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Despite the terror attached to its name, the void didn’t last long, folding in on itself with splashes of pink and leaving another underground tunnel in its place.
Almost human-like in design if you ignored the jutting thorns sticking out from the support beams at the side and the gas jets of pale red spray spraying out every five metres or so.
Chio blinked through the fumes, processed her name, checked for possible blood leakage on her head, confirmed with a few hard foot stamps that it was real ground she was standing on, and then shouted out, ‘where am I now?’
A minute passed.
Maybe two.
Then, just as she was about to yell again, the red dot emerged like a wraith from the left-hand side wall and took up a hover position an inch from her face.
‘Are you the Sataan red dot?’ asked Chio, managing to dilute her reflex shiver.
The red dot responded by enlarging itself by roughly 20% and merging with Chio’s head. For some reason, she did nothing. No reaction at all. Maybe cos the whole process was actually quite soothing, and merging like this gave her the answer that, yes, this was the red dot who’d pretended to be Sataan.
‘Wavelength established,’ said the same tinny voice as before, somewhere inside or around her head. ‘Please walk to the end of the tunnel ahead of you.’
‘Is that the way out of here?’
‘Yes.’
‘Out of Gaaaarrrr?’
‘Gaarrr. Yes.’
‘Which is…a planet?’
‘Correct.’
‘In the Kuiper Belt?’
The outer shell of the red dot shimmered and let out an electronic wail that was either the intro to alien funk or a blunt rejection.
‘Macro location is irrelevant. The exit is up ahead. Focus on this aspect. Thank you.’
‘Okay…the exit,’ she muttered, counting out the support beams at the side and, when they faded out of sight, switching to the jets of luminous gas. ‘It looks pretty far. Almost infinite if I’m being honest.’
‘There is an end.’
‘After how many kilometres?’
‘It is disguised. Please, start walking. Instructions will be given along the way.’
Taking a breath worthy of a deep sea diver with no intention of coming back up, Chio started moving forward. At first, she went slowly, unsure if the red dot would be able to stay in continuous orbit of her head, but when she saw that there was no buffering or lag, she pushed her legs faster.
Several different thoughts crossed her mind as she walked, mostly concerning side effects of having a red dot floating within the same physical space as your head, but also her location, the cops back in the shopping mall toilets, the gas coming out of the tunnel jets, whether or not she’d meet any humans before she got out of this place, the idea that she wasn’t getting out and this was all one big, drawn-out psychological tease before a pulse blast to the face.
The red dot seemed to sense these concerns as it kept repeating, ‘don’t worry, the exit is this way, there is no current danger, other forms of your kind may help you at some point.’
None of it was particularly reassuring, especially the words current and may, and, as the light at the end of the tunnel finally appeared, she shifted side-on and asked the sheet of red haze directly where the way back to Triton was.
‘You will quest and query to find that out for yourself.’
‘Err…’
‘That is not a word.’
‘I mean…is it far? Is there a sign for it? Does it look like the green swirly thing that brought me here?’
‘Yes. Not exactly. Yes. But don’t worry, there is no current danger.’
‘What about later danger?’
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‘The end of the tunnel is close. There is a bowl of native-grown fruit on the table outside if you are hungry. We recommend eating as much as your digestive system can hold.’
‘Native-grown fruit…’
‘Yes, from the soil of Gaarrr. It has a distinctive taste, so we have been told.’
‘It’s okay for me to eat?’
‘The white fruit with black seeds is non-toxic to humans, but the white fruit with a black stem line will kill you within four minutes. Be careful.’
‘Sorry, what?’
‘Beyond fruit, there is a list of energy liquids and plant skins that you can safely consume. It is also on the fruit table. Please, stop and wait.’
Chio didn’t process the words fast enough and was yanked back by an invisible leash especially tight around her windpipe. Ah, the red orb hand brake. Definitely no danger of snapping my neck, none at all.
Beeps and hisses of gas sounded out from both sides and then, a second later, the endless tunnel in front evaporated out of existence and replaced itself with a forest path.
But not a human one.
The soil was a pale shade of red, the tree trunks mimicked the thorny stems of the tunnel support beams, the leaves were an awkward alliance of blue and white that seemed to be rippling in lethargic waves, and the sky poking through in patches remained the same defiant pink as when she’d plunged through it an hour or so earlier.
‘Step outside,’ said the red dot, back to its normal size and, to her delayed surprise, not occupying her head space anymore. ‘The air is breathable.’
‘Long term?’
‘Correct.’
‘You’ve tested it?’
‘The particles have been engineered to adapt to any lifeform as soon as they enter the respiratory system. Many humanoids exist here already. You do not have to worry about this aspect. Please, step outside.’
Taking the red dot at its word, Chio put a cautious foot forward, then another slightly bolder one, and then ended up in awkward amble over to an oddly-shaped wooden table, awkward cos she knew the red dot was floating a few metres behind and she always walked funny when she knew someone was observing her.
‘Is this the safe fruit or the dead in four minutes one?’ she asked, holding up a skewer piercing five chunks of white stuff with…possible…black seeds.
‘Do not fear. It would be cruel to put poisonous nutrition on the table. We are not cruel.’
‘So I can eat all of this?’
‘And drink the green liquid.’
‘Which is?’
‘In human terms, water mixed with a native plant extract. It will give you enough energy to make it to the first settlement, as well as some basic MEV.’
‘Mauve?’
‘MEV. The spirit that others will look to steal.’
‘Err…’
‘Do not deflate, there is currently too little in your body to provoke anyone. And try to avoid saying err, it can be interpreted as a sign of weakness.’
Chio nodded without awareness, keeping the skewer in one hand and picking up a test-tube-shaped glass with a curved base from the table. ‘You said something about a first settlement. Is that like a town or…’
‘Settlement.’
‘Right. And that’s where the portal back home is?’
‘No.’
‘It’s close to it?’
‘No.’
Chio sipped from the art-deco glass, then drank almost half in one go when she realised the green alien water stuff tasted like watermelon juice. ‘Can’t you just tell me where the portal is exactly?’
‘No.’
‘Please…’
‘It is forbidden.’
‘Okay. Then will there be anyone at this settlement who can help me?’
‘For basic provisions, yes. For inspiration to continue the quest, no. The vast majority of settlers there are those who have either been drained of MEV or have given up completely. Or drained of MEV and then given up as a result of that draining. I believe they refer to this as settling down. But, in Gaarrr terminology, it is giving up.’
Chio finished off the pseudo-watermelon juice and put the glass back down. Somehow, the curved base balanced perfectly on the table surface, which was weird in itself as the table appeared to have been made by the set designer of the Dr. Caligari film Tomomi had forced her to watch that time. Not quite as severe in its slope, but it was definitely tilted. And yet, the glass absolutely refused to topple over. Probably down to advanced alien engineering, she thought. Or bizarro xeno-physics. Neither of which mattered much cos the red dot was still talking, and, irritatingly, kept using the word quest.
She shifted her eyes to the path ahead, following its slow bend to the left and the dense blue-white canopy beyond. In her head, both warning bells and fireworks. Walking alone into an alien forest had to be a bad thing, a dangerous thing, but something about the unknown aspect of it made her want to grab the fruit skewers and skip off like the ‘after’ versions of Gretel and her idiot brother.
Brand new territory.
No pink crack to shift.
Cop-less.
Chance of meeting an actual, non-prank alien.
Or she already had…the red dot…was that an alien? A machine?
‘It is time to depart,’ interrupted the red dot, shimmering a shade of red so pale that it almost matched the palate of the sky. ‘Follow the path to the rock sanctuary. There you will find three scenic ponds and a map board of the nearby area. Plus pocket sized maps made of paper replica. These will help you reach the first settlement. From there, you will find more options. And citizens with grey moods. If you wish to give up, pick a mate or pet and live out your days with a moderate to high chance of alcoholism. If you wish to continue, which, based on psychological projections, we predict you will, you must find a way to build up your MEV.’
‘That’s a lot to remember…’
‘May you have a brazen, emerald quest, Shio, new citizen of Gaarrr. Do not linger long in any one place. Trust only in your own interest. Thank you.’
‘Wait…you’re going?’
‘Five seconds.’
‘No, no, I don’t-…this settlement…is there food there? Other humans?’
‘Two seconds.’
‘Is it dangerous? Do I need to-…’
Chio broke off from her own sentence and shoved half a skewer of allegedly safe white fruit in her mouth as the red dot shimmered out of existence.
For the first few seconds, she just thought, jun. And jun kut sei. And jun again.
Then the void sensation hit and the fruit almost came back up.
Not alone, not alone, not alone.
Alien but friendly.
Cushioned pink sky drop not terror fall.
Red dot liked me.
Fairy tale forest and-
Settlement of giver-uppers, alcoholics.
Not alone, not alone, not-
After a minute or two of this, her anxiety self-drained and a second skewer of fruit found its way into her feeding hand. It was all okay. Nothing was coming out of the strangely blue trees to gobble her up, the sky continued to look like a retro sci-fi poster and the path was gently calling to her, saying, ‘adventure this way, and perhaps Dreg City too, at some point, when you’re ready for it.’
Or I could just stay here, she counter-thought, shoving more fruit down her throat.
Wait for the simulation to end.
And the cops to reappear.
In the distance, an electronic whirring sound, not that different from a Dreg City security verification device.
‘Jun…’