Darkness Fallen

by Dave Willmarth

  Sasha looked at the big cat sitting nearby, peering over the edge of the tower’s crenelated wall. “Thank you, Jeeves,” she said. Turning to Jules, she asked, “How much of what I say can he understand?”

  Jules shook her head. “I’m not sure. He clearly understood that we meant to come up here. Tell him what you have in mind, and I’ll try and help translate if he needs it.”

  Sasha approached the cat, who looked down at her calmly. “Your den has to be getting crowded as your kittens grow. And we could use someone to watch over this tower for a while. To watch for intruders from the forest, and from the tunnels below. Would you and your family like to guard the tower for us? You can live inside. There is shelter and fresh water.”

  The cat tilted its head to one side as Sasha spoke. He looked to Jules, who put a hand on his shoulder and closed her eyes. After a moment, the big cat purred, then made a strange, almost questioning noise. It gently patted Sasha’s arm with its paw.

  Jules giggled, and scratched the big cat’s ear. She turned to Sasha. “I’m pretty sure he just said thank you, but he has to ask the wife first!”

  Sasha and the others all chuckled. Some things were universal.

  The group headed back down the stairs to the main floor. At Sasha’s direction, the golem lifted Alexander and gently carried him outside. “Jeeves, please close the tower door. You can open it for any guild member or citizen, or for this prowler, his mate, and their kittens.”

  “Of course, mistress Sasha. And I will make sure there is water for them in the first-floor kitchen, as well. Though I cannot provide food.”

  “They are more than capable of feeding themselves. Thank you, Jeeves.”

  Deciding they had traveled far enough, the group headed back east toward the garrison tower. Brick came crashing through the underbrush atop bacon as they reached the edge of the elder trees. There was a tense moment or two as Bacon and the prowler bristled at each other. But after a bit of sniffing and grunting, the two apparently decided to be friends.

  Brick recovered his gear from Max and Lainey, and got properly dressed. Then he poked at Alexander a few times, shrugging helplessly before the group continued on. Along the way, they stopped at the prowler’s den to reunite the patriarch with his family. The moment they got close, the big cat was pounced upon by all three kittens. He had to wrestle them into submission before he could gently touch noses with his mate. Jules spoke softly to both of them for a minute, and the group moved on. Though not before the grey-tailed kitten pounced upon Max one more time.

  Thereafter, the trip back to the garrison tower was uneventful. Brick had checked in with the others on guild chat, and all the groups were returning to the tower. When they entered the south gate, Fitz was waiting for them. The golem set Alexander down on the ground, and Fitz examined him. Finding nothing physically wrong, he said, “Let us all retire to the keep. It may be that all he needs is sleep.”

  Spotting Alexander unconscious on the ground, Fibble dashed over. Shouting “Fibble save boss! Pew!” he shot Alexander with his stick. When nothing visible happened, he tried again. “Pew! Pew!”. Behind him, Sasha sniffed. Seeing his pet human upset, Fibble redoubled his efforts. Stepping closer to Alexander, he thwacked the elf about the head and chest several times with his stick, saying “Pew?” with each strike. While Brick and Max seemed content to sit back and observe the good-intentioned beating, Sasha and Lainey quickly intervened.

  “Fibble, thank you for trying to help. You are very sweet. But I’m afraid what is wrong with Alexander cannot be fixed with magic. Even special magic like yours.” Sasha got down on one knee and hugged the little goblin.

  Fibble patted her back comfortingly with his tiny hand. “Sasha find way to fix boss. Sasha big magic! Smart. Use smelly plants and things?”

  The idea struck Sasha like a lightning bolt! “Why didn’t I think of that? Fibble, you are a genius!” Reaching into her bag, she removed one of the featherroot-based healing potions. The strongest she had. With Lainey’s help, she lifted Alexander’s torso and head enough to safely pour the potion into his mouth. He swallowed reflexively, which was a good sign. They set him back down gently, and waited. After a moment, Fibble, still trying to be helpful, stepped forward and patted Alexander’s face. He pulled open one eyelid and gazed into his boss’s eye thoughtfully. Then he sniffed Alexander’s breath. “Maybe boss drunk?” he ventured.

  Lainey took Fibble by the hand and led him toward the portal. Kai lifted Alexander and followed.

  A couple of the farmers elected to stay and watch over the livestock. They had food in their bags, and there were plenty of rooms in the tower. So they closed the gates and instructed the stone golem to guard the tower, then Fitz opened the portal, and they all went home.

  *******

  Richard Greystone stormed out of the elevator and down a corridor in one of the lower levels of the southeast tower. Security personnel jumped to open checkpoint doors for him without delay. Melanie tagged along behind, practically jogging to keep up. When they reached the lab where Alexander’s pod was located, a dozen medical and technical staff stepped aside, making room for their boss.

  “Tell me!” Richard practically growled at one of the people in lab coats.

  “I wish I knew what to say,” the doctor on duty replied. “There are no physical indicators of any problems. Breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, EKG; all his stats are showing normal. There was a flood of adrenaline at the time of the battle, which is to be expected. But it has since been absorbed normally into his system. We’ve taken a few blood samples and are running every test we can think of.”

  “Fine. Look for drug interactions. Maybe the experimental drug is having some adverse effect we haven’t seen before now.” Richard sighed, his shoulder slumping as he stepped forward to put a hand on his son’s immersion pod. “Tech?”

  One of the technicians stepped forward, shaking his head. “We’ve gone over every inch of the pod. Everything is optimal. Logs show no power surges or interruptions. We’ve removed and replaced every supply tube, and are pressure testing them now to look for tampering. We’ve also got a team reviewing the video footage, both in-game and surveillance here in the lab.”

  Richard nodded his head, saying nothing as he looked through the pod’s surface and ‘blue slime’ at his son’s face. It was mostly covered by the headgear that allowed him to breathe while submerged in the nano-gel. No one in the room spoke, waiting for Richard to say something. They were all concerned for Alexander as well.

  Realizing that his presence was delaying his staff from their work, he stepped back from the pod. “Please… continue. Let me know the second you find anything.”

  Turning to leave the lab, he encountered Michael, his partner and co-founder, just entering from the corridor. Michael took a moment to observe the activity that had just resumed around Alexander’s pod, and then he looked to Richard. “Anything?”

  Richard just shook his head. “Everything reads normal so far. They’re working on the problem. He doesn’t seem to be in any immediate danger. But they have no idea what’s wrong.” The man’s voice broke as he spoke. For more than a decade now, he had lived with the fear that his son’s body would simply fail on him. That his boy would be taken from him with no warning. He had almost literally moved mountains to prevent that from happening, or at least to delay it.

  Michael put an arm around his friend’s shoulder and led him from the room. The two men moved down the corridor and into the same conference room where Alexander had recently met Brick and Max for the first time. Holding a chair as Richard sat, Michael gave the man a minute to collect himself. Then he sat next to him and said, “I have a theory. Or rather, Doctor Feelgood has a theory.” They had nicknamed Doctor Kendall, their lead psychologist, Dr. Feelgood. People assumed it was because she could prescribe all sorts of interesting drugs. But really it was simply because she was always encouraging people to talk about their feelings. “You need a minute? Or can I call her
in?

  Richard took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Bring her in. I’ll listen to anything that might help right now.”

  Michael stepped outside the lab for a moment, then returned with Doctor Kendall. She was a tall, middle-aged woman with long dark hair. She had high cheekbones and delicate features that suggested an Asian heritage from a generation or two up her family tree. Richard greeted her with a strained smile, rising from his chair until she was seated. “Good to see you, Doc. Michael says you have an idea about Alexander?”

  She smiled back at him. “I hesitate to put this out without being able to speak with Alexander, but obviously that’s not possible. But the circumstances of his change in status, as well as what I know of the immersion system, suggest a possibility.” She folded her hands on the table to keep from fidgeting.

  “Well, you’ve done all you can to improve the interface between the pod’s software and the subject’s brain. Most especially Alexander’s brain. A lot of the development work was done using his scans. As a result, he may be more finely tuned in the immersion than any other subject. But let’s set that aside for a moment.” She paused, watching as Richard nodded his head slightly. Michael winked at her in encouragement.

  “In any normal circumstance, a blow to the head like Alexander received when he hit that wall would cause a person to lose consciousness. The potential would exist for significant physical damage. The body is designed, and even programmed, to defend itself in specific ways when it experiences trauma. Whether that is a fight or flight adrenaline release, fainting in circumstances of extreme stress, or slipping into a coma after traumatic damage.”

  Realizing what she’d just implied, she quickly held up her hands. “I’m in no way suggesting Alexander is in a coma! That was a poor choice of example.” She apologized. Richard, whose eyes had begun to panic at the word ‘coma’, settled back a bit and took another deep breath.

  “Please, continue,” he urged her.

  “Again, I’m sorry. What I was leading up to was that the body has some pre-programmed and instinctive reactions to certain circumstances. Now, normally when Alexander takes damage within the game, like when his hand was severed the other day, his mind easily separates the game circumstance from reality, and he is able to shake it off, even ignore it. We’ve all seen this hundreds of times. Players suspend their suspension of disbelief, in a manner of speaking. And we’ve observed that for some, it takes a bit longer to shake off the damage than it does for others.”

  “Yes, I’m aware. We’ve actually assigned a numerical rating to immersion levels. Though we’re still fine tuning that. But I see where you’re going,” Richard replied.

  Doctor Kendall continued. “I’m currently thinking that Alexander’s immersion level has increased over the last few extended immersions. Considering his already high starting level, it may just be that his mind is viewing the game world as real on some level. Specifically, the subconscious level that would trigger an instinctive defense to the trauma.”

  Michael, trying to lighten the mood a bit, added, “So his lizard brain was fooled into thinking he’d really taken a bad knock on the head and has switched off his conscious mind for a bit of a break.”

  Doctor Kendall smiled patiently and nodded her head. “In very simplified terms, yes.”

  “So, what do we do?” Richard asked. “Assuming you are correct, and I think you might be, do we pull him from the pod? Interrupt the immersion? Do we try and reach him while he’s under? Or just wait for him to wake up on his own?”

  “All good questions,” she answered. “From a physical standpoint, I don’t think it would harm him to break immersion. But I don’t know that it would revive him necessarily. It isn’t the software or the game input that are keeping him unconscious. If I’m correct, it’s all in his mind. His lizard brain, as Michael put it, needs to decide that it’s time to wake up.”

  This time it was her turn to take a deep breath. She looked into Richard’s eyes, seeing all the worry and pain he was feeling. She felt it herself to a lesser degree. Alexander was like family to her. She let out the breath she’d been holding, and offered, “Since he does not appear to be in any immediate danger, I would suggest we just give him some time and let him work it out. If he hasn’t recovered in a day or two, or if his physical condition begins to deteriorate in any way, then we should revisit whether to pull him out.”

  Richard looked down at his hands, saying nothing. Looking up at the doctor, he said, “Thank you. Both of you. At least now I have a possible, even plausible explanation, and a plan. Which is much more than I had five minutes ago. We’ll do as you suggest.”

  Looking to Michael, he said, “We’re going to need to invent a whole new series of tests and method of comparing results to see if this is going to happen to others during long immersions. This may be a project-killer. We can’t have clients or customers slipping into comas or going into seizures when they take damage in-game.”

  Michael replied, “There’s a group out of immersion right now, due to go back under in the morning. And Dayle’s group is scheduled to come out tomorrow. Alexander’s group in four days. Should we tell them about this, give them the chance to back out if they wish?

  Richard didn’t hesitate. “Yes. Don’t give them specifics about Alexander. Just let them know we suspect there’s the possibility that severe trauma might cause those with extremely high immersion levels to react in a similar way to what Alexander has done. You two can work out the phrasing. Bring in a lawyer or two if necessary.” He paused for a moment. “As far as I know, none of the others come close to Alexander’s level. Except Jules, whose entire reality is the game at the moment.” And with that thought came another fear. He rose to his feet and stuck his head out into the corridor, yelling. “Get somebody to check Jules’ stats and equipment. NOW!”

  *******

  After passing through the portal, Fitz teleported himself, Kai - who was carrying Alexander - and the core group up to Alexander’s quarters. Kai stepped into the bedroom and gently placed Alexander on the bed. Jules sat next to him, holding his hand. The others stood or sat around the room.

  “I have no idea how to help him, other than to let him rest,” Fitz stated. “What exactly happened?”

  Sasha quickly described the fight. “He was hit by a giant rock troll and flung across the room into a stone wall. He hit HARD. It very nearly killed him. I healed him up, and he regained consciousness for a minute. He spoke to Jules, and then he passed out again.”

  Fitz looked thoughtful. “I’ve never heard of this happening to an adventurer. You rush into battle like drunken, senseless fools and get yourselves killed all the time. But you return quickly. Or your bodies fade away and you do not return for some time. I have never seen a body linger like this.”

  Sasha looked crestfallen. “We were hoping you’d know what to do,” she barely whispered.

  The hoary old wizard stepped closer to the bed, gently laying a hand on Alexander’s head. With a sad voice, he said, “I wish that I did, young Sasha. I’m quite fond of this lad. I shall return to the Mage’s Guild and consult our archives. If that produces no answer, I shall consult Odin himself!” The wizard disappeared with a blink.

  Kai excused himself, saying he needed to go check on Lia. He cast a quick glance at Alexander, then teleported himself away as well.

  Within moments of his disappearance, Richard Greystone’s avatar ‘GM1’ appeared along with Melanie’s, still sporting her bunny ears. Melanie immediately jumped onto the bed next to Jules and enveloped the elfess in a hug. Richard got right to business.

  “Before you ask, we don’t know either. Physically, his body is fine.” He paused for a moment as Sasha rushed forward to hug him. Lainey looked as if she wanted to do the same, but restrained herself.

  “We have a theory that this is just his brain’s natural reaction to a severe knock on the head, and that it is instinctively keeping him asleep to give itself time to heal. We’re working on p
ossible solutions, from bringing him out of immersion, to killing him in game, to see if either would ‘reset’ him. But for now, he doesn’t seem to be in any danger, so we’re going to wait and see for a day or two.”

  Brick spoke up. “Not ta be showin any disrespect, boss. But me head’s been bashed n crushed hundreds o’ times in the game. I never had any such glitch.”

  Richard smiled tiredly at the dwarf. “No offense taken, Brick. And you’re right, this shouldn’t happen. But Alexander’s brain is much more finely synced to the immersion software than almost everyone else. Mainly because it was designed around him. We think that with these long immersions, his mind might be accepting the game as reality. But this is all new to us. We’re investigating now. And though we don’t think there’s a similar danger to any of you, I thought you should know. We’ll be explaining the same to the others as they come out of immersion.”

  Richard moved over to Jules. “Jules, we are doing everything possible to fix this. I know you care about my son, and you’re worried. I want you to know that all of us are making this our top priority. We WILL figure this out.” He patted her shoulder awkwardly. “I can tell he cares about you, too. And he wouldn’t want you to worry.”