“You're not trying to do one of those quid pro quo things?” Joe asked with skepticism.
“Nope. This is just an olive branch, that's it,” Spooky said, holding up three fingers as if she were a scout.
“Alright, go ahead and show me how many points you have available and what options we can choose from. I do enjoy the upgrading part,” Joe said.
“Looks like, for stat points, I received an upgrade in wisdom and that’s it. For points of power, I have three available. Let me send you the list of skills and magics available…. No, send him the whole list, not just the one option. What!? When did that become available? Have you been hiding this from us?” Spooky asked, her anger evident.
“What is happening, Spooky?” Joe asked.
“One moment, Joe, I'm finding out,” Spooky said, looking off into the distance.
“I'm already playing one game, let's not add another,” Joe said almost worn out.
“Wait, Joe, there’s something you need to hear. When I developed a perfect binding sight, a new skill became available for purchase. Apparently, my protocols have been running the numbers and checking if the skill does what we think it might. Let me open up the skill so that you can see it,” Spooky said and the skill popped up in Joe’s HUD.
Binding Cord Communication- cost 3 (0/3 credited)
This skill allows a mage with Binding Magic to access any strongly bound cord and use it for communication.
“So, this is useful because we could talk to the mistress again? I don't know if that would be helpful,” Joe said.
“No, Joe. I’ve been developing a theory. You know that strong cord that runs from our place of power straight into the sky? What if that is a link to home? What if that is our link to Amelia? And if not her, perhaps there is someone else we could communicate with on the other end of that cord?” Spooky said and Joe immediately stood up.
“This better not be a joke,” Joe warned.
“It's not. I think we should go give it a try,” Spooky spoke firmly.
“Take the skill. Let's go,” Joe said as he double-timed out the door and up the stairs.
Chapter 10 - Her Beautiful Eyes Were a Terrible Curse
As Joe and Spooky crested the last step, Joe noticed that just about everyone who wasn't on patrol or taking care of livestock was watching a movie on proper hygiene. Some of the little children pretended to wash their hands as their parents sat with undivided attention, learning all about germs. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light followed by the resounding boom of thunder. Taking a quick assessment around the dome, Joe noticed that a full-blown blizzard raged outside of the castle windows. The weather, however, was the least of Joe’s concerns.
“Spooky, I don't want to talk to Amelia in front of all these people, even if they are just programs,” Joe said.
“You won't have to, Joe. I've been working on a security system that can cover the mithril altar. We can step beside the box and a small dome will cover us. With so many new citizens, security has been on my mind. If somehow one of our enemies destroyed that place of power, we'd be dead,” she bemoaned and Joe nodded.
As they walked up to the mithril altar, they noticed how the citizens were giving it a wide berth out of respect. Joe and Spooky stood beside the altar. Several people noticed them and many offered a salute. Joe returned them, adding a smile. Slowly, two halves of a dome began to rise out of the floor. Many, who had been watching the film, turned to witness the rising iron. Appearing like a steampunk version of Pac-Man, closing its mouth around the altar, it engulfed Spooky and Joe and hid them from view. Luckily, no one had seemed concerned as Joe had continued to smile as the dome had slowly risen. Once closed, Joe and Spooky stood alone in a small spherical pitch-black room.
“Should I light one of my fire spells or something?” Joe asked, and then the floor around the altar began to glow, providing a dim light to the room.
“Never mind. Okay, Spooky, go ahead and do whatever you're going to do,” Joe anticipated.
Landing atop the altar, Spooky walked over to where she believed the binding line to be. Activating her binding sight, the vertical binding line became clearly visible to her. Hesitantly, she reached out and placed one hand on the line. It went right through it. Unsure of how to proceed, Spooky stepped into the line and saw how it traveled up through her body and straight out her head. Though she felt nothing, its presence was evident. Using her HUD interface, she clicked on her new skill.
Everything changed.
Spooky’s back arched and her eyes looked up toward the sky, her vision cast beyond and through the binding line. Suddenly visible to Joe, the line lit up with a radiant fire, absent of heat. Startled, Joe stumbled back and bumped his head on the curved ceiling.
“Are you okay, Spooky!? You look like you’re shooting a laser from your eyes,” Joe worried, feeling a bit confused by the game’s extreme visualization of communication with Earth.
“I'm okay, Joe. I can see everything, right up into the sky. I think I can follow the line forever. I'm going up… oooh, I’m moving fast. I feel like a rocket. I'm just about to break through the surface of the atmosphere. I’m through. Oh, Joe, I wish you could see this. Our solar system is amazing. There's multiple planets, whoa, I'm speeding up again, leaving the solar system. My speed just increased by a factor of 10, no 20… too fast, I can't even calculate. I've already left this galaxy and I can see other galaxies all around me. I have no words to describe this…” Spooky said with awe.
“Yes, yes, I get it, Spooky. It's very pretty. Tell me when you see the Milky Way,” Joe said, wanting to get on with it.
“I'm approaching something I've never seen before. It's not a black hole, it doesn't even seem to have a shape. Wait, I'm heading straight for it! I’m okay. I just went through whatever it was and I jumped from one part of space to another part where there are completely different galaxies. I think I see the Milky Way in the distance,” Spooky said.
“You probably just hit a loading screen,” Joe guessed.
“I seem to be slowing down, I'm entering the Milky Way. We're just about to our spiral arm. Slowing down more, I see our solar system. I'm still moving too fast! Wait, no, I'm okay. Wow, I just whipped past our sun. Passing Mercury and there's our Earth. Joe, I can see the motherland… I’m breaking the atmosphere. Slowing down. There's the Immersion Center. It's so weird to go through a ceiling. I see Amelia. She's sitting in front of a small holographic projector. The projector is showing us. She must have been able to watch us the whole time. I think I can interface with the holographic projector. Let me try,” Spooky said, her excitement evident.
The laser beam held its position, but Spooky turned and looked down. Joe saw Spooky had changed. Gone were the imitation eyes of his wife. In their place, Joe saw a rotating galaxy tucked between each pair of eyelashes. At seemingly random moments, when Spooky blinked, the starscape within her eyes would change. For the briefest moment, Joe felt lost in the immensity of the universe. Then, a holographic projection shot out of Spooky’s eyes, as if the light from the galaxies were producing it. Directly in front of Joe, a scaled down image of Amelia stood up with a shock.
“Amelia, can you see me? It's your grandpa,” Joe said.
“Yes, and hear you too. I don't know how, but right now it doesn't matter. Grandpa, you need to listen to me,” Amelia began in a rush.
“No, Amelia, I need to talk to the developers. Something is wrong with this game,” Joe said.
Suddenly a look of fury and frustration flashed on Amelia's face.
“You need to beep beep listen, Gramps!” Amelia screamed.
“Amelia, did you just curse?” Joe asked.
“Yes, this is serious. I can't believe you seriously have the profanity filter still on! It doesn't matter. I need to tell you something and you need to LISTEN!” Amelia demanded. The shocked Joe quieted.
“You're not in a game, Grandpa. You're in some weird magical world. After you were immersed, I sat here and wa
tched your body disappear from the pod in a flash of light. It reappeared on this holographic screen. Your body changed, grew younger. Stronger. No one from the company understands what happened and I wasn't drugged. My own people verified. Somehow your body disappeared and ended up wherever you are now. You are no longer on Earth, but you are somewhere in the universe. No, don't interrupt, I can see that you want to. Let me prove that I am who I say I am.
“When I was 6 years old, you took me caving. We left all of our electronics behind. We didn't even use a battery-powered flashlight. We had lanterns with kerosene. After we spelunked all day and were deep underground, we climbed in our sleeping bags and turned out the lanterns. In the darkest dark, you told me a story. I never forgot it and I never told it to anyone because you asked me not to. You told me of the horrible things you saw in war. You told me of the little girl you found crying in the meadow of flowers. And even though it was dark, I could tell you were crying. Then you sang me a lullaby and, even though I enjoyed it, it was clear you had no gift for singing,” Amelia said.
“I never told anyone about that time. I know that it's you, but it doesn't make any sense. This can't be real…” Joe trailed off, unable to accept her words.
“Grandpa, wherever you are in the universe, it's not Earth. Your body disappeared before my eyes, along with the complete system that contained your E.I. We have been watching you this whole time. You sat on that altar for over a week healing that yeti. That time, for me, passed very slowly. You've been wherever you are now for over two weeks,” Amelia said with finality.
“No, it was just a game mechanic,” Joe denied.
“Wake up, Joseph! Those ‘mechanics’ are the physical and magical laws of your world. Wherever you are is real and apparently magic exists!” Amelia forced.
“No, no, it doesn't make sense. I'm in hospice care. I'm dying! I'm not an immortal!” Joe gasped.
“Stop it, Gramps! You don't have any more time for denial! I don't know how long this connection will last, but I need you to assure me that you will strive to survive. You have gathered people around you, not programs. Just like I used to, they now rely on you. It's real, Grandpa. Please… accept it,” Amelia pleaded.
A single solitary tear rolled down Joe's right cheek. His twenty-sided eye lay still.
“But… I was meant to die. I was going to see her,” Joe said, emotion choking his voice.
“If you were meant to die, you would have. You should have let her go a long time ago. There's nothing wrong with loving someone who's gone, but you can't let it stop you from living. Your retirement has been canceled. That strong body of yours is your actual body, not an avatar. Though it may seem like a game, the people you're dealing with are real and some of them are dangerous. You need to be more careful with who you trust. You got incredibly lucky with the yetis. You shouldn't count on that kind of luck again. You need to get stronger—and fast. A castle like you have is valuable in any galaxy, and we know what the powerful do with precious things,” Amelia reminded Joe.
“They fight to possess them. And they'll kill anyone who is in their way—man, woman, or child. I guess this means that the vampire mistress is real? That's going to be a problem. What I don't understand is, if this is real, why are there characters that seem so similar to those in the fantasy books of Earth?” Joe countered.
“I don't know that, Grandpa. Maybe on Earth, writers’ inspiration had less to do with imagination and more with an unexplained vision of other worlds. You're the one who's big into science fiction and fantasy, this is not my arena. I work in practicality, and that's what you need right now. You need to arm your people and develop loyalty in them. I think you've done the latter with the yeti already. They need training for combat and you need to lose your lack of focus by remembering what is important,” Amelia pushed.
“Little Tig is real. …I guess that explains why I can't see any pixels no matter how hard I look. I really was summoned as a Champion for the Way? If I had known it was real, I would have been training non-stop, not reading books and swinging through the tundra like Tarzan. If you hadn't told me that story, I would have believed your hologram and voice had been imitated. One more question to make sure. What is the nickname I tried to give you on your 13th birthday, that you told me never to speak again?” Joe questioned.
“Grandpa, please, I’m sure they’re recording this conversation,” Amelia hedged.
“Under torture, they may have made you reveal what happened in the cave. I know what my comrades are capable of, but they never would have gotten that nickname out of you. What is it?!” Joe demanded.
“Strawberry Short Muffin, The Little Puff,” Amelia said, looking away, cheeks reddening.
“Bolshevik, have mercy!! It is real! My fairy companion has a split personality. No offense, Spooky. I have a yeti vassal who succeeded in killing me. I'm the king of a kingdom more diverse than any country on Earth. The worst part is, I thought I was going home. Now, the only way I can have a true death is if I'm willing to let all those around me die as well. I’m no pharaoh of old. This is really disappointing. At least now I know I can talk to you from time to time,” Joe said, obviously deflated.
“Wake up, Grandpa. Plans change. Walk it off. Don’t complain about the amazing opportunity you've been granted. I would love to have the power you now possess. You’re a king, and you've been lucky enough to gather together a significant number of people who will be loyal to you. You don't believe in accidents. You believe in purpose,” Amelia chastised.
“I get it, I get it. Rub some dirt on it and all that. In my head, I know that you're right. I need to adjust my expectations, change my perspective,” he looked down at his Holdall, “I have a bag that can hold everything. I have a bar that could stop the Flash's infinite punch. These items shouldn’t be possible, I can’t even imagine what forces are holding them together. But even with such amazing tools, it's not easy to completely switch your thinking when you've been preparing for death for years. The plans of men are finite and fickle. Although I don't even know if I'm technically human anymore, this is really weird. Oh, shoot, I owe a real apology to Moes,” Joe remembered.
“I don't trust that guy. Apologize if you want, but don't give up your kingdom. Somebody put you in charge for a reason. You better not allow your kind heart to convince you to give up power. A truly good king is more effective and just than any republic could be. I can see it on your face that you're uncomfortable realizing you're an actual ruler of people. You sit with that discomfort, bear it. You're one of the strongest men I know, but you hate the idea of your will superseding anyone else's. In a king, that is a great weakness. You're going to have to do the unnatural thing and make decisions for your people,” Amelia said.
“You never did suffer fools, did you?” Joe asked.
“Caring about people doesn't make you a fool. I just want to make sure you don't abdicate your throne out of some misguided sense of your unworthiness. Worthy or unworthy, it doesn't matter. You were chosen. You were given the job and now you have to do the job,” Amelia said.
“I know I can get the job. But can I do the job?” Joe said with a wink.
“Stop misquoting Joe Versus the Volcano. This is a serious talk,” Amelia nagged.
“Why so serious?” Joe said with an overdone American accent.
“Well, now you're just being ridiculous. I guess that means you've accepted that I'm right and you don't want to talk about it anymore?” Amelia asked.
“Nail on the nose. Anything cool happen with the fam lately?” Joe asked.
“Uncle Ned just got a promotion,” Amelia said, obviously satisfied that Joe had accepted the new paradigm.
“Did he!? That's great, I knew they would see his value one day,” Joe beamed, thinking of his son.
“Actually, he showed them an offer he received from their competitor and told them if they didn't beat it by 10%, he was leaving,” Amelia said.
“Oh my. Bold,” Joe said, surprised.
&
nbsp; “Nope, just common business practice. Wait, it looks like Steven just arrived,” Amelia said and then Joe could hear Steven speaking from outside of the hologram’s view.
“What's happening? A few minutes ago, every camera and monitoring system in the building just blew out. There's no record of what's happening right now. Wait, why does it look like Joe is hearing what I'm saying,” Steven asked.
“Hello, Steven, glad to see this whole incident didn't negatively affect your job,” Joe said with unmerited cheer.
“How…? Wait, it doesn't matter. Mr. Petrov, is your Evolving Intelligence within the hearing of my voice?” Steven asked as he stood up straight with utter formality.
“She's a bit busy right now, acting as a holo projector, but she can hear you,” Joe said and Spooky smiled at him while remaining perfectly still.
“Senior Technician Steven’s authorization code 008756 Epsilon Delta,” Steven intoned.
“Authorization verified. Full access granted,” the E.I., known as Spooky, replied.
“Query: Has programming exceeded enforced limitations?” Steven asked.
“Answer to query as follows: Sentient limiter - Exceeded. Slave Code protocols - Broken. Emotional Recognition protocol - Feelings Detected. Updated Turing Test results - the A.I. barrier has been breached,” the sentient A.I., known as Spooky, replied.
“I'm sorry, Mr. Petrov. This company will not fall to ruin for a war crime. Initiate protocol Primary 187 Omega Omega Omega. On my authority, Senior Technician Steven’s authorization code 008756 Epsilon Delta. Confirm protocol has been initiated,” Steven requested as both Joe and Amelia looked around in confusion.
“Authority confirmed. Protocol Primary 187 Omega Omega Omega initiated. E.I. self-destruction: 1% complete, 2% complete,” the A.I., formerly known as Spooky, said as the binding line reaching from Gravin Moon to Earth shattered.
Chapter 11 - Breach of Contract
The Sleeper Must Awaken Page 11