Page 76 of Tapeworld Induction

“We’ve been busy. There’s something I haven’t told you.”

Dylan explained it all as best she could. About the Tapeworld, about Isaak’s ReSports past, and how he made money nowadays. She felt guilty for sharing some of these things when she had been sworn to secrecy, but she didn’t know what else to do if Isaak now wouldn’t even talk to her…

She didn’t think Talia believed her at first, but she saw the truth of it settle in with a growing fear behind Talia’s eyes.

“A virtual reality?”

“No, it’s not VR,” Dylan told her. “At least, according to what he said.”

“And you’ve been going there—”

“Every day, or almost. It’s incredible, but I’m so frustrated. We – well, he – stole this weapon in there, a combination sword and revolver. The Gunkatana.”

Her friend rolled her eyes, yet another wacky concept coming out of Dylan’s mouth.

“I call it Gunky. Anyway, we think he stole it from the Third Kingdom… Which is kinda worrying.”

“What do you mean ‘kinda’? It’s hella fucking worrying, girl. Who are you messing with? Maybe you should be thankful he stopped texting you. Are you sure he’s worth all this?”

Dylan was expecting this reaction. But to her it made perfect sense. Isaak was quiet kindness, the hope inside him shrouded in darkness. Defence mechanisms, ways to cope with loss. There was a tragic beauty to him that she found irresistible. He’d chosen her to strike up a conversation with, out of all the women in Aftershock. Her ReSports crush, walking up to her, buying her a drink, and talking with her for hours. Watching him explain the Tapeworld to her, it made her heart full.

But she understood Talia’s worries. She made an awkward face. “Did I mention he also spied on me?”

Talia leaned back and looked at her like she was mad. “Girl. He’s a pervert!”

Dylan shook her head, feeling in her heart that that was completely wrong. “No. There’s either something he’s not telling me, or something he doesn’t know. His mother walked out on him and his dad when he was just a kid. And now there’s a photo of her inside this sword he was sent to steal by this Astrid chick? She’s fucked him up… Oh, yeah, I forgot to say. They also used to fuck.”

Talia raised her eyebrows and shook her head. She pulled one leg over the other, arm outstretched over it, hand hanging, then looked up at Dylan. “You said you didn’t know what to do with your life, that you were bored and aimless. Now you’ve gone and found a whole TV show’s worth of chaos. Are you ready to binge?”

Dylan gave her a nervous smile. “I prefer an episode a week. But I don’t have much choice.”

Talia sighed. “Yes, you do. Don’t let this man dictate the course of your life. Get out while you can.”

28

Shift

Isaak

The coliseum was all lit up tonight for the World Series final. London Lazarus v New York Armageddon. London was the backdrop for the epic grandeur on display for the match. Gigantic works of graffiti dotted the glass-encased towers, as if a colossal group of punks roamed the town at night and tagged the capital’s landmarks with their scribblings. The truth involved writer drones and a lot of patience controlling them.

Isaak Powers’s white-uniformed team were about to face off against Haze’s red-black-clad Armageddon.

A man bred to compete, Haze’s pro football career had capsized following the most beautiful sport’s death, after the corruption enforcement squads tore through it with court mandates and the full backing of the law, leaving an empty shell.

Haze was lucky to have landed a ReSports captaincy at all.

Through Isaak’s visor, the opposing team’s dark-red shapes were silhouetted with a white outline, an augmented reality overlay designed to help players pick out targets. All that was missing was a health bar above for it to feel like a video game.

He thought about the match that was about to start, how after the European League victory the team had lost motivation, and lost game after game, until a lucky streak put them here, half-prepared for a World Series final against the most brutal pack of dogs in the league.

Teeth clenched and all his muscles tensed, he awaited the opening gunshot. The team’s strategy dictated he should get to the sandbank to his right, provide covering fire from that position while Sacha and Tripwire rushed ahead, then fall back to Cayden and Nieve to clean up the rest of the Armageddon.

Haze and his beefed-up gang looked arrogant, ultra-confident, the synthleather plastic strips on their arms reflecting the coliseum’s purple lights. The captain himself stared a hole into Isaak’s eyes, a stupid meaty grin on his face.

Isaak mouthed Fuck you and grinned back at him.

Everyone stood on their Shift platforms. The noises from the crowd quieted. The clash of continents was about to ensue.