The Immortality Game

Lev flashed Peter O’Toole’s brilliant teeth. “He still needs to vent every so often. Who can blame him?”

Tyoma peered around at the whiteness. “Must it be this way? Can’t we—”

A large, cluttered, very British room appeared. Tyoma gaped down at his immaculately tailored trousers, his shoes half-buried in a plush carpet. He looked up at Lev and saw that O’Toole’s clothing had changed to a comfortable ruby bath robe, and he held a tea cup in one hand.

“Have a seat,” Lev said, and seated himself on a high-backed wooden chair. “Tea?”

A similar chair was just behind Tyoma, so he sat. Though he knew it wasn’t real, he decided tea was just the thing to help calm his nerves. A china cup steamed on the end table next to his chair. He realized he was ravenous; there had been no time to eat lunch earlier and it was close to dinner time now. He considered asking for something to eat, but since it wouldn’t be real, it seemed pointless.

Lev sipped his tea, then leapt up from his chair. “Ah, General Andreykin! Good of you to join us.”

Tyoma turned to see the bald general stride into the center of the room in full uniform, colorful ribbons and medals flashing across his chest. The general met his gaze and scowled.

“You couldn’t have made him better looking?” Tyoma said to Lev.

“He told me you were a funny man,” Lev said with a grin. “Well, he wasn’t quite so polite.”

General Andreykin held out his hand. “Let’s get this over with. Why did you bring me back in here? Viktor could have given me the card and sent me on my way.”

“What fun would that be, general?” Lev said. “I miss having good company.”

The general flicked a glance at Tyoma. “Looks like you’re still missing it.”

Lev chuckled. “General, I do believe you made a joke.”

“His face didn’t even shatter,” Tyoma added.

“Enough,” the general said, his voice barely above a whisper. “Tell me you have a good reason to bring me here.”

Seeing the general gave Tyoma an idea, though he wasn’t sure what he could accomplish with it. His group had been unsure how they might need to influence the general—manipulate him? Kill him? Drive him insane?—so back on the compound when Tyoma had backdoored his way through the general’s wireless firewall, Tyoma had inserted a bundle of code worms that he could trigger wirelessly, each worm with its own purpose. Now that the general’s mind was interfaced with Lev’s sanctuary, Tyoma was intrigued at the possibilities. His worms were passive packages and custom-built, so Lev’s firewall hadn’t detected them. The hard part was figuring out if one could be useful and then triggering it; it isn’t easy to have your mind immersed in a virtual world and at the same time manipulate your body. Tyoma had had only a little practice with dividing his mind in such a way. Which worm might have an effect on Lev?

“Are you okay there? You’re staring off into space.”

Tyoma snapped out of his reverie and looked at Lev. “Sorry, I was just wondering exactly what you have in mind with me?”

“Ah, so you missed everything I just told the general? I’m giving you to him as insurance that the card we gave him is the correct one. Surely you can be of some assistance in testing it.”

Tyoma kept examining and discarding each of his code worms in turn; with his own mind meshed with Lev’s virtual reality, each worm would do as much damage to himself as it would to the others. He reached the last worm, one meant to infect a firewall’s defenses, corroding them subtly in a manner that should eventually render the firewall useless without setting off any alarms. But what use is that in this situation?

He found himself nodding, and Lev seemed to take this as an affirmation and went back to speaking with General Andreykin. Tyoma focused on one of Lev’s cerulean eyes and concentrated on trying to reach his body’s wireless interface outside in the real world. Sweat trickled from his hairline and he felt his face flush with exertion. At first he wasn’t sure if he had managed it, but he tried ordering a scan of nearby wireless connections and was relieved when he began seeing responses. His nose began to itch, threatening to break his focus, so he strained his mind further to maintain the tenuous link to his physical body. The list of available wireless signals lined the right side of his vision. With tremendous effort he picked out the name Andreykin from the list and activated the backdoor feed he’d inserted earlier in the day. One more task; don’t lose it now! He heard a voice speaking to him, but he forcefully ignored it and reached through the tunnel to the cache of worms. Two more heartbeats and he found the one he wanted and activated it, then allowed himself to collapse back into his virtual self, panting and shaking with exertion.

“What the hell is going on with you, Artyom?” Lev said, a suspicious look on Peter O’Toole’s face.