Emily walked up to the metallic wall with the crew behind her. Well… all except Velanid. He stayed on his chair saying the idea of a room or even a ceiling was still weird to him, and not having sunlight on his boughs was not ideal. Was this the first time the tree had ever experienced a roof over his head? Emily wondered if there were enough photosynthesizing sapients among the Boschyan Empire for them to create accommodations for such things. They would likely have to wait till Velanid got his own similar reward.

“So why do they call it a Shared Pillar Room if it’s not inside the Pillar?” Eduardo asked. Maverick looked sharply at the hispanic man and barked. Emily interpreted the bark basically as, “What the what?!”

The two humans laughed at the question, Strai’Ze joining in with the laughter in her head. “I can answer this,” the spore said to her. A moment later a screen popped into her vision and she could tell from Eduardo's sudden glazed look and Mavericks tilted head that the others saw the same one as well. Strai’Ze was able to send messages to other fused spores near them through the System. Then those spores would share the message to their Mystlings in whatever way their Suit was programmed for them by the System. The spores could of course reprogram certain things, like she had seen Strai’Ze and Kazi do a number of times.

From Emily Strai’Ze: This is what I could find from the System since we came here. Pillar rooms are rooms that can only be accessed by the Pillars. They are usually placed far underground somewhere to utilize all the available space on Empire controlled planets. Some are floating in space as well. They can be accessed from the outside with difficulty as well, but with the Mystical ability to teleport it’s rarely needed outside of construction.

As Emily read the text sent by her spore she kept glancing at Maverick to see how the golden retriever was understanding the message. The dog must have improved its intelligence recently, or his spore, Eopu, must have delivered the message in the right way. The pup nodded his head in understanding and then asked with a whine, “Why is this one called a shared room? Is it because Emliy was able to invite us in?”

From Emily Strai’Ze: No. From what I’ve gathered in the System data packets the Private Rooms that Jeff Kazi will get can also allow guests in.

That excited Emily. Was that all that was needed for her to see her husband again? Could he just invite her to his room and the Pillar would take her straight to him? Her heart beat at the idea of seeing him again after all this time. It had only been a week or so, but that didn’t change how much she missed him.

Emily also realized that she was very close to the only safety she had felt in the last week. Life had not felt safe or normal since Earth was connected to the System and the Pillars dropped. The idea of having a safe room where she could crash suddenly sounded very appealing to her.

“Alright, let’s check out the room,” she said before any more questions could be forthcoming. They would all be answered in time, but sleep came first. She placed her hand on an archway that was sealed shut with a sheet of silver metal. As she did, a screen popped up on the metal.

Would you like to claim this room?

Yes/No

Strai’Ze helped her accept the prompt. The sheet of metal covering the archway turned to a liquid and fell like a waterfall until it dissolved in a blink to nothing on the floor below.

That might as well be the way the door opens, Emily thought, staring at the very alien spectacle. She just didn’t have the wherewithal for curiosity at this point. Now that the idea of sleep had claimed her, she was dead set on achieving that mission. She wanted to blame her Myst connection to Sleep for her attitude, but this was how she had always been.

Stepping forward she got a view of her new room. It was quite spacious, at least three times the size of their master bedroom back on Earth. The apartment they lived in wasn’t that small either. The room just felt so empty. It was like a minimalist had designed the room. It had a large bed, a couple comfy looking chairs, a large desk, and what looked to be a weapon and armor rack. It felt a little like a hotel room, it had everything you needed, but it didn’t feel very homey.

“Don’t worry,” Strai’Ze said, “you’ll be able to customize the room to your liking. We can even add windows and artwork. The room is entirely yours to do with as you wish.”

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Emily’s eyes went wide at that. Sleep abated a little bit at the excitement of interior decorating with the power of magic. She could add any furniture she wanted. She had seen in the common room outside how the silvery metal could be turned into any color and texture. Ideas blossomed in her mind of how she could give the room a more warm and inviting feel.

Was there a limit to how many pillows she could have on her bed? Jeff had always denied her the sensible amount. A dozen or two was simply necessary for a bed to come together.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I went ahead and allowed your friend entrance to the room. That’s okay, right?” Strai’Ze asked.

“Oh, yeah of course. I didn’t even think it would keep them out.”

Emily turned and saw the door waterfall to the floor again. She hadn’t even noticed it close behind her. It was nice to know that she had privacy protected by the System itself, even if her spore could grant access without her. Strai’Ze had done the right thing by accepting the prompt for her. It didn’t make sense to have a sapient spiritual being stuck in her head if it could never make its own decisions. They had been working out a general trust between them and she felt Strai’Ze had a good grasp of when she would accept something. It made no sense to stop it from doing so, nor would it feel ethical.

“Come on in,” she greeted with a smile. The whine Maverick let out at her absence melted her heart a bit. Eduardo stepped in and she saw Valenid peeking in from a chair in the common room. “You’re welcome too, Valenid. The archway is big enough you should be able to enter if you want. Oh, and I got a great idea! Strai’Ze can you tell the room to put a bunch of skylights on the ceiling to let in a bunch of natural light?”

At that her tall friend rose from his chair and moved toward them, intrigued. They were underground on another planet somewhere, but she figured there had to be a way for the Boschyans to do what she requested. Too many species would need sunlight for it to be unable to accommodate.

A bit of movement drew her attention to the ceiling and metal melted, moved and molded till there were large skylights on the ceiling. She hadn’t noticed the Myst in the room until the harsh beams of sunlight caused the stuff to sparkle and dance throughout the room. It had always been there, it had just become so normal for her to see now. It was amazing how her mind adapted to things so quickly.

Valenid came and stood in the center of the large room soaking in the sunlight with a happy groan. With a thought Emily asked Strai’Ze to make a chair for the big guy. Once it was formed he slumped down in the seat and let his canopy come to a rest over the room.

Emily wasn’t sure if it was her improved Imagination at work or not, but seeing the tree in the room gave her some extra ideas of how she would eventually sculpt the room. She wondered if she could turn the whole place into a type of tree fort. The silver metals capabilities seemed limitless so far. She was excited to see what else it could do.

However, now was not the time. She was just too tired. She was drained emotionally, physically, and, after their day of fighting, spiritually as well. She let her group of friends lounge around for a minute with her, but she could tell they all were feeling the same. She was pretty sure Valenid was already asleep and Maverick was heading that way as well. It was time to kick them out.

From Emily Strai’Ze: Unfortunately, the System requires certain quests to be completed before it will let Suits stay in these rooms all day. You all have a time limit before you have to head back out the Pillar to Earth.

“Don’t worry though,” Emily added to her companion’s message, “I will be back out there in the morning. I’m sure I can figure out an alarm clock or something. I will see you guys after I get a good night's sleep.”

The look of jealousy in each of her friends' eyes made her feel guilty. They would have to spend at least one more night on Earth. No one asked her to leave and no one complained about leaving, but everyone could feel the pain of having to separate into unsafe areas.

A few minutes later Emily was alone in her room watching the metal swirl around her as it constructed the room of her dreams. Well, at least the first draft.

There really was no limit to the capabilities of the room. Even on earth people had learned how to make screens look like windows. Give an advanced society a few extra eons and magic and there were simply no limits to a small thing like interior design. Anything her improved imagination could come up with was possible.

However, when she thought of what she wanted for this first night, she just needed comfort. She had the room transform into a larger copy of Jeff’s and her room. It was altered a little bit of course, but it brought her peace and a sense of nostalgia. She fixed some of the color scheme as well to match what she had always envisioned for their room.

Determined to make a better room the next day Emily crawled into the large comfy bed. She was worried the metal wouldn’t make for a good bed, but the moment she laid down she was in heaven. The bed formed perfectly to her body without feeling rigid or suffocatingly soft. She felt like Goldilocks finding the bed that was just right.

For the first time in a week she laid in a bed without fear of aliens, monsters or being turned into a monster. She let out a huge sigh of relief and soon fell into a very dream filled sleep.