The Immortality Game

«Well…‌I still want to take a look at the coordinates. After that, I’ll figure out what to do.»

«All right, but be careful. Dr. Saenz says he can keep me safe once the general comes to get me. Says he can get the general to release me.»

«That sounds good, if he can do it. If he’s anything close to as brilliant as he was in life, I wouldn’t be surprised if he can pull it off.»

«Do you think he’s for real? I mean, a fully-realized AI…‌we considered working on that once, and we put the idea aside as too complicated.»

«It wasn’t what the military needed from us at that time, remember? I think it’s possible. It’s just too much work for us given what our goal was.»

«If he’s truly for real, he could help us in so many ways.»

«True,» Kostya said. «Though what if we can’t help him with what he wants?»

«I was thinking that myself. Hopefully once he’s over his disappointment his natural scientific curiosity will impose itself.»

«We can hope. Look, I’m going to be at the coordinates soon. I’ll call you back once I figure out what to do next.»

«Promise me you’ll be careful, Kostya.»

«I promise. Don’t fret about me. Just let that med bot do its work.»

«Yeah. Talk to you soon.» Tyoma severed the connection. He couldn’t for one moment understand why someone would call Kostya posing as him. And why wouldn’t Kostya’s contacts database know that it wasn’t the real Tyoma?

Moscow

Sunday, June 8, 2138

10:39 p.m. MSK

Tavik scowled at the view screen as the air car rose from the parking lot of the morgue. He had long viewed himself as an energetic man of action, a man of great smiles and expansive gestures. A man with a great future ahead of him. Today he felt like a tremendous failure.

Having to kill his best friend had of course not been a good start to the day, but it had been necessary and it was something his conscious could bear without too much of a twinge. Things had only gotten progressively worse, however. He wasn’t used to encountering resistance. He wasn’t used to being made to look a fool. And all of this had been done by a slip of a girl. In the back of his mind he’d always vaguely assumed he would one day marry Zoya, once he’d had enough fun in his younger years and reached a point where settling down felt more important than partying. He had trouble giving up on these dreams despite having been beaten senseless by his intended, and despite her being the reason he had failed to procure the cards his boss had demanded he retrieve.

Zoya…

He knew what the guys always said. You’d have to be stupid to marry a woman when you have a virtual mate at home. All the good things about women without any of the bad. Yeah, right. No matter how much he tried out setting the virtual mate to mimic Zoya, it just wasn’t the same. It feels real, smells real, tastes real, but it just isn’t the real Zoya.

I need a hot bath, he thought. Then I’ll sleep for a week.

The air car began to pick up speed when something unusual caught Tavik’s eye and he told the car to slow down. Below, not a block away from the morgue, a black air car was hovering on the street near an abandoned building. Several dark figures were climbing into it. Can it truly be her? It seemed a long shot, and yet why would such a nice car be near that wreck of a building? Tavik decided it wouldn’t hurt to follow it for a short time, just to be sure it wasn’t her. The bath can wait.

As the black air car rose up in front of him, Tavik gave instructions to his own car to follow it. “Surreptitiously”, he told the car, proud that he knew such a word. See, I may not have finished school, but I’m not as stupid as Viktor thinks I am.

He didn’t have to follow long. The black car headed straight for The Pyramid’s upper landing platform. Tavik wondered what Zoya was up to. “Go on and land,” he said to his car. If she’s trying to get rid of the cards because of the trouble they’ve caused, she could have just given them to me. If she thinks she can get some kind of revenge for Georgy, well, I’ll just have to stop her.

Finally, Tyoma thought. Took him long enough.

The familiar shape of Kostya’s air car coasted to a stop thirty meters up. It was too dark to see his friend through the view screen, but he felt Kostya’s eyes staring down at him. He’s wondering where I am. Tyoma waved an arm up at the car, which continued to sit there.

Guess I’d better call him. He sent a link request to Kostya just as the air car began to move away.

«Yes?»

«Where you going? Get back here.»