Skirmish (The Stork Tower Book 8) Read online

  “It will be deemed inadmissible, and besides, I’m the one who’s pushed her into having this battle. I’m goading her into it. That’s why I’m challenging her in TRAX and why the crossover event is on in Seraph.”

  Yuè Fēi was first to understand. “Y: You want to fight her. When will the battle be arranged for?”

  “It needs to have a fixed end just before the final race in the crossover event.”

  “Y: She’ll never agree to a battle during the crossover event.”

  “I won’t give her a choice; it’s one of the options.”

  “I: The choices are random, not only the first one but all the others as well. Deciding those two limits never fall to the same side.”

  “Just accept I can arrange it. You said you wanted me to stay in the lines.”

  “N: Putting that aside, why would you do that? In the event there is no clear winner, the battle becomes sudden death.”

  “I know, but the fixed ending will force her to choose the player substitute option if she wants to win both. She’ll need time out to race as well as be there at the kill, so to speak.”

  “N: How long do you plan for the battle?

  “I’d like it to be about seven virtual hours, which gives time for the battle and the final race, but Meredith will probably get to decide that. I doubt she’ll want the battle prolonged as I’ll be wanting it to be shown live.

  “I: I don’t think that’s ever been done and it’ll be expensive, how much will that cost?”

  “Anything over a hundred million should do it. I expect she’ll start negotiations that high and expect me to work my way down. If not, I’ll goad her until she challenges me to something like that. When I accept, she’ll see it was another sign of my youthful arrogance.”

  “N: Sorry, but isn’t it?”

  “I don’t think so. I’m not actually worried too much who wins. What I need is a team who will stretch the battle out until the last moment and secure a tie because I’m also going to choose the Client Battle as the decider.”

  “Y: Leah, you are good. Maybe better than good, but one-on-one Meredith has five times your experience, and she’s at least as skilled.”

  “I know, and I agree.”

  “Y: The champions have to be you and Meredith.”

  “Exactly, they have to be chosen from those on the application, which is Meredith and me.”

  “I: Having it during the TRAX event will reduce who is available.”

  “I understand, but Yuè Fēi is the only one here who races competitively, and he can substitute out for his race. Others can do the same.”

  “Y: What else? There is more to it than that.”

  “In my youthful ignorance, I’m going to forget to choose the ‘disclose players’ option until it’s too late.”

  “N: That plays more into her hands than yours. She has a lot of high-quality players as friends who’ll play for almost nothing just because she asks them to. If you don’t know who’s playing, you can’t prepare effectively for the battle.”

  “I understand. That’s why I’m getting in early and asking you three. I’d like you to put together a team who can hold their own against whatever team Meredith puts together, but will also be able to hold back from winning until it’s too late.”

  “I: How many people?”

  “For a seven-hour battle with substitutes and several lives each, I would think two hundred with one hundred playing at any time. If we win, that’s almost a million each. It could end up half of that, or maybe double depending on the options in the setup.”

  “N: Any other surprises?”

  “Yes, but they can wait.”

  Yuè Fēi looked over at John and Amy. He said, “Y: John, what part do you play in this?”

  “J: I’ve been chosen as the ringmaster and get to synchronise this, the races in TRAX and another operation. Amy’s going to be one of the two hundred. Leah gets to choose herself, you three, Amy, and one other. You get to choose the rest. One of you will need to be the overall general on the day whenever Leah is substituted out. Just so you know, I’m pretty sure Tungsten and his team will agree if you ask them.”

  “I: When do you need to know by?”

  “If Meredith hasn’t challenged me by tonight I’ll send her an invite just after midnight my time. It’d be nice to know beforehand; otherwise, I’ll go with Plan B.”

  “N: What’s Plan B?”

  “Similar, but with a lot more elements outside the lines.”

  Yuè Fēi stared at Leah for a minute then said, “Y: I would be honoured to be one of those who fight for you. I will find people I trust and respect to join me.”

  Ivan smirked then said, “I: What he said. I’ll get together with Yuè Fēi and make sure our people complement each other.”

  “N: Hell, why not? It’ll be the biggest fight of the year. No way I’m missing out on that.”

  “She may fight dirty. If she finds out who’s been asked she may try and manipulate them. Please ask your friends to keep it quiet.”

  “N: You need to ask around for players. Pretend you’re trying to pull together a team. I’d suggest you offer an option for services. It’ll cost you up front, but it’s what happens. If you win, it comes out of winnings. If you lose they pay it back. If you decide not to choose them on the day, they keep it. It doesn’t break the Warrior rules and lets clients form teams early on.”

  They discussed the various options for the battle for almost an hour before the meeting ended. When Leah arrived back in the Tower, she sat and went through the plans in her head a few more times trying to see if she’d missed anything.

  17

  December 27, 2073

  STORK TOWER

  With the urgency of Cosmos Online and Pneumatica lessened, Leah decided to spend time catching up on things she’d let slide before she headed back to Dunyanin. She had two virtual hours, and after a lesson in each of the Brisbane Community College courses, she had Three load the tutorial offered by TRAX for the gravity skates. Before she stepped inside the portal, she said, “Gèng, even though it’s a bit premature, I do like the idea of playing with Meredith’s mind. Can you prepare something to mimic the gravity skates so I can practice them at cyber-speed?”

  “4: I’ll work on it. I’m also preparing something for the Gate and Time attacks.”

  TRAX - GRAVITY SKATE TUTORIAL

  Leah nodded then stepped through to the tutorial. In front of her was a nordic looking woman wearing what looked like a full-length navy blue wetsuit. The suit covered the limbs and had a hood which left only the face, hands and feet bare. Complicated patterns of gold ran along each limb and circled the torso and head. In her hands were a pair of boots.

  She said, “Welcome, Atherleah, my name is Sonja. This is the first tutorial for the fantasy transport known as gravity skates. I have your SNAIL details uploaded, so we are almost ready to start. Do you have any questions?”

  “No, thank you.”

  “S: Great. Let’s start with the basics. For this, we start with a level one suit, and level one skates set to with the lowest sensitivity.”

  The lines on Sonja’s suit straightened out until only four straight lines were running up each limb, one up the front, one on the back and one on either side. Although Leah couldn’t see it, Three informed her that she was now wearing the same type of suit.

  Sonja lifted the skates and said, “The skates are designed to manipulate a gravity field which is applied to your body. With the next level suits and skates, you can fine-tune the field so that gravity is not only applied to you, but you can apply it to objects within your sphere of influence. As your skills increase, you can change the gravitational field in an almost infinite number of ways to affect your motion and the motion of objects near you.

  “Most people struggle at first because even though they understand gravity as it applies in one direction, they’ve not considered the equal and opposite nature of the force, nor dealt with its application from multipl
e dimensions at once. At this first level, the skates treat you like a single point in space and maintain your vertical upright orientation. The lines on your suit are conduits for information and energy but at this initial stage are more decorative than having any real function. All information at this level comes from how you set your feet.

  “The skates work off the average position of your feet from rest. If you move one foot forward, then gravity is applied through your centre of gravity to accelerate you forward. When you bring the foot back to the rest position, you continue to move at whatever speed you had reached. If you want to slow down, you need to apply an acceleration in the other direction—the same works for moving up and down.

  “To begin, I’ll turn that function off and let you practice moving forward and backwards using the position of your feet. With the lowest sensitivity level, you are limited to seven acceleration options. When both feet are at rest, you have no acceleration. Move one foot forward about a third of a step, and you are accelerated slowly. Another third and you will be accelerated with medium acceleration. A full step accelerates you at a much higher acceleration. The opposite movements allow you to reverse.

  “I recommend you keep the movements small to begin with, and remember that acceleration is not the same as speed. If you keep accelerating even a small amount your speed can become significant even over a short period of time. The first exercise then is to move back and forth and try and come to rest level with me. To turn your skates on, you should touch your heels together.”

  Leah touched the heels of her feet together, and although she lifted off the floor, she felt the same. She said, “Although I’m floating, I don’t have any internal sensation of floating, is this always the case?”

  “S: No, the internal feelings begin being applied with level two skates. If you progress past level eight, then you feel the effect of the full gravity field being applied. At that level, people have to be very careful they do not lose consciousness by exerting too great a force.”

  Leah moved her left foot forward briefly, then returned it to the centre position. There had been a small forward acceleration and then she drifted at a constant speed. Three had displayed the acceleration and time on her forehead and was now showing speed and displacement from where Sonja was.

  Leah moved her right foot forward the same amount then brought the acceleration to a halt by moving her left foot backwards. Even though it was counter-intuitive, she moved both feet backwards. She usually would have fallen, but instead she found herself accelerated backwards at twice the acceleration.

  She played with this for a few minutes then brought herself to rest in front of Sonja. Leah said, “Using both feet gives thirteen possible accelerations.”

  “S: That is true, but most people struggle with the concept, and the other number makes more sense to them. When we teach and say people have thirteen acceleration options, this confuses them and slows their learning. Are you ready for the second part of this tutorial?”

  “Yes, please.”

  In the second part of the tutorial, Leah learned to move up and down. The third put the first two together to give Leah an ability to move in a two-dimensional plane. Parts four through ten gave her an ability to move in three dimensions and rotate her body to face any way she pleased.

  Leah moved to the second tutorial, where she learned how she interacted with other bodies, both stationary or moving. In the third, she learned how to move when immersed in a constant gravity field. In all, it took her four virtual hours to finish the first six tutorials. These were recommended for anyone wanting to use the gravity skates in an actual Tier Twelve race.

  Leah stumbled slightly when she first stepped through into the Tower as she had become used to using her feet to direct her movement and orientation. Leah had enjoyed the tutorial, and although she was tempted to do another, she logged out for a break before preparing to head to Dunyanin.

  Diary - 27 December, 2073 - AM

  Why is taking someone’s life so easy and yet such a burden? I took less time deciding to end two lives than deciding on what to have for breakfast, something which, without being able to taste it, means nothing to me these days. Still, I don’t regret it. I just wish it didn’t weigh me down so much. It makes me glad I don’t dream in the Pod. At the same time, I’m glad for the burden; I worry if it wasn’t there, then I’d end up like the people who killed people at the Meatworks. What was going through their heads as they shot at children and innocents? Had they stopped thinking of what they were doing? Were they desensitized to the horror, or did they just bury it deeper and deeper into their subconscious?

  I mentioned mortal sins to dad. Was killing those people a mortal sin? I think dad would say it wasn’t. His faith says it is OK to kill in a just war if someone is condemned to death by the state or in defence of your life. Who gets to say if this is a just war or not? Nothing has been declared openly, but I can’t see how what we’re fighting against can have any legitimacy. Is defending family and friends the same as defending myself? I think so, but if I was caught, I’d be declared a criminal. Can I justify my actions? Yes! But am I fooling myself? I don’t think so. People I trust are the ones who agree with me. Is that a circular argument? I don’t think so. Is that self-justification? Definitely! But it doesn’t make it wrong.

  Is pain bad? That thought has been running around in my head this morning. Most of the changes in my physiology have been birthed in pain. From a single groan, I’m suddenly filled with hope that my brain will make connections so I can talk, see and hear again. The baby needs Spectre, but it’s only her body’s cry for help that lets mum know what she needs. The Bible says God created people before sin came into the world. That means he’d already made our bodies to react to pain. That’s a weird thought, but what does that mean? People blame God when they’re hurt, but maybe, at times, we need to be thankful for the pain. I can’t imagine saying that to someone in pain, but what if it’s true?

  18

  December 27, 2073

  REAL WORLD

  Leah had a shower, and after taking her supplements, made her way to the kitchen for lunch. Both her parents were there, so she sat with them as they ate. Her mother was trying to feed the baby who had stopped shaking but still looked distressed. Leah said, “I’m assuming Father Andrew found what you needed.”

  “L: He did. Conner’s not thrilled though.”

  “Yeah, he mentioned the deal. He told me he’d probably have to go neo-goth to survive.”

  “D☼: He’ll live, he’s pretty much all talk when it comes to girls.”

  “What about the other wounded at the Meatworks? How are they?”

  “L: Mia and Kevin have been down there all morning. Two more died. Dozens have headed into town in protest, and more will follow. Thousands from the other negative-tax areas are also joining them. The riot police are out in force, and there have been hundreds of arrests and two fatalities. Drones are circling the property here, and John’s certain they’re hoping to catch someone from here joining the crowd so they can shut us down. Jimmy’s let some of his people know, and the rumour is that you’re keeping out of the fight in the real world so you can continue it in the virtual. This shut down all those wondering why you were silent.

  “Some idiot sent two spies into Booval to bad mouth you in one of the pubs. If there hadn’t been five of Boss Hollows’ boys in the pub, they’d have been killed. As it is they’ve both got broken bones and will need some pretty substantial reconstruction done on their faces. Kieran had them dropped outside the nearest police station only after he’d had them tattooed with the bleeding eye.”

  “The what?”

  “D☼: The bleeding eye. It’s the latest thing to show support. People have a replica of your eye in Pneumatica tattooed on the back of their left hand. When they cover their left eye, it looks like they have a bleeding eye like you do. Some actually have it tattooed above and below the eye and wear red contacts. That’s what Boss Hollows had done exc
ept he had their sclera tattooed as well.”

  Leah looked horrified, and Michael nodded in agreement. “D☼: I agree it’s horrible, but people are really upset. The negative-tax community has been threatening to explode for ages, even before you were born. I don’t think it’ll be stopped this time. I’m on board with what you’re doing. I can’t see any other way forward that doesn’t lead to us being decimated.”

  “Us?”

  “D☼: Yeah, us! I’ve sat on the fence for too long. This time people in the negative-tax areas will have to identify with one side or the other. The government is already calling for those who are opposed to the growing rebellion to take a stand and identify themselves openly. Anyone not doing so will be considered part of the rabble working toward anarchy. The Giffords, the family who lived on the level below us, did what they were asked to and hung a white towel in their window. They also put a note on their door as well as putting their name on the public register the government has set up.

  “Jimmy didn’t let them get hurt, but he did have them escorted to the bus station and had everything they owned piled nearby. He had their stuff torched and said if they ever came back, he wouldn’t stop the crowd like he did this time. The police brought Neil back and asked him to identify the people who’d destroyed their things. He was smart enough not to say anything.”

  “Where are they now?”

  “D☼: No idea. We haven’t seen them since. Several others just up and left, but I’ve no idea where they’d go either.”

  “L: Ling, don’t look so worried. Sending people to kill us and to spy on us isn’t something we can turn a blind eye to.”

  Michael started chuckling, and Lin glared at him until she realised what she’d said. “L: Sorry, that was the wrong phrase.”

  “D☼: Maybe it’s the right phrase, but it needs to be turned around. This is something we turn the bleeding eye to.”