“I told you the Byzantine Game Engine was amazing.”
Chloe was right. The image was photorealistic. But aside from the fact that the game looked exactly like real life, nothing stood out. It was just two news anchors talking and smiling into the camera while the day’s headlines ran along the bottom of the screen. Nothing appeared to be Rabbits-related.
“Do you have another version of this scene anywhere, or a copy of the scripted dialogue?” I asked. “There might be something in there that’s relevant.”
“The BGE doesn’t work like that,” Sidney said. “Those news anchors could be talking about almost anything.”
“But somebody must have written and recorded the dialogue,” Chloe said.
Sidney shook her head. “The key to Byzantine is Hawk Worricker’s advanced AI. The characters learn as the players play. The BGE’s voice synthesis engine sounds completely human. It’s uncanny, literally. No two people playing the game will ever have the same experience.”
“That sounds…impossible,” Chloe said.
“I know. It’s my game, and I have no idea how it works. Byzantine is…truly next level.”
“Is it some kind of random world generator like No Man’s Sky?” I asked.
“No Man’s Sky is a cave painting compared to Worricker’s game engine.”
“How do they make it look so…real?” Chloe asked.
“Outside of the initial world-building and developing my half of the original AI’s programming and learning matrix, I have no idea,” Sidney said. “There are whispers about quantum computers, but I’ve never seen anything like that.”
“I can’t believe they locked you out of your own game,” Chloe said.
Sidney shrugged. “That was part of the deal. I was put in charge of creative, and they got my code. The Byzantine Game Engine—and whatever else they’re doing up in The Tower—is strictly off-limits. How the BGE does that magic shit is a proprietary WorGames secret.”
“What about the other files Baron uploaded?” Chloe asked.
Sidney picked up her phone and opened the next file.
It appeared to be a frame grab from a security camera, taken at night in a modern office building lobby. The time stamp read: 12:34 a.m.
The image was dark, but I could make out two figures moving away from the lobby entrance toward a bank of elevators. The figure farthest from the camera didn’t look familiar, but I recognized the other person immediately.
It was Alan Scarpio.
Above the video’s time stamp was a date. That security camera footage had been recorded the night Alan Scarpio met me at the arcade.
“Any idea what Scarpio was doing at WorGames?” I asked.
Sidney shook her head. “No, but the bigger question might be: What was Scarpio doing in The Tower?”
“Wait,” I said. “That footage was taken in The Tower?”
Sidney nodded.
This was starting to feel like some kind of crazy dream.
Sidney Farrow.
Alan Scarpio.
What the fuck was happening?
“Can we get up there and check it out?” Chloe asked.
“My deal gives me access to everything but The Tower. They were extremely clear about that. In retrospect, kind of terrifyingly clear.”
“And that’s what they’re doing up there?” Chloe asked. “Working on their super-high-tech game engine?”
“That’s what I was told.”
“What about the other files Baron uploaded to the WorGames folder?” I asked.
“Four more pictures,” Sidney said and handed me her phone.
They were all screen caps of that news program. The talking heads were the same two generic male and female news anchors, but the story running along the ticker at the bottom of the screen was different.
In three of the screen captures, the text was related to the hurricane story we’d seen in the first image, but the text in the fourth screen capture was different.
I zoomed in.
“Holy shit,” Chloe said. She was looking over my shoulder. “I still can’t believe this resolution.”
“What are you looking at?” Sidney asked.
“The story scroll along the bottom of the screen.”
“Looks like they’re complaining about immigration. It makes sense. This show is supposed to be a right-wing broadcast.”
“Notice the headline above that news ticker?”
“What about it?”
“Holy shit,” Chloe said, leaning forward as I zoomed in until the headline filled the screen. The headline was four words: The Door Is Open.