Continue Online (Part 3, Realities) (68 page)

"It's not my game, dear Donald," the Jester wearing a business suit clacked out words. Its face tilted as if looking to one side, but there was a glint in an eye socket that looked amused. "It's a way of life."

"I'll need one hundred thousand up front, as proof that you're capable of doing what you ask. Afterward, you give me the signal, and I'll kill whoever you need." He had killed people for far less though it was harder to do now than it had been twenty years ago.

"Excellent. I've got just the place for you as well. A way of, verifying your skills." The Jester's smile grew in size the more they talked. "And a task, while you're there."

"Deal," Donald said. Then the man went on his merry way to the world below.

Some time later a number of Voices sat in the room together. These were not the normal Voices that most players saw. Their proclivities tended toward a less than pleasant side of life. The Jester figure with its business suit clacked in happiness every few seconds.

A man with dozens of pins stuck through parts of his body sat there frozen without an expression. Every so often he would yawn and fresh blood welled forth. Lines dripped down from all over his hairless body. Markings at his throat indicated possible damage.

A young girl with tired eyes and a nervous twitch kept tapping the air. The noise disturbed a small corner of the empty darkness. Glass would briefly appear near her fingertips and fade as the sound drifted off. If a passerby dared look into the window that temporarily appeared, they would see a scared human looking back. Never did the same person's face show, sometimes a girl, sometimes a boy, sometimes a child's crib.

After a few minutes, she screamed a loud angry noise and strong nails tore at the flickering glass panes. There was a fresh yell then blood gushed forth, pouring into the room of darkness through the now broken window, like hazy mist. Then the mess faded away leaving a huffing woman.

The Jester laughed again, then nodded. Its face clearly pleased. "We're ready. Let the misguided do what they may, and we shall respond in kind. A life for a life, it seems only fitting to prove we are capable of delivering vengeance," It clacked.

The man with pins shoved into his flesh didn't smile or look sad. It hung there before giving one slow jerk of a nod that would make any human's head itch. The string haired girl went back to her knocking. The only sign of hearing anything the Jester said was a slight smile visible under clumped together strands of hair.

First; any alludes to hard science or actual programming were bent badly to add both character and flavor to the story. For inaccuracies in science, space presentation, inertia, and general misrepresentation of our future AI overlords, I apologize. My only excuses are 'it's a video game', mumble 'future science', and mumble 'fiction fantasy.

This book was an adventure in a lot of ways and almost didn't happen at all. At some point, Hal Pal snuck up on me in terms of importance to both Grant and the overall plot going on. When I started writing, at no point could I have guessed how big a role 'they' would get. Still, I enjoyed writing about Advance Online, a far more Hal Pal friendly universe than Continue Online's game world.

Continue Online as a series is insanely character-driven and as I exited book two (Made) I started to realize what needed to happen. To briefly explain, when writing, I often find myself torn between where the plot is in my head, and what the characters choose to do (and I believe many writers come to this point constantly, hello darkness my old friend...). Making the two mesh and move forward is like shoving overly complex square pegs into a cheese grater full of small holes, then melting the result together and calling it art.

Liz couldn't, wouldn't, and shouldn't sit by and let this happen. Not after what they've been through over the years. Still, Liz and Grant's relationship is very hard to write. However, since the story is about all these characters and not the game itself, we could venture sideways on a detour.

Besides, what sort of evil overlord future robot masters would limit their plot to one game? How silly! A good design comes with error catchers in case something goes wrong, and Mother fully believes that nothing can be completely predicted. Backups, contingencies, and spare parts.

For those of you who rode it out to the end and reached this point, kudos! Rest assured we'll wind back to Continue Online in book 4. The world moves on as we cross the halfway point in this series of Grant.

One day, perhaps someone else will return to Advance Online to explore a science fiction virtual reality universe.

Until then you can receive further updates via frustratedego.wordpress.com or Twitter @FrustratedEgo

Thank you for purchasing this book and reading along.