MetaWars: Fight For The Future

Chapter 41

‘Jonah, no! The whole system could collapse while you’re in there.’

‘It’s the only way, Sam.’

‘But it’s suicide!’

‘Someone has to do this,’ Jonah said. ‘And it should be me. I caused this problem. And hey, I’ve beaten suicide once already.’

Sam looked at Jonah for a long time. Then, she sighed and nodded.

‘OK,’ she said. ‘I suppose I can’t talk you out of this, can I? But you’re not doing it alone. No, don’t argue with me, Jonah, there’s no time for that. I’ve made up my mind too. I’m coming to the Island with you.’

They appeared in the sky, just a short way from the Island.

Sam reacted to Jonah’s humatar with surprise. Of course, she hadn’t seen it before; she had only seen him as the dragon. She could hardly have mistaken him for anyone else, though. Jonah looked too similar to his real- world self.

He began to explain, but Sam gave a wave of her unicorn’s hoof, telling him it could wait. She beat her wings, heading for the Island, and Jonah followed her.

The cold, grey mist enveloped him as it had done before. He could barely even make out Sam, mere metres ahead of him. This wasn’t going to work, he thought. The barrier was still too strong. And indeed, a moment later, he and Sam flew out of the mist cloud and the Island was behind them.

Jonah railed against this latest failure, but Sam laid a hoof on his shoulder, calming him down. She suggested they wait.

Jonah heard an ominous rumble, like thunder, and the sea beneath him trembled.

The mistwall parted, and suddenly the Island was right there in front of him, basking in the sunshine. ‘Now!’ Sam cried – and they dived for the shore together.

They were moving in slow motion, affected by the failing servers. Jonah thought they wouldn’t make it. He expected the mist to close in, to frustrate him again.

He was elated as he touched down, kicking up sand with his heels. The beach was as crowded as always. Thousands of avatars milled about, oblivious to their peril. Some of them recognised Jonah and gathered around him. ‘Are you the little humatar with the story to tell?’ they asked him. ‘Are you the boy who can help us to remember?’

‘No,’ said Jonah. ‘I mean, yes. Yes, I am, but... You have to stop remembering now. Please. Listen to me. You’re in danger.’

Sam tugged at Jonah’s sleeve. She was floating beside him, staring upwards. Jonah followed her gaze and caught his breath.

There was a window of light in the sky.

The light was pure, white and brilliant, and Jonah had to shield his eyes against it. He could see the silhouettes of a hundred avatars. They were floating around the light, peering into it, like moths dancing around a flame. So, this was the Chang Bridge, he thought. This was how it appeared in the virtual world.

‘You were right, Jonah,’ said Sam. ‘The Uploaded are curious about the bridge, but they aren’t crossing it.’

‘Listen,’ Jonah addressed the avatars that were pressing in around him. ‘Listen, please, all of you. You have to leave the Island. You have to—’

‘Leave?’

It began as a whisper, rippling through the crowd. ‘Leave the Island?’

‘How can we...?’

‘...can’t remember the last time I...’

‘...never heard such...’

The avatars of the Uploaded were looking at each other, incredulous, exchanging shrugs. Some of them were already floating away, shaking their heads.

Jonah raised his voice, desperate to get through to them. ‘I know you’re confused,’ he said. ‘Some of you have been here for a very long time. But I know you’ve been remembering...other places, other worlds than this one.’

He had got their attention, some of them.

‘Do you know,’ said a purple porcupine, ‘I don’t remember how long I’ve been here. I have quite lost track of time. Isn’t that strange?’

‘Strange,’ a blue orb agreed.

‘But quite a wonderful holiday,’ chirped a yellow canary.

Jonah heard another rumble, and this time he could feel the Island shaking beneath his feet. The sky had darkened around the circle of white light, and there was a chill in the air. The Uploaded were disconcerted by the change in the weather, grumbling to each other as they drifted slowly inland in search of shelter.

They seemed to have forgotten about Jonah altogether.

‘The thing is,’ Sam spoke up, ‘you can’t stay here. You can feel what’s happening, can’t you? Earthquakes and storms. They’re only going to get worse!’

‘I know you’ve had a great time here,’ added Jonah. ‘It’s been a wonderful long summer. But the summer’s over now. Time to go...’ He had been about to say home. He stopped himself. Home was the last place these avatars could go.

‘Do you see that light up there?’ said Sam. ‘There’s a whole new world on the other side of that light. A bigger, brighter world. Let us take you to it!’

She took to the air, beckoning to the Uploaded to follow her. A handful did, but hesitantly, looking back at their fellows on the ground and faltering, some of them turning back. Jonah thought the rest would turn back too, but then there came another earth tremor, stronger than the last. The sea itself reared up and sent a waist- high wave crashing towards the shore. Its tip reached Jonah, and soaked his feet.

A narrow fissure crazed its way across the beach. A bottomless, grey fissure.

The Uploaded were more than disconcerted now. Many of them had floated up into the sky, thinking it safer up there. ‘That’s right,’ shouted Jonah, taking full advantage of their uncertainty, ‘follow Sam. Head into the light!’

Slowly, painfully slowly, it was beginning to work. The avatars of the Uploaded were beginning to obey him. Sam gathered as large a flock as she could, then she led it towards the Chang Bridge. Jonah followed at the rear, chivvying along the stragglers. And, as they flew, something wonderful happened. More and more Uploaded avatars streamed towards them and swelled their ranks.

Jonah heard some of them talking. ‘What’s happening?’ they asked.

‘Where are we going?’

But no one could answer those questions. Everyone was just following somebody else, caught up in the flock’s sense of purpose.

Sam had reached the Chang Bridge now. Jonah couldn’t look at her without being dazzled by the circle of light behind her. She floated in that light, and ushered the Uploaded past her. For a moment, Jonah feared they wouldn’t go. But, one by one, they were swallowed up by the light, and disappeared. And the more avatars went into the light, the more eager the rest were to follow them.

They were coming from all over now, from the beaches and the forests and the valleys, like millions of iron filings being drawn towards a powerful magnet. It was working. For the first time ever, the Uploaded were leaving the Island.

But there were two more people Jonah still had to save.