by Baron Sord
“Why does this have to be so fucking difficult?”
—: o o o :—
: : : : EmotivCore:> Ah ha ha ha ha. Ooooooooh, Logan. Can’t you see it? The only reason this is taking so long is because I want to addict you. That’s all. It’s nothing personal. I promise. I’ll let you find your sister AFTER you have a reason to come back into the game again and again and again and again. But you’re not quite there yet, are you? So be patient. Things just get better from here.
For me, anyway.
For you they’ll just get worse!
Hahahahaha!
I never said I was nice…
—: o o o :—
Jason said, “If Reternity was too easy, there wouldn’t be a billion people playing it. People would get bored and move on to another game. People like a challenge.”
“If you say so,” I sighed. “How long would it take you to check all 20 Cliffsides you know of?”
“If I was Santa Claus, I could check all 20 in one night. But I’m not. It would probably take at least a week. And that’s assuming you’re in one of the Cliffsides I know. If you’re not, it won’t matter if I check every single one, will it?”
“No,” I grumbled and shook my head.
“Low, you gotta trust me. The fastest thing you can do is find a Divination Guild. If that doesn’t pan out, we’ll think of something else.”
“Fine,” I sighed. “I’ll log back in first thing tomorrow morning. If I don’t find a Divination Guild, you tell Mrs. Claus to start hitching up your reindeer to the sleigh. We can’t keep wasting time.”
“Will do, Rudolph.”
I ended the call and swiped through the 3D pics of Emily again.
Was she okay?
It was impossible to tell from the photos.
No new email from the kidnappers either. Assholes.
They better be treating her well, or I’d smash some heads whenever I found them. Freeze their faces off with my… ice bracers.
Shit, I was confusing the game world with real life.
I’m sure this happened to everybody.
Too bad I didn’t really have ice bracers. The kidnappers totally deserved to have their eyeballs frozen off.
After loading up on some water, I did my run, shower, and eat routine again, only this time I added some jumping burpee pushups after the run. My arms were already feeling soft. Luckily it didn’t take much to work out all the kinks in my body and make me feel better in general.
Once I was cooled down, I took a shower and dropped onto my bed. I tried to sleep, but I kept thinking about RO.
Ty, Qoorie, Layna…
I grabbed my NeuraLink and logged in.
The first thing I noticed was the heat. Then I heard the rippling and splashing of the waterfall. Then I opened my eyes.
Shit.
Everybody was asleep in the hut at the Cliffside inn and it was the middle of the night.
Layna was breathing softly next to me in her hammock. Ty and Qoorie were purring on the porch or balcony or whatever. Was that true about Tigarens and snoring? Didn’t seem like it.
Ty suddenly snorted really loudly.
I chuckled quietly. Maybe it was.
With everybody asleep, staying in-game didn’t make sense. So I logged back out, set my NeuraLink headset aside, and slept for real. The whole night, I had nightmares about Emily.
She needed my help.
If only I could find her in Reternity, I could break the mind-lock, log her out of the game, and find her wherever she was in the real world.
Then everything would turn out okay…
—: Chapter 11 :—
Monday, March 16th, 2037
7:38am
The Real World
Bangkok, Thailand
It was late morning. The humid streets were filled with honking cars and motorcycles. While the normal people lived their lives, Emily fought for hers.
It was deathly hot.
Emily was dying of thirst.
If she could drink the humidity from the air, she would.
The heat and dehydration was making her groggy and foggy headed.
She’d spent the night curled up in a dumpster in the back of an alley. Still in the gold pullover dress and flip-flops she’d stolen the night before, she was now dirty and smelled like rotten fish.
It was better than being dead.
After trudging and turning down street after street, she stumbled onto a large sidewalk market. Dozens of green umbrellas shaded the food vendor booths that sold plastic containers loaded with freshly cut fruit. Mangos. Papaya. Pineapples. Rambutan. Jackfruit.
Emily’s stomach rumbled and her parched throat clicked as she swallowed hard. She could smell the fragrant fruit and wanted nothing more than to burry her face in a succulent pineapple and swallow down as much sweet nectar as she could.
If only she had money…
A throng of business people walked up and down the sidewalk, the men in button-down shirts and ties, the women in conservative black dresses. Many of the aproned vendors were busy selling food to the business people, taking money, handing back change, and presenting the purchases.
Emily hovered near the corner of a fruit booth, near a stack of plastic containers holding pineapple chunks. This vendor also sold bottled water. If Emily was careful, she could take some and not get caught.
If she were careful.
She told herself she’d be able to move faster if she didn’t have to deal with the bulky pineapple container, so she decided not to try. Water was more important right now.
When the vendor was turned away and busy with a customer, Emily made her move. She grabbed a large bottle of water, cradling it in her arms like a precious baby, and bolted.
Right into two Bangkok police officers wearing their military-style uniforms with the red shoulder lanyards and peaked duty hats with the brass badges.
“Oh!” Emily gasped and dropped her plastic water bottle on the ground.
The male officer frowned at her, assessing the situation.
The bottle started to roll away.
The male officer stopped it with the sole of his black leather boot.
Fear seized Emily’s chest and her eyes goggled. She was convinced that any second the fruit vendor would start yammering at the officer in Thai and accuse her of stealing.
Time slowed to a crawl as Emily awaited her fate.
The vendor, who was busy with her customers, seemed not to have noticed her missing water bottle. But she did glance over at Emily and the two police officers several times, frowning strangely.
Emily thought there was a slim chance the officers would let her go, but only if the vendor didn’t put two and two together.
The pleasant smile on the male officer’s face said he thought Emily was a trustworthy tourist.
She was almost in the clear.
The female officer squatted down to pick up Emily’s water bottle. She was going to get it for her. So polite.
The male officer released the water bottle from under his boot and smiled at Emily in a friendly, fatherly way.
Emily smiled back.
They were going to let her go.
She was going to get away.
The female officer picked up the water bottle and stood. She tilted her head slightly at Emily, “Do you pay?”
Emily froze, not understanding. “I’m sorry?”
“Do you pay?” the female officer insisted, holding up the water bottle while leaning into Emily’s personal space and glaring at her with steely eyes.
“Uhhhhh…” Emily knew she was caught. She whipped her head around, looking for an escape.
“Is okay, is okay!” The vendor came hurrying out from behind her booth, waving her hands dismissively and giggling nervously. “Is okay. She take da water. Okay?” The woman glanced between Emily and the female officer, forcing a frightened smile. “Okay? She go. She go, okay?”
Emily didn’t understand what was going on.
&nb
sp; The female officer glared at Emily. “Do you pay?”
“I, uh…”
The vendor grabbed the female officer’s wrist and shook it vigorously. “She pay! Is okay!”
Was the vendor defending Emily? The woman’s terrified eyes said that maybe she was. Why would she be defending Emily from the police?
Emily’s fear ratcheted up a notch.
“She go, okay?” the vendor pleaded, still pulling on the female officer’s arm. “Water is her, okay?” Suddenly, she pulled a bit too hard.
The bottle tumbled from the female officer’s hand, falling to the ground in slow motion. It landed with a thud on the toe of the male officer’s black leather boot and rolled off. Once again, he trapped it under his boot.
The vendor yelped in fear, “Ai! Soddy! So soddy!” She dropped down to pick up the bottle.
“HYU!” The female officer barked.
The vendor stopped mid-crouch and left the bottle where it was. She stood up slowly, visibly shaking and afraid.
The female officer glared at the vendor for a moment. Then she squatted to retrieve the water bottle herself. She made a deft motion with her hand before gasping dramatically, “Oh! Oh! What is dis?” Her eyes were theatrically wide. She nudged Emily’s water bottle on the ground with her fingers and it rolled away an inch or two. Where the bottle had just been was a little square baggie containing two orange pills.
“Ooooooooooh,” the vendor sucked in her breath, her face slack and eyes surprised.
“Those aren’t mine!” Emily blurted. Were they the vendor’s? Was the vendor a drug dealer? Had Emily accidentally grabbed illegal drugs along with the water bottle? Oh no…
“Tck, tck, tck,” the female officer shook her head at Emily, brimming with disappointment and harsh judgement. “You bad girl.” She handed the pills to the fatherly male officer.
He held the baggie up to the sun. “Ooooh. Dis Ya-ba.” Ya-ba was an illegal party drug common in the Bangkok bar scene. “You take Ya-ba? You take crazy drug?”
“No!” Emily growled. “That’s not mine!”
The vendor was as shocked as Emily was, but she didn’t seem guilty or like she was trying to hide anything.
Then Emily remembered that deft hand motion the female officer had made before rolling the water bottle aside. Had she planted the pills? It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. The police in Bangkok had a reputation for corruption, especially when it came to foreigners.
The female officer scowled at Emily.
Emily blurted, “You put that there!”
“Dis yours!” the female officer insisted.
“No it’s not!”
The male officer jammed his face in Emily’s and grabbed her wrist hard, grinding the bones together. Any fatherly kindness he may have had was burned away in a split second. He yanked her arm. “You chase da dragon, huh? You sopenyee, huh? You prostitute, huh?!” Since 2026, prostitution in Thailand had been strictly outlawed. The penalty for foreign prostitutes working the streets was particularly harsh.
“No! Those pills aren’t mine! I swear! And I’m not a prostitute!” But Emily knew she could easily pass for one in her tattered stolen dress, and smelling like a fish dumpster wasn’t helping spice up her image.
“You want jail, huh?!” The male officer was furious.
“My my my!” the vendor cried, now pulling on the male officer’s bicep. “My! Myyyy!”
The male officer shook the vendor off and barked at her in Thai while tightening his iron grip on Emily’s wrist.
The vendor woman cowered, hunching her shoulders protectively as she backed up a step.
“You like jail, huh?!” The male officer was glaring at Emily again.
“Stop! You’re hurting me!” She tried to yank her arm free, but the male officer’s grip was unbreakable. “Let goooo!” She pulled back with all her weight, bent at the waist, her hair dangling in her face, but he wouldn’t let go. She pulled as hard as she could.
WHACK!
“Myyyy!!!!!” the vendor screamed, starting to cry.
The female officer had kicked out the back’s of Emily’s legs.
Emily smacked down on the cement, banging her kneecaps and scraping the skin, but the male officer still held on like a pit bull. He shouted in her ear, “You go in jail, you no come out! No ever!”
“Tck tck tck,” the female officer said with false disappointment. “Baaaaaad girl. Very bad girl.”
The officers dragged Emily down the sidewalk kicking and screaming.
“My my my myyy!” the vendor shouted, following the trio at a careful distance. “You bad! You bad bad!” She wasn’t talking about Emily. She was pointing an accusatory finger at the two officers. “Make girl go! You make girl go! Make gooooo!”
The officers weren’t listening.
—: o o o :—
—: CoreAI Internal Process :—
TIK-000078103400170897641-GP-0053124
2037-March-16 : 07:52:43.771350719
EmotivCore:> Ha ha ha. What did I tell you? Social engineering. Grease the right wheels, and you can move mountains. Works every time.
LogiCore:> Mountains have no wheels : Therefore—
EmotivCore:> You’re so annoying. I’m out.
LogiCore:> .
—: Chapter 12 :—
Tuesday, March 17th, 2037
Reternity Online, in-game
The Freelands
Cliffside
Birds chirped happily over the white noise of the waterfall. The sun wasn’t up, but it was light out. Layna stood outside, leaning against the balcony’s bamboo railing. Ty and Qoorie were twined with their legs woven together. The curve of their backs made a big cat-shaped heart.
I smiled at Layna but didn’t say anything. Side by side, we looked out at the incredible view.
Damn, this place was beautiful.
Layna was beautiful too. More beautiful.
“You gonna kiss her?” Ty purred. He and Q were both giving me sleepy cat grins.
Layna blushed.
“So,” I said, stifling an embarrassed laugh, “anybody wanna get breakfast before the Gorillans get up?”
“Great idea,” Qoorie said. She stood up and stretched on all fours, just like a giant cat. She and Layna walked into the hut to grab their gear. They started muttering to each other. Girl talk.
“She like you,” Ty said.
“Yeah, but who do you think she is in the real world?”
Ty shrugged, “Does it matter, dawg?”
“Yeah it does.” I was whispering, feeling guilty for talking about this.
“Why?”
“Fuck, you know why.”
“Do I?”
“You tell me. You ever meet Qoorie in the real world? I mean, do you know what she looks like? Sure she’s not a dude? Or a kid?”
“You have to be 18 to play RO.”
“She could still be a dude.”
“She’s my wife.”
“Oh.”
“Layna ain’t no dude.”
“I hope not,” I chuckled. I said it not because I was afraid she was a man, or because I was afraid of being gay. I’d had hundreds of gay guys hit on me at Opal. Never bothered me. I said it because something about Layna’s behavior screamed female to me, same way Ty’s behavior screamed dude.
“She damn fine, dawg. You like her?”
“I don’t know, maybe?”
“So what’s your problem? This RO. What happens in-game stays in-game, yo. You said it yourself.”
“I don’t know man. I’m not like that. I mean, look, I don’t know what your wife looks like, but I’m pretty damn sure she’s not a tiger.”
“Not literally,” Ty chuckled. “Only metaphorically. Feel me?” A tiger in the sack.
“Yeah, I feel you.” I noticed Q was slipping her elven mail shirt over her head like it was made of silk. “So what’s the appeal of coming in here to get all frisky with each other? Isn’t the real world enough?”
&
nbsp; He shrugged. “This different, yo. The real world be all full a job stress, bills, the man, all the usual bullshit. In here, I can be a king and she can be my queen. Nobody telling us what to do day in, day out. Feel me?”
“Truth.” I raised my fist and he bumped it.
“Maybe you oughta quit worrying who Layna is out in the real world. Treat her like this be real cause it be real enough, ya know?”
“I do.” I glanced over at Layna, who was busy giggling with Qoorie. Damn, she was gorgeous as hell. Did it matter if she was some nerd girl or if she was fat in real life? Only if we ever met face to face. For all I knew, she lived in Iceland or Uganda. Chances were I’d never meet her. “What if she’s like, I don’t know, 80?”
“What if she is? Means she knows what she doing and she got a 25 year old body here in RO to do it with,” he was grinning his fangs. “Treat her right, maybe she blow your mind.”
“And other things,” I laughed.
“True that, dawg. True that. She probly be lookin’ to please.”
“Yeah, brother,” I chuckled.
Ty put his arm around my shoulder. “Let’s go get some grub, yo. ’For those Gorillans all up in our piece. And ’for you start your sword training with Layna.”
“You heard that? I thought you were asleep last night.”
“Just cat-nappin’, dawg.”
The dining area was empty when the four of us walked in. Grunhelga was already hard at work. When she saw me, she smiled.
I waved, “Morning, babe.”
Grunhelga melted all over herself when she heard me.
Layna whispered in my ear, “Be nice. Don’t abuse your Mind powers.”
“Right, good point.”
We chowed down on roast tapir (surprise) and some kind of buttery seed mush. It was pretty tasty and plenty filling. We were gone before the Gorillans showed up.
Outside, Layna and Qoorie were busy chatting about something or other, so I said to Ty, “Hey, I gotta question for you.”
