“That’s where you’re wrong,” Kenwar whispered. They stopped right at a massive gate that would lead to the next area. Van had sent a private message to Sang, telling her to keep the rest of the team moving while he had a private conversation. “Draco isn’t what you think. They are beyond anything that you can imagine. An alien being isn’t the same as a human.”
Van wrinkled his face at the comment. Finally, he would be able to get some answers about what exactly these creatures were. “What do you mean?”
“Draco comes from across the stars and works to enlighten various races that are worthy of their attention. They saw humanity and thought it would be good for them to give us some basic technological advances a few thousand years ago. They brought things like the wheel, fire, agriculture. Over time, as humanity continues to grow faster and faster, they introduce new things with the hopes of seeing how humans do with them. However, once humans received power over the atom, things quickly went south. We developed nuclear weapons and threatened to obliterate the world several times over. You know how the story goes,” Kenwar said.
“Yeah, so what, you’re meaning to tell me that all of our high-level technology comes from Draco?”
“Well, not all of it. They would just give specific gifts every now and then to see how humans would do with them. They aren’t happy with the results, however. Mankind has been using their vast resources to kill their own planet and murder one another. So, what do you think their opinions on humans are?”
“Probably insanely low,” Van replied.
“Exactly. Draco isn’t thrilled with their investment. They aren’t happy to see their gifts used for violence, warfare, and destruction. Most of all, they’re growing more concerned with humanity’s obsession with spaceflight. You read the news lately? We’ve finally built the first commercial space flight system. Cruises to the moon are gonna be sold soon. Do you think that Draco wants mankind bringing their violence and hatred to the rest of the galaxy?”
“Probably not…” Van said. He honestly couldn’t tell if Kenwar was lying or not, but something seemed off. His mind idly drifted back to the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still. Hadn’t aliens been displeased with humankind in that movie, and wanted to warn them about their course toward total destruction? Van was almost one hundred percent sure that Kenwar was making this up and was using a classic sci-fi movie for inspiration. He decided that he’d play along. “So, you’re saying that since Draco helped humanity develop, they feel responsible for our violence?”
“In a way, yes. They’re frustrated with our actions and wish to find some way to fix us. These pods, this game, is a way to solve that problem. Only those who are of the right kind of character can be recruited to the status of Draco Pro, though. They consider these people they are recruiting to be the very best of humanity.”
“Yeah, but what about the whole ‘eliminate a chunk of the population’ thing?” Van asked. “That should be enough to prove they’re evil.”
“Over one hundred thousand people die every day, and millions die per month,” Kenwar offered. “Many of them die due to preventable diseases, poverty, starvation, hunger, or even just straight-up murder. How many are taken out of this world because of humanity’s sins? In 150 years, the current population of earth will be dead, and a new population will have taken over. Everyone who is born dies anyway, right? What’s so wrong with cleansing the earth right now and starting over? Fresh?”
“You’re being crazy, Kenwar,” Van said. “Murder is wrong.”
“Oh, I agree. But what about the next time there’s a war? Or when America finally gets a little too excitable with nuclear technology and decides to blow some things up? Millions don’t just die, Van, they also suffer. Think about World War Two. That was one of the greatest tragedies to ever occur; tens of millions of people died, but think of how many more suffered. What is the point of living if we can’t live well?”
“Enough,” Van said. “I don’t even know why you’re trying to tell me all of this.”
“I’m trying to warn you, friend,” Kenwar said. “You think you’re on the right side, but you’re not. You use the term ‘good guys’, but let’s be honest here. What crimes and horrors have the government perpetrated against other people? These CIA goons aren’t your friends. They’re going to turn against you as soon as you aren’t useful to them.”
“Well, whatever,” Van said. He knew that he had to offer some kind of resistance, or else Kenwar would see right through his plan to be a double-agent. “Regardless of who’s good or bad, do I need to remind you that we’re lying in pods surrounded by the CIA? So, let’s just do what they tell us until the mission is over, and then we can go home and figure out where to go from there.”
“If Draco catches wind of what we’re doing and decides that they’re tired of us, they’ll just turn on the lethal biofeedback system,” Kenwar mumbled as he ran his hands against the stone door before them. “Then, the next time you die, you’ll actually die for real.”
“They can do that?” Van asked, feeling his blood run cold. A nervousness overtook him. He’d known that Draco could kill somehow, but he hadn’t known if there were any limitations.
“Yeah, the lethal system was designed as a way to test how players would react when they knew their lives were on the line in a game, so Draco has the power to enable it at any moment,” Kenwar said. “They don't have the power to just vaporize us, though,” Kenwar said. “Now, they could lock the pods on us, so we’d die of dehydration, but we have people who’d break us out before then.”
“Can they kill us directly?” Van asked. “Push a button and just end us?”
“Weren’t you listening?” Kenwar chided. “They don’t have the power to directly zap you, but they can activate the lethal system at any time, essentially marking you for death.
“Is there any way to disable this lethal system?” Van asked.
Kenwar shook his head. “Nope. Not from what I’ve seen. I mean, even a haptic system that isn’t a pod could easily surge electricity into the human brain, enough to fry it. There is honestly no way to play this game without that risk.”
“So why aren’t any of us dead yet?” Van commented.
Kenwar grinned. “They have one weakness. They don’t have eyes and ears outside of these pods. Once we’re in the real world, they have no power over us. So, all they saw was the fact that I logged out. They don’t know that I’m logged in from a CIA headquarters now.”
Van chewed on that for a moment. He didn’t know what else to say to gain more information from the manhunter.
“Are you guys coming or what?” Sahara demanded as she breathlessly burst through the stone door ahead of them. “Sang made me run all the way back to get you guys! The fighting up ahead is crazy and we need all hands on deck!”
“Of course,” Kenwar said, his gaze never shifting from staring straight at Van. “Who doesn’t like a good fight?”
Chapter Eight
“There’s too many of them!” Van cried as he threw a few more darts at the advancing hordes of Ratmen. They were feral, half-human, half-rat hybrids that hissed and shrieked violently as they rushed through the dark tunnels.
“I’m on it!” Capello bellowed as he leapt into one of the catacomb tunnels and began to scream loudly as he chopped his way through dozens of monsters. The creatures, while numerous, died very quickly beneath the axes of the berserker.
The catacombs had been an absolute nightmare to fight through. Van had been expecting just a few Ogres or some kind of Tunnel Troll clan, but the Ratmen were the worst. They had a very quick respawn rate and would come bursting out of the tunnels every few minutes. The team had violently fought them back, but as the day was continuing, they were growing wearier with each passing fight.