Can I get a restart?

Ben 11

At night we were still camped out in the caves by the set of waterfalls. Shallow streams poured down the rocks above, easing out the incessant buzzing of jungle insect calls. Around the tree-tops, feint cotton mist swirled and became denser as the view went downward, with a bed of clouds hiding the ground below. Turn by turn, we watched the void, waiting for those after us to make their move. But so far nothing. Siim had reported that the net had started to quieten, rocked by a scandal on Evermana of a politician who had been caught having online sex with a fifteen year old girl who then turned out to be a guy. The politician was an idiot for not taking the right precautions; he should have used the shadow net.

Siim kept us alert, insisting there were still enough signals to suggest that others had not given up the chase. That we were being tracked by what seemed several hackers. We would be wanted men for some time.

Beyond the cave, an alien bird flew across the black-blue moon, its wings gracefully skimming the air, circled once before drifting off, out of sight. In the gloom of the cave, Siim lay. Fresh red acai-berry paste and river sea weed was marked across his face. He had hardly moved but what looked like concern lined his frowned expression. He was always online - searching for a way to make it harder to trace us. I was good with computers, but he was something else. He knew everything about networks and how to get our digital loot converted into real world money. I was sure that DK was wrong about him being a threat.

The cripple wizard didn't call out as I crept through the cave and started the climb down to the waterfall. As I went downwards I could almost smell the forest grove, almost feel the water mist on my skin. Nature swelled out and in against the insect buzz as I grabbed onto edges of the cliff. A tree marmoset ran up a branch to my left in fright, followed by a flurry of a dozen wings that flapped out into the sky. Up near the caves, an unknown darkness watched me.

I sensed DK's dead eyes on me through a collage of leaves and vines and heard every single sound of his bot as it descended in chase. I jutted my fingers and wrist back and forth like a bird pecking the air, signing 'I will scout ahead alone'. And the bot blended back into the cave. The last thing I wanted was him following me around.

Bunny bore the brunt of his rudeness. And the way DK did it, it was as if he thought Siim and I would enjoy the spectacle. Sure sometimes I laughed despite myself. But that didn't mean I enjoyed it. In contrast, he had become oddly friendly to me. And it felt wise to play along, get on his side. Recently I had found him on the same internet forums as me. I wasn't comfortable with him chatting with my friends, he even made digs that he and I were on a mission together. At those times I just smiled and took it all. The last time it happened Simon was logged on. It would be an understatement to say that it was awkward and off putting. After only a minute I was hinting to end the conversations but Simon and DK were engrossed in banter. A bomb was ticking right before my eyes, to the point where I was just about to kick Simon off the forum when DK abruptly left the conversation. He has me wound up to the point where I keep thinking about telling him to fuck off.

My feet on the ground, I crept through the bushes always with my back to the cliff as I neared the river. Twenty metres ahead, by the edge of the water, sat Bunny_man. A multitude of stars illuminated the dark waters in places and there was a tint of blue to the vegetation on the other side. The bot knight acknowledged my presence with a dip of his head. Bunny hadn't been online for a while now. He didn't care to speak to us these days. He was really the only one out of the group that I thought of as a friend and yet I hadn't done much to help him. All he wanted was someone to listen to, but I had only managed that in bursts. Though it was Xiaou's absence that had really got to him, but so far none of us had heard from him. How many hours a day Bunny searched for him I could only guess at.

I crossed the river at a shallow point, darting right across and headed out into the jungle beyond.

If Xiaou came back online everyone would be less edgy. What had happened to him? Who was he even? I'd hunted with him for over three months and I still knew next to nothing about him. DK was convinced that he was just another mercenary. "You can't trust the Chinese" He had said provocatively "You should never allow one into your group. They don't talk for starters. Unless there is another Chinese rocking around and then they form their own little sub-group. All they're interested in is dough. You may not like it but don't shoot the messenger. They take the most expensive stuff. Steal it if necessary." DK had kept up his racist rants pretty much every day, particularly when Bunny was around. We didn't pay attention. Xiaou was no thief. Even if it was so far unexplainable as to why all contact had suddenly been cut? In this age? No text or email to Bunny? It was making me look twice at everything.