MetaWars: Fight For The Future

Chapter 27

High up in the sky, they sat beneath a potted tree, around a meeting table.

Axel was still having trouble taking it all in. ‘So, you’re Mr Chang,’ he repeated. ‘CEO of the Chang Corporation. The third richest man in the world.’

‘The second, I believe,’ said the Chinese boy. ‘If you check today’s stock price.’

‘You’re just a kid!’ said Axel.

‘What my dad means to say,’ said Sam, diplomatically, ‘is that Chang Corp has been in business for over twenty years. You couldn’t have been born when—’

‘My father built up the company,’ said the boy. ‘He was Mr Chang too, of course. I inherited Chang Corp on my fourteenth birthday.’

‘And you’ve doubled its size in two and a half years,’ said Sam.

‘I had excellent tutors, my father included. At school, I learned everything I needed to know about science and technology. At home, I was instructed in business.’

Jonah couldn’t quite believe it. He still had no idea what he wanted to do with his life and the events of the past few days had confused him all the more. And yet, Mr Chang had it all sorted out.

‘So, you’re the inventor of the Chang Bridge,’ said

Bradbury.

‘Straight to the point,’ said Mr Chang. ‘My father

would have approved. Of course, since Jonah and I spoke in the Metasphere, a few things have changed.’

‘Not as far as we’re concerned,’ said Axel. ‘Our plans remain the same.’

‘I am most pleased to hear it. Having Matthew Granger back in control of the virtual world is, shall we say, bad for my business.’

‘It’s bad news for everyone,’ said Bradbury. ‘That’s why we’re here, Mr Chang. We have to act now. We need your invention.’

Mr Chang reached into his suit jacket. He produced a small, thin, silver box. It was no larger than a personal hard drive. It had a row of LEDs on its front edge, three ports on the rear. Etched into its top surface was a hologram of a coiled, golden dragon, similar to Mr Chang’s own avatar.

‘That’s it?’ said Jonah.

‘Indeed,’ said Mr Chang. ‘You were expecting something...?’

‘Bigger,’ said Sam. ‘Definitely much bigger.’

‘Gotta hand it to you, kid,’ said Axel, quickly correcting himself, ‘I mean, Mr Chang. If that box does half of what you claim it does, then I don’t care how old you are or where you went to school. You’re a genius!’

Bradbury had picked up the device. He turned it over in his hands, inspecting it. ‘What do we do with it?’ he asked.

‘The Chang Bridge must be physically interfaced with the servers of any of the Four Corners,’ said Mr Chang. ‘Once this has been achieved, the rest is automatic. The device will take a little under a minute to do its work.’

‘Less than a minute?’ said Bradbury. He looked at Mr Chang, suspiciously. ‘To back up one-quarter of the Metasphere’s data?’

‘My goodness, no. That would be quite impossible.’

Axel and Bradbury exchanged a glance. They both leapt to their feet. Jonah spotted Bradbury’s hand twitching in the direction of his concealed shotgun, and he felt his stomach tightening. He looked around for more Chang Corp men. He couldn’t see any, but he knew they couldn’t be too far away. He didn’t want to end up in the middle of another armed standoff.