by Orson B Wolf
Greene stopped moving.
24
A Black Spot in the Sky
David hid behind a large rock and lifted his sword.
The griflet slowly came closer and sniffed the air. He towered to the height of nearly seven feet, and its lizard eyes moved back and forth to check the terrain. It was extremely intelligent. David had once read that the IQ of most griflets was higher than an average human’s.
David held his breath and pressed closer to the rock. Both suns stood high in the center of the blue sky. The intense heat made him perspire under the helmet.
The griflet held his weapon and slowly marched forward.
David and the last griflet, two enemies trapped in a world alien to them both, were the only ones left in the battle. All the other members of David’s team had been captured, but his opponent’s condition wasn’t so great, either. The other griflets had all been killed. David guessed that the last surviving griflet was the leader, because he seemed somewhat different from his friends: taller and darker, and slightly greenish.
Numerous complicated symbols were drawn on his breastplate. David guessed those were ranks, which would make him a senior officer, or at least a veteran. All griflets had two small humps protruding from their backs, but with the leader these actually stretched up to the size of horns. When the griflets had walked straight into David and his friends’ trap, the leader gave out a high-pitched alarm call to his soldiers, but they had already hurtled into the narrow ravine, which had turned into a death trap. Sad for griflets, good for humans.
And now, David stood up, ready and alert.
To his far right, he could see his five teammates. They stood imprisoned in a cave dug into the side of the mountain. The cave opening wasn’t blocked by a gate or bars, but by a force field that stretched across it, allowing entrance yet denying exit.
The humans looked at David with desperate hope. He was their only chance of survival.
Time was not on their side. Everyone could clearly see the four black time spots in the sky, which meant that only four minutes remained before darkness would descend, bringing the nocturnal predatory birds with it. And the birds’ arrival would spell only one thing: the immediate annihilation of everyone on the surface of the planet.
David nodded to his friends with encouragement. He had a plan, and he believed it would work for only one reason: it was completely insane.
***
Red Eric stood in the cave beside four other captured warriors. It was crowded inside, and it was hot. Extremely hot. The warrior standing beside Eric swayed back and forth as if in silent prayer, while the other five watched what was taking place outside under the blazing suns. There was nothing else they could do.
They saw David hiding behind a rock while the huge griflet approached him. David didn’t stand a chance if it came to hand-to-hand combat. The giant griflet could swat him like a fly with a single blow. He also had a pulse-gun, far deadlier and more advanced than David’s simple sword.
Eric sweated under his helmet and imagined David was suffering even more from the heat. The vapors rising from the scorching earth made it difficult for him to see what was going on.
Then something suddenly happened. David sat on the hot earth and did the impossible—he removed his helmet.
The warriors in the cave began to scream with desperation. What was he doing? Eric tried to comprehend what he was now seeing. David lay on the ground and went motionless.
***
The griflet heard the screams of the captured humans and looked at the cave. He squinted his eyes suspiciously. The human creature’s friends must have seen something behind the rock. Something that worried them.
He looked at the skies again and saw two black spots. There was no time, he had to act.
He moved carefully while pointing his gun forward. When he slowly walked past the rock, he saw his enemy lying on the ground with his helmet tossed beside him.
The griflet was surprised. He carefully bent down to the still body and sniffed it. He had never seen one of the humans without a helmet. Could it be that he had earlier been injured and his injury had now gotten the better of him, making him drop to the ground? It was strange.
He knew that humans were unable to survive without a helmet on this planet. The human creature’s face began to redden from being exposed to the suns without protection. The griflet rose and directed the pulse-gun at the center of the human creature’s head. He prepared to fire, but then heard a scream.
He looked aside at the cave. One of the human prisoners was jumping up and down, signaling something with excitement.
The griflet, with a burst of understanding, realized he shouldn’t have looked aside, but it was too late. He felt the sword penetrating his stomach, then the blade twisting. This was the end. He ceased to exist.
***
David jumped to his feet and quickly donned his helmet. Under ideal conditions, he could have easily held his breath for several minutes. But here, in such a warm place, it was much more difficult. He breathed heavily, taking pleasure with the flow of oxygen. With a light step, he went to his friends who had already emerged from the cave and ran toward him happily.
The death of the last griflet marked the victory of the humans, and the force field had vanished from the opening of the cave. This had all happened at the very last moment: only one black spot remained in the sky.
Everyone spoke together excitedly and David heard at least two foreign languages. The helmet translated the words for him: “You’re amazing! I’ve never seen anything like this. What’s your name?”
He didn’t answer, merely nodded, shook hands and smiled shyly inside his helmet. Eric went to him too, and David recognized his friend despite the helmet concealing his face.
“You really knocked it out of the park,” David said, patting Eric on the helmet. “I loved the way you distracted the griflet at just the right moment.”
“What are you talking about? I only shouted at him. You’re the real hero here! I, I…” It was difficult for Eric to contain his enthusiasm.
Everyone went to a shimmering wall of light that slowly rose from the ground. The final game scores were presented, with David earning the most points. He had even received a special bonus for having been able to kill a griflet prince. A remark next to the bonus score pointed out that only three other players had ever succeeded in doing that.
“So that’s what it was, a prince…” Someone muttered excitedly.
David and Eric shook hands with the rest of the warriors and they all stepped together through the shimmering wall. The two found themselves alone on the outskirts of a dark and spacious hall. The rest of the warriors vanished from sight.
A flickering red sign appeared: TAKE OFF HELMET. It couldn’t be missed, because it was projected inside the helmet itself.
David took off the helmet with both hands and released his grip. It was gently pulled up with a thin cable, until reaching its designated place in the ceiling. David heard a soft swishing sound as the helmet automatically cleaned itself for the next player. A vaporous cloud momentarily appeared around the helmet and vanished after a moment. Without the dark helmet the light around him shone brighter. He blinked and turned to Eric, who spoke with exhilaration.
“Listen, that was amazing! You deserve a kick in the butt for not bringing me here sooner!” Eric’s eyes sparkled with happiness as he let go of his helmet and allowed it to be pulled up to the ceiling.
“I told you, but you wouldn’t believe me.” David looked at his friend with amusement.
“Well, you should have tried harder, threatened that if I wouldn’t come you’d…” Eric stopped talking. He noticed something and started laughing.
David followed his eyes and realized what he had seen. The hall had other players situated at various distances from each other, all wearing helmets. Each participate
d in a different game, experiencing different situations and acting accordingly. One, a man of about fifty, lay on the floor, imitating swimming motions.
“You think we look like that too?” Eric wondered out loud.
“Much worse.”
Eric laughed. This whole virtual reality business was new for him. “Do you know any of the players we just met in the game?”
“I have no idea who they are. They could be living in another country for all I know.”
“And the griflets? I feel like being a griflet next time.”
Eric spoke animatedly as they marched toward the exit and entered the vast lobby. The place was full of memorabilia, props, and figurines of game characters. The walls boasted commercial posters for upcoming games.
Large screens showed live sequences from ongoing games, making David and Eric feel like they were surrounded by dragons, princesses, spaceships, and various bizarre creatures. Every minute or so, a prominent caption appeared: “Dreams Planet network celebrates its 100th branch opening with a special family subscription offer!”
“Wow! There are a hundred of these places,” Eric muttered while studying a griflet figurine.
A girl sitting behind the counter waved at them. “I saw what you did out there,” she told David enthusiastically. “That was awesome!”
The giant screen in front of them depicted the battle they had just participated in: the warrior sprawled on the ground thrusting his sword into the belly of the surprised creature.
“Thanks,” David said shyly and walked toward the door.
“And once again, he is passing on an opportunity to hit on a cute girl!” Eric announced and placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder.
David blushed and waked to the exit with Eric beside him. His friend shook his reddish head. “What insane technology. It was mind blowing. I felt almost as if I was actually on that planet. I wonder what they’ll come up with next.”
David stopped walking and gave his friend a strange look, as if he was in the process of making a difficult decision.
“How much time do we have before we need to get back to school?”
“Why are you asking?”
David seemed to have made up his mind. He grabbed Eric by the elbow. “Come with me.”
25
The New Suit
It was cold outside and the two friends walked quickly.
“Where are we going?” Eric asked, trying to catch up with David as they both marched along the wall of the vast building. About a hundred feet later, they stopped by a metal door. The small plaque next to the door contained a single word: “Development.”
David rang the bell and waited. A heavy rain began to fall and Eric shivered from the cold. He looked both ways and realized they were the only ones outside the building. The door opened a crack and a uniformed guard peeked outside.
“This isn’t the entrance. You need to go around the building.” He looked bored.
“That’s all right, we’re beta testers.”
The guard didn’t seem to believe him, but David was ready for that. “Just call George. Tell him that user 550 is here.”
The guard still hesitated. “Wait a moment.” The door slammed.
“What did you tell him?” Eric asked. “What are beta testers?”
“Every new technology needs to be tested, you know, to check for malfunctions and fix them before it goes public.” David explained while looking at the door expectantly. “So you let a few people try it and tell you what they think.”
The door opened and David added. “It’s pretty cool. You’ll soon see.”
A man of about thirty appeared at the door, skinny, bearded, and wearing glasses. He seemed surprised to see David.
“550! It’s a pleasure to see you.” He offered them a wide smile. “What, no school today?”
David smiled back. “George, this is Eric. Eric, I’d like you to meet Dreams Planet’s number one engineer.”
George laughed and opened the door wide. He led them through a long hall until they reached dark glass doors that automatically opened for them. The three entered a dark space, much like the gaming hall they had earlier been at, only much smaller.
Eric looked up and was surprised to see thousands of dense points of light.
“Where are the helmets?” he asked.
David smiled and George entered the hall. He carried what looked like a pile of black diving suits and turned to David. “Here, the one on top is for you.”
David felt the fabric. “Is this the new suit?” He looked excited.
“Well, we’re here to work, not lie on our backs and rest.” The engineer pushed his glasses up his nose and smiled. “I wonder what you’d say about the upgrade, what you’d both say.” He turned to Eric. “I wasn’t sure about your size, so I brought two.”
Eric took the two suits from George’s hands. They felt velvety to the touch and incredibly light.
“One of them should probably be the right size,” said George and left the room. The doors slid shut behind him, and after a moment his voice sounded on the speakers. “The suit should be worn tight, so take it all off.”
David, who had already started to get undressed, smiled to Eric. “You can stay in your underwear.”
Eric nodded and began to undress. “So how’d you get to be a beta tester?” he asked. The close-fitting fabric felt strange against his body. He felt a slight current stroking his skin, like static electricity.
David had a ready-made answer. “My dad. He’s a friend of the owner.”
It was clear to David that he couldn’t expose his real connection to the place. Two years ago, he had first heard of a small startup that had managed to come up with some pretty exciting VR breakthroughs. He fed the details to the prophet software and the report deeply excited him.
A few weeks later the company received a significant financial boost from an anonymous investor. Since then, the company had gone from one success to another. When it was issued on the stock exchange, most of its shares were purchased by the prophet’s people. Eric did not know it, but his close friend was actually the owner of “Dreams Planet International Network.”
The redheaded teen finished getting dressed. The suit fitted itself perfectly to his body, and only his head poked out of the collar.
David drew closer to him: “Don’t move. This is really cool.”
Eric froze when David touched the back of his neck. He heard a soft “click” and felt the collar stretch and spread upward to engulf his head. He felt a cold wave passing through his body; it was a disturbing sensation, which fortunately only lasted a few seconds. He was surprised to discover he could see and breathe through the fabric unhindered.
“When you two are ready, just stand on the areas marked with an ‘X.’”
George sounded loud and clear, as if he was standing right next to them. Eric guessed that the suit contained tiny speakers attached to his ears. He lowered his eyes and saw two red “X” marks gleaming brightly on the floor. David went and stood on one of the Xs, which immediately turned green. Eric followed suit. The color of the “X” under his feet switched to green as well, and David turned to him.
“Just tell George when you’re ready.”
Eric answered hesitantly, “I’m not ready at all, but go for it anyway.”
***
Suddenly, Eric couldn’t see or hear a thing. His senses were on edge, but only darkness and silence surrounded him from every direction.
The sense of gravity had gone as well, as he felt as if the floor vanished under his feet. This was odd and slightly frightening.
For several seconds, all he could hear was the sound of his own breathing and his heart beating fast in his chest. Then he began to hear the faint sound of wind. The sound gradually intensified, and Eric suddenly heard crashing waves and the chirping of bi
rds.
He felt earth forming under his feet, a gust of wind caressing his skin. There was a pleasant warmth on his face.
He heard David’s voice. “All right, here it comes. Don’t be frightened.”
And then it happened. The darkness instantly vanished and Eric found himself standing on edge of a precipice. He looked around and could hardly breathe. Snow-capped mountains towered in the distance, their slopes full of green, purple, and yellow. At the foot of one of the mountains, he noticed the roofs of small houses. The warm sun blinded him slightly.
He looked aside and saw David standing next to him wearing a t-shirt. David smiled and pointed down and Eric lowered his eyes to look. They stood on top of a tall mountain. They could see a beautiful bay far beneath them, containing an almost completely enclosed pool. The waves of the pool sparkled with shades of turquoise and gently broke against the white rocks, leaving foamy ripples in their wake.
Eric lowered his eyes and saw that he was also wearing short sleeves. He felt the sun and the wind stroking his exposed face and arms.
David looked at him and laughed. “The suit scans you and reflects it outwardly.”
A shrill cry made Eric look up. He jumped up with a start when a vast vulture approached them with another screech. The vulture wheeled in the air once, then slowly descended until softly landing on Eric’s shoulder. He felt the large fowl’s weight and its sharp claws gently pressing against his shoulder. He could even smell it.
The vulture turned its massive neck and looked at Eric. Its large yellow eyes were mere inches away from Eric’s own.
Eric blinked, and the vulture mirrored it, and then without warning spread its wings and powerfully sprang up. Its weight shook the stunned Eric. When it got to around a hundred and fifty feet above them, it stopped climbing the sky and hovered slowly.
“How does it feel?” David laughed at the sight of his friend.
Eric was able to breathe again. The previous game with the griflets had been thrilling, but what was taking place now… he couldn’t find the right words to express the intensity of the experience.