the depth of his doubt. When she had suggested after only three weeks apart that they try patching things up again, the look on his face had said it all.
Still, in the end, he had come back. “It’s just as well,” he told them, as Cassie helped carry his bags back inside the house. “That place was making me claustrophobic.”
According to Cass, the apartment was small and stuffy, without air conditioning or the reliability of solar power. Ever since Long Island had become the testing ground for the towers for the experimental Stream network, it seemed like there were power outages at least once a week.
But it didn’t stop him from ending the lease on the apartment.
She guided the car along the inside curve of the interchange and had barely begun to accelerate onto the interstate when traffic came to a sudden standstill. She slammed on the brakes, cursing when her purse thumped to the floor in front of the passenger seat. It and her phone were out of reach.
She was about to lean over and grab it so she could call Veronica to tell her about the delay, when the first Army truck barreled past on the shoulder, probably from the Omegaman base at Riverhead. Hanging out of the back were at least a dozen soldiers equipped in full gear, rifles propped between their knees. The looks on their faces told her they weren’t heading out to just another training exercise. They had the look of men about to head into combat.
Something serious was going on up ahead.
Subscribe to be notified when A Dark and Sure Descent becomes available: https://tinyletter.com/SWTanpepper
Jessie’s Game
GAMELAND Book 1, Season 2
(coming fall 2013)
The Arc technician had been telling her about the state-of-the-art VR setup when she heard the whisper: jessie
“It comes complete with—”
“ Shh! ” The harshness of her whisper cut him off like a scythe through dense grass. He gave her a puzzled look.
“Did you hear that?” she asked.
“Hear what?”
She cocked her head to the side, frowning. But the voice didn’t repeat itself.
Several seconds passed with neither of them returning to the setup. The tech — she glanced at the tag on his ArcTech shirt and was reminded that his name was Tony — raised an eyebrow at her and fidgeted.
He probably thinks I’m some kind of nutcase , Jessie thought to herself, hearing voices that aren’t there . Actually considering the type of clientele he was used to dealing with, she’d probably fit right in with them.
“Nothing,” she finally said, shaking her head as if to dislodge a bug. “It was nothing. I just thought I heard someone say something.”
Tony-the-Tech cleared his throat and looked pointedly around them at the unadorned sound-deadening walls. Even their voices seemed to be swallowed up in the room, leaving no trace of echo. He checked the system’s mic in his ear, adjusting the volume. Shrugged.
Jessie watched this with a mix of confusion and apprehension. She was afraid to tell him what she’d heard hadn’t come from the device in his ear. It hadn’t even come from anywhere outside of her own head. Worst of all, it was a voice she recognized from her terrible ordeal inside Gameland, from someone she’d watched die.
Maybe it was her subconscious starting to chicken out.
She wished she could oblige.
“Maybe there’s a glitch with the equipment?” she said, hopefully. “Or in The Game ’s programming.”
“Ha!” Tony barked in amusement. “Not likely. This gear is fresh out of the wrappers. And I happen to know that QC checked it a half dozen times once we got your specs. As far as the codex, it’s foolproof.”
This, she happened to know, wasn’t true.
He proceeded to babble on about the care which had gone into the gear’s manufacture and customization for her planned entry into The Game , but she found herself drifting, only faintly aware of him as he proceeded with the checklist, marking each step’s successful passing on the computer’s screen. She
Still, in the end, he had come back. “It’s just as well,” he told them, as Cassie helped carry his bags back inside the house. “That place was making me claustrophobic.”
According to Cass, the apartment was small and stuffy, without air conditioning or the reliability of solar power. Ever since Long Island had become the testing ground for the towers for the experimental Stream network, it seemed like there were power outages at least once a week.
But it didn’t stop him from ending the lease on the apartment.
She guided the car along the inside curve of the interchange and had barely begun to accelerate onto the interstate when traffic came to a sudden standstill. She slammed on the brakes, cursing when her purse thumped to the floor in front of the passenger seat. It and her phone were out of reach.
She was about to lean over and grab it so she could call Veronica to tell her about the delay, when the first Army truck barreled past on the shoulder, probably from the Omegaman base at Riverhead. Hanging out of the back were at least a dozen soldiers equipped in full gear, rifles propped between their knees. The looks on their faces told her they weren’t heading out to just another training exercise. They had the look of men about to head into combat.
Something serious was going on up ahead.
Subscribe to be notified when A Dark and Sure Descent becomes available: https://tinyletter.com/SWTanpepper
Jessie’s Game
GAMELAND Book 1, Season 2
(coming fall 2013)
The Arc technician had been telling her about the state-of-the-art VR setup when she heard the whisper: jessie
“It comes complete with—”
“ Shh! ” The harshness of her whisper cut him off like a scythe through dense grass. He gave her a puzzled look.
“Did you hear that?” she asked.
“Hear what?”
She cocked her head to the side, frowning. But the voice didn’t repeat itself.
Several seconds passed with neither of them returning to the setup. The tech — she glanced at the tag on his ArcTech shirt and was reminded that his name was Tony — raised an eyebrow at her and fidgeted.
He probably thinks I’m some kind of nutcase , Jessie thought to herself, hearing voices that aren’t there . Actually considering the type of clientele he was used to dealing with, she’d probably fit right in with them.
“Nothing,” she finally said, shaking her head as if to dislodge a bug. “It was nothing. I just thought I heard someone say something.”
Tony-the-Tech cleared his throat and looked pointedly around them at the unadorned sound-deadening walls. Even their voices seemed to be swallowed up in the room, leaving no trace of echo. He checked the system’s mic in his ear, adjusting the volume. Shrugged.
Jessie watched this with a mix of confusion and apprehension. She was afraid to tell him what she’d heard hadn’t come from the device in his ear. It hadn’t even come from anywhere outside of her own head. Worst of all, it was a voice she recognized from her terrible ordeal inside Gameland, from someone she’d watched die.
Maybe it was her subconscious starting to chicken out.
She wished she could oblige.
“Maybe there’s a glitch with the equipment?” she said, hopefully. “Or in The Game ’s programming.”
“Ha!” Tony barked in amusement. “Not likely. This gear is fresh out of the wrappers. And I happen to know that QC checked it a half dozen times once we got your specs. As far as the codex, it’s foolproof.”
This, she happened to know, wasn’t true.
He proceeded to babble on about the care which had gone into the gear’s manufacture and customization for her planned entry into The Game , but she found herself drifting, only faintly aware of him as he proceeded with the checklist, marking each step’s successful passing on the computer’s screen. She
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