The Iron Veil Read online

  There was a knock on his office door.

  “Come in,” Dr. Margolin said.

  A young woman entered the office. She was maybe 25 years old, impeccably dressed in a tailored suit, and had a serious expression on her face.

  “Alicia Washington, Legal. Would you please ID me?”

  “That’s not necessary, Ms. Washington. If you got this far, you’re who you say you are.”

  “It’s protocol.”

  “If you insist,” Margolin said. “Cece, identify the other person in this room.”

  There was just a momentarily delay, then Cece’s voice said, “Identity confirmed by biomark, facial, auditory, kinetic, and olfactory recognition. Alicia Gayle Washington. Senior Counsel, Corporate Legal: Compliance Communication Group KJC202. Visual sending to your Nimbus Display.”

  An employment photo and video appeared on his Nimbus, showing the young woman who stood across from him.

  “You’re who you say you are. Please sit down, Ms. Washington. I have a feeling I know what this is about.”

  Alicia sat down in the guest chair and flipped opened her leather portfolio and tapped her tablet awake.

  “I’m here to follow-up on your report about the onboarding error.”

  “Everything in order?”

  “Yes, it was quite complete.”

  “Then how can I help?”

  “I’m with the CC Group, and apparently this is a big enough deal that we have to create a comms brief for it.”

  “Well, I’m not sure I agree about the big deal part, but I’ll do what I can to help.”

  “Thank you. Just so you know, there hasn’t been any decision made to release any kind of brief, but Mr. Sabel wants to be prepared just in case.”

  “Fine.”

  “So this is just a conversation between you and me. Background info. Nothing will be recorded or written down for PD purposes. Also we’ll keep this non-technical.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “All the comms briefs need to be non-technical in terms of language and concepts. They are directed at multiple audiences and we can’t assume any minimum level of technical knowledge. You’ve done this before, haven’t you, Dr. Margolin?”

  He shifted his weight in his seat. “Actually no. My last gig was at a private company. We didn’t have any government contracts.”

  Alicia smiled. “The good old days, right? I bet you miss that. Anyway, let’s get started. I’ll describe what we adapted from your report. You stop me if we’ve misstated anything or left anything out. Anything at all.”

  “Go for it.”

  “Your databox isn’t recording, is it?”

  “No,” Margolin said. “Just for peace of mind: Cece, enter private mode.”

  Cece’s voice said, “Private mode activated.”

  “Thanks,” Alicia said. She flipped her own portfolio closed and sat back in her chair.

  “Okay, this morning—the morning of April 1st of this year, your monitoring team received a notification that some portion of Beta Group 4 had been onboarded to OmniWorld in error.”

  “Correct. We estimate anywhere between 120 and 130 players had been substituted in from 4b.”

  “But you don’t have a precise count?”

  “No, not yet. Soon we will.”

  “And why wouldn’t you know exactly how many alternates were sent into the game?”

  “Our systems are constantly adjusting the beta group, with candidates in and out right up until the last minute. Some number of substitutions are typical.”

  “But not 120?” Alicia asked.

  “Not at all. Usually one or two,” Margolin said.

  “But even though these players were sent into OmniWorld in error, there’s no reason they’re not qualified to participate in the beta, right?”

  “Correct. The b’s are all qualified and vetted.”

  “Then what’s the difference between a’s and b’s—those who are selected and those who are alternates?”

  Margolin sighed. “Not really any difference. It’s more about game balance and testing demographics. That’s why, in many respects, this is a non-issue.”

  “Well, the result of the error might not be meaningful, but the cause of the error is. That’s what everyone’s worried about and that’s why I’m here.”

  “Yes, I’m aware of that. But as I stated in the report, we won’t know for sure until we’ve reverse engineered the onboarding code—and that’s going to take 10 days at least.”

  “I was under the impression that you would have answers by the seventh,” Alicia said.

  “That’s wishful thinking on the part of General Groves.”

  “Okay, let’s assume the worst-case scenario. Describe the error to me.”

  Margolin felt his jaw clench, but he tried to keep the annoyance out of his voice. “That’s more a question for Groves. He’s the doomsayer around here.”

  “Indulge me, please. For the sake of the comms brief disclosures.”

  “I don’t know. I suppose they are concerned that the game controller is making decisions for its own nefarious purposes. Becoming self-aware. The singularity. Skynet. Robot overlords. Blah, blah, blah.”

  “Dr. Margolin, please. Let’s keep this professional. How about we frame the worst-case scenario as simply ‘a deviance from human oversight?’”

  Margolin barked out a laugh. “Deviance? That might just be the understatement of the decade. If we’re going to play the doom and gloom game, we might as well not sugarcoat it.”

  “Well, then, how would you frame it?”

  “Automated machine learning and self-coding getting so far ahead of us, that we have no idea in hell what the game controller is doing. Right now, it’s ten, maybe fourteen days ahead of us. That means it takes a team of 300 of our top guys two weeks to unspool the code that the controller has written. And remember, that code is dumbed down and heavily documented specifically so that we idiot humans can understand it.”

  “Okay, but besides unintelligible code, what’s the danger here?” Alicia asked.

  “Unknown. That’s why Groves and his people are scared. But as I said, I think there’s a lot of hand wringing going on for no reason. OmniWorld is completely isolated from any other network in the world. That’s why the facility is in the middle of nowhere. Physical separation. OmniWorld can’t crash the stock market, launch ICBMs, or knock satellites out of the sky. The very worst it could do would be to somehow injure the five thousand people hooked up to stim-pods there on campus.”

  “Are you certain of that, Dr. Margolin?”

  “100% certain.”

  Chapter Nine

  Immediately after she left Justin, Pari sent a message to Lazarus reporting that she had found a newbie sage. She didn’t want to get into the whole thing about the ranger and the dragon until she could talk to Lazarus face to face though.

  Next, she made her way north to Lena’s farm. She was hoping that Milly was smart enough to find her way back to the barn there. On her way out of town, she saw two town guardsmen patrolling the road.

  “Excuse me,” Pari said.

  “Yes, citizen.”

  “My horse ran off. Have you seen her? Grey dappled mare with a white face. Her name is Milly.”

  “Sorry, good lady. But we’ll keep our eyes open for her.”

  “I’d appreciate it. I’m staying at Lena’s farm if you need to get a message to me.”

  “Safe travels!”

  If Milly ventured into the Dark Tree, she’d be toast—torn apart by wolves, or sylvan lions, or worse.

  Unfortunately, there was no sign of the horse at Lena’s place. Pari decided the smart thing to do would be to walk in a spiral, starting near the destroyed cabin, then east and back south along the river, west to the Dark Tree, then north again. And then do the same loop, but a hundred yards in.

  She spent the next hour looking for Milly, but with no luck. Pari knew the mare wasn’t real, but it still made her sick to her stomach to think
that it had been killed. There really were some harsh aspects to this game. Like permadeath after level 4.

  She thought of Iniya again and felt even more sick to her stomach. It would have been a nice surprise to have seen her sister here in town, reincarnated as a level 1. Even if she had had her memory wiped.

  But that hadn’t happened.

  :::::. New message from Lazarus. Listen? .:::::

  Finally. She activated the playback and heard Lazarus say:

  “Pari, things are seriously screwed up here. There are at least three more levels and it’s brutal. We’re going to camp for the night and keep going. I need you to stick to that sage like glue. Do not let him get away. Bring him in, no matter what. We’ll clue-jack if necessary. Repeat. Do not lose that sage. And wish us luck down here. We’re going to need it.”

  Well, that was that. She knew that Lazarus would want her to recruit Justin. They were desperate for a sage. But she felt bad that Lazarus had mentioned clue-jacking; she still felt guilty about that kid they booted last month.

  Because fellowships only had twelve slots in addition to the leader, they would sometimes temporarily boot a member so they could bring in a sage—even if they already had one. Once they got the clue from the sage, they’d boot the newbie and bring back the other member. It was called ‘clue-jacking’ and Lazarus recently did it to a young sage, against the wishes of Iniya. Pari couldn’t believe Lazarus would really clue-jack Justin though. They didn’t even have a sage now since Tolman had been killed. But Lazarus could be working on luring a higher-level sage from another fellowship. Who knew? It all just left a bad taste in her mouth.

  She wasn’t sure what she should do. She was totally loyal to Lazarus and W&S, but Justin was a good kid and he didn’t deserve being screwed over. This was giving her a headache.

  Pari was exhausted but decided to do one more loop. This time she would go check out the ranger’s cabin. Any poison gas must be gone by now. But she’d have to hurry. In less than an hour it would be pitch black.

  Following the road up north, Pari passed the guards again. They still hadn’t seen Milly.

  Then she came upon the ruins of the cabin. It looked like it had been bulldozed flat. No, actually more like it had been blown up. Debris was scattered everywhere, as far as twenty, even thirty yards away. All the vegetation around the cabin was shriveled and dead—like someone had poured a tanker full of weed killer on the yard.

  She wouldn’t get too close—just in case the poison lingered on the ground. This was insane. She had never heard of any persistent destruction of the game world. Maybe that’s how they were going to change out quests, though.

  And then she saw it. A large grey form on the ground, on the other side of the debris.

  Milly!

  Her eyes flooded with tears as she ran over and saw her horse lying on her side. Unmoving.

  What had happened? Pari put her head down on Milly’s chest—which was still warm—and tried to listen for a heartbeat. Nothing.

  She checked the mare’s eyes, but they were lifeless too. Could Milly have—?

  She pried open the mare’s mouth—which was still warm—and saw blades of grass stuck to Milly’s teeth. Poisonous blades of grass.

  Oh my god.

  Her heart wrenched as she realized what had happened. Milly went back here to look for her.

  Pari started sobbing.

  Poor Milly, poor loyal Milly. She had come back and then, not knowing any better, grazed on the poisoned grass.

  And now she was dead.

  Pari clutched the mare around the neck and buried her face in Milly’s soft mane.

  This wasn’t happening!

  She cried and cried as dusk drew closer. But then a thought came into her mind.

  What if she could rez Milly?

  Wiping away her tears, Pari staggered to her feet. She had never tried to resurrect an animal, but Milly was kind of like an NPC, wasn’t she? And Pari had rezzed plenty of NPCs.

  She decided to try.

  First, she placed her hands on Milly and cast treat poison. The spell didn’t fizzle. That was a good sign. But who really knew if it had any effect?

  Undeterred, Pari took a deep breath and focused—really focused—on Milly.

  This had better work. It would have to work!

  As she cast resurrect, swirls of light danced up from Milly’s body, accompanied by a deep humming sound. A glowing aura surrounded both Pari and Milly.

  All of a sudden a shimmering, luminous image of Millie faded in from nowhere, floating over the horse’s body. The apparition regarded Pari for a moment, then nodded its head.

  The humming grew louder and louder and the swirling, glowing lights became more intense.

  And then, the next thing Pari knew, Milly was alive!

  The horse snorted and shook her head and then rolled and climbed to her feet. She lurched unsteadily as Pari threw her arms around Milly’s neck.

  “Oh, Milly! You’re back!”

  She quickly led the horse far from the blighted ground and once they were safe, Pari cast her strongest healing spell, vivify, on the horse.

  Milly tossed her head, nickered softly, and then nuzzled Pari. And Pari hugged her and stroked Milly on her forehead, which was her favorite place to be touched.

  Gazing into Millie’s deep, intelligent brown eyes, Pari said, “I thought I lost you for good, girl.”

  They stayed that way for a good long time, then Pari led Milly back south. No riding for a while.

  It was just about dark by the time they got back to Lena’s barn. Pari rubbed Milly down and gave her oats and carrots and apples. She wanted to stay with the mare all night long, but then she heard from Justin.

  :::::. New message from Justin. Listen? .:::::

  “Yes.”

  Justin’s voice said, “Pari, I think I’m done for the night. A lot of running around and that old lady was a real trip. But I’m up to 825 experience, so that’s better than nothing, right? Anyway, I’m going to make my way back to the square. Try to find me, okay? See you soon!”

  Oh man, she was not looking forward to the scene in town. But orders were orders.

  She said goodnight to Milly, gave her another kiss on the forehead, and headed into town.

  Even with her glowstone out, it was tough going in the dark. The moon was shrouded by clouds and the air was cool and uncomfortably damp. She so wanted to be back at Lena’s.

  Before she even got to the edge of the town proper, her ears were assaulted by the din of hundreds of people partying.

  Here we go.

  She brought out her Circle of Reckoning and adjusted it to show nearby friends, of which she had one: Justin.

  The square was lit by dozens of torches on poles and glowstones strung on lines that stretched between buildings. People were packed tight, like an outdoor frat party. Everyone was laughing and drinking and dancing to the sound of a group of minstrels playing on a makeshift stage.

  After pushing through the crowded square, she found Justin sitting on a low wall with another newbie. They were both gnawing on skewers of grilled meat and people-watching.

  Justin’s eyes lit up when he saw her. “Pari! Awesome, you made it!”

  “Yeah.”

  “Did you find your horse?”

  “Uh, yeah. Finally.”

  “Hey, this is my friend Ten-Spot.” Justin motioned at the other newbie, a short guy who looked to be Chinese. “Ten-Spot, this is Pari.”

  Ten-Spot stuck his hand out and she shook it. He said, “My real name is Ni Tien, but everyone calls me Ten-Spot.”

  “Please to meet you. I’m Pari Kintala.”

  The little guy was checking her out, but trying not to be too obvious. It didn’t work.

  Justin told Ten-Spot, “Pari’s pretty high level. She saved my butt a few times. And, Pari, Ten-Spot was up at the cabin trying to do that ranger quest too.”

  “Yeah,” Ten-Spot said. “It was bugged for me too. I also did the leech th
ing instead. My boots still smell from the mud.”

  “Mine too. But I got this as a quest reward.” Justin showed her his new short sword. It was a slight upgrade from the training blade, but it looked cooler—with more of a scimitar shape.

  “Sweet, huh?”

  “Very nice.” She wondered if Justin had told Ten-Spot about Klothar and the dragon. Probably not. Ten-Spot looked kind of bored. He was scanning the crowd distractedly. Probably looking for girls.

  “Hey, there’s supposed to be beer at the inn,” Ten-Spot said. “You guys want to check it out?”

  “You go ahead,” Pari said. “We’ll be there in a sec.”

  “Sounds good. Later!”

  Justin pulled the last bit of meat from his skewer. “He’s a nice guy. A healer like you. He actually healed me when I fell out of a tree.”

  “You didn’t tell him about Klothar, did you?”

  “No. Why?”

  “Let’s keep that to ourselves until I can discuss it with Lazarus. He’ll have some idea of what was going on.”

  “Sure. Whatever you say.”

  He was checking out the crowd too. There were a lot of nice-looking newbie girls in April’s crop, she had to admit.

  “Want to hit that inn now?” Justin asked.

  “Yeah. It’s over on the northeast corner. C’mon.”

  They made their way through the crowd, past jugglers and jesters, to the Hive & Harrow which was a three-story inn and tavern with a big saloon area.

  But as they walked up to the entrance, they saw that the way was blocked by a burly warrior wearing a gold-colored cape. It was a guy from the Golden Hawks. Great. That’s all she needed.

  “Sorry folks, private party tonight,” he said, as he looked them over.

  “Are you serious?” Pari asked.

  “Yeah. We rented the inn all weekend long. Invite only.”

  Justin asked, “How do we get an invite?”

  “Don’t bother,” Pari said.

  But then the Golden Hawks bouncer must have inspected Justin, because he said, “You, bro, don’t need an invite. C’mon in, we’ve tons of food, beer, dancing—”

  “No thanks,” Pari said as she pulled Justin away.

  “What was that all about?” he asked.