The Sapporo Outbreak (31 page)

Tanaka watched Tait bark out instructions to his largely powerless team of technicians. He was struck by the contrast between Tait's raw panic and the cold, calm organisation of his team. He had led a charmed life - born into wealth and sailing through a glittering career. The man had never faced a fight. No, his big, brilliant, amoral brain had made sure of that.
 

Not for the first time, Tanaka wondered if Tait was a brilliant fraud, quick to take the credit and even quicker to pass the blame. A pretender propped up by the people who worked for him. Tanaka had never really liked the man. His unquestionable brilliance surpassed only by his relentless, dripping materialism. But for Tanaka to realise his dream, he had needed Tait. He had trusted him. Was that his mistake?
 

After a whispered conversation with two young technicians, Tait spun on his heels and strode purposefully toward Tanaka.
 

"Mr Tanaka, I might have a solution."

Tanaka silently registered Tait's use of 'I' rather than 'we'.

"Go on."

"Sir. If the power is restored, then I believe we can release code which will wipe out all virtual players, and then shutdown the game around the world. Once that's done, we believe we can trace the destination of every copy released. At that point, either through software or the legal department, we can start shutting them down."

Tanaka raised an eyebrow.

"Assuming, Mr Tait, that the power was to be restored in full now, how long do you believe that would take?"

Tait hesitated, glancing over at the two engineers he'd been talking to earlier. Turning back to Tanaka, he replied confidently. "It's difficult to say, but at this stage I would estimate the game would be out of operation for at least eight weeks sir."

Tanaka was incredulous. "Eight
weeks
?
Eight
weeks? Is this some sort of sick joke?"

Tait looked stunned by Tanaka's reaction.

"Mr Tait. I have built iSight from a small rented room in Tokyo, with my daughter in a cot by my desk. It has liberated people around the world. Freed them from the every day, opened their eyes to new and wonderful experiences. It has created friendships that span oceans, cross religious and political divides. And it has never,
never
, stopped working. That's why people love it. Because it's always there for them."

Tait's face flushed red. He looked mortified.
 

Tanaka pointed a finger at Tait, his fury unabated.

"ISight is much more than a game. It's a new way of life. Today hundreds of millions play. I believe the new game will see over one billion people join the iSight world. That's one in seven people on the planet, all experiencing the thrill of a new, better world. Nothing will stop that happening. And especially not the cheap tricks of a few teenage hackers."

"Sir, this is much more than a few teenage hackers ..."

"Mr Tait. You have become a very wealthy man by doing exactly what I say. That is what I expect of you once more. When the power comes on, you will find a way to restore the system to full operation within 24 hours. And you will do so after first ensuring Shou's experience remains safe, complete and uninterrupted. Is that clear?"

Tait looked at Tanaka, his face red with rage, his chest rising and falling as the adrenalin pumped through him. Tait could see it now - see what others had whispered about Tanaka. He was delusional. Driven to the point of obsession, maybe even madness. There was no way - no way - that the game could be rescued in a day. Tait doubted it could ever be truly restored. And yet Tanaka - who understood the system almost as well as Tait - refused to acknowledge that reality.
 

Exasperated, Tait nodded yes, then turned and paced back to his desk.
 

Tanaka turned away from the departing Tait and gazed at the four security monitors still operating. He watched ghostly green shapes dart through the dark. He watched as a pack of green ghosts descended upon a single, kneeling shape, limbs flying. A moment later the green ghosts moved on, and the figure lay still on the floor.
 

Although he couldn't see what was happening, Tanaka could imagine it. The violence. The destruction. The anguished cries of the injured and dying.
 

He didn't care.
 

The only thing that mattered was Shou. As long as she could play, nothing else mattered.

It never had.

#

"Sir, we have the communications network working again."
 

The portly young Japanese technician beamed at Tait as he delivered the news - the first good news since the attack hit.
 

Tait leapt to his feet and with a curt nod to the watching Tanaka, flicked his eyes briefly up to the ceiling then started talking. Tanaka flicked his eyes up briefly and joined in the call.
 

"Sakura? Itou? Tait here. Respond."

A couple of seconds passed. Tait was about to repeat the request when Itou responded. He spoke calmly, clearly, as if it was just another day at the office.
 

"Mr Tait. I am on level five and have four visitors with me. We are being pursued. Please open the NOC door in exactly 30 seconds and ensure it is secured as soon as we're inside." And with that, he was gone.

Tait turned to Tanaka, who nodded in approval.

Tait sprinted toward the security door, shouting for assistance as he made his way there. Several technicians rushed to join Tait, and Tanaka walked briskly behind. As they arrived behind the reinforced steel door, Tait explained to the technicians around him.
 

"In exactly 20 seconds, we open this door for Itou and four others. As soon as they're in, we close and secure the door."
 

Tait held the door while a technician hovered, his hand over the manual override pad. Tait watched as iSight counted down the seconds. "7...6...5...4...3...2...1...now!" The technician's fingers flew over the pad, and a small red LED - bright in the dark corridor - flickered and turned to green. Tait pulled at the heavy steel door which swung inward silently. The wiry lawyer darted in as the doors opened, followed closely by the petite psychologist, her left hand pressed hard against a deep shoulder wound, and the tall CEO. As he staggered past, Tait noticed that the back of his white shirt was shredded and covered in blood.

Tait swung the door shut.

And was stopped by a vice-like grip on his wrist. Itou stared into his eyes, inches separated them, and simply said "Wait".

Itou sprinted back through the door and out into the hallway. He grabbed Skinner, lying unconscious on the ground, effortlessly swung him up over his shoulder and sprinted for the door. A few seconds behind, the rabid pack raced forward, howling, screaming and slashing at the air with daggers of shattered glass.
 

Horrified by the sight of a muscular shaven-headed man leading a pack of baying lunatics, Tait began shutting the door, but before the door clicked shut, the door burst wide open and Itou charged through, Skinner unconscious and draped over his left shoulder.
 

"Shut it now!" Itou barked at a slightly dazed Tait as he collapsed to the floor exhausted. Tait pushed the door closed while the technician's hand flew over the pad. As the doors shut, Tait watched in horror as a group of players roared toward him.
 
They waved pipes, glass and broken bottles. He recognised some of them from earlier game immersion sessions. An hour ago they were students, accountants, stay at home mums and teenage game enthusiasts. And now they were a rabid, murderous pack.

"Lock it! Lock it!"

"Done sir. The door is secure."

Tait exhaled, a combination of fear and relief. Just as the door clicked shut an enormous thud reverberated through the darkness. Then another. And another. And it kept going. The sound of bodies crashing against the door again and again. Tait looked nervously at the door. It was built to prevent corporate espionage - not a mass assault.
 

He turned and walked back into the NOC. Itou had moved the professor on to the raised platform, and was now attending to Harper while nearby another technician was treating Santos' shoulder wound. Beyond the raised platform, a woman was crouched over Hill, talking quietly as the shattered lawyer sobbed.

Tanaka walked over to Itou.
 

"Good to see you my friend. Can you summarise?"

"Yes sir. Security is down throughout the building. Some members of staff and game testers have formed into groups and have attacked and killed most of the others."

Tanaka stared at his trusted friend. He could barely believe what he was hearing.

"And what of our visitors?"

Itou's voice remained calm as he reported, "Mr Hill has no injuries but is suffering from shock. He will recover. Mr Skinner has multiple surface injuries and was rendered unconscious. He will recover. Ms Santos has a flesh wound on her right shoulder. Assuming we can have her treated in the next few hours, she will recover."

Tanaka looked over the visitors. It was horrific - like a war zone.

"And what of Mr Harper?"

Itou cast an eye over the tall man, lying on the floor and drifting in and out of consciousness. He was much worse than he'd appeared to be. His shirt was ripped to shreds, and deep wounds run the length of his back and side.
 

"Mr Harper has multiple stab wounds to the back and side. He has sustained heavy blood loss and internal bleeding. Mr Harper will not recover without treatment."

Tanaka blinked at Itou. He seemed completely unmoved by the diagnosis. To Itou, it was simply a statement of fact. Harper would probably die.

Tanaka turned away, and almost walked into Tait - who had listened in horror to Itou's debrief. It was clear to Tait that this wasn't the first time Itou had faced a situation like this. That didn't surprise him.

However, he had the strong impression Tanaka had also been through something similar before.
 

#

His head was throbbing as he opened his eyes. Santos was staring at him, smiling gently as she stroked his blonde hair.
 

"Hey Ben, how you feeling?"

Skinner propped himself up on his elbows and tried to figure out where he was.

"My head is thumping, but it definitely helps wakening up to you?"

Skinner slowly, painfully, panned around the dark room. There was movement everywhere, the low hum of conversation. He could see Hill, Itou, Tait and Tanaka standing over Harper.

"What happened Eva?"

"You passed out. Itou grabbed you and pulled you out from under the shelf. I think he left most of your skin back there - you're going to have a pretty sore back for a few weeks I'm afraid."

"Oh yeah. It's coming back now - unfortunately. Damn - I forgot. How's the shoulder Eva?"

Santos glanced down at her right shoulder, now heavily bandaged and taped.

"It's fine Ben. Mostly surface wounds - I'll live."

"How's Andy and Alex?"

Santos paused briefly as if making an important decision, before pressing on. "Well. Alex's fine. He's pretty shook up - he's taken this all pretty badly. And who can blame him?"

Skinner sat up, pain shooting through his temple and back. There was something else.

"And Andy?"

Santos reached over and took Skinner's hand.

"He's bad Ben. He lost a lot of blood."

"How bad Eva? Will he make it?"

Santos' eyes filled with tears as she slowly shook her head.

Skinner felt sick. He pushed up onto his feet. Santos wrapped her arm around his waist and together they walked in silence over to Harper.

He was lying face down, groaning in pain and discomfort, on a large oval table. A pile of papers had been hurriedly brushed off the edge and onto the floor.
 
A technician was bent over Harper, examining the wounds on his back and side while Tait, Hill and several more technicians crowded round anxiously.

Tanaka kept his eyes on Harper's shivering form as he asked Itou. "What happened to him?"

Before Itou could respond, Santos spoke. Her voice trembling, laced with anger.

"I'll tell you exactly what happened Mr Tanaka. He was attacked by one of your players. A young girl. A teenage girl. And look at what she did. It was like she was possessed. She sprang out of a doorway and starting slicing at Andy."

Santos paused for a second, choking up at the recollection.
 

"These people have no idea where they are, who they are, what they're doing. They're killing for fun! You've created a madhouse Mr Tanaka. We are shutting this thing down ... if we ever get out of here alive."

The constant drone of background conversation flicked to silence. The only sound was the constant pounding on the door and the muffled howls from the pack outside. The buzz of conversation, of movement, of activity - all seemed to stop. The room held its collective breath and watched Tanaka. Preparing for the worst.

For a few seconds, Tanaka simply stared at Santos, his body tense, his eyes blazing. An explosion building.
 

And then he sighed. A long, exhausted, resigned sigh. His shoulders slumped, and the larger-than-life character was gone.

Tanaka nodded slowly.

"You're right Doctor Santos. You're right."

Santos was caught off guard. She'd never heard Tanaka anything other than full-throttle bullish.

"I don't know how this has happened. The game is filled with checks and balances, rules to contain and control; code which would protect against any
real
player-on-
real
player violence. There is simply no way the game is at fault. No, this is the work of vandals. Thugs. I agree something must be done - which is why I will shut down this centre until we find out who's behind all this".

Santos stared at Tanaka, stunned.
 

Skinner stumbled forward toward Tanaka until Itou placed a strong arm on his chest and prevented him getting any closer.

Skinner looked at Itou, then turned back to face Tanaka.