“I’m not sure how much you’ve been briefed on the Mortality Doctrine, but I assume you know what’s happening. Something you may not know, however, is that Michael, here”—she gestured again—“was the first example of the Doctrine’s being successfully implemented. He was once a Tangent, but his consciousness, his intelligence, his memories—everything that makes him who he is—were transferred to a human body. My colleagues and I are ready to share vital information on how we can stop Kaine.”
This time Michael did groan a little. My colleagues? Bryson just stared out at the audience, his thoughts well hidden.
Sarah pressed on, picking up steam as she went. “We visited a town within the Slee—within the VirtNet that was almost completely empty of players. And the ones we saw seemed troubled or emotionless. We witnessed a lady who’d been attacked by something we’ve seen before—a program designed to digitally rip her apart. The next thing we knew …”
Sarah went on and on, her confidence growing as she spoke, as if she’d done this a thousand times. Michael thought that maybe she’d end up being the boss at VNS someday. He had no doubts that she could do it. Piece by piece, she told the agents—most of whom seemed rapt with attention—all the details of what she, Michael, and Bryson had seen, what they’d been through. From the destruction of the town to the purple sea to the massive pool of code they’d swum through to build a picture of Kaine and what he’d been doing. Michael listened intently but found his thoughts wandering from time to time. He couldn’t stop thinking about Agent Weber. The woman was an enigma.
“… were able to trace the code back to see just how many places Kaine had destroyed. Why he’s doing it, we don’t know. Another thing he’s doing is taking over commerce sites, stealing personal ID codes, manipulating financial markets. Why he’d be doing that is obvious: the Tangent is accumulating a good chunk of wealth.”
Accumulating, Michael thought. She really did sound like a professional. Someone tried to interrupt Sarah to ask a question and she told him—didn’t ask, told him—to wait until she’d finished talking.
She continued, saving the best for last. “After all the coding we assembled—which I recorded, and I’ve sent a copy to Agent Weber—we know where Kaine is. And I don’t mean where he’s walking around, or where he’s eating his virtual food, or where he’s sitting, scheming what to do next. We found something much more important.” She paused, making sure everyone was listening. “We know where Kaine’s central programming is located.”
This set off quite the buzz among the agents, and Michael couldn’t help but feel that surge of pride once again. How educated were these people? How experienced? How many hours and days had they spent searching for Kaine, ever since back when they still thought he was an actual gamer, a human, not a Tangent? And yet it ended up being three punk teenagers who’d found him. Michael, Sarah, and Bryson, the Burn-and-Pillage-y Trilogy. He had to fight hard to keep a smile off his face.
“We know where it is,” Sarah continued. “We found his source code, his intelligence. One would think it’d be part of—or near to, at least—the massive array of code that makes up the VirtNet’s structure itself, so that he could easily be wherever he needed, whenever he wanted, but that’s not the case.”
Another pause, and Michael wondered if she was hamming it up just a bit too much. And then she finally said the one sentence that probably would’ve sufficed from the very beginning.
“Kaine the Tangent is inside a game. He’s inside Lifeblood Deep.”
Another flurry of questions and conversation erupted around the chamber. Michael heard a tap-tap-tap behind him and he turned to see Agent Weber walking toward the podium, holding a small remote device. She pushed a button just as she reached Sarah’s side and suddenly the rotating globe above them vanished, replaced by an aerial, three-dimensional view of a city, zooming in toward one section. Standing beneath it, and so close, sent Michael’s stomach pitching. He quickly looked away since he already knew what it was.
Downtown Atlanta. Zeroing in on a small building no one would ever think twice about as they passed it. Kaine had hidden his virtual home right under the virtual equivalent of VirtNet Security’s noses. He’d probably done it just to make a point, to display his power.
A small, stupid thing, but it made Michael hate him just a little bit more. The Tangent seemed to learn all his moves from old films.
“Kaine’s presence is felt all over the Sleep,” Sarah said, not bothering to correct herself with the more proper term this time. She was too much in the zone. “But he’s just like any other Tangent, no matter how powerful he has become. He’s still a program, and he’s still made up of code, no matter how complicated, and that programming is centrally located somewhere, just like any other. He’s hidden it well. But my friends and I have become very familiar with him. And by comparing the sea of code we just escaped from and crossanalyzing it with all our other experiences, we were able to construct a back door to his home base. It wasn’t easy, but we did it.”
“Who programmed him in the first place?” someone yelled from the audience.
Sarah looked over at Michael. He shrugged, because it was a guess at best.
“We don’t really know,” she said. “But it seems his origins go all the way back to the beginning of the Internet age. Programmed to learn and to grow, he’s been working toward sentience ever since, from what we can tell.” She cleared her throat and hesitated, obviously worried that they’d gotten off track. “Now back to his code’s location …”
The giant image hanging above them zoomed in on the building in question—a small, three-story structure wedged between two skyscrapers. Being Lifeblood Deep, Atlanta was an exact replica of the real deal, and Kaine’s home had been classified as a historical building. That was the only reason it hadn’t been demolished a long time ago. The perfect hiding place for a rogue Tangent.
“Because he’s spotted in the Sleep all the time,” Sarah continued, “I don’t think there’s any way Kaine has used the Mortality Doctrine on himself. It’s way too early. He’ll want a lot more testing done before he dares do it. So we’re pretty sure he’s here.”