Gamers' Rebellion Read Online Free PDF

its current form, although not as much of his body was encased in the technology. Designers Hayes and Burrows now wore pale blue jumpsuits under their white lab coats and they looked older. Designer Burrows in particular. Her face had hardened and lined.
    ‘I don’t understand you,’ said Designer Burrows. ‘We now have the technology to allow you to live in a virtual environment, full-time.’
    ‘No thanks to you,’ Designer Hayes uttered under his breath, glaring at Robert.
    Designer Burrows shot him a stern look and he bit his lip. ‘Yet you continue to play games and cling to your existence in this world.’
    ‘Look at you,’ Designer Hayes cut in. ‘You can’t even move without assistance. It won’t be long before you’re a complete vegetable.’
    ‘And what would happen to my body out here, if I were to follow your advice?’ asked Robert.
    ‘What do you mean?’ There was suspicion in Designer Burrows’ voice.
    ‘I’m not as stupid as you seem to think I am,’ he answered. ‘I know what’s going on. I know what you’re up to. I don’t participate in your research , but I do watch. I know how you keep all those environments from collapsing. I know what happens to all those poor people.’
    Designers Burrows and Hayes exchanged worried looks.
    ‘Don’t be so concerned. I’m not going to try to stop you. In return, you need to leave me the hell alone. I don’t care what you do so long as you don’t interfere with me.’
    ‘Very well,’ said Designer Hayes, cautiously.
    ‘Oh, and I believe your cloning experiments have been a success.’ There was a glint of victory in Robert’s eyes. ‘Well, I need a clone to assist me in this world.’
    Everything blurred and pixelated again – and Zyra was back in the present, Robbie gently removing her headset.
    Zyra rubbed her eyes and tried to clear her thoughts. ‘Let me get this straight. Your name’s Robert. You’re also Bobby in the Game. And you’ve got a robot clone named Robbie.’
    ‘That is correct,’ replied Robert.
    ‘Arrogant,’ Zyra muttered.
    ‘Perhaps,’ said Robert. ‘They are both aspects of me. Bobby is me as a young boy. He is my escape from the physical world. As for Robbie – he is my eyes and ears, my leg and hands in this world. He is … special.’
    ‘Bobby is dead,’ said Zyra. ‘I saw him die.’
    ‘Oh Zyra.’ Robert sighed. ‘Nothing in the Game is necessarily what it appears to be. Yes, Bobby died and I exited the Game. When I go back, I’ll be Bobby again. I’m always Bobby.’ Robert’s eyes shifted from Zyra and he stared off into nothingness. ‘I programmed my twelve-year-old self into the Game right at the beginning. I scanned my memories and reconstructed him. Youth is such a precious thing. The mind works so differently before the pressures of life and responsibility slowly squeeze the joy and wonder and playfulness from it. The young mind is more adept at making a link to the virtual world. More accepting. More imaginative. A situation that the other Designers have exploited with staggering success and recklessness.’
    Zyra snapped her fingers at Robert to get his attention. ‘What’s all that supposed to mean?’
    Robbie crossed between the two of them and to a console at the wall of technology.
    ‘The Administrators have finished questioning the captured rebel,’ he announced. ‘They have failed to get any information other than her name – Mel.’
    ‘Perhaps you and Zyra should visit Mel,’ suggested Robert.
    ‘What’s the point?’ asked Zyra.
    ‘You might get some information about Tark.’

9: People Who Don’t Matter

    ‘Okays, let me gets this straight.’ Tark was sitting on the end of the table, still dressed in nothing but the ill-fitting lab coat, trying to come to grips with everything that Josie had just told him. ‘Zyra and me gots outta tha Game. But we is clones. She’s a prisoner of the Designers. But ya rescued me.’
    ‘That pretty much sums it up,’ said