"Maybe they're lulling us into a sense of complacency." Milton didn't seem to believe his own words, but it was another theory at least.
Mouse had her arms crossed and sported a sour look.
"Is something wrong?" Gabby asked her.
"You're just trying to find a reason I'm leading us wrong." The accusation in her tone cut Gabby.
"No," Gabby stuttered. "I was just making sure that there's not a trap ahead."
Mouse frowned. "That I wouldn't see? That only - you - can see?"
"Mouse," said Gabby exasperated. "That anyone can see. I'm just asking if we're doing the right thing. You're doing great. You haven't led us wrong yet through this zone."
Mouse narrowed her eyes and Gabby wondered if she was playing with her or she was truly serious. It was hard to tell beneath the hair and the darkness.
Gabby still wasn't convinced they weren't missing something, a clue or a trap, perhaps, but the group seemed to be agreeing with Mouse by their heavy sighs. Gabby released them from the shadows and Mouse continued leading them through the remainder of the city.
They made it through the alleyway without incident. At the end of it was a broad double door with brass letters tacked on: Schrödinger's Bridge. Gabby glanced all around, looking for the trap, but once they stopped before it, she decided that Mouse had been right.
"Apologies, Mouse," said Gabby. "I shouldn't have questioned your leadership through the zone."
Mouse made an exaggerated angry face, pouting her lips and wrinkling her brow, and then broke into a warm smile. "Apology accepted." Then without warning Mouse strolled to the doors and flung them wide open.
Chapter Twenty
The trouble started with the door, though they didn’t realize it at first. The spectacle drew forward through the opening, before they'd even considered if they wanted to go.
Standing at the threshold, Gabby had the sensation she was peering out of a manhole at a city choked with skyscrapers. Bridges crossed between them at absurd angles that would tip their occupants off if they tried to use them. The buildings themselves, though they weren't buildings at all, moved slowly like great gears grinding through their machinations. Some moved perpendicular to their position and others stretched out into the distance. Each building was filled with geometric shapes like spirals and trapezoids and all manners of triangles cobbled together in patterns that created an overwhelming visual effect.
Staircases and bridges stretched and broke free from one building or another and then reattached as it got near another structure. The Frags watched for a while, mesmerized by the architectural dance.
Yet in the center of this marvel, drawn deep into the distance, Gabby felt a subtle pull on her breastbone, slowly yanking her forward, always on the edge of toppling her over. Avony was rubbing her chest too, so she knew it wasn't just her that felt it.
"Administrator Bracket would love this zone," said Avony.
"Bracket? Really?" Gabby put her arm on the wall so she didn't fall over. The subtle movements made her dizzy.
"Yeah." Avony nodded. "He showed me this art book one time that a student had given him. Don't remember the artist's name but it looked like this, but not as buffed."
"This zone is casting a dizzy DoT on me." Milton's face was turning a slight shade of green.
Avony moved to his side and rubbed his back. "Are you okay, Millie?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine, but let's get moving."
Gabby closed her eyes momentarily but the dizziness got worse. "I'm not feeling great myself. We'd better get started before I puke up my jerky and banana meal."
Mouse walked onto the first platform. The white chalky stone moved sideways at a torturously slow pace. A staircase ahead would lead them to the next section assuming they climbed onto the backside.
Halfway up the stairs, Avony gasped. "Check behind us."
Gabby wished she hadn't because she had the sensation she was falling even though her feet hadn't moved.
"It looks like we're walking up a wall."
"This is positively barf-making," said Milton. "And I'm not sure which direction I'll fall if I do."
"Enough puke talk, please."
As Mouse climbed the stairs, her body followed the curve of the steps, staying perpendicular even when she should have fallen. Mouse checked behind her and giggled before running up the remaining steps which led in a corkscrew to what was the wall next to them. After disappearing for a few seconds, Mouse reappeared on the wall, sticking from it like she had glue on her shoes.
"What—?"
"How are you doing that?"
Milton groaned.
"Feels fine to me. You guys need to stop thinking about directions and just follow the path."
Refusing to be outdone by the diminutive Frag, Gabby leapt past Michael and ran up the stairs. Despite gravity maintaining its pull only toward her feet, she still felt like she was going to fall through the door below. But once she reached the wall next to Mouse, her vision realigned the image and the vertigo subsided.
"That wasn't so bad." Gabby grinned widely even though her stomach was still turning.
The others took turns running up the stairs, scurrying up them so they didn't fall off. Once they reached the wall, they looked around and nodded to themselves. The zone was going to be a bit of a mind trip, but they would make it. The stone beneath their feet was moving forward, which was the same direction as the tugging in their chests, so they kept moving.
The way ahead became confused with new stairways, angled platforms and shifting blocks, but Gabby was confident they could figure their way through. She took a huge sigh. One more zone and the tower achieved and she could see Zaela again.
A muffled shout from behind/below whipped her head around. They'd left the door open and a squad of guards had come through. They shouted and began running along the platform toward the twisted spiral staircase.
Avony brought her gun down and prepared to fire, but Gabby pulled the rifle barrel out of the way. "That's us. We don't know what will happen."
Avony grimaced and yanked the rifle back. "Fine. We'll do it your way."
"Go Mouse!"
Any vertigo she'd been experiencing before was lost amid the flight for the end of the zone. The Frags ran single file to an angled platform that led to the original ceiling. With no time to decide, they took to the new direction and kept going. Gabby glanced behind them to see the doppelganger guards following.
They flew from wall to wall, sprinting across straight-a-ways and jumping onto staircases. If they could gain enough distance, the slow moving buildings might cut off their pursuers, but each time they looked back the guards were gaining.
Scampering up a staircase that bent in the middle and went over their head, Michael tripped on an edge and fell to his knees. His pants were ripped and blood quickly stained the cloth. Mouse quickly picked him up before Gabby could reach him. They ran arm in arm, with Mouse supporting his weight. With Michael limping, the doubles would surely catch up.
"Are you sure you won't let me shoot one?" asked Avony. "We won't be able to outrun them anymore."
"Just keep going." Gabby pushed Avony in the back, ignoring her glum frown.
The Frags were headed down a broad stone path without any exits toward a curved bridge. When they reached the bridge, they realized a gap separated the two halves. They could hear the doubles grunting behind them, and the clanking of their bronze armor.
"Take Michael and go!"
Mouse paused and glanced at the approaching doubles.
"We'll hold them for a while and let you get some distance," explained Gabby.
Mouse nodded and dragged Michael toward the gap with Milton following. Gabby pulled out her saber, relishing the way the steel whispered out of the sheath. She waited for the doubles at the base of the bridge. Avony joined her, holding a katana with two hands.
The doubles stopped and unsheathed their short swords and smacked them against their shields. A healthy Michael and
Avony moved forward to engage.
"If we keep them at the bridge narrows then only two of them can attack," Gabby whispered, "and once the gap gets wide enough we'll make the jump."
Avony nodded. "Keep your strokes short. We don't want to get our blades tangled."
"Oh Mario." Gabby laughed. "Imagine if Milton had heard that."
"Milton? You mean Millie?"
"Yeah, about that..."
But there was no time to explain as the doubles of Michael and Avony lunged forward to engage swords. Gabby parried a thrust from Avony, thankful that it wasn't Michael.
The sword play went quickly, with the two Frags defending, but not counterattacking. The doubles weren't actually themselves so Gabby had no doubt they would prevail, until the other doubles walked off the side of the building.
"Where'd they go?" yelled Avony, kicking double Michael in the chest and knocking him backward.
Gabby used the curved portion of her blade to redirect the thrust of the short sword. "Why didn't we think of that? Gravity seems to be completely local here."
"What if they run around the other side of the bridge and trap us?"
Gabby didn't like the sound of that. "You're right, we need to get going."
Gabby and Avony coordinated their attack with a glance and brought a brutal counterattack knocking both doubles from their feet. Gabby hit lower than she wanted and sliced the back of double Avony's leg. The real Avony screamed next to her. Avony was holding her leg in exactly the same spot as the double. Her eyes were wide.
"I'm so glad you didn't let me shoot them."
Gabby grabbed Avony's arm and they ran up the bridge only to find the gap too far to jump. And worse yet, the other doubles had found a way across from a different direction.
Gabby cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled. "Don't hurt them! It'll rebound on you!"
Milton yelled something back but they were too far away to hear and the overlapping stone walls made for confusing echoes.
The double Michael and Avony had regained their feet and were advancing up the bridge. Gabby grabbed Avony's hand and said, "Shall we go over?"
"Go over?"
"Yeah." Gabby indicated the bottom of the bridge with a nod. "Walk on over to the other side." A terrifying gap drained away beneath them, bringing shivers to her knees.
"This is so debuffed," Avony mumbled.
The first step was the worst. Gabby was sure they would fall. As their bodies rotated around the foot thick stone bridge, she had the sensation she was being flung off, but when her second step contacted with the stone again, she knew they would be fine.
Steel rung off the stone behind them as the doubles attacked the spot they'd just been standing. Gabby confidently ran down the inside of the curve. Avony kept up but with a slight limp. Gabby had given her a slow debuff.
Using their new knowledge about the zone, they practically careened off the walls, running up them onto ceilings and around the stone buildings, always trying to move in the direction of the pull in their chest.
On their flight from the doubles, they lost sight of the other Frags. Gabby hoped that Michael would be okay. The memory of his sunken eyes made her heart ache. She didn't know if he'd be able to make it much longer being as sick as he was.
In the current section of the skyscraper maze they were in, the buildings moved quickly, sheering past each other and sliding away like geological faults moving in hypertime. They had to be more careful or get split up when a building moved past and cut off the path.
Looking for a straight shot towards the exit, Gabby circled a building and ran directly into the doubles running the other way. Steel and fists flew as they paired off as before. Gabby was careful not to injure the double Avony this time.
Gabby lost herself into the fight and didn't see the real Avony's katana coming around for a block. Luckily, only the flat of the blade hit her, but it dazed her enough she didn't see the lunging kick from the double Avony.
Gabby flew off the edge of the building and landed on another. The building separated from the one the real Avony was on. She hopped to her feet to return, but a huge gap separated them. Avony was trapped with the two doubles.
"Run, Avony!"
Her friend knocked away a sword thrust and barreled past the doubles, and leapt to another building, but only the double Avony followed. The double Michael turned back to Gabby and with a wry smile began to remove his bronze armor.
As the armor fell away, Gabby knew why the double had such a grin on his face. Underneath the armor, the double wore clothes exactly like the real Michael. The double Michael made a throat slicing gesture before padding off in a different direction. Gabby watched hopelessly until the double was gone from sight.
Gabby slumped to one knee, the saber stabbed into the stone, keeping her from falling over. She wondered briefly if she should have shot double Michael to give Avony a better chance of surviving, but she knew she'd never have been able to pull the trigger. He was gone now anyway.
After taking a couple of deep breaths, she tied her hair into a knot at the base of her neck to keep it out of her face. Then she resheathed the saber and pointed herself in the direction of the exit, using the tug in her breastbone as a guide.
Chapter Twenty-One
Gabby hated mazes. At least she hated going through them. In LifeGame, she avoided games that required her to navigate a maze. To her it was pointless busy work designed to annoy her.
But designing mazes was different. She didn't mind that. Nor did she mind creating algorithms for figuring out mazes, which was entirely different than actually going through them. An algorithm was fire and forget.
As Gabby jumped from one building to the next, moving from floor to ceiling to wall in fluid grace, she could admit a grudging respect to the designer of the bridge maze. Given a certain distance from it, she could even tinker with it and enjoy its marvel.
The closer she got to the exit, only indicated by the insistent tugging on her breastplate, the more clever the maze became. Gabby was now doubling back from a peculiar visual illusion that had stymied her from passing.
Gabby was stuck in the lower portion of the maze. Between her and the next part, lay a huge divide. It appeared nothing crossed the space between, no buildings moved there, no bridges connected it, no stairs crossed. Gabby stood on the edge and peered both ways. Nothing crossed that she could see.
Yet she knew there was a way across because on the other side of the divide, down a long twisting corridor that seemed to be rotating as well as moving perpendicular, she saw three figures moving in the distance. She yelled and waved, but they didn't see her. The space between engulfed her words, making her feel terribly alone.
Gabby glanced back to the section she'd just come from. From a distance, it appeared there was a bridge that crossed the space between the two levels. A stair that went out, turned ninety degrees, went a little further, turned another ninety, and so on. From her angle, the staircase looked like a stairwell going down a building.
But when she got closer the image began to break apart. The stairs weren't actually connected and some were just one step, floating in midair. They were each different sizes giving the illusion of distance. The whole construction fit in a space five by five meters, despite appearing to traverse a vast distance.
Gabby had wasted valuable time getting to the illusion. The spaces between the buildings there were too great to jump, so Gabby was forced to go around the long way. More than a few times, she touched her arm and thought about using Damon's program.
She was probably just running around an empty warehouse right now. Unlike the beginning of the game when she could sense the people on the other side of the illusion, watching them.
Gabby laughed out loud. She'd given up trying to be stealthy. There was no reason to when no one was around. She was probably the only one left on this side of the divide. Rather than waste her time with the building maze any longer, Gabby plopped onto her rear facing the ill
usion.
It appeared everything in this maze was designed particularly for her. Or maybe the Crimson Queen just enjoyed toying with LifeGamers and Gabby had been the prototypical Gamer before she joined the Frags.
Gabby squinted her eyes at the illusion, trying to uncover its secrets. Zaela had loved them. Had said they preyed on the peculiar workings of the mind. Perception makes reality and all that.
So far it seemed like everything in this game would be something Zaela would love. Did it mean anything other than that the Crimson Queen had questioned Zaela about her? Maybe the Queen had been sympathetic to the way she'd been treated.
Not moving for once, Gabby admired the quiet beauty of the zone. The stone buildings moved silently overhead like galaxies in the night sky. Gabby just wished one would move across the gap so she could catch up to her friends, if they were even still in the game.
But they had gotten past the divide. Otherwise, she was sure she would have seen another group by now.
Gabby scoured her conversations with Zaela to find some clue into her own weaknesses that might be keeping her from crossing the gap. It clearly ruled out any sort of algorithm or formula to pass, like the games in LifeGame required them to beat.
Nor could it be a test of reflexes or strength. Zaela had never much cared for those either. To think of it, Gabby briefly wondered how she'd gotten Zaela through LifeGame without much of an interest in its major skills.
But Zaela had her own strengths. She had a clever and creative mind that usually saw past difficult situations. Many times, Zaela would ask Gabby a question that would help her see how to solve the problem. Zaela, while a bit of an air head and totally focused on her art, had a knack for simplifying problems that made them a great team.
Zaela had told her once that intelligence was the ability to keep two opposing ideas simultaneously in one's head. Gabby had dismissed it as artsy mumbo-jumbo that didn't help them earn points in LifeGame.
Then Gabby remembered the name of the zone: Schrödinger's Bridge. Zaela had gotten her to take a class in quantum physics, a completely useless class in LifeGame as physics in their augmented worlds could be anything you wanted, proven once again by the frustrating zone she was now stuck in.
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