lawsuits from the family of the contestants forced him to shut it down. Even Lomar, as powerful as he is, couldn’t fight them off. For the last ten years, The Island has just sat there, whatever was behind its walls still a secret. Good riddance I say.”
“Take it from me, son,” Earl said. “You’re better off not having it there to tempt you. God only knows, there are enough desperate people in the world that would jump at the chance to have a crack at that prize. If you ask me, it was no more than suicide to go in there.”
He set his cup down, then shuffled off his stool. “Anyway, we better be on our way. You take care, son. And do yourself a favour. Forget all about that place. Shutting it down was the one good thing Damien Lomar has ever done.”
With that, Earl and Roger disappeared, soon becoming lost in the crowd. Despite their warnings to forget it, the island throbbed in Chase’s mind like a rotten tooth. The idea of what it could represent to him and his family would have been tempting had it been an active game. He wondered if perhaps the two old me were right, and playing Russian roulette with his own life was hardly the best way to help his family. Even so, as he started back through the crowd on the long walk back home, the words of the old men reverberated around his head and refused to go away.
REBOOT
NECKER ISLAND, BRITISH VIRGIN ISLES
DECEMBER 2 nd 2043
Crystal clear waters lapped at the golden sand beach of the seventy-four-acre Necker Island located in the British Virgin Isles. Once purchased by Richard Branson for less than two hundred thousand pounds, it had later been sold to Lomar for almost nine million US dollars just a year after the merger between Branson’s Virgin brand and Bill Gate’s Microsoft. The new company, VIRSOFT was, for a long time the world’s biggest brand until the Lomar corporation had in turn bought out VIRSOFT for a deal worth a staggering fifty billion dollars. For a short time, the three of them, Branson, Gates and Lomar were known as the biggest, most wealthy names in the world. Now, only Lomar remained following Branson’s death when one of his low-earth-orbit commercial shuttles he was riding in exploded on re-entry into the atmosphere. Gates went via heart attack in 2022, leaving just Lomar behind.
Now aged fifty seven, Damien Lomar had aged well. He had retained much of his athletic build and although starting to go a little soft around the stomach (perfectly acceptable at such an age) he still had all of his own hair and teeth, the former dyed black, the latter bleached white twice a month. He couldn’t complain, unlike some of the people he knew, rather than kick his ass, father time had eased him gently into the second phase of his life. He got out of bed, leaving the Brazilian model whose name he couldn’t remember sleeping on her side, brown curls draped across the pillow. He pulled on his robe (finest silk), slipped into his loafers (Italian) crossed the room (custom marble with gold inlay) opened the balcony doors (hand carved) and breathed in the clean air and took in the spectacular view of the ocean. He squinted, pleased to see that the sky was completely cloudless. He reminded himself that those were the kind of views that made the price tag for The Island worthwhile.
To call the building a house would be a gross understatement. The decadent mansion in which Damien Lomar lived boasted fourteen bedrooms, an indoor and outdoor pool, a private dock and helicopter landing pad on the roof. It had been built from scratch and oozed modern luxury. Clean lines, shimmering chrome and crèmes and whites. The beauty of his surroundings aside, Lomar was agitated. He had dreamed of something spectacular, the vision so vivid that it had woken him with a mixture of agitation and excitement. He walked back through the huge bedroom, out of the double doors and made his way down the grand staircase to one of the open-plan reception rooms,
“Take it from me, son,” Earl said. “You’re better off not having it there to tempt you. God only knows, there are enough desperate people in the world that would jump at the chance to have a crack at that prize. If you ask me, it was no more than suicide to go in there.”
He set his cup down, then shuffled off his stool. “Anyway, we better be on our way. You take care, son. And do yourself a favour. Forget all about that place. Shutting it down was the one good thing Damien Lomar has ever done.”
With that, Earl and Roger disappeared, soon becoming lost in the crowd. Despite their warnings to forget it, the island throbbed in Chase’s mind like a rotten tooth. The idea of what it could represent to him and his family would have been tempting had it been an active game. He wondered if perhaps the two old me were right, and playing Russian roulette with his own life was hardly the best way to help his family. Even so, as he started back through the crowd on the long walk back home, the words of the old men reverberated around his head and refused to go away.
REBOOT
NECKER ISLAND, BRITISH VIRGIN ISLES
DECEMBER 2 nd 2043
Crystal clear waters lapped at the golden sand beach of the seventy-four-acre Necker Island located in the British Virgin Isles. Once purchased by Richard Branson for less than two hundred thousand pounds, it had later been sold to Lomar for almost nine million US dollars just a year after the merger between Branson’s Virgin brand and Bill Gate’s Microsoft. The new company, VIRSOFT was, for a long time the world’s biggest brand until the Lomar corporation had in turn bought out VIRSOFT for a deal worth a staggering fifty billion dollars. For a short time, the three of them, Branson, Gates and Lomar were known as the biggest, most wealthy names in the world. Now, only Lomar remained following Branson’s death when one of his low-earth-orbit commercial shuttles he was riding in exploded on re-entry into the atmosphere. Gates went via heart attack in 2022, leaving just Lomar behind.
Now aged fifty seven, Damien Lomar had aged well. He had retained much of his athletic build and although starting to go a little soft around the stomach (perfectly acceptable at such an age) he still had all of his own hair and teeth, the former dyed black, the latter bleached white twice a month. He couldn’t complain, unlike some of the people he knew, rather than kick his ass, father time had eased him gently into the second phase of his life. He got out of bed, leaving the Brazilian model whose name he couldn’t remember sleeping on her side, brown curls draped across the pillow. He pulled on his robe (finest silk), slipped into his loafers (Italian) crossed the room (custom marble with gold inlay) opened the balcony doors (hand carved) and breathed in the clean air and took in the spectacular view of the ocean. He squinted, pleased to see that the sky was completely cloudless. He reminded himself that those were the kind of views that made the price tag for The Island worthwhile.
To call the building a house would be a gross understatement. The decadent mansion in which Damien Lomar lived boasted fourteen bedrooms, an indoor and outdoor pool, a private dock and helicopter landing pad on the roof. It had been built from scratch and oozed modern luxury. Clean lines, shimmering chrome and crèmes and whites. The beauty of his surroundings aside, Lomar was agitated. He had dreamed of something spectacular, the vision so vivid that it had woken him with a mixture of agitation and excitement. He walked back through the huge bedroom, out of the double doors and made his way down the grand staircase to one of the open-plan reception rooms,
Similar Books
All the Right Stuff
Walter Dean Myers
The Undead Pool
Kim Harrison
Clapton
Eric Clapton
Beauty: A Novel
Frederick Dillen
A Reckless Promise
Kasey Michaels
The Makers of Light
Lynna Merrill
Haunting Olivia
Janelle Taylor
Lorik The Defender (The Lorik Trilogy)
Toby Neighbors
Freedom
S. A. Wolfe