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Calloway. “It was initially a political simulator, designed by a professor” he emphasized. “The goal of the game, the acquisition and balance of influence, forces the players to interact and adapt to one another’s bids for power.”
    “We own complete title to the entire system, though, right?” the accountant persisted.
    "Yes. Always have. Rafe Gellar had an absolutely amazing programming team for initial design. All students of his. Legendary guys: Rudi Singh did the original AI, Marcus Tenser coded the interface, Brian Stahlgren did the physics engine. But Gellar knew that new content was always going to be necessary. It was part of his design philosophy: persistent effort.”
    Bernardo Calloway leveled a chubby finger at a sign over Wolfgang’s desk. “Is that the source of the slogan?”
    Wolfgang glanced at it. “Yes. ‘Observe, Persist, Challenge.’ That was what Gellar used to tell his students was the soul of political movement and organization -- observation of how a system operates, persistent efforts in pursuit of a goal, and knowing when to take risks.”
    “Game theory,” said Vitus Calloway, in a voice that was anything but playful. “I had to read Gellar’s work at University. Macroeconomics. And you sound like a student of his.”
    “I was a student of his student, Marc Tenser. But a lot of the locals who now work here were Gellar’s. He was a very popular professor. Anyway, we’ve adopted it as a kind of design mantra around here. Not that we programmers have much to do with content design. That’s mostly up to the catalysts, the writers and actors we hire. They’re good at it. Seven Emmy awards, three Tonys, half a dozen Hugos, some Nebulas, the World Fantasy trophy, and a National Book Award work here. Moira Roth, the actress who plays the part of the Vampire Queen of Westerly, has been a pinup on more gaming sites than anyone, real or virtual, since Lara Croft. We have more E3 awards than I can count. The difficulty hasn’t been generating publicity, it’s been keeping the whole thing under wraps. Your security must be phenomenal.”
    Again the Calloways shared an enigmatic glance. “It’s interesting that this product has done so well over time,” Calloway mentioned with deliberate idleness. “Particularly given its departure from so many standards of the genre. But then, I like original thinking. But we’re not the biggest game in town, are we Wolfgang?"
    Wolfgang nodded easily. "True, we're actually about the third largest game-space, depending on what standard you use. Asylum, by IchiiSoft, is probably the largest. They’re a pure combat simulation with hundreds of international servers, and their tournament system has over twenty-million subscribers. And InterTain has a mixed environment. They do simulations, free-style arcade games, educational software, passive-form movies. They make a lot more money than we do. I'm not sure how much."
    "Approximately seventy-two times Archimago's annual returns," Vitus supplied with a grin that now seemed just the slightest bit nasty.
    But Wolfgang merely nodded again. "That sounds right. But our focus hasn't been on being the biggest. Just the best."
    Vitus Calloway's grin widened. "Tomorrow, that will change."
     

Chapter Three - Tag
     

    For Andrew, Friday began at eleven o'clock. The lateness of the hour was partially a result of the late gaming session the previous night and partially of intent. Rising so late guaranteed that his parents would already be working. The last thing he needed was another lecture on the subject of finding a summer job. No matter how well-intentioned Sara thought they were. Let Sara listen to them if she was so convinced.
    Not that his parents could be avoided entirely. His breakfast of leftover pizza was devoured while reading the notes they’d left on the house network, words scrolling up from the kitchen table projector like steam, vanishing into the air as fast as he read them. There were a few