Grasping The Future

by Michael Anderle

  The hapless patient glared at them before he gulped the tea. From the look on his face, it was far less pleasant than the stew, but he managed to hold in his gagging until the woman left again.

  “That was so bad,” he managed finally. His eyes rolled up in his head and his head thunked down on the table.

  “Jamie!”

  “He’s all right,” Prima said. From the way both Taigan and Ben moved their heads, they could tell that the other one was listening. “There was a herb in the tea for sleeping.”

  “So now we have to haul him upstairs?” the girl asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Of course,” Ben muttered. “And you’ll laugh at us while we do, won’t you?”

  “I think you know the answer to that.”

  “Yeah, well.” The girl looked venomously at the ceiling. “You got Jamie attacked by a fucking bear-cat monster. You can laugh, but if I ever find you, I’m gonna kick some ass.”

  Prima wisely said nothing to that.

  Getting the boy upstairs was an ungainly process. Two rooms had been made ready, one with two beds separated by a sheet and one with one little bed. They each had another soot-streaked lantern and both were even draftier than the downstairs area.

  He resigned himself to the fact that he wouldn’t dry out until he left. Once he’d helped to wrestle the boy into bed, he nodded at Taigan.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

  “I…think so.” She shrugged.

  “He’s all right,” Ben told her. “Prima wouldn’t let him get hurt. Not really.”

  “That’s what you think,” she said resentfully.

  He was going to ask what that meant but saw how exhausted she was.

  “Get some sleep,” he suggested. “Food and sleep won’t make this place less damp, but they’ll make things easier to deal with. We can come up with a plan for you two tomorrow.”

  She hesitated, then nodded and ran a hand through her bedraggled hair. “Thanks,” she told him.

  “Sure.” He went into his room and closed the door before he said to Prima, “What’s she mad about?”

  “Mmm. I’ll let her tell you.”

  “You realize that will paint a less flattering portrait of the situation than you’d give me yourself?”

  “I hadn’t thought of that. Humans are sneaky. Nonetheless, it isn’t my story to tell.”

  It was an interesting statement. He considered what it might entail but was suddenly so tired that he could barely pull his cloak and boots off before he fell onto the bed. His last thought before he fell asleep was to wonder if there had been herbs in the stew, too.

  Chapter Four

  Taigan woke to sunlight streaming through the windows.

  That was her first thought but instead, it soon became clear that she had woken to sunlight streaming through the gaps in the wall. She looked at the still-damp boards and shook her head.

  No sounds came from Jamie’s side of the sheet. She stood carefully and tiptoed around the edge of it. He slept peacefully with deep, even breaths, and his face had good color.

  She wasn’t trained as a doctor, but that seemed positive. She crept closer, held her hand above his forehead to see how warm it was, and craned forward to peer at his shoulder. The cat-creature must have used him as a launch point after the first attack.

  Although she couldn’t see the wound, no lines extended from it and the area didn’t seem to be red or hot. That also seemed positive.

  He didn’t so much as stir while she examined him, which led her to believe that he was still drugged to high heaven. Jamie was, otherwise, a fairly fussy sleeper. She returned to her side of the sheet and tried to decide what to do.

  Now that she was up, she could hear people moving downstairs and even footsteps coming past in the hallway. Ben, maybe? This seemed a fairly out of the way place so it was probably him.

  She washed awkwardly with the ewer of water and a damp cloth, briefly pondered the fact that she would sell her soul for antiperspirant, and checked again to see if her brother was still asleep. When she confirmed that he was, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and let the world dissolve around her.

  In her other plane of existence, it was no trouble to clean up and re-braid her hair. Taigan made herself another set of clothing and returned to the game world. She had improved with this, although she couldn’t seem to stop holding her breath when she did it like she was plunging into a pool.

  Well, everyone had their quirks. She disappeared into the ether once more and came back with a note that said DOWNSTAIRS -T, which she placed on the floor between Jamie’s bed and the door. Finally, she crept out and down the stairs.

  Ben wasn’t up and about yet, but the innkeeper’s wife was. She fussed around the girl and brought her porridge with a lump of butter and a thick dollop of what turned out to be maple syrup. Taigan usually wasn’t much of a one for overly sweet foods, but it turned out that near-death experiences had quite an effect on her appetite.

  She was almost finished when Ben came down the stairs. He looked around for Jamie.

  “He’s not up yet,” she said. “He seems to be recovering well.”

  “Good.” He sat and looked for the innkeeper. “What’s on the menu? There’s not enough left in your bowl for me to tell what it was.”

  Taigan flushed. “Porridge stuff. It’s good. And it looks better than the stew.”

  “Yeah, that didn’t take much.” He frowned at her. “So, do you want to tell me what two teenagers are doing here…in fairly desperate straits?”

  “Oh.” She waited while the innkeeper’s wife came and set a bowl of porridge down. From the serving size, she seemed to have decided that he was worthy of the best as he’d paid for Jamie to be treated.

  The girl waited while he took a mouthful and nodded in pleasure.

  “It’s good, right?”

  He made a muffled sound of agreement.

  “So, I’m in a coma,” Taigan said.

  Ben choked on his food and gave her a sharp look.

  She shrugged. “It happens sometimes.”

  “I know that, but it’s still…what happened?”

  “Oh, I mean it simply happens to me sometimes. It’s happened since I was little. I fall into a coma and then I’m in one for a while. No one knows why. But Jamie—he’s my twin—heard about this project and he got us into it. We’ve been in a different part of the game until now, and we’re only…getting into the normal part.” She sighed. “I’m not sure I like it.”

  “No?” He gave her a smile that said he understood all too well. “I haven’t been a fan of everything I’ve seen either. It’s kind of like the real world, huh?”

  “I suppose.” She curled her legs up. “I beat a cat-whatever to death with a staff last night. Mostly. Then I stabbed it.”

  “Sure.”

  “I didn’t like that. Especially because—” Taigan suddenly remembered everything in a rush. With Jamie’s injury and the darkness and fear, she hadn’t focused on what had happened. She leaned closer to Ben. “The creature that attacked us—the cat, I mean—it was a person, a woman. She transformed into a human when I killed her and she had this ring…”

  Ben, sipping something that looked like tea but smelled like hot ale, raised his eyebrows. “Ring?”

  “A gold ring. But she was so poor that she was starving to death. She would have sold it, I’d think.” She shivered. “I think it had something to do with her being a cat. Does this world work this way?”

  “This world works in many ways,” he said, his tone a little disgruntled. “Not all of them are nice. Or fair. Again…like the real world.”

  “Hmm.” She considered that and looked up when she caught a flash of movement from the corner of her eye. “You’re up! Should you be walking?”

  “I’m fine,” Jamie said, clearly prickly. He came down the stairs and to the table, sat close to his sister, and darted a barely disguised glare at her companion.

  Ben took another
mouthful of his porridge to hide a smile before he said, “I’ll go tell the innkeeper you’re here for breakfast.”

  He had barely moved out of sight when Jamie whispered, “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Eating breakfast? Talking with the other person from the real world?” Taigan looked at him.

  “He’s dangerous,” her brother said flatly.

  “I…okay, back up. How do you know this?”

  “You’re my sister. I’m supposed to keep you safe.”

  “Yes,” she said patiently, “but how is he dangerous? All he’s done is help us. He’s here for help exactly like we are. I don’t see why we should assume there’s a problem.”

  Jamie glowered in the direction Ben had left in. “You’re my sister,” he said again.

  “Do you…think he’s hitting on me?” she asked finally. “Because I honestly don’t think he is.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  “I think we’re half his age,” Taigan protested.

  “That doesn’t always mean someone’s safe.”

  “Okay, true, but he hasn’t been creepy.” She sighed at the look on his face. “How about this—if he does anything creepy, my hand to God, I’ll stab him.”

  Jamie’s face cleared. “Okay.” He held a hand out to shake.

  She shook on it. “Just you wait. If we run into a lady somewhere, I’ll make you make the same promise.”

  Ben, with perfect timing, returned with the innkeeper, who held a bowl of porridge. Taigan suspected he had been listening for the optimal time to rejoin them but was unable to confirm her suspicions as he wouldn’t meet her eyes.

  He certainly seemed amused.

  “Why are you here?” Jamie asked him when the three of them were alone.

  “A climbing accident,” the man said. A tenseness stiffened the set of his shoulders. “I lost my ability to move my body—not paralysis. I simply didn’t know where my body was at any given time. I’ve had to learn to walk again and this seems to help.” He paused. “Or did you mean why am I in this inn?”

  “Both,” the boy said after a moment. “Where were you climbing?”

  “Colorado.” He sighed. “I’m…lucky to be alive. My buddy was also there, and he made it too but he broke a lot of bones. I feel guilty about suggesting that route. Anyway, if you’re ever in Aspen and you get injured, you should hope you get Dr. Ullmer. She’s a miracle worker.”

  Taigan could see her brother had begun to relax.

  “And why are you here in the inn?” she asked.

  “Oh, that.” He opened his mouth, then closed it. “Um…”

  “What?” Jamie asked suspiciously.

  “Do you want the good version or the bad version?”

  “The good one,” she said at the same time her twin said, “The bad one.”

  “Under a rather obscure section of elvish law,” Ben explained, “an elf who is sold into slavery by another elf—of the same nation—is allowed to kill the one who did it. As long as there are seven other elves present. It’s complicated. Anyway, I know an elf who had been sold into slavery. He intended to kill the guy who did it to him.”

  They stared at him, wide-eyed.

  “The thing is,” he continued, “his immediate heir was someone who would stay in business as a slave trader. His next heir was someone who fought for abolition. So…I killed his first heir on the same night. But as you will note, I am not an elf and therefore I needed to get the hell out of there in short order.”

  A somewhat stunned silence followed.

  “So, you murdered someone,” Jamie said finally. His voice was flat.

  “That’s the one,” Ben admitted.

  “You’re not at all sorry?” the boy asked incredulously.

  Even Taigan was a little unsettled now.

  “Oh, I am. I did not want to do that. The thing was, it was necessary, and I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t do it.” He shrugged. “It’s been a hard few weeks here. When I told Taigan that this world wasn’t always pretty or fair, I meant it. On the other hand, I think I’ve become a better person.”

  “Better person…as in a murderer.” Jamie didn’t seem inclined to let this go.

  His sister had to admit he had a point.

  “Yeah,” he said. “If it helps, up until I got into the game—and for a while after—I’d have been right there with you.”

  “I don’t think it does help,” the boy said after a moment of serious thought.

  “Well, that’s fair.” Ben took a mouthful of porridge. “But it sounds like your sister did some violence last night to save your life and I’d wager you’d do the same for her, right? Or a friend?”

  Jamie didn’t say anything to that.

  “So…” Taigan considered this. “Are you leaving, then?”

  “Soon. I’m waiting for someone.” He smiled slightly. “Since I needed to leave anyway, I offered to look for my friend’s…friend. Fiancée, I think. She was sold into slavery somewhere out here by the same man and I’ll try to track her down.”

  “And kill her?” the boy muttered into a mouthful of porridge.

  She rolled her eyes but knew better than to engage when he had made up his mind about something. He liked to leap to conclusions and then hang onto them for dear life.

  He finished his porridge and put his spoon down. “Well, if you’re waiting for someone, we should spar.”

  “What?” Taigan and Ben said at the same time.

  “You learn who a man is by fighting him.”

  Ben’s face went studiously blank and she winced in empathic embarrassment. Before he could say anything, she hurried to interject.

  “That may be, but you are on bed rest for one week and I think if you disobey orders, our hostess will make you drink more of that tea.”

  She had hoped to put the fear of God in her brother, and it looked like she had judged correctly—his eyes went wide.

  “There are some sparring targets outside,” Ben said casually. “I need to practice movement anyway for my physical therapy, so I’ll be there if you’d like to join me.” He raised an eyebrow at Jamie.

  “I can’t spar,” the boy said grumpily. “Guys, that tea is so bad. I can’t drink it again.”

  “It’ll at least get you outside,” he said. “Come on, both of you.”

  Chapter Five

  “I’m confused,” Prima said as Ben walked through the inn.

  “What about?” He kept his voice low so the twins wouldn’t hear him. Taigan hung back with her brother, who was running out of energy and did not want to admit it.

  “Why doesn’t Jamie like you?” she asked. “I put you all in the same place because I thought you would like each other. It’s always worked that way before.”

  “Always? Who else have you tried that with?”

  “Dotty, Justin, Tina…”

  “Yeah, I don’t know any of those people. As for Jamie…” He tried to decide how to explain this to her. “He’s worried about his sister. He thinks I’ll hit on her and make her uncomfortable.”

  “I’m not always familiar with colloquialisms. ‘Hit on’ is a euphemism for flirting, yes?”

  “Yes.” He hid a smile.

  “Do you want to flirt with Taigan?”

  “I do not.” He grinned now. “I’m sure she’s a lovely person but she is also a child. I certainly will not flirt with her.”

  “She is not a child,” Prima said after a moment. She was clearly trying to understand the meaning of his words and seemed to have trouble doing so.

  Ben said nothing. If he’d learned anything about the AI, it was that she wanted to learn and advance. He wouldn’t give her the answer to her question before she’d had time to puzzle it out.

  “So, humans find age gaps to be disconcerting?” Prima asked at last.

  “Yes,” he said patiently.

  “Is it the fact that she is fifty percent of your age or the fact that she is seventeen years younger?”

  �
��There isn’t any hard and fast rule,” Ben explained. “It’s merely what feels okay at the time. Well…as long as everyone’s cool with it and they’re adults, which she isn’t. Look, this is seriously weird to talk about.”

  “I apologize. I am confused. To sum up, Jamie is worried that you will flirt with Taigan, but you do not want to flirt with Taigan?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then why don’t you simply tell him that?”

  “Oh, you priceless, innocent unicorn.” Ben began to laugh and tried to keep his voice low.

  “I am not a unicorn. I am an artificial—"

  “I know. It’s another figure of speech. Uh…basically, if I told him that, he wouldn’t believe it. Humans lie often. Especially about this kind of thing.”

  “You people are exhausting.”

  “It’s hard to argue with that,” he agreed.

  He pushed out into the back yard. The sparring targets he had spoken about were not designed to be targets. Instead, they were old piles of garbage, some of them with the remains of boxes protruding.

  The ground was still somewhat wet from the day before but was drying quickly in the day’s heat, and Ben took a moment to study the area. Heffog, as Elantria had told him, had the feeling of a city forever in decline. There was a desperate undercurrent to it, the sense that anyone might be watching you and anyone might try to harm you.

  This settlement was ramshackle and far from affluent, but it was far more comfortable. You drank your beer, you paid your tab, and in return, everyone obeyed the rules of society.

  Taigan and Jamie emerged and looked around for a seat for the wounded boy. A set of barrels stood nearby, filled with God only knew what, but they didn’t smell too bad and they would work well for what they needed. He clambered up with Taigan’s help, which Ben pretended not to see.

  “So,” he called over his shoulder as he drew his sword. “You know why I’m here—what’s your quest?”

  “We’re supposed to have a quest?” She responded. With a small frown, she moved closer to stare at the piles. “What am I supposed to do with this? It’s not exactly…human-shaped.”