Gamers' Rebellion by George Ivanoff

Quickly she crushed it under the heel of her boot. Her points tally jumped up … by five. ‘At five points a pop, it’ll take ages.’
    ‘Well, we better get to it then,’ said Tark, crushing a passing creature. He scoured the ground, jumping here and there, attempting to gather points.
    Zyra shook her head at the ridiculousness of the situation. ‘Maybe we could combine points,’ she mused. ‘Tark! Come here. Let’s select the drill together.’
    They both touched the image of the drill. It flashed green and the display disappeared.
    Zyra crouched down and picked up the handheld laser drill. She pointed it down and pressed a button. A bright red laser beam dug into the ground. After a few seconds, it had cut a fist-sized hole, so Zyra hit the off switch. She got down on her hands and knees and peered into the hole.
    ‘Can’t see anything,’ she said. ‘Just darkness.’
    ‘Access lighting equipment,’ said Tark, stepping on a passing spider just in case. He chose a small torch and handed it to Zyra.
    ‘Getting the hang of this,’ she said, shining it down into the hole. ‘Nothing!’
    ‘Now what?’ asked Tark.
    ‘I don’t know,’ admitted Zyra. ‘But it’s got to be here somewhere.’
    ‘Maybe we’re in the wrong environment?’ suggested Tark. ‘Josie sent me here because some informer dude told her to. Well … maybe he lied to her.’
    ‘No,’ said Zyra, standing up and handing the torch back to Tark. ‘Robbie knew about the hidden area and he sent me here himself.’
    ‘Robbie!’ Tark’s expression darkened. ‘What’s with that clone dude? Why are you hanging around with him? And what makes him so special that he knows where this hidden area is?’
    ‘Well, for starters, he saved my life,’ said Zyra, scowling. She was on the attack now. ‘Secondly he sent me here to help you, so don’t you get all funny about him. And hey, you’re hanging around with that Josie chick.’
    Tark gritted his teeth, spun around in frustration and threw the torch up into the air with all his might.
    The torch smashed in the air several metres above them, the pieces raining down onto the featureless ground.
    Tark and Zyra looked down at the pieces, then up above their heads, and then down at each other. All their aggression drained away.
    Zyra smiled. ‘It’s above us.’
    Tark smiled. ‘Yep.’
    ‘Hmmm.’ Zyra pointed the drill above her head and gave it a thirty second blast. ‘Look!’ she gasped.
    Up above them was … something! It was insubstantial and it shimmered like a mirage in a heat haze. And it was enormous, stretching out in all directions. It must have been at least half a kilometre in diameter.
    ‘Wow!’ breathed Tark.
    The mirage faded away.
    ‘Now, how do we get in?’ asked Tark slowly.
    Zyra powered up the drill again. As the laser beam struck the surface, it shimmered into visibility. Zyra kept the drill running, focusing the laser onto one spot.
    An intense point of light appeared on the shimmering surface above them.
    ‘Something’s happening,’ said Zyra.
    ‘We’re doing it!’
    Zyra upped the intensity and the spot of light brightened. The shimmering outline faded as that one spot of light slowly grew.
    And then it shot down at Zyra.
    She dropped the drill and leapt out of the way as the ground exploded.
    ‘That is not good,’ said Tark, staring at Zyra.
    ‘Neither is that,’ said Zyra, pointing up.
    There were now two points of light, one above each of them. Tark grabbed Zyra’s hand and they ran. The spots of light shot down, exploding on impact with the ground.
    Zyra glanced upwards.
    ‘Oh no,’ she panted.
    Above then, multiple points of light were forming.
    ‘We’re going to have to jump,’ she said. ‘Or exit.’
    ‘I still don’t have the hang of jumping,’ said Tark.
    ‘Just keep holding on to me and I’ll jump us,’ said Zyra.
    Spots of light exploded around them.
    ‘Anytime now would be great,’ called Tark, gasping for