Chapter 92: Keep Out

I glared at Donica. “If there was an honest to God ‘keep out’ sign in Third Eye, and you didn’t think to mention it before we came in here, I’m going to be very upset.”

“There was no ‘keep out’ sign,” she snapped.

“But the signs you did see,” Erin said. “They all pointed away from here, or told you to stop?”

“There might’ve been a yield in there.” Donica sighed. “You don’t think the devs were trying to point us into this place. You think they were trying to keep us out.”

“I’m certainly worried that’s the case!”

“That’s stupid,” Lena said.

We all looked at her.

“I don’t mean it’s stupid of either of you, Erin, Donica.” She spread her hands. “I mean it’s stupid of the devs. If you put up a bunch of signs saying content is off limits, any gamer worth her salt is going to bust her ass figuring out how to get in there.”

“You know what happens with most boundary breaks, don’t you?” Matt asked.

Lena cocked her head. “They turn into sick speedrun strats?”

“The player character falls out of the world as soon as they squeeze out of collision detection,” Matt said. “Maybe one in a thousand runs is recoverable, and those are the ones that get incorporated into speedruns.”

Lena’s grin wavered.

“I’m sorry,” Erin said. “I think we’ve completely misread this situation. All of you need to get out of there right now.”

“I am also against falling out of the world,” Zhizhi said.

I nodded as I pushed open the door to the hall. “Erin, I know it’s probably pointless, but how about you hit up VisibleFromSpace and ask about this place? If the devs really meant to keep us out, they might respond for once.”

I wasn’t, quite, desperate enough to ask for emoticons and pablum from AlephLambda.

Erin apparently was. “I’ll ask privately. If I don’t get an answer, I might just ask in the official Discord next.”

I swallowed. We might need to go loud to protect other people, but I preferred to make that decision after we got the chance to sit down and review what the hell we’d actually encountered.

Not least because that would mean getting said chance.

“We’ll make for the exit,” I said, “and you let us know –”

Donica whispered, “No.”

“What?” I glanced at her.

She stood with her fists clenched and her eyes downcast. “Tell the devs. Good idea. I’d love to have a word with them. But I’m not leaving it like this.”

“Donica,” Erin said, “we have to be careful. It was one thing when we thought this was a game environment. Even if it was a dangerous one, it should still be something we could handle with good and cautious play. If this isn’t intended content, though, if it’s some kind of error, there’s no telling what could be in there.”

“I don’t care,” Donica snapped.

Erin fell silent. I couldn’t see her shrink into her seat in the Yukon, but I could certainly imagine it. Those seats were good for shrinking.

“They want to put signs telling me to keep out as the only collectibles in my neighborhood?” Donica asked.

Lena opened her mouth, but I gave a sharp shake of my head. Yeah, Donica had just claimed there weren’t explicit “keep out” signs, but I didn’t think we needed to sweat the details right then. Lena must have agreed, because she let Donica rant.

“They make a trail to something they were too irresponsible to cut out of their ridiculous game?” Donica slapped her fists against her thighs. She stomped past me into the hall. She turned. Away from the strips of pink tape marking our path out. “The hell with that!”

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She squared her shoulders and marched up to the next doorway. She shoved it. It didn’t open.

Lena rushed into the hallway after her. “I’m generally in favor of being pissed about games, but I’m really not following this.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Just me?”

I thought I did, a little bit. “After all this, you want it to be worth it.”

“‘All this,’ huh?” Donica snorted as she tried the next doorway. Fake again. She kicked at the pressed board wall. “What would you know about it, Cameron? You’ve got two Reactants. Hell. From what I can see, the game practically served as your marriage counselor.”

Lena averted her eyes.

I said, “We’re not –”

“I don’t give a damn!” She tried another door. It swung open and she looked inside. She slammed her palm against it and stepped back into the hall. More of the same, I assumed. “Fuck!”

“I’m sure you’ll find a Reactant if we just look patiently,” Erin said quietly.

“I’m not.” Donica didn’t stop. She shoved open another door. “More of this crap. Is this all I’m good for?”

“It’s no reflection on you as a person,” Miguel said.

“Of course not,” Donica muttered. “Because the game doesn’t consider me one.”

I said, “What?”

Matt said, “Heh.”

“You think I’m right, don’t you, Matt?” Donica asked. She stormed to the next door frame.

“About what you’re doing? Of course not. It’s stupid and dangerous and you know it.” Feedback assaulted my ear as Matt scratched his beard. “About your status within the game? I’ve certainly considered the possibility.”

“You want to share with the rest of the class?” Lena asked.

“Some of us receive bespoke content,” Matt said. “You. Erin. Cameron, perhaps? Me, yes. Frankly, most of the wiki team. Backing at higher levels seems to help, but isn’t required. I didn’t. Maybe they didn’t get enough high tier backers, so they filled in the roster with a fortunate few from the Apprentice tier.”

“And some of us,” Donica snarled, “are supposed to suck it up and be NPCs.”

“That’s awful,” Erin said. “I don’t believe it. I won’t.”

“Me either,” I said. “People who backed at higher tiers got more resources? Sure, that tracks. But the rest of us? Maybe we have more Materials and Reactants because we’ve spent more time playing. Maybe we just got lucky.”

“How much have you studied the distribution pattern of Reactants?” Matt asked.

“How much have you considered not making this worse?” I snapped. To Donica, I called, “Even if all that crap is true, it’s no reason to go running off. It’s just another reason to doubt there will be anything here.”

“If it’s a glitched environment,” she said, “if it’s outside intended content –”

“Then you can fall out of the world?” Lena asked.

Donica punched the wall. She banged her head against it. The pressed board shook. “Then maybe I can get something I’m not supposed to have.”

Lena and I caught up to her.

I shot a glance behind us and found Zhizhi on our heels, camera raised. I supposed Donica’s freakout was the best TV we’d provided so far tonight. Zhizhi had the decency to look embarrassed. She kept filming, though.

Lena reached out. “Come on, Donica. I don’t know how you convinced yourself the game doesn’t think you’re important. Oh, wait, maybe I can make a guess, since I was there a couple days ago. Look at me now!”

“I’d rather not,” Donica muttered.

“You don’t even seem to like Third Eye that much,” I said. “I’m pretty sure you only signed up in the first place because Lena badgered everybody on your server, and it seems like you only stuck with the game to support Erin. Why do you care all of a sudden?”

She shot me a venomous glare. “It’s none of your business!”

I held my ground, or at least froze in place.

Her shoulders sagged. “Whatever. You were right before. I just... don’t want all this to be for nothing.”

I could tell there was more to it than that. Maybe if we’d been better friends, I’d have gotten it. Maybe if I’d been better at reading people.

Instead, I said, “Me neither, but better it be for nothing than we get hurt running into some kind of glitched content.”

“I know.” Donica punched the wall again, but there was no force behind her blow.

“Besides,” Lena said. “You don’t want to admit Matt was right, do you?”

Donica cracked a smile.

Lena spread her arms.

Donica eyed her. “I’m not going to ‘hug it out,’ Lena.”

“Your loss.” Lena shrugged. Well, she wasn’t wrong.

“We good to go?” Zhizhi asked.

I nodded. Lena gave a thumbs up.

“Fine,” Donica said.

We took a step back toward the pink tape. I considered the distance. It sure looked further than when we’d come in. When we walked toward it, though, it came closer, so it wasn’t like we were trapped.

We passed a series of taped doorframes and rounded the corner. I kept looking back to make sure Donica stayed with us. Apparently, she wasn’t pissed enough to strike off on her own.

At least, I didn’t think so until she stopped in front of a blank stretch of wall, her phone raised.

“That’s not even a real frame,” I called.

I checked the span through Third Eye. Yep. Another fake doorframe the app had added to make the halls more confusing. It must not have been there on our way in, otherwise Lena, who saw all of them through her smart glasses, would’ve taped the wall.

I wasn’t sure if the shove Donica gave it was meant to try to open it in spite of what I’d said, or to spite what I’d said, or if she was just lashing out.

It didn’t matter.

A door-shaped section of pressed board swung away from her palm.