as if they have more. I think we’re fighting our own people.”
Next to them Bai Ling screamed: “Look out!”
A crimson beam of light seared across the ground, smoke and fire gushing up from the ground as it did. The air was filled with alien cries, screams, cries of dismay, curses.
And one very human “Dammit!” Rodriquez said that as the heat beam crawled across his body. He screamed… and then looked at himself in disbelief. “I’m alive!”
Then-an air gun bolt hit him in the throat. The Spaniard tumbled with the impact, dying as he fell.
Shotz bent to check the body-and perhaps to get out of the line of fire.
“Dammit. We have to knock out the power system in here. Celeste?”
She was too busy manipulating controls on her portable monitor. “Just a second. I’ll have to take out the air system. I’ll-there.”
The upper sections of the war machines vanished. The din diminished. The Moresnot pirates got unsteadily to their feet.
“They’re picking us off,” she said. “That’s one dead. Four wounded.”
“Four,” he breathed heavily. “All right: Playtime is over. From now on, shoot to kill.”
The man pushing himself up off the ground was shaking, either with fear or rage. “There wasn’t anything to shoot at! Where did they go, Shotz? Where did they go?”
“Celeste?” Shotz asked.
“There are three ground-level exits listed on the map. But there may be unmapped exits.”
“We have to assume that they are heading to the caverns. Kill all the power, even basic life support. No more confusion. No more mistakes.”
Scotty and Wayne had retreated to the spaces beneath the bubble. The tunnel was vertical, and they had to climb down a ladder until they reached a sealed door at the bottom.
“I hope the others had time,” Scotty said.
Wayne seemed rattled. “Scotty. I think I might have killed that man. Have you ever… killed someone?”
“No,” Scotty said. “But today sounds like a great time to start.”
Wayne stopped to steady his breathing. “You aren’t bad with that crossbow. If this was a game, I’m starting to think you’d be okay.”
“Another time,” Scotty said. “Another life.” Scotty grinned. “And besides, this is just a game, remember?”
Scotty unscrewed the hatch. Below, another bubble. There was a ladder across the ceiling and down the inner curve of the dome, and they had to go hand-over-hand, brachiating in a way no one would try in Earth gravity. Their companions were down below, watching them.
The room was covered bottom to top with flat-screen monitors. The gamers gawked at them: The screens showed images from around the solar system, as well as some from a canal-riddled Mars. Locations within the nest itself, displaying a thriving insectile community.
Scotty dropped to the ground. “What is this place?”
“Some kind of communications nerve center,” Angelique said. “Note that the images are stuck on a loop.”
“So… we can’t use them to try to keep tabs on Moresnot?” Scotty asked.
“No,” Darla said. “But they may not find the maintenance hatch we took. Good Lord willing, we just got ourselves another couple minutes.”
They took a moment to examine the screens.
Angelique spoke first. “So far… every major set-piece has come with clues, advantages, resources.”
Wayne stood shoulder to shoulder with her, trying to see what she was seeing. “Could be the same here.”
“Listen,” Angelique said. “I think that Xavier is watching us, and believe it or not, he’s helping us when he can. These puzzles are fail-safed, in terms of power. So we solve one, and get something in return. A door opens, a map appears… something.”
“Don’t all games work that way?” Scotty asked.
“Dream Park games do. So…,” the Lore Master said. “What’s the point of this room?”
Scotty stared at the screens. What were they seeing?
“Martian walkers,” Sharmela said.
Maud pointed. “What is that? Saturn? And… Europa?”
“This is the important one,” Mickey said. On the screen, a titanic battle between Martian war machines and giant Moon creatures.
“Look,” Angelique said, pointing. “Look. Notice that the Martians use machines, and the Moon people are fighting back with animal forms.”
“What do you think?” Wayne asked. “A biologically based technology? As opposed to machines?”
“Maybe,” Angelique said. “But it might just be that the Martians had to travel a long, long way to get here. Needed machines.”
Sharmela nodded. “But it is possible that Martian technology, even war technology, is primarily mechanical. The Lunies, biological.”
Finally, Scotty spoke. “Well… that would make some sense. The thrust of Wells’ original story was that the Martians were weak, right? They needed technology to supplement their bodies?”
“While the Moon people supplemented theirs with creative breeding. So… they are stronger than the Martians. But not stronger than us.”
“No,” Scotty said. “Not stronger than us. But how does that help us?”
Angelique stamped her foot. “We’ve lost the thread of the game. Let’s stop for a second. What is this game about? I mean, what was it originally about?”
“Rescuing Professor Cavor?” Scotty offered.
“Yes. Rescuing Professor Cavor. Professor Cavor is in this equation.”
“Wait, wait wait,” Wayne said. “Maybe we’re looking at it backward. The lesson isn’t that the Lunies are stronger. It’s that their mechanical technology is weaker.”
“ Was weaker,” Angelique said. “But then Professor Cavor arrived.”
“Weaker?” Mickey said. “Remember the airlock door on the surface? Does that look like an inferior technology?”
“Maybe,” Scotty said. “Or maybe it’s a remnant.”
Angelique seemed interested in that notion. “Regressed civilization?”
“Very popular theme in early science fiction,” Wayne said. “Go ahead, Scotty.”
He sighed. “Sorry. That’s as far as I go.”
“I might have an idea,” Ali said.
“Go on.”
“Consider. These two civilizations, Martian and lunar, have a certain parity. Mars had a mechanical technology, while the Moon has a biological technology.”
“And?” Angelique said.
“This is only apparently a stalemate. The Martians attack, the Selenites fight them back. Can you all see the flaw in this?”
Sharmela snapped her fingers. “The Selenites can’t attack the Martians.”
“Right,” Angelique said. “How do you go interplanetary with living weapons?”
“It would be reasonable,” Ali said, “to think that a difficulty.”
“What if that changed?” Maud asked.
“What would change it?” Wayne asked. Then suddenly, his face changed. “Oh, crap. Of course. Professor Cavor.”
Mickey kissed Maud’s cheek and she bubbled like a debutante. “Good one, Maud. Professor Cavor. He arrived here as one of Earth’s greatest inventors in the Victorian age. Perfectly reasonable that the technology he shared with them might have had an effect on the war with the Martians.”
“And how does this affect us?” Scotty asked.
