Chapter 15: The Game’s Afoot

I don’t suppose there is a hacker alive who hasn’t spent time in the gaming world. Probably a lot of time. Gaming keeps us sharp and we develop long-term attachments and respect for each other.

Back in the good old days, online gaming was limited to Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) where the gamer entered character attributes, then chose what to do in the world that evolved. It was nearly all text-based. But just reading those lines—turn right, take two steps, strike, run—were enough to put real images in the player’s mind. That’s where I learned to visualize the Internet. We played on the Internet before the World Wide Web put a visual interface on it. When the world turned to animation graphics and avatars, half the fun went out of seeing it all through your own eyes. Gaming lost some of its appeal for hardcore hackers.

Most people aren’t aware that there are still text-based games available online. They are run by hackers, for hackers, and half the fun is getting inside someone else’s game and wreaking havoc. Most—including mine—are on the domains set up by John Patterson. That gave me the creeps just now.

I created a game over the past year that was designed to discover where my former bosses from Henderson Associates had squirreled away over a billion dollars of assets. It had been eighteen months now since I helped the police put them in jail, but there was still no sign of the money. Oh, there were the typical clues, a constantly-evolving terrain, and some very real dangers to those who played. A real reward, too, if someone happened to discover where the missing money was. It could happen.

When I posted the simple message to my gaming board, it was a challenge to all comers to play treasure-hunt. By posting it from the laptop in my office, it was a direct challenge to my watcher—or maybe to everyone on my team if they were all watching me. Now I was going to find out who showed up.

I left the office before lunch. Frankly, I was past caring who knew if I was working or not. It seemed like everyone already knew I wasn’t really hired to do the job I was hired for. Like that made sense. Besides, I needed some additional equipment if I was going to run a game tonight.

I used the excuse that my computers were impounded to head out to one of the local warehouse stores and buy the biggest, baddest, gamer laptop I could find. I considered buying one of those roll-aboard suitcases to carry it in rather than trying to drag it around, but opted for an over-the-shoulder carry-all. While I was there, I ran up my credit card a little higher and bought the latest tablet model with as much memory as I could get in it and a cellular Internet account.

The nice thing is that I didn’t need much in the way of software, and I didn’t need my own network to run the game. All the software is in the cloud, and frankly, the entire Internet was our game board. What I needed were different IP addresses so I could jump from one to another. That meant I’d be traveling and connecting through different servers as frequently as I could. I wasn’t going to be standing still so I couldn’t depend on a wired connection of any kind. By five, I was sitting in a coffee shop in West Seattle, about ready to start the game.

My cell phone rang and I answered Andi less abruptly than I had a few nights ago.

“Hello, girlfriend,” I said. What a difference a week makes ... no, make that five days.

“Ooo. A girl could get used to that.”

“I hope she does.”

“What are you up to tonight?” I had no qualms about doing my own thing tonight, though if Andi had suddenly offered to meet me for dinner, I’d probably have called off the whole game. I knew, though that she taught an Adult Ed class on Monday nights, so I just went with my plans.

“I’m running a game tonight online. It promises to be rather informative.”

“Going to Nowhere Land,” she laughed.

“You could always show me the way to Somewhere Land.” There was a sequence of lands a relationship could go through. We’d already broken through Nowhere Land in our relationship, but, of course, that wasn’t what she was asking about.

“You aren’t going hunting for the missing money again, are you?” It was a point she disagreed with me on. I was determined to close the loop on the question of where the money went when the boss stole it. It doesn’t just evaporate. What does it mean when you say you lost money on a deal? Who found it? Where did it go? I was going to be the one who found it.

Andi supported me through that latest collapse in my life, just as she had supported me when I lost Hope. But she had always challenged my thinking.

“You were awfully pleased with yourself when you brought down the company president,” she’d said.

“Well, maybe I was a little too happy to find the evidence that would put him behind bars,” I admitted.

“You giggled like a little kid.”

“Okay, you’re right. But that is nothing like the celebration that will happen when I find the money. That Costa Rican seaside mansion she’s living in is going to turn into a cardboard box on the beach when I’m done.” Bitter about Hope leaving me to move up the food chain and marry my CEO? Who me?

“Don’t tell me things like that,” Andi said. “Even in jest. They might call me in to testify against you.”

“Hmm. I might have to marry you then, just so you won’t have to testify against me.”

“Trade my corner of Paradise for your living hell? I don’t think so.” She made a good point. I’d let the plundering of Henderson Associates eat at me, especially since none of my so-called friends from the company would talk to me anymore. I’d let up on the search, but I couldn’t help it if occasionally it drew me back.

“It’s different this time,” I said. “I’m not really after the money, though if it shows up, I won’t object. What I’m really trying to do is flush out my quarry at EFC. I’ve set up a pretty good proposition for the game tonight and I’m seeing who rises to the occasion. You know, that’s the job I was hired to do there.”

“Mmmm. Okay. You know I worry about you. There have been too many science fiction stories about people who play a game, but when they die in the game they really die. I don’t believe it, but it still gives me gooseflesh.”

“Well, tell me what you’re doing tonight,” I suggested. English Literature was always good for calming the turmoil.

“I’m pretending to teach Twentieth Century American Literature while disguising the fact that I’m doing basic language development for Adult ESL students.”

“So you’re playing a game?”

“That pretty well sums it up,” she laughed. “They really don’t know anything at this level.”

“That’s why they come to your classes,” I admonished. She’d used the same line on me the day we met.

“Touché. I admit to being almost as human as you.” We laughed. “So would you like to have dinner tomorrow after work? Cali’s in dress rehearsal. I’d love company.” Her voice sounded hesitant—a little shy. I smiled.

“Ms. Marx, are you asking me on a date?”

“I guess so,” she said. “Damn it! Don’t make this any harder than it is.”

“Andi, I would love to have dinner with you. Anytime. I really can’t wait to see you.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Well, I’d better get to class, and you’d better get into cyberspace. Don’t forget an oxygen tank!”

“I’ll see you tomorrow night. ‘Bye.”

“‘Bye.” I bit my tongue as we disconnected. I’d almost said ‘I love you.’ Grade A number one mistake according to all the dating manuals. We’d had two dates and a group barbecue this weekend. Don’t rush it! I lectured myself.

It was time to start the game.

By seven I’d logged over a dozen players into the game. Those who were new had picked their avatars and generated their roles and power levels. I recognized several I’d played with in the past on other games. More players registered within the first half hour and set out on their quest.