I was about to reply, when I saw Cassandra had moved to stand in the centre of the Amphitheatre. When she spoke, her voice was broadcast across it.
“We are all present once more, except for our two brothers who are indisposed.”
I didn’t understand her words for a moment – no one was ever ill in Game – but then I remembered there were two Founder Players under house arrest.
“This meeting is now in session,” she continued. “Hawk mentioned some surveillance footage to me, so I’ve requested it from the Game Techs.”
“Oh no.” Hawk made a whimpering noise.
“It’s all right,” I whispered. “The Game Techs will have edited out anything awkward.”
“They won’t have edited out Michael!”
A flat screen appeared in midair at the far end of the Amphitheatre. There was a pause while a few people changed seats to get a better view, then the screen started showing heavily edited surveillance footage of Michael and Emma talking to Tomath.
“If I suddenly vanish,” whispered Hawk, “I’ve suffered a Game death from embarrassment and I’ll be back after I resurrect on Celestius.”
“You don’t look any worse than I do,” I whispered back.
The Founder Players didn’t seem interested in our looks, just in what was happening. The scenes with Tomath were followed by Michael and Emma at the dormitory, receiving the call from the Reaper. Hawk cringed as he watched Michael yanking at Emma’s hair. I felt like cringing too, because my Emma persona looked scared senseless through the whole thing.
When that sequence ended, a male voice called out from the audience. “You still aren’t very good with girls, are you, Hawk?”
“This isn’t a time for jokes, Hercules,” said Cassandra.
“I’ll kill him,” muttered Hawk.
It was the murder scene next. When I saw my “death”, I could see why it had scared Michael so much. Falcon had clearly got even better at faking injuries since winning the area championship. My throat seemed to have been cut to the bone, and there was blood everywhere.
We then had Michael cutting the medical chip out of his arm with a knife. I turned my head away and watched the audience during that bit. Some of them seemed to be avoiding looking at the images as well.
Finally, there was a few seconds of Michael on the buggy, and getting blown up by the bombs. The screen went blank, and there was a long silence before Cassandra spoke again.
“Hawk, can you stand please?”
He stood up with a barely audible sigh.
“Let’s go over the current situation again,” she said. “I think a lot of people were too shocked to take in all the details the first time you explained them. The bomber is dead, but his accomplice, the Reaper, is still in Game?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t know anything about the Reaper, except that he’s male and a lifetime subscription holder?”
“That’s right.”
“You told us that the Reaper has a deletion weapon. This could remove a player from the Game, without allowing their consciousness to return to their real life body. In effect, permanently killing them, although the physical body would remain in the body stacks.”
“Yes,” said Hawk. “There’s a danger the Reaper will attack someone with this deletion weapon to take revenge for Tomath’s death.”
“You believe that the Reaper is likely to direct his attacks primarily at you and Jex, because you prevented the Celestius bombing and killed Tomath, but any Founder Player is a potential target?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” said Hawk. “The Reaper sees himself as the rightful ruler of Game, and bitterly resents the fame of the Founder Players.”
Cassandra nodded. “Then we have two main issues to discuss. Is Celestius safe now, and are we as individuals safe when we leave it? Game command. Request Game Tech assistance.”
Kwame appeared before Cassandra had even finished saying the words. He’d obviously been waiting to be called.
“Is Celestius safe?” asked Cassandra.
Kwame’s face was calm and controlled, but his body language looked nervous to me. “Maintenance crews no longer have any access at all to the Game Tech systems. Extensive changes have been made to protect force field codes. Any request for a code must now be confirmed by multiple gold status Game Techs. Once a force field code has been supplied to a maintenance crew, it will automatically change within two minutes.”
I admired the way that each individual sentence was true, but the total implied something that wasn’t.
“The main Celestius server complex is now under constant guard by armed Unilaw officers,” said Kwame. “While you were all in the Amphitheatre earlier, we took the opportunity to adjust the Celestius server configuration to include servers at two different secret locations. All three server complexes would have to fail for Celestius to be harmed.”
I blinked. I remembered a Game Tech explaining they’d need to shut down a Game world to reconfigure its servers, so Celestius must have briefly vanished from Game. I could see why the Game Techs had grabbed their chance to do that furtively. Players wouldn’t react well to the suggestion of shutting down their Game world at any time, but it could trigger blind fury in these circumstances.
I wondered what the Game Techs had done with the two Founder Players under house arrest while they shut down Celestius. Presumably there’d have been some time taken up running tests as well. Had Marcus and Chiron spent a confusing hour or two in a Game prison?
The silver-cloaked figure of Atlas stood up in the audience, and called out in a bitter voice. “Very nice, but why didn’t you do these things centuries ago? If Hawk and ... what’s her name, Jex, hadn’t stopped the bomber, my wife would be dead!”
“I understand and share your anger,” said Cassandra. “We will return to that point later, but for now we need to focus on the issue of our future safety. Hawk, do you believe the new arrangements are secure?”
“I can’t think of any weaknesses,” said Hawk.
“So Celestius should be safe,” said Cassandra, “and the Reaper will not be able to reach us while we remain there. The problem is what happens when we go to other worlds. Are we even safe here in the Amphitheatre?”
“At this moment,” said Kwame, “Amphitheatre access is routed via Celestius. Manual intervention by Game Techs was required to bring Jex here.”
“So the main danger to us will be if we leave Celestius to visit other worlds?” asked Cassandra.
“That is correct,” said Kwame.
“I’m hoping the Reaper realizes he may only get one chance to attack someone,” said Hawk, “and that he saves his anger for me, but I’d still advise the rest of the family to stay on Celestius.”
Merlin rose to his feet, his skin shimmering with the glitter effect that marked residents of Starlight. “I’ve just come here from Starlight. Stella had finally agreed to meet me and talk things over. We were going to try to ignore all the gossips and make things work again, but this changes the situation. If I go back to live with Stella on Starlight, will I be putting her life at risk as well as my own?”
“I’m afraid so. You shouldn’t assume that you’d be safe even within Stella’s house. As I said, the Reaper’s preferred targets are going to be myself and Jex. My plan is to wander round the worlds outside Celestius, parading myself as a target until the Reaper attacks me.”
“Won’t he guess it’s a trap and just stay in hiding?” asked Fleur.
“I’ll just have to be so tempting that the Reaper can’t resist trying to kill me permanently,” said Hawk.
“If Hawk needs to be irresistible, we’ll all be stuck on Celestius for centuries,” called Hercules.
“And what of Jex?” asked Cassandra.
“She wanted to play being target as well,” said Hawk, “but she hasn’t my combat experience so that would be suicidally dangerous. I’ve told the Game Techs that Jex will be defrosting immediately after this meeting for her own protection
. She can remain safely under guard at a real world United Law facility until we’ve caught the Reaper.”
Fury hit me. I’d reluctantly accepted I should leave Game, but Hawk hadn’t bothered to ask my decision. He’d just told the Game Techs I was defrosting. I jumped up and shouted in outrage.
“Hey! I’m not a criminal. You can’t just tell the Game Techs to throw me out of ...”
I broke off, realizing my shouts were being broadcast around the Amphitheatre, echoing like thunder, and all the Founder Players were staring at me. I gulped, hesitated, and sat down again.
“Jex risked a real life death to save Celestius,” said Cassandra. “It hardly seems fair to reward her for that by forcibly removing her from Game and imprisoning her in a United Law facility.”
“Of course it isn’t fair,” said Hawk. “It wouldn’t be fair if the Reaper erases her mind from Game either.”
Cassandra looked at Kwame. “Game Tech?”
“Player Hawk had not made it clear that the defrost request was being made without player Jex’s consent,” said Kwame. “There is no precedent for removing a player in good standing from Game against their will.”
“This meeting is now in temporary recess,” said Cassandra. “I request the Sisterhood to accept my Game world transfer offer to my castle on Celestius.”
She vanished. The rest of the golden cloaks rapidly disappeared from the Amphitheatre as well until only silver were left.
Hawk turned to Kwame. “If you haven’t got a precedent, you’ll have to create one.”
Kwame shook his head. “The Game Techs must be wary of setting precedents. They will inevitably be cited by other players making similar requests.”
Hercules promptly stood up in the audience. “If we can request that Game Techs throw people out of Game, I want Hawk thrown out.”
Hawk glared at him. “I challenge! Name the time and place!”
“I’m not fighting you again,” said Hercules. “You’ve killed me about two hundred times already.”
“Chicken.” Hawk turned back to Kwame. “You have to make Jex defrost, or she could be murdered right under your nose.”
I sat listening to the argument and wondering what to do. After all the fuss, it would be embarrassing to interrupt and explain that I’d been angry at Hawk ordering me around but I’d already decided I should leave Game. I glowered in Hawk’s direction. This situation was all his fault.
Someone sat down next to me. I turned my head, startled, and saw a heavily muscled giant of a man, with blond hair and a taste for clothes made out of leather. Hercules had come to talk to me.
“Hello, Jex.” He stared down at my legs.
“Hi, Hercules,” I said warily.
“Emma looked nice, but you look even nicer.”
He lifted his head a little, and focused his eyes on my neckline. I wished I’d changed clothes before coming to the Amphitheatre. I felt the ideal costume for sitting next to Hercules would be heavy plate armour.
“Everyone looks a lot better in Game,” said Hercules. “Especially Hawk. Didn’t you think Michael was repulsive?”
I felt like insulting Hawk myself, but I didn’t appreciate hearing Hercules doing it. “No. In fact, I couldn’t see why Michael had such a complex about his appearance, but now it makes far more sense to me. You had a whole month to undermine his confidence before entering Game.”
Hercules laughed. “You’re giving me far too much credit. Someone else had undermined Michael’s confidence before I even met him. I just had to complete the good work.”
If I’d had a knife with me at that moment, there’d have been Game news channel headlines about me stabbing a Founder Player.
Hawk spotted Hercules sitting next to me, abandoned his argument with Kwame, and came to stand pointedly looming over the two of us. Hercules smiled smugly up at him, before turning his attention back to me.
“Perhaps we could get together some time, Jex. I’d like to get to know you a lot better.”
I gave him my most insincere smile. “That’s very kind of you, but the answer’s no.”
“Don’t tell me you’re Hawk’s exclusive property.”
“I’m a free agent,” I said, “but I know perfectly well that you’re only asking me out to try and provoke Hawk into hitting you in front of a Game Tech. I suppose your plan is that the Game Tech will be forced to intervene, and then you can enjoy Hawk getting lectured on Game rules section 3 in front of all the other Founder Players.”
Hercules grinned at me. “You’re a smart girl. I can understand why Hawk loves you. Always.”
He stood up, waved cheerfully at Hawk, and headed back to the main Amphitheatre seats.
Hawk stood there scowling for a moment longer, before sitting down beside me again. “Perhaps I could arrange for the Reaper to delete Hercules from Game.”
I laughed. “Why did Hercules quote what you said to me when we faked you cutting my throat? Surely he knows that was just part of the act.”
Hawk stared up at the stars overhead. “Hercules has been studying me for four centuries, working out every weakness he can attack. He knows I wouldn’t have said those words unless they were true.”
“What?” I stared at him, shocked and disbelieving. “We’ve only known each other for a few days, and a lot of that time you were just controlling a droid from within Game.”
“I know it’s far too soon to make declarations,” said Hawk. “I only said that I loved you because of the situation. I was Michael again. I was going off with the Reaper, and there was a fair chance I’d die. I was in real life, so it wouldn’t be a temporary Game death, but very permanent. I wanted those words to be the last thing I said to you, even if you thought I was just acting.”
I couldn’t cope with discussing this right now. I was too annoyed by Hawk trying to force me to defrost. I was too aware of the host of male Founder Players still lounging in their seats and watching us. I changed the subject instead.
“Why do you and Hercules have this long running, childish feud? If it’s because he stole your name, you should forget it. Hawk suits you much better.”
“I was irritated about the name, but then we entered Game and I decided I preferred being called Hawk. The situation improved between me and Hercules, because he was too busy chasing after Fleur to spend time tormenting me, and we were actually allies during the big period of fighting. The problems started up again when the First Wave arrived in Game. Hercules liked showing off to them, but I was much better than him at fighting the big monsters, so the new players admired me more than him. When they started calling me Hawk the Unvanquished, Hercules bitterly resented them not giving him a title too, and started playing malicious tricks on me. Then Fleur dumped him, Hercules blamed me for their split, and our feud became very, very, serious.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. “You and Fleur were ...?”
“Fleur would have laughed in my face if I’d tried approaching her. What happened was Hercules rigged a booby trap at their castle, and invited me over in the hope I’d walk into it. Unfortunately, Fleur came home unexpectedly. She walked into the trap instead of me, a huge cannonball landed on her head, and she got Game killed. When she resurrected, she was coldly furious, and dumped Hercules on the spot.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “I’m not surprised Fleur dumped him, but why did Hercules blame you for what happened? It sounds like it was entirely his own fault.”
Hawk sighed. “Hercules wasn’t going to blame himself, was he? Fleur never forgave him for killing her. She’d suffered years of pain in real life, entered Game to escape it, and ...”
Hawk broke off and stared at the centre of the Amphitheatre. All seventy-nine female Founder Players had appeared there, in thirteen neat rows of six golden-cloaked figures, with Cassandra standing at the front.
“Oh no,” muttered Hawk. “They’re in war formation. Please don’t let them be after me.”
“Game Tech,” said Cassandra, in a voice of ice. br />
Kwame stepped forward to face her, looking utterly terrified.
“When we entered Game, many Founder Players were warned a normal defrost would be dangerous for them due to their ill health,” said Cassandra. “Is it true that an emergency, high-speed defrost would be fatal for the people given that warning?”
“That is correct,” said Kwame.
“So all of those would have died if the bombing of Celestius had succeeded?”
“That is correct.”
“That includes the entire Sisterhood?” Cassandra stared at him in accusation.
He nodded.
She was out for her pound of flesh. “I’d like your verbal answer for the record. That includes the entire Sisterhood?”
“That is correct.”
I was feeling sorry for Kwame by now. After all, none of this was his personal fault. Cassandra still hadn’t finished though.
“Will all male players who received that warning please stand?”
Many of the silver-cloaked figures around the Amphitheatre stood up. I was somehow startled to see Caesar was among them.
“All of those Founder Players currently standing would have died.” Cassandra threw the accusation at Kwame.
“That is correct.”
“In the light of that, the Sisterhood of Celestius wish to make a request.”
Kwame seemed to be holding his breath as he waited for her to continue.
“We wish to offer Founder Player status to Jex,” said Cassandra.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Reality blurred and fell apart, so I totally missed the conversation for the next few minutes. When I finally got my brain working again, there was a debate going on about precedents. I glanced at Hawk. He was listening intently with a worried expression on his face.