Alex said, “My guess is that you're free of the complete hold of the program and now The Oracle’s program is affecting you. That also means the pumped-up endorphins won’t reach you.”
Justin closed his eyes and took in a few deep breaths. “I understand. I can feel it. This place… it isn’t real. How is this so clear to me now?”
“The Oracle’s program frees your mind from their control. Now, you can think for yourself.”
“The Oracle?” Justin asked.
“The Avatar of Tech has bonded with a college professor and calls himself The Oracle now. He’s the reason we have a chance.”
Justin looked around, and then his eyes widened. “Krystal, Gargoyle, EB... how did I forget about them?”
“Glad to see your mind is back. The program prevented you from remembering anyone outside this program. We recalled him because of Nova’s brief connection. But he’s in the real world waiting for us to move.”
“How did I not see this? It is so fake. How long have we been in here?” Justin struggled with the reality of his situation.
“Just a few days. The program makes time move faster for us in here.” Alex sat in a chair beside Justin. “I need you to focus. We may not have much time to get your bearings.”
Justin shook his head. “Gamer G did this to us?”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to punch that fat nerd right in the...”
“No!” Alex held Justin back from launching into an attack. “Gamer G is currently far more dangerous than you realize. He can kill anyone in this program with a flick of his finger.”
“But you aren’t dead?”
Alex said, “I was protected, and so are you.”
“How are we protected?”
Alex said, “Very complicated computer stuff. Basically, a group of super sophisticated computer students and The Oracle have created a program that allows people to be parted from all the control of this world. Once a person accepts this isn’t reality, their bond to the computer is severed enough for The Oracle’s influence to help them. However, we have to take down Gamer G to end this simulation once and for all.”
Justin got the message, “Which means we have to wake up everyone and take away his leverage.”
“That’s about it. Oh, and taking him down will probably not be so easy. We’ll have to do it in this world, which means we are facing a computer geek inside his own program. However, taking him down is crucial. Gamer G’s connection binds us here. Even if we wake everyone up, they will still be stuck in this program.”
“Great, any other fantastic news?”
“If we don’t stop him in time, people die in the real world of starvation or thirst.”
Justin put his head down for a moment. Then, with steely resolve, he stood up. “Okay, here is what we are going to do right now. You said time moves faster in here,”
“Yes, not sure how fast. But we’ve experienced three years in just a few days.”
“Good. That will give us time inside the simulation. Gamer can not see you, or this all falls apart. I need you to leave here and get Chase and Dr. Henderson into the ATLAS conference room. I will be there shortly. Once we have them on our side, we will plan our next move. I will keep Gamer G occupied and make sure he is blissfully unaware of what is happening.”
“Good luck with that.” Alex said.
“How much control of this world do we have?” Justin asked.
Alex thought about what the Avatar told him, only now fully understanding it. “It seems this simulation is painstakingly real, to a fault. Everything about this place works like the real world. Our computers, weapons, powers, everything. This was their way of making it so real we would never question it. But it also means that while inside here, we have as much control over the situation as we would in the real world.”
“Good. So, first we convince our people and then fix this.”
Alex laughed.
“Why are you laughing?” Justin asked.
“Oh, it’s just that is exactly what Nova told me to do. Wake you up and then we would wake the command staff up. You really are thinking more and more like Director Nova.”
“That’s the greatest compliment of my life,” Justin said. “Now, let’s move. You go out the back way and head down the service chute. I’ll be in Operations. Have Chase contact me when you’re ready in the ATLAS Command center.”
“Understood.”
Justin walked back into Operations. He contained his attitude and projected the most professional look he could muster. Everything felt new, strange, and fake. It was like he had just woken up from a long dream and was still seeing the images in his mind. Yet, that dream was ongoing, and he had to maintain it is real for the one person who could destroy so many.
“Where is Gamer G?” Justin asked the robots at the front of the room.
Gamer G. exited Nova’s office with a computer tablet in his hand. “I’m right here.”
Justin cleared his throat and took his place at the front of the room. “Anything happen while I was in conference?”
For a moment Gamer G seemed ready to say something, but simply shook his head. “Nothing important. Just... looking into something.”
“Anything I should know?” Justin asked.
“No. Nothing that important.”
“With how dull things have been around here, something new might be interesting.” Justin played this as cool as he could. He sensed that Gamer G had something valid to worry about, and that worried Justin.
“Fine, if you must know, I’m looking for anything odd. You know. Everything is so great right now, just checking to see if something strange happened here or there.”
Justin knew this was far deeper than Gamer was letting on, but Justin kept himself calm. “I see. Use any resource you need. What kind of oddity would you be looking for? Criminal activity?”
“No, no, nothing like that. Let me worry about it. You just... keep staring at that screen and wait for Nova to show up or something.” Gamer G. sat down at one of the computer stations without a robot controlling it. He ran through the sensor system.
Justin remembered how irritating Gamer G could be around him, acting like he was a member of BADGE. If Justin didn’t keep calling him out for that, he might give himself away. “Uh, Gamer, be sure you don’t delve into any of the secure files while you’re in our system. It will alert me to that.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not poking around you internet search history.” Gamer snickered.
Justin considered what he would do next. “Okay. 10915, do a full sensor sweep for Nova again, this time use the arcane analytical sensors. And run the sweep continuously for two hours, note any variation that might indicate unusual magical activity.” This was a complete waste of time. But, it was a logical action.
“Scanning.” 10915 stated.
Justin’s wrist comm beeped. It was a signal from Chase.
“What’s that?” Gamer asked, not looking up from his work.
Justin said, “Just a message from Chase. She has an idea. I’ll be down in the ATLAS area, using their systems to scan for signs of Nova.”
“We used ATLAS weeks ago, found nothing,” Gamer stated dismissively.
“I know. But I had a few ideas I wanted to try. What else do I have to do?”
“It’s your time to waste.”
Justin said, “74075, you have the Operations. Gamer, keep an eye on things.”
“Whatever.” Gamer had his nose stuffed into the computer terminal.
Justin stepped into the lift and pressed the button to leave. The door shut, and he sped away.
Gamer G looked over the sensor readings he had run. He checked all the data over and over.
“This doesn’t make sense. I notice a discrepancy in Alex’s execution, but a similar one is also present here. That can’t be. What could cause that? Is it a code error from the removal of Alex?” He ran the numbers by. On the tablet, he was looking over the data from Drocha.
“This is two distinct data variances. Another data loss just occurred. This can’t be right. Wait... the timing of this one.” He pressed a button on the console, “Computer, what is the current location of Mark Boswell?”
“Mark Boswell is currently in Docking Bay 4.”
“Thank you.” Gamer got up and stepped into the lift. “Docking Bay 4 please.”
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