Gamers%20Challenge%20final%2019%20May.pdf

31: Plans 

As the battle progressed on screen, Tark noticed Professor Palimpsest edging out of the common room again. Tark was certain that something wasn’t right. Everyone else’s attention was focussed on the screen, so he easily slipped away and followed the professor to his workshop.

Tark peered in. The professor’s back was turned while he fumbled intently with something on the main workbench. His instincts had been correct; the professor was up to something.

‘Wot ya doin’?’ demanded Tark, entering the workshop.

The professor jumped and whirled around. Hisleft sleeve was rolled up, a rough tourniquet above the elbow. In his right hand he held a syringe filled with the static of the Interface, a long needle at its end.

‘Preparing to make amends,’ said the professor, gravely.

‘Wot?’ asked Tark.

‘The Ultimate Gamer has a limited time in which to defeat the antivirus program, before the Interface consumes him from within.’ The professor spoke steadily, all trace of his eccentric programmed speech pattern gone - suppressed by a new determination.

‘He will not win without some help. This is my fault,so I shall provide that help. I need to distract the program. Find a weakness, perhaps.’

And how does ya plan on doing that?’

‘Like this.’ The professor jabbed the needle into a vein on his arm, and injected the static. ‘Now I will enter the grid and let the antivirus program consume me. The static patches prevented the antibodies from finding us, and so I am hoping that enough of it coursing through my bloodstream will shield my coding once I have been assimilated.’

‘But ya’ll die.’

‘I will die anyway.’

‘We is all gonna die if we don’t defeats the program,’ said Tark. ‘With yar help we mights be able ta come up with anotha plan.’

‘You misunderstand me. I will die no matter what. The dose I have just injected will soon kill me.’ He tossed the syringe onto the workbench. ‘So get out of my way. The sooner I am assimilated by the antivirus program, the more time I will have to make a difference.’

The professor walked past Tark.

‘Waits,’ called Tark. ‘There’s gotta be sumthin’ else the rest of us can do.’ He looked around the workshop and spotted the empty IDD. ‘Wot about that thing?’

‘No,’ said the professor, stopping at the door. ‘No. It does not hold enough charge. You would simply be giving the antivirus program more power.’

‘But -’ Tark’s voice was tinged with desperation.

‘Matters are out of your hands.’ The professor headed out the door mumbling, ‘Out, out, out.’

Tark lowered his eyes and saw the cable snaking itsway to the alcove at the back of the workshop, a soft sizzling glow emanating from the darkness. His eyes followed the cable up to the professor’s switchbox. ‘I wunda.’

He rummaged through the professor’s workshop, looking in the piles of equipment on the workbenches, the boxes full of spare parts and the lockers with additional equipment. Finally he found what he needed under the main workbench.

Tark made his way back to the common room and sidled up to Zyra.

‘I has an idea,’ he whispered.

‘Shhh,’ Zyra responded. ‘Look.’ She pointed up at the screen.

The Fat Man and the Static Man were still exchanging blows. The Fat Man’s clothes were ragged and he was bleeding from wounds on his face. His steps were faltering, his punches often mistimed and having little effect. By contrast the Static Man was full of energy, leaping about and delivering well placed blows that sent its opponent staggering and falling.

Tark looked over at the Ultimate Gamer. He had again lost his sheen, with a spreading blackness inking its way through the liquid silver.

Tark shook Zyra’s shoulder urgently. ‘I’ve gats anidea and I needs yar ‘elp.’

‘What?’ asked Zyra, looking away from the screen.

‘Ya needs ta come with me ta the professor’s workshop,’ said Tark. ‘I thinks there’s a way we can

‘elps the gamer dude.’

Tee and Hope gasped, eyes glued to the screen. Tark and Zyra looked up.

Professor Palimpsest was reaching out a hand to the light grid. He touched the perimeter and was suddenly inside. He strode across the grid to where the Static Man stood over the slumped form of the Fat Man.

‘Excuse me,’ he said. ‘This really is not acceptable behaviour. No. No. No.’

The Static Man turned around and grabbed the professor in a big bear-hug. Palimpsest slowly sank into the static, his features distorting and dispersing until there was nothing left of him.

Hope gasped again and Tee muttered, ‘What was he trying to prove?’.

‘Now,’ hissed Tark. ‘We’ve gats ta go now.’

‘All right,’ said Zyra, as Tark led her out of the common room and into the workshop. ‘What’s this brilliant idea of yours?’

‘What’s this brilliant idea of yours?’ repeated

Tark. He paused and looked suspiciously at Zyra.

‘Wot’s with the fancy talk?’

‘Oh.’ Zyra waved her hand dismissively. ‘I’ve decided to overcome my programming.’

‘Why?’ he demanded.

‘Because it’s what I want to do.’ Zyra put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes, daring Tark to make an issue of it. ‘Now tell me about your idea.’

Tark stared at her for a moment before answering.

‘We needs ta overload the antivirus program.’ He patted the IDD on the workbench.

‘That won’t work,’ said Zyra. ‘We need a direct feed to the Interface in order to overload it.’

‘We will,’ said Tark, picking up a roll of cable. ‘We plugs one end inta the IDD and the other inta one of

‘em cracks in the wall.’

Zyra played with the stud in her lip and swiped at her hair. ‘What if it overloads the IDD?’

Tark shrugged. ‘At leasts we’ll have tried.’

‘Okay,’ said Zyra. ‘You better have a long lead.’ Tark passed the cable to Zyra. ‘This ‘ere is thelongest I could finds.’

Zyra examined it. ‘This won’t go very far. We need to find an exposed area of Interface closer to the cave entrance.’