10: Legend of the Ultimate Gamer 

The words Bobby’s Cafe glowed in soft blue neon above window signage that proclaimed the best ice cream in all of Suburbia.

‘What’s ice-cream?’ asked Hope.

‘The best thing ever,’ assured Zyra, as she led the way towards the cafe.

‘What do you do with it?’

‘You eat it, of course.’ Zyra pushed the door open and went in.

Wide-eyed, Hope followed.

The cafe was decorated in a rainbow of pastel colours - blue chairs with green vinyl cushions, yellow tables and pink walls. A large counter curved its way in front of the far wall, its orange top and blue sides standing out against the pink wall. Small round tables, each with four chairs, dotted the main area of the cafe. The place was deserted except for a lone man in a shabby suit sitting on a stool at the counter. He sipped at a coffee while staring down at the counter top.

Zyra led Hope to a window seat. ‘You sit down and I’ll go get us some ice-cream.’

Zyra headed behind the counter and disappeared through the red swinging door.

Hope stared out of the window at the impossibly perfect streetscape. It was neat and clean and like something out of a dream. The shops looked freshly painted, the street like it had just been paved, and all the passersby were dressed in their neatest best.

‘Weird,’ Hope murmured.

‘Here you go.’ Zyra planked a white bowl onto the table in front of Hope.

Hope looked down at the contents. There were three scoops of ... something. White, brown and pink.

‘Vanilla, chocolate and strawberry,’ explained

Zyra as she handed her a spoon. ‘Try some.’ She started eating her own.

Hope tentatively used the spoon to scoop up a tiny bit of the white stuff. Slowly, she brought it up to her mouth.

‘It’s cold,’ she exclaimed, surprised.

‘Of course it is. It’s frozen.’ Zyra laughed. ‘What do you think?’

‘It’s odd. But sort of okay.’ Hope tried a larger spoonful, slowly rolling it around in her mouth. Then she tried the strawberry. ‘This one’s better.’ Then she tried the chocolate. ‘This one is good.’ She finished the mouthful and looked up at Zyra. ‘What is this place?’

‘Suburbia.’ Zyra gazed wistfully through the window. ‘Tark and I came here whenever we had the money and keys to get into Designers Paradise.’

‘Zombies,’ said Hope.

‘Would you stop it!’ Zyra slammed her spoon down on the table. ‘We are stuck with each other. So let’s just make the best of it.’

Hope looked down at her bowl of ice-cream without answering.

‘Like it or not,’ Zyra continued, ‘I’m your mother.’

‘You are not!’ Hope growled through gritted teeth, violet eyes flaring with rage.

Zyra stared into those eyes - Tark’s eyes - andcalmed herself. ‘I am. And I’m not. It’s weird, I know. Let’s just accept that we need each other. Okay?’

Hope’s anger subsided and she let out a long breath. ‘Okay.’ She had another spoonful of the chocolate and looked up. ‘So, why this environment?’

‘It’s peaceful,’ said Zyra. ‘It’s nice. No one trying to kill us. No one to steal from. It was a chance for us to not be us - to be Tina Burrows andJohn Hayes, instead.’

‘You became different people?’

‘Avatars.’ Zyra thoughtfully tugged at one of her earrings. ‘We looked different. We spoke differently. I guess we became who we really wanted to be.’

‘Hmmm.’ Hope finished off the chocolate ice- cream, eyeing the other two flavours suspiciously.

‘You still look like you, now. But you’re speaking normally. You’ve lost that stupid gutter speak.’ She loaded up a spoonful of strawberry. ‘How come?’

‘Oh! Well.’ Zyra looked down at her own ice cream. ‘This is how people speak here. It’s how I speak when I’m here.’ She quickly put a spoonful of vanilla ice-cream into her mouth.

‘Yeah,’ said Hope. ‘But we’re not playing the game. No one can see or hear us. So, why the change?’

‘I dunno,’ said Zyra, reverting to her usual way of speaking. “Cause I wants ta.’

‘Oh, great.’ Hope dropped her spoon into the bowl. ‘You know, it sounds really dumb when you talk like that. You sound like you’re stupid.’ She looked away from Zyra. ‘And you’re not.’

They sat in silence for a while, eating their ice cream, their black and red leather outfits incongruous amongst the pastel dreaminess of the Suburban cafe.

Zyra finished her ice-cream and sighed. ‘So, whatare we going to do now that we’re here?’

Hope pushed her bowl away, the vanilla uneaten.

‘We start our mission.’

‘We have a mission?’ asked Zyra.

‘Didn’t my father tell you anything?’ Hope snorted.

‘No, I suppose he didn’t have time. We need to find the Ultimate Gamer.’

‘I barely even met your father before the VIs started chasing us around,’ Zyra explained. ‘I don’t know very much at all.’

‘What a surprise,’ sniped Hope.

‘Don’t get all smartypants with me,’ said Zyra. Just explain this mission and who the Ultimate Gamer is.’

‘Sorry.’ Hope glanced down at the yellow tabletop, then back up at Zyra. ‘Here it is in a nutshell. There’s a legend. It’s been passed down from Outer to Outer in another cheat code. There’s supposed to be this gamer who is outside the control of the Designers. He plays whatever he wants in whatever environment he chooses and he doesn’t have to play by the rules. The Ultimate Gamer makes up his own rules.’

‘Wow.’

‘There’s more. This is the main bit. The reason my father wants us to find him.’ Hope paused.

‘According to the legend, the Ultimate Gamer hasthe ultimate cheat code - the ability to leave the game environments and go into the real world.’

‘Double wow.’

‘I always thought that it was just a story.’ Hope shrugged. ‘But then, I thought the motherI daughter cheat code was a load of crock as well.’

‘So how do we find this Ultimate Gamer?’ asked

Zyra.

‘I don’t know,’ admitted Hope.

‘You’re kidding?’

Hope slowly shook her head, a little embarrassed under Zyra’s glare.

The door behind the counter banged open anda waitress walked through. She wore a pale blue dress with a white apron and a name tag that said

‘Heidi’. She placed another cup of coffee in front of the man sitting at the counter. The man didn’t even acknowledge her. He just pushed his old cup aside and picked up the new one, sipping loudly. The waitress continued around the counter and walked straight towards Zyra and Hope’s table. She took an order booklet from her apron pocket as she stopped at their table.

Zyra and Hope glanced at each other and then back at the waitress. She tore a page out of the booklet and placed it on the table between Zyra and Hope. Then she put the booklet away, turned around and walked off.

‘Hey!’ shouted Zyra, after her. ‘Can you see us?’

The waitress gave no sign of having heard her as she made her way behind the counter and through the door.

Zyra looked back at Hope and then at the paper face down on the table. She reached forward and turned it over, then snatched her hand back.

I’ll find you.

The two of them stared at the paper and the words, written in bold red, looking almost like blood. There was something ominous about the simple statement. Zyra shivered and looked over at Hope.

‘So,’ said Zyra, breaking the silence. ‘We just sit here and wait for this Ultimate Gamer to show up.’

‘No,’ said Hope, alarm in her voice as she pointed out the window.

Zyra looked out to see a VI heading down the street. She reached for the crossbow on her belt.

‘No,’ Hope said again. ‘It might not have seen us.

It could just be looking for us. Best if we just quietly

J.ump agam. . ‘

‘Back to the Temple of Paths?’ asked Zyra.

‘No,’ said Hope. ‘Try another environment.’

‘Suburbia is where Tark and I always came. It’s the only one I can picture in my mind.’

‘You never went anywhere else?’ asked Hope.

‘We were forced into a space battle once,’ she explained. ‘And there was the Maintainers’ Control Centre. Other than that, we only ever went into another environment one time.’

‘Take us there,’ demanded Hope.

‘It was a long time ago,’ said Zyra. ‘I can’t really picture it very well.’

‘Well, you’d better try,’ said Hope. ‘I think we’vebeen spotted.’

Zyra glanced out the window again. The VI was speeding towards them, another two VIs in the distance coming to join the first.

Zyra took hold of Hope’s face and closed her eyes.

The man in the shabby suit looked up. And they were gone.