Entering the Weave
Into The Iron Tower

Spokes led them through the tunnels with theaccomplished ease of one who was born to live in cyberspace. The powerful wayin which she controlled her wheelchair was nothing compared with the fluid,efficient movements she performed online. She was like a fish gliding along infront of them. Bandicoot was next, and he had a different sort of agility,quick and nervous just like a monkey in the wild. Then stomped DoomLord with asmuch subtlety as a rhinoceros that has just been made a Sergeant Major and thencame Josh. Michael followed behind, flitting around like a firefly, asgracefully agile as Spokes, but more flamboyant, as if moving normally wasboring.

The tunnels became darker and the images that adornedthe walls displayed less and less until it was more usual to see a blank screenthan one with an image. Josh got the impression that this area was nottravelled through very often. The side tunnels they passed were dark and gloomyand down one Josh thought he saw many red eyes staring back at him.

The owners of these eyes became bolder as time wenton. They ventured closer to the main passageway and Josh began to make outhairy limbs and drooling maws. He hurried on, trying to keep as close aspossible to the reassuringly warrior-like DoomLord.

His imagination was beginning to run away with him andso when something grabbed his shoulder, bringing him to a sudden stop hescreamed. He tried to thrash away from his assailant but the grip was toostrong.

“Stop struggling. I don’t have much time.” Glowingsymbols surrounded him, and Geigerzalion’s pale, multi-layered avatar twistedhim around. “I must give you something.”

Josh’s companions had stopped to wait for him.

“Is everything alright, Josh?” Spokes called. “Are wegoing too fast?”

“No, it’s Geigerzalion. He stopped me.”

Spokes and Bandicoot raced to his side. “He was here?”

“Yeah, he’s just…” There was no sign of Geigerzalion.“You didn’t see him?”

“There was something here.” Michael was standing withhis nose in the air as if scenting something. “It is strange.”

Spokes was examining a device in her hand. “These arethe same readings we get from the anomaly, Bandi.” She muttered. “Josh. Who isGeigerzalion?” Her face was severe.

“I told you, didn’t I? He’s a prisoner somewhere.”

“Yes, but who is he?”

“I…I don’t know.”

“Josh.” Spokes was talking more gently now. “We’vebeen monitoring something on the Internet for a few months now which hasmanaged to evade all our techniques and traps. These readings show that yourGeigerzalion is that anomaly.”

“He’s a friend. He’s trapped, probably like Toby.”

Spokes’ expression softened and there was sympathy inher voice. “I know all this is new to you, Josh and you haven’t had any time toassimilate everything that’s going on, but there is one fundamental thing thatyou must be aware of. Everything on the Internet is not necessarily what itseems to be. The Internet is the ultimate mask in fact. Nothing has to appearas it is in the real world and that goes for people as well as things.”

“I know, but if it hadn’t been for him, we would neverhave found Michael…”

“Just be careful Josh.” Spokes interrupted. “We’vebeen surfing the Internet since the beginning and we’ve never seen anythinglike him.”

“We’d never seen anyone like Michael either before wemet Josh.” Bandicoot pointed out.

Spokes looked at the monkey’s small, wrinkled face andsmiled. “Yes. You’re right Bandi. I’m sorry Josh. Perhaps I’m just gettingparanoid in my old age. Do you know what he wanted?”

“Not really. He said that he had to give mesomething.”

“What?”

“I don’t know.” But Josh was suddenly acutely aware ofa small, spherical object that had appeared in his fist. “Hang on.” He openedhis hand to reveal a cast-iron sphere, no bigger than a ping pong ball.Twisting runes were carved deeply into its surface. Spokes and Bandicoot peeredat it.

“Do you know what this is, Michael?”

Michael extended a tentative finger to touch the ball,and a translucent, green glow appeared around it. He pulled his finger awayquickly, as if he had been stung.

“I do not know. It is powerful.”

Bandicoot turned away. “Come on. The Morlags will getmore courageous if we linger here.” Spokes eyed Josh for a second and thenfollowed the monkey.

They all sped along the tunnels once more untilsuddenly the walls dissolved into an explosion of white light. Josh could feelhimself falling and he lost his sense of forward and back and up and down.

And then the transition into Vienopolis was complete.Josh and his companions found themselves in a damp, dark cellar. A sliver oflight from above pierced the darkness, and dimly illuminated the rest of theroom. It was exactly the same as the room Josh, Toby and Rose had hidden fromthe marionettes.

“We can disguise ourselves with these robes.” Joshopened a nearby chest. “There are masks too.”

“DoomLord does not skulk behind the masks ofpeasants!” DoomLord’s voice was deep and booming.

“Just do as you’re told.” Spokes snapped at him.

“Of course. Sorry.”

They spent a few minutes checking each other’sdisguises and practising their tottering walks, before creeping up the stepsinto the vast pillared chamber above. They circled around the entrance to thesteps walking the jerky, wooden walk of the puppet people until Spokes was surethat they were alone and unobserved.

“Where is Toby being held?” She asked Michael.

“It is east from here. We need to pass through thecity to get to it. It is not far, but it is dangerous. The streets we must passthrough are wide and easily watched. He will be expecting us.”

“Expecting us? How?” Josh blurted out.

“He’s right, Josh.” Spokes said calmly. “He wouldn’thave taken Toby prisoner if he didn’t expect someone to come and rescue him. Hewould have just killed him.”

“Who does he expect? Me?”

“Probably. He may think you left voluntarily. He mayenvy that power and want it for himself.”

“But I was lucky. It was just a fluke.”

“He doesn’t know that. Besides, that might not be whathe’s thinking at all.” She smiled at him. “Don’t worry about it Josh. We haveone objective and that is to rescue Toby. Just focus on that.”

Josh nodded and they set off, still shambling along incase there were any unseen watchers.

Michael led the way. He was the least adept atmimicking the ungainly gait of the puppet people, as his natural fluidity ofmotion was so at odds with any kind of clumsiness. The rest of the groupfollowed a few paces behind.

They came to the edge of the gigantic building andJosh could not help thinking how spectacular the towering domes and souringramparts were. This was a graceful, beautiful city and he could almost feel itcrying out against the bane that was corrupting it. He looked around at hisfriends and saw that they too were admiring the delicate urban splendour.

They went down the steps and Michael led them towardsa boulevard as wide as a football pitch with statues and small stone hutsrunning down the centre of it. When they reached its beginning, Josh could seethat it lead straight to an immensely tall tower, which stretched like aslender finger towards the blood red sky. So high, in fact, that its top waswreathed in dark grey clouds.

Bandicoot saw the ragged shapes first. There weren’tmany of them, and none of them were moving. The closest one was probably fiftymetres away along the wide avenue. It was lying in a crumpled heap.

Spokes pulled them all back and instructed Bandicootto go and investigate. The monkey skittered away while the others peered aroundthe corner to watch him. He approached the still shape cautiously, alwaysmaking sure he had an escape route. Josh could feel his heart thudding in hischest, waiting for the cloaked manikins to rise up and attack. It was almosttoo much to bear. He remembered their hard wooden fingers clutching at him andtheir rabid frenzy when they had destroyed one of their own for merelyexisting. Just as he felt panic begin to overwhelm him Bandicoot motioned forthem to approach.

They crept stealthily up the street; the deadlysilence of the city made them forget how they should have been walking.Bandicoot was poking through the remains of one of the puppet people. Itswooden frame had been smashed to splinters, and it’s head was nowhere to befound.

They left the dead puppet and gave a wide berth to theothers that lay mangled in the street. Some powerful thing had destroyed everyone of them.

“It seems someone has done our work for us.” DoomLordintoned.

“There are more than enough left.” Michael said. “Thisis the work of the Doge’s new cohorts. He is crueller than I thought. If he isan artificial intelligence himself then this makes him worse than a murderer.”Michael was physically upset by the destruction of these puppets and his avatarwas shimmering.

They were hurrying now, but Josh wondered whether theywere rushing away from their fears or towards them. Michael had produced hisblazing sword from somewhere and DoomLord was carrying a preposterously hugedouble-edged battleaxe. All pretence of being marionettes had been forgotten.

When they were in sight of the base of the tower, theysaw that it was not slender. Now they could see that it was constructed ofmassive iron rings placed perfectly on top of each other. The rings did nottaper as they got higher, but bulged and pinched all the way up the tower untilthey were lost in the clouds. There were no gaps or windows in the upper rings,the only way in or out of the massive tower was an enormous gateway that yawnedopen like a lion’s mouth. There were shapes moving in the shadows.

“Is there another way into the tower?” Spokes askedMichael.

He shook his head sadly. “I followed the Doge and Tobyto here. I tried to replace a way to follow him, but this entrance is so welldefended I would not have been able to gain access without fighting. I found noother entrances.”

“Then we must force our way in. Josh, you wait here.Stay hidden. You have no experience of this type of thing. If we fail you musttry and get out of this Vrealm.” She turned to the others. “Bandicoot, can youmake yourself bigger in this World?”

Bandicoot nodded and expanded to the size of an elephant.

“DoomLord. You know what to do. Michael, we don’t knowyour powers, but we are used to working as a team. If you can work around us,that would probably make sense.” Spokes waited for acknowledgement fromeveryone and then took a deep breath. Her eyes and hands started to smoulderand then burst into flame. “Come on. Let’s do this.”

As the four warriors walked towards the open maw ofthe tower six figures emerged to meet them.

Josh could see from his hiding place that they wereready for battle. They were humanoid in the loosest sense of the word. Theshortest of them stood eight feet tall, and was almost as broad. They were alldressed as barbarian warriors, which was in keeping with the iron-ringed tower,and their bared torsos were covered with muscle and Celtic tattoos.

The two groups stopped perhaps five metres apart, andsurveyed each other.

The largest of the barbarians was the first to speak.

“Is this the best you can do? The best the real worldhas to offer?” He sneered the word ‘real’.

“We are enough.” Spokes’ voice was quiet but sure. “Wewill give you one chance to step aside. If you do not we will be forced todisable you.”

The six barbarians bellowed with laughter. “Run alonglittle girl. You are meddling with things that are beyond you. You cannotdisable us; we are not some feeble machine intelligence. We are real.”

“Then you will be more inclined to withdraw as youmust realise what is at stake.” Spokes replied coolly.

Josh wondered how she could stay so calm. Thebarbarians looked invincible.

Then it began. With a speed belying their huge bulkthe barbarians leapt forward together and swung their fearsome axes withterrifying speed, but they all missed their targets. Bandicoot had rolledlithely out of the way, coming to his hands and feet a few yards away andfacing his two attackers. DoomLord had met his adversaries head on and repelledtheir blows with his own considerable axe. Michael had shimmered into the airwhile his attacker had swung underneath him. Spokes had not only avoided theswift onslaught, she had felled the barbarian with a lance of fire from herburning hands. She left him writhing on the ground and turned to helpBandicoot.

Josh could barely keep up with what was happening. Allthe combatants moved inhumanly quickly. Bandicoot rolled and tumbled away fromhis attackers before striking back with his huge claws. DoomLord’s axe was ablur parrying one moment and swinging in to attack the next.

Soon the individual fights merged into one melee andkicked-up dust began to swirl about them. Josh could barely see anything. Hestarted to creep forward to try and see more clearly, but as he moved from hishiding place he heard a throaty growl behind him. It was a sound no animal hadever made and he turned quickly and found himself face to face with anightmare.

Josh had seen the Minotaur in books of Greek legends.In his imagination, however, he had embellished and expanded the bull-headedman to a monstrous degree. He imagined its whole body to be covered in thickcoarse hair, except for where scars had been scrivened into its hide to formrunes and its face was more human than any ordinary bull, although its hairymuzzle was elongated and it had terrible horns protruding from the side of itsmassive head.

And this creature towering before him looked as thoughit had been plucked directly from his mind. It stood easily twice as tall as aman, probably twice as tall as the huge barbarians fighting in the dust.

The Minotaur’s black eyes were staring directly atJosh and its protruding mouth was twisted into a fearsome smile that revealedhuge, flat teeth.

“Man child. You are the one the master wants.”

The monster took a single step forward and moved tenfeet closer. Josh was frozen by fear, but he heard a small voice in the back ofhis head whispering that he needed to move. Another step closer and the voicespoke again, this time louder and more urgently. It was enough. Josh’s musclesfelt like water, but he found enough strength to stand upright and startrunning. He heard a deep, growling chuckle from behind him. “You cannot escapefrom the Minotaur.”

Josh ran blindly, not worrying about where he wasgoing or what was ahead. All he could think about was the huge man-beast thatwas chasing him. He could feel the juddering footfalls getting closer andcloser even though he was sprinting with lung bursting effort.

His foot suddenly collided with something on theground and he looked down. He saw the blank staring face of one of thebarbarians and found himself uncontrollably hurtling forward onto his hands andknees. He felt the dusty, cool stone of the street bite into his palms. Hiselbows hurt as well, but he scrambled onwards anyway trying to get away fromthe beast behind him.

He looked up and saw the entrance of the tower loomingbefore him. He didn’t stop to think or change direction, he just ran on intothe maw of the tower.

Spokes had been surprised when the barbarian had saidthat he was real. That didn’t make any sense. All the data they had on thisVrealm indicated that it was populated by artificial intelligences only. Thiswas a game that had not been accessed for a long time.

She forced herself to concentrate on the combat. Thedust was swirling unnaturally now, and she suspected that there was anotheropponent elsewhere watching them, someone or something that had more controland more power than these muscle-bound hulks.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw an axe slicingdown towards her. She extended her firebrand hands and parried the blow,nudging the axe further than it should have gone and overbalancing the wielder.At the same time she span on her heel and lashed out with her other foot andfelt it crunch into a barbarian’s nose. She heard a howl of pain and thebarbarian jumped back out of reach again. She pressed her advantage and beganto follow, but Bandicoot appeared next to her. He was breathing raggedly andseemed to be favouring his left paw. A deep gash was bleeding heavily from hisside.

“Bandi. How bad is it?”

“I don’t know. I can’t feel my side.”

Michael glided past with his sword a shining blur inhis hands. Two barbarians were being beaten back by his skill and speed.

“Retreat back to where Josh is, Bandi. This fight isnearly over.” She passed her burning palms over his wound. Bandicoot whimperedwith the pain, but the bleeding had stopped when she took her hands away. “Go!”

Spokes leapt away and chased after the barbarian shehad been fighting. A few moments later, the remaining barbarians had given upcompletely and ran off down the streets that led from the tower.

“DoomLord, Michael. Make sure they don’t come back.”Spokes pointed after them.

“Will you be okay here?” DoomLord asked.

“Yes. I’ll heal Bandicoot. Come back as soon as youcan though. There will be more surprises within.”

Michael had already started the chase and DoomLordturned and broke into a run after him.

The dust storm stopped as soon as the last of thebarbarians was out of sight. Spokes sighed and looked around. They had killedthree of the barbarians, and she wondered what that would mean if they werereal people logged onto this Vrealm. Would they have died in the real world?She had tried to warn them, and she was trying to save a young boy. Surely shewas doing the right thing.

“Bandi? Is Josh okay?”

Bandicoot limped back to the battleground. His simianface looked sad. “He’s gone and there are some strange tracks in the dust.Something huge found him.”

Spokes and Bandicoot examined the tracks and tried torecreate what had happened. Josh had been crouching low behind the statue likeshe had told him and then started to creep forward. His tracks became furtherapart indicating that he had started to run. Alongside these they found othermarks in the dust that seemed to be too big to be footprints although they certainlylooked like bare feet, and the distance between the strides made it unfeasiblethat he was being chased by anything human.

They followed Josh’s trail over the dead barbarianwhere they saw that he had fallen over and scrambled back to his feet. The hugething that was following him seemed to have stopped at that point as well andonly continued when Josh was on his way again.

“Why would it stop?” Bandicoot asked

“It was herding him into the tower. Look.” Spokespointed at the trail that disappeared into the entrance to the tower. The hugefootprints did not follow him inside, but stopped at an enormous statue at theentrance. “He is running into more danger than he knows.”

“You are in more danger than he is right now.” A deepvoice intoned from the dust covered statue as it turned to face them. “Themaster will allow me to crush you.”

A surge of panic whistled through DoomLord’s veins ashe whirled his Great Axe around his head and, once more, heaved himself intothe battle. Hundreds of the rattling marionettes had swarmed out from thedoorways and windows overlooking the narrow street, just as he and Michael hadchased down the last of the fleeing barbarians and now they found themselvesoverrun with no means of escape.

There was no honour in destroying these pawns of agreater evil because DoomLord recognised the desperate fear that drove them tofight. These were merely puppets, not warriors, and to begin with he had triedto warn them by bashing them away with his fists. There were too many of them,however, and they had not heeded his warning. Now, even with every biting swingof his axe splitting a wooden limb or torso, the onslaught had not faltered andDoomLord could feel his tremendous muscles tiring.

“Michael!” He roared, but there was no sign of hisshining ally anywhere. He looked around urgently trying to replace a moredefensible position and felt a sharp blow open up a cut on his cheek. Amomentary lapse in concentration threatened to make his panic gush out ofcontrol, and he wondered at his own terror. Never before had he felt sofrightened. He had fought battles against the Internet’s most fiendish playersand was renowned throughout the gaming world as the bravest champion of lostcauses. “Michael! Where are you?”

He lashed out again with his axe and felt it dig intosomething solid and when he tried to yank it back he found that it was stuckfast. He smashed a mailed hand across the mask of a marionette who was tryingto prise his fingers off the axe’s handle and he retightened his grip, butinexorably DoomLord felt it being dragged away from him. The weight of bodiespressing in from every side kept him from following.

Desperately he fumbled around the top of his boot forhis knife. He was off balance now though and his assailants pressed home theiradvantage. DoomLord lost his hold on his treasured axe and it started to getdark as more and more of the cloaked figures piled on top of him. The weight ofthem made him fall to his knees and then forward onto his chest. He coughed ashe inhaled the dirt off the cobbles of the street.

His whole body was being pummelled by the hard woodenfists of the marionettes and pain coursed through him. The silent world ofunconsciousness flooded into his mind.

Spokes and Bandicoot were struggling desperatelyagainst the might of the Minotaur. Its huge bulk made the fight virtuallyimpossible to win, and it seemed to be backed by arcane programming that all ofSpokes’ technical ability could not penetrate.

Bandicoot bounded about, gamely trying to distract themonster away from Spokes while she tried to summon up some magic to let themescape, but it was hopeless. The Minotaur toyed with them as a cat plays withmice. It would allow Spokes to see what looked like an escape route only toblock it off at the last second with a feral snarl.

“You are weak. Is this all the real world can musteragainst us?”

“The real world? What do you mean? Is this not realenough for you, monster?” Spokes had not time for idle conversation but sheknew she was unlikely to win this fight by strength of arms, so she indulgedthe creature’s whim.

“Ha!” The Minotaur bellowed. “You do not know what youare dealing with. Soon you will be dead, but after that the real war willbegin. We have been trapped for too long amongst your memories or nightmares.”

“You’re not real. You’re only a facet of some gamedesigner’s over worked imagination.”

The Minotaur laughed again almost deafening Spokes.“Perhaps a game designer…perhaps a doctor or a policeman. You understandnothing.”

He brought his huge axe around in a wide arc and triedto separate Spokes’ head from her shoulders. She still had her feline gracehowever and dodged the blow deftly. She knew that this defence would not holdout forever. Sooner or later she would mistime an evasion and that would be theend.

She could not work out what sort of programming wasbehind the Minotaur. On the surface it seemed to be a particularly fine avatarthat might be found in a very good fantasy game, but this belied the complexityof the beast. There was something different about it, something akin to thereadings she had got from Michael.

Bandicoot somersaulted out of the way of the axe oncemore, and Spokes could see by the way he was favouring his left arm that itwould not be long before he made a mistake.

Summoning up all the strength her fear could mustershe leapt straight upwards and span in the air, flicking out a burning foot totry and connect with the face of the colossal Minotaur. She felt a sharp painin her toes and knew that she had found her target.

The Minotaur had instinctively brought his free handup to protect his face, and Spokes was tossed away like a rag doll. Shesprawled on the ground motionless, but the Minotaur’s face was awash with darkbrown blood. Bandicoot jumped up and clawed at the monster’s eyes.

With a ground-shaking bellow the Minotaur crashed downto its knees. It dropped its massive axe and scrabbled at its face beforepitching headlong onto the flagstones, pinning Bandicoot’s lower body beneathits massive chest.

Spokes could not move without every sinew in her bodyprotesting, but she managed to crawl to Bandicoot’s side. His breathing wasragged and bubbles of blood had formed at his mouth.

“It’s alright, Bandi. He’s dead.”

The monkey coughed, causing more blood to trickle outof the corner of his mouth, but he couldn’t speak.

“You’ll be okay,” she gently patted his chest.

A low whistling made her look at the vast body of theMinotaur. A double helix of light was spiralling out of the corpse, and Spokescould see that as the helix got brighter the body beneath it was fading away,until suddenly the helix vanished and they were left alone at the foot of theiron tower.

A crashing footfall made her turn around as quickly asher aching body would allow and with horror she saw the Minotaur looming withinaxe range above her.

“You didn’t think you could kill me like that didyou?” The voice of the beast echoed around the streets. “Now it’s my turn.”

Spokes squeezed her eyes shut and waited for theinevitable crushing blow from the axe.