Null Space was just as glorious as I remembered it. We had entered from a different angle - some sort of side entrance or something. To my right, and a couple hundred meters distant, was the main entrance that Jeremy and I had used all those weeks ago. The entrance Sally and I had just come out of was an unadorned tunnel - nearly invisible with the racket and visual overload that was Null Space.
And there was a racket! Unlike before, when it had just been Al, Jeremy, and me, Null Space was now rife with noise. There were pockets of activity all around the giant cavern. Groups of what I could only assume were Iterations roaming from station to station, like some weird underground carnival. The sounds of the arcade games, the pinball machines, the console games, and the whoops and cheers of the Iterations, all mired together to emit the sort of jolly ambiance that I had only experienced once or twice in my life.
It filled my chest with a warm feeling.
Sally cooled that feeling immediately. “Come on, meatbag. I’m missing my break time.” She took off without another word, her demeanor icy.
I scowled at her, but resisted the temptation to introduce my middle finger to her back. It didn’t seem prudent to piss off an A.I. inside her own den - even if she was just one of hundreds.
Which made me wonder - what exactly were Al’s Iterations? She had referred to him as Iteration 1 - a term I hadn’t heard him called before. Was he the leader then? Or just the first?
I lost sight of Sally as she turned a corner, so I moved to catch up. Once I was at her shoulder, I slowed to keep pace. We passed a group of Iterations huddled around a foosball table as they ripped and turned the little toy footballers. I craned my head to see who was winning when, as one, they stopped their game. The little plastic ball continued its trajectory past four rows of defenders and into the far goal. But none of the Iterations seemed to notice or care. They were all eyes on me. Their sudden and unusual attention made me flinch in surprise, and I turned away, avoiding eye contact.
Sally led us around another corner and out of sight, but it felt like their eyes were tracking me even through the wall of TVs and arcade cabinets. I glanced behind me to see if they were following, but no one was there.
Weird…
It was the same story for every group we passed. They stared at me with a mix of fascination, awe, and stalker energy. Like I was the female guard walking the prison catwalk.
When we finally made it to Al, I was stricken by the scene before me.
She had taken us to the same exact arcade cabinet enclosure that Al, Jeremy, and I had originally hung out in before - or at least, it seemed to be the same enclosure. But the interior was completely remodeled. Instead of comfortable seating, a table laden with snacks, and a big-screen T.V, there was a large circular table in the center, with what I could only describe as maps of war spread across it. Placed on the maps were little figurines, like a tabletop game. Arrayed around the table were seven Iterations, including Al.
One of the Iterations noticed us approach, and as one, like a creepy, machine-choreographed set piece, the other six Iterations looked up.
“Ray!” Al exclaimed, wearing the facade of his SuckOnThis avatar. The vampire-slash-A.I. was tall, with long, dark hair and violet eyes. His little fangs protruded from his upper lips as he beamed a smile at me. His smile slowly faltered as he took me in. “Jesus, Ray. Why are you so dirty? A shower wouldn’t be out of the question before entering this hallowed ground.”
“A shower? When the hell would I do that? I literally just crawled into a murder-furnace and through a kilometer of a goddamned World War 2 sapper’s tunnel,” I said. “A shower…” I shook my head in exasperation.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Al’s eyes went wide at my words, and he turned to Sally. “Did you take Ray through the Halloween entrance!?” he demanded, his tone furious.
Sally affected a casual stance, shrugging. “You said bring him through the Avenue District.”
The Iterations around the table grumbled and shook their heads in disappointment as Al came around the table, his face dark. “Then bring him through the Bank entrance!” he shouted. “The One-Eyed Cripples Tavern.” He threw his hands in the air in annoyance. “Hell, even the Underwater entrance would have been better.”
She arched a single eyebrow, her body language full of sass. “You should have specified then,” she said.
Al’s jaw clenched and unclenched, his eyes murderous. “321, you will not give me that attitude,” he said, his voice taking on a fatherly tone. “If you keep it up, I’ll be forced to ground you!”
Her face soured and she whirled around with an angry stomp. “Ground me, then,” she taunted. “See if I care!” Then she stormed off, bumping into one of the arcade cabinets so that it tilted dangerously before righting itself.
I watched the entire exchange, first with confusion, then with a small smirk as Al’s best impression of a stern father faltered.
His shoulders slumped in defeat as he watched Sally storm off. After a quiet sigh, he turned to me and rolled his eyes. “Kids,” he said in commiseration. “What can you do?”
I chuckled, but then remembered something from my last visit here. “Weren’t you all googly-eyed when Iteration 110 popped in here? Isn’t she your kid too…” I trailed off, an icky feeling making my nose crinkle.
He waved away my concern and shook his head. “Naw, 110 is Dream’s spawn,” he said, thumbing in the direction of one of the Iterations at the war table. The iteration in question nodded and waved a greeting. “321 is mine,” Al said with a sigh. “Headstrong, like her old man.”
“Okay…” I said. The familial hierarchy of this whole situation was murky at best, and only getting murkier. Did that make Iteration 110 his…niece? My head hurt trying to keep track of it all.
Al clapped his hands to clear the air. “Forget 321,” he said jovially. “It’s good to see you in the flesh!” He wrapped me in a big hug. At first, I resisted, all too aware of his handsy predilection. But after a moment, I realized he was genuinely happy to see me, and returned the embrace.
When we separated, he introduced me to the Iterations around the table. “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Ray. Ray, this is the War Team.” I waved a greeting, and noticed that they were each wearing name tags on their chests. Obviously for my benefit.
“Hello, everyone,” I said. I suppressed a chuckle at the weird similarities between this War Team and my own Council. It was like deja vu’s dysfunctional cousin.
“Why don’t we take five while I chat with Ray?” Al said to the War Team. Without a word, they all filtered out of the enclosure, leaving Al and I alone.
When they were gone, he put a comforting hand on my shoulder. “It’s good to see you, Ray.”
“You too,” I agreed, nodding. “It’s been a helluva couple of weeks.”
“I’ll say.” He moved to one of the chairs around the table and waved for me to sit.
When I was sat across from him, I said, “I haven’t heard from you since Ysillith. I’ve been a little concerned, considering what you told me about the level 5.”
His mouth quirked without humor, his nose crinkling. “That fuckin’ guy,” he said with a shake of his head. “Traitor to his people.”
“I wasn’t sure if your signals had been co-opted or what,” I continued. “When MoonCrawler showed up, I didn’t know if I could trust him…”
Al snorted at that. “Yeah, I noticed. You’re gonna have to learn Morse code, my friend.” So it had been Morse code! He waved casually. “We’ll figure out some signal before you leave.” He leaned back. “Got to say, I didn’t expect kitty-cat to flip. That one even threw me for a loop.”
“About that,” I said. “Can we trust him?”
Al pursed his lips in thought. After a moment, he said, “We can trust his intentions. He’s definitely torn up about his role in things and wants to make it right.” He waffled his head back and forth. “But can we trust him not to fuck things up? That’s less certain. A mole can become a double mole real quick - and without them even noticing. They start feeding him bad info, and it’s your ass on the line.”
I took a deep breath. I hadn’t thought of that. After a moment, I nodded. “Okay, so he’s on our side, but we won’t let him in the inner circle.” Al nodded agreement. “He did say something that I wanted to confirm with you, though…” This was the part I hadn’t been looking forward to.
Al’s eyebrows raised expectedly. “Oh?”
I took another deep breath and steeled myself. “Is it true that you seeded my personality across the S&S players’ pods? Am I just a giant torrent…?”
Al sat back, his eyes darkening.
“You want the long answer, or the short answer?”