Chasing the Prophet Read online

  David pointed up. “That vulture sure looks like he’s having fun, doesn’t it?” He looked at Eric with half a smile and drew closer to the edge of the precipice. Then he bent his knees and sprang forward into the abyss.

  Eric could hardly believe his eyes—his friend simply hovered in the air, his arms slightly outstretched.

  David laughed out loud when he saw Eric’s astonished expression, then simply asked, “You coming or what?”

  Eric stood motionless and watched David, who raised his arms up and flew after the vulture.

  ***

  David did not wait to teach Eric how to fly. All the fun was about exploring and finding out things for yourself. So he sped upward, the wind whistling in his ears and his hair fluttering in his eyes. He reached the vulture and circled around it. The massive bird screeched one last time and then ascended high in the air and vanished.

  David turned his head left and right. His high vantage point offered a much greater line of sight. Far ahead of him, a volcano towered and gray smoke billowed from its throat. He lowered his eyes to the bay beneath him. It was a breathtaking sight. He looked for Eric and finally found him.

  From such a vast distance, his friend appeared to be the size of tiny ant. Eric hesitantly hovered close to the ground, still checking the logic behind the flight capabilities. “He’ll learn soon enough,” David muttered.

  As for him, this was his fourth experience with the flight simulator and he felt in complete control of the technique. Yet he still found it difficult to process the fact that his sensations were merely a computer simulation. He wasn’t actually flying and this world did not exist, not really.

  He and Eric were now in a dark hall, moving their hands and legs hither and thither.

  David raised his fists up again and shot like a rocket toward the light cloud above him. The sensation was intoxicating. He raised his right fist higher than his left, which caused him to quickly spin like a screw. When he crossed the cloud, he felt a momentary pleasant chill, then he was above it and stopped, changed direction, and began to gradually lose altitude. Slowly at first, then at a quicker pace.

  He sped and dived in the air with his head pointed downward. The wind whistled in his ears as the ground drew closer and the view of the earth became clearer. He went past the confused Eric and dived on into the valley without slowing down. He quickly approached the bay and could see the blue waters twinkling in the sun as he swooshed through the air on his way to it.

  If he continued like that, he would crash into the surface of the water and dive into the depths. He considered whether he should try that. At the last moment, he changed the direction of his flight and took a sharp turn. Now he flew parallel to the water’s surface.

  Creatures that looked like sea lions were sunbathing on the rocks, and they had noticed him. They slid into the water and started swimming after him. He was quicker than them and accelerated even more. He stretched out his left hand and touched the water with the tips of his fingers. He wanted to feel the cool water, to splash some of it on his face.

  This was a grave mistake. His hand, which had sunk into the water, functioned as a sudden anchor, and it made him lose control and roll over at a tremendous speed. He gagged and swallowed some water while struggling to slow down, and saw the side of the mountain quickly approaching. He finally managed to come to a complete halt. He floated on the water, coughing and trying to regain his breath.

  He closed his eyes and for a few moments allowed himself to merely float motionless and let the sun dry his face. He felt the salty sting of seawater on his skin.

  David was happy.

  26

  The One who Knows

  David floated peacefully and looked at the sky.

  “How does it feel?”

  The voice was deep and soft. David assumed it must belong to George, the engineer. He knew nothing about David, other than his Dreams Planet name: “User 550.”

  David examined the beads of water clinging to the tiny hairs on his belly. He reminded himself for the hundredth time that everything he was seeing and sensing was nothing but an illusion. The suit he wore was connected to a computer that knew how to translate his every movement into an occurrence in the virtual world, then projected it all back to him with an integrated sensory imaging system, combining picture, sound, and touch.

  “It feels awesome,” David replied. He spoke quietly, knowing George could hear him well.

  “I’m glad you came today,” the voice sounded again. “It’s good to take a break from the world outside from time to time.”

  George was a technical man and always spoke in a very practical way. Such a philosophical tone wasn’t like him at all, but David actually enjoyed that unexpected change of attitude.

  “George, you don’t know how right you are.” David turned on his stomach and looked at the surface of the water. He reached down and dipped his arm up to his elbow. The water was cool and pleasant to the touch. Silvery fish carefully swam close to his hand.

  One took courage and tried to nibble on a finger. David chuckled. “Listen, you guys really did great. Everything looks completely realistic.” He had to compliment George and the rest of the development team. They deserved it.

  “Remember that reality can not only be predicted, but also shaped,” the voice stated.

  “Meaning?” David asked and looked down, deep into the blue water. He wanted to fall asleep like that, just as he was.

  “It means, David, that your power is greater than you imagine.”

  It took David a moment to fully process the words he had heard. When it came, the realization felt like a punch to the stomach. He turned and sat at once.

  “You’re not George,” he muttered as anxiety welled in his heart. No one in “Dreams Planet” knew his real name. It was an enclosed and secured system. The only ones connected right now were David, Eric, and George. What the hell was going on?

  “Who are you?” David turned around, seeking the source of the voice, even though he realized the uselessness of such an action.

  “You can call me ‘The one who knows.’ And don’t worry, your secrets are safe with me.”

  “What secrets? What do you know about me?” David breathed heavily. He had to know who he was talking to.

  “I know all about your attempts to save the world. They are admirable.”

  The world swirled around David. His heart raced in his chest and he searched for the right words to answer as the voice sounded again.

  “I know it’s hard to bear such a responsibility on your own.”

  From the corner of his eye, David saw Eric clumsily hovering toward him, happy and ecstatic. He did not even offer his friend a nod; his attention was fully focused on the unexpected immediate danger he had just been exposed to.

  “We will talk more soon, David. Just remember what I said.”

  “Wait, what did you say?” he demanded loudly.

  Eric crashed into the pool, splashing water and making David wet all over again. He was overjoyed. “Didn’t you hear me? I said this is amazing!”

  David looked at his friend and answered with a blank face. “I told you.”

  Eric turned serious and splashed some more water on him. “Are you with us, man? Is everything all right?”

  David forced himself to smile. The moment he would get home he’d log into the prophet software and instruct it to locate the flight simulator hacker. He had to learn the identity of the person who had just spoken to him. He couldn’t take any risks.

  Eric examined him closely.

  “I’m fine, just a little stomach ache.” David blurted the first thing that came to mind.

  Eric didn’t seem convinced, but realized the game was over for the day. “Let’s wrap things up then. How do you turn this thing off?” he asked and carefully examined his friend’s face again.

&nbs
p; “You just touch it here and it switches off at once. Ready?”

  Eric nodded and David touched the back of his neck. A silent click sounded and the world was turned off.

  27

  Greene’s Story

  Murmured protests were heard from outside the restroom. People complained about the door being locked, but Paul did not relent. He continued to grip Greene with one hand while pressing the other against the back of his neck. “I won’t ask you again. What’s your connection with David Robertson?”

  Greene groaned with pain and blurted a quick reply, “That’s what I’d like to know too!”

  This time it was Paul’s turn to be surprised. Without releasing his grip, he further inquired, “Why did you go to him at school yesterday? What do you want from him?”

  “I just wanted him to tell me the truth.” Tears welled in Greene’s eyes. “Ouch! You’re breaking my arm!”

  Paul loosened his grip a little.

  Greene sighed. “I swear to you, I don’t even know him.”

  His years on the force taught Paul to know when a man was telling the truth. He let go of Greene’s hand and the latter collapsed to the floor and turned to him. He leaned against the wall with terror in his eyes. “Who are you?” he muttered.

  Paul sat on the floor, trying to conceal the sharp pain throbbing in his injured ankle. He leaned in closely toward Greene. “Tell me everything. Now.”

  “All right, but I’m not sure you’ll believe what I have to say.”

  “Try me.”

  “It was about a year ago,” Greene began. He sighed and massaged his aching shoulder. “I closed the software development company I had. I was up to my neck in debt and couldn’t afford raising our baby; he was born two months prematurely. It cost a fortune to try and keep him healthy.” It was apparent that Greene was reliving a dark time.

  His voice cracked with anger as he continued. “How can a young couple afford those kinds of treatments? The pressure made me start drinking. You know, just a few sips with friends at first, then at home, with the sips turning into bottles.” He lowered his eyes. “I acted like a real piece of shit. No other way to put it,” he smirked bitterly.

  “I couldn’t look my wife in the eye. I couldn’t bear to look at the baby either. Each day after work I used to drive straight to the bar and stay there till morning, or until they kicked me out.”

  He raised tortured eyes to look at Paul. “Get it? My wife called me from the hospital and I didn’t answer.” He coughed for a good minute before adding quietly. “Two weeks later she let me know that as far as she was concerned, I didn’t have to ever come back home from the bar. To be honest, I couldn’t blame her.”

  Paul had enough. He wanted Greene to cut to the chase. “What’s that got to do with David Robertson?”

  “I’m getting to it.” Greene started to quicken the pace. “I moved to a friends’ place. He and his wife tried to convince me to go back home, but I couldn’t handle the situation. And I continued to drink. Then, one day, their little children made some noise in the yard and I screamed at them to shut up or else I’d…” He paused for a moment, embarrassed.

  “In short, they got a little scared. Obviously, my friend was furious and demanded that I leave. I asked them to give me another week, but they both insisted I get out that very day, or they’d call the police.”

  He took a deep breath, and continued. “I’ll never forget their little son. He came to me when I packed and told me he was sorry I had to leave because of him.” Tears welled in Greene’s eyes. He wiped them with the back of his hand and sniffled loudly.

  “Long story short, I found myself with nothing but a backpack, in the middle of the night, with no idea what to do next. I walked up Highway 1 out of the city. It started to rain, so I headed inside a gas station. I went to the guy who worked there and asked if they were hiring. He stopped talking on his phone and gave me this weird look. I went to the restroom, looked in the mirror and saw a wild-bearded homeless guy with red eyes, wearing a dirty shirt. I must have reeked of alcohol too. Employee of the year, every business owner’s dream.” He chuckled.

  Paul was beginning to lose his patience. “What about David Robertson?”

  The bitter smile didn’t leave Greene’s face. “I was just getting to that. So there I was, sitting under the bridge by the gas station, waiting for the rain to stop. I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up by a screech of tires coming from the road above me, followed by another. I raised my head and saw a little black dog standing in the middle of the road, with cars swerving around it. It looked scared and completely lost. I got up and ran to it. I was swaying a little, because of the booze, but I had to do something. Another moment and that dog would have died in front of my eyes.”

  Paul was captivated by the story.

  “Good thing that that puppy trusted me and allowed me to pick it up. It was completely soaked and shivering from the cold. I could hardly see anything, because of the pouring rain getting in my eyes, and I was a little dizzy too. Everything became a blur and I couldn’t see the car coming right at me.

  “Two days later, when I woke in the hospital, they told me I had literally flown through the air. Internal injuries, a tear in my liver. The doctors thought I might not survive. I was worried about the fate of that little puppy. The nurse told me that it came out of the accident unscathed. I must have hugged it at the critical moment, absorbing most of the blow myself. The SOS Pet Rescue of California took the puppy and managed to locate its owner.” He stopped his speech, visibly emotional about what he had to relay next.

  “One night, I woke up and saw this kid sitting quietly in front of me, just looking. And he was frowning, as if he wasn’t able to make up his mind about something. It was weird. I thought I must be dreaming. In the morning, when I asked the nurse who that kid was, she didn’t know what I was talking about. She said I must have hallucinated because of the pain killers.”

  Greene adjusted against the wall, getting comfortable. “I decided to simply forget about the whole thing, I followed the doctors’ advice and focused on my recovery. That time in the hospital made me rethink the course of my life. I realized I’d been given a second chance to start over, start making sense out of my life, and most importantly, start helping my little baby boy who was struggling for his own life.”

  Tears welled in Greene’s eyes again. A moment later he took a deep breath and continued. “A day before I was discharged from the hospital, I got a visit from a lawyer named Jones. He told me he represented an international fund sponsoring a television show called ‘Unknown Heroes.’ They decided my story suited them, and they wanted to give me an award as part of the show. And not just any award: my whole life back. They were going to give me a house, a job, everything! And the cherry on top: they were going to pay for my son’s medical treatments, down to the last cent.”

  Greene took a deep breath, the excitement visible in his face. “They had two conditions: that I keep a steady job for at least a year, and that I don’t ever get back to drinking. I signed on the spot, of course. I didn’t believe a word the guy was telling me, anyway. Jones could have promised me the moon, for that matter. But everything followed exactly like he promised, down to the last detail. It was like a dream: in a week, all the hospital bills were paid and I was already living in the new house. My wife still didn’t forgive me and refused to talk to me, but she moved in with our baby to the new house. A few days later Jones called with details about my new job: a code developer for a large software company. I received all my instruction by email from a project manager, but I never actually met him. Gradually, things got better at home. Our baby, Robert—” Greene smiled as he said his son’s name “—was out of danger.

  “After months of sharing the same house like two strangers, my wife realized that I was undergoing a genuine change and agreed to go to couples therapy with me. I was happy, on top o
f the world. As time passed and I heard nothing more about that television show, I assumed it was cancelled, perhaps because of poor ratings, or for some other reason. It didn’t matter to me; they couldn’t change their minds and send me back to the streets. The house was under my name, the bank got its money, our son was healthy, even my new boss was happy with me.”

  Paul recognized a change in Greene’s tone of voice. “What about the job?”

  “Well, that was a little odd. I never really knew what I was working on.” Greene shrugged.

  “What do you mean?”

  “They let me write just one code segment at a time, without ever showing me the big picture. An algorithm deciphering statistical data.” He shuddered briefly. “I had my eyes on the future, leaving that whole accident story far behind me. Or at least that’s what I thought, up until that evening the day before yesterday.” Greene stretched his legs nervously.

  Paul urged him on. “What happened?”

  “I was sitting at home watching TV, some news report about a new math program for outstanding students, nothing particularly interesting. And then I saw him—that kid who visited me at the hospital!” He shook his head excitedly.

  “I realized he wasn’t a hallucination after all. I started thinking Jones’s story about a mysterious international fund looking for heroes was a load of crap, and that I somehow got my life back thanks to that kid. I decided I had to meet him, understand who he was, thank him for everything he’d done for us. Locating him was easy, because they said the name of the school on TV.”

  Paul guessed where this was going.

  “I sat in the coffee shop across from the school, trying to figure out how to address him, what to say to him. I think I saw you there. Finally, I went outside the school and called him. He ignored me until I shouted, ‘I know it’s you!’ He got closer and said that he doesn’t know me, but I wouldn’t stop. I told him I know he was the one who got me out of the muck. He kept looking sideways, as if he was scared that someone might hear us. In the end, he simply begged me to leave. I agreed, but on condition he’d talk to me when he could. He took my phone number and that was that. He left.”