LevelUP: an 8-bit novel by Micah Joel. Author's definitive online edition.

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Chapter Eight

Random Access Memory: 2029

A flashlight knifes through the darkness, wielded by a fireman with a helmet and everything. The world feels different—bigger. Purer. Max looks at his hands. Clean, smooth, and tiny. He realizes this is him at the tender age of six. He’s reliving the final moments before Damage changed everything.

He could never remember what happened. There had been only a blank stretch of memory. Where did this come from? Concerns about cause-and-effect crumble under the simple immediacy of the moment. He’s in the middle of a tour of the fire station and their shiny red trucks. Just him and dad and the firemen.

This was it. This was the day Max’s father, Hadley Root, vanished from his life.

“It’s all right kids,” the fireman says. “Nobody panic. We’ve had the power go out before. I’m sure at this very minute there are some good folks at the electric company checking their computers to see what happened. They’ll send somebody right out to fix it, then the power will come back.”

“If the power is out,” Max squeaks—his voice is soft and high-pitched—“how can the electric company people use their computers?”

A comforting voice: “That’s my boy.” Dad! Even though it’s dark, dad’s hand finds its way to Max’s head to ruffle his hair. But joke’s on him—Max’s hair was already messy to begin with.

“I’m sure this is just a local outage,” the fireman says. “And even if not, they’ve planned for that. They have backup systems for everything. They could run for days without power if they needed to.”

Days. The thought of going without electricity for days hadn’t occurred to young Max before.

There’s a noise outside, maybe an airplane. It gets louder, then louder, then louder still, until it hurts Max’s ears. He clamps tiny hands over his ears. If it’s this loud inside, he can’t imagine what it must sound like outside. The noise draws back a little, then louder again as the building shakes. Metal things fall off shelves in the kitchen and clang around on the floor. The quiet that follows seems startling, cut only by the heavy metal frame of the fire engine creaking as it settles.

“It’s okay,” dad says. “Just the shock absorbers doing their job.” But things sure don’t sound okay, especially outside.

Flickery orange light angles into the room as someone opens the door. There’s a bad smell, like chemicals and burning.

“This is the chief,” a new voice says. This voice is deeper and more commanding. He’s the one hurting Max’s eyes with the flashlight. “I need all hands on deck. We’ve got multiple developing situations. And get that kid out of here.”

Dad takes Max’s hand and ushers him out of the way. Along the edge of the big room, there’s a bench. Even there, Max can still hear everything.

“But chief,” another voice says, “the computer’s down. We’ve got no dispatch.”

Max wonders why the fire station doesn’t have the backup for things the fireman was just talking about.

“What do you mean ‘the computer’s down’?” the chief says. “We just paid a fortune to have redundant everything. What did that guy call them? UPS.”

A UPS must be the backup thing, Max decides.

“You don’t get it, chief, it’s not the power. It’s the computers. They’re deader ’n a doorknob.”

“Well that’s just great,” the chief says. While he speaks, another loud explosion shakes the walls and hurts Max’s ears. More light comes in as somebody rolls up the big doors.

“We’ve got aircraft falling out of the sky,” the chief says. “What about cellphones?” Nobody answers right away. “Well?”

“Everything’s bricked, sir.”

The chief lets out a mighty puff of air. “Then I’m your central dispatch now,” he says in a louder voice. “Red crew, head to points north. Use your judgment and do what you can. Green crew, points south. Yellow crew, points east. White crew, points west—starting with across-the-street. Move!”

More incredible noise as four fire trucks roar to life and speed away, sirens blaring. When they’re gone, it’s only Max and dad.

“Should we look outside?” Max asks.

Dad gently unwraps his arms from around Max and goes to peek. “No, I think we should just stay here for a little bit.”

If dad thinks so, it’s probably a good idea.

But then from outside, somebody starts screaming. A woman but not mom. A horrible sound. It hurts Max’s ears, but in a different way than the explosion. The sound makes him more scared than ever. He can’t hold back tears any longer. “Does that lady need your help, dad?” Max asks.

Dad wraps his arms around Max even tighter than before.

Then something strange happens—a beeping sound, coming from dad’s pocket. Even though the fireman said everything was bricked, there was something still working. Dad gets that far-away look, the one that means he’s looking at something inside his head. Even in this light, Max sees dad’s eyes go wide. Then he looks confused. The far-away look is gone.

“Listen, Max, I’m going to go outside for just a little bit. You stay here and be safe. I’ll be right back. Don’t move.”

“Are you going to help that woman?” Max asks.

“No, I need to…yes, Max. I need to go see if I can help her. You stay right here. I’ll be just a minute. Stay put.” Max’s sight gets so blurry with tears that dad seems to melt away.

But he isn’t gone yet. “Max, this isn’t how I planned it, but I need to give you something important. Take good care of this. When the time comes, you’ll know what to do with it.” He hands Max a flattish box. It feels like plastic, and in the little bits of light, it shines like fake gold.

“What’s this for?” Max asks.

But it’s too late to ask. The room seems to get even quieter. Dad was always playing jokes. One time he laughed and laughed after telling Max that his new sneakers had voice-controlled auto-laces and Max talked himself hoarse trying to get them to work. But this time doesn’t seem very funny.

In the dark, time passes differently. Max had a wristwatch once, with a digital display and a little light that came on when you pressed a button. But he lost it. Now he wishes he had that wristwatch. Eventually, Max gets lonely and starts to cry. At first it’s quiet hot tears, but it gradually builds up into loud sobs that echo off the bays where the trucks used to park. Dad said he’d be right back. Why was he taking so long?

It’s hard to tell how much time slips past, but it seems like he waits forever, even after the sun comes up again. Max cries out in alarm when another explosion shakes the building around him. More things fell off of shelves and crash noisily on the ground.

When he can’t stand another minute alone, Max creeps to the door and opens it. There’s nobody around. Everything’s wrecked, and a few fires still burn in the distance. There’s a stink in the air, like a campfire smell but worse. He’s hungry.

But he’s so lonely. By the time he runs out of tears, one thing remains with crystalline certainty:

Max will never see his father again.

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