Etherworld (24 page)

Patrick's eyes get big when Bryce starts talking about Elusion like it's human—and for a moment they stare at each other, a look of recognition passing between them. All the theories that we've been formulating have finally been verified.

“How long have you known?” Patrick asks.

“That Elusion was sentient? Since you told me that Regan saw David in the Thai Beach Escape.” Bryce gets up and wanders over to a black cabinet that automatically opens when he steps in front of it, revealing a huge selection of liquor. “I did the troubleshooting you asked me to do and saw how Elusion had overridden the programming code and sent Regan into David's domain.”

Bryce grabs a bottle out of the cabinet—and I yank it out of his hand.

“But that doesn't explain why Josh and I were locked in there.,” I say. “Or why it was trying to kill us when we were looking for the portal into the firewall.”

“All I can tell you is that if Elusion wanted to kill you, it would have. I think Elusion locked you in there for the same reason it sent you there: user data suggested you wanted to see him.” Bryce stares at the bottle in my hands, but doesn't reach for it.

“Josh and I weren't alone,” I say. “Other kids are stuck in there, too. They said they got into his domain by creating a chip that cracked the algorithm—”

“Wait,” Bryce interrupts. “A bunch of kids broke through the fractal encryption code?”

“That's what they think, at least,” Patrick says.

“Maybe,” Bryce says. “It's possible that when they entered David's domain, something was triggered inside Elusion that accelerated its evolution.

“So you're saying the chip might have been—” Patrick begins.

“Divine inspiration?” Bryce asks. “Possibly. It might have planted a seed of independent knowledge in Elusion, which was all it needed,”

“They taught Elusion how to send people to my dad's domain by hacking in?” I ask.

“Not just anyone. A high responder, someone who was more susceptible to trypnosis. Someone who had been into David's domain before and wanted to see him more than anything else. Like you,” Bryce says, looking at me, his eyes wild. “This is . . . this is incredible.”

“Incredible?”
Josh growls. “People are dying and others are fighting for their lives!”

Bryce looks down at the floor, as if ashamed. “I need to show you something,” he says, heading toward his quantum. We gather behind him, staring at the screen.

“I've been monitoring David's brain activity while he's been hooked up to Elusion,” Bryce says. “It's been almost nonexistent.”

“That's because David and the others are taking refuge inside a low-stimulus area on the other side of the firewall,” Josh says.

“David built a fail-safe into his domain?” Bryce asks, as he stops typing.

“He built Etherworld to protect people from too much trypnosis exposure,” Josh says.

“That helps to explain some of what I saw last night,” Bryce says, typing again. A straight, green line appears on-screen. “This is his level of brain activity at 10:58.”

I feel a flash of heat wash over me. Right now, this line is the only thing I have left of my dad, at least in the real world. I reach for Josh's hand.

“And look at what happens less than one minute later,” he says. The green line spikes again and again, each time higher than the one before. “I wasn't sure what was causing the spike in brain activity. But then I checked his blood levels and saw he was suffering from a dangerous increase in cortisol.”

“That's when I was pulled out,” I say. “We were in Elusion.”

“Your dad had a big spike less than hour before, although not quite as intense. It was right before we lost one of his Escapes.”

“David warned us that entering an Escape would cause our wristbands to reactivate,” Josh explains. “And that safety settings could go off, sending us home before the Escape was destroyed.”

“And how exactly were you supposed to destroy the Escape?” Bryce asks.

We all hesitate, not sure we can trust him.

“In order to help you, I need the facts,” he says, raising his hands in the air as if surrendering.

After a pause I say, “He's hidden bombs behind the firewall. They have to be connected with triggers inside the escapes in order to detonate.”

“Of course,” he says. “Two separate mechanisms, two separate sets of coding. No wonder I couldn't find them.”

“And he told us that no one should be removed from their Equip before the protocol was complete,” I add.

“He's right about that.” Bryce says, pushing himself away from the desk. “Cortisol is a stress hormone, so pulling someone off their Equip in the middle of an increase is dangerous.”

“Do you think that's what happened to Claire?” Josh asks.

“No,” I blurt out. “When she died, her bomb had just hit the trigger. It felt like . . . Elusion specifically targeted her.”

“Is that possible?” Patrick asks Bryce. “Do you think Elusion is increasing their cortisol production intentionally?”

“Elusion might be trying to protect itself,” Bryce suggests.

“It's trying to kill us before we can kill it,” I say, my voice just above a whisper.

“Yes,” Bryce says. “If that's what it takes to survive.”

I don't know how many minutes tick by before someone speaks again. Patrick finally lets out a breath and buckles over, placing his hands on his knees. “We have to get them out of there,” he says.

“No, we have to go back inside the program and help them finish this. Or else Nora is going to—” Josh pauses. “If the program lives, she dies.” He turns toward me. “Regan, what do you think?”

“Sorry, everyone,” Bryce says. “But Cathryn is one step ahead.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“For the past few months, Cathryn had me working on an antiviral program to help Elusion build immunity and teach it how to fight back against sabotage.”

“What kind?” Patrick asks.

“It's an inoculation program, similar to David's malware. But this is made up of mini-grenades, not bombs. They operate without a trigger and launch through David's domain one Escape at a time. If it works, the Escapes will be immune to his destruction protocol.”

“How long will the immunization process take?” Josh asks, his eyes darkening.

“It should be finished at midnight,” Bryce replies.

I swallow hard, thinking about how little time we have left. “And then what happens?”

“Since Elusion can replicate itself, eventually it won't need the Equip anymore, Patrick says, interrupting. “It will be able to attach itself to any network it wants, so whenever anyone uses an electronic device, Elusion will be activated.”

“So . . . as long as Elusion has access to an electromagnetic signal, it will be able to access people's minds and take them into its virtual world, whether they want to go or not?” I ask.

“Yes,” Bryce mumbles.

“Are you crazy?” I shout. “Why didn't you stop it when you had a chance?”

“I'm sorry,” Bryce murmurs, his shoulders shaking. “I'm so, so sorry.”

“But not sorry enough to send back the shitloads of money that Cathryn diverted into those Swiss bank accounts,” Josh says.

“If Elusion becomes immune to the malware, it's a death sentence for anyone else who's still in Etherworld,” Patrick says.

“You can speed up the destruction.” Bryce says quietly. “Then you might have a good chance of beating the inoculation program.”

“How?” I ask.

“I'm guessing David has to keep returning to Etherworld after each Escape is eliminated?” Bryce asks.

“Yes,” I say.

“So you need to figure out what Escapes are left and open a ping tunnel between them. Then he'll be able to get from one to the other more quickly,” he says. “But you need to do it all from outside the program somehow, or Elusion might detect it.”

“But you said you couldn't even change the code, because Elusion was shutting you out,” Patrick reminds him. “I had the same problem when I tried to revive Nora.”

“Elusion is probably using up a lot of energy defending itself against David's bombs while absorbing the antiviral, so you might be able to find a weakness somewhere.”

“But how do we figure out what's going on in my father's domain without going back there ourselves?” I ask.

“An optical imaging plate,” Patrick says, his blue eyes lighting up. “It would create a hologram of David's domain.”

“So you can see inside it, like a crystal ball?” I say.

“No, it's kind of a cross between architectural blueprints and a satellite image. But it would be enough for us to determine which Escapes have been destroyed,” Josh says. “I think I can locate one.”

Josh stares Bryce down for moment and walks away, motioning for Patrick and me to fall in behind him. “Let's go, guys. We have work to do.”

“One more thing. I might have a lead on where Cathryn took you dad.” Bryce begins typing on his quantum. “Orexis has been buying up real estate in the Oak Sector, commercial stuff like old shopping malls. According to the purchase orders, it was for company expansion, satellite branches outside of the city, that kind of thing. As of last week, Cathryn had cleared out parts of several floors in multiple buildings for renovations. I just sent Patrick her listing of real estate holdings. Maybe your dad's in one of those buildings.”

I look at Josh and Patrick as I motion toward the door. It's time to go.

“This is far from over,” Patrick says to Bryce. “I'm sending some personal security units over here to watch your house in case you try to run.”

“I know you want justice,” Bryce says. “You deserve it. And when the time is right, you're going to get it, trust me.”

“Trust you?” I ask. I shake my head, the thought ridiculous. “I feel sorry for your sons. They're going to find out what kind of man their father is, and they're going to be ashamed.”

As I leave, Bryce stops me, grabbing my wrist. Before I can protest, he sets something in my hand. It's an antique watch with a mother-of-pearl face and a silver band. My breath catches and I turn it over, reading the inscription.

Love you Dad

XO, Regan

I gave this to him on his birthday two years ago.

“It stopped working one day when . . . we were in the lab,” Bryce murmurs. “I wanted to get it fixed. So I took it off your dad and . . .” There's an awkward pause, and his eyes start to well up. “You can give it back when you see him again. Okay?”

My fingers close around the watch, the steel cold as ice. Then I leave, with Josh and Patrick marching like soldiers on either side of me, hoping to never set eyes on Bryce again.

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

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“DID YOU GET IT?” I ASK, AS AVERY storms through the front door. It's after six, and we're running out of time.

She breezes past me and squares off against Josh, who's sitting at the dining room table, hovering over his tab as he studies Cathryn's recent real estate ventures.

“I thought I told you no more favors,” she says. “Not until we talk about Maureen.”

“Sit down and we'll talk,” Josh says, kicking out the chair next to him.

Avery slumps down in the seat, glaring at him. “I'm waiting?” But before they can even get started, they're interrupted by a cheery voice coming from the kitchen.

“Pizza pockets will be ready in a minute!” Zoe calls out, like she's about to host a dinner party.

It's all very sweet of her, but since Josh, Patrick, and I have made plans to return to Elusion in a few hours, these pizza pockets could actually be our last meal.

After we left Bryce's house, Zoe set us up in the Heights Sector, in a corporate townhouse that belongs to her father's company and is typically used as temporary housing for high-level executives moving to Detroit.

I join Josh and Avery at the table and rest my head against the back of the chair. I'm exhausted, my head spinning. As relieved as I am that we finally got the truth about Elusion from Bryce, I'm scared.

Elusion is murdering people.

And my dad is stuck inside it, desperately trying to protect the remaining survivors.

I take a deep breath as I glance over my shoulder toward Patrick. For the last couple of hours, he's been hiding out in the sunken den, quietly buried in work. He didn't say much on the way here, and I'm worried about him.

“First tell me what's going on at the hospital,” Josh says. “Is Nora . . . ?”

“There hasn't been any change,” she says.

“That's good, right?” Josh says, hopeful. “It means she's not getting any worse.”

Avery's leg is bouncing up and down, the heel of her boot making an annoying tapping sound. “I want to know what her relationship is with Maureen.”

“There isn't much of a story,” Josh begins.

“Great. Then this should be a short conversation, and I'll hand over the imaging plate you all want,” Avery snaps back. “Was she cheating on me?”

“No!” Josh crosses his arms in front of his chest. “When we were in Etherworld, Nora told me about all the problems you guys were having. That you were fighting all the time. She said that you were threatening to break up with her for weeks.”

Avery's cheeks turn pink, I think from embarrassment. It doesn't seem like she expected that Nora would confide in Josh about their relationship, at least not this intimately.

“What was I supposed to do?” she says. She doesn't sound angry anymore. Instead she sounds sad, almost defeated. “Nora was acting like a different person. Hanging out with all of those E-fiends, putting herself in dangerous situations. I tried to convince her to stop, but nothing worked. So I told her that I was going to break up with her.”