PART 1: THE SECRET DEAL

He who fights with monsters might take care

lest he thereby become a monster

And if you gaze for long into an abyss

the abyss gazes also into you.

“Beyond Good and Evil”

Friedrich Nietzsche

1

January 13th, 2073

Jake stood on the porch of his rented house and watched as Will Harris approached. The CEO was tall and wore a slick raincoat, his head tucked in from the driving rain. Jake saw his breath drift above him in the frigid night air.

“Did you transfer the money from your private account?” Jake asked.

“Yea… it should be there now,” Harris said.

Jake grunted. As the head of the fifth largest defense contractor in the world, Harris was a recognizable face. “No one saw you on the way?” He knew it was a pointless question. The CEO’s bio-signature was being tracked, uploaded to satellites then archived into an array of servers, but Jake didn’t care—he would be long gone by the time they traced Harris to his apartment.

Harris didn’t reply. Instead, he gestured at the rain impatiently.

“Okay, come in then.”

Jake led him to the rear entry door, and they started down the stairs to his basement. The purple glow from a single wall-mounted computer monitor was the room’s only light source.

Harris surveyed the room, unaccustomed to such humble surroundings. Equipment crowded the small space of the basement apartment: computer racks, signal jammers, routers, and a pile of other hardware the CEO didn’t recognize.

As the two men sat at a desk near the monitor, Jake picked up a wrap-around ear device and fitted it onto his ear. He pulled two wires from it, each with a small pin on the end. Jake inserted the pins into the implants on the sides of his forehead. He grabbed a small gadget containing a QWERTY keypad from the desk. He stood and walked away from Harris. “Account number,” he whispered into the mic attached to his earpiece. After punching a series of numbers into the QWERTY pad, he paused, then said, “Log out.”

“Okay, the funds are there,” Jake said, returning to the desk. “We’re good to go. Now, strip.”

2

As Harris stripped to his shorts and socks, Jake used his earpiece to call Noel, his insider at Cloud Nine Systems.

Cloud Nine dominated ninety-five percent of the global game world market. That covered full-immersion worlds where the player’s entire body was converted and transferred to the game environment. It also included MMORPGs, an acronym for “massively multiplayer online role-playing game,” which allowed players to connect with a gaming world from their homes.

Jake had worked at Cloud Nine from the beginning, back when the company built the New York campus fifteen years before. Previously, the only North American facilities had been in Boston, Toronto, and San Francisco. Now, the New York installation was the headquarters to all of Cloud Nine’s operations.

Noel wasn’t answering the call.

“Where are you?” Jake muttered.

Harris looked on, concerned.

Jake was about to disconnect when Noel finally answered.

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” Jake replied into the mic attached to his ear device. “Is everything ready?” He listened. “And Nevan has cleared Vlad out?” Vlad was Cloud Nine’s lead engineer, and the only person who could possibly thwart their plans. Jake nodded, ended the communication, and turned to the CEO.

“Man, I cannot wait for this!” Harris said, grinning.

“You’re big on these retro game worlds, aren’t you?”

Harris laughed. “I’m big on everything! Played on all the platforms, but this one… I never thought I’d get the chance.”

Jake grunted. He was beginning to loathe the CEO, who sat at the top of RayStrike, a company that supplied weapons to most of the countries on the planet. It also funneled arms to some brutal terrorist factions. Harris had a decorated military background and a bank account the size of the moon. He could afford to play on all the gaming platforms—some of which were prohibitively expensive. Wish I had that much disposable income. He smirked. Well, now I do. Jake tapped one of twenty small metal implanted insertion devices, better known as IIDs, that ran along the CEO’s body. They looked like input jacks. There were four on his head; both front and rear, three along each arm and leg, and four circling his torso and back. Because the devices had so many functions, IIDs were federally mandated. The operation would occur on your fifteenth birthday and was viewed as a day-surgery; you were in and out within a few hours.

Still, many refused the medical procedure, declaring their thirty-third amendment rights, known as the “my body” rights. Just two IIDs would determine a patients’ vitals, such as blood pressure and oxygen saturation. Four pins would enable the user to interact with augmented-reality programs. All twenty pins would get you a virtual full-body massage. They were also used for full-immersion gaming, linking third-generation quantum computers with injectable biocompatible nanoparticles.

“Are all these IIDs functional?”

The CEO grinned. “Oh yeah. I just got back from Aurora Sky!”

Jake grunted. Aurora Sky was one of the most expensive game worlds, reserved solely for the powerful and financial elite.

“Okay,” Jake said. “You can get dressed.”

When the CEO was ready, Jake grabbed his hoodie, and they walked out into the pouring rain.

3

Jake and Harris slogged through the downpour to the Cloud Nine campus.

“Give me the rundown,” Jake said.

“Huh?”

He stopped and grabbed the CEO’s shoulder. “Everything you remember about Epiphany16.”

Harris appeared to be reciting something from memory. “Uh, right. One of the first quantum-based online multiplayer game worlds designed by Hiroshi Kudo…”

“And decommissioned by the government,” Jake interrupted.

Harris shrugged. “Sure, but I felt the data never supported shutting it down.”

“What else?” Jake asked.

“I can use the dedicated portals to travel to and from each realm.”

“Only after they’ve been enabled,” Jake corrected. “And those portals can access the landing zone if you get into trouble.”

Harris laughed. “I won’t get into trouble.”

Jake shook his head, incensed. “Look, man. You better take this fucking seriously! I have my money, so what do I care? Once you’re in there, it’s up to you. No one is babysitting you. There’s no way to track your movements, and there won’t be a rescue if you do get into trouble. You wanted in and you got that, but if you’re not back at the landing zone in forty-eight hours, we’re leaving you there. Understood?”

The CEO raised his hands. Raindrops bounced off his expensive leather gloves. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, there, sparky. I’ll be fine and I’ll follow your rules. No problem.”

Jake paused. “Okay. Let’s go.” He spun around and marched toward the campus. Jake knew Harris was wrong. The data clearly showed the aberrations which had started developing a decade ago. Congress was right to shut the project down and make it illegal. Now, eight years later, he had no idea what it was like in there. Still, he would not turn away from the money. If the CEO wanted to be a cowboy, that was on him.

“What’s the most important thing to remember?” Jake asked.

Harris had no trouble recalling this one. “There are no respawns. Dead is dead.”

4

It was six blocks from Jake’s house to the campus. Cloud Nine’s seven high-rise office towers loomed over them like a monolith. As they walked, Jake saw a cat dart out from under a car and away from the overflowing sewers. It ran for the safety of a dirt pathway between the tenements. These buildings dated back to before the turn of the century. Jake thought it was a sad commentary that the jewel of the Cloud Nine network, with its heated swimming pool and free gym membership, had been set up in such a dump of a neighborhood.

They reached the rear-access security door to tower one. Jake pounded on its flat metal surface. After a moment, the door opened to reveal a nervous, slightly pudgy technician.

“Let us in, Noel. It ain’t getting any warmer out here,” Jake grumbled.

Noel stepped back. As the two men entered the stairwell, they climbed the stairwell with Noel in the lead.

5

Deep inside the dimly lit recesses of the seventh floor, the three men entered MCR73. There were over a hundred Master Control Rooms throughout tower one. This room had an array of forty TV screens that displayed security camera footage from a zombie virtual game world called “Still Walking.”

In the center, one screen was black.

Jake sat at the console in front of the screens and started typing code.

Noel led the CEO to a pod at the back of the room. The unit looked like a tanning bed without the cover. Twenty wires were cradled around the pod’s perimeter.

Harris laughed. “This is old school.”

“Yeah, more like ancient school,” Noel replied, “but it’s a necessity. You can’t transfer to Epiphany16 remotely.” He glanced at the CEO, troubled. “Sir, you do remember why they shut Epiphany down, right?”

“Yes, yes, yes,” Harris replied impatiently, “glitches and mutations.”

“That’s right. I’ve never experienced Epiphany in operation, but I’ve seen videos of other systems breaking down and it is not pretty.”

Harris looked at Noel apprehensively. Despite being an avid hunter with tons of gaming experience, the CEO wondered whether he should continue with the trip. He understood there were risks, but knew this was likely his only chance to enter the fabled game world. His thoughts were interrupted when Jake called over from the console.

“Okay. It’s almost eight p.m. Let’s get you on that pod.” Behind Jake, the black screen in the center of the TV array was now showing Epiphany16’s landing zone. A large block of stone sat in the middle of that room. Floating above it was a luminescent light blue orb.

6

Harris removed his clothing and lay on the pod, shivering against the cold room.

“Sorry about the temperature,” Noel said. “You’ll be wearing clothes and armor when you get to the other side.” He started inserting the pins into the Harris’ IIDs.

“Make sure the connections are working,” Harris joked. “I don’t want to leave a leg behind.”

Noel chuckled as he peeked at a monitor above the pod. “You’re all green, and by the way, that’s one urban myth that isn’t true.”

Jake walked over from the console. “Okay. I’m ready. How ‘bout you guys?”

Harris nodded. Noel gave Jake a thumbs up.

“Alright,” Jake said. “Remain still. I’ll count you in from five.” He walked back to the console and gave Noel and Harris one last glance, then started reading the countdown on his monitor. “Five…”

Harris took a deep breath,

“Four…”

and peered up at Noel.

“Three…”

“Stay safe out there,” Noel whispered.

“Two…”

Harris closed his eyes.

“One…”

An electrical buzzing noise filled the room, gaining in pitch. What followed was a rare sight for Noel, who’d never worked with the older models. Harris’ body became translucent and desaturated, fluctuating only in shades of gray. Noel could see the surface of the pod behind him.

Harris suddenly opened his eyes and stared at Noel. In that instant, Noel could see fear in the CEO’s eyes. Then the buzzing sound increased, culminating with a deafening crack, and Will Harris disappeared. A faint burnt scent drifted up from the pod. Noel looked over at Jake, concerned.

“Don’t worry about the smell,” Jake said. “We didn’t burn him. That’s just residual electrical gases.” The single rerouted TV screen flickered behind him, displaying the Epiphany16 landing zone. In the center of the screen, Harris bounced excitedly, waving his sword through the air. “I think his dignity stayed here,” Jake quipped.

Noel laughed.

They both breathed a sigh of relief. All the pressure building up to the transfer was gone now. And they were rich. Noel planned on leaving Cloud Nine to start a consulting firm with Jake. Meanwhile, Harris had made it over safely. He looked ecstatic as he barged through the door leading to the portal room, but it was the last time Jake or Noel ever saw him again.

7

While Jake terminated access to Epiphany16, Noel meticulously arranged the wires back onto the pod.

“Let’s go for a dart.”

“Huh?” Noel said. “It’s raining.”

“Not anymore, my friend,” Jake replied. “Come on, an e-cigarette to celebrate. I’ve got your favorite, Merlot.”

“Did you bring your fav?”

Jake laughed. “What my girlfriend smells like,” he intoned, trying to sound sophisticated.

Noel laughed this time and grinned. “You’ve twisted my arm.”

Jake grabbed his hoodie, and they rushed out of the lab. As they proceeded down the stairs, Noel took the lead again. They made quick work of the seven-floor descent, their sneakers squeaking and echoing throughout the empty stairwell.

Noel heard Jake fidgeting behind him. “What in the world are you doing?” he asked.

“Just preparing your wine, my friend,” Jake replied.

Noel reached the main floor first. He pushed the exterior door open and stepped out into the pouring rain. “Hey, I thought you said it stopped raining?” Noel asked. He turned around to see Jake standing in front of the closed exterior door. Then he saw a glint of metal and immediately understood.

“Sorry, Noel,” Jake said as he fired the gun.