62. PlayingGod
PlayingGod
Playlist: Nervous System - Bad Omens, iRis.EXE
Kael
“Jett should be here any minute to hash out the details.” I pop up out of my chair, the papers on my desk flying and landing like confetti on the floor. “Time is of the utmost importance now that the eclipse is approaching.”
Ash has joined us in the lab again, which means there’s nothing going on in his life worthy of his hyper-focused attention. He’s determined to perfect his coffee brewing technique while meticulously organizing the collection of VikkCorp lab coats by shade of white. Lucky me.
“The gala is a day away. Every move we make from here on out has to be exact. We’ll only get one shot at this.
Once Vikktor unveils our cybernetic prototypes, every system in this city will be on high alert.
Firewalls, DreamNet barriers, gaming laws—the whole network will tighten like a fist around us. ”
I roll my sleeves up past my forearms and accept the cup of rocket fuel Ash has pushed in front of me.
The lab continues its busy work behind us, screens flashing updates from the DreamNet grid.
“Jett’s the key to the transfer. His SoulReaver magic can bridge what my code and magic can’t.
Without him, we don’t just fail to pull you out, Taiyō.
We could destroy your mind in the process.
Especially if we don’t merge correctly and one of us surges. ”
“Baby magic.” Ash laughs. “Aww, wook at you...wittle Kael’s first magic surge. Should we get you a cake or a containment chamber?”
Ember snorts, smacking him in the chest. “Enough! He’s just a ‘late bloomer.’ ”
They all laugh at my expense, and the worst of it? Lyra chimes in. “Careful, Ash, don’t tease him too hard. Baby magic or not, it’s still kind of cute watching him take his first steps.”
“Haha, you’re all so funny.” I fake laugh. “Keep talking and see how long that baby magic takes to write a program to short out your nervous system.”
Ash raises both hands, grinning. “There it is, friends! Tiny temper too.”
“Fuck me. You people have the emotional intelligence of a toddler. May I move on, please?” I’m starting to feel the crunch. Out the window I can see the sky dimming to gray haze, the calm before the dark. The eclipse has begun its countdown.
“Please do. All we need is a missing rebel leader and a temperamental AI. Add a dash of you two making goo-goo eyes in the middle of it all, and we have shit stew. What could possibly go wrong?” Ash leans back in the chair, deliberately putting his boots on my console to trigger me.
“You make it sound so easy. Just hack the unhackable, bridge human consciousness, and hope the girl you’re obsessed with doesn’t turn into digital soup. Easy day in the lab, right?”
Jett.
The lab door shuts with an airy hiss, and he strolls in like he’s returning from a beach vacation. Relaxed and way too confident for what we’re about to pull off.
Lyra’s eyes widen at the sight of him, flickering slightly in her holo-form, the light highlights her cheekbones. “And if something makes my brain soup? Then what?” she asks softly.
“Then I come in after you, destroy it all.” I meet her gaze, no hesitation whatsoever. “Vikktor, the grid, LINK...everything. Done. No more.”
Jett rolls his eyes. “Drama much, Ryudon?”
Lyra exhales, full to the brim with emotion. “How? I thought everything will be down and blacked out for the holiday?”
“Nothing is ever down for me. My system, my rules, even on Vikktor’s made up holiday.” I let the disgust leak through.
Lyra cocks her head. I can tell she wants to argue, to tell me I can’t play god, that saving her isn’t worth the risk. But she doesn’t. She just looks at me like she’s already memorizing this moment, like she knows this could unmake us both.
“Jett will help,” I continue, forcing my focus back to the plan’s logistics.
“He’ll be with us here in the lab. Ash will run interference, sending out vibes through his music, the nets will be down for the holiday, so he’ll be playing an ‘old-school’ acoustic show, and creating a sort of mass hypnotism.
Ember will monitor the neural signatures from my computer at the penthouse, a private backdoor for both of them through the comms, since we’re blacked out. ”
I motion to the cybernetics room. “I’ll lead the extraction from here, start the program running, then let it execute. Once you and I are synced, Jett will sever LINK’s control and anchor your soul into the new vessel.”
I pause and look straight at Lyra’s face.
“But that connection, our connection, has to hold. If it falters, if my magic fractures, we lose the bridge. I have to be able to rewrite any code on the fly in case of errors or interference. If LINK or Eli steps up to play, we could lose you. You have to repeat what I taught you. Stable amplification.”
The city outside the windows flickers; a pulse of lilac light shoots like a falling star across the sky. Eclipse Night is nearly here, and with it, possibly the end of everything I’ve built, or maybe the beginning of something far more dangerous.
“Get some rest, go practice what we worked on, draw, whatever you like, but don’t stress,” I order, brushing a stray lock of hair from her face. “In a day or so, we change the world or break it trying.”
Lyra severs the holo-thread and disappears into DreamNet without saying a word. Ash and Ember grab their jackets. They’ve graciously offered to keep us all in caffeine and food for the day, sustenance for the troops before battle.
That leaves Jett and me sitting at the center console, our egos barely fitting in the space.
The hum of the simulators fills the silence, monitors flashing like mechanical heartbeats.
I’ve been running diagnostics for hours, trying to push the extraction prep forward, but Lyra’s restless energy keeps pulling my focus away.
He leans forward, palms pressed flat to the glass where my cybernetic schematics are highlighted in blue light.
“We need to talk.” He’s leaning over the schematics, lazily scrolling through them with a touch of his fingers.
I’ve spent years building this lab, and somehow, he still finds a way to make it feel like his personal arena.
“I know what you’re going to say. I would have filled you in sooner, but you decided to pull a vanishing act after the whole Eli debacle.” I lounge back in the chair, stretching my legs, taking up space.
“No, you don’t know what I’m going to say.” He continues to scroll. “You’ve obviously been busy.” His voice cuts like a knife; it’s not a compliment. His intent is to let me know just how obsessive I am. Whatever.
“DreamNet modifications, live tethering, soul-thread stabilization. You’re not just trying to extract her, Kael. You’re trying to rewrite the rules of human and machine.”
I don’t look up from my code. “Science. Someone has to push the boundaries. Your point being?”
He smirks, all SoulReaver arrogance and hidden menace. We may be childhood friends, but the trust doesn’t run deep. “Or maybe someone just likes playing god.”
That gets my eyes on him. “That’s rude. Like you don’t? Looked in the mirror lately, rebel leader?”
He laughs softly, leaning back, arms crossed. “The difference is, I know I’m a monster. You think you’re no longer a monster, that you’re the hero in this story.”
The air is stifled by years of resentment.
“I’m doing what has to be done for Lyra. I don’t have time to sit back and let it all implode while you make this a political statement against the Corporation. I’ve no use for your rebels playing soldiers in the alleys. Save your fight. You’ll need it when Vikktor unleashes his cybernetic force.”
“You think this is about rebellion?” He gestures toward the grid of holograms spinning above the console, Lyra’s system schematics, DreamNet overlays, Vikktor’s biometric signature of Eli.
“This is about balance. You keep breaking the rules, and the universe is going to snap back and bite you in the ass. How far can you push in the name of science, Kael? You, of all people, should understand that.”
“Don’t talk to me about balance, Jett,” I bite out. “Not when you’ve been gutting souls for your cause.”
He flinches. Just barely. It’s enough for me to claim the battle for my side.
For a long moment, neither of us speaks. Finally, Jett exhales, runs a hand through his hair, and leans back. It’s his way of tabling the conversation. A casual ceasefire. “We’ll do it your way, but if it all collapses, and it very well could, you’d better pray she’s worth it.”
I meet his gaze across the glow of the console. “She is.”
He nods once and takes a seat, boots up on the console, ankles crossed. Just like Ash.
What is it with these barbarians baiting me?
“So, it’s true?” His eyebrows raise, a statement, a question, somewhere in between.
I shake my head. “What’s true?”
“The mighty, magicless Dr. Ryudon...has had CoreCasting power all along.” He flares his hands, mimicking wonderment.
I don’t look up. “Depends on who you ask.”
“Ash. Ash told me, and before you threaten to fillet him with that toy sword you like to play with—relax. He didn’t gossip. He just said the system went neon orange when you went in with Lyra last time. Pretty obvious to me.”
I exhale forcefully through my nose. It was only a matter of time before he felt the eruption. “Yes, magic...apparently.”
“You say that like it’s a disease.” He tents his fingers.
“Maybe it is.” I’m exhausted from forming words. I owe him no explanation.
Jett studies me carefully, leaning in, his elbows resting on his knees. “You do realize what this means, right? CoreCasters don’t just appear every day. StarFell was selective with that gift. I know of only one other. You’re a pretty rare bird, my friend.”
“So, I’ve always been told, even without it.” Dismissal.
“And ‘said magic’ ”—his fingers air-quoted—“came online because of Lyra.” Jett’s eyes look at the wall of monitors, but she’s not there.
“Fascinating. Then she’s your key. You’re her conduit.
Therefore, if this extraction goes tits up, you could lose her, take her down with you. Maybe lose yourself too.”
Now I lean in, claiming dominance. “A risk I’m willing to take. Besides, I didn’t ask for any of this. It’s not like I woke up one morning and said, ‘I think I’m going to be magical today and walk around looking like a scary fire-breathing dragon.’ ”
“No, but you accepted it, Kael. You tapped into a power that responds to her. You merged with it. That’s not something you can just shut off.
” He spits wisdom like venom, every word meant to attack, not teach.
The kind of truth that only comes from someone who’s already made peace with the darkness in themselves.
Well, just so happens my soul has also accepted the monster within.
Let’s dance, shall we, Jett?
I give him a heavy, calculated look. “She’s part of the system, and so am I now. If I can use that connection to pull her out, I will.”
“And if it kills you both?”
I smirk, but it doesn’t feel victorious. “Then at least Vikktor doesn’t win. It’s not going to happen. I reject that reality.”
Jett’s expression turns threatening. “Oh, it’s just that easy?
Because you want it not to happen, it won’t?
Some higher power than you is calling the shots here, Kael.
I’ve seen men burn themselves alive thinking they could outrun fate.
But you...you’re playing god in the name of love. There’s going to be a cost for that.”
I laugh maniacally. “Love? What the fuck is that even? It’s definitely not something I’ve experienced, ever. So, you don’t get to say that.” My feelings for Lyra are off limits.
Jett stares at me for a beat, then rises, turning toward my office. “Just remember, if she made you this powerful...imagine what she could do for others. Someone else, some other man, may just want that for himself. Someone more powerful than you.”
“Like you?” I question his intent.
Lyra holos back into the lab, walks to my office, and curls up on the sofa with her sketchbook. She doesn’t want to be alone again.
Jett leaves me standing in the dim light, and just him approaching Lyra makes my blood boil, my veins pulsing faint orange.
The unspoken truce between us is a weight in the air, uneasy, and one misstep away from war.
To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.
—Sun Tzu—The Art of War