Socket 3 - The Legend of Socket Greeny by Tony Bertauski Read Free Book Online Page B

reported.
    The tires hit the gravel on the shoulder as
the wheels turned the car back onto the pavement.
    I was slumped in the seat. My lips were fat
and rubbery. The moon passed between branches. The car found its
way to the secure location of the wormhole while I tried to get the
feeling back. Only when we entered the blue swirl could I take the
wheel. I wasn’t thinking clearly, but I knew enough that these
weren’t normal visions. If they got any stronger, I’d be dead. I
had to get some answers.
    I flew across the boulder-field toward the
vertical wall of the Garrison. The Commander would get my reports
soon enough, but not before I made one last stop. Call it
compulsion or gut-instinct. Or insanity.
    If I have anymore visions, Pike said. As
if he knew I would.
     
    I called ahead to my office. When I arrived,
Pike waited with his legs folded beneath him. A string of spit
jiggled from his mouth. The minders appeared behind him.
    “Wha’ dewyew wan?” Pike lifted his heavy
head, his dark glasses askew, revealing the white eyeballs filled
with rooty veins. “So soon?” He smacked his lips and sat up. “To
what do I owe the pleasure of—”
    “What do you know?”
    “I know, I know… what do I know? What do you know?”
    “You know something, Pike. Something about
the things I’m seeing. You tell me WHAT YOU KNOW!”
    His mind was scrambled, thoughts floating
like weeds in the ocean. Perhaps that was the idea, make things
chaotic, hide the secrets in plain sight. Like a shredded document
thrown into the wind. It would take centuries to put it back
together. And the minders just kept blowing.
    “Play a game with me, wonderboy, shall we?”
Pike smiled.
    “You think this is a game, Pike? You’ve lost
your mind.”
    “Quite right, you are. But if you want me to
tell you things, ole Pike will tell you things. Let’s play a
game.”
    I snatched his neck; the knobby Adam’s apple
pumping up and down in my palm. “You tell what you’re hiding, you
filthy traitor. You know something about these… these visions.”
    He slid his glasses back up his nose with a
single finger and waggled his eyebrows. I threw him against the
seat and paced to the back of the room. This just didn’t make
sense, these experiences were unlike any others, but now they were
bringing images of nonsense. In what universe would Chute attack
me?
    I crossed my arms, staring at the back wall.
Had I made a mistake coming here? No, Pike knew something. He was
very specific about if I had anymore visions. He knew.
    Eh-hem. He tapped his foot.
    I looked over my shoulder. “This is all just
a game to you.”
    “It wouldn’t be any fun if it wasn’t. Indulge
me.” He waved his arms and the floor shifted between us. A
checkerboard formed with globular shapes, each taking a space. “And
I’ll tell you everything.”
    The globular shapes were black and white,
each of equal number. Outwardly, each piece looked exactly the
same, but each was as unique from each other as a dog is from a
cat. Another checkerboard formed several inches above that one,
this one smaller with fewer squares. And above that, another
smaller one and another, until there was a total of seven boards
forming a pyramid, the top level a single square at eye-level.
    Reign. He wanted to play Reign, where
the rules and moves were beyond the comprehension of ordinary
people. The object: get the king piece to the top. First, one had
to see the king piece, but not with your eyes. It required opening
your mind, to see the pieces differently, to feel them, sense them
with extrasensory perception.
    I sat down in a chair forming below me.
    “Ill-advised, Paladin Greeny.” The middle
minder stepped forth. “Opening your mind to a convicted—”
    “THERE IS NO THREAT!” The walls shook. The
minders felt the infinite power of my mind peel through their
advanced minds. They faltered, then resumed their dutiful focus. My
outrage would be reported to the Commander. Hell, I was