Tunnel Rat

Chapter 224: He's Alive!

The high-velocity train that connected New York to Paris was expensive but an essential expense for some people. Especially people who bored easily and to whom boredom was a form of torture. Nina hated the trains more than any of them. Anything that confined her movement felt like a cage, and she was done with cages for the rest of her life. The others picked up on her anxiety and did their best to help, but only Onyx had an understanding of the psychological torture they had been through. Both he and Nina had chosen characters that had addictions. He to certain sense enhancing tea, and her to instincts that drove her to hunt.

The debate over why those addictions were present in the game was a long standing argument among the five of them. It was complicated by their choosing races that were normally unavailable to regular players. Bork was convinced that the whole thing had been a trap set by someone in Seimovich's organization, but Onyx had his doubts, partly because Bork saw everything as a trap. He didn't discount the possibility because Bork had also been right many times, and spotting traps kept them alive and free.

He hadn't missed that the third person captured by the Code Mage had also had his addictions. Tallsqueak had yearned for the cheese that Philistron offered him the same way he yearned for a fragrant cup of tea. They all agreed that the rat must have become trapped in the same way they had, using one of Seimovich's hacked pods. Beyond that, they disagreed. Onxy couldn't shake the feeling that it might be their lost brother, Milo. The coincidence in name was only part of it. The rat had simply been too smart to be an ordinary person. He'd not only cracked their code, but he'd replied to them in verse! It was the casual way he did things to enabled their escape that added to that conviction, and somehow turned a hopeless situation into freedom from the game.

Bork had scoffed at the idea. He was convinced that none of them could survive without the challenge of interacting with each other. Boredom meant death by insanity, and how could any of them find a challenge if abandoned on their own in a rotting habitat? Nina didn't want to talk about the game, and her memories were hazy because of her addiction. She also didn't like rats before and had taken a dislike to Tallsqueak immediately. More racial psychology?

Zander and Algernon were intrigued by the idea but not enough to enter the game and its potential to trap them. And they had other things to keep them busy.

The latest job had certainly shown that. It had been a grueling three months, racing against time to control a genetically engineered virus that had been let loose in Calcutta. The virus had two main forms. Those who caught the active form of the virus rapidly fell into a coma while the virus attacked their bodies, re-writing small sections of their DNA. This form of the virus was 10% fatal and slightly contagious. Those who didn't die would make a nearly full recovery with two lasting symptoms: They were more docile and prone to obeying orders, and the change was hereditary. It had taken months for researchers to realize what the virus was doing.

The inactive version of the virus hid inside the host and, after a period of 3-12 weeks, started multiplying and showing the effects. In this case, the host became extroverted and energetic. They were also a carrier for both versions of the disease and highly contagious. Often the most dedicated and hard-working medical and emergency service personnel were found to be carriers of the virus.

Rebus Biotech Labs had volunteered their services and, after a frustrating three months of stalling by the government, had been allowed to set up laboratories, testing centers, and large quarantine sites. The five of them had used thousands of people to gather data and samples, tracking the outbreaks. For three months, they worked 22 hours a day breaking down the virus, finding the mechanics it used to multiply and creating vaccines to stop the spread.

It was Bork that made the breakthrough, not with medicine, but with what they did best, hacking into data systems. The barriers put in place to slow down their access and stymie their investigations had infuriated him. He broke into government agencies looking for who was profiting from the virus. Instead, he found the source itself. Government funds had been siphoned to a division of Alchemarx in an effort to create drugs that would make the populace of the 26 habitats in Calcutta more docile. Instead of drugs, the corporation had suggested a virus they had created.

Initial testing showed that the virus was more effective and cheaper than the use of drugs in the water. But after it was deployed, mutations increased both the number of fatalities and the infection rate. Soon it had jumped from the habitats to the general populace, and India had yet another pandemic racing through the population. All of Calcutta was placed in quarantine, and corporations lined up to offer their services in exchange for long-term payments that would cost the government trillions over the next decades.

Once Bork uncovered the origin of the virus, creating the vaccines was simple. A cure would be more expensive. But a solution was found that would save the taxpayers of India from footing the bill. Alchemarx volunteered to produce and distribute the virus free of charge, only accepting minor tax benefits for their generous services. Amid the costs of producing the virus was a large payment to Rebus Biotech for their work in developing them. And several other generous deposits to small banks in different parts of the world. Alchemarx was a large corporation and people were fired all the time. When one biotech division totally disappeared from the corporate structure, no one noticed or cared. Similarly, dozens of government functionaries retiring suddenly also caused no notice. Both sets of people found that their retirement funds and wealth were greatly diminished overnight.

The work had been non-stop, but with enough infrastructure in place, the blackmail finished, and the culprits outed, the five people who were the heart of Rhebus headed to one of their homes for rest before starting the next job. By consent, none of them engaged in personal hobbies while on the job. Onyx was anxious to get home and see what games had been delivered to him while he was gone. While playing the first one, he was streaming videocasts from the last three months. One small gaming event caught his eye. They were actually holding an SC6 event. His screams of anguish brought the rest of the family running.

Nina was there first, "What is it? What's wrong?" She saw nothing on the screens to cause such a response, but it was obvious that Onyx was upset.

"They played SC6, and I missed it! I've been waiting years to play that game!!"

The others piled into the room and started to laugh. Onyx's love for obscure games was legendary. "OMG! They had a retro video game tournament!! And we missed it? Why? Why is life so cruel."

Algernon shook his head sadly. "If it's any consolation, we have enough income from Alchemarx to buy all of those games and have our own tournament here. I think you already own half of them."

Onxy was inconsolable. "Not the same. I missed the excitement of watching it all live. Maybe if we made popcorn and all watched it together, I might feel better."

"Fine, nothing good on Politician Cage-Match tonight anyway. Just two guys in London fighting over who gets to be head dog-catcher, and I hear Boris already bribed his opponent. I'll make popcorn." Zander ran off to program the kitchen to deliver the munchies needed for a night of watching stuff.

Onyx loaded up the pre-game talk and put it on one of the screens. The rundown of the teams was interesting: Three corporate teams were competing with two of the better-known teams from two decades ago, with the last team being made up of locals from the habitat where the event was being held. They were sponsored by a little-known tech company called Claw Master.

Algernon rewound the section with the ad from the new company. "Hey, I ordered something from them. I think it already arrived."

Nina glared at him. "Were you cheating and keeping up with your technology research while we were working to unravel that virus?"

He looked pained and in anguish at the accusation. "You wound me with your accusations, but no. I set up a program to scour for things I might want to get, and it automatically placed the orders according to my parameters. I only know about this package because of the cost." Nina had complained several times about how Algernon spent his money. He loved ordering things but rarely opened the packages. He had rooms full of deliveries that they routinely donated to charities.

"What did you get, and what was the cost? Just curious, no judgment."

He looked down his nose at her. "Only the latest and greatest in gaming gloves. I wanted to be in on the initial testing and reviews for my tech report. They were letting the first wave of 100 sets go for the low, low price of one million dollars each, only available to firms that would help them test for efficiency and side effects. The early tests are quite good, putting the M-1000 gloves into second place."

Bork stood up. "If you paid five million for some fancy gloves, I want to see them. I'll go dig them out."

Five minutes later, the room was filled with five people munching on an assortment of high-sugar snacks, popcorn, and fizzy sodas as the SC6 match started. Two monitors were carrying commentary, and another six were showing views from the game. Nina and Bork were playing Smashy-Dwarf 7 with the optional chainsaw rules. Beethoven vied with Bachman-Turner Overdrive on the speakers.

Onyx was in heaven. "This is insane. Those builds are too extreme; someone was very good at anticipating what the other teams were going to bring."

Bork agreed. "True, but if anything, espionage before the game was always won by the large corporations that could pay for it, and not two teams of old players. Those guys are tearing up the pro teams, even without Claw Master helping."

The match entered the end game, and everything changed. Missiles came out of nowhere, and Claw Master somehow pulled off not one but two warps with a quad fusion drive. And then a third that ended spectacularly in the destruction of their opponents.

Onyx turned off everything except the SC6 monitors. "Play it again from the start; that isn't possible."

His siblings noticed he had dropped into a state of hyper-focus and didn't argue. They played the match again, all of them intrigued and wondering what Onxy had seen.

They watched it again and then a third time before Onxy dropped his focus. "No one should be able to do that, not with the available resources each team had. I might, and I stress the word 'might', be able to figure the missile trajectories or hold the fusion drive together for those jumps, but not at the same time."

Bork had been paying attention and now brought up a simulation for the game. "Let's test it. I've programmed a simulation for the Clawmaster ship. Each of you can run through the navigator's role and see if you can handle the fusion drive or the trajectories. Then try both at once."

The room became silent as each person sat with their controls and VR helmet, replaying the session over and over. After an hour, they all took off their helmets and compared notes. Algernon had failed each time at the combined simulation but had figured out how to slingshot the missiles after three tries. Everyone else had similar results, with no one but Onxy being able to make three warp jumps.

Bork voiced the obvious conclusion. "Someone either cheated, or the navigator was equal to us in their ability to handle calculations and process multiple problems at once."

Onxy looked at all of them as they nodded. "And we know that's the habitat we lost Milo in."

Bork shook his head. "Coincidence. It has to be. He couldn't survive that long on his own. Someone is baiting us."

Algernon took a deep breath. "I'm not sure. The thought of that being a trap is hard to believe, but also, we did work in that habitat, and there was no sign of him."

Nina was silent, thinking.

Zander was watching the rest of the videocast. "We weren't looking, though, and if it was one of us after all this time, he'd know how to hide. Whether he's still sane, I don't know. But he'd know how to hide." They watched the rest of the video cast, looking at the Claw Master team as they accepted the award. None of the people could be Milo, but they recognized the leader.

"That's Belinda Sabbatino. I don't like the coincidence." Bork was agitated and feeling the walls close in. Something wasn't right. "We took the Manpower job specifically to keep track of Seimovich's remaining relatives and set up surveillance of him. We know he's been in that habitat recently. And now there's bait to draw us in."

Onyx put the start of the event on the screen, using all four cameras that had been set up to film it. "I'm watching the video game competition; someone else get into the security system and look through the footage. Look for Victor, Belinda, and...anyone else that might be interesting."

Algernon yelled out. "I'm accessing the Raxxon cameras; they give a much better view of things. Zander, go into the original system that Manpower installed."

Onyx yelled out, "Look at this! Watch these two people play. They're actually beating Pacman 2047. Has that ever been done?"

Nina was flexing her hands, then looked at the screen. "They're wearing gloves like these."

Bork stopped what he was doing and looked at Nina. She was testing her reaction time with the new gloves over and over. Each time she changed to a new test, and each time she got the same results. She was focused entirely on what she was doing, and Bork got the other's attention and pointed at her. Nina was born with only her right hand. She had tried several prosthetics over the years but was currently using an experimental biological replacement cloned from her DNA. The new technology that Rebus was pioneering wasn't perfected yet, especially for their modified bodies. Normally her left hand was 25% slower than her right, causing her a great deal of frustration. But not now. Her tests showed that her right-hand reaction times were boosted over normal, and her left had reaction times equal to her right hand. After twenty-seven tests she snapped out of her focus and sat back, looking at the rest of them. "My hand works. She held up the left hand, shouting, "My Hand Works!"

Before anything else could be said, Onyx got their attention. "Look at the smaller person dressed like Neo. See how he moves? Look at his size. He's wearing a prosthetic left leg. And he isn't in the award ceremony, but you can see him getting into the SC6 machine with the team. He's their navigator!"

Algernon was trying to watch the same footage. "It's hard to see, but I agree. He's wearing a high-end prosthetic."

"Look at this. It's from the start of the event. The Claw Master Team. Look at the footage of the last person coming through with them. He gets hassled by security and has to take off his leg." Zander was hopping up and down, yelling loudly.

Onyx looked at the footage. "It's Milo! He's alive!"

Bork shut off all of the screens and music. "Calm down. Now! Think."

He took a deep breath. "Too many variables. Slow down. We have what looks like Milo, on a team with Belinda Sabbatino, in the same location as Victor Seimovich."

Onyx controlled his breathing. "If Victor was using that habitat for the Genesis operation, and Milo was there, he might have had access to a pod similar to the ones Nina and I used. That could have been him in the game, rescuing us."

Nina held up her hands. "They're wearing gloves like this. My hands work! This is a technology we need to know more about." Nods all around on that.

"The extra solar panels! The work they paid us for that we didn't do!" Onyx kicked himself. He'd been so close but had dropped his investigation. Onxy looked around the room, then stood up. "I propose we take a new job."

Zander smiled. Onyx was making things official, and truly, it did look like a challenge. "The goal of this job?"

"A complete investigation of the South Philadelphia Habitat. An investigation into Manpower and Victor Seimovich, along with John and Belinda Sabbatino. Concurrently, an investigation into Claw Master Inc. Goal of the job is to determine if this is our brother Milo, and if so, make contact with him and bring him home."

"I have two concerns. The first is that this is an elaborate trap to draw us into the open. The second is that Milo might be working with Victor." Everyone agreed with Bork. Caution was always a good thing, and paranoia had kept them alive before.

Everyone nodded and got to work.