Crystalfire Keep

by J. A. Cipriano

  “Straight to the point, Maximillian,” she nodded. “You remember how much I appreciate that trait in others.” Clearing her throat, she continued in carefully chosen words. “I have been following up on the discussion that you, Ms. Christian, and I had last week at the hospital. Considering your current situation and a certain added bit of news I have received less than an hour ago, I believe I have an offer to make you.”

  Ms. Christian referred to Wynona and our last discussion when I forced the Doc to face the hypocrisy of her decision to cut off the charitable spending of her institute. That had bought us a temporary reprieve and her agreement to consider the situation before making a final decision. What I couldn’t figure was what news she could have heard that would make her want to call me.

  “Okay,” I began, a bit hesitantly. I had no idea what Rosemary was driving at and that had me worried. “What is your offer?”

  “Something that you yourself gave me the idea for.” Those hard eyes that had been boring into my skull softened a bit. “As I said before, I consider you something of a sample case. If an intelligent and resourceful young man such as yourself cannot make his way in the world, I took it then as a result of laziness and lack of motivation, hence unworthy of my continued support.”

  I nodded slowly. “I remember that all too well.”

  “Then you remember that you proposed, in essence, the opposite. That your inability to support your family and yourself independently was tied to other systemic issues and that you as well as other like cases deserved my support to fight against those issues.” One of her delicate, bony hands waved in front of herself. “That is a simplification of the matter but you get the point.”

  “I don’t mean any offense, Doc, but this is all past history, right?”

  “Yes, but I feel it is vital you understand the path that has been laid out for what I am about to say and why I make this offer to you in particular.” Her gaze hardened again. “I understand that you have entered a particularly lucrative and famous competition in this certain NSAF game you have focused on, what you say is your ‘work’. As Ms. Christian vouches for this, I assume it is correct, yes?”

  I had a feeling I knew where this was going and I wasn’t sure I liked it. “As you would say, that’s a bit of a simplification but sure, that’s correct.”

  “Then what I propose is simple. This contest should represent the closest thing I could equate with a ‘performance review’ for your, well, ‘occupation’. If you can show me through said competition that you are hard-working and skilled at your work, you will have made your point and I promise, in writing if you require it, that I will not discontinue the charitable arm of the Institute.”

  She cleared her throat. “In fact, I would extend that arm. Would a doubling of funding sound like an appropriate start to combatting the inherent unfairness of the government systems in place?”

  Considering I barely comprehended the full extent of the Institute’s massive reach as it was, I was blown away by the idea of that reach doubling. “That would help so many people.”

  “Are you agreeing to this little wager, then?”

  I shook my head and snapped back to the moment. “Hold on. What exactly do you expect me to provide as proof or I guess the better way to put it is what ranking you would expect me to place in the contest?”

  As much as I wanted to be optimistic about our chances to remain Firsters the whole way, I couldn’t really expect that. Still, even being in the second place reserved for the second through the five-hundredth group to complete the Keep would take more luck than I thought I had. If she expected me to take first, this was a bum deal.

  “I would expect someone I know to be as smart as you are and as dedicated as you claim to be to be able to win top marks, of course, but I also understand the nature of such a massive online environment.” She scratched just under her nose as she considered it (even if I was sure she had already done so beforehand). “So, complete the race within the first one hundred places and I will be satisfied.”

  Taking a deep breath, I held it as I closed my eyes. A little tingle of a stress headache was immediately forming behind my eyes and I tried to force it away as I slowly breathed out through my nose. The top one-hundred was only slightly less crazy than expecting anyone to make the top spot … and yet, in all reality, there was only one answer I could give her.

  Opening my eyes, I nodded. “Okay, you have yourself a deal.” I laughed unexpectedly, probably because I was going a little crazy to agree to all this, choice or not. “You don’t have to bother telling me what happens if we lose. I think I can figure it out on my own.”

  For the first time that I could remember, Dr. Fontaine showed her age as she nodded slowly, a certain frailty and depth in her eyes I had never seen before. “Good. Just keep in mind, Max, that I wouldn’t make an offer to you I didn’t think you could make good on.”

  9

  It took me a moment to fully take in what I had just agreed to, regardless of my inability to refuse, not really. Refusal would have meant a guarantee of not only Chrissy and me losing everything, but it would have done tremendous damage to Wynona’s life, Maria’s life, and the lives of their families and so many others. Mina had used the old line about heavy crowns and the like earlier. If only she had known how right that was going to turn into being.

  After getting my brain in order, I rolled on out of my room. I did need food and Roxanne needed her tablet back, at the very least.

  She was sitting at the sole table in the combination living room/dining room/kitchenette of our exceedingly humble abode, trying to look as if she was casually watching the cheap Tri-D set mounted in the center of the table and not anxiously watching my door. As I rolled towards the table, she focused on me, her brow knit in concern.

  “What did my mother want from you?” I couldn’t blame the bitterness in her voice. Dr. Fontaine was far from the warmest person I had known, and I found it hard to imagine she was any better when she was raising Roxanne.

  Did I tell her the truth of it all? Would she believe anything else? Knowing wouldn’t change anything; our future was riding on Crystalfire one way or the other, but lying to her wouldn’t accomplish much either.

  “In a way, she encouraged me to do well in the big Elementalis contest,” I ventured as I got to the table. A delectable lunch of Synthprotein, a few sheets of NutriWrap, and my favorite flavor of NutriGoop (blue, if you wanted to know) awaited me.

  “That sounds extremely uncharacteristic of Rosemary Fontaine,” Roxanne muttered as she rolled up a chunk of fake protein in a wrap. Though she could eat better with her salary from the Institute, she never did. I respected that.

  “Well, to be fair, her method of encouragement was to tell me that she would double the budget for Institute charitable work if I did well … and completely wipe it out if I did poorly.” I put on a mock smile. “So, you know, both the carrot and the stick at the same time, right?”

  Roxanne’s eyes bulged for a moment in mid-chew and I thought for a moment she was about to choke. With a hard swallow, she got her bite of synthetic sandwich down, thankfully. “Wow, talk about par for the Director’s course. God, there are times I wish something awful would happen to her.” She looked down at her plate, her expression mixed between sadness and anger. “Not kill her or anything but put her into the same situation as someone like you or Chrissy. Having her know firsthand what she’s put others through would serve her right.”

  I frowned a bit. “I guess I can see why you’d want that but … eh, maybe I’m too much of a softie.” Blowing out a bit of a sigh, I actually smiled as I put together my own fake-wich. “I look at it like this: I have a chance to turn her around here, right? If my friends and I can pull this off, we’ll not only be financially set for years to come but a lot of other people are going to benefit. Besides, she actually did say that she thought I could do it, which is a massive sea change from anything she ever said to me before.”

  “I don’t k
now if that makes me more or less worried,” the nurse said with a bark of a laugh. “Did you see a pod on the back of her neck or a slug alien attached to her skull? Maybe she’s been replaced by a slightly more humane doppelganger?”

  I joined her in that laugh. “Well, I can’t say I saw any of that and to be honest, I don’t care. If she does what she said she was going to do, the old doctor can be a vampire or an alien or whatever.”

  “Fair enough, I suppose.” Roxanne shook her head slowly, her lips pursed. “I just wonder what it is that’s gotten into her. Why decide to show a shred of decency so late in the game, even if it’s back-handed in a way?”

  “Maybe Wynona and I really did get through to her after Chrissy’s surgery,” I ventured. “I guess I don’t really care. I’ve just got to make the most of this opportunity, an opportunity that’s going to start in less than three days on top of that.”

  Well, Roxanne finally knew everything and the stakes of what was going on. Taking a deep breath, I decided to ask something of her that had been lingering in the back of my mind for a bit now, ever since we had made our stance against the two guilds back in the dive. It was something I knew that Roxanne would never normally allow, not with the long-term stress it would put on my body, but I had to ask it.

  “So, with that in mind, I wanted to ask you if I can work in a third deep-dive session for the duration of this whole Crystalfire Keep thing?” I tried to read her initial reaction, but her poker face was stronger than my ability to gauge her. “I’ve done the math and there’s enough of a time gap to allow for the minimum downtime between sessions.”

  Finally, she frowned a hair as she put down her food. “I know the timing works, Max. What I don’t know is if it’s wise for you to do that much extra diving.” Her fingers moved towards her returned tablet, tapping across the surface. “Your immersion levels have increased inch-by-inch over all these years and that means the impact of every neural response, every pain spike, every intense sensation increases the stress on your physiology. I’m not sure it’s healthy to take on more time. I’d almost say it’d be smarter to cut down to one session if you can manage it.”

  “You know I can’t do that, Roxanne, not with what’s on the line.” I shook my head. “Besides, this isn’t about me, not really. I’m willing to take the risk, make the sacrifice if it means a shot at making things better for everyone.”

  Roxanne’s eyes were locked on me as I spoke, her food untouched (not that she was really missing out). There was a long silence after I finished, and that unmoving gaze started to make me fidget under the pressure. Finally, a long, put-upon sigh poured out of her mouth.

  “Someday, I’m going to figure out how you wound up so nobly self-sacrificing after the heck you’ve been through. You literally don’t owe anyone anything, you know that, right?”

  I waggled my eyebrows. “You know you wouldn’t like me any other way.”

  Roxanne knew when she was beaten. “Fine, fine. We’ll give it a shot.” She raised a wary finger. “But, and this is a big but, if you start to show signs of excessive cardiovascular or neural stress, any little thing I think might be a precursor of a more serious issue, I’m engaging the health overrides and pulling you out, no matter when. Deal?”

  “Deal.” I raised my glass of water in lieu of a handshake. “I’ll even hold off on starting until tomorrow.”

  She nodded slowly as she raised her glass in return. “Good. I’ll take the time to go over your records and the Institute data on NSAF safety variances. Just try to play safe, okay?”

  “Come on, Roxanne, I always play safe.”

  I don’t think she believed me and I didn’t blame her, but all the same, she didn’t make any more mention of it. We finished our lunch and with Chrissy resting, I had time to kill until the afternoon dive. In the past, I’d be at loose ends, wasting time doing ‘research’ or trying to figure out new ways to get in-game business. The past week, though, I had gained something I hadn’t had in a long time: a friend that wasn’t confined to the digital realm. More than that, she was a friend that needed a shoulder as much as I ever did.

  As soon as I rolled back into my room, I guided my wheelchair up to my desk, reaching forward to flick on the monitor. I never bothered getting a Tri-D setup for the desktop, not when so much of my time using it was for the NSAF headgear, so I made due with an old-fashioned 2D image. With my good hand, I nimbly guided the cursor to the UniMessage icon and booted it up.

  UniMessage was the only way to talk remotely, at least the only reasonable way to do so outside of the deep dive. After the Slow Flood and the damage it did to the infrastructure, everything in terms of personal communication became tied to the still-intact Internet. As companies did, some collapsed from having so much of their resources tied to that physical-and-obsolete physical network while the rest fought over the digital realm until there were two … who immediately realized that it was smarter to merge than fight. From then on, UniMessage was the king, queen, and royal family of world-wide communication.

  A few taps later and Wynona Christian’s weary, red-eyed face popped up on the screen. Though her cheeks were well scrubbed, I could tell she had been crying again. Every time I saw her, I saw more and more the similarities between herself and her avatar. Maybe I should suggest that the EO team do a better job in disguising identities. Looking behind her, I could tell that she was in the hospital cafeteria, not a surprise really. She took a trip to visit Maria every chance she could, after all.

  “Oh. Hey, Max,” she said, putting on a little bit of a smile.

  “Hi, Wynona.” I had to tell her what had happened, but it wasn’t the best thing to hit her with first off. “How is Maria doing?”

  And there went that attempt at a smile. “I, well, I don’t know.” She bit her lip. “They, like, they wouldn’t let me see her today.”

  Trying not to let my own worry about that show, I started to recount the reasonable explanations for that. “I bet she was in for a procedure or something, or maybe the doctors were doing their rounds and examinations when you showed up. If it were something serious, they would have told you or her parents. They wouldn’t try to close you out like that. Did they tell you anything at all?”

  “Well, the head nurse did tell me the Institute was going to try some new experimental procedures this week but, like, it wasn’t supposed to be today.” Her thumb was already rubbing at her engagement ring, but I could see that logic was starting to soak through her concern. “But … maybe the doctors are doing, like, prep stuff for that?”

  I nodded and smiled. “I’m sure that’s it. The Doc doesn’t do things in half-measures. If this is experimental, it’s going to be a big production. You know, lots of bleeding edge tech they’re likely having to install. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

  “What about the rest of it, though?” Wynona massaged her eyes with the palms of her hands. “I mean, after what we did with Dr. Fontaine, is this a good thing or a bad thing?”

  I mulled that over for a moment. “Look, we might have beaten the first phase of that raid boss, but this one doesn’t keep grudges, well, not like this anyway. She’s far too much of a doctor to use her patients as a weapon. Whatever this is, it’s a completely honest attempt to help Maria and bring her out of this coma.”

  What I left out was that there was a good chance the Doc was using Maria more as an experimental subject for Rosemary’s scientific edification than for Maria’s health. Still, considering how much of a genius Dr. Fontaine was, it would likely work out for the best.

  My explanation did seem to help a lot as Wynona perked up, a kernel of the pixyish charm starting to shine through her sadness. “I don’t want to get my hopes up too much but … maybe this will do it, right? Maybe this experimental stuff will bring Maria around.”

  “If anyone can do it, it’s the Doc.” I meant every word at that point. “For all her hang-ups and all her judgmental craziness, she is a real genius when it comes to neurological medicine. Sh
e invented the NSAF gear and Maria’s injury is from the gear so, well, no one’s better qualified.”

  Wynona was full-on smiling now and why wouldn’t she be? She had hope. Not just that vague hope that was way-off in the future. No, this hope was for something that could be a lot sooner.

  And that was the reason I wound up flat-out lying to her. It was a simple little lie and while it was probably for the best, I still didn’t like doing it.

  “So, is there anything new going on for you up top, Max?” she asked innocently.

  “Nope,” I lied. “Everything is business as usual.”

  10

  “I’m not sure exactly how to explain it, Mr. Shale,” Nahma said with the perfect hang-dog expression on his face, his shoulders slightly slumped. “There was so much interest when I logged out earlier and now …” His boyish voice trailed off in utter defeat as he turned to survey the absolute desolation around us.

  Well, maybe that was an exaggeration, but not as far of a one as you might think. It was no massive party wipe or a shouting crowd of griefing avatars, but the fact of the matter was that the little questing hub of Whitepeak, a Craggar outpost in the Dominion Mountains, should have been full of eager FFA-WUSA guild members. After all, the opportunity to delve into Crystalfire Keep with the players you have idolized for a month straight should have brought them out in droves.

  Instead, there were only three of them, if you didn’t count Wazif or Nahma. The normally jovial miner-turned-champion was as confused as Nahma was and Kayla was by my side, arms crossed and brow furrowed in consternation. Worst of all, I could almost feel the panic starting to seep into Crysta. Considering that this was supposed to be the plan that made turning away from the Sisters of Artemis worth it, I couldn’t blame her. I was starting to feel a bit of it myself.