Cryptogram Chaos: A Virtual Reality Adventure

By Linda Covella

*Winner of the 2016 Gold Medal from Literary Classics for Teen Fiction!

What if you were 8, or 11, or 14, and you could race cars at 150 mph, bungee jump, fly, eat all the ice cream and candy you wanted, or become powerful avatars such as Robobug, Kulshedra the dragon, and Altai, the gryphon avatar?

All this

• Language: English
• Publisher: Linda Covella
• Release date: Mar 9, 2016
• ISBN: 9780692667095

Book preview

Cryptogram Chaos

A Virtual Reality Adventure

Cryptogram Chaos

A Virtual Reality Adventure A Reality

by

LINDA COVELLA

Cryptogram Chaos

A Virtual Reality Adventure

Linda Covella

Copyright © 2016 by Linda Covella

All rights reserved.

ISBN-13: 978-0-692-59911-2

ISBN-13 9780692667095 (e-book)

This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Printed in the United States of America

Cover design by Rebecca Treadway Interior Typesetting by Jo Michaels of INDIE Books Gone Wild

The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by fines and federal imprisonment.

Dedication:

Dedicated to my husband, Charlie: my best friend, my soulmate, the love of my life.

Acknowledgements

First, I want to thank my readers. You’re the reason I spin my stories. I hope with Cryptogram Chaos you find fun and adventure and the feeling of warmth and support that good friends provide.

I’d like to send a very big thank you to my amazing critique partners: Dale Ibitz, Chrissie Pollock, Mary Beth Schewitz, Linda Stanek, and Jen Funk Weber. You gals are wonderful writers, sharp critics, and great friends. You helped me work through many versions of this story, and I’m so happy with the final result and the help and support you gave me!

A big thank you to engineering consultant Charles Allan for his help with the technical aspects of the story. Any errors are entirely on me!

Others also helped me understand things I had no idea about or no experience with: Casey Dale, President of the North American Bungee Association and Barry Chase, skydiving instructor extraordinaire with too many credentials to list here!

Last, as always, thank you to my husband, Charlie, for his love and continued support of my writing.

Also by Linda Covella

Yakimali’s Gift

The Castle Blues Quake

Book One in the Ghost Whisperer Series

The Ghosts of Pebble Brook Lodge

Book Two in the Ghost Whisperer Series

Contents

The Neuro Virtual Reality Ultra ZX10

Mizz Popularity

CACA

Nicole’s Game Idea

Three Virtual Gamers

Louie’s New Home

The Game is Complete

The Cryptogram Connection—Level One

The Cryptogram Connection—Level Two

The Cryptogram Connection—Level Three

It’s the Game, Stupid

The Meeting at NuVision Games

Cyber Adventure Games, Inc.

Wiley’s Offer

Everybody Wants to Play

The Cryptogram Connection—Level One

The Cryptogram Connection—Level Two

The Cryptogram Connection—Level Three

Television Celebrities

The Almost Kiss

Something Isn’t Right

The Truth

The Plan

The Shadowy Halls of NuVision

Cryptogram Chaos

A Babbling Crook

Friends and Crystal Goblets

*In the back of the book:

Answers to cryptograms and bonus content from the author: Notes on Cryptography and Cryptograms Notes on Sensors, Mind Control, and Virtual Reality

Ifollowed my brother Brad down the long hallway. Video displays flush with the walls flashed scenes from NuVision’s games: Androids fighting with laser swords, transformer-type machines battling it out on desert planets, and alien assassins targeting places and people on Earth.

So where are we going? I asked.

The lab, Brad said.

Cool. I’d only been in the lab one other time. Having a brother who worked at the number one computer game manufacturer had its advantages. He’d started his after-school job at NuVision as a sophomore. In just two years, he’d made it into the inner sanctum, which is what I called the lab.

He stopped in front of the elevator and pushed the down button. Jamming his hands in his pockets, he practically bounced on his toes.

What are you so amped about? I asked.

He just grinned. I picked at my name tag. Something was up, and my legs suddenly tensed like coiled springs: I couldn’t wait to get to the lab.

Inside the elevator, we dropped down two floors then stepped out into a bright hallway. The elevator doors closed behind us with an echoing thud. We faced a metal door labeled with red lettering: Authorized Personnel Only. Brad swiped a card through a magstripe reader, and opened the door.

White lab benches, shoved against two walls, held test equipment, beeping and blinking with sharply pointed green-lined graphs. Four computer systems with monitors like giant projection TVs hummed against the other two walls.

Brad’s boss, Mr. Gifford, came at us with a big grin. Cody! Good to see you again. He pumped my hand, jerking my arm, my shoulders, my whole body until my teeth clacked. We have something extra special to show you today, and I hope you can help us.

He let go of my hand, and I popped my arm bone back into its socket. Sure, Mr. Gifford. I hope I can, too.

At NuVision, Brad learned the latest game technology and passed it on to me. Before long, with Gifford’s okay, he was bringing home every new game for me to try and taking them back with major improvements I’d made.

We’d been into computers and gaming since we were kids. Though Brad was an ace programmer, I, a lowly freshman, could write code better than him and even many of the programmers at NuVision. Brad had to work at it; somehow my brain just clicked on all those constructors, destructors, and functions. He was cool about it, though. We were a team, united by our love of gaming and our father’s hate of the same.

Gifford led us to one of the lab benches and picked up a plastic cap. Of course you know what this is.

Sure. The Neuro Virtual Reality Cap. I had one; almost every kid did. It’d made virtual reality games a, well, a reality for the first time. The five electrodes inside the cap transmitted signals to your brain, fooling it into tasting, hearing, feeling, seeing, and smelling what was programmed into the game.

As you may remember, we developed this technology from early studies where scientists used electrodes to stimulate the brain, Gifford said. Further tests were done with electrodes implanted in monkeys’ brains.

They wore a cap, sort of like the NVR, I said. And they were able to control robots with their thoughts. I loved talking with them about this stuff; they treated me like an equal instead of a loser kid just wasting their time.

Gifford set down the cap. That’s all well and good. We changed gaming as we knew it. He picked up a headpiece. Today, we’re revolutionizing it. I present to you the NVR Ultra ZX10. He gazed at the headpiece as if his wife just handed him his newborn kid and named it Garrett Gifford Jr.

The Ultra made the cap look clunky and outdated. Two crisscrossed, thin plastic ribs connected four sensors. He handed it to me; it weighed about as much as a birthday card.

Like the NVR Cap, the programs for the Ultra can be accessed thru a smartphone, tablet, any computer device. And of course, it’s wireless, Gifford said. But before we get into more technological aspects, would you like to give it a try? His face lit up, like he couldn’t wait for me to say yes.

And I wasn’t about to say no. Sure! My voice squeaked. I sounded like a dork, but I didn’t care.

You won’t get the full effect since it’s not programmed for a specific game, Gifford said. But you’ll get an idea of its capability. He typed onto a keyboard. The lights in the lab dimmed. One of the large monitors glowed blue, and then yellow letters appeared: NVR ULTRA ZX10_OCEAN/CAVE/DESERT.

My brother put on a headpiece, too. He gave me a weird smile: mysterious but excited. My stomach twisted into a knot, a knot of anticipation, like I knew something major was about to happen.

Copying Brad, I put the headpiece on with the red sensor resting on my forehead, two white ones on either side of my head and another white one pressed against the back. Other than that, I didn’t feel a thing. Maybe it wasn’t programmed right. I was about to take it off and let Gifford check it when suddenly the lab vanished.

I stood on a beach, barefoot and wearing shorts. Seagulls screeched. Waves crashed onto the shore; the warm water flowed over my feet, and I sank an inch into the sand as the wave rolled back out.

Someone sat a ways down on the beach, a guy with dark hair wearing a bathing suit. It was Brad. What…?

He waved and shouted, Hey Cody, come on. Let’s go for a swim.

I stood frozen while he jumped up and dove into the waves. How-how was he here, in my virtual world? I waded into the water and braced myself against a wave crashing against my legs. I licked drops of salty water off my lips and breathed in the smells of the ocean: fish, seaweed, salty air.

A silvery flash arced from the water. Cool, a dolphin. No, wait, a shark! Its huge jaws opened. It came at me. All I could see were razor-sharp teeth and a black mouth as big as a—

I stood in a cave, on the shore of an underground, almost-still river. Stalactites dripped into the jade-colored water; the sound of the drops echoed forever. Goose bumps from the cold air covered my arms.

Then, a quiet splashing, and an aluminum rowboat appeared from around a corner. Someone worked the oars, steering the boat toward me. Brad again.

Hey, bro, he called, his voice echoing: bro…bro…bro… "I’ll pick you up…up…up… up…."

A hideous smell like the inside of a porta potty wafted from the back of the cave. A smell so strong I tasted it and gagged. Out of the blackness behind Brad came a pair of glowing yellow eyes. Then another. And another. Lurching forward, getting bigger, closer…

My throat closed, and I croaked, Brad, watch out behind you!

He looked over his shoulder. The eyes—

—were gold coins. Thousands of them spilled out of a jewel-encrusted treasure chest onto the desert sand. Palm trees rattled, surrounding a circle of blue water. The openings of large tents snapped in the hot wind. The smell of cinnamon made my mouth water, and there in my palm lay a piece of warm cake. I took a bite and tasted dates and almonds and cinnamon. I’d landed smack dab in the middle of an Arabian paradise.

A sharp light flashed above me. I looked up at a curved sword at least five feet long, its razor edge gleaming, falling, aimed right for my neck. Brad ran toward me, swinging another sword. He’d never make it in time to save me…

I snatched off the headpiece and grabbed onto the lab bench. The inside of my head roared. I felt shaky, but I couldn’t help grinning.

What do you think, son? Gifford asked.

It’s-it’s awesome! But, I don’t get it. How could I see Brad, how could we talk to each other? It was like we were in the same game or something.

Exactly, Brad said.

My nerves still buzzed from the NVR Ultra, and now even more as the realization of what just happened sank in.

As you know, Gifford said, the old NVR Cap is a transmitter.

Sending information into the brain, Brad said. So it’s just you and the game.

Yeah, right, I said.

The Ultra also acts as a transceiver. It will still transmit information into the gamers’ brains, but it will also receive information from their brains. A gamer’s brain activity can then be sent into the game.

Bi-directional communication, Brad said. So now—

So now… I was totally getting it. Players can interact in the game. Holy…

These biosensors on the Ultra pick up brainwaves from the four lobes of the cerebral cortex, Gifford said. The part of the brain that processes reasoning, emotions, and recognition, visuals, sound, and speech. Everything necessary for this level of virtual reality to work.

It was all so real, I said. I mean, the cap is cool. But it always felt like you were in a dream. The Ultra blows the cap out of the water.

This is just the beginning, Gifford said. He turned the headpiece, checking out the sensors. We have some kinks to work out. He gave me a serious look, a wrinkle forming between his eyes. He rested his hand on my shoulder. And we want your help, Cody.

Brad and I walked back down the hallway. I was still in a daze. NuVision was about to change gaming in a major way. And I was going to be in the thick of it.

A guy passed us. He reminded me of a rat. Short legs. Tiny, darting eyes. Front teeth gnawing on lower lip. He scuttled past. His ice-blue eyes locked on mine for a few seconds then darted away.

What’s up with him? I asked Brad.

That’s Eamon Wiley, Brad said. The new VP of engineering. Something about that guy…I just steer clear of him and let Gifford deal with him.

I looked over my shoulder at Wiley. He leaned in his office doorway, his ankles crossed, supposedly reading some paper. But I caught him watching Brad and me. His stare was intense: scheming, calculating, like the bad buy in a movie who has something sinister up his sleeve. And the way he was eyeing us, I couldn’t help feeling that somehow it involved me or Brad or both of us.

Steer clear of him. Good advice. I’d be sure to do just that.

Saturday morning, and the arcade was packed. Video game arcades had made some sort of comeback. Even though everyone owned computers and smartphones, we loved coming to the arcade. For the other kids, it was a place to hang with their friends. For me, it was an escape from home and my parents, and during the week, an escape from school.

Brandon and Eric stood next to machines in the back corner—our usual spot—taking turns with the joystick. They weren’t really friends so much as some guys to hang with, fellow nerds, the low guys on the totem pole of school popularity. I wasn’t your typical skinny-guy-with-glasses kind of nerd, but in the town of Wellesley Gardens, which was close to Stanford (and their obsession with football) and San Francisco (home of the 49ers and the Giants), if you weren’t into sports, you weren’t in.

Hey, you guys, I said.

How’s it going? Brandon asked. Check out Eric’s score. Best yet.

Cool. I bumped fists with Eric then started jabbing keys on Rogue Missile, the game next to theirs. The screen exploded with orange and yellow fireballs.

Where were you last period yesterday? Eric asked. The Warden hit us with a surprise quiz.

I groaned. I tried to time the days I cut class when no tests were scheduled. If I couldn’t make up the quiz, it’d mess up my grade even more. And that would mean another talk with my father.

Two guys walked up to the machine next to mine. I stayed focused on the screen, but out of the corner of my eye, I could see they were from my class: Josh and Ryan. They crowded my space, and I moved over a couple of steps. Eric, Brandon, and I eyed each other, like here we go.

Looky who’s here, Josh said. It’s the Geek Squad.

Actually, Eric said, we prefer ‘nerd’ instead of ‘geek’.

He was being sarcastic, but it was actually true. I mean, originally ‘geek’ meant someone who bit the heads off of animals. Not a profession I wanted to be associated with.

We prefer nerd, Ryan mimicked in a nasal voice. What losers.

Josh turned to me and gave me a shove. Hey, you gotta play right on top of me?

My face burned. The heat spread to my ears, and I knew they’d be turning as red as Rudolph’s nose. I was here first, I said, stopping myself from adding a few choice descriptive words. I suppose I could have shoved him back—I was taller than him—but didn’t want to start some fight that I knew Eric and Brandon would reluctantly but loyally join.

"Oh, wah