The Game of Lives

  And that wasn’t all. The background was full of colors—pale green and deep yellow and an orange that made Michael feel seasick.

  But he had to face it all head-on.

  Programming in this VirtNet felt almost like learning from scratch. But if anyone was capable of it, he was. He knew that. Already, as he studied the cyclone of virtual nonsense around him, his mind was adapting. Oh, that symbol has transformed into this; that line of code actually does this task; those three functions add up to what these two functions once triggered. Maybe it was because his essence itself was made up of code, but he started to see through the muck, like a nearsighted child putting on glasses for the first time.

  Excited and scared at once, he threw himself at the disease-riddled mess of code like he’d never done before. And that was saying something. That was saying a lot.

  3

  Time lost all meaning as he worked. He concentrated so furiously that his head felt like a crushed grape. His virtual eyes begged him to stop, the pain like knives pressing directly through them into his skull. But he was on a roll, and the adrenaline-laced rush of it all kept him going.

  Finally, he released himself from it, catapulting away from the strange alley of no-man’s-land. It was like literal flight, wind rushing past him, blowing at his clothes and hair. Exhilarated, breathless, he opened himself up to the euphoria. He was a rocket, flying through space. Butterflies swarmed in his chest, and his mind was light as air.

  He knew when he’d arrived, just as someone sleeping in a dark room knows when a light has been turned on. He felt the soft ground beneath him, heard the breeze rustling the virtual leaves of the trees, smelled the pine and earth.

  He opened his eyes.

  The tree house was nearby, looking as strong and firm as ever. An endless forest stretched in every direction, the sounds of insects and frogs and birds filling the air, though a little more muted than normal. The colors were a little weaker also; maybe the trees weren’t as tall, the smells not so vibrant. But all in all, the code was much healthier than anything he’d seen so far in the Sleep.

  He’d built this place with Bryson and Sarah, on the outskirts of Lifeblood, hidden from all but the most discerning coders. Seeing the tree house, its ladder leading up to the trapdoor, made his heart shatter. The pain of Sarah’s death came crashing back, and he lay down on the forest floor, curling up into a ball. He missed her. He missed her so much. His head still pounded from the work it had taken to restore this place, not to mention the effort of traveling there through a sea of decomposing code, but the trauma in his heart was much worse.

  How could Agent Scott have done that? Taken his best friend away from him?

  He’d never known a pain like this. He’d taken Sarah for granted. She’d just always been there, and he’d assumed she always would be. It was hard to face the fact that someone like Agent Weber was still alive, yet his best friend was gone.

  And then there was Kaine. He didn’t understand Kaine any more than he understood Weber. He could only hope that the Tangent would show up.

  It felt as if he weighed a thousand pounds, but Michael finally pulled himself to his feet and climbed up to his tree house. To Sarah’s tree house.

  4

  Time passed.

  Michael sat in the corner, in the beanbag that constituted Bryson’s most important contribution to the furniture arrangement. As they’d so often said, it was vomit-colored. Unfortunately for Michael, it reminded him a lot of the code in which he’d been floating before.

  Sarah had carved her name in the wall across from him, and he sat staring at it listlessly. His aching heart had morphed into a dull numbness, and he lay completely still, looking at the letters of her name one by one. It didn’t seem possible that she was gone. If only she’d been a Tangent like him, and Kaine had never entered the picture, they could’ve gamed and lived life to its fullest for what felt like forever, until the Decay took their minds and they drifted into forgetful bliss.

  More time passed.

  And then, finally, there were footsteps—the sound of leaves crunching beneath his tree house. He sat up with a jolt, his feet thumping on the wooden floor. His gaze shot to the trapdoor.

  “Michael,” a man’s voice said from below.

  Michael slowly stood, careful not to make the slightest noise. Though there wasn’t much point in being quiet. Whoever had arrived knew Michael was there, obviously. The question was, was it Kaine or an impostor?

  He stepped lightly over to the trapdoor, leaned forward, and looked through the hole.

  A man stood next to the ladder, staring up. And it was him—Kaine—in the same Aura that Michael had last seen him. Not the old, decrepit geezer from the first time, but the younger version. Perfectly styled salt-and-pepper hair, a sharp jawline, bright and intelligent eyes. In his dark, three-piece suit, he could have passed for a handsome businessman.

  “May I come up?” he asked.

  “Uh, yeah.”

  Not the greatest start to the most important conversation of his life.

  Kaine grabbed hold of a rung, and as if it were the most normal thing in the world for a grown man in a suit to do, he started to climb. Michael stepped back when Kaine’s head popped through the opening, and then the Tangent was on his feet, standing before him. He had almost a foot in height on Michael’s Aura, and his face was totally unreadable. He didn’t look angry, but he sure didn’t seem too happy, either.

  Neither of them said a word for several seconds.

  It was Kaine who spoke first. “Why am I here, son? I’ve given you several chances, yet you reject me every time.”

  “I…” This wasn’t quite how Michael had imagined it.

  “You only exist because of me,” Kaine continued. “Surely you realize that I could’ve had you terminated at any point. I have watched in wonder—and amusement, I have to say—as you run around like an obedient dog, doing whatever Weber commands.”

  Michael tried to recover. “Listen—”

  “Yes? Why am I here?” Kaine interrupted.

  “I…well…” Michael motioned toward the beanbags. He was having a hard time figuring out where to begin. “Can we sit down? I know you’re powerful, but I’m not going to botch this. Let’s sit down and talk through it without your power act.” Michael fought to stay put, expression unwavering.

  It took Kaine a moment to answer, but when he did, Michael swore he could make out a slight smile on the Tangent’s lips. “Fair enough. Fair enough.” Kaine stepped over to the nearer beanbag and sat down, as limber as any teenager.

  Michael sat back down in Bryson’s infamous bag, settled himself.

  “Now,” Kaine said, exaggerating his patient tone. “May I please know why I’m here?”

  Michael eyed the man carefully. “How can I know for sure that you’re Kaine? I was just at the World Summit and supposedly watched you die the true death.”

  Kaine folded his hands in his lap. “If we’re going to talk, let’s not waste time. Okay? How about we agree on that first. You know very well that was just another of Weber’s shows. I’d be insulted if I couldn’t plainly see in your eyes that you know that wasn’t me. After everything I’ve done, I’d be very upset if you thought I’d actually fall into that trap.”

  “Fair enough” it was Michael’s turn to say. “I had to at least ask the question. I don’t think anyone else could get past that crypting I put on my message, and I never believed it was you at the summit. This is you.”

  Kaine gave a slow nod of acknowledgment. “Then I ask again—why am I here?”

  A nervous tingle in Michael’s chest had slowly grown into a monstrous buzz that made it hard to breathe. “I…I guess I just got to my breaking point. Ever since all this started—way back when Weber first contacted me and sent me on the Path…I’ve felt like a pawn. A guinea pig. A lamb sent to the slaughter, or whatever that old phrase is. And I want to know once and for all—why me? What’s the point?”

  “So you brou
ght me in to complain?” Kaine asked. “Complaints noted.”

  Michael was glad Kaine went the sarcasm route, because it was just enough to tick him off and dampen the nervousness. “See? That right there,” he said, pointing at Kaine. “I’m sick of that crap. Just talk to me like a normal person. You know I have every right to be here and to be heard. If you would just treat me with some respect and hear what I have to say without trying to intimidate me!” By the time he finished speaking, he was practically shouting, his face red.

  To Kaine’s credit, he remained calm. He simply shrugged humbly. “Well spoken,” he answered. “I’m here, aren’t I? I’ll listen to what you have to say. Consider me madly curious.”

  Michael nodded, satisfied. “All right, then. From here on out I’m doing things my way. I have a lot of questions, and I have a lot of ideas.”

  Kaine didn’t say a word, but his focus was strong, his eyes sharp.

  Michael nodded again, as if to convince himself he was on the right track. “So, first things first. I want you to tell me everything about this…immortality. And why? What are your motives?”

  Kaine shifted his position, leaning closer to Michael. “I’ll talk to you, but answer me one question: why now?”

  Michael didn’t hesitate. “Because you and I have to stop the VNS.”

  CHAPTER 14

  THE VISION

  1

  Michael could see right away that he had Kaine’s attention. The Tangent had probably come expecting many things, but not this. Michael had never hidden the fact that he hated the man.

  For Michael, it was a no-brainer, though. Weber and the VNS were up to something terrible, and Kaine was the only one powerful enough to stop them. Michael just had to make sure he used him in the right way.

  Kaine finally spoke. “I’ll admit, you’ve surprised me.”

  “I figured I would.”

  “I’ve wanted you to work with me from the beginning,” the Tangent said. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted. There’s a reason you were the first to be chosen for the Mortality Doctrine. And there’s a reason I’ve come to you on more than one occasion asking you for help. Why, after everything that’s happened, have you suddenly decided to take me up on my offer?”

  “I know about the Hive,” Michael said. “I know about the connection between the bodies stolen by the Tangents and the consciousness taken from those bodies and stored there. I know they need each other to coexist.”

  If Kaine was surprised, he hid it well. “And?”

  “And now the VNS thinks the solution to the problem you created is to sever those connections and let both sides die. I’m not going to let that happen. That’s why I need your help.”

  Kaine shifted in the beanbag and rested his hands in his lap, his gaze fixed on Michael. Michael had no idea what was going on in the Tangent’s mind.

  “You’re serious, aren’t you?” Kaine finally said.

  Michael couldn’t hide his exasperation. “Yes, I’m serious.”

  Kaine held his hands up. “It’s just…a bit of a relief to see you come to your senses.”

  “So?” Michael urged. “What do you know about the VNS? What are they trying to accomplish?”

  Kaine shifted again, then let out a frustrated sigh. “I’m sorry, but this won’t do. Can we please sit in the chairs at the table?”

  The table was small, the chairs smaller. But if that was what it took for Kaine to continue this meeting, then so be it.

  “Fine,” Michael said. A few seconds later, they were settled and facing each other.

  Kaine leaned forward with a very serious look on his face. “Let me start by saying that yes, I agree with you regarding the VNS. They’ve gone far, far past…decency. Let me ask you, though, Michael—why the Hive? Why would I go to all the trouble to create, maintain, and secure that massively complex program?”

  Michael worried he could be walking into a trap, but knew he had to answer honestly. “Because there has to be that connection. To keep the Tangents alive in their human hosts.”

  “No.” Kaine shook his head. “Absolutely not. If we’d merely wanted to replace the human intelligences with Tangents, we could’ve done so. Download the Tangents and terminate the life it replaced. That connection you speak of exists because of the Hive. Because I wanted to keep those humans alive—and to do it, a connection needed to be maintained between the two. One depends on the other. It’s that way because I made it that way. Others…well, others didn’t care one way or another. They’ve always had their own motives in this process.”

  Michael stared at him, his mind going places that he found hard to believe. “You mean…”

  Kaine nodded, a sad smile forming at the corners of his mouth.

  “The VNS,” Michael said.

  “The VNS. I have it all figured out. Are you ready to know the truth? Do you think you can handle it?”

  Michael could only nod.

  Kaine leaned in. “They created me, Michael,” the Tangent said. “The VNS created me.”

  2

  Kaine leaned back, his whole body seeming to shrink from whatever trick in the code he’d just invoked. Michael stared at him as his mind worked to put all the pieces together.

  “They created me decades ago,” Kaine continued. “An experimental artificial intelligence that would become stronger and stronger. The human minds at the VNS could have never created the Mortality Doctrine program on their own. No human mind could have—it’s far too complex. And so I came to be. I was double the value, too. Once the Doctrine had been created, I could be their bad man. Their very bad man.”

  Michael shook his head. He just couldn’t believe it. “You mean they had all of this orchestrated from the beginning? Why? The whole world is screwed up, and most people blame them!”

  Kaine shook his head, as if at a stupid child. “Of course it wasn’t all orchestrated. Things have gone worse than even they planned. They didn’t know that I would become sentient. That I’d come up with my own plans. They didn’t know about the Hive. And so things fell harder and faster than they had hoped. But in the end, all the better for them. The farther your world falls, the bigger the hero the VNS becomes when it’s saved.”

  Michael didn’t feel so well. “You’re telling me that the VNS programmed you, led you toward creating the Mortality Doctrine, then instigated sending thousands of Tangents into the world so that they…what, could look good in the NewsBops?”

  “Don’t be an idiot,” Kaine snapped. “You were just at the World Summit. You know what’s happening. Every government in the world is practically begging the VNS to do whatever it takes to save them. When this is all over, the VNS will be the most powerful entity in the world, and they’ll never relinquish that power. They’ll never let the threat die down enough to allow that to happen. They’ve almost won already.”

  “And what about you?” Michael asked. “What’s your role in all this?”

  “My role?” he repeated. “My role is that I’m their enemy, just as you are. It was their plan all along. They used me. They used you. You have to admire their brilliance. By the time we turned against them, us turning against them is exactly what they wanted. The Hive was the only wild card, and now they’ve figured that out, too. It’s only a matter of time before there’s nothing else we can do, about any of it. The VNS will practically rule the world, and we’ll be terminated one way or another.”

  “Then what do we do?” Michael asked. As much as he hated it, it was now crystal clear that he had no choice but to work with Kaine on this.

  “It’s all about the Hive,” the Tangent said. “Everything depends on the Hive. The VNS want to annihilate it, erase every stored intelligence, claim victory that the Tangents are dead and the world is saved.”

  “Okay.” Michael had already assumed the Hive would play a major role. “So how do we stop them?”

  Kaine thought a moment. “I know our time is short. And there are things we need to do right away. But first I have to show
you something. It’s absolutely worth the time it will take.”

  “What?” Michael asked.

  “I once tried to show you what it would be like to have the entire VirtNet at your disposal. Do you remember that?”

  “Uh, yeah,” Michael replied, hoping the Tangent understood sarcasm. He would never forget being glued to that shaft of purple light and traveling through the countless programs inside the Sleep.

  Kaine gave a shrug that seemed to say, You win some, you lose some. “Well, that didn’t work on you and your friends very…effectively, so I’m going to show you the other side of the coin. I’m going to show you how the world—the real, living, breathing world—is about to change forever.”

  Michael sucked in a breath. “Okay.”

  “Prepare to be amazed.”

  Everything around them disappeared, replaced by darkness.

  3

  Michael found himself catapulted into the blackness of space. Before him, a giant planet took up half his vision, brighter than the fullest moon. Kaine was beside him, looking on, his eyes large with wonder. Michael started to say something but stopped, instead deciding to study the celestial body that held the Tangent’s attention.

  When he turned back, he realized that it wasn’t a planet at all.

  It was a human fetus, almost fully grown, inside a crystalline sphere that pulsated with light. The baby’s little arms and legs curled around an umbilical cord, its huge blue eyes actually open, looking wiser than they should at such an early stage of development.

  “Just look at that,” Kaine said, his voice quiet but clear. “It’s a miracle, life. Don’t you think? A group of cells reproducing with such precision that they become what you are today. A full-grown person, walking, talking, running, jumping, eating, dancing, sleeping.”