The Immortality Game

He looked at the med bots. “Hey, shouldn’t you be moving this guy, getting him to a hospital or something?” If they could get this corpse moving, perhaps Zoya would go with them. The bots ignored him and continued with their work. Why are they bothering? He’s not coming back.

He turned to look down the corridor, expecting to see Viktor and his gang at any moment. Desperation kicked in as he turned back to Zoya. “I’ve got a nice dacha I’ve been building out near Zagorsk. Beautiful woods, a stream, couple of dogs. You’d love it there. Let me get you out of here and you can rest as long as you like. Come on, Zoya!”

Zoya gave no sign that she had heard anything he said. She continually caressed the pale cheek of the American.

Tavik stood up and marched back to pick up his rifle. Fuck her. This is why they say the virtual mates are better. I’m going to be the best lieutenant Viktor’s ever had. I am going to run this place one day!

“Time’s up,” Viktor said and waved an arm at his men. “Let’s go.”

Bunny Tyoma breathed a sigh of relief that the mob boss failed to notice that he hadn’t joined in with the mass of armed men. He looked down at his original self, who squeezed his arm harder and mouthed the words, Stay still.

The massive doors at the end of the room slid open and all hell broke loose. Tyoma barely had time to register the spidery hulk of the war bot before all of its guns opened up. The ten mobsters had no chance. Within moments their bodies were shredded by a hurricane of steel. The noise of the guns firing and the screams of the men hurt Tyoma’s ears. The stench of blood and excrement filled the air.

Silence filled the room.

Tyoma examined himself but found no holes. The only blood he saw was the fine mist that seemed to cover everything, and that didn’t belong to him. I can’t believe I lived through that. He looked at Original Tyoma and saw that he was likewise unharmed and gazing in wonder at the horrific scene.

Bunny Tyoma took it all in. The unmoving war bot. The mangled corpses of the gangsters. The furniture of the room shredded everywhere except where the two Tyoma’s grasped at each other.

“Well,” said Original Tyoma. “That’s it then.”

It occurred to Bunny Tyoma that there was no reason he had to remain mute now. His voice came out as a rasp. “I hope so.”

Original Tyoma looked at him, a wondrous expression on his face. “One last thing to do and then we can go home. Well, I suppose the military might show up and keep us for questioning, but if we get this done quickly enough perhaps we can slip out of here.” He snapped a zip cable into his slot and slid the other end into one arm of the chair. “Be back soon,” he said, and closed his eyes.

Moscow

Sunday, June 8, 2138

11:59 p.m. MSK

The wizard Xax peeked out from behind the boulder at the cave entrance. The dark hole was at the back of a small rock-strewn ravine in a wall of crumbling limestone. He glanced over at his three hirelings.

“You’re sure that’s it?” he whispered.

The slender red-haired woman with all the knives nodded and leaned close to him. “It’s as they said it would be. It must be it.”

Xax stared back at the cave mouth. “Doesn’t look so bad.”

There was an odd stench here, something Xax couldn’t place. Little grew other than some patches of brown grass.

“What the hell is this?” said a man in a burgundy robe who looked suspiciously like a movie star from long ago.

Xax chuckled. “You look really out of place in this scene.”

“Who the hell are you?” Lev shouted. “You can’t do this. I control my environment.”

“It’s just a game, Lev,” Xax said. “Relax and have some fun with it.”

“How did you get past my firewall? Viktor, are you doing this?” There was a note of panic in Lev’s voice now.

“We don’t have time for this,” Xax said and caught the eye of the huge baldheaded fellow with the crisscrossing scars on his face and the rusty mace. “What do you say, Surly? Lead the way?”

Surly scowled and grunted, which was about as articulate as the man got. He slid around the edge of the boulder and stalked toward the lair entrance.

The red-haired woman, Telia, readied a pair of throwing knives and followed.

The last of Xax’s companions, a nearly blind old man with a rusty voulge, grinned and said, “Go on, sorcerer. I’ve got your back.”

“Thanks, Lovash.”

“Hold on now,” whined Lev. “I’m not doing anything until I get an explanation!”

Xax gave an exaggerated sigh. “Look, it’s just a game. There’s always an exit from each level. Look around. See any other exits than that one?” He pointed at the cave entrance. “You don’t want to play the game, fine, let’s get through the exit and back to your nice cozy study.”

“Tell me who you are,” Lev demanded.