Interphase (13 page)

Neville shifted nervously in his chair, plucking at his stiff collar. "Crash Storms are dangerous, sir! You can't go back there. Can't you let someone else handle the mystery for once?"

David tipped his hat and gave Neville a suave smile. "Handling mystery is what I do. Besides, who else would be crazy enough to take this case?" He fingered the handle of his gun. "Let's go over the rest of the information."

Neville grabbed a notebook and pencil, poised to start scribbling notes.

"The lightning used by both the Storms and the phantom appears to have a destabilizing effect," David dictated, "but Analara's module seemed to be protected from its effects."

"Err…" Neville coughed, pencil hovering hesitantly. "What kinds of effects, sir?"

"Well, it physically destroys the things it comes into contact with, similar to a normal bolt of lightning. However, it breaks objects down on a code level, as evidenced by the destruction of the race track. Also, it can animate intelligent programs and fuse them together, like what happened in Eternity."

Neville resumed his notes.

"Except when it struck Analara's module, it didn't damage the environment at all, nor did it animate the feranal after it was killed. Why? What makes her world different?"

"Maybe she has insurance?"

David paused to grin. "Crash Storm insurance. What a novel idea. No, I think perhaps whatever protects her program from the outside also guards it from within."

"Ah." Neville's thin lips twitched with vague disappointment. "I see, sir."

"Anyway, something about the module is different. The Crash Storm energy doesn't seem to affect it at all. If I can find out what that difference is, perhaps I could use it to help protect the rest of V-Net. All I need to do is get back there, find the ghost again, and study it."

Neville raised his pencil like a schoolboy answering a question. "Without raising the attention of the head-man, sir. I finished that sketch based on your descriptions." He reached into his briefcase, pulled out a sheet of paper and laid it on the desk. David moved over and picked it up, studying it by the light of the desk lamp.

The shoulders were a little broader than he remembered, and the eyes weren't quite so close together. Also, David hadn't described the clothing that the citizens of Ilinar wore, so Neville had filled in those details himself… in the form of a three-piece suit, gold-chain pocket watch, and polished loafers. Aside from that, however, it was an accurate depiction of Shalaron. He set the sketch down.

"Yes, he is definitely someone to avoid for the time being." David paced around the office, rubbing his chin. "There's another problem that remains unsolved. I need to patch things up with Ms. Spencer."

"Oh dear."

"Yeah. She's still angry with me, and I need to find a way to make things up to her."

"Hmmm." Neville rolled his pencil through his fingers. "Maybe you could take her somewhere nice. There's a new restaurant that just opened up on 5th—"

David snapped his fingers. "Brilliant idea, Neville!"

Neville blushed. "Well, sir, I am always hap—"

"I can take her to see Analara's module. She's a fantasy nut, she'll love the place. Hmmm, I'm supposed to meet Analara two days from now, which should also give me the opportunity to introduce them to each other. It's perfect." David rubbed his hands together in excitement.

Finishing his notes, Neville looked up. "Will that be all for today, sir?"

David pondered the question. "I think I'd also like to do something nice for Analara. She's taking a risk to continue seeing me."

"Well, you're a dangerous man for dames to be around."

"No, Neville, this is real danger. From the single meeting I had with him, I sensed that Shalaron was not someone to be crossed. She deserves something special for caring enough to try."

Neville tapped the pencil against his lips. "Maybe you could get her a pretty diamond necklace? I'm not the best person to ask about this though, I've never had much luck with the ladies."

David frowned. "That wouldn't quite do. She seems fairly down to earth, and I'm not sure a fancy piece of jewelry would catch her eye. She does like to explore, though. Perhaps I can take her somewhere new and exciting."

"I've got it, sir. You could take her to see one of those new 'color' motion-pictures they've got playing downtown. I hear the current film is some sort of love story that takes place in a castle."

David smiled to himself, an idea forming in his head. "A love story in a castle, eh? That may just be the idea I'm looking for."

Chapter 12

Something tickled the edge of David's awareness at work the next day, startling him out of his routine. Checking to make sure he hadn't dropped any code connectors, he accepted the incoming tell.

=Hey, Harris.=

=Clyde!= David smacked himself on the forehead. How could he have forgotten? =You okay? I couldn't find out what happened to you after we broke through to the other module.=

=You don't even want to know. Some sort of synaptic feedback. Let's just say I felt
very
happy for a few minutes, until the damnable network couldn't lock the neural tracers and let me log back in. It took two hours for my brain to unscramble itself. Anyway, I just wanted you to know that I tweaked out one of your modules, so you don't need to call me every time you want a trip into the command core. Call it a gift.=

=Seriously?=

=Oh, don't sound so shocked.= There was a pause. =Listen, do me a favor. Take a couple pokes at your mystery module's code. I'm in the middle of something… big, but I want to know more about that thing's defenses.=

=All right. In the meantime, stay in touch?=

=We'll see.= The link faded; Clyde's presence was gone.

A warning flashed on David's work screen, and the assembly line bringing him code blocks suddenly halted. Slowly, lines of text filled the screen.

"To Employee #5057 - David Harris - Re: Unacceptable Work Performance. Due to frequent absences over the past week, as well as unauthorized use of data channels for personal activities at the workplace, you are hereby given a mark 2 reprimand. Failure to correct these behaviors will result in further disciplinary action. -Building Operations Bot Serial #027."

Rolling his eyes, David sighed and resumed his data construction, but his thoughts were far away. He remembered being seventeen, exploring the ins and outs of an electronic universe with his former friend. From digital shadows and crawlspaces, they had learned how to pick virtual reality apart and reconstruct it to their whim, all the while laughing silently behind authority's back.

Until the day authority had turned around…

"Your mother is crying in the hall outside right now. I would have expected better judgment from you. Hell, any sort of judgment would have been good," Roger shouted.

He felt a lump in his throat and swallowed hard, his face burning. "What do you want me to say?"

"I don't want you to say anything! I don't want you to think about doing anything for the next 12 hours. They are going to question you about everything, David. Everything. You have to tell the truth, it's the only way out of this."

"But we didn't hurt anyone!"

"It doesn't matter! Damn it, David, do you have any idea who his parents were?"

That had been the breaking point for his ties with both Clyde and Roger. He couldn't bring himself to look his friend in the eye after that; his confidence was too badly shaken. Clyde had drawn out that rebellious side of him, encouraging him to cultivate the forbidden fruit of his talents.

He had resented Roger for taking that away from him, even when he knew inside that his stepfather was just trying to protect him. After that, everything he'd done was one disappointment after another to Roger. It had been over a year since they'd even spoken.

Now, it seemed he had an opportunity to correct some of those mistakes. He and Clyde were on speaking terms again. And Jessica…

Well, he had a pretty good idea of how to make things up to her.

David couldn't log out of the office fast enough when his shift ended. He took a brief break and grabbed a bite to eat, running over his plan again. Ten minutes later he hopped back in the link chair and performed a search for Jessica. He quickly located her inside the Song of Eternity module, but when he tried to send her a tell message, her status showed Busy. She only did that if she was in the middle of a particularly involved quest or battle. A quick area check showed Thomas and Lucas in her vicinity. Even better.

He loaded Daveth and hacked a gate entrance near their location in the module. The setting was a vast underground cave, lit by poisonous-looking fungi that covered the stalactites overhead. Mounds topped with broken stones dotted the disturbed ground that served as a graveyard, and the chill air carried a foul smell. Kuroon's Cavern was an unfriendly dungeon at the best of times. The ringing clash of steel on steel, accompanied by spell chants, came from the south end of the graveyard. He hurried toward it.

Keeping himself hidden behind rock pillars and headstones, David observed the battle. Jessica, Thomas and Lucas stood surrounded by dozens of grotesque monsters, a dark figure looming over them from a shadowy dais. Living corpses wielding rusty weapons hurled themselves against Thomas's shield, and shrieking apparitions launched bolts of diseased mist at Lucas. Jessica stood several feet behind the two warriors, cleansing their afflictions and firing her purified arrows between chants. Slowly, the three heroes drove the horde back, thinning their numbers even as more bodies rose from the ground. Jessica's voice resounded throughout the cavern and a blinding flash of light burst above the battlefield. When it faded, the graveyard was still, save for the dark figure. From his hiding place David silently cheered the group on.

The man-like shadow descended from its throne, idly clapping at their performance. Drawing back its cloak, it brandished an eerie dual-bladed sword, a sickly green fog drifting off the edges. Lucas circled behind to draw its attention, but a wave of the creature's arm launched a wall of force at him and smashed him into a pillar. Thomas charged and locked blades with the demon. They exchanged blows, but the creature quickly disarmed him, dealing a grievous gash to his temple. He fell backwards, stunned. Jessica gasped and turned to channel her strongest healing spell into the fallen knight.

A flash of movement caught David's eye. The demon, its eyes alight, began a strange incantation, aiming its glowing blade at Jessica's unprotected back. He didn't think. He dropped his staff, bolted from cover, and jumped between Jessica and the creature. A stream of crimson energy flowed from the demon's hand into his chest.

At his cry of pain Jessica whirled around. "David?"

The creature leered. "Your soul will make a fine meal for my minions, foolish sorcerer," it whispered in a voice as old as the grave. David glared at it, drawing in all of his power. He could feel the channel the demon was using to drain his life energy, if he could just reverse the flow…

With a roar, David streamed all of his stored will through the creature's link. A look of disbelief crossed the demon's face just before it exploded in a ball of blue flame. Behind the dais, a wall crumbled, revealing a glinting pile of treasure. With a groan, David collapsed to the ground.

"David, have you gone mad?" Jessica shouted, even as her arms curled protectively around him. She caressed his face and chanted a prayer of recovery.

Thomas and Lucas slowly got to their feet and trudged over to them. "Bro, that was totally wicked!" Lucas said. "When did you show up?"

David flashed an embarrassed grin at Jessica. "In the nick of time?"

"Always the martyr," she said, softly stroking his forehead.

"There was nothing else to do, Jess. I couldn't let him hurt you."

"And you thought being a human shield was a better idea?"

"Well, it worked. Besides, I always wanted to test my powers against Kuroon himself."

Jessica stared at him and shook her head with a pitying grin. "I don't know what I'm going to do with you."

"Was there something that you needed from us, David?" Thomas asked. He seemed a bit less poised than usual.

David nodded and stood up. "I know I really messed things up for everyone the other day. I was impatient and frustrated and ended up ruining the evening. So, I was hoping you guys would give me a chance to make it up to you."

"Oh yeah?" Lucas was already grinning in excitement.

"I found the mystery module."

David savored their expressions. "And Analara?" Jessica asked.

"Yeah, we ran into each other again. She showed me around a bit, and it's amazing. The most incredible world I've ever seen. It's a bit off the beaten path, but it's well worth the trip. Anyone interested in a tour tomorrow?"

Lucas sheathed his swords and stepped forward. "Count me in."

"How about the two of you?" David asked. Thomas seemed intrigued by the idea and glanced at Jessica.

She shook her head. "I appreciate the thought, David, but I don't think so."