Kepler62 #2: The Countdown E-Book

Bjørn Sortland

• Herausgeber: Arctis US
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Serie: Kepler62
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 75

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Children from all over the world are trying to complete the video game KEPLER62. Marie, the fourteen‐year‐old daughter of a wealthy arms manufacturer in Norway, uses unorthodox methods to win. But what is her prize? Marie is flown to Area 51 in Nevada, where she's recruited into a select group of children who are leaving Earth to investigate and settle on a faraway planet believed to be capable of supporting life. Marie is advised not to go on the mission, but it's no longer her choice.

Leseprobe

Bjørn Sortland / Timo Parvela

Kepler62: THE COUNTDOWN

Translated by Owen F. Witesman

Illustrated by Pasi Pitkänen

The authors would like to thank the WSOY Literature Foundation.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are from the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously.

W1-Media Inc.

Arctis Books USA

Stamford, CT, USA

Copyright © 2023 by W1-Media Inc. for this edition

Text © Bjørn Sortland, Timo Parvela 2015

Illustrations © Pasi Pitkänen 2015

Complete Work © Bjørn Sortland, Timo Parvela, Pasi Pitkänen, and WSOY, 2015

Layout Design: Pasi Pitkänen

First published in 2015 simultaneously in Finnish by Werner Söderström Ltd with the original title Kepler62—Kirja 2: Lähtölaskenta, and in Norwegian by Piggsvin with the original title Kepler62—Nedtelling.

This English-language edition has been published by arrangement with Bonnier Rights Finland.

First English edition published by W1-Media Inc./Arctis Books USA2023

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, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher and copyright owner.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022951139

English translation copyright © Owen F. Witesman, 2023

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, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher and copyright owner.

ISBN978-1-64690-631-4

www.arctis-books.com

BOOK TWO: THE COUNTDOWN

1.

“I finally did it . . .” says a boy’s voice. “You said I could call anytime.”

Three seconds pass before I realize who it is. I look at the clock. It’s almost three a.m. This is around the time I usually go to sleep.

“Okay,” I say, I hope in what sounds like a calm, relaxed tone. “Not a word about this to anyone. Come right now. Take a taxi. I’ll pay. Ask the driver to leave you by the fountain. You won’t get through the gate without me.”

“Okay,” he says, and the line goes dead.

I don’t tell him that if he does try the gate, he’ll be shot. He probably knows that.

My heart beats wildly in my chest.

Everyone said there was a secret level in the game. And I mean everyone.

Everyone was talking about Kepler62 before the game even came out. The Web was full of wild rumors and speculation. And social media. And the newspapers. And TV. And the radio.

Of course, most of it was just hype. But still. “Be part of the story” was the slogan. But what was the story?

Anyone able to think two things at the same time knows that the government lies. Seriously: Who would trust a government that begins and ends every message with the phrase “The government is our friend”?

People who trust that have one-idea brains. And dearly hope that the government is our friend. And can’t stand the idea that maybe it isn’t after all.

I’ve always suffered from thinking too many things at once. I don’t believe that the government is our friend. I don’t have any real friends. Not one. That’s why I’m free to do what I like. I don’t care about anyone.

But all the Kepler62 nonsense aroused my curiosity. For once there was something I couldn’t get my hands on first. Something with a challenge.

The game wasn’t only a media sensation.

All my supposed friends were also talking about it. Along with all my enemies, who are not few in number. Even my gym teacher mentioned it. Finally, something is happening that I can’t find an answer for on Wikipedia, or that I can’t solve by cheating or buying the solution.

I have to play Kepler62. Through to the end. According to the rumors, something amazing will happen then. But no one knows what. I just had to wait until the game was released.

The newspapers, the Internet, social media, and television are full of news about a great space expedition, a new chance for the human race. There’s a brass band and flags flying and candy for all the good girls and boys. Who cares? Not me. The whole thing is just a government propaganda exercise.

The government is afraid that people will lose their faith in a better future. And we need help.

No one around me talks about it, but for a long time I’ve wondered whether our world is headed for annihilation. There are too many of us, the climate is too messed up, people fight too much, and

bacterium have become too resistant. You could say the mood isn’t the best.

I don’t personally like playing games, and I’m not a details person. But at the end of Kepler62, there was a dagger no one could figure out a use for other than scraping at the last wooden door that appeared at the end.

Playing the game was cheap, and you didn’t have to buy add-ons or anything to get to the next level. Only the final stage required logging in to the Web. The game was so hard it made people go crazy with frustration, and I liked that.

The rumors were true. There was something behind the door that led to the hundredth level. A secret. Some South Korean boy had solved it. And a Finnish boy, and a Canadian girl. Along with a few others. The users wouldn’t reveal anything, but I’d seen pictures of them in advertisements wearing some sort of uniform. There was a picture of each one with the Kepler62 logo. “We found the solution. It was irritatingly easy,” the pictures said.

And by the way, it isn’t true that you can’t buy the solution. Of course it can be bought, just like everything else. Like friends, a boyfriend, or any small, poor country. You can buy whatever you can afford. A beep tells me I’ve received a text message:

We’ll be at the fountain soon.

Are you coming out or what?

2.

My fingers go to the heart pendant around my neck, a memento from my mother. I always do that when I’m nervous. But I can’t bring myself to look at the picture inside very often.

I put on my mother’s old red coat, which I haven’t been able to throw away.

Outside it’s raining big, cold, wet droplets, and I take care not to slip on the steps, which are made of bone-white Carrara marble. The price of the marble and shipping was at least half a million dollars. Then I walk to the gigantic water-pistol fountain designed by the billionaire artist Jeff Koons at my father’s request.

The taxi driver looks like he’d like to file a child welfare report. The only children who go out at night are the machinelike neuro-tuned ones.

If it’s possible, Halfman-halfbiscuit05 looks even more pale, stressed, and scattered than usual.

I say nothing until the driver has rolled up his window and driven away.

I paid three computer nerds to stand in line outside a store all night the day before the game was released. Downloading it wasn’t an option. I’d assigned each to buy ten copies, because I’d heard that if you died too many times, it locked up and wouldn’t let you finish. Next, I paid them to play, for finishing all the early levels and getting to the final one. I ordered them to continue day and night.

The whole operation went much more slowly than I’d expected.

And they were top players with no other life. In that way, we’re alike. They don’t even have names anyone remembers. Their aliases have become their only identification. They don’t go outside and are my friends, but only because I pay them.

Halfman-halfbiscuit05 has long, greasy hair. He’s dressed in an enormous raincoat and looks like a character from an action movie. Along with the raincoat, he has on old army pants, scuffed combat boots, and a T-shirt that says Bazinga! Of all the players on my payroll, only he succeeded in passing the final level. I knew he would.

“It was the hardest game ever,” he says. “Truly sick. It took me six tries to get through. Everyone gets to Level 99 and then . . .”

“Okay,” I say. “But you got through the hundredth level, too, right?”

I try to keep my voice calm.

“Yes,” Halfman-halfbiscuit05 says, and takes a breath. “I did.”

My heart skips four beats. “And?”

He takes another deep breath.

“I’m not sure, but I think this is a big deal, Marie. It isn’t actually a game, it’s—”

Interrupting him, I say, “Let’s go inside.”

We walk up the stairs and enter through the massive metal door, which originally belonged to a Spanish cathedral. If you open both front large French windows, it’s so tall and wide that a Cessna could take off and fly out.