Grid Wars

By KC Martin

It is the year 2061 and Grid World is now a thriving world with over two hundred thousand people. Paul Wilson was the first visitor to this digital paradise and he has now lived there for thirty years.

With the help of those that had followed him Paul has now created a beautiful paradise world with no crime, disease or famine. Everyone does their part for the good of Grid World and everyone is treated on equal terms no matter their gender, colour or sexual preference.

Sadly life is very different back in what is termed ‘the real world’. Continual global wars, devastation and starvation has now ravaged the population and those few that survive and now nothing more than slaves working for Supreme Commander Chang and his murderous armies.

Chang meanwhile is very aware of the existence of Grid World and when he gains total global dominance he begins to cast his envious attention towards the digital utopia that exists below his feet. If he is unable to conquer Grid World then he will destroy it and everyone that is living there.

Can Grid World survive against an army that has over one million drug crazed soldiers and a genocidal leader? Will they fall the way of the nations on the planet’s surface or will Paul lead them to victory.

Who, if any, will survive?

• Language: English
• Publisher: KC Martin
• Release date: Feb 25, 2019
• ISBN: 9781729261019

KC Martin

I am the proud Author of The Grid Warrior trilogy, The Agile Tester and SpiceTheWorld

Book preview

GRID WARS

THE FOLLOW UP TO

THE GRID WARRIOR

KC Martin

Copyright © KC Martin (2018)

The right of KC Martin to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

www.thegridwarrior.com

www.kevsbox.com

First Published (2018)

Chapter 1

The sound of bird’s whistling in the trees and a wolf howling in the distance caused Paul Wilson to stir slowly from his pleasant and restful sleep. He glanced at the fishing rod which was hanging over the lake and realised there was no fresh catch waiting to be hauled in. Paul sighed lazily, it had been a good mornings fishing already, in his keep net were a dozen good sized trout waiting to be released when he packed up for the day. Above him, the warm sun shone brightly and the occasional cloud also floated lazily across the sky.

Also in the sky, there were numerous birds of various sizes and colour. In the far distance, he could also see a large eagle soaring majestically high up in the sky.

It was a very beautiful day. In fact, it was a perfect day. For Paul there were no worries, his world was at peace. The sun was shining brightly and the breeze was warm. Also, low in the eastern sky one of the world’s four moons was just visible in the bright sky and he knew another would be rising within the hour. Everyone in this world was healthy, happy and content, especially Paul. Over the past thirty years, he had barely aged at all and the painful memories of losing his brother and most of his research team had faded with the onset of passing time. Now many years later he was very healthy, extremely happy and married to a very beautiful young woman called Sandra and they were considering starting a family.

Sitting next to him on the bank of the lake that he had named Baffin’s pond so many years ago was his favourite Gryphon. Her name was Rosie and as was always the case while Paul fished, she slept and snored gently in the warm sun.

Paul looked at Rosie and smiled happily.

Rosie was more than a flying mount for Paul. This beautiful half lion, half eagle creature had been his companion for just over twenty-five years now and although she was, in reality, nothing more than a computer-generated collection of sprites and machinery he could not help but feel for Rosie in the same way other people felt for their beloved pet dog or horse.

Paul’s attention was drawn back to the lake as a large fish jumped high into the air and then returned to the water with a splash.

Suddenly out of the blue a feeling of Déjà vu then hit him as Paul thought back to a very similar morning thirty years previous. On that morning he had also awoken next to a small body of water. In that instance, it had been known as Crystal Lake. He could remember very clearly the pain he had suffered during his journey into that world and the fact he had collapsed in agony just after arrival. At that time he had barely been able to crawl under the closest large bush before violently vomiting and falling into a much needed and deep sleep.

There he had stayed until the following morning. That had been the start of his adventure in the digital world; never again would Paul venture back to what was known as the ‘real world’.

That had been his first experience of the world he would then call home for five years. Paul’s initial arrival had caused a lot of problems with the game grids owners at that time, the end result being the death of his brother and most of his university research team as well as very nearly his own destruction.

During that first human crossing from the real world to a digital game world, Paul had arrived fitted with specially designed software which would help keep him alive. This included the ability to create objects as required such as weapons, food and drink. These skills he still retained but all future arrivals did not, they had to rely on items being created by the grids controlling operating system and matter generation computers.

This, however, had never been a problem. Food and water were easily generated and when preferred food could also be grown or captured by fishing or hunting. As a result, there had never been any shortage of supplies or resources as the population steadily grew.

Thirty years later on, the Crystal Lake and all other parts of that game grid no longer existed and five years after his initial arrival Paul had moved to the world he currently inhabited and the place that had been his home for just over twenty-five years. This world, which was known by the residents as Grid World had been initially designed and built by Paul. He had written and started the initial creation programs himself but as a fellow, like-minded people started to make their way into the game grid they all joined in and helped with the continuing creation process.

Paul had known that the original game grid owners were looking for a good time to permanently close it all down and therefore rid themselves of him and his viral legend. He also knew they could not do it until the number of subscribed players had collapsed to a figure which would justify them closing it all down as a loss making business. He had calculated this would take Future Games, the grid owners at that time, five years to complete the process and so he had planned to have his replacement world up and running six months before the calculated deadline and final shutdown.

The replacement world, as already noted was called Grid World. There was currently one inhabitable land mass in Grid World and this was known as the Isle of Light. Paul had designed the shape of the new world to be an island very similar to a location he had known well when he had resided in his hometown of Portsmouth. This location was the Isle of Wight, a small island visible from the beaches of Portsmouth. The main town in the new world was also called Portsmouth and many of the smaller villages were named after areas of his home city.

Feeling totally at peace with the world Paul lay back on the grass and stared off towards the Misty Mountains which were situated to the south-west of his current location. In the distance, he noticed three people on their mounts flying over one of the lower peaks and another four soaring towards one of the higher peaks. They were all too far away to recognise but Paul realised they were probably enjoying themselves as much as he was fishing as they soared high up in the sky and over the mountain peaks. It was an activity he also enjoyed on a regular basis and he fully understood the attraction and flying up high and around the mountain valleys and peaks.

Every resident in Grid World had a regular range of duties to complete every week. These involved duties such as helping with food production, maintenance and cleaning. Most duties were controlled by the computers that also maintained the integrity of the world and as a result no one actually worked for more than fifteen hours a week. The rest of the time was taken up playing sports, watching live stage or music shows and generally having a good, relaxing time. In a very stark contrast to the horrors he regularly witnessed in what they still termed the real world, here within Grid World life was calm, relaxed and totally crime free.

With a population of just over two hundred thousand, Grid World was also now becoming extremely crowded. Also every day more people were making the jump into the grid and the population continued to expand. As a result, a new Island was nearing completion. Larger than the current island that everyone was currently living on, the Isle of peace as it was being called, would be ready for habitation within two weeks and already seventy percent of the population had expressed an interest in moving islands and help create a new, larger paradise.

This response had pleased Paul. It meant that he himself would not have to uproot and move. He was settled in his home that he shared with Sandra in the village of Southsea and he had no desire to move from the area he loved so much. The fact that more than half the population was happy to move meant that the overcrowding would soon be a thing of the past and they would be able to continue allowing people in from the living hell that had once been his world and home.

The ‘real world’ as it was termed had for the last twenty years been governed by a single global government. This was a ruthless and savage dictatorship which was effectively run by one man. This man, known to the world as Supreme Commander Chang now ruled the entire planet with an iron fist and a fully loaded gun.

The decrease of quality of life in the real world for the mass population was something that had become more extremely alarming for Paul and his fellow inhabitants over the past twenty years. Although they had no official figures available their constant monitoring of news outlets and the internet allowed the estimate of over one billion deaths in the past decade as the world government ruthlessly destroyed all opposition to its totalitarian, savage rule. The government leader, Supreme Commander Chang, had been seen on many occasions personally beheading anyone who dared oppose him.

Supreme Commander Chang had shown himself to be a man of little mercy and even less pity. In his mind, the average human was nothing more than a menial worker drone and anyone who dared disagree with his will was a traitor who deserved nothing more than execution. He had proven himself a ruthless and heartless dictator who was more than happy to execute his enemies with his own hands and no one was immune from his brutal retaliation. Chang had over the years executed women and children just as happily as he had executed men.

Paul could feel nothing but total revulsion for Chang. While he was a man who wanted nothing but peace and happiness for all, there were limits to his capacity to forgive and forget. Chang was a mass murdering maniac whom Paul would very happily kill if the chance ever arose. He also knew that the chance may well appear sometime in the near future, now that Chang’s armies had now totally suppressed any lingering opposition to his global rule Paul knew it was only a matter of time before they turned their attention towards Grid World.

Chang only had one purpose in life and that was to gain total control over all humankind no matter what the cost or where they were. The occasional threat he had made in regard to invading Grid World made it very obvious to Paul that sometime soon the terrifying and huge armies that Chang commanded would be heading their way. Paul also knew that with a population of just over two hundred thousand and with very little real combat experience if Chang’s armies broke through in any great number then a desperate battle for survival would follow. Paul and his fellow leaders were no fools. They knew that there would be little chance of survival at that point. Because of this plans were being put in place to ensure at least some of them would survive.

Paul checked his watch and sighed, it was just before four in the afternoon. He had a meeting with the council at five and therefore it was time to pack up his fishing equipment and head off back home. This meeting was now very important; there was a new sense of urgency in the council in relation to Chang’s recent victories and his total dominance and power in the real world.

Paul glanced across the lake one more time. The mirror glass stillness gave him a feeling of tranquillity that seemed to soothe his very soul. The water was crystal clear and he could easily see many of the fish that lazily swam under the surface.

He sighed gently and then decided it was time to pack up his kit and release the fish, they were not needed for food and nothing was ever wasted. It was the same with hunting, many people enjoyed the thrill of the hunt but the targets they chased were always specially created creatures that had no pain receptors or concept of fear. As a result, they never suffered pain or alarm in any way and were never used for food. The dangers with hunting were also tightly controlled, for while there always had to be a slight feeling of danger for the hunter and part of the experience the targets were always designed so that there would be very little danger of actual, major injury to the hunter.

It was for this reason that Paul was shocked to feel a surge of real, intense pain surge through his upper left leg as he walked towards his keep net at the water’s edge.

What the hell was that? He cried out while falling to the ground.

Stunned and shocked he looked at his left leg and was astounded to see an arrow protruding from the muscle just above his knee. He was even more astounded by the blood flow and the pain, suddenly Paul realised this was real and he was in danger.

At that moment a second arrow arrived and silently but luckily for Paul this one missed him and thudded into the dirt a mere four centimetres from his right hand.

Oh my god He muttered to himself Where are they?

Desperately he scanned the sky while struggling back to his feet. At first, he could see nothing but a blue sky, a bright sun and a few scattered clouds but then he just managed to make out a shadow directly between him and the sun. There were one, possibly two people hovering there on some sort of flying mount and their intention was to kill him.

Now fully attuned to the danger in front of him Paul decided it was time to get out of here.

Rosie He shouted and within seconds his favourite gryphon was awake and next to him. She seemed to be aware of the danger and within moments Paul was on board and they were soaring high into the sky. The keep net and fishing equipment were no longer important, the need to stay alive had now become Paul’s main focus.

Home Rosie Commanded Paul and she headed directly south towards the village of Southsea. Paul glanced behind him, now his attackers were giving chase and they were no longer hidden by the sun. There were indeed two of them and they were flying on classic rocket powered scooters. He could just make out the fact that they were both holding long bows and they were also starting to catch them.

Paul realised that they had no chance of outrunning the attackers in the clear sky. They were currently at the northern edge of the island and home was in the south. If he was to stay on board Rosie then his only chance was in the forest cover below, that way they could at least make it to the village of Buckland where the alarm could be raised and help found.

Rosie He cried Get down into the forest cover, quickly now

Rosie reacted immediately and within seconds they were just above the tree line and about to dive into cover. At that exact moment, Paul felt Rosie jolt in shock and he looked around to see two arrows protruding from her right flank. He looked in horror as a steady flow of sparks started flowing from Rosie. Although she was nothing more than a computer generated machine, Rosie had been Paul’s constant companion for many years and he did not relish the thought of losing her. He had also realised that the arrows that were being unleashed at them were not normal weapons, his own wound which was still bleeding and very painful was proof enough of that. Whatever the science behind these weapons they were designed to kill and they was proving to be very effective.

Paul realised that both of their futures were in serious jeopardy and they had to escape somehow.

Suddenly they lost altitude and speed and within seconds they were crashing into the forest floor. Paul was thrown clear of Rosie who then crashed headfirst into a large tree. As he rolled along the ground he was sickened to hear a loud, pain filled scream come from where Rosie had crashed and when he finally came to a halt he looked up with horror to see that she was no longer there.

All that remained of Rosie was a pile of burning electronic circuit boards and his riding gear. Pauls long favoured and best loved riding mount was dead.

No Cried a tearful Paul as he staggered to his feet and started to stumble towards the burning wreckage.

Rosie He called with tears falling down his face. Paul was beside himself with grief, he simply could not believe his