Chapter 28 – Outside the Scenario

Dozens of feeds were running across the wall of the situation room at once. Footage from the square was already spreading faster than the video from the clinic. On one screen, a woman pressed both hands to her temples as she tried to explain to someone behind the camera that she had heard a voice inside her head. On another, a man sat on the pavement beside a barrier, unable to get up. A third recording showed the almost empty square and Gobby continuing toward the Presidential Palace. Search queries updated beside it, mentions multiplied, new copies of his parents’ photographs appeared, along with new versions of what had happened and new theories about what had happened to the people in the square. The activity graph continued to climb. Viktor stood at the central console watching the overall pattern when a small terminal to his right activated on its own. That screen was almost always dark. No sender name. No agency. No document number. Only an access confirmation that disappeared a second later and several lines of text. “Dissemination has reached an unacceptable level. Further public spread must stop. Suspend public distribution of all materials related to the subject, his family, the medical incident, and the event at the Presidential Palace. Establish a social vacuum.”

Viktor read the message once. The internal phone rang almost immediately. He picked it up. Mr. Voss. He knew the voice. Reading. The order has been confirmed. Viktor kept looking at the screen. Archives? Preserve them. User materials? Do not destroy them unless necessary. Viktor shifted his attention to the wall. One of the videos from the square had just passed one hundred thousand views. What level of social vacuum? There was a brief pause on the other end. Complete. The connection ended. Viktor set down the phone and turned to the staff. Stop the spread of everything connected to the clinic, the boy, his parents, and the square. Remove it from public search. Leave the archives untouched. One of the operators looked up. Police? Remove the public alert. Keep it in the internal systems. News channels? Them too. No one asked another question.

The repost counter under the official police notice stopped first. A few seconds later, the notice disappeared from public search. Videos from the clinic could still be opened through saved links, but they no longer appeared in recommendations. A livestream from the square froze in the middle of a sentence and became unavailable. Several news channels already had completed reports waiting in their publishing queues, but one by one they vanished from the schedule. Red markers began going dark across the main map. The mentions graph, which less than a minute earlier had been climbing almost vertically, stopped.

Viktor did not move. Fifty-eight thousand active mentions. Thirty-one. Seventeen. Nine. Four. One of the last screens still showed an ordinary photograph of Gobby taken before the clinic. Normal hands. Normal eyes. A bag of food in one hand. The screen refreshed. The photograph disappeared. Viktor checked the time. Fifty-three seconds.

Dozens of screens continued running across the wall. People had forgotten nothing. The recordings had not disappeared from their phones. But the event the entire city had been talking about less than a minute earlier no longer existed as a social wave.

Gobby continued toward the Presidential Palace. A few minutes earlier, the square in front of him had been packed with people, phones, shouting, and police barricades. Now abandoned bottles, someone’s backpack, and several phones remained between the metal barriers. People were leaving in small groups. Some supported others by the arm. Some simply walked with their heads down. At the outer perimeter, security officers were gradually returning to their positions. One was still sitting beside a barrier, breathing heavily, while another spoke into his radio. When Gobby approached the passage, the officer stepped in front of him. You can’t go any farther. Gobby stopped. I need to see the President. The man studied him for several seconds. The President isn’t here. Then where is he? I can’t disclose his location. If you want to contact the President, you have to go through the Chancellery. Gobby looked past him at the palace. I’m already here. The officer let out a tired breath. I understand. But you still can’t go any farther. After everything that had happened in the square, the answer was so ordinary that Gobby simply stood there for several seconds, staring at him.

German’s phone vibrated. He checked the screen and immediately held it out to Gobby. Your mom. Gobby grabbed it. Mom? Gobby? Where are you? At the palace. There was a pause on the other end. What are you doing there? I wanted to talk to the president. You don’t need to talk to anyone anymore. They let us go. Gobby stopped looking at the palace. What do you mean, they let you go? Just that. They said there had been some kind of misunderstanding. There’s no danger anymore, so they’re taking us home. You’re already on the way? Yes. Are you okay? We’re fine. What about Dad? There was a sound on her end, then his father’s voice came through the phone. I’m here. Everything okay? Yes. They’re definitely taking you home? That’s what they said. Gobby went quiet. Okay. His mother took the phone back. Now you go home too. Please. I’m fine. I didn’t ask whether you were fine. I told you to go home. Gobby looked at German, then at the emptying square. Okay. Straight home. Yes. With German? He’s here. Then we’ll see you at home. Okay.

Gobby lowered the phone, but his mother had not hung up yet. And Gobby. What? Don’t break anything else. He froze. How do you know? For several seconds the line was silent. Just go home. Gobby glanced at German. German pretended to be looking somewhere else. Okay. The call ended. Gobby handed the phone back. The officer was still standing by the passage. His parents had been released. The square was emptying. No one was coming out of the palace, and no one there was waiting for him. Everything he had come here for seemed to have ended without him. All right, then. He turned around. The officer watched him leave. Where are you going? Gobby was already walking away from the barrier. Home.

German fell into step beside him. Gobby walked a few paces, exhaled, and shoved his hands into his pockets. I’m hungry. German said nothing. Gobby turned his head. Did you hear me? I heard you. And? German looked down at the phone still in his hand. His fingers stopped for a moment. Then he locked the screen and put the phone in his pocket. Come on. Gobby nodded. They left the square.

Viktor remained in the situation room. On one screen, the graph of public mentions had almost flattened to zero. On another, a camera at the outer perimeter showed Gobby and German walking away from the Presidential Palace. The operator enlarged the image. He turned around. Viktor watched the two figures moving away. After what? A phone call. His mother. The operator pulled up data from the city network and added a few seconds later, He’s moving toward home. Henry stood a short distance away. Do we intercept? No. Viktor watched the camera a little longer. Let him go. Henry looked at him but asked nothing.

A nearby screen showed the route of the car carrying Gobby’s parents. It had already left the protected facility and was heading toward their neighborhood. Change the route, Viktor said. The operator turned to him. Where? Viktor pointed to the eastern interchange. Through the industrial zone. Reason for the team? Road closure. The operator’s fingers moved quickly across the keyboard. A new route appeared on the map. Henry stepped closer. They think they’re going home. Let them think that. The boy too. Viktor looked at the screen where Gobby and German had already disappeared from the palace camera. Yes.

A list of mobile units appeared on another terminal. Most city teams were still recovering from the events at the palace or remained tied to their assigned districts. The operator pulled up the two available units. Nearest one is seven minutes away. Redirect them. Basis? Viktor did not answer immediately. He opened the route card for the car carrying Gobby’s parents, then Gobby’s route. The two lines were gradually converging within the same sector. Threat to protected persons. The operator began entering the information. Threat description? A subject displaying advanced capabilities is moving toward the presumed location of protected persons following an uncontrolled incident. Repeat transformation is possible. Team objective? Prevent the subject from approaching the protected persons. Direct contact only if necessary. Does the subject know? No.

The order went out. A new marker appeared on the map. The mobile team changed direction and started moving toward the same district. Almost simultaneously, the car carrying Gobby’s parents reached the interchange. The road home continued straight ahead. The driver switched on the turn signal and turned right. Gobby, meanwhile, opened a bag of gummy bears he had found in the backpack. It did nothing about his hunger, but walking immediately became a little more pleasant.

For Arthur, this was still his first real virtual mission. The city in front of him was part of the scenario: a bridge, massive defensive structures, a high wall, and a stream of creatures that did not stop no matter how many of them the team destroyed. The first attack had already taken too much out of the group. Movements were getting heavier, reactions slower, while the next wave kept coming. Arthur assessed the line and understood that they would not hold for another few minutes. Fall back. Regroup. He looked at the others and his voice hardened. I’ll cover you. Move. Vanessa, Anna, Jekab, and Gleb began withdrawing across the bridge toward the Center. Arthur stayed behind. He still had some strength left. Not enough to win. Only enough to buy them time.

For Gobby, the same place looked completely different. It was an ordinary city bridge. Cars. Barriers. Several adult men farther ahead and four badly battered teenagers moving quickly toward them. The fifth had remained near the far end of the bridge, holding several adults back on his own. Gobby calmly took another gummy bear from the bag. German was already looking past the fight and at the four teenagers. Injuries. Exhaustion. Uneven breathing. The effort to keep moving as a group. When they passed each other, he gave a slight shake of the head. Damn… they really tore you up. Hope nothing serious. The four stared at him as if they could not understand where two more people had come from. German seemed not to notice. Sorry we’re late. Gobby took his time getting ready. He made a small gesture toward Gobby, who was still chewing and already looking past them toward the fifth teenager. All right, we need to hurry. We’ll talk later. The two groups passed each other.

As soon as they were past the four, German looked ahead. The fifth teenager was still alone. Gobby followed his gaze, took the last gummy bear, and put it in his mouth. German was already moving toward the boy. He walked calmly, without hurrying, shifting aside anyone who got in his way with short, precise motions. Coming up behind Arthur, he placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder. Good job, kid. We’ll take it from here. Arthur turned sharply. German assessed his condition in a few seconds and added in the same even tone, Kid, fall back before you lose your life here. We’ll handle the rest.

Gobby paid no attention to Arthur’s confusion or to the adults around him. He finished the last gummy bear, folded the empty packet, and slipped it into his pocket. For several seconds he simply looked ahead. Then his body entered the first stage of transformation and immediately, without a pause, the second. Gobby launched forward.

The first man did not even have time to turn completely. The impact knocked him out of position and into a parked car. The second tried to come in from the side, but Gobby had already changed direction. The third backed away on his own. Only seconds earlier, the entire group had been closing in on one exhausted teenager. Within seconds, the pressure on Arthur was gone.

German did not follow Gobby into the fight. He stayed beside Arthur and watched for several seconds. Something about the men’s behavior did not match an ordinary fight. They were not trying to finish anyone who went down. No shouting. No threats. Even the teenager they had just been attacking stopped mattering the moment he was no longer blocking their direction. One man had a chance to leave but looked toward Gobby instead. A second did the same. A third touched a small device near his collar. Almost simultaneously, two of them changed direction and moved after Gobby instead of toward Arthur.

German looked back toward where they had come from, then toward where they were trying to go. He understood. They weren’t fighting you. Arthur turned toward him. What? You were in their way.

Arthur saw none of that. Two unknown presences had appeared inside the scenario.

The one beside him did not resemble any human form Arthur recognized. It stood almost unnaturally still. Arthur could not place it. Behind it stood something larger. That was what drew Arthur’s attention first. Its shape was different from the creatures around them. Denser. Heavier. It was not part of the wave or the city. Nothing in the scenario matched it. Neither presence belonged here. Arthur had been waiting for his team to return. Instead, two unknown entities had come from the direction of the Center.

Then the larger presence changed. The first shift came almost instantly. A second followed before the first had fully settled. No pause. It surged forward and crashed into the stream of creatures. One vanished from the line. A second was thrown aside. Then another. Within seconds, a gap opened in the wave.

Arthur still had not moved. The unknown presence beside him turned toward him. I mean it. Fall back. Arthur looked toward the direction where his group had disappeared, then back at the fight. Only then did he take several steps away.

He kept watching. The larger presence moved through the creatures as if the wave itself had lost its previous density. Those that had been pressing against Arthur only moments earlier now either tried to move around it or changed direction entirely. And gradually something else became clear. They were barely paying attention to Arthur anymore.

By the time Arthur caught up with the others, the creatures had almost completely lost interest in the five of them. One passed so close to Jekab that he instinctively prepared to defend himself, but it did not even turn its head. Then another passed. All of them were moving in the same direction.

A short signal sounded in their earpieces. Team, status. Arthur answered automatically. Everyone’s on their feet. We have injuries, nothing critical. Copy. Mission complete. Return. Arthur looked toward the direction the creatures were still moving. Why is it complete? The threat to the sector has been eliminated. Return to the exit point. It hasn’t been eliminated. They’re still moving. There was a pause on the channel. That is no longer part of your mission.

Gleb was barely listening anymore. He was watching the last creatures. They were not moving back and they were not scattering. One after another, they followed the direction taken by the two unknown presences. They’re not retreating, he said. Arthur moved closer. Then what are they doing? Continuing the mission. What mission? Gleb shook his head. I don’t know.

Anna watched another creature pass them. Why aren’t they attacking us anymore? Gleb answered almost immediately. Because we’re not in the way anymore. In the way of what? Vanessa asked. He did not answer.

Arthur opened the channel again. Two external figures appeared inside the scenario. Who are they? No one responded for several seconds. Return to the Center. Did you see them? Arthur, the mission is complete. I asked if you saw them. The connection cut out.

The five stood in silence for several seconds. Then Gleb spoke. What if we misunderstood what happened? Arthur turned toward him. What do you mean? Gleb looked toward the place where the two unknown presences had disappeared and where the creatures were still heading. We assumed they entered our simulation. And? What if they never entered it at all?

No one answered.

What if we’re the ones who entered their world?

A different voice suddenly broke into their earpieces. Stop this discussion. Return to the Center immediately.

The connection ended.

Two blocks later, the city was just a city again. Cars waited at traffic lights. People came out of stores. Someone sat drinking coffee at an outdoor table. Gobby walked with his hands in his pockets and, for the first time in a long while, looked almost satisfied. Now this is normal. German was still looking at his phone. What? Nobody’s yelling. Mom and Dad are going home. We’re going home too. Gobby thought for another second. I’m still hungry, though.

German refreshed the search. Gobby’s name now produced only a few older results. The clinic recording was gone. The square in front of the palace was just a tourist attraction again. One of the videos could still be opened through a saved link, but its view count had stopped, the comments were no longer updating, and there were no recommendations beneath it. German tried another service. Then a third. Strange. What? There’s nothing. Gobby shrugged. Good. Ten minutes ago tens of thousands of people knew exactly where you were. Now they don’t. That doesn’t bother you at all? Gobby looked at him with genuine confusion. I wanted them to leave me alone. German held his gaze for a moment, then put the phone away.

At the next intersection, Gobby saw a bakery and immediately turned toward it. It’s open. We’re going home. We can go home with a pastry. Gobby. I’ll be quick. He had almost reached the window when German noticed a gray car on the opposite side of the street. There was nothing unusual about it. The light turned green, the car crossed the intersection and disappeared. German watched it for only a second before looking back at the bakery. Behind the glass, the woman at the counter had already seen Gobby. She was about to approach the door when the phone beside the register lit up. She read the message and stopped. Gobby pulled the door. Locked. He tried it again and looked inside. It says you’re open. The woman quickly gestured that she could not let him in. Great. Gobby turned toward German. What am I supposed to eat now? German was no longer looking at her. A black car had stopped farther down the street. Another slowly emerged from a side road. A man near the bus stop put his phone into his pocket. Across the street, a second man left a store and started walking in their direction. They never looked at each other. Come on. Where? Away from here. Why? German took him by the elbow. Gobby immediately looked down at his hand. German almost never touched him. What happened? I don’t know yet.

They headed back toward the intersection. The first man did not speed up. He only adjusted his direction slightly. The second did the same. The black car ahead remained at the curb. Another had stopped behind them. German looked left. The narrow passage between two buildings was still clear. A few seconds later, a third man appeared there. Gobby, stop. Gobby stopped. Are we walking or stopping? Give me a second. German slowly turned, measuring distances. Car ahead. Car behind. Three people on foot. None of them was approaching directly. They were closing off every route. Police? No. How do you know? Police don’t hide from someone they’re about to detain. Gobby looked at the nearest man. A small earpiece glinted in his ear. Maybe I should ask him? No. Why? Because he already knows who you are. The man took several more steps. A short ripple moved beneath the skin of Gobby’s forearm. I didn’t do anything again. I know. Then what do they want? German looked ahead. The man on the right was no longer moving toward them. He was moving toward the point where they would be in a few seconds. They’re not following us. Gobby frowned. Then what are they doing? Putting us where they want us.

A car shot out of a side street so sharply that the first black vehicle slammed on its brakes. The new car cut across the lane, stopped between Gobby and the nearest men, and its rear door opened before the vehicle had fully stopped. German recognized Number One immediately. Number One leaned across the seat. Get in. Gobby stayed where he was. We’re going home. I know. Mom’s already on the way there. Number One looked at the man with the earpiece approaching from the side. No. What do you mean, no? Your parents aren’t going home. Gobby stopped moving. She told me herself. That’s what she thinks. What does that mean? Their car was rerouted after your call. Gobby took a step toward the open door. Where? We don’t know yet. German got in first. Gobby stared at Number One for another second. Who rerouted them? Number One looked toward the men closing in from both sides. Gobby, get in the car. Gobby climbed inside. The door slammed shut. The car accelerated away. In the side mirror, German saw that the men on the sidewalk did not even try to follow. One simply raised a hand to his earpiece and said something. German kept watching until they disappeared around the corner.

Several kilometers away, the car carrying Gobby’s parents was already entering the industrial zone.