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The football match started right after this Miracle Brighton woman claimed
that she and her team were interested in the same thing in Treasure Hunting
Dome. Rage didn’t have a chance to talk to her afterwards, because they were
separated into different locker rooms, and then she couldn’t locate her
again. Rage says that she’s not entirely surprised. The possibility of an
ultimate secret prize isn’t something that she randomly came up with on her
own. The rumor has been around since Treasure Hunting Dome first opened.
Over the decades, with no proof that anyone ever won it, however, most have
lost interest. They assume now that it doesn’t exist. Perhaps the rumor was
started by the planet owner, who wanted to build hype, or it started
organically. The fact that nothing has ever come of it has only served to
intrigue Rage more, and Miracle evidently had the same idea. They try to
find her on the local network, but no luck.
They train with each other in the Sandbox warehouse for about another week,
but they have to be careful, because their efforts are not being made in
secret. If they wanted complete privacy, they would have needed to go to a
different planet. No one has ever said anything, but it’s plausible that the
Custodians who run the game will use the team’s experience against them. If
they get really good, for instance, at driving on the right side of the
road, they might end up with a task where they have to drive on the left.
And if they practice both, they might not get any driving challenge at all,
and it will have been a waste of time. There’s no way to know, which also
means there’s no reason to keep doing this indefinitely. They all agree that
it’s time to dive in head first.
Before the big day, they check into the Apex Suite at the Palacium Hotel for
a good night’s rest. Minotaur was able to secure it for them on short notice
because they know someone who knows someone who knows someone. They would
have been—
Smoke. Smoke and fire. Elise wakes up to find her room ablaze. She checks
her consciousness stream and finds that it’s been severed. Her last upload
was three hours ago. If she doesn’t get it turned back on, and dies here,
the person who boots up in her backup body won’t really be her. It will only
be a copy who thinks she’s Elise. How can this place be on fire?
Things don’t catch fire anymore. It just isn’t done.
The door bursts off its hinges, and falls to the floor. Jolanda scrambles
back up. She scoops Elise off the bed, and carries her out to the common
area. It’s on fire too.
“I’m not streaming!” Elise warns.
“None of us is!” Jolanda is still carrying her as she finds her way across
the room.
Zelda is holding a chair, pounding the leg against the edges of the window.
“We’re two kilometers up and that’s security glass!” Elise warns. “It won’t
break!”
“Not without some help!” Zelda says. “Stand by Mino, Jo!” She keeps
pounding.
“I think you can put me down now,” Elise tells Jolanda.
“We agreed that I would be the one to take you out,” Jolanda replies.
“What?” Elise questions. “What do you mean, take me out?”
Rage appears to their left, holding Colley like he’s also a little baby.
Zelda stops striking the glass, and puts her steampunk goggles on. “Ready?”
“Do it,” Rage orders. She grips Colley tighter. “Everyone turn off your
lungs!”
Zelda takes Minotaur in one arm, then reaches out with the other to grip the
doorknob of what’s either a bathroom or a closet. She yanks it open. It
explodes.
Fire rushes out of the room, and crashes into the window. It’s destroyed
instantly, and in that same instant, all six of them are sucked out.
Jolanda never lets go, but now she looks more worried than ever. Even though
she has less experience skydiving, she doesn’t have none. They wouldn’t have
done this if they weren’t each packing the right equipment, like parachutes
and/or wingsuits. Why does she look so scared? She holds Elise tighter with
one arm while she maneuvers her other one, hovering her watch above Elise’s
face.
It takes a second for Elise to realize what Jolanda is trying to show her.
Their altitude is about 35,000 meters and falling. They should not be
anywhere near that high. That’s damn near the apex of the whole freaking
top. Despite its name, that’s not where the Apex Suite sits. It’s just at
the top of the building. She turns her head enough to look back up, but
whatever they just fell out of has now been covered by clouds. She can see
the other two pairs, though. Wait, four—no, six. Other people are also
falling alongside them, presumably from some nearby suite that was also on
fire. What is happening?
They keep falling for about a minute before Elise gets her head turned
enough to see land below. It’s coming up fast. If Jolanda doesn’t do
something soon...
“You can turn your lungs back on!” Jolanda shouts. “Or don’t, you don’t need
them! But you do need to hold on tighter, with your arms and legs! I need to
pull!”
Elise tightens up and buries her face in Jolanda’s neck. She may be falling
in love.
Jolanda pulls the ripcord. The parachute flies out of the back of her belt.
Elise’s legs slip off, and begin to dangle, but Jolanda wraps her arm back
around her to compensate. After a few seconds, the initial shock wears off,
and now they’re just floating. They’re actually going to be okay. They’re
going to survive this.
Elise gets another look around now, and starts to run attendance. Rage,
Colley, Zelda, and Minotaur; everyone’s here. She looks in the other
direction, at the strangers. They’re actually not strangers. She recognizes
Miracle’s face. She’s holding the girl who did a backflip on the football
pitch. Instead of a parachute, they’re staying aloft via Miracle’s white
feathered wings. Which is all sorts of crazy, but it’s clearly working.
As they’re drifting towards the ground, Elise feels something bite at her
arm. Some kind of bug? She can’t get a look at it to check. She’ll just have
to tough it out. But then she feels another bite on her other arm. She also
sees rain begin to fall all around them, which doesn’t feel like a
coincidence. She looks up in horror to find holes forming on the parachute
above them. The holes are growing as something begins to shred the material.
Rain plus stinging plus tearing equals only one thing. Acid rain.
Either someone is trying to kill them, or they’re just having a little fun,
and they don’t know that the team isn’t streaming properly. The fact that
they were somehow moved to the very top of the dome leads her to believe
that this is attempted murder. Hours from now, when the unscheduled data gap
triggers emergency resuscitation procedures, her latest backup will wake up
with no idea what went wrong. She will have no reason to suspect foul play,
but at least some version of Elise will exist. With that, there is a modicum
of hope for justice.
After only a few seconds, the parachute can’t take it anymore. It violently
rips apart, sending Elise and Jolanda away from each other. Not that it
matters. At this height, even their advanced substrates won’t survive it.
Elise keeps falling and falling until she runs out of room and splats on the
ground.
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