9
I SAT IN the briefing room at HQ. A shadowed figure stood paused on-screen in front of us, half hidden in the murky background. The only detail visible was a mouth with fanged teeth.
Gibson crossed his arms and nodded for Cline to hit play. The figure stepped into view. A troll’s face. Green skin. Boils. Grotesque. He smiled directly at the camera.
‘I have killed an enemy of the Holos,’ the troll said.
Then the screen split. Now we were looking at two faces. The troll and a goth vampire with incisors tipped with blood. Both avatars spoke as one.
‘Our virtual world must remain free from the tyranny of government,’ they said. ‘We must be allowed to satisfy our shadow side if we want to see the light. The more real this is, the more we will emerge from the darkness we have harnessed th
