“I did not!” Color rose, hot and bright, on his cheeks. “Look, he had a choice, and he made it. It’s all about choices, isn’t it? Every gamer decides what action to take, then plays it out.”
“And Bart was a better gamer than you.”
“Bullshit.”
“He had a better focus, and looked at long-range strategy. You’re the detail man, and you tend to miss the big picture.”
“He’s the one who’s dead,” Var snapped back.
“Yeah, got me there. You set him up, and you took him out.”
“Facts.” Var punched a finger on the table. “Bart took the disc. Bart plugged it. Bart played the game. I wasn’t there. Nobody forced him to play. He had a bad game, a terrible accident, but I’m not responsible. I created the program, worked the tech, but that’s like saying the guy who built that weapon you’re carrying is responsible when you zap somebody.”
“He’s got a point.” Peabody nodded. “You’re just the brains behind it.”
“That’s right.”
“I guess you’re the smartest one of the four, too. None of them came up with anything close to what you did.”
“They never think outside their box.” He drew four connecting lines in the air. “Four square.”
“Frustrating for you, to be able to see so much more than they could.” Peabody sighed a little in sympathy. “Why didn’t you ever cut loose, just go out on your own? You didn’t need them.”
He shrugged.
“Or maybe you did,” Peabody continued. “I mean, a smart man knows he needs to use other people, pick their brains, let them handle some of the work so he can focus on what’s most important. You’ve known them a long time, worked with them, so you know their strengths and weaknesses, and how to use them for, you know, that big picture.”
“You’ve got to make a living so you can do the work.”
“Right. They supplied that. I get it. So when you gave Bart the disc, it was really just an experiment. You needed to see what would happen. To test it out with an actual human player.”
“That’s right. He gives good game. I thought he’d last longer than… I couldn’t know,” he said, backtracking. “I wasn’t there.”
“You couldn’t know when you gave Cill the disc either,” Peabody agreed. “You couldn’t know she’d fall. Plus, their weapons were as lethal as their opponents’. It wasn’t like you sent them in unarmed.”
“It had to be fair.” Var leaned forward, focusing on Peabody. “Look, Bart played that scenario a million times. If he hadn’t figured out how to take out the Black Knight, it’s not my fault.”
“How could it be? And if you’d told them they were plugging in your program, your new technology, it wouldn’t have been a valid experiment. A true gamer is supposed to believe it’s real, right?”
“Exactly.” He gave the table a quick slap. “There’s no point otherwise.”
“You had no responsibility to tell them about the program when you gave them the discs.”
“No, I didn’t. What happened after that was on them.”
Eve started to speak, then hooked her thumbs in her pockets to let Peabody play him out.
“But those can’t have been your first experiments. Not for a scientist as meticulous and involved as you. You must have played the game yourself.”
“I used droids, once I figured out the tech, and what was possible, I used droids against the holos. It’s all in my logs. I documented everything. I didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not my fault anyone got hurt.”
“Droids and holos.” On a low whistle, Peabody shook her head in admiration. “Man, I’d love to watch that play out.”
“Holos took it eighty-nine-point-two percent of the time. But they could run it for hours. Wicked frosty.”
“You knew they weren’t coming out,” Eve murmured. “When you sent your friends, your partners into those holo-rooms, you knew they had almost no chance of surviving the game.”
“I couldn’t know.” He folded his arms, smiled a little.
“You’ve got us there.” Eve nodded. “They walked in on their own. You weren’t there. It’s not like you forced them to play.”
He shot out a finger. “Bingo.”
“Wanting Bart gone, that’s not a crime either. And you did want him gone, didn’t you, Var? You’d done with them. You had what you’d worked for, and here’s Bart, who’s not nearly as smart, as inventive, as visionary as you are, refusing to play. All the resources of the business, all the tools available-that you’d helped build. And he said no, no dice, not going there. What gave him the right to deny you?”
“He didn’t have the right. I’m just as much a part of U-Play as he was. Just as important. But if Bart said no, everybody went along.”
“That’s a pisser. But if Bart’s not around, you go up a level. You have more control, more power, more say.”
“Like you said, wanting him gone’s not a crime.”
“And you had a way, where you wouldn’t be responsible, and he’d be gone. It’s brilliant.”
“It’s what I do. I build the scenario, create the tech, and the player decides. Win some, lose some.”
“He loses, you win.” Eve studied his smug, satisfied face as she rocked slowly back and forth on her heels. “And you’ve tied our hands on it. You always knew we couldn’t come at you for murder, even if we figured it out.”
“I have to say, I didn’t think you’d figure it out. Not for a while, not at least until I had the program on the market. Going military and security with that, by the way. It’s not for the kiddies. You can see right in my logs and notes that I never intended the tech for the open market. You just can’t come at me on this.”
“You gave them the discs, and didn’t tell them about the augmentation.”
“Yeah, I gave them the discs. So what? And Bart should’ve figured out the augmentation after five minutes if he was paying attention. It’s not like I forced him to play the game.”
“Cill didn’t know about the new tech. She knew nothing about it.”
He shrugged. “Okay, so what? She should’ve figured it, too. She’s so freaking smart. Benny’s already making noises about having her take Bart’s meetings, the interviews.”
“Pushing her in front of you.” Eve nodded. “Too bad she fell, instead of getting a knife in the heart.”
“The program shuts down if the player’s unconscious. I didn’t realize that until it happened. That’s the problem with droids. Now, I know, so I can adjust. Oh, and I wanted to say, you held up good out there. You and Roarke really showed some skill. But you can’t bring in alternate weapons-that’s not play. And, like I said, I was trying to shut it down, but hit some glitch. These things happen.” He smiled again. “I saw Roarke took a hard one. I hope he’s okay.”
She leaned in. “Fuck you.”
“There’s no need to get steamed.” He smiled broadly. “You happened to come in, and I was in the middle of an experimental game-and that’s not against the law either. Listen, you can get me on the unregistered. I’ll pay the fine, do the community service, whatever. I won’t even sue you for zapping me-in my own place. Now I should really get to the hospital and see Cill. I can’t even imagine how scrambled her brain is after what she went through. So, can I go now?”
“Yeah. Yeah, Var, you can go. To hell, via a cage. You’re under arrest.”
“Arrest?” He rolled his eyes. “Come on, come on, we’ve been through this.”
“That’s right, and you’ve admitted to creating the program, to giving both Bart and Cilla the discs without informing them of the augmentation or the risks.”
“I didn’t make them play. I didn’t-”
“You keep going down that road,” Eve advised. “It’s going to dead-end on you. The PA’s going to have a field day on charges. We’ll say Murder One on Bart, then the Assault with Intent on a police officer and a duly authorized expert consultant, civilian, Attempted Murder on Cilla, various and sundry cyber crimes.”