Capítulo 31: CHAPTER 31
"Because of one thread? Some kid obviously wrote it, or maybe it's just there to throw people off the track."
"But why? What track would they be trying to throw people off of? Information wars always have a goal, whether they're trying to attract people or weaken the opposition. But if you don't stand to gain anything, there's no reason whatsoever to do it! This isn't your first time around the block. You should know this doesn't sound like your usual provocation."
"I don't know...maybe just an attention grab... laying out a position..."
"For a Level 23 player? Besides, it's obviously someone still in school, and the only way they try to grab attention is by screwing the players around them. We both have to deal with that constantly. No, this looks real. Some dumb kid found an equally dumb source that stumbled over something he didn't understand. And now, they're walking around the game with an incredibly rare quest. Let's just hope they don't get tired of it and give up."
"I leaned on my people to try to get them to give me the thread author's IP address, but you know how Radeon is with confidentiality. It's no State Duma[10] in there—they're serious.?"
"If all else fails, we can find some hackers to break into the server."
"That's daring, but it's stupid, too. They'll find your hackers; you know that as well as I do. Then we'll have to send you-know-who money, and he'll..."
The pair walked away from my palm and left me wide awake.
Four-to-one they were talking about me, I thought.
That's crazy—a couple of important guys like that playing games.
I broke cover from behind the palm to see that they had stepped away toward a corner and were talking on their phones. They weren't the only ones, as a lot of the men in the room appeared to be getting ready to leave despite the frustration written on their dates' faces.
No, I thought, that has to be a coincidence. There can't be so many people playing the game, and especially old rich guys.
Elvira walked over.
"There you are! I was about to call missing persons. Let's go, everyone's about to leave."
"Why?" I asked.
"I'm not sure." She shrugged her dark, bare shoulders, her heavy chest swinging under the thin fabric of her dress. "A lot of people are talking about some kind of quest, something unique or whatever. Sounds like an adventure game or flash mob of some sort."
"Yeah, probably." I may have miscalculated somehow, but something somewhere told me that things were definitely about to get interesting.
The first thing I did when we got to my apartment was turn on my computer. I logged into my Buzdigan account and found exactly what I'd suspected. I'd gotten much more than I dreamed possible. I had hoped to generate a little buzz, maybe get people talking a bit, and see how the community reacted to something out of the ordinary. Maybe I'd even participate.
I participated all right. In the four and a half hours that had elapsed since I started the thread, it had grown to eighty pages. It wasn't even a thread anymore; it was now a new section entitled "Legacy of the Departed Gods." There were seven threads in it, and the comments covered the gamut. Some were happy to hear the news, others thought it was a fake, and still others asked me to get in touch with them. Nobody seemed to remember that I wasn't the one with the quest.
My forum inbox was also packed with more than fifty messages. Reading the first few subjects didn't make me feel any better: "I'll buy your information. Good money." "You'll tell me what's going on if you know what's good for you." "Welcome to the Great Elysium Army!"
I let out a stunned sigh—I may have been in over my head. To be more specific, it appeared I'd underestimated how interested the gaming community would be in what the gods left behind.
The screen refreshed, and a new message appeared:
"The Thunderbirds invite you to join their ranks." My clan was behind the curve. Here they were taking their good old time, and the Great Elysium Army was trying to poach me.
"Hey, Milford." Elvira's voice rang out from behind me as annoyed as ever. "You care more about that computer than you do me?"
"You know, El, you're great, but sometimes you say the most ridiculous things."
"Then turn off your idiot box and let's go eat. We can have a little to drink, too—it's been a long day."
Well, I thought, I'll tackle this tomorrow with a hangover.
Elvira's "a little" was less than convincing.
The next morning was dreary with a gray sky. I had the hangover I'd anticipated, as well—"a little" turned into "a little more," which gave way to "one more drink." The whole thing was complicated by listening to her nag as she looked for one of her stockings. "You animal, you hid it somewhere! Another one of your fetishes." Then it was her phone: "You were reading my texts? How dare you!" That reminded me. I needed to change the password on my phone. God help me if she were to find it. She'd kill Lena from advertising, and me, too. Lena would die quickly, but she'd probably keep me around for a while. She's refined that way. Then she was looking for her keys... which were found where? Obviously, in her purse ("Whatever, you mixed everything up again like you always do.") Finally, we finished with a goodbye kiss and, "I'll call you. Don't you dare not pick up the phone."
I didn't have the least desire to smoke, but I went out onto the balcony and lit up anyway. She was leaving, and I needed to be sure that happened. I only breathed a sigh of relief when her Matiz pulled into traffic and disappeared around the corner. Women are great—they're fun, pleasant, and appetising. But they're exhausting…
I turned on my computer, made sure my USB modem was plugged in, and logged into my Buzdigan account. My eyes widened in shock. The number of threads had tripled, and the debate about whether the whole thing was true or not dominated the forum. True, I didn't have that many new messages just about a hundred, though there were more threats than I'd seen the day before. "If you're lying, I'm coming for you." "We'll find you and squeeze you until you give up the information." "We have your IP address. Tell us what's going on, or we're stopping by for a visit." The kids were having their fun. Why weren't they in school, though? What does the Ministry of Education even do? Or are they all on holiday?
There were offers, too, and other clans had invited me to join them. All in all, a success. Anyway, what was done was done, and it was time to head to Elysium. I just hoped the sun was shining there. Without further ado, I switched the computer over to my regular connection and lay down in the capsule.
Elysium greeted me with a gorgeous, sunny morning. That was probably true of most locations, with rain, fog, and everything else that is delightful about the weather probably saved for areas where they fit the script or were part of a quest. I'd have to see that at some point.
The square was crowded and noisy. The last couple days had made me forget how many players there really were in the game, and so it took me a few seconds to reacclimate myself to the running, trading, and cursing going on all around me.
Two symbols grabbed my attention from the lower left corner of the gaming interface. They were both envelopes, meaning that I had mail waiting for me both in my personal inbox and in the game's postal system. I'd have to go find a mailbox. The fact that I had something in the postal system didn't surprise me—it was probably the Hounds of Death replying to my message. But who would have sent me a personal message? Maybe Vuiikh was at it again.
I checked to see who wrote me and whistled. The Message was from Carol. I wondered what he, the clan's gray cardinal, would want from me, a random volunteer.
"Come find me as soon as you log into the game. Gery"
Short and sweet. I was about to respond when..Ah, no need. "Carol. Ca-r-rol!" I bellowed across the square and waved my hand. He was there fifteen steps away from me getting food from an NPC, and, when he heard me, he turned, nodded, and waved his hand as if to tell me to wait where I was. Well, if the boss tells you to wait, that's what you do.
Three minutes later, Carol came over and jumped right into what he had to say.
"Do you even get what you did?"
I was taken aback, not exactly sure what he was talking about. My letter to the Hounds or my escapade with the quest? I immediately ruled out the possibility that he'd sniffed out something about the quest, seeing as how I was the only one who could possibly know about that.
There were no witnesses.
"I was just trying to do something good." I decide to play it safe and be vague.
~ ~ ~
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