Olympus: It's Not Just a Game

Chapter 14

Mr. Avery and his children came straight to the mall from church. (Mrs. Avery had assured them all that she would be no help in Olympus.) Mr. Huber and Jacob were already in their cybersuits. The Averys peered into the monitors and saw them searching vainly through the village. "We'd better get in there to help them!" Nancy squeaked.

There were only two cubicles free, which was a problem. Mr. Avery helped Noah and Nancy into them and then looked around impatiently. A boy in a wheelchair was looking at him, curiously. "Say, you over there," Mr. Avery began. "Is there any way a guy can bump somebody out of one of these things?"

"Not likely," laughed the kid in the chair. "People sometimes spend all week waiting for a turn in there." He looked around the arcade. "You're lucky it's Sunday. It's usually a lot more crowded than this." Mr. Avery groaned. "What's going on?" the boy asked. It was Wheeler.

"We're trying to find a runaway," Mr. Avery confessed.

"Here, at the arcade?"

"No, in Olympus," answered Mr. Avery.

"He ran away to Olympus?" said Wheeler. "Cool!"

"You want to help us try to find him?"

"Yeah, I wish," said Wheeler. "They don't make a cybersuit for cripples like me." He looked down at his withered legs. "But what about my buddies, Mad and Rad?" he asked. "They know Olympus. Have them help you look."

"Would they?"

"Hey, if you paid for their game, they'd shoot their grandmother."

"If they know Olympus, it would probably be better than having me play," Mr. Avery mused. "It's been a long time since I played any video games, much less something like this."

"Just wait, then. One of them is bound to run out of coins any minute now."

In a few minutes, a cybercubicle door burst open, and a pale-faced boy came out. "Arggh," he said. "I don't know why I waste my money on this!"

"That's Rad," Wheeler informed Mr. Avery. "Hey, Rad, you want to keep playing?"

"Oh, yeah, sure, but I got no coins!" the other boy snapped. "This game is such a rip-off!"

Mr. Avery pulled out a picture of Karl they had dug up late last night. "Help me find this kid, and I'll pay your way."

"Huh?" said Rad, surprised. "You'll pay to keep me playin'?"

"That's right," said Mr. Avery. "If you'll help me find this guy." He held up the picture of Karl.

"Like, a reward or something?" Rad asked. The boy squinted at the photo in the gloom. "I've seen him! He's been around."

"Right," answered Mr. Avery. "And he's somewhere in Olympus right now. We just have to find him!"

"Mega cool!" said Rad. "So, it's like a manhunt."

"That's it."

"You bet," grunted Rad. He shoved his helmet back on. "Start her up, Mr. Man."

Mr. Avery fed a roll of dollar coins into the machine. "This is getting expensive," he muttered to himself.

He stepped back into the corridor where Wheeler perched. There were now five people hunting for Karl. The monitor outside each cubicle showed a different scene, but none of them showed Karl. Mr. Avery settled in to see how Nancy was doing. She was interrogating one of the peasants.