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their neck. He never would have thought they could make a machine powerful enough to push through so many security systems, to reweave that many views of reality, including the security cameras all around the tower. Yet, he strolled up the path, stepping around the guard.
    He didn’t know what the man had done, or was going to do. It wasn’t his business to ask. The politician stood at a short podium in his gray suit, shouting at the crowd with one fist raised, pumping at the sky. The assassin drew up to him. It was a queer feeling standing in front a crowd without being seen. He turned to the crowd, hundreds of faces staring at the politician next to him. Not knowing death so near.
    The assassin lifted his arm up slowly, measuring the distance, then pushed his own mod into the politician’s system. The crowd couldn’t see what he had seen, but they saw his reaction. One moment, the politician was shouting, the next he gasped, holding his arms out in front of him, as if he had seen a ghost, then his head fell off.
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EXCERPT from Book One of the GAMERS Trilogy, by Thomas K. Carpenter
    Chapter One
    The green sky loomed over the high school track like a bowl of pea soup upended. Even the few clouds resembled lumps of pea-sized material suspended in the thoroughly disgusting verdant broth.
    Gabby ran around the track, glancing upward, cursing under her breath. Her best friend Zaela, elbowed her in the ribs.
    “Come on, our score is dropping,” said Zaela.
    Gabby checked her LifeScore, annoyingly waiting at the corner of her vision with only a quick leftward eye movement, ready to piss her off. The number had faded to red, indicating a downward trend.
    “Give me a sec,” she muttered. “Only need another minute.”
    A gaggle of the Evil Dolls ran by the two girls laughing, Gabby's name for them, not theirs. Their digital skins made them resemble living dolls, complete with gaps where their joints would be and shiny dead hair. Even their clothing was stiff. Green numbers, indicating upward movement, floated over their heads.
    “See!” cried Zaela. “They’re three hundred above us! My father’s expecting me to be above rank by the end of the week.”
    Gabby ignored Zaela, who continued to complain about not having much more time before Final Raid. Gabby was comfortably above the probable line that would separate who would earn their Life Class and who got lesser, meaningless jobs. Jobs that didn't have a much responsibility, a title, or many benefits within LifeGame.
    Her best friend Zaela, unfortunately was not, and had been losing ground for the last three weeks. If Zaela failed to make the cut, Gabby would earn her Life Class alone and probably never see Zaela again.
    Gabby was not going to let that happen.
    The world hack slipped into the Sky.Net school file like she’d done it before, which in fact, she had. Last year she’d made it rain baby pigs during Spirit Day, even tricking everyone’s sense-web so they felt a slight impact, though she hadn’t gone so far as to make them squish. That would have been too gross. Instead they bounced like those lame superballs her father always talked about. He was so last century.
    Either way, the bouncing piglets had been hilarious. This time she was much more serious. She couldn’t let Zaela fail, no matter what it took.
    “—be able to get into the Bioeconomic Game Design program at Blizzard University.”
    When the sky turned to static, cries of surprise erupted across the track. The heads of all the girls running the track game bobbed up like gophers. Gabby wondered if any of them were expecting baby pigs.
    It would take a while for the administrators at Neversoft High to counteract her exploit. Gabby counted silently under her breath while they ran.
    Zaela squinted at Gabby. “You did this didn’t you?”
    Gabby