Lyra rolled her eyes as Djoser continued. “Certainly he has proven himself useful, and I expect that with his help we may very well win this game, but I fear none of your employees will survive.”
Lyra laughed. “Lucky for me I’m out of henchmen. Maybe he’ll move on to yours!” She smirked at Amanda who, heedless of the conversation, was carefully surveying their surroundings.
“Oh, I wouldn’t underestimate him,” Djoser said. “I suspect he can kill your people remotely. Maybe you should check in with your servants back home.”
Lyra smiled as she was teased, but she had to fight the urge to open a blink with her house. The team had agreed not to communicate with anyone unless absolutely necessary since no one was sure what the Authority could trace. They were probably being paranoid. Although it was true that the Authority used to eavesdrop on blinks and data-mine the minds of players via their mind interface chips, the Authority later imposed a series of privacy rules-collectively called “Free Agency Rules” (FARs)-on itself. Apparently, these rules were in response to a study the Authority sponsored which concluded that players who knew they could be listened in on showed a decrease of “free and innovative thought” and that this led to “suboptimal productivity.”
Nevertheless, Lyra did not feel like testing the validity of the FARs just now. The stakes were too high.
Lyra turned her attention to the black foliage ahead of them. It was a dark zone, a place void of nanosites, so no one could jack into a skin to see. The dull, greenish light that filtered in from the plexi portal seals behind them was their only source of illumination. It was eerie and unsettling. Djoser and Lyra piped their familiars’ night vision into their own minds in order to get a better look.
The vegetation that surrounded them was dense and much of it unfamiliar. There was no discernable pattern to the plant life, just a wild hodgepodge of alien flora. The only thing that the trees and plants seemed to have in common was the size of their leaves, all of which were enormous. Lyra supposed that the purpose of these gigantic offshoots was to maximize photosynthetic potential, yet there was no sunlight.
“Is that a breeze I feel?” Djoser asked into the darkness. The nobleman confirmed through Moocher’s night vision that they were indeed indoors. A smooth ceiling loomed about two hundred meters above.
PeePee, Lyra’s familiar, swiveled her head about, surveying the area while Lyra faced forward with her eyes shut so as to better concentrate on what she was seeing. “I presume the good doctor is trying to simulate the outside world,” Lyra proposed. “If so, then I expect the sun to come up at some point, an artificial one…although, the inner sanctum is obviously not synced to local time. It’s dawn in the outside world right now.”
“I don’t know. Seems warmer in here too. Probably an optimized climate for parasites to infect us,” Djoser said sarcastically. “Anyway, we’re not going to find the doctor just standing here. Looks like a path over there.” Djoser pointed to a stone paved path and stumbled toward it.
“Our familiars have a different vantage point, so we’re going to fall off a cliff or something if we try to walk around using them as our eyes,” Djoser said gruffly.
“Stick Moocher up on your shoulder or hold his head in front of you,” Lyra suggested, holding back a smile.
“Screw it, let’s do it the old-fashioned way,” Djoser exclaimed. He then pulled out a tiny glow stick from his pocket and turned it on.
Lyra frowned. “Might that attract unwanted attention? I suspect there’s more than experimental plants in this place.”
“Well, I’m not walking around holding a flippin’ ferret in front of my face,” Djoser snapped while continuing his journey toward the rough stone path ahead.
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
