"Oh, don't worry," Van lied, "you're definitely my first priority." And with that, he logged back into the game in the hopes of being able to smooth things over with the Emperor, who no doubt would be furious with his sudden vanishing.
UNTITLED
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
"I'm calling it," Neil said as he looked at his computer. "He bailed on us. He lied to your face and bailed on us. Right now, as we speak, Van is living the high life and has completely forgotten about saving humanity for good."
"I'm sure he's just taking his time," Sang said as she looked at her computer. They were sitting in the computer lab where the operators normally worked. With such high-powered computers and a full team of hackers at Sang's disposal, all she needed was the schematics from Van. It was taking a long time, however, and she was starting to grow worried. A few monitors had noticed that his character had been popping on and offline several times within an eight-hour span, but other than that, there'd been no indication of how the mission was going or what he was doing. It might not even be Van who was logging on.
"Looks like you owe me money!" O'Hara shouted as she leapt up in her chair. "The tracker's going!"
"What?" Neil asked as he looked over at O'Hara's computer. Sang craned her neck to see that, indeed, the GPS tracker that they had installed into the data stick was working.
"Looks like he's somewhere in the desert," O'Hara said as she read the coordinates. "Just in the middle of the desert. From the looks of it, I'm not seeing any kind of buildings or anything."
"Maybe he's in some kind of a mobile lab," Sang offered. "Are we getting the data transmitted to us yet?"
"It's coming in," O'Hara said as she clicked on a few things on her computer. "From the looks of it, we're getting the entire framework of these pods."
"Beautiful," Sang said as she got on her own computer and began to access the files that were coming in. The USB system was designed to get as much data as it could and then transmit the information via satellite to the CIA's system. It was working perfectly.
The schematics were interesting, and they were highly complex. Sang knew the moment that she looked at the way the pods were designed that it would have been a very difficult program to write. Yet, with her team of geniuses and copious amounts of coffee, she knew she could do replicate the technology. She was going to write a virus that would eliminate any Draco who was logged into the game.
"I think we're going to pull this off," Sang whispered. "I think we're really going to destroy them all."
"And that means I'm going to win two bets with Neil," O'Hara said as she kicked back in her seat. "Today is going to be a great day, indeed."
Van stood before the Emperor, who was in his Draco form. The expression upon the scaled eyes of the creature conveyed only rage.
"I do not understand how you logged out," the Emperor said, "but we are aware that the security team in your compound was poisoned. Fortunately, they have all recovered, but this raises a great many questions."
"Hey, that raises plenty of questions for me, too," Van said. "My pod just randomly deactivated. I logged back in like five minutes later, soon as I could."
"That is recorded as true, but I am wondering who forced you out. Is it possible that you have some kind of ally in there? Someone you're not telling me about?" the Emperor asked. The expression on his face indicated that Van was in serious trouble unless he could pull one over on the creature.
"Hey, I thought you said you wanted to build up trust here," Van said. "I mean, what am I going to do, huh? What could I possibly do in that facility that would allow me to supplant you? You're the one who's got his finger hovering above the "destroy all humanity" button. Do you think I'm dumb enough to risk it all?"
"That's the problem with you humans," the Emperor said, his expression never changing. "I can never tell whether you are being idiotic or brave. It's like you are hardwired to do incredibly stupid things in order to prove a point."
"Well, I'm not trying to prove anything. The only reason it took me so long to log back in was that something weird was going on with my head after I was forced out of the world creator. It's like all of those years faded away and my memory realized it was just a trick."
"Ah, yes, it's the same way that your brain clears dreams away. You're left with little more than vague memories of what felt like an eternity," the Emperor replied. He got excited for a moment. "I find it interesting that what stands out to me the most in those memories are the times when the monotony was broken up by something. I once created a physics system that used a fourth dimension, but accidentally changed some values and the entire universe collapsed on itself."
"How did that happen?" Van asked.
"Well, it was – " the Emperor stopped mid-sentence and looked suspiciously at Van. "You're trying to change the subject, aren't you?"
"No, I was just being polite. Jeez, you are one paranoid lizard," Van accused him.
"So you were up to something," the Emperor said. "Of course, you were. You're the hero of your people. How could you not? Well, it's not like I didn't anticipate you trying something. Perhaps a hostage will do more for the situation." The Emperor waved his hands, causing a cellphone to appear in his hands.
"You are to call up your friend Sang and instruct her to log into the game," the Emperor said. "If she delays, I will obliterate this world, and you may tell her so. Now, I wanted to be civil with you, but you are forcing my hand. Your handiwork inside of the world creation system is unmistakable, Van. You are quite the asset, but by refusing to be honest, you are forcing me to bring in a hostage. Sang will be brought aboard this vessel and, should you suddenly log out again, she will be killed. Once I run out of people you love who I can execute, I will be forced to destroy this planet. Do not test my patience again."
"Uhhh," Van said, "I really wasn't doing anything."
"I don't believe you."
"Fine, fine, but please don't destroy earth," Van said as he took the phone. He desperately hoped that Sang had the program figured out by now. If not, things were going to get really, really messy.
The phone dialed for a minute before Neil answered. "Hello?"
"Oh, hi, Neil," Van said. "I'm not really sure why it called you, but I need to talk to Sang."
"She's busy," Neil replied. "Van, is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me. Listen, I really need to talk to her," Van said, hoping against hope that Neil wouldn't mention anything that could be damning.
"Sure, here, let me get her for you," Neil said. There was some rustling in the background and Van could hear them whispering to each other.
"Hi there," Sang said, "good to hear from you, Van."
"Yeah… hey, listen, I'm in a bit of a bind here. The Emperor has decided that he wants you to, uh, hang out with us for a while."
"What?" Sang asked. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, you need to log into the game as soon as possible or everything goes to hell," Van said. "He's really not playing around."
"You've got to be kidding me," Sang said. "Fine, I'll be right in."
"Thanks," Van said as he hung up. He looked at the Emperor and shook his head. "She'll be in any moment now."
"Good," the Emperor said. "Now, you weren't done building that world yet. Get back in there and finish it up. I really want to admire your handiwork when it is finished."
Van sighed as he returned to the pod. Going back in there meant his brain would have to handle perceiving thousands of years going by. If Sang needed him quickly, his mind wouldn't be in the best shape to handle awakening from the pod suddenly. There was only one solution: he'd need to think about escape for as many decades as possible. That was the only way to ensure he'd be able to act when he was needed. Van climbed into the pod and looked at the Emperor.