We ain't gotta listen to President Chang! It's time for us to string'im up and let'im hang!”

Xen swipes his hand and opens the club's menu screen, his eyes growing with excitement as he proclaims, “They have Dizzy Fizz apps!”

Raev gently grabs Xen's hand before he's able to order them. “Those can be quite strong.”

“I know!” he says with a giddiness that doesn't match her apprehension. “I dropped the last of my Simmer Pills when we were flying around DOTbiz.”

Raev considers saying more before reluctantly taking her hand off his. He orders the tabs of blue gel without hesitation.

I slide closer to Fantom.

“Do you see him?” I ask out of the corner of my mouth as I gaze around the bar, wondering what type of person Fantom would date.

“No. But he ain't choosin' to be visible.”

“What does that mean?”

She rolls her eyes, swipes her hand in the air, and vanishes. I flinch, not expecting the abrupt disappearance. I flinch again when she reappears.

“Most avatars use their eyes to see NextWorld,” she says. “That's why most avatars are easy to trick. You can't rely on your vision.”

“So, what? I'm suppose to smell you?”

Her eyes flash in my direction. “You put your nose anywhere near me and you'll be regrettin' it.”

“Then maybe you could enlighten me as to how we find an invisible hacker.”

She lets out a sigh and leans forward with that bored look in her eyes, but I know better. She's loving this. She gets to lord her superior knowledge over me and prove how much smarter she is than me. I wonder how much of this she had to put up with when she was learning from other hackers.

“The problem is, people are treatin' NextWorld like it's real. People are doin' the same stuff people were doin' in the real world, only they're doin' it in here. It's like it's a replacement or somethin'. They don't realize it's somethin' completely new.”

She's waving her hands around, getting more passionate about what she's saying. “This place is just information. Data. Ones and zeroes. All of it.” She taps on the wooden table. “There's no difference between you and this table. Between the music you're hearin' and the screen you're watchin' or the food you're tastin' or the game you're playin' or... whatever. It's all the same. It's all connected. Seein' your avatar ain't no different than hackin' your avatar. As long as you know what you're doin', yo.”

She sits up straight and throws her hands out, showing off her kimono. “When you see me, you're turnin' my ones and zeroes into this fabulous lookin' avatar I designed. When I see you, I'm usin' those ones and zeroes a little more...
creatively
.”

She actually piques my interest. I don't like the fact that there's a whole side to NextWorld that I don't use. Suddenly I need to know everything about hacking, but before I can ask another question, Fantom goes stiff when she glances across the club.

I follow her gaze and see three avatars walking toward us. Their bodies are completely wrapped in chains, with three-foot-high mohawks protruding from the top and glowing eyes peering out between the metal links.

“Who are they?” I whisper.

She clenches her teeth and says, “Trouble.”

The chain-covered avatar standing in front of his two friends says, “I'm needin' some malware.”

Fantom sits there, not saying a word.

He keeps talking. “Nothin' too big, yo. Just a graphics hack so I can deface a DOTorg site that banned me.”

His friends laugh and high-five each other.

Fantom doesn't react.

I gesture with my hand to open the social screens for the three men, but they've blocked access.

“Hey,” the leader says, pressing his chain-wrapped finger into the table, “I said I'm needin' malware. And I know you're holdin'.”

“I don't sell malware,” Fantom says through her teeth.

“Yeah. I know. I heard you do it for free, yo. Why do you think I'm talking to you?”

“I don't write malware. But even if I did, I wouldn't be givin' you anythin'.”

The leader stands up straight, surprised by her reply. He looks over his shoulder at his two friends. They just shrug at him in reply. He places both of his hands on our table and leans in.

“Crymsin and KaosKing told me you were tight sometimes.” He licks his lips. “What's it gonna take for me to open you up?”

Xen and Raev exchange worried looks. Xen nervously slides a Dizzy Fizz between his lips.

I look at Fantom.

Fantom disappears.

For a split second I think she's left us. I think she's decided we're too much trouble and she went invisible to sneak out some back entrance. But before anyone can react, she reappears on the table, slamming a sword into the chain-covered avatar's hand. He lets out a scream. When the other two avatars step back, she yanks the sword out from the table and slashes it through the air in one fluid motion. A chain-covered head with a mohawk goes rolling across the floor. A second later the entire avatar disappears. His two friends reach into their inventories and pull out long chains, which they swing in circles as they spread out, trying to flank Fantom.

Fantom doesn't hesitate.

She lunges for the one on the right, stabbing the end of her sword through his chest. His avatar disappears. The other one swings his chain at her but she ducks underneath and chops him off at the knees. He tumbles to the floor where she decapitates him with another swing. His avatar disappears. She slides her sword behind her back, placing it into some secret inventory and blinks out of view before reappearing back in her seat. The whole battle only takes a few seconds.

Xen, Raev, and I are still sitting in the same positions, our mouths hanging open. The rest of the bar doesn't react, as if they see this kind of thing every day. I shake off my shocked expression and turn to Fantom.

“What... was...
that
?”

She shrugs, leans back in her chair, and says, “Couple of black hats. Hackers that are only interested in breakin' stuff. They get some kind of kick from ruinin' NextWorld for everyone else. Overloadin' DOTcom stores so they have to shut down. Redirectin' DOTkid doors to DOTxxx. Stupid stuff.”

“I'm not talking about those hackers!” I yell a little too loudly. “I'm talking about the sword, and the killing, and the-”

“This ain't a game,” Fantom says with a chuckle. “I didn't kill nobody.”

“What did you do then?” Raev asks. “I've seen PvP in NextWorld, but it's inconsequential. Nothing happens. They respawn where ever they set their spawn point. But that looked... different.”

Fantom leans in close and whispers, “I told you. Everything is data, yo. The sword? It's a program I wrote that forces a log-out and floods their E-Womb with spam so they can't log back in. At least not for a day or two. Simple denial of service attack. Everyone in this bar is carryin' at least one.”

I look around at the other patrons feeling like I stepped into DangerWar without a gun.

“That avatar screamed when it happened,” Xen says with a worried tone.

Fantom smirks. “I
might
have written an option or two for pain stimulus, but trust me, they deserved what they got, yo.”

Xen pops two Dizzy Fizz into his mouth. Raev whispers something to him, consoling him. His hands shake.

“What's the matter?” I ask, genuinely concerned by the very real look of fear in Xen's eyes.