MetaWars: Fight For The Future

Chapter 4

Morning came too quickly. Jonah’s mum had to wake him twice before he finally tilted himself out of his hammock, bleary-eyed.

Breakfast was the usual: strawberry Pro-Meal, a protein paste that came in a plastic pouch. Exhausted from the night before, Jonah slumped at the dining table, a thin sliver of wood that protruded from the wall in front of two plastic seats. He slurped the Pro-Meal directly from the packet. It was gritty and had probably never seen a strawberry, but real food had long been out of their budget.

Mum stood a hand-held monitor by Jonah’s elbow and she tapped the co-ordinates of her favourite news channel. On the screen, an animated flamingo and an unfamiliar rhinoceros were delivering the headlines of the day. The butterfly, Jonah thought to himself, must have the day off.

‘We can confirm that the American government has defaulted and collapsed,’ explained the flamingo in a calm, female voice.

‘And with other western governments on the brink of bankruptcy,’ said the rhino in an agitated, gruff voice, ‘the virtual world, once considered the ultimate safe harbour from the volatility of the real world, is poised to become a battleground between the Guardians and the Millennials.’

The Guardians and the Millennials!

Lately, everyone was talking about those two groups, about which of them was right. As if there could be any choice. Jonah didn’t know how anyone could support the terrorist Guardians. Not after what they had done to his family.

‘I thought they might say something about the explosion last night,’ said Mum.

‘It must’ve been those null-faced Guardians,’ Jonah argued. ‘Someone needs to stop them.’

Jonah’s mum swiped off the monitor and put her coat on. ‘I’ve got to get to work, and you’ve got to get to school. And don’t forget to list the shop at auction afterwards. No excuses!’

‘Can’t we wait a few more months?’

‘Wait for what? Until we starve?’

‘But Dad would’ve wanted us to...’

‘Dad’s gone,’ she said, cutting him off. ‘And he’s not

coming back. We have to move on. You know that, Jonah.’

Mum kissed him on the forehead and disappeared down the spiral staircase. Jonah heard her tell Mrs Collins that he’d be putting the shop up for auction after school.

Jonah squeezed the Pro-Meal pouch, slurping the last remnants of strawberry-flavoured mush, and tossed it into the recycling container. Heavy footed, he descended the bus stairs and was greeted on the lower deck by Mrs Collins. She glanced at her watch and shook her head in friendly admonishment.

Jonah was late for school. Again.

In the daytime, Mr and Mrs Collins ran their flat – the lower deck of Jonah’s bus – as a meta-pub. They had left most of the old vinyl-covered seats in place, so their plugged-in patrons sat in rows, two by two.

Jonah yawned as he slipped into his usual seat near the front and felt for the Ethernet wire by its side. ‘That explosion keep you up too?’ asked Mr Collins. ‘I bet it was them Guardians. Freedom fighters, my bottom! Terrorists, more like!’

He continued to mutter to himself about the state of the world as he handed Jonah a sterile Direct Internet adaptor packet. Jonah tore open the foil wrapper with his teeth. He snapped the nozzle-like adaptor onto the end of the Ethernet wire. Then he reached around to his lower back, pulled up his T-shirt and felt for the small plastic ring that guarded the opening to his spine.

To Jonah, this was nothing unusual. Like most people his age, he had had the Direct Interface or DI socket fitted as a baby. It was a part of him.

Jonah Delacroix had never known a world without the Metasphere.

England, like most countries, had all but run out of oil. Carbon rationing made it difficult, almost impossible, to go anywhere. And who wanted to see more of the real world, anyway? The real world was hot, crowded and violent. But inside, in the Metasphere, everything was different.

In the Metasphere, Jonah could fly. He could go where he liked – outside of school hours, that was.

‘I’ll be a bit late today. I’ve got to auction the shop after school,’ he said, partly complaining and partly explaining.

‘I know, dear. Your mum told me. Shame.’ Mrs Collins tapped in CHANG ACADEMY into the datapad tethered to Jonah’s monitor and held up the screen, showing Jonah’s Point of Origin co-ordinates for his approval. ‘We’d buy that place from you if we had the meta-dollars, but we don’t. So that’s that.’

Jonah carefully guided the nozzle into the plastic ring. He had done this a thousand times before, but the cold adaptor still gave him a shiver every time he twisted it in.

Click. The first ridge snapped into place. Jonah pushed it further inside until it made a connection with his spinal fluid.

Click. The adaptor would now transmit data through his central nervous system, directly interfacing with his brain.

‘You’re all set,’ said Mrs Collins. ‘Now make sure you learn something in there.’

She tapped the screen of Jonah’s datapad to confirm

his entry into the Metasphere. With one tap of a finger, a familiar wave of nausea swept away the real world and plunged him into a dark vertigo.

Each of Jonah’s five senses slipped away as his mind was pulled deeper into the computer network. It would take his brain a moment to adjust to its new reality, a virtual reality. He closed his blind eyes, and was dimly aware of his real-world body slumping in his seat. Jonah wouldn’t need it where he was going.

<<As Jonah slips into the virtual world, it's like living in a video game. What game would you want to live in?  Or never live in?  Jeff>>