Read Online The Game of Lives by James Dashner - Free Book Online Page B

of them died.”
    That was enough to set Walter off again. “Only two? Only two. I think you mean four. You gave the true death to two people, so two humans and two Tangents. Four beings who will never exist again. Without consulting any of us, you decided to go against every principle we agreed to when we joined you. And you’re supposed to be our leader!”
    Helga stood up and slammed her hand on the table. “Yes! I’m your leader! And I did what I had to do! A lot more people would’ve died if I hadn’t done that—you know it, Walter!”
    “We could’ve fought them,” the man countered. “We could’ve stood our ground and fought. Or we could’ve surrendered and started over. Or tried negotiating more. Anything but resorting to the one thing we’re trying to prevent!”
    “He gave us an ultimatum,” Helga said more calmly. “I couldn’t risk him blowing those explosives and killing every one of us. Including four people”—she pointed at Bryson, Sarah, Gerard, and Nancy, one by one—“who aren’t backed up on the Hive yet. You want to talk about true death—well, these people are our friends, and I wasn’t going to sit back and allow that to happen to them. I had no choice!”
    “You did have a choice,” Walter answered.
    Helga sat back down. “A lot more lives were saved than lost.”
    “But—” Walter started, but Helga cut him off.
    “Stop!” she shouted. “If you want to go out there and organize a coup, then do it. Go make your case and gather your votes. But what I did was necessary, and it’s time to move on.”
    Walter didn’t answer. And he didn’t leave, either. He looked down at the floor, breathing heavily.
    Michael sat, stunned, taking it all in, not sure he understood what was happening. The thing that really stood out to him was when Helga had pointed at his friends and Sarah’s parents. She’d very deliberately pointed at them, but not him. That simple gesture meant everything.
    “Once and for all,” Bryson interrupted the silence. “Can someone please tell us—what is the true death?”
    “Straight out.” Sarah nodded.
    Helga leaned forward on the desk and clasped her hands together. “Remember what I explained earlier? Even if we’re not sure exactly how it works, for a Tangent to exist inside the body of a human, a connection needs to remain to theoriginal person’s consciousness. It’s a link that can’t be severed or the body would die. We believe this is the reason the Hive exists.”
    She took a deep breath, studying her hands as she rubbed them together. “The true death is when an intelligence stored within the Hive is destroyed. It can be either a Tangent or a human. Destroy it in the Hive and that…person, Tangent, consciousness, whatever you want to call it, is gone forever. And if it’s connected to a body here in the Wake, that body will die as well. They both cease to exist, as far as we know.”
    She paused. “But that’s just one way for the so-called true death to happen. What it really means is quite simple. It’s when anyone—Tangent or human—dies without having a backup stored. However the death happens, virtually or in reality. If there’s no backup in the Hive, then a person’s intelligence, memories, and essence are gone forever.”
    Michael was picturing the Hive in his mind. He wondered how they did it—how they killed a consciousness. He imagined floating in that vast space with all those orange pods, igniting one with a virtual flamethrower. He could almost hear the screams as the intelligence inside was burned to a crisp.
    He shook the image out of his head and turned to Helga. “I’m still stored there, right?”
    Everyone in the room looked at him.
    Slowly, Helga nodded.
    “And so is Jackson Porter,” he continued. “So we could still insert him back into this body and I could go on existing in the Sleep. Right?”
    Helga nodded again. She seemed almost sad.
    “And the reason that you pointed at Sarah and the