Darwin's Quest: The Search for the Ultimate Survivor Read online

  “I think it’s gone…” began Lindadawn when the door was suddenly flung open, the saber-tooth’s claws somehow embedded in the plastic liner, which made up the side of the door. Lindadawn had time for only a short shriek before the cat’s other paw reached in and hooked her, pulling her out. I waved at the cat ineffectively with the knife, and when the door swung back shut, the knife was knocked out of my hands and onto the ground outside. I could hear her crying out, fighting for her life. I wanted to rush out, to help her, but to be frank, I froze. I had just nerved myself up to help her, though, when her cries cut off and my telltale vibrated. It was too late. I was too late.

  I sat there, shaking on the toilet, softly moaning to myself. Was I next? Was this really how it would end? It didn’t seem real, but I knew it was.

  I tried to listen though the door. Afraid to hear the crunching of jaws on bone as the saber-tooth ate Lindadawn. But I couldn’t hear anything. It was eerily quiet outside the toilet door. I wanted to peek out, to see what was there, but I was too afraid. I couldn’t move.

  I don’t know how long I sat there. My mind was numb, and it could have been minutes or hours. I just waited for my fate. Good or bad, I just wanted it over. I couldn’t stand the pressure.

  It took awhile, but I was steeling myself up to crack open the door to see what was out there when I heard something, a definite something moving outside. I shrank back. Whatever it was, it was coming closer. I had no knife, no spear, nothing. Well, not really nothing. I had my teeth. I had my nails. I had my strength. A sense of purpose came over me. If I was going to go, I wasn’t going to go easy. Whatever was going to take me out was going to have to fight for me.

  My legs were cramped from sitting in one position for so long, so I quietly tried to stretch them out the best I could. The steps came closer. I tensed.

  As the door opened, I threw myself forward, knocking my assailant to the ground. My hands scrambled to close around a throat, a familiar throat. Baako Silver was prone on the ground beneath me. He smiled his famous smile and looked up into my war face.

  “Congratulations, Corter, you’ve won Darwin’s Quest!”

  Chapter 25

  I was back in Production City, the same nurse tending to my minor arm wound as had woken me up after I had been resurrected the first day. She seemed excited, even honored to be treating this season’s winner. I flexed my arm. It seemed fine. I thanked her, wishing she would go away. I couldn’t take her cheerfulness.

  I was still pretty upset. Maybe not as upset as when Mr. Silver had told me I had won. Oh, my first reaction was relief. I thought I had been rescued. But then it was anger when I realized that all of this had been planned.

  As he led me over the bridge to the eagerly waiting production staff and the tunnel back to Production City, he gushed about ratings, about new heroes in Hamlin, Ratt, and of course me. I grabbed his arm and spun him around, a breach of personal contact I would never have dreamed of before.

  “But you killed them, all for the show!”

  “Of course we killed them. We always kill our cast members, all except the winner of course.”

  “No, this time you really killed them. Beyond the ability to resurrect them.”

  He laughed his laugh, the same one I had heard on the holos time and time again. “Well, maybe we wanted you to think that was true. Mea culpa.”

  “No, I know it was true. I saw the bodies. I saw them bloat and rot. You can’t resurrect somebody from that.”

  He stopped and looked at me with a condescending air. “You think we can make a life-size Tyrannosaurus Rex, a working pterosaur, and we can’t make a human body? One which doesn’t even have to work, just sit there and decompose? I thought you were smarter than that.”

  We reached the tunnel door where an eager Günter was waiting along with half a dozen other staffers.

  “I’ll see you later, Corter, at the final ceremony. “ He clapped me on the shoulder. “Good job. I’m proud of you.”

  He disappeared into the tunnel. I half-expected a scream as some dinosaur made its appearance, but the truth was finally sinking in.

  Günter was trying to brief me as we waited for the rail car to take Mr. Silver back, then return for us. But my mind was whirling. I did get that I would go to medical, but then we would have to wait for Hamlin and Lindadawn to finish their resurrections. Tradition had it that the entire cast would be on-hand when the winner was revealed to the viewers.

  The train came back, and I sat down. Günter hung on the outside of the car, riding it standing up, giving me more instructions to which I didn’t listen.

  We made it back, and I was hustled through the now well-lit and bustling production facility. I was taken to medical where someone had laid out a very nice meal. At least they understood what was important. I took a huge swallow of lemonade, then started munching on fruits. When the nurse came to sit me down and hook me to the nano-booster, I had to grab a nice baguette to eat while I was sitting and unable to move about. I was about to tell her to leave, that I needed some quiet when the door opened and Mike and Yash came in, looking pretty good and all spiffed up for dead men. They both came up and gave me a hug.

  My anger momentarily fled. I was angry at GBC and the directors, not at my castmates. I reached under my shirt and pulled out Yash’s kirpan, holding it out to him.

  “Keep it, Corter. It’s yours.”

  “But doesn’t it have religious value to you?”

  He pulled out its twin. “This one is mine. That one was a replica they made to leave with my avatar.”

  “Avatar?”

  He looked to Mike. “Well, that’s Mike’s term. It sounds better than ‘fake body.’”

  I returned the kirpan back under my shirt.

  “Where’s the rest? Are they OK?”

  Mike answered, “Well, Hamlin and Lindadawn aren’t out of resurrection yet, but the rest are here. They all want to see you, but the nurse would only let two of us in here at a time.”

  “And everyone’s, you know, all right?”

  “Yep, we’re all fine. A mite pissed off, especially Josh and Borlinga, but we’re physically fine. “

  I actually laughed. “Yea, I can see Josh. But Borlinga?”

  “She’s the worse,” he said, Yash nodding in agreement. “She went off and threatened all sorts of actions against GBC, even diplomatic action. She never told us, but I guess she’s some sort of muckety-muck on Shakti.”

  “Can she do that? I mean sue or something?” The thought had been in my own mind.

  “Sue? That might be hard. We signed some pretty serious waivers, you know. And they were all pretty vague, as well. The way their lawyers tell it, we agreed to come on the show, and they agreed to pay the winner the money. That’s it. Anything else might be implied, but not specified.”

  “So they could do whatever they want with us?”

  “That’s pretty much it.” Of course, that’s what their lawyer told us. I’m going to ask an independent one when we get back. And as far as a diplomatic fuss? Maybe Borlinga can.”

  “I hope so,” I said.

  “I still don’t understand how they pulled this off, though.”

  “It wasn’t that hard,” Mike told me. “They didn’t really cut off the power. They just turned off the water, the communications. Remember, the river still ran, and the barrier was still up. All the constructs were still acting under direction of the wranglers here on staff. And, of course, the cams were always up and running. Can’t go to all this trouble and not let the viewers in on the secret.”

  “Tell him about the food, Mike!” Yash said.

  “Oh yea, you know when our food kept spoiling? That was them. They sprayed it with a decomposing mixture, so no matter how well we smoked it, it would rot. They had to do that to goad us into action.”

  “And when did they do all this? We were there most of the time. And when did they collect the bodies to resurrect, and leave the avatars?”

  Mike just pointed
to where his telltale had been implanted. “Just a small modification. These can now create a small epileptic-like seizure. We go into a trance, they make the switch, they take us out of the trance. No one notices the few minutes stolen out of our day.”

  “And that’s legal?” I asked.

  Mike shrugged. “We signed the waivers, which included medical treatment.”

  “Medical treatment does not include zapping us unconscious!”

  Both Mike and Yash shrugged. Maybe that was a difference between Outerworlders and Earthers, even if you considered Mike only almost one. We on the Outer Worlds tend to hold fast our personal freedoms, while back on Earth, with its teeming billions, many personal freedoms had long since vanished.

  “You know,” Mike added. “We could’ve figured all this out ourselves. I mean, the clues were certainly there. It really is obvious in hindsight.”

  The nurse came back in. “Mr. Laurence, you have other visitors who want to see you,” she gushed. “Can I start rotating them in?”

  I nodded, but grabbed Mike after he hugged me, keeping him from leaving.

  “Mike, what happened to you?” I mean, we were worried about you. Did you, well…”

  “Did I do myself in?” he asked with a laugh. “Oh yes, Borlinga and the others told me all about that. No, I didn’t commit suicide. I’m way too much a coward for that. No, I went out to take a piss, and I heard a cry in the drag noose. And for once, I wanted to be a hero. I thought I could grab it, get back, and cook it up for when you guys woke up. So I made a dash for it, and your T-Rex got me.”

  “My T-Rex?”

  “Yea, we both got killed by the same construct!” He smiled, then made way for Alfhid and Ratt, who were eager to hug and kiss me.

  “Hey fiancée,” Alfhid exclaimed. “That prize money, well, we’re engaged, right? And so half of that is mine, right?”

  “How about a dinner, instead. Anything you want at the Production City canteen.”

  She laughed again, and that was such a good sound to hear. “Deal! I’ll hold you to it.”

  I had gotten used to seeing her half-naked, but here, all spiffed up in a flowery pink and blue dress of a rather conservative design, she looked sexier than ever. And Ratt, well, Ratt looked cute as a button, even younger than she had before.

  Borlinga and Paul were next, but by that time, my nurse was satisfied that my nanos, with a little boost from her equipment, had done their job, and I was free to go. The others were waiting outside the door to see me, so we all trooped down to the canteen.

  The last time I had been there, it was abandoned, and rotten food lay around. “How did they get this place looking so abandoned when we came here?” I asked.

  “Oh, the staff hated that,” Ratt told me. They had to keep old food at room temperature, ready to put out like it was abandoned, and the smell was awful in here. And they had to be ready to evacuate into some small bunkers under us, some to sit and some to work the feeds. They didn’t know when we would come, or even if we would come. Then they had to have that Albertosaurus ready to let loose. I guess it was a real headache for them.”

  “It was more than a little headache for us, though,” Josh said.

  Josh had clapped my back with the rest of them, but I could tell he seethed underneath. I am sure he felt cheated. I didn’t feel cheated, actually. I just felt used. But I also was looking forward to a million unis, so that might have been affecting my point-of-view.

  We were eating and chatting when Hamlin walked in, looking fit. He smiled and joined us.

  “The conquering hero returns!” shouted Bernie, a huge grin on his face.

  Everyone jumped up to congratulate him. He seemed a little surprised and wanted to shake my hand.

  “Didn’t the staff tell you?” Bernie asked.

  “Yes, Corter won.”

  “No, about you?”

  “What?”

  “You’re a certified holo hero now. The net’s alive with chatter about you taking on those theropods. Herrerasaurids, they called them. Not to mention the Terror Bird, or the Albertosaurus. Very dramatic, and even though everyone was engrossed in our predicament, we didn’t have that much drama, like other seasons. So you were Mr. Excitement. Everyone’s talking about you.”

  “You’re a shoo-in for the Viewer’s Choice,” added Adrienne.

  “Really? He seemed surprised. “I could use the money.”

  “Really?” mimicked Ratt. “You mean, you can use half-a-million unis?”

  We all laughed, and Hamlin sat down as if just realizing his good fortune.

  “And with all due respect to Corter here, the staff thinks you are going to do much better with endorsements and appearances,” Borlinga added.

  “Borlinga, your, well…”

  “My syntax? Well, the cat’s out of the bag, and I guess the joke has run its course.”

  “Will the other Shaktians be upset, now that the joke’s over?”

  “No. Now we can laugh at all of you who believed it for so long. Baako was overjoyed that Darwin’s Quest even had a scoop, like a legit holo,” she said. “Of course, he isn’t so happy with me now.”

  Different staff members came up to congratulate us, mostly Hamlin and me, though. But all were flush with the evident ratings coup the show achieved. I wondered if any of them realized the price we paid for that success.

  Günter finally tracked us down. “Cast, we’ve got about an hour to go. Ms. Foster should be ready by then, so we’ll be going live. The rest of you have been briefed, except for Mr. Cone and Mr. Laurence, so please get to the green room and get ready.”

  “Mr. Cone, Rebecca here will brief you. Mr. Laurence, if you’ll follow me?”

  Günter led me to a small waiting room. “Mr. Laurence, you’ll…”

  “Corter,” I interrupted. “Call me Corter.”

  He smiled slightly. “Very well, Corter. You’ll be waiting here with Ms. Foster. This room is cammed, so please don’t say anything nor do anything which might give it away that you won. Look pensive, it you can.” He smiled encouragingly. “Don’t worry, though, you’ll be on a seven-second delay, so if you slip up, we’ll catch it and switch feeds.”

  “Once the intern signals you, you, and only you come out and walk straight to Mr. Silver. Your mark will be the silver tape to his left. He’s going to announce you, give you the trophy, then ask for your comments. Keep it short, please, if you can. Ms. Foster will come out behind you and congratulate you, then the rest will be free to come on the array. Da-da-da, da-da-da, and we’re done. You’ve got that?”

  “Sure, that sounds pretty easy.”

  “OK, let’s go walk through it.” He keyed a mic on his collar. “OK, we’re ready.”

  He looked back to me. “OK, Mr. Silver is talking. You’re looking pensive. No, Pensive, not constipated!”

  He probably used the same line every season, but it worked. I smiled, despite my still smoldering anger.

  “OK, that’s better. Now, he’s about to introduce you…and go!”

  I walked out the door, looking for Mr. Silver. He wasn’t around. A short girl, even shorter that Ratt, motioned me forward.

  Günter stepped beside me. “That’s Mr. Silver, there,” he told me, pointing at the girl. “Go to him.”

  I walked down to the girl and saw my silver mark. The girl was grinning, as were the other staff watching.

  She lowered her voice in a fake baritone and pronounced, “Corter Laurence, our cutest winner!” The observers broke out in laughter at that.

  “Steady! Do you want to have to go through this again?” shouted out Günter. They quieted a bit, but only a bit.

  The girl, who couldn’t have been much older than twenty, handed me the trophy. It looked like the actual one, the crystal box standing on one corner, the eternal flame within. It had been designed for the first season when fire was considered to be the most important thing going. When subsequent cast members became experts at making flame and its importance faded, the
y didn’t want to change the trophy.

  “Mr. Silver” asked me in that same fake baritone, “Anything to say to us, Mr. Hottie-tottie?”

  I got into the spirit of things. “Well yes. I am a hottie, true. And I’d like to thank all the little people who made this win possible, but to be honest, I can’t think of anyone.” I was still angry, but not at this group of interns and underlings.

  They all laughed, and at some unseen signal, the other “cast members” rushed the stage, shaking my hands.

  Günter survey the scene. “Well if you are all finished with your little fun, can we get back to work?” He sounded gruff, but a twinkle in his eye belied the truth. Everyone rushed back to their real jobs to be ready for the actual broadcast.

  I was feeling happy for a moment, and I didn’t want to. I wanted to hold onto my anger. As we walked back to the ready room, I reached out and stopped Günter. “You know, a lot of the cast, well, we’re pretty angry at being used like we were.”

  Günter stopped and looked around, then admitted. “Yes, I know. That isn’t surprising. I shouldn’t tell you this, but many people were against this whole idea from the beginning.”

  “Were you? Were you against it?”

  I could see the warring emotions inside him. “I can’t really say. But I can say that I do think it was cruel and inconsiderate.”

  I knew that was as close to an acknowledgement from him that he wasn’t onboard with it. “But some people pushed it through?”

  “Well, at the top, certain people have more pull. Their opinions are like precious metal to the producers.”

  So it was Baako Silver who had pushed this through, who put us through our misery. I decided to see how far I could take this. “What about the lawsuits. Several of us plan to sue.”

  He hesitated. “Look, this was a shitty thing, granted. But they knew some of you would feel this way. And GBC has resources, including the best lawyers, ones who would spit on your little winnings. So they boiled the contract down to the bare minimum. Basically, you agreed to come and bear anything the show threw at you. The show agreed to pay the winner one million unis, and the Viewer’s Choice half-a-million. And they agreed to medically treat all of you for physical injuries. Not mental, so no ‘suffering’ or ‘mental anguish.’ The best lawyers seem to agree that there isn’t much any of you can do.”