glared bright enough to blind. Pulsing, deadly, irresistible. Hourglass Nekro symbols lined the walls.
''The motherboard has shorted!' Cipher said. 'Damned Mayombreros have cut their own throats.' The computer screen cleared, and a mathematical equation appeared, with a blinking cursor at its end. Cipher screamed. 'I can't handle this now!'
'Isn't there an emergency cutoff or something?' Griffin yelled above the growing din.
'Down the corridor. Can't get to it when everything shorted, the gamma shields went up. It's radioactive as hell. I've got to try to route around this blowout. Double-donged Demosthenes-the cube root of what?'
'Damn!' Panthesilea screamed. 'The entire hall's another Nekro trap! Cipher, we've got to go through the motherboard!'
Their protective shields began to bend. The godling within Mary-em grew steadily paler. 'Mother, ' it whispered. 'I can't hold up much longer…'
'Cipher?' Mary-em said, alarmed. 'Can you or can't you?'
Still examining the screen, Cipher shook his head. 'This is straight math. I… I don't know.'
'Warning, you now have two minutes to initiate emergency shutdown…'
Cipher looked up at the wall speaker. 'Will you shut the fuck up?'
In Gaming Central, all Game Masters were off duty. Every Gaming routine was automatic now; all of their jobs were done, and they hovered around the main screen, watching avidly as time ran out.
Sis was suddenly jolted from his state of passive interest by an alert light.
'We've got a special request from Alphonse Nakagawa,' Richard Lopez said.
'What the hell?'
'Alphonse Nakagawa. He… hmmm. I'll be damned. He seems to have constructed a voodoo doll.'
'That's interesting.'
'More than you know.' Lopez conjured up a holo window. On it appeared a succession of freeze-frames: Nakagawa's hands holding a comb; holding half a dozen black hairs; holding a fist-sized doll of twisted cloth, crude but unmistakable. 'He registered it with the computer about an hour ago, during their last break. It's Bishop.'
Nigel Bishop scotched at his ear. 'Attention, Bishop,' Richard Lopez said with unmistakable relish. 'You have exhausted most of your protection points and are now vulnerable. You have been possessed. According to the dictates of your new master, you will now attack and kill Panthesilea.'
Bishop's eyes widened. He spun around, scanning the group, and saw Alphonse seated cross-legged, expressionless, staring at something in his fists.
But there was no time to waste-the penalty for resisting the will of the Dream Park Gods was fearsome. Bishop drew his sword and struck at Acacia.
Her response was almost instantaneous. She dodged, as if she had been expecting the blow-expecting sudden death from the Bishop. Fencing, blocking, she retreated in the only direction she could-into the radiation- flooded Nekro-blazoned corridor.
She tried to stop herself, and couldn't. 'No, Nigel!' she screamed, once only. She took a lurching step and found herself in the middle of a lethal radiation field.
'Damn!' she screamed, real fear in her voice. 'Damn, damn damn damn damn!'
Bishop stood frozen, unable to move or speak.
Panthesilea collapsed into herself in slow motion. Her body began to steam.
'You bastard!' Tammi said, wheeling on Alphonse.
'Stop!' He called, 'I can pull this out. Cipher, you can't break it in time, can you?'
Captain Cipher, sweating, shook his head. 'I don't know. I really don't.'
'Warning, you now have one minute to initiate emergency shutdown…'
'My way, we win for sure.'
Tammi and Mary-em looked at each other. What did they have to lose? Their shields were cracking.
'What do you have in mind?'
'Give Bishop the Oggun talisman,' he said. 'Enhanced physical strength. Stand still, Bishop!'
Bishop's eyes flamed hatred as the beads were slipped around his neck. 'Now,' Al the B said with naked malice. 'Walk into the corridor, Bishop, and pull the fucking emergency switches.'
If looks could cut, Al would have pulled First Soprano in the Vienna Boys Choir. Bishop ground his teeth, almost vibrating with hatred.
'Now,' Al said gently.
Then Bishop relaxed, a reluctant grin of admiration halfhidden as he turned. Showtime!
Bishop the Possessed lurched convincingly down the corridor, blistered by killing waves of radiation. On monitors the Adventurers watched his cheeks begin to bubble and run, the skin to blister and peel. He staggered, but the strength in the Oggun Necklace kept him erect.
In seconds he stood before the open shields, bathed in unholy light. He fell against the wall, hands with no flesh remaining digging into them, tearing away metal restraints, grasping for control rods, yanking And then he collapsed to the ground, disintegrating as they watched.
The shields slid shut. The control-panel lights dimmed. The lights m the room dimmed.
'Attention. Emergency shutdown has been activated. Have a nice day.''
The demons circled them in a howling mass. They slowed, and faded, then vanished altogether.
The shrieking alarm siren slowed, and then lowered its pitch and died.
Griffin spared a brief, pitying glance at Acacia. A double black border surrounded her. She looked melted, but her skeletal shoulders heaved almost imperceptibly.
Mary-em, Top Nun, Tammi, Al Nakagawa, and Captain Cipher were all that remained of the party.
Their magical shields failed. The magic was worn out. What next? They had nothing, and A glowing form appeared in the air before them. It was the image of a Nommo, the majestically hideous flat-catfish form balanced on its tail.
'It is over,' it said. 'And you have won.''
39
Friday, July 22, 2059 10:00 P.M.
Griffin reached Gaming Central in time to see the Game Masters packing and preparing to leave. 'I heard,' he said softly to Richard Lopez, 'that this was your final Game.'
'It is what the doctors tell me.' The dark rings beneath his eyes lightened, as if his reply pleased him.
'He's cheated them before.' Mitsuko held his arm tightly. In affection? Or to help him remain erect? Alex wasn't sure. All he could be sure of was that they wanted no pity. They were the best. They had presented their masterpiece to the world. If it was their final work, there were worse exit lines.
He squeezed Richard's hand warmly, and they left.
El and Doris had already dismissed most of their mimes and were busily gathering their props and character sheets.
Then Alex was alone with Vail, Thaddeus Harmony, Millicent Summers, and a handful of noisy workmen dismantling the Virtual theater platform.
Alex took a tiny metal collar out of a foil wrapper, gazed at it, and held it up to the light. 'McWhirter found this?'
'Affirmative,' Millicent said.
'Wish I could claim prescience, say I wanted to get him out of the control room and into the field, but the truth is that I'm so tired I can hardly think. I just blew my top. '
She nodded without speaking.
On a viewscreen between them was a shot of a celebration party whipped up for the Gamers in one of MIMIC's apartment suites. All the Gamers were there, and only two or three seemed aware that they were detained against will. Security had politely informed them that transportation would take a couple of hours. and
