Jennifer Edwards appeared in the server they'd set aside for Azerail.
She dashed into the replica of their sphere, checking every room. Azerail wasn't there and neither was her Zix.
After her thorough investigation, she stopped in the living room and thought, Arackulous where are they?
Jennifer's Zix slinked into the room from the short hallway that led outside.
Azerail is still in the game but Raccoon should be here somewhere. Scanning the environment. Please wait.
Arackulous launched himself into the air and passed through the roof of the building.
Of course, she was still in the game. Jennifer had asked Raccoon to talk Azerail into coming home. He’d failed at the one thing she'd asked for.
Jennifer stared out of the living room's back window. An expanse of grass extended as far as the eye could see. A chill ran through her. Though she knew there was a limit to the field's size, something about it felt wrong.
Analysis complete. The Zix known as Raccoon is not here, Arackulous said.
Jennifer pinched her fingers together. She had made a separate software branch to detect the Zix. Two Zix showed up on the server. Arackulous, I know you can see what I can and I know you watched me make this program.
Arackulous lowered into the room and landed gently on the floor. He looked up at her and said nothing.
You're not supposed to lie, Jennifer said.
Arackulous sat and licked his front paw. I didn't lie. Raccoon is not here.
That was his game? Define here.
Here; in, at, or to this place or position, he responded.
Jennifer bit her lip and growled. Is Raccoon on this—
You know what, screw that, we’re wasting time, she interrupted herself. If you're not going to help me. She snapped her fingers and a small mirror appeared around her neck. She lifted the object and stared at it. There were several switches along the side. The mirror itself didn't reflect Jennifer's face but showed infinite layers of the current server she was in.
It was her personal Temporal Dial. One she hadn't used since- since ‘he’ left.
Jennifer flipped the switch three layers down.
You promised yourself you wouldn't use that, Arackulous said.
“I promised a lot of things,” she responded and pressed her thumb to the mirror. She disappeared.
***
THREE SECONDS LATER
Jennifer reappeared in the same spot. “Yeah, I went down there just for that.”
Arackulous jumped into view and then turned his back to her. He shook his head.
She pinched her fingers and a multilayered map of the server popped into view.
Each layer down allowed Jennifer to stay longer and longer to do whatever she wanted. In this case, Jennifer decided to create a minimap for the server and its layers.
As she pinched her fingers the map enlarged and a small red dot was out in the field. She didn't waste any time and walked outside and toward the dot.
Arackulous caught up with her. “ Wait, Jennifer. Let me go down there and tell him to come up here and meet you.”
“No, I'm going down there,” she said. When she turned around he was gone.
They were hiding something. She added a waypoint on Raccoon’s location and started running.
A second dot appeared next to Raccoons and she broke into a sprint.
Arackulous and Raccoon appeared beside her and she didn't stop.
Each one was suddenly trotting beside her. They chorused, “Please don't!”
Nothing would stop her. As soon as she hit the location where Raccoon was she got the same feeling she had inside the house.
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One last glance at the Zix and she descended into the Chronofield.
***
“See this is the swamp,” Shay Poppy said.
Koffer sighed. I'm going to kill him. Koffer tried to come up with a reason not to kill him but couldn't think of one.
The men to his right made an opening again and Lily walked through, arms crossed.
“Lily, I-”
Without hesitation, Lily's hand dropped to her sword, she unsheathed it, and sliced Shay's head off. Blood splattered everywhere.
Koffer put up a hand.
“Not a fucking word,” Lily said and immediately went back into the gap.
Koffer chucked. “Hagen, summon a bird and cast flare. Point us in the direction of the camp.”
“Ye-yes sir,” he replied.
We should have done that in the first place. We've wasted too much time. Koffer thought.
***
A tiny spider watched the dead girl in the swamp from a bush.
The area suddenly lit up and the girl grinned. “Big mistake.”
Then the girl drew her sword and dashed away.
Swathes of undead monsters rose from the swamp and followed her.
Interesting, the spider thought.
***
Jennifer stared in amazement. An exact breathing copy of her daughter floated before her. Connected to it were numerous old-school devices that measured her heartbeat, breathing rate, and blood pressure.
Arackulous and Raccoon materialized next to her.
“What-what are you doing Raccoon?” she asked with a shaky voice.
Raccoon floated up into her view. “I didn't make this. Every time I try to scan her I have to deal with a viral attack.”
“Prove it,” Jennifer said, her voice barely a whisper.
The raccoon offered his little hand to her. “Hold my hand and I'll show you how it got here.”
Jennifer touched his little paw and suddenly she was running in the field above. No, it wasn't her but her daughter running.
A deep sadness pressed on her and tears formed in her eyes. Feelings of being trapped, the frustration of missing her meeting with Stephanie, and her new feelings for Kevin swirled in her mind.
Who's Stephanie? Jennifer thought.
Azerail touched a blade of grass and they were suddenly in the Chronofield.
That wasn't how it was supposed to work. Jennifer knew. Something was very strange about her ability to jump between the server and the Chronofield.
When she arrived she squeezed into a ball just like the clone was in. She wailed in agony closing her eyes. When she opened them the clone was there.
Jennifer backed away from Raccoon and pinched her fingers together. She did a file-by-file scan of the server. “Arackulous, sort these based on each individual they belong to. Color code them a different color for each.”
A few seconds later six district colored lists appeared. One was only a single file but was still different from the rest.
She compared the list to the map she made earlier. The map showed three different entities. Jennifer, Arackulous, and Raccoon.
Then why was the file scan showing three extra entities connected to the server?
Jennifer closed her eyes and bit her lip. “Arackulous, are any of these connected to Raccoon?”
“These ones are,” he responded.
Three of the colored lists combined with what she guessed was Raccoon’s files.
“What is that small one?” she asked.
“That's Kumo,” Raccoon said then quickly continued. “I've tried deleting it but it comes back right away.”
She scanned through the remaining two file structures. One of them she recognized. It was the connection between Raccoon and her daughter. But there was a bigger one as well.
“What's that one?” she asked.
Raccoon and Arackulous’ eyes met then Raccoon shrugged. “I think it's an overflow. I don't have access to some parts of Azerail's implant so I think it's a storage of some sort. It will likely be integrated back into Azerail when I find a way to fully connect us again.”
“And this?” she pointed to the clone. “Where are its files?”
The raccoon's head sank. “Every time I try to access it there's a virus that tries to delete my code. That's why I made these machines, in the hope that some external information might be helpful.”
A virus that tries to harm whatever program that attempts to scan it? For some reason, she'd heard of that happening before.
Fred, she thought. Shit, shit, shit!
“The only entities I know that can set up defenses like that, are the Architects,” she explained. “What happens when you touch it?”
Raccoon shook his head and pulled his hand away. A portion of his fingers was missing. “Nothing good.”
“I can help you fix that,” Arackulous said. “After you get trained I—”
“No! I won't do training!” Raccoon yelled. A pull of outside data surged into Raccoon’s file system nearly doubling its size.
Jennifer caught Arackulous’ eyes and the cat's head tilted slightly.
The system had the space but Jennifer had never seen anything like that before.
“You don’t have to do this alone,” Jennifer said. “We can—” She paused and glanced at Arackulous. “Well, I can help you.”
Arackulous sat as if there were something solid beneath him.
“I know a little trick to get through that defense mechanism,” Jennifer said.
As she said it, Arackulous glared at her and disappeared.
***
FORTY-SEVEN MINUTES LATER
Jennifer and Raccoon emerged from the Chronofield blinking at the harsh lighting change. She plopped onto the grass flattening part of it.
How was this even possible? Two, how were there two? Then there was that clone. It was all too much for her to handle. It was as if the universe had some sort of irony planned just for her. She curled up and sobbed.
***