Gameprey

“I know him.”

“I was told he was here,” Andy said.

“I’ll see.” The girl touched a com-pad on the bar top. “I’ve got a couple of newbies looking for Zenzo Fujikama.”

Andy looked at the com-screen, but it stayed blank.

“Privacy,” the redhead said, meeting his gaze with a little hostility. “A lot of people who game here like that. Maybe it’s a new concept where you’re from.”

On the shelf behind her a winking lens caught Andy’s eye. He stared at the button vidcam. “I guess that privacy thing doesn’t work both ways, huh?”

“No.”

“Send them away,” a mechanical voice ordered.

The redhead tapped the com-pad, blanking the function. “I guess they’re not interested in meeting new friends.”

Mark stretched a finger out. Immediately metallic webbing shot forward, connecting to the com-pad, the vidcam on the shelf, and stabbing through the ceiling. Sparks showered down from the power line overhead. The act caught the attention of everyone in the cyber cafe. Usually these places were by and large hackproof and left alone by cyber outlaws.

Andy watched in awe as the metallic webbing strand that stretched from Mark’s finger to the vidcam suddenly sprouted another strand that wove itself into an eight-inch monitor. The screen cleared after a moment, revealing a view into a small room with four people sitting around a table.

Two of the guys looked European, and the third was an African woman, Andy judged by her dress. Zenzo Fujikama had to be the young Asian guy dressed in the blue and silver Spacehunter leathers.

Spacehunter was a popular anime role-playing game that had come out of Japan. It was violent and filled with exotic creatures and locales. Andy had enjoyed playing the game, but it had been filled with too many diehard fans to make playing it anything other than a short-lived experience.

“Who are you?” one of the European men demanded.

“Andy Moore,” Andy said.

The guy had peroxide hair and a long black duster. His canines gleamed when they caught the light. “Doesn’t mean anything to me. And if you don’t clear out of our cafe, I’m calling the police.”

If you were clean, Andy thought, that’s the first thing you would have done. This cyber cafe had a reputation as being a hangout for hackers and had been busted a few times in the past. Mark knew that because he sometimes spent time in places like this one.

“I’m Mark Gridley,” Mark said.

“Doesn’t mean anything to me, either,” the blond guy snarled.

“Wait,” Zenzo Fujikama said softly. “The name means something to me.” He looked at the screen. “You took on Deathstalker 3000 and wiped it out a couple months ago.”

“What’s he talking about?” Andy asked.

“A game,” Mark replied.

Zenzo shook his head. “Not just a game. At the time it was the blackboard game.”

Andy understood then. Blackboard games were operated illegally on the Net. They were filled with risky builds that sometimes had uncontrollable implant shock spikes. Some of the damage, although not lethal, had resulted in gamers losing partial link-up ability with the Net. The draw was the risk, but Andy couldn’t believe Mark would play those games.

“You played that game?” Andy asked.

Zenzo laughed. “He didn’t just play the game. He destroyed it. The guys who built it put nearly a year of development into it. Your buddy destroyed it in seventeen straight hours of some of the best play I’ve ever seen. When the dust settled, they were out of business. Gridley took out their game, then posted game cheats on every blackboard bulletin server on the Net. After that, Deathstalker 3000 was just a joke.”

“Too many people were getting hurt,” Mark replied.

“Maybe so, but that’s what they were paying to do.”

“We’re here about Peter Griffen,” Mark said. “The word I get is that you guys used to be pretty tight.”

Zenzo glanced at the other three people at the table. “Check you later.” He stepped forward, and in the next instant he was in the lower floor of the cyber cafe with Mark and Andy. “Let’s take a walk.”

Andy stepped in behind Zenzo, flanked by Mark, who dropped the hack he had on the cyber cafe’s vid systems.

“Let me take the lead,” Zenzo suggested. “I’ve got a place I want to take you.”

A trickle of nervous fear threaded down Andy’s spine. Giving control of his movements on the Net was something he didn’t like to do even if he knew the person doing the leading.

“Okay,” Mark said without hesitation. Not feeling good about the move at all, Andy did the same.

Zenzo leaped up into the Net, pulling them along after him as he crashed through the telecommunications grid.

Matt floated in his veeyar and chased paper trails. All the files Maj had archived on Peter Griffen had been reduced to a series of icons hanging in the air, grouped by personal history, publishing history, broken down into different game development corporations Peter had worked for.

It seemed like a lot of information, but it really wasn’t. Peter Griffen’s life was strictly low profile.

A com-link beeped for attention, strobing a pulsing blue wave against the black sky to his left. “Connect,” Matt said.

Instantly a vidscreen formed in the center of the blue pulse and framed Catie’s face. “Having any luck?”

“Not much,” Matt admitted. “I can give you a copy of every tax form Peter’s ever filed, every place of residence he’s had, the cars he’s owned, and so forth, but I can’t give you any personal details.”

“What about family?”

Matt shook his head. “Peter’s had a lot of bad luck. When he was seven, his parents were killed in a car wreck. He survived, but there was no family to take care of him. Or, if there was, they didn’t admit to it. He never got adopted and was raised by the state.”

“Which state?”

“California. A little town called Patterson that’s not far from Sacramento.”

“Maybe you could use a break,” Catie suggested. “I know I could.”

Matt nodded. He closed his eyes and logged off, opening them again in Catie’s hotel room.

Catie sat at the hotel desk in front of the communications array Mark had cobbled together to link all the Net Force Explorer teams.

Matt crossed the room and took an apple from the fruit bowl. He glanced over to the corner and saw Andy still logged onto the Net in the extra implant chair they’d asked the hotel to bring up. “Are Mark and Andy having any luck?”

“Mark let me know they found someone named Zenzo.”

“Who’s he?”

“According to what they found out, Zenzo helped Peter develop some of the computer graphics software used to build Realm of the Bright Waters.”

“Maybe Zenzo got to know Peter a little more than most of the people who’ve written articles about him.”

“Have you been able to talk to any of the other gaming companies Peter has worked for?” Catie asked.

Matt nodded. “Most of them have skeleton crews on-site because the majority of the staff is here at the convention. But it doesn’t do much good talking to them because they haven’t given me anything more than the HoloNet files. Peter was a good guy to work with, very inventive, reliable.”

“No hidden neuroses or agendas?”

“If there were,” Matt said, “they’re still hidden.”

“What about the orphanage?”

“The records are sealed, and I couldn’t get through to talk to anyone.”

“Probably every news service around is calling them.”