End Game

Coming clean

Natasha gasped. Emmy-Lee screamed, rushing to Husk's side. Tim and Min looked down at the floor, noting the extent of the puddle that had formed on the warehouse floor, how close it had come to their feet.

Behind them the office door opened, Curly and Mo rushing in. The latter went to Husk's side, calmly pushing Emmy-Lee away, and began checking for vital signs. He commenced CPR and mouth-to-mouth while his partner had his phone out, calling for an ambulance.

Of the others, Min was the first to speak, quietly urging Emmy-Lee to move out of the water. "Better give them some space," she said, leading the older woman away to a seat in one of the room's workspaces. She was joined there by Tim and Natasha and for a time they watched on in silence. Seconds passed, and then at last Husk spluttered and convulsed. Mo looked across to his partner and nodded. Together they lifted their boss up by hands and feet and carried him the short distance to dry floor before laying him down again. "Stay where you are," Curly told the others. "The ambulance will be here soon."

He glared at Min as she took the few steps needed to reclaim her phone, but otherwise made no move to stop her.

"The call's been cut off," she told the others, examining the device. An attempt to reconnect was unsuccessful. No answer from the other end.

She looked up from the phone, addressed Natasha. "This virus? Have we been infected? Was that why you tried to warn us off? I think we have a right to know."

Natasha glanced across at where Husk lay, as if balancing her obligations. She looked tired. "The virus is harmless – until you get into that machine. Scanning, too, is not so bad. It is when you begin trying to induce signals into the brain that the real problem starts. The extra energy, the way it acts on the functioning of neurons. With prolonged exposure the inevitable result is a brain tumor."

"We were in that machine. Does that mean we now have cancer?"

Natasha shook her head. "You have been infected, I'm sorry. But the virus takes time to have an effect. And one or two exposures is not usually enough." She looked doubtful. "This is new, so we don't really know. You should be fine. My advice is to wait for a few months. Visit a cancer doctor and have a brain scan. If that is clear then you have nothing to worry about."

"A few months?"

Natasha's face held no pity. "I did warn you," she said.

Min turned on Emmy-Lee. "Did you know about this? That we were being sacrificed to some grand plan? That he planned to do the same to the rest of the world?"

It was Natasha who answered.

"Nobody is meant to die. That is the whole point of what Husk is doing. For you two, the plan was to conduct tests in the hope of fine-tuning the machine, perhaps find a way to reduce the energy to a safe level. They would stop before you had suffered too much exposure."

"But didn't you just say nobody knows how much is safe?"

"This is not my area of expertise or responsibility. But yes, that is true. There was a risk they might go too far. I argued against but it was not my decision to make. Husk deemed the risk acceptable."

"He was prepared to sacrifice us? For what, a video game?"

"Not for a game. For immortality. The primary function of the machine isn't to play pretty pictures in your head, that's just a way to draw people in, to keep them in the machine long enough. The real purpose is to record your entire brain image in sufficient detail to resurrect you in a virtual world."

Min wasn't convinced. "But that still doesn't add up. Husk thinks there are too many people in the world. Scanning them into virtual reality doesn't change that. Not unless you kill them afterwards..."

Natasha looked uncomfortable. "I don't know about that part of his plan."

*

Tim and Min stood in a doorway looking out at the pouring rain. Gone was the glow from the sky that had illuminated their arrival, in its place a halo around a solitary street light that lit up the fat drops of water as they fell.

After a time, Tim grunted something unintelligible, slipped out of his overalls, and walked out into the deluge. Under Min's gaze, he stood with arms outstretched, mouth open and raised to the heavens, daring it to render judgement, receiving instead nothing but cleansing waters that washed away the thoughts and fears that, moments earlier, had crowded his mind.

A few moments more and Min too stripped down and came out to join him. As she approached, Tim held out his hands and for a time they rotated about like children on a playground ride, finally coming together in an embrace. Holding each other close, allowing the warm summer rain to engulf them.

In time they broke off. Tim brought down the ladder, collapsing it as far as it would go before securing it to the top of their rental car. Next, they climbed inside and Tim moved the vehicle to the warehouse entrance so that Min could load in their overalls and the other implements of the break-in without too much exposure to the rain. Then she came around and climbed in next to him.

"Don't worry," said Tim. "I've kept the receipts dry. We should be able to take all this stuff back for a refund in the morning."

"That's good," said Min. When he made no move the restart the vehicle, she did nothing to prompt him.

"Well," said Min staring out at the dim outlines of Husk's building, "We did it. We put a stop to his evil plan."

"Sure did" said Tim.

"Guess that means the world doesn't get to be saved after all?"

"Guess not," said Tim.

For a moment Min frowned. Wondered at what they had done, whether it really was for the best. Wondered too at what was happening inside their bodies. She looked to Tim, the light from the streetlamp just enough to illuminate his face. He seemed extraordinarily calm and unconcerned. If he can be, thought Min, then why shouldn't I? And so she was.

"You're sodden," she told him, a touch of humor returning to her voice.

"Not just me," he replied. "Where to now? We can't really go to my place 'cause mom'll be home. Same deal with you, I expect. And it's not like we can go out anywhere in this state." He wiped an errant raindrop from his fringe. "Perhaps we can just stay here for a while?"

"Sure," said Min.

And that's what they did.

*

A few weeks later they were having lunch at Zest. Min had insisted on coming back to try the salsa. "A double serving," she explained.

"Sounds good to me," said Tim.

Waiting for their plates to be delivered, they saw Emmy-Lee entering the café. She bought a sandwich then came across to their table and for a time they chatted, exchanging news. Husk was recovering well, she told them.

As she was about to leave, Emmy-Lee gave them each her card. "You two ever think about getting life insurance, you be sure to come find me, okay?"