The Paladin Prophecy (40 page)

“Why didn’t we bring Nick the Human Goat-Boy along for this?” said Ajay.

“Dude, I offered,” said Nick.

“Yellow,” said Elise. A yellow column whipped by, and they made the leap. Now only green columns remained. The columns picked up speed. The syn-apps threw themselves on top of a green one as it sailed past. The green column gradually slowed, then ground to a halt with an alarming shudder.

A single white column appeared ahead of them. The syn-apps were stranded ten yards away from it, too far to jump.

“What now?” asked Ajay.

“Think it through,” said Will. “There’s no rush.”

A message appeared on-screen: YOU HAVE THIRTY SECONDS. The message was replaced by the number 30, which changed to 29, then to 28. With each passing second, the syn-apps’ green column slowly crumbled. The syn-apps moved to the center, looking out at them for help.

“You were saying?” asked Brooke.

“
Damn
it, Ronnie,” said Elise.

“Jump, dudes!” said Nick.

“Use your ropes,” said Ajay to the screen.

The syn-apps huddled for a moment and agreed on something. “Will” opened his backpack and took out what looked like a flare gun. “Ajay” attached a spike to the end of his rope and dropped it into the barrel of Will’s gun, and Will fired it down at the white circle. The spike embedded in its surface near the edge. Ajay secured their end of the rope to the center of their shrinking pillar with a piton.

“Zip lines,” said Will.

As the countdown hit 10, they attached clips from their belts to the rope, then launched off the column. They soared over the void and tumbled onto the white column just as what was left of the green column collapsed into the bottomless dark. Slipping off their climbing gear, they just escaped being dragged over the edge. Everyone, including the syn-apps, stopped to catch their breath.

“Now what?” said Brooke.

The light slowly brightened and the white circle of light became part of a ledge at the bottom of a tall smooth cliff.

“Keep going,” said Elise. “You’re getting close.”

The syn-apps moved along the ledge until they reached an open doorway in the cliff. As they moved through it, the space transformed into a large chamber containing antique furniture, a blazing fireplace, and geometric parquet flooring. Tall hunting tapestries hung on the walls.

An ornate grand piano sat in the center of the room. A man sat on the bench with his back to them. He wore a high-collared white shirt and neckerchief, breeches, buckle shoes, and a long tailcoat. The man was leaning forward, with one arm on the piano, resting his chin on his hand. A feathered quill and bottle of ink sat beside him on a small wooden stand. Two blank pages of musical composition paper rested on the piano’s rack.

The doubles walked around the piano until the point of view shifted and Will could see the man. He looked about forty, stocky and powerful. A wild shock of thick gray hair swirled around his head. His face was heavy and grave, lined with care, almost tormented. He didn’t seem to notice them, his intense, steely blue eyes staring into the distance.

“You know who that is?” asked Ajay.

Will had seen this face on dozens of record covers in his parents’ collection. “Ludwig van Beethoven,” said Will.

“Oh my God,” said Nick. “The dude who wrote the ‘Star Spangled Banner.’ ”

“Beethoven did not write the—” said Brooke.

“Don’t bother,” said Ajay.

“The last puzzle,” said Brooke, reading from the yearbook. “ ‘Beethoven holds the key but doesn’t know it yet.’ ”

“Then tell him,” said Ajay to his syn-app.

“Guten Tag, Herr Beethoven,”
said Ajay’s syn-app on-screen with a polite bow. “May we have a word with you, sir?
Dürfen wir mit Ihnen sprechen, bitte?
”

“Your dude speaks
Russian
?” whispered Nick.

“
I
speak
German
,” said Ajay.

But Beethoven didn’t respond. Didn’t even look at them.

“He can’t hear you,” said Brooke. “He’s deaf, remember?”

“Ajay, does your little dude know sign language?” said Nick, then slapped his forehead. “What am I saying? Sign language hadn’t been
invented
yet.”

Brooke stood up suddenly and asked, “Do either of you play the piano?”

“I can a little,” said Ajay.

Brooke leaned in and hummed a melody in his ear. They looked at each other.

“How?” asked Ajay.

“Tell him to play it by ear,” said Brooke.

Ajay leaned in to his syn-app and said, “Play this on the piano.” He hummed quietly. Ajay’s syn-app moved to the right side of the keyboard and played the notes.

Dah-dah-dah-du-dee-da-da …

Elise gasped and touched her hands to her face, her eyes filling with tears.

Beethoven came to life, his face lit up as if inspired by “hearing” the notes in his mind. He brought his right hand to the keys and picked up the melody, adding his left hand in the third measure. Every note he played appeared in ink, as if
he
were writing them, on the notation paper.

“I’ve heard this before,” said Will. “A hundred times.”

“It’s one of his most famous compositions,” said Ajay.

“Maybe so,” said Nick, disappointed. “But that is definitely
not
the ‘Star Spangled Banner.’ ”

“No,” said Elise, quietly wiping away a tear. “In German it’s called
‘Für Elise.’
 ”

“For
Elise
,” said Brooke, with a look at Will.

As Beethoven continued, a full invisible orchestra joined in. The wall in front of the piano transformed into the door of an enormous bank vault, covered with intricate locks, bolts, and steam-powered gears.

The notes of the tune lifted off the page as if animated and floated through the air toward the vault. They poured into a slot near the center. Gears and immense levers went into motion all over the vault’s surface. Bolts gave way, bursts of steam spurted, wheels turned, a bar drew back with a heavy thud, and the door swung slowly open.

“Beethoven holds the key,” said Brooke softly.

And out walked the syn-app of Ronnie Murso.

RONNIE

The syn-apps backed away from Ronnie in alarm. Elise moved closer to the screen, while the rest of the roommates grouped behind her. Ronnie blinked and looked around, confused and disoriented. To Will he looked exactly like Ronnie’s yearbook photo, except that the syn-app’s straw-blond hair was filthy and his face was covered with grime. His clothes were disheveled and dirty, his pants ripped at the knees.

“Ronnie?” said Elise, almost in a whisper.

The syn-app looked up, saw Elise, and recoiled, looking frightened.

“Ronnie, do you know where you are?” asked Elise.

He shook his head.

“Do you know
who
you are?” she asked softly.

The syn-app hesitated, then shook his head again.

“What’s wrong with him?” Will quietly asked the others.

“Don’t know,” said Ajay. “I’ve never seen a syn-app behave like this before.”

“Little dude looks homeless,” whispered Nick.

“He
acts
like he’s got amnesia,” said Brooke.

“Ronnie … do you know who I am?” asked Elise.

After hesitating, Ronnie shook his head, sweet and utterly vacant. Elise buried her face in her hands. Brooke stepped forward and put a steadying hand on her shoulder.

“What does this mean, Elise?” asked Will, mystified.

“It means he’s
alive
,” said Elise.

“Perhaps,” said Ajay thoughtfully.

“Ajay, his syn-app is
right there
,” she said, pointing at the screen. “Ronnie’s alive. He said he’d find a way to reach me if something happened to him. Something has, just look at him. He’s not
right
. He’s injured or lost, but he’s alive—”

“Hold on a second,” said Will. “You’re saying he’s alive just because his syn-app is here?” No one responded. The roommates looked at each other uncomfortably. “You’re not seriously suggesting they have some kind of physical
connection
to what’s happening to us in real life?”

“That’s just a … theory, Will,” said Ajay.

“That’s
exactly
what I’m saying,” said Elise.

“That’s impossible,” said Will. “These things are just billions of ones and zeros strung together. No matter how many tricks they can do, it’s only a simulation.”

“One would suppose,” said Ajay warily. “But then, we didn’t write the original program.”

Will didn’t push the argument. He remembered the uncanny feeling he’d had when his own syn-app had come to life:
There’s something to this. I
did
feel a connection
.

“ ‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy,’ ” said Brooke.

Ronnie absentmindedly took something from his pocket. He seemed surprised to find it there. Ronnie cradled it in his hands and examined it closely.

“Nick,” said Elise. “Get my tablet.”

Nick darted out of the room. Ronnie held the object to the light.

“What have you got there, Ronnie?” asked Elise gently.

Ronnie shrank back from her, hiding the object behind his back.

“It’s okay,” said Elise. “I won’t hurt you. I just want to see what you found.”

Ronnie shrugged; he didn’t know either.

“Can you show me?” asked Elise. “Maybe I can help you figure out what it is.”

Will’s and Ajay’s syn-apps moved toward Ronnie.

“Not too close,” said Elise to Ajay. “We don’t want to spook him.”

Ajay and Will stopped a short distance away. Nick rushed back in with Elise’s tablet. She powered it up on the desk next to the others and moments later, Elise’s syn-app materialized with the others on the big screen.

“Elise” walked toward Ronnie and held out a hand. Ronnie took a step backward.

“You’re perfectly safe,” said Elise. “We won’t hurt you. Can you show me what you have there, Ronnie?”

Ronnie slowly opened his hand. A virtual flash drive rested on his palm. “Elise” took the object from him.

“Ajay,” said Elise. “See what that is.”

Her syn-app held out the flash drive behind her. “Ajay” darted over and took it like a relay baton. He took a virtual tablet from his backpack and inserted the drive into it, just as the real Ajay had with the real one.

“So let me see if I’ve got this straight,” said Will. “A virtual flash drive … inserted by a virtual character … into its virtual computer.”

“Think of it this way,” said Ajay quietly. “They’re all levels of the same file on a
real
flash drive, being read by a real computer. Now that we’ve cracked his puzzle, maybe this flash drive represents the final level and contains what Ronnie wanted us to see.”

But “Ajay” was frowning. He looked out at the real Ajay and shook his head.

“It’s not opening,” Ajay said. “We missed something.”

“Damn it,” said Elise under her breath.

The image of Beethoven’s salon disappeared and was replaced by the Himalayan meadow in front of the pagoda. Ronnie seemed more alert. “Elise” took his hand; this time Ronnie didn’t shrink away.

Will had an idea and leaned in past Elise toward the screen. “Ronnie, this is
Elise
,” said Will firmly. “She was your best friend.”

As he listened, Ronnie’s brow furrowed, in a struggle to comprehend.

“ ‘How do you measure the distance traveled by a smile?’ ” said Will.

The line sent a jolt through Ronnie. He turned, looked out at the
real
Elise, and seemed to recognize her. Ronnie reached out and Elise touched the screen. As their fingers met, Ronnie suddenly looked alert, revived, glowing with spirit.

“Show us what you hid on this drive, Ronnie,” said Elise. “Show us what you wanted us to see.”

Ronnie nodded, then pointed to the top of the screen. A moment later, an iron-banded transparent barrel dropped into the screen from above, landing with a heavy thud on the wooden bridge over the pond. The barrel began to fill with a viscous red liquid rising from the bottom.

“What’s that?” said Nick.

“It’s working,” said Ajay. “The file’s uploading to my tablet.”

Elise was still holding her hand to the screen, completely still, locked onto Ronnie. Will got the odd impression they were communicating without words.

“I think he’s a prisoner,” said Elise.

“What?” asked Nick. “How could you know that?”

“I just do,” she said. “I think what’s on there will tell us who did this to him.”

Ajay looked at Will with a raised eyebrow. “We’ll know soon enough,” he said, as the upload reached 50 percent.

Brooke had a funny look on her face. “Does anybody else hear that?”

“Hear what?” asked Nick.

“Yes,” said Ajay. “It’s a—”

“Buzzing sound,” said Elise. “It’s coming from the image on-screen. Near the top of the mountain.”

Now Will could hear it, too.

It was a droning sound, and as they listened, it grew louder and more menacing. A trickle of scalloped black shadows dripped into the upper right corner of the screen and gyred lazily around, like cottonseeds blown by the wind. As they drifted toward the meadow, the shapes melded together into a pulsating mass that began to spin in place, counterclockwise, picking up force. The sky darkened as it gained strength and size, forming into a funnel cloud.

“What is that?” asked Nick.

“I think someone’s hacked into the program,” said Ajay.

“But how?” asked Brooke.

“I don’t know,” said Ajay. “We’re not online. It must be coming from one of our tablets.”

The syn-apps retreated toward the bottom of the screen. Will’s syn-app pulled a virtual Swiss Army knife from his pocket, expanded one of the blades, then stretched the handle out until it was as long as a harpoon.

“What’s your dude doing?” asked Nick.

“No idea,” said Will.

“I don’t like this,” said Elise. “We need to get out.”

Their eyes moved to the barrel, which had filled to nearly 90 percent.

“We almost have it,” said Ajay.