D_Light and Lily giggled as D_Light mocked Djoser. “Flippin’ ferret in front of my face! Flippin’ ferret in front of my face! Try saying that three-”
“Shhh, listen!” Lyra whispered.
“What?” Djoser hissed back.
Lyra was straining her eyes into the darkness ahead. The light from the glow stick cast long shadows into the forest. “I thought I heard a cry or a shout, but not like a person. I dunno, something freakish.”
Djoser’s eyes narrowed. “How the blazes can you hear anything over those two?” He pointed toward Lily and D_Light, who had reverted from giggling back to their inconsolable sobbing.
As though an afterthought, Djoser dispatched Amanda to shut them up. Amanda was not practiced at this particular task, and so she simply pulled them apart. When they continued to sniffle and whine, she hissed threats and slapped them both-once for Lily and three times for D_Light-after which they finally quieted down.
The nobles concentrated on the sounds around them. After straining their ears for a minute, it was apparent that the forest was packed tight with bizarre noises. There was screeching, singing, and something that sounded akin to burping. One unsettling call from the forest sounded like a voice, but it was too guttural to have come from any man unless that man’s vocal cords had been violated. Upon hearing this last sound, there was some discussion about waiting for the faux sun to come up-assuming there was one-but Lyra insisted that they did not have the luxury of time. She reminded them that they were on an urgent quest and that the stakes were high.
Finally in agreement, Djoser gave Amanda his glow stick and sent her out in front to lead them down the narrow stone path. The party walked in single file with D_Light and Lily-still consoling each other, albeit quietly-bringing up the rear. The path was uneven and not particularly well maintained, boasting large rocks, roots, and a constant encroachment of plants. This made for a clumsy march for D_Light and Lily since those ahead of them blocked the light from the glow stick, casting dark shadows down over the path. D_Light multithreaded his vision so that he could see from his own perspective, limited as it was, and from Smorgeous’s perspective, who at least had night vision, although at a different angle. Lily held onto D_Light’s hand for guidance.
After many minutes of this quiet and clumsy march, Lyra began feeling more comfortable with using artificial light and so turned on a glow stick of her own. She held it high so that D_Light and Lily could see as well. Lily let go of D_Light’s hand, no longer needing him to guide her; he, however, did not let go of hers. He felt the need to keep her close. To protect her, he thought, although he knew this was not his true motivation. From what he had observed so far, she was handier in a fight than he was. D_Light did not look back to see her face. The LoveGas™ had finally worn off, for the most part, and he no longer felt that bold. Presently, her hand returned his grip.
Lyra eventually stopped and looked around intently as though to penetrate the wall of alien plant life. She scowled. “What? That kid couldn’t give us a map? We have no idea where we’re going,” she said plaintively.
“If you’re referring to the girl who goes by Love_Monkey, I don’t think she’s actually a child, at least not in terms of her age,” Djoser said.
D_Light agreed. Love_Monkey was obviously much older than suggested by her appearance. It was uncommon for someone to go into age stasis before attaining physical adulthood, as it was typically disadvantageous to remain weaker and smaller than one’s full potential. D_Light knew of only one example of a “stunted” being, a concubine product girl whom his brother C recommended as a “unique flavor.” However, D_Light never rented her. To him there was something unsettling about the prospect, although he could not identify specifically what it was.
“Smells like a trap,” Lyra muttered. “This whole ‘walking around in the woods’ thing is really suspect.”
“Hmm, what was your first clue?” Djoser asked sarcastically. “Was it the angry woman-child whose guards shoved us into her dad’s wild laboratory and locked us in? We’re probably already infected with some incurable flesh-eating bacteria.”
With a feeling of impending doom creeping over them, the team moved faster and they no longer took the time to stop and listen. They stormed along the path for what seemed like hours before the trail suddenly plunged into a long, steep stairway. Down below they saw what looked like an immense garden that stretched out as far as they could see, which was quite far because the garden was festooned with light-emitting plants providing patches of light in a variety of different colors, highlighting all manner of flowers, trees, fountains, sculpted rocks, and statues. Tall and short hedges were carved like soft stone into arcs and swirls. Paths threaded though the garden, bending this way and that, fading in and out of shadow. Perhaps the game involves a maze. That would be classic, D_Light thought.
Since the garden was below a sheer cliff that bent around it, the only visible way down was the stairs ahead of them, which was also where their trail ended. With no better idea, the team began their descent into the unknown. As they walked, the only audible sounds were from fountains and streams of varying sizes, most of which were in the shadows or hidden behind something. Cool colors from the photoflowers glowed invitingly, soft blues, reds, greens, and every other color imaginable; each color dominated a small area containing a centerpiece, like a flowering nectar tree, a stone sculpture, or the falling water from a fountain. Having only slept for a combined hour or two, D_Light was exhausted. Peering into the private nooks and crannies of the garden, he longed to lie down in one of those dark shadows and let the soft, spongy grass cradle him and the gurgling waterfalls lull him to sleep.
D_Light left the path and inspected a long-stemmed blue-petaled flower that glowed. Looking into the bulb, he could not see any obvious light source. It appeared that the light was emitted from the tissue of the plant itself. Remarkable, he thought as he ripped one of the succulent petals. It tore easily enough and excreted a thick, glowing liquid that ran down between his fingers. It was viscous and sticky.
“D_Light!” Lyra whispered from the path. “Don’t mess around with these things. You don’t know what they are.”
Lily was at his shoulder peering down intently at the torn flower. She dabbed a finger into the palm of his hand where a few drops of softly glowing juice had run down and collected. She then brought her finger under her nose and inhaled deeply. Just as D_Light was about to bring his sap-soaked hand up to his own nose, Djoser opened a blink to the team. There is someone behind us.
Instantly, D_Light was given a visual. It was a large humanoid shape that moved quickly, visible only for an instant before disappearing behind a tall flowerbed. It’s gone. What is it? Djoser asked. Without waiting for an answer, he played the visual clip back slowly. D_Light could not make the figure out clearly, as it had been largely concealed behind beds of flowers and the trunk of a tree before disappearing behind thicker cover. Even so, D_Light thought he could make out a large humanoid head like that of a large man.
Djoser immediately sent over a version of the video feed that had just been enhanced by his familiar. The creature was shaped like human, a man, more or less. It was naked and had no hair, save at its groin, which had only a tuft of hair and no visible testes. His skin was striated with what D_Light supposed were bulging veins over well-defined muscles. The eyes were oversized and showed up well in the image. They were pink as though thoroughly bloodshot. The nose was enormous, and it glistened as though wet. The mouth was shut, but it also looked several times too big. A large flap of skin hung underneath the jaw, such that no neck was visible from that angle.
Master, no organism in the public taxonomy fits the characteristics of that image. Smorgeous’s calm voice in D_Light’s head contrasted with the feelings of panic beginning to wash over the robot’s master.
The others shared D_Light’s feelings of anxiety as the blink went rapid-fire. It was standard for members of House Tesla to be trained in psychological stra
tegies for times that required quick action. Extraneous thought patterns were shut down to focus on the problem at hand while still keeping the senses keen.
Options? Djoser pinged.
Hide, Lyra responded.
Hiding good, D_Light sent as though he had a vote.
Stay together, Lyra commanded.
Because Lily had no familiar, she could not handle the security processing required by an unfiltered blink without a long delay and was therefore completely unaware of the discovery and discussion that had occurred over the last few seconds. Without even realizing it, D_Light grabbed Lily’s hand to guide her. She did not resist. He then had Smorgeous create a summary of the situation and send it to her as a standard, low-security message.
The team’s familiars watched their backs for any pursuer. Through the blink the team discussed other tactics. It was decided that if evasion failed, the party was certainly capable of defending itself. All of them carried weapons, and based on the image, the creature did not appear to be armed. They decided on a “bear trap” configuration if the enemy attacked alone. This consisted of a simple line with Amanda, the strongest, out a meter in front of the others. This would ensure that Amanda would meet the attacker first and that the others could then surround and snap shut around the attacker. If, however, there were multiple enemies, they would instead use a “flesh fortress” configuration, which simply meant they would all stand back to back, Amanda facing the most likely direction of attack.
But fighting was plan B. Plan A was still to hide, and to do this they sprinted with the intention of getting some distance from the thing and then hiding once out of sight. The plan seemed reasonable to D_Light, but he was also afraid of dashing headlong into another one of these things. Or something worse.
My familiar is scouting ahead, D_Light informed the others. The familiar’s quadruped robotic legs afforded it much greater speed than its master or any of the other bipeds in the party.
Lyra’s thoughts came fast. Good, Djoser, Moocher watches our back. Princess watches our flanks.
Djoser was beginning to breathe hard from the run, but unlike audible speech, this had no effect on his blink communication. Moocher can’t see it back there anymore. That thing probably knows the garden though. Knows where we’re heading.
Fine, see that large stone ahead? To the left is cover. At the hedge, we’ll leave the path and hide. Lyra pinged the location in the team’s minds. Princess will maintain along the path. She can mimic my voice. She can mimic us all! With any luck, the thing will follow her.
Momentarily, the four arrived at the stone, at which point they moved quietly off the path while Lyra’s familiar continued on. They crawled and slithered in among the thick stalks of a patch of large, broad-leafed plants.
D_Light tried to suppress his panting from the run, but it was a few long seconds before he had quieted himself enough to faintly hear Djoser’s voice off in the distance saying, “Run! Don’t stop!” to which his own voice answered, “But I’m tired…and scared.” D_Light could see Lyra smirking at him. When he cracked a smile back, she winked.
I want to get a look around, Djoser sent telepathically.
Stay hidden! Lyra seized Djoser’s wrist. If you can see it, then it can see you.
That freak show might be creeping up on us right now. Djoser splayed his free hand out in frustration. We don’t know its capabilities.
Exactly, Lyra sent back. We don’t know anything about it. In fact, we don’t know anything about this place at all, so I say better to play it cool.
Djoser’s eyebrows shot up. I’m not suggesting I peek out myself. I’ll send out Moocher. He’s small, so he’ll be hard to spot. And he can see better than any of us anyway.
Lyra nodded. Moocher, with his tube-shaped body, then began a low, slinking crawl around the plant stalks out toward the dim light just outside the thicket.
Pipe Moocher’s visual and audio to all of us, Lyra commanded.
Djoser, Lyra, and D_Light were now looking through Moocher’s eyes. Since the shadows were no problem for the familiar, they could all see pretty well. Unfortunately, the garden was full of obstacles and plants that blocked much of the familiar’s view, but nothing seemed to be moving in the immediate vicinity.
“Oh Soul, I think I soiled my pants!” D_Light could faintly hear his own voice yelling from off in the distance. Princess’s imitation of D_Light’s voice was unnervingly accurate.
Great, I get all the good lines, he thought.
Djoser, have Moocher pan over to his left a bit, Lyra ordered. Their collective vision swung to the left. There, see that tree? Lyra placed a highlight over the tree to which she was referring. Have Moocher climb one of those to get a better look around.
The tree had a thick base from which sprung two thinner trunks that wound around one another like a DNA molecule. Numerous branches extended out from both trunks, and the leaves on the branches glowed dimly, not enough to cast significant light on anything else, but enough to glow clearly in the dark with a deep violet hue.
As D_Light re-immersed himself in Moocher’s deft ascent up between the branches of the tree trunk, he was startled by Lyra, who suddenly spoke out loud in a shallow whisper. “I lost PeePee! I don’t know how. Destroyed I think!”
She then let out a loud gasp and said in a rapid whisper, “I don’t have time to reconfigure my blink settings. Without a familiar, I’m going to have to fall back to speech.”
How? D_Light sent the thought, and then he realized that Lyra had dropped from that form of communication.
“How?” D_Light repeated in a whisper.
“I said I don’t know how! I wasn’t watching her. I can’t play back her archive because she’s completely gone.”
D_Light could see Lyra’s hand was shaking as she reached up and grabbed Djoser’s arm. “Have Moocher look over to where my familiar ought to be. She ought to be…how do you say it?”
Lyra struggled as she tried to describe in words the whereabouts of her familiar. Being accustomed to simply sharing a map and pinging on a location, verbalizing locations was awkward. “You know, down the path we were on.”
Djoser nodded distractedly as he communicated with Moocher. A moment later he gasped, “Oh shit!”
Through Moocher’s visual feed, D_Light could see the monster clearly. The creature’s arms were elongated, enabling it to alternate between walking upright and on all fours like an ape, but it moved like an insect. One moment it would be nearly motionless, breathing fast and deeply with its heaving torso, and then it would suddenly sprint forward at an impossible speed.
“Looks like it’s coming straight at us!” Djoser’s voice was like a squeal.
“How does it know where we are?” Lyra asked.
“Soul if I know! Deductive reasoning, lucky guess, who cares?” Djoser shot back.
“Do we even know this thing is hostile?” D_Light ventured.
“For Soul’s sake, look at it! The teeth and the claws?” Djoser’s tone was dismissive. “Tell you what, you go on out and say hi while we watch and see what happens.”
“Besides, it fragged my Pretty Princess,” Lyra said. “Not a friendly gesture.”
Lily joined the conversation now that it was out in the open and she could keep up. “Maybe we should just stay still for now.”
“I saw a boulder that looked flat enough on top for us all to stand on,” Amanda said. The usually silent bodyguard’s husky voice startled D_Light, who momentarily thought it belonged to something else. “It would provide us with a natural defense.”
“Amanda’s right,” agreed Djoser. “If we can’t lose this thing, we’ll end up in a fight anyway. Better to choose where we make our stand.”
D_Light scrunched up his face. “Standing on top of a rock is um, well…kind of out there. Maybe we could find a spot that is defensible and hidden?”
“Okay, Dee,” Djoser said with a hint of sarcasm.
“Moocher’s going to take a good look around, an
d as he does, keep your eyes peeled for a spot that meets your extensive criteria. But we’re going to have to decide soon.”
The garden was full of hills, tall trees, and rock sculptures that limited the distance of Moocher’s vision. There were so many stone trails through the garden that Djoser was not sure which one to take, although he was sure they should use a trail rather than go cross-country. That would slow them down too much.
“Wait! Was that a person?” Djoser said as though asking himself. Moocher’s vision flew past what looked like a person in the distance. He wondered why his stupid familiar ignored something this important. Moocher’s field of vision swept back to reveal a small humanoid shape stooped over a plant. Moocher then zoomed in.
“What? Is that a child?” asked Djoser. “What the flip would a kid be doing in here?”
“Yeah, a little girl,” said D_Light. “My Soul, maybe it’s not so dangerous here after all.”
“What the-Moocher’s matched her to that girl from the lounge. You know, the hostess girl, Love_Monkey,” Djoser reported.
“Oh, little miss pissy?” Lyra groaned. “Likely she came down here to watch her pet finish us off!”
“Flip it, I say we make a run for the little Love_Monkey,” Djoser said. “She looks pretty relaxed. Maybe she knows something we don’t.”
“And maybe she’s just a stupid little girl who is about to be fragged just like us! Sheesh, whatever, let’s just go.” Lyra stood up.
Moocher mapped out the fastest route to Love_Monkey, and the group ran toward her at full tilt. By the time they charged up to the girl, who was kneeling in a grotto near some yellow flowers with dark spikes, they were quite winded. She looked up at them and did not appear surprised.
The girl had porcelain skin so pale it reminded D_Light of vampire children he’d seen in horror spank games. However, her eyes seemed very human. She had large blue eyes that peered back at them without fear, without malice.
“Each of you will need to take a drink.” She produced a small blue vial from a pouch on her waist. “Just one swallow though,” she added.
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