“It’s just not sustainable,” Karma paced the small room while Cliff tampered with the engine’s hardware updates.
“No, but what else could we do?” Cliff waved a screwdriver at her, his voice muffled from underneath the cabinet.
“We could watch a movie,” Mirror offered, its pane of glass reflecting the scrolling through the Netflix queue that had become its favorite pastime. Ever since they’d manually subscribed to the service, the mirror had been busy adding every movie into the viewing queue.
“But we could do better,” Karma plopped down onto the armchair with a huff. “I’ve been watching the comments, and we have some new recruits that have potential.”
“What kind of potential?” Cliff asked, but she knew that he was distracted. This was the third update to the mainframe that they’d installed since The Pitch. Cliff was okay running more cables and installing more RAID hard drives and parallel processors, but they were reaching the point where the engine was resembling a hacker haven to rival the Matrix. They could make all the funny money they needed (thanks to Fizzbarren’s magic) to buy parts, but with the current government, Karma was worried they were going to garner the attention of law enforcement if they added much more hardware. The multiple tiers of firewalls were better than the government had so far, but who knew what Homeland Security would tag their operation as if they didn’t carefully mask their eco and cyber footprints enough to not be immediately tagged as a drug den or worse.
“What if we used one of our opted-in readers to build dungeons instead of using the engine to do it?” Karma mused, letting the footrest toss her laptop onto her lap. “Thanks.”
“No problem,” the fluffy footrest replied happily, casting a clean spell on Karma’s shoes before they hit the tasseled pillow.
“The creation of dungeons is my job,” the engine protested weakly through the typewriter that rested on top of the box of hardware that Cliff was working on. The keys on the old-fashioned typewriter rattled a bit.
“You know I love you and the engine,” Karma placated the nervous typewriter automatically, “but you are already totally overwhelmed by running the rules and creation of the world. I’m not talking about replacing you. I’m talking about getting you human helpers for the smallest part of your functions in just the dungeons.”
“There are people who make dungeons?” Cliff poked his head out to raise an eyebrow at Karma.
“Kind of,” Karma waved her hand at her laptop and gave a big smile.
Cliff tilted his head at her.
“Okay, look, I wouldn’t suggest it if I didn’t have an idea,” Karma wheedled a bit. She was anxious to get back into the world. The creation process was fun, but she was more hands-on world-wise. She itched to get back inside the engine. “We have a surprising new slew of readers who have opted in…” she ignored his eyeroll at that. Some of the latest recruits have been a little less creative than they would have wanted for the story-telling aspects of the engine. “And in that roster is a duo of escape room aficionados.”
“Escape rooms?” Cliff considered it with a scratch of the screwdriver in his wildly misbehaving hair. “Like where you go try to break out of a room in an hour?”
“Yes,” Karma nodded. “I was thinking they might make decent dungeon makers.”
“They make escape rooms?” Cliff eyed Karma.
“Not yet, but they want to,” Karma rushed through the negativity to focus on the positive. “They do contests and…”
“I thought you were looking for DnD players who like to make dungeons,” Cliff stuffed his head back under the machine.
“I was, but they are becoming popular again,” Karma scowled at the inattentive Cliff. “And none of them read our books and aren’t even close to the opt-in level.”
“Dungeons aren’t escape rooms and it’s a far cry from wanting to make escape rooms to being able to build a dungeon,” Cliff chided her, not because he was negative, but only because he was playing devil’s advocate. That, and he was probably in tech-guy heaven building the tech side of this thing.
“I have to agree with Cliff,” Typewriter twitched its ribbon in annoyance. “With a few more processors, I can easily create more dungeons. Even as we speak, Mirror is researching several MMORPGs for dungeon ideas that we can cobble together.”
“I am?” Mirror was startled by the proclamation. “Oh, yes, of course I am.”
The direct cable between Mirror and the engine jiggled as if information was running through it like a team of horses.
“I don’t want another cobbled together, write the title backwards to claim its new dungeon,” Karma pursed her lips at the two animated objects sternly. “I want original designs! I admire your ability to keep track of the rules and such, but creative content requires human beings.”
“If you say so,” Typewriter’s carriage return snapped in annoyance.
“They opted in?” Cliff asked.
“Yes, and I have an idea of how to pull them in that is right up your alley, Typewriter,” Karma leaned forward.
“Are we creating more stories for Royal Road with it?” Pestle asked, its mortar clanking behind it as it skittled across the long table in Fizzbarren’s workshop. Pestle had become much less grumpy since Karma had taken him into the game world and fixed his cracks and dings with a few mend spells.
“I don’t think we can sell it as a game like Cliff wanted to do,” Karma admitted on a wince.
“Why not?” Cliff tore his head out to glare. “Even Kat liked that idea.”
“Our players keep disappearing,” Karma chided him. “Most of them don’t want to go back to the real world.”
“Kat’s been working with a few of them on their stories too,” Cliff admitted. “Getting enough readers to keep their worlds running is harder when we keep pulling their readers into the world. That’s what’s not sustainable.”
“Game or story, it’s all a bit load-heavy on the machine,” Karma argued. “We should be using some of our opt-in readers to help build the world and stories, not just dumping them in the playpen of the world for fun. That’s what’s really not sustainable.”
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“You’re the one that made it so that they have to agree to have their stories published,” Cliff waved the screwdriver at her again. “If you made that a condition of their entry to the world, we’d have more stories and more readers.”
“If I was out here more putting the stories together,” Karma worried, pulling the blame back on herself. “I know. I know. I should be writing, but we just opened the pirate world…”
“And you and Dom want to go play,” Cliff rolled his eyes at her.
“But you could play more often too if we could make this whole thing more sustainable,” Karma pounced on the idea. “That’s why we need to use our players to create content. Even if we never get a story out of them, it’s content that they create for each other. These two could do that.”
“Escape room players?” Cliff frowned at her again.
“As dungeon masters,” Karma pressed. “We give them limited access to the engine’s controls and let them create the dungeon that the players will play in.”
“Access to my controls?!” Typewriter shuddered.
“Limited access,” Karma hedged.
“It better be very limited access,” Cliff agreed with Typewriter, the two thick as thieves since the latest four hardware upgrades.
“We could at least try it out,” Karma insisted, her voice rising.
“Very limited,” Typewriter’s ribbon rose high over non-existent eyes, his keys clacking alarmingly.
“On a dedicated server,” Cliff squinted at Karma. “We wouldn’t want to give them access to controls in the big world yet.”
“Another engine?” Typewriter squawked, clattering like the world was ending.
“A smaller version,” Cliff waved at the main engine. “An old backup maybe.”
“No,” Karma shook her head. “The engine should still have control of the world. It needs that much, at least. Fizzbarren finally managed an engine that works. We don’t want to undo that.”
“I guess,” Cliff frowned. “But they’d have to have read only access.”
“Then how would they create anything?” Karma asked.
“We could make it more like a choice between basic stuff,” Cliff got gruff, and Karma knew that he was going to overdo that.
“To start,” Karma insisted. “But if they prove themselves, you have to unlock more options.”
“Of course,” Cliff shrugged, his attention back on his work.
Karma was glad he was working on the machine to make it better, but they really were getting overwhelmed by all the tech he was installing. Karma thought they needed more magic and less tech, but staying out here in the real world wasn’t something she wanted to take on any more than Kat and Dom did. As it was, Karma had only meant to come out of the game for a few hours to try to convince the engine and Cliff that they needed real people making the dungeons instead of the stale old stuff that the engine gave them.
Karma typed up a few invitations. There were a half dozen new opt-ins that they’d been waiting to bring in because they needed more room in the engine, but they were mostly the bottom picks creativity-wise. Karma hand-picked six players and the two that she wanted as dungeon masters. The players were easy. They had the standard entrance contracts that she’d get them to sign as EULAs on their way into playing a “new online MMORPG beta test.” For the new DMs though, Karma wanted a special induction.
She had Mirror look up escape rooms and between Mirror and Typewriter, she worked out their induction process through an escape room tournament. The tournament wouldn’t be real, but then neither would the escape room. Karma rubbed her hands together as she, Mirror, and a reluctant Typewriter set up the entrance for the DMs.
“Welcome,” Karma shook hands with the two nervous contestants.
Lacey wiped her hands on her jeans before shaking hands.
“Just the standard paperwork,” Karma handed them both clipboards with the papers on them. It was the standard paperwork for the first half of the sheets. By the time they got to the clause about entering the engine, their eyes would be crossing from the legalese of a non-disclosure and risk release combined with EULA clauses.
“One hour for $200,000, right?” Lacey signed right away, but Colt took the time to skim, not that he caught anything dastardly in the terms.
“That’s right, Lacey,” Karma assured her, holding out a tray for their belongings. “Cell phones, lockpicks, keys, electronics, pocketknives?”
Colt gave Lacey a wry look at the mention of lockpicks. Karma had done her homework on the two and knew what to ask for, not that anything not approved would exist in the rooms beyond. Karma controlled those rooms completely. Karma and the engine, which was now onboard, though grudgingly.
“Any questions?” Karma smiled at the two as they emptied their pockets of everything.
“Is there a storyline?” Lacey asked, pulling the pocket lining out to show she wasn’t carrying anything against the rules.
“The show will have the whole story, but our writers are still working on the final version,” Karma said, trying to hold back a smile. “Typical old recluse plotline. He built this house as a doorway to another dimension where magic reigns, but in his hubris, he got sucked into it too. If you can solve the magical riddles of the house, you too could be transported to another world where magic rules.”
“Got it,” Lacey nodded with a wry look.
“The timer will start when the lights go on in the first room,” Karma told them, opening a door. “Don’t mind the staticky feeling at the door. It’s just some special effects. Walk to the middle of the room. There’s nothing in the way. The cameras are hidden in secret places but try not to mug for the cameras as it won’t play well on the final reel. Not that you should worry about that either since we’ll just edit out anything that doesn’t look good.”
“Do we get a look at the final cut before it airs?” Colt looked more curious than demanding, so Karma smiled.
“Yes and no,” she told them. “You’ll get to see all the footage that will air on the show, but only if you make the show at all. We’ve had many people try and fail at this room.”
“We like a challenge,” Lacey gave a practiced smile that didn’t reach her intense eyes. Karma liked her immediately as a kindred spirit.
“We really hope you like this one,” Karma’s eyes glittered with anticipation as they entered the engine in a way no one ever had before. The doorway itself was the entrance.
“Are they in?” Mirror’s face dissolved into place in the middle of where the doorway had been.
“It looks like it worked,” Karma nodded to the mirror, trying to watch them around the face as the lights came up.
“Sorry,” Mirror apologized and dissolved the face back out of the way.
“They didn’t even balk at the fact that the escape room was in the middle of nowhere?” Cliff’s heavy footfalls made the porch creak beneath his feet.
“Nope,” Karma couldn’t stop smiling. “That money was a big factor for Lacey, who is a very determined young lady.”
“I thought Colt was going to read the fine print there for a minute,” Cliff nodded at the doorway that Mirror was backing out of as they squeezed past.
“This is better than Netflix,” Footstool eagerly positioned herself to gaze into the mirror.
“Well,” Mirror protested like any good addict. “There is only one channel here, unlike Netflix.”
“But it’s live,” Pestle agreed with Footstool. “Do we have to watch in slow motion?”
“We want to be able to adapt to anything if something goes wrong,” Cliff inserted, picking up the big bowl of buttered popcorn they’d prepared before.
“Oh, come on, Cliff,” Footstool pleaded, her tassels jumping as she walked herself to her place near the chair. Cliff relaxed his bulk into the chair and Karma sprawled across his lap sideways, snatching up the bowl and shoving a whole bunch of it in her mouth with a groan of pleasure.
“Yeah, come on Cliff,” Karma said around a mouthful of popcorn.
“Fine, but we pause it immediately if something goes wonky,” he wagged a finger sternly at them all, adjusting Karma’s position so that he could get to the popcorn. They’d wanted another chair, but there wasn’t a lot of room left with all the hardware cabinets against all the walls.
“Of course,” Mirror and Typewriter agreed together. While Mirror gave them the view of the action, it would be the engine that actually stalled the workings.
The next hour was a mess of resets, time loops, and manipulation so that Lacey and Cliff managed to hit that final obstacle with moments to spare. Karma launched herself off Cliff’s lap, the meager remains of the popcorn scattering like the confetti of the escape room.
“Sh, sh!” Mirror insisted. “This is my favorite part.”
They watched the two open their eyes to their new home base. The lights came up on the pedestal and they went through the typical, “Where are we?” dialogue and maneuvering. Karma sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the mirror, analyzing everything that was happening. Had they given them enough controls? Karma had wanted more, but the engine was stingy. It didn’t like giving up the power.
The typewriter began to hum with energy as words filled the pages.