Looking back at the contraption, Gameknight realized he’d been right; they’d been surrounded by numerous white balloons which had cushioned the landing, and allowed them to bounce around harmlessly (though it had made him a little queasy) until finally coming to rest at the bottom of a crater.
“I think this is the same way the actual Mars Rover landed on the red planet in the physical world,” Gameknight explained.
Squawk! Tux replied.
“I know, I figured you didn’t care … but I think it’s pretty cool that the designers of Galacticraft spent time researching how NASA landed the Rover on Mars, and then added it into the game.”
Squawk, squawk!
“What’s that, Tux?”
Squawk, squawk, squawk! She pointed behind Gameknight with one of her flippers.
Gameknight turned and found himself staring directly into the bright green eyes of a spider. The fuzzy black monster swiped at him with her curved claw. It scraped across his diamond armor, tearing a gouge in the protective coating. Drawing his diamond blade, he slashed at the monster, pushing it away from the penguin. With his left hand, he reached into his inventory again while he kicked at the hairy creature. He grabbed the hilt of a sword and pulled it from his inventory. It was the glowing yellow blade given to him by King Iago in Mystcraft. He quickly put the blade back. It wasn’t clear how much energy that infused sword had left in it, and he wanted to save it until it was absolutely needed. Pulling his iron sword out with his left hand, he advanced toward the spider.
Gameknight could feel his pulse quicken. Beads of sweat trickled down the back of his neck. It felt like little insects crawling across his skin. The ground underfoot was rough, with deep holes extending into underground caverns. He had to be careful; if he fell he might—
The spider sprang forward suddenly, a pair of claws reaching for his head. Gameknight batted away the fuzzy legs, then slashed at the monster, scoring a hit. She screeched in pain as she flashed red. The User-that-is-not-a-user faked an attack with his right, then swung with his left, hitting the spider hard on the side. She flashed red again. The fuzzy creature backed up, but not fast enough. Gameknight sprang forward and landed on her back, then hit her again and again until the monster disappeared with a pop.
“You see any more, Tux?” he asked, looking around warily.
Suddenly, a zombie growled as it reached up out of a hole in the ground. The monster slashed at Gameknight’s armor, slicing a set of parallel grooves into his diamond boot. The User-that-is-not-a-user stomped on the clawed hand, then knelt and shoved his sword in the hole. The monster moaned in pain and backed away. Putting away the sword, he pulled out his bow and fired at the decaying green creature. The monster tried to avoid the pointed shafts, but it had nowhere to hide. In a minute, it was gone.
Gameknight scanned the terrain, searching for any more threats.
“You see anything else?”
The penguin shook her head.
“Okay, let’s get our base built, then.”
He moved out of the crater and found an area without so many holes in the ground. It was on the side of a smooth hill of red Martian dirt. As before, Gameknight placed the blocks of leaves on the ground, then added the oxygen collector and bubble distributor. Connecting the two devices with glass pipes, he then added the coal generators next to each … but nothing happened. The User-that-is-not-a-user picked up the generators and made sure they were facing the correct direction, then put them down again … again, nothing.
“This isn’t working. I need to hurry up; they must be getting low on oxygen. It took a long time for us to get to Mars.”
Gameknight checked the connections again. It all seemed right.
Squawk, squawk, Tux said. She pecked at the top of the generator with her little yellow beak.
“Of course, the coal!”
Gameknight pulled out a stack of coal and stuffed it into one generator, then shoved another stack in the second.
Instantly, a bubble began to form around the bubble distributor. It grew slowly at first, but as the oxygen collector pulled in more of the life-preserving element, the bubble expanded at a greater rate until it stretched out, forming a large, gaseous hemisphere of air.
Gameknight reached into his inventory and pulled out the teleportation ring. He put it on his gloved finger and pressed the blood-red gem. There was a flash of blinding light. It was so intense, he had to look away, but when his vision cleared, and the purple teleportation cloud faded, he found his friends lying on the ground.
“Take off your helmets … quick!” Gameknight shouted.
He ran to Crafter and pulled off his helmet, then moved to Weaver and Herder and did the same. Stitcher pulled hers off and gasped and coughed. The others followed suit. Gameknight ran to the wolves, who were lying on their sides, panting heavily. He moved from animal to animal, pulling off the glass cubes from their furry heads. Their breathing slowly eased as the fresh air from the oxygen bubble filled their body.
“That was close,” Crafter said. “I started taking damage.”
“Sorry it took so long—there were monsters I had to get rid of,” Gameknight explained.
“Are you telling me you stopped to play with some monsters before you used that crazy ring?” Hunter complained.
Stitcher crawled to her sister’s side and punched her in the arm.
“Ouch,” the older girl complained.
“I’m sure he did everything as fast as possible,” Stitcher reprimanded, “so be nice.”
Hunter was about to reply, likely with something sarcastic, when the ground shuddered in a strange and terrible way. The red sands writhed and shook as if Mars was recoiling from some kind of grievous wound.
“What was that?” Digger asked, his eyes wide with fear.
“Likely our enemy,” Empech said, sounding worried. “Entity303 has been here a while, yes, yes. He has had time to do more harm.”
“It felt like the planet had just been damaged by something,” Herder said. “But how does someone hurt a planet?”
“Who knows,” Hunter replied.
“Entity303 would know how,” Gameknight said. “That frustrated user is so mad at the makers of Minecraft for firing him, he’ll do as much damage as possible. I have no doubt he’ll continue to hurt innocent bystanders on the way to wherever he’s going.”
“Hmmm … our enemy becomes bolder, striking at the heart of the planet,” Forpech said in a deep voice. He pulled out his wand, the green crystal on the tip reflecting the light from the small square sun in the sky. “We must hurry and catch our enemy before …”
He didn’t finish his statement. Instead, he lowered his gaze to the ground.
“Before what?” Crafter asked.
“We must hurry … hmmm … before we are too late.” The pech raised his oversized head and stared into Gameknight’s eyes. “We cannot fail.”
“I know,” the User-that-is-not-a-user replied. “We won’t.”
But will I fail my companions and let them suffer while I chase Entity303? Gameknight999 thought.
He shuddered, like the planet just had, when he thought of all the things that could happen to his friends.
I must protect them all, especially Weaver, if I want to repair the timeline and repair Minecraft. But will any of them be able to protect me?
Have faith, child, an ancient, scratchy voice said in the back of his head. He recognized the voice, but knew it was impossible. She wasn’t here and neither was the music of Minecraft. There’s no way that voice could have really been her. Maybe he was going crazy—maybe Minecraft was already starting to fall apart.
Maybe we’re too late already, Gameknight thought, then started to shake as daggers of fear stabbed his soul.
CHAPTER 12
ACROSS THE RED SANDS
Gameknight installed the oxygen compressor to the collector, then placed everyone’s tanks into the system, filling them to the brim. He was shocked at how low the levels were on all
the tanks—his friends had almost run out of air. If he’d been any slower, some of them might not have survived … and it would all have been because of him.
When he finished refilling the last tank, the User-that-is-not-a-user sat on a pile of leaves and pulled out a piece of beef. He ate the meat, the nourishment eliminating his hunger, then glanced at Weaver and thought about the very last battle he’d fought in Minecraft’s past. The villager army had stopped Herobrine and the Great Zombie Invasion on the shores of the massive lava ocean in the Nether.
Gameknight hoped all of his friends in the past were well, but in the back of his mind, he knew that it wouldn’t matter unless he could return Weaver back to where he belonged on Minecraft’s timeline. The young boy was the key to everything. Somehow, his absence in the past had allowed Entity303 to add these mods to Minecraft and destabilize the entire system. And now, that evil user was getting ready to finish the job he’d started a hundred years ago. Gameknight refused to let him win, but still wasn’t sure how he was going to stop him.
The User-that-is-not-a-user stood up and paced back and forth, trying to hide his nervousness and fear, but not doing a very good job of it.
“Are we ready to go?” Crafter asked.
“Sure,” Hunter replied. “But where are we going? We have an entire planet to search and no idea where our enemy might be.”
“I’m sure he’s heading to the dungeon here on Mars,” Gameknight replied. “If he wants to get to the farthest reaches of the Far Lands, then he has to get as far from the Overworld as possible.”
“You mean he’ll want to get to the last planet in the solar system?” Herder asked.
“No, somewhere even further away,” Gameknight explained. “There are other solar systems out there, even beyond Pluto—though Pluto isn’t a planet anymore. I can remember two other solar systems. One of them … its name starts with a K, but I can’t think of it right now. Anyway, that system has only one planet, so I can’t imagine that’s where Entity303 is heading.”
“Why is that?” Stitcher asked.
“Because, as I recall, there’s nothing there. It’s just a big empty planet.”
He gazed up at the sun. It was half the size he was used to. Off to the right, Gameknight could see a shining spot in the pale sky, brilliant enough to be visible in the daytime: the Overworld. It sparkled like the rarest gem, flashing green and blue and white. It seemed so fragile from here.
“No, he won’t strike at an empty world,” the User-that-is-not-a-user continued. “Entity303 will want to do the most destruction possible. That means he’ll go to the other solar system, the Sirius solar system. There are multiple planets in that system, some very far away from the Overworld and near the edges of the Far Lands. That’s where he’ll strike.”
“But which planet will he attack?” Digger asked.
“I don’t know,” the User-that-is-not-a-user replied. “We’ll just have to get closer to that solar system and find out.”
“That’s all great, but which way do we go now?” Hunter asked, her loud voice sounding impatient.
“I know where to go!” a distant voice shouted.
They all turned and found Weaver standing atop a huge hill of red sand, the tiny mountain making him look miniscule as he stood on its peak.
“Come up here!” Weaver yelled to them, waving and beckoning them toward him.
Everyone checked their helmets, then ran to the hill. Gameknight waited until all of them had left the air bubble, then disassembled everything with his pickaxe and stuffed it into his inventory. Then, picking up Tux, the User-that-is-not-a-user followed his friends.
They climbed the small mountain, taking huge upward leaps in the reduced gravity. When they reached the summit, they gazed down across the surface of Mars. It was entirely featureless, with no plants or trees or rivers or anything … just rusty red sand everywhere. Gameknight thought there had been life on the hilly Martian landscape of Mars at one point, when Galacticraft had first been released. But then something had happened and it was all eradicated. Now, the surface was devoid of any living things other than the occasional monster, and giant, rolling hills of rusty red sand were all he could see. They were like massive swells on a red ocean, frozen in time to give a snapshot of the terrain.
But cutting across the featureless hills was a single set of footprints. It was clear they were made by a set of boots, not zombie feed or spider claws.
Gameknight knew that on the real Mars in the physical world, the planet had an incredibly thin atmosphere, but frequent dust storms could obscure the surface of the planet for days. Did the programmers add that kind of realism to the Galacticraft Mars? He wasn’t sure, but in all likelihood, it meant these footsteps were recent, or they’d have been covered by dust.
They ran down the hill and approached the trail of prints. The wolves tried to smell the ground, to pick up the scent, but of course sensed nothing; their glass helmets were keeping them separated from the environment around them. They growled in frustration, then spread out and watched for monsters. In the distance, the faint moans of zombies could be heard, but they were far away. The wolves glanced in the direction of the sound and watched for threats.
“Come on, everyone,” Gameknight said. “We gotta run.”
He sprinted off across the sands, following the trail. A pair of wolves moved far out in front as the rest formed a wide protective circle around the party. Gameknight ran at the front, but was surprised as the two pechs moved up on either side of him. Even though they had short legs, they were easily able to keep up with him. In fact, their breathing never even seemed to become strained, while Gameknight was quickly panting heavily, his space helmet fogging up slightly. He even thought he heard one of the pechs humming some sort of melodic tune. If it weren’t for their surroundings, the song might have been relaxing. But with the bleak, lifeless terrain around them, the soothing notes were unable to chip away at his trepidation.
“So Empech, Forpech, what part of Minecraft are you from?” Gameknight asked as he ran.
“Hmmm … Forpech remembers something about Thaumcraft,” the pech said.
“Yes, yes, that name is familiar,” Empech said.
“So both of you are from a modded version of Minecraft? From Thaumcraft?”
“Hmmm …” Forpech said, a look of confusion on his oversized gray face.
“What?” Gameknight asked.
“We have other memories, yes, yes,” Empech said. “Things we do not understand.”
“Like what?”
“Forpech remembers having a lair underground, with a great jeweled throne.”
“And wolves … many wolves, yes, yes,” Empech added.
“Underground home and wolves,” Gameknight said. “It doesn’t make any sense. Do you remember anything else?”
“Well … Forpech remembers something that is important somehow, it is not clear. But it’s about … hmmm … leaves.”
“Leaves?” Gameknight was confused. How could a memory of leaves be important? “Well, maybe it means that—”
Suddenly a proud, majestic howl filled the thin Martian atmosphere. The other wolves raced forward, their furry white bodies standing out against the dark red sands. They disappeared over a small hill, then began howling with their leader.
“They found something,” Herder said, an expression of pride on his square face.
Gameknight raced ahead, sprinting over the dark mound. When he reached the top, he saw the wolves standing around a large hole in the ground. The footsteps led straight to the shadowy abyss, then just disappeared.
“That must be the entrance to the dungeon,” Crafter said.
“Great, another dungeon,” Hunter said. “Just what I was hoping for.”
“Hunter, sometimes you’re so—” Stitcher began to say, but was interrupted.
“Come on, we need to get in there and catch up with Entity303,” Gameknight said.
He ran to the edge of the hole and peered down. Th
ere seemed to be no movement down in the shadowy structure, but that could just be from the fact that it was so dark.
“You hear anything?” Stitcher asked.
Gameknight shook his head.
“That doesn’t seem normal,” Digger said. “Usually there are some noises.”
The User-that-is-not-a-user leaned back away from the opening and gazed at his friends. They all had expressions of uncertainty and fear on their square faces, especially the pechs. Everything about this gaping hole terrified Gameknight999, but he knew they had to go in there, or else Entity303 would destroy everything he loved.
With a sigh, he stepped up to the edge of the hole, then turned and glanced once more at his friends.
“Are all of you ready?” the User-that-is-not-a-user asked.
They nodded, but said nothing. He didn’t even get a sarcastic remark from Hunter, which he knew meant that they were all scared.
“Ok, here we go.”
And then Gameknight jumped into the darkness, hoping that all of them would somehow survive this ordeal.
CHAPTER 13
INTO THE DARKNESS
Gameknight landed in a large room devoid of any noise. The silence was spooky, almost oppressive, making it seem as if a monster horde would jump out of the darkness at any instant. His breathing seemed amplified inside his helmet, the wheezing in and out synchronized with the drum beat of his quickening heart. His nerves tingled as he waited for claws to reach out at him or arrows to streak through the air … but the attack never came.
Forpech and Empech put glowstone torches on the walls, revealing a chamber lined with green bricks. Blocks of spider webs clung to the walls and ceiling, but no fuzzy black monsters, with their eight terrible green eyes, were visible.
“Where are all the monsters?” Gameknight asked softly. The silence made him want to be as quiet as possible.
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