The Iron Veil

by Randy Nargi

  “Unacceptable.”

  “General, I don’t have to remind you of the level of complexity we’re dealing with this degree of machine-gen product—”

  “No, you do not, doctor. And you don’t have to remind me about the protocols in place when there’s a glitch.”

  “With all due respect, general. We don’t like to use that term around here,” Asif Qadri said.

  “Glitch?” Groves asked quietly.

  Margolin thought the general might explode.

  “Yes, sir. Demoralizes the team, sir.”

  “I don’t give a crap what we call it. But from where I’m sitting, it looks awfully like a glitch.”

  Quadri looked at Margolin helplessly. Margolin just shook his head. This wasn’t worth it. He sat back down in his chair.

  “Let’s all just calm down. Glitch or not, we will have answers. With complete certainty. We just need time.”

  Groves turned on his heel. “You have six days. And then this whole thing gets shut down. Nuke and pave. And I want reports every four hours, around the clock.”

  “You’ve got it,” Margolin said.

  Groves slammed the door on his way out.

  “What a dick,” James Dai said. He was the quietest of the executive team, but he had a talent for pithy observations.

  Margolin didn’t say anything. He was lost in thought. Would Groves really try to shut them down? Or was it just an idle threat? He knew that there were a lot of folks in Washington who were against Project: Reverie, including the OSTP director and the director of DARPA.

  The fundamental concept of mass-scale automated machine learning and AI code-spinners was nothing new, but their specific applications—especially when involved in human life functions—was incredibly regulated and controlled in the U.S. It was a different story in China and Pakistan, of course. They didn’t have the restrictions we did. And that meant that the U.S. faced the very real danger of losing the “dream race.”

  That couldn’t happen. The stakes were too high. People who knew about Project: Reverie—really knew about it—understood that it was more than a new entertainment technology. It was the future. Literally.

  Two members of his staff were waiting for Groves in a car downstairs: Brigadier General Anthony Basato and Colonel David Noon. They both looked at Groves expectantly.

  “Six days,” Groves announced.

  “You went with six?” Noon asked.

  “They opened with two weeks, but didn’t say squat when I told them six days. They viewed it as some kind of victory.” He shook his head. “Did you make contact with Blue Squadron?”

  “Yes, they’ve been busy little beavers,” Basato said.

  “Good.”

  “And very relieved that we finally made contact,” Basato said.

  “No man left behind,” Groves said.

  “Or woman,” Noon added. “Our girl’s been a one-woman wrecking crew.”

  Groves nodded. “So no issues with the shunt?”

  “B2 confirmed that it’s fully operational,” Noon said. “We have complete access to the Greystrand paracosm. Undetected access.”

  A faint smile played across Groves’ face. “That’s how it’s done, kids.”

  Chapter Six

  The ranger was not where he was supposed to be.

  Justin checked the Circle of Reckoning again. The two icons were on top of each other. That meant that the quest objective should be standing in front of him, but the cabin was empty.

  He called out again. “Anyone home? Yoo-hoo, Klothar?”

  Nothing.

  The cabin was sparsely furnished. It looked more like a hunting shack than anything else, but it was built out of thick logs. The floor was bare and had been recently swept clean. In a big fireplace that took up most of one wall was an iron kettle hanging from a hook inside the hearth. The only pieces of furniture were a cot covered with animal skins, a small, roughly hewn table with a single stool, and a large wooden chest held together with iron bands.

  The chest didn’t have a lock on it. At least not one that Justin could see. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t booby-trapped or something. He felt around the edges of the chest’s lid. Nothing seemed unusual. Next he flipped open the clasp with the point of his sword.

  Nothing exploded. That was good.

  He took a deep breath and eased the lid up, just a half inch or so. Then he froze. But luckily there were no poison needles or gas or even a pit opening up where he stood. The chest appeared to be a simple, unlocked chest.

  Ugh, he shouldn’t be such a wuss. He already died once and, aside from some dizziness, it was no big deal. Time to suck it up.

  But he still cringed as he swung the lid open.

  Nothing.

  He sighed in relief and peeked in. The chest was filled with ordinary junk. A blanket, a coil of rope, a whetstone, a broken ceramic mug, some extra clothes. Nothing particularly interesting, apart from a carved wooden figurine of a pegasus. That was pretty cool.

  Justin replaced everything and closed the chest. This was extremely odd. He ducked back outside and walked around the outside of the cabin, but there was no sign of the ranger.

  What if the guy was dead? Could you kill NPCs in this game? He had no idea. That’s something he should ask Pari. Maybe he should call her. No, she already probably thought that he was useless. That’s why she ditched him. He pushed the thought out of his mind.

  There was a tree directly behind the cabin. He decided to climb it. Maybe this ranger guy was napping on the roof. Or hiding up there.

  After slipping a few times, Justin pulled himself up into the branches and climbed high enough so he could catch a glimpse of the cabin’s roof. It was thick with moss, but no one was hiding up there.

  “Yo!” called a voice from below.

  Justin’s heart jumped, and he whipped around, losing his balance in the process. He tipped backward and frantically grasped at branches, leaves—anything to hold on—but it was no use. He dropped from the tree like an anvil and everything went black.

  When he awoke, he was staring into the face of a young Asian dude leaning on a staff that was taller than he was.

  “I healed you, man.”

  Justin sat up and took a deep breath. He was sitting beneath the tree next to the ranger’s cabin.

  “That was my first heal. Freaking awesome,” the Asian guy said. He looked to be a few years younger than Justin. “You can walk right?”

  “I think so.”

  “Of course you can. I healed your ass!”

  Justin stood up and took a few tentative steps. He felt fine.

  Then he turned to the guy and inspected him.

  :::::. Ni Tien. (Healer). Player, Level 1 .:::::

  “Thanks, Ni Tee, Teen, Tine—” He struggled with the pronunciation.

  “You can call me Ten-Spot. Everyone does.”

  “Cool. I’m Justin. First day?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Me too.”

  “What were you doing up in that tree?” he asked. Spying or something?”

  “Looking for the ranger.”

  “Yeah, the ranger. I’m doing that same quest, but where is the guy?”

  “I have no idea,” Justin said. He fished his Circle of Reckoning out and checked it. Same as before. The ranger should be standing right in front of him.

  Ten-Spot brought out his own Circle of Reckoning and peered at it. “That’s weird. He’s not inside?”

  “See for yourself.”

  Ten-Spot disappeared inside and Justin followed him. Inside the cabin, Ten-Spot checked the Circle of Reckoning again. He even zoomed in on their location.

  “I can see why you’d look on the roof, bro. This is weird.”

  “Maybe the quest is bugged.”

  “What do you mean?” Ten-Spot asked.

  “Bugged. Broken. I mean, we are technically in the beta, right? Things could be broken.”

  “If you say so.” He looked around again and eyed the trunk.r />
  “Don’t bother,” Justin said. “He’s not hiding in there. Just some blankets and junk.”

  Ten-Spot nodded but peeked in anyway. “What if our compasses are off or something? Did you look around in the woods?”

  “They’re called Circles of Reckoning and I don’t think they’re off, but let’s check.”

  As they walked outside, Ten-Spot asked, “Are you a scout or something?”

  “Sage.”

  “No way.” He looked impressed.

  “Yeah.”

  “So how come you don’t, like, just know where the guy is?”

  “It doesn’t work like that. I know lore and stuff. Some general knowledge. But I have no clue why the ranger isn’t here.”

  Ten-Spot stopped, lost in thought for a few moments. “What if the dude’s invisible?” he whispered. “What if that’s the real quest? Find the invisible ranger.”

  Justin had to admit that was pretty smart. He told Ten-Spot so, and the healer suggested that they fan out with their weapons, prodding the air to see if they could hit any invisible bodies.

  “Keep your eyes on the dirt,” he said in a low voice. “We might be able to see his footsteps.”

  “Good thinking.”

  They moved methodically around the yard surrounding the cabin. Justin waved my sword and Ten-Spot swung his staff—at all different heights. After fifteen minutes they went back inside and prodded and poked every square foot of space.

  No invisible rangers.

  “We’re just wasting time,” Ten-Spot said. “This quest is screwed, man. I’m out of here.” He began to walk away and then stopped. “You coming? Maybe if go back to Swart and drop the quest and retake it, everything will work.”

  Justin shook his head. “No, I’m good. You go ahead. I’m going to give it a bit more time.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. I’m not in any rush.”

  “Suit yourself. Later, bro.” He waved as he headed south back towards Holgate. “Don’t fall out of any more trees, okay?”

  Justin waved back and stood there, waiting for Ten-Spot to move out of sight. Then he sent a message to Pari, or at least he hoped he did. He wasn’t exactly sure that he was doing this right.

  “Message to Pari: Hey Pari it’s Justin. Quick question. Is there any trick to the ranger quest? I’m up here at his cabin and the Circle says he’s right here, but there’s no sign of him. Give me a call back if you can. And sorry if this is a lame question. Okay. Thanks. Bye.”

  :::::. Message to Pari sent .:::::

  Okay, that worked. He wondered if there was also any sort of delivery confirmation, but after sitting around for a few minutes, he decided to go back to exploring the woods around the cabin. Maybe these Circles of Reckoning just weren’t completely accurate.

  :::::. New message from Pari. Listen? .:::::

  She called back! Justin smiled to himself.

  “Yes,” he said aloud.

  A second later he heard Pari’s voice: “Hey Justin. Yeah that sounds a little weird. Hang tight. I’m coming your way.”

  Well, that was good news.

  Justin looked around. He had made his way up a small hill, about fifty yards east of the cabin. There was a good view of the road and the cabin and it dawned on him that he should have come up here instead of trying to climb that tree.

  Turning in a slow circle, Justin surveyed the landscape from his vantage point. There was a river to the east and beyond that gently rolling hills covered with wheat or some kind of crop. South was Holgate although he couldn’t really see any of the buildings. To the west, beyond the road, was the beginning of a forest—the Dark Tree Forest. That’s the place Pari had told him to avoid. And finally, to the north, were some low mountains covered with trees. They were called the Cowsteeth Mountains, apparently.

  It was still tough to get used to things popping into your head, but maybe it got better the longer you played.

  The sound of hoofbeats caught Justin’s attention, and he turned to see a rider on horseback cantering up to the cabin. It was Pari.

  He ran over to her. “That was fast!”

  “Yeah, I was just getting back to the place I was staying,” she said. “What’s up?”

  “This ranger quest might be bugged. Check this out.”

  She dismounted and followed him to the cabin. Justin held out the Circle of Reckoning.

  “What does that look like to you?” he asked.

  She moved close to get a better look at the Circle and Justin got a whiff of her perfume. Maybe it wasn’t perfume though. Maybe it was just her natural girl smell. Sweet and fresh, like flowers or cinnamon or something.

  “Looks like he should be right inside,” Pari said. “Did you call for him?”

  “Yeah. C’mon. See for yourself.”

  They entered the cabin and, of course, there was no sign of Klothar the ranger.

  Pari poked around and even examined the chest. “This is weird. Usually he’s right in here—either cooking up some rabbit stew or outside whittling a toy or something.”

  Justin showed her the carved wood pegasus that was in the chest.

  “Yeah, that’s it.”

  “Well, there’s no sign of him,” Justin said. “I even checked the roof.”

  Just then a strong breeze blew the cabin’s door shut with a bang. Both Justin and Pari jumped at the sound. Then everything got dimmer, like a cloud had drifted in front of the sun. Without speaking, they both made their way outside and looked up at the sky.

  Justin almost crapped his pants right then and there.

  It was a dragon. A real-life dragon. And it was heading right towards them.

  “Oh my god!” Pari shouted. Her eyes were wide with surprise.

  “What? You haven’t seen one of those before?”

  “Uh no. And something like that shouldn’t be anywhere near a starter town.”

  The creature was an ebon dragon, forty feet long, the size of a train car, and capable of breathing clouds of toxic gas. Its wings had long spidery fingers with a grayish leathery membrane between them. And even 500 yards away, Justin could hear those wings flutter and flap. The sound made his blood run cold.

  “This isn’t good,” Pari said. “I think it has targeted us.”

  She was right. The creature glided down, ever closer. It skimmed the tops of the trees, kicking up a tremendous amount of dust and debris.

  “My horse!” Pari shouted. “Get on!”

  But it was too late. The horse reared up, turned, and fled for its life.

  Then another voice called out. A man’s voice, deep and grim sounding. “In here! Quickly!”

  A shadowy figure dressed in leathers beckoned them from inside the cabin. He wasn’t tall, but he had a commanding presence.

  Justin and Pari looked at each other, not sure what to do.

  “Do you want to live?” the man called. “You have about six seconds…”

  They both rushed into the cabin. The cot had been tipped over and pushed aside and the man was climbing into a hatch set in the floor where the cot used to be.

  “In!” he yelled.

  The cabin started shuddering and shaking as if caught in an earthquake. A loud rushing sound deafened Justin as he saw the cabin’s roof start to disintegrate right in front of his eyes.

  They weren’t going to make it.

  He pushed Pari towards the hatch and dove after her. They landed in a tangle of arms and legs on the sandy bottom of some sort of dark passage. Justin saw the man dart back up towards the hatch and yank it shut, blocking out all the light.

  “We’re not safe yet!” the man yelled. “Follow! Quickly!”

  A soft glow of light appeared in his hand. Justin recognized the light as coming from a glowstone. It shed just enough illumination so that Justin could tell that they were in some kind of natural stone tunnel, maybe an ancient lava tube.

  Pari ran after the man and Justin followed her, but they all kept stumbling as the tunnel heaved and s
hook.

  After twenty or thirty yards, the tunnel started to slope down sharply. Pari cried out as she lost her balance and went sprawling.

  “You ok?” Justin helped Pari to her feet.

  “I think—”

  “No time,” the man called back. He took off again, and they raced after him. The passage twisted and turned and then opened up into a large cavern. The floor of the cavern was dotted with natural pits and sinkholes, but the man kept running—zigzagging around the pits.

  “We’re close!”

  A loud low boom sounded somewhere behind them.

  “Jump!” the man yelled. He—and the light—disappeared into a pit.

  Justin felt a rush of air behind him and wondered for a second if it was the dragon’s breath weapon, spewing poison gas. Then Pari grabbed his hand and together they jumped.

  Chapter Seven

  Justin hit the water hard. It was freezing cold and the shock of plunging into the dark abyss nearly stopped his heart.

  Hands pulled him under the water and guided him along a short underwater tunnel. But his lungs burned from the lack of oxygen. Just when he thought he couldn’t hold his breath any longer, he was pushed up to the surface.

  He gasped in big gulps of air in the pitch darkness.

  “Everyone okay?” the man called from somewhere close by.

  “I think so,” said Pari in a weak voice.

  “What about you, lad?”

  “I’m not a lad,” Justin said, treading water.

  “You don’t sound like a maiden,” the man said.

  “No, I meant that I’m not a kid. I’m 25.”

  “Well, consider yourself lucky. You just might make it to your 26th year.” The man held his glowstone up and Justin could see that they were in a low cave filled with water. The ceiling was just a few feet over their heads and it gave Justin a point of reference so he could tell that they were moving. The must be drifting along in some underground stream.

  The man looked around the cave as they floated, checking for something. He was at least a decade older than Justin and Pari and had a grim, weather-beaten face.

  “Who are you?” Justin asked, shivering.