DCO- Dungeon Core Online

Chapter 55

James covered what he knew with his father in the span of a few minutes, speaking quickly, while his father listened, never once interrupting him. After he finished, his dad was quiet, once more, for a couple of minutes. Likely processing what all his son had told him.

“I swear,” his father finally began, “if we survive all of this, I don’t think you’re going to be allowed to be on your own any longer. Trouble seems to find you like a damned magnet.”

“You don’t say,” James said dryly. “Considering everything that’s happened to me, I’d much rather go back to when my only worries were being bullied at school.” It felt like a lifetime ago that Dwight had punched him outside of the school building. What he wouldn’t give to go back to that time.

“Okay, well,” his dad let out a heavy sigh, “I, are you sure about Xander?” His dad’s voice was tentative, “did they really use Truth Serum on him?”

“Steve told us himself,” James answered, “he said he administered it himself to Xander.”

“Monsters,” his dad’s voice muttered, “no one deserves to experience a fate like that. Sure, Xander and I had differences, and he went off the deep end towards the end of it all… but with what you told me, he was totally justified. He saw the writing on the wall a lot sooner than we did, that’s for sure.”

“Too bad you’re so good at your job,” James said, dark humor taking hold for a moment, “else their could have been more time to reveal their plan and stop them.”

“If there’s one thing your mom and I pride ourselves on, it’s our work ethic.” His father said. “You don’t get to be the best, by not putting your all into a job. But that doesn’t mean we didn’t have contingencies in place.”

James felt a bit of hope fill him. It pushed at his depression, the darkness shifting just slightly, like clouds finally giving way to a ray of sunlight. “So, you can stop them?” He asked hopefully. “Stop all of this?”

“I, er, didn’t say that.” His father’s answer dashed his hopes. The sunlight faded, and it felt darker in the workshop. “But, you should be able to put some of the stuff in our workshop to use for whatever it is you’re planning tonight.”

“You said you had contingencies in place.” James pressed, “doesn’t that mean you had a plan to stop your robots from being used in such a way? You know Dr. Zephire, surely you could have predicted this.”

“You act like we had complete freedom during our time here.” His dad cut back, “we’re in the belly of the beast James. Constant surveillance is on us. And it’s a Top Secret project, meaning we only get to know, what they want us to know. Our job was to make perfect human robots. Ones capable of feeling. Of smelling, of tasting. Ones indistinguishable from real humans. They told us the project itself was meant to give people like Ruby a second chance. And others, who may have been injured in wars, or accidents, or born with defects.” His father sighed, “they told us our project was meant to be used for good. And well, a part of us really wished and hoped it was.”

“How is that linked to DCO?” James pressed, “surely you had doubts, questions.”

“Well duh.” His father’s tone seemed insulted. “What we got was DCO would test the ability of fully immersing a mind, deeper than any tech before it, to serve as the transfer point for a consciousness. If they could make a world within immersion that could fully allow a person to experience everything as if it were the real world, they’d be able to trace that data, those aspects of the mind, and create artificial minds capable of holding the person within our robotic bodies and interfacing them seamlessly as a result. Well, that’s the simple version of it. At least.”

“And you did it without pressing the matter.” James’s tone was still dark.

“I don’t think you understand the way the government works fully.” His dad said, not aggressively, but tired. It reminded James of how exhausted his dad had looked yesterday on the video. “You do what they want, without causing a stir. Or you disappear or find yourself buried in debt and misfortune. This job got us here. Got us a lab of our own at our house, got you into a good school, and got your mother and I access to every piece of equipment and all the materials we could ever dream of. And like I said, we didn’t do it all blindly. We took advantage of our situation as best we could, without causing too much scrutiny. Sabotaging the project, we were working on would have, instantly, resulted in YOUR death.” His father cut off for a moment. “We couldn’t risk you.”

“Dad,” James’s anger fled as he thought of Zach, and what had happened to him, his wife, everything he’d worked for. He knew full well what the government was capable of. “I’m sorry.” He said gently.

“It’s fine,” his dad cleared his voice, “anyways. Working on the project kept you safe, got you in a prime Dungeon Core role, and got you paired with Rue. Those are all the things we’d do again if we had the chance. What we didn’t know, until just yesterday, was the fact DCO was meant to be a prison. Past that, what I didn’t know, until just now, was the extent of the full plan.”

“So, you were calling to warn me that they were planning to trap us in immersion?” James asked, seeking clarification.

“Pretty much. We caught word that something was up, and that the immersion tonight would be different. That those who took part in it, wouldn’t be able to get out of their immersion pods. We didn’t know the full extent of everything. Not that I doubt you, or your source of information, but even now, I’m having trouble believing it all.”

“Only reason I’m not completely freaking out,” James offered, “is because I’ve had a few days while immersed to get past the pure panic and depression bit of the information. I’m not proud of it… but I definitely had a few breakdowns.”

“If you hadn’t, I would have assumed you’d been turned into a robot.” James’s dad laughed, and James felt his mood lift just a tad. He’d missed this. Missed talking with his parents. Missed his dad’s ability to try and joke about everything.

“Now then, you’ve got a raid to plan, and it’s time you give your old man some credit. Sure, I didn’t build a failsafe into the robots we created for the government. But that doesn’t mean your mother and I did nothing with the access to materials and such we did have. We won’t be able to help you, considering we’ve already received word we’re supposed to immerse tonight and be in DCO… which now makes a lot of sense, but we can still be there in spirit with you. And by spirit, I mean, through a variety of, ahem, special projects.”

“I’m waiting,” James said, knowing his dad was building up for a big reveal. “Let’s see them.”

“Alrighty then, here’s what I need you to do.”