Continue Online (Part 3, Realities) (12 page)

Plus, and this was the weirdest part, he just felt like Dusk. The creature could only be a mental representation of computer code yet I assigned a feeling to him. Known to me in the same way as a familiar scent, or a childhood blanket.

Finally, we made it back into the ship. The hatch sealed behind us while oxygen flooded in. For
[Mechanoid]
s it was useless, but it did help verbal speech. Dusk's form seemed to take no notice one way or the other. It also lacked wings and his back curved differently. Maybe my entire belief that this raptor body was Dusk had been based on a desperate need to connect with the other game.

I had issues with Xin, why not Dusk? The weight of years stacked up quite differently between the two. Xin and I had known each other for nearly fifteen years. The
[Messenger's Pet]
equaled out to less than half a year. Far less depending on my perception versus autopilot time.

It sounded like Dusk. Now that we were inside he chattered away even more. A passing
[Mechanoid]
colored in dirt brown gave me an odd look, but we kept moving forward. I ignored the silent judgment regarding my new noisy necklace and traveled back to Treasure's room.

"Ah, Unit Hermes, welcome-" her words cut off abruptly as she laid eyes on the creature who might be Dusk. If nothing else I had completed Treasure's task to bring it in without harming him.

"Hi."

"Is that the creature?" she asked, her tired voice was buried under the sweet one. Dusk, or the creature who might be Dusk, tilted his head and chirped with his bird-like noises.

"I think so." I only learned what Dusk was because James gave me an
[Identification]
skill last time. Was there such a thing in this world?

"Can I have it? I'd like to see what it's made of."

"No!" I jerked back and Dusk let out a startled squawk that sounded more like a hairball being harfed up.

"This unit won't cut it!" Treasure must have seen my panic stricken face. Assuming I actually had expressions and didn't look like Hal Pal's muted self. "It needs to be scanned and cataloged."

"You can do it from there." I stepped back a little from the shorter
[Mechanoid]
. She didn't seem upset. A giddy hop accompanied her as she yanked down some device from a wall. It went around Treasure's wrist much like my
[Combat Program]
.

"What's that?"

"It will take a reading of his biomass." Treasure stared right at the tiny creature who might be Dusk. Her eyes glowed with a gold and silver lacing. "Hold on a moment, you precious little creature."

The small wingless not quite a dragon tilted his head and I felt sure it was my buddy. Those thighs were basically the same. The slight curve of the skull. Even the amount of weight on one shoulder felt familiar. It had only been a week without Continue Online, but I missed him.

"I don't know if he'll be in any of your systems," I said.

"He's not anything this unit recognizes, which is amazing." Treasure looked at the wall for a moment. Figures and numbers came up but nothing outright useful to me. I expected a name at least but ended up with question marks.

"That is you, right Dusk?" I asked the small creature. He nodded twice more. "Should I ask for cupcakes?"

The resulting circle of happiness on my shoulder caused Dusk to trip over his longer tail.

"Still getting used to the new form?" I said. That resulted in a look of confusion from Treasure as she watched our back and forth. Dusk managed to shake his head while growling.

"Do you know this creature?" she asked me with both eyebrows partway up. I guess
[Mechanoid]
s did have eyebrows that responded.

"Probably. I think he followed me from another place." I didn't want to say game. There was no telling if the programs in this world were complex enough to understand. At least in Continue, I could tell an NPC pretty much anything without fear of them breaking.

"This unit doesn't understand." Treasure sounded vaguely upset.

"Neither do I." I smiled happily and rubbed the tiny guy's head. "Probably hitched a ride to visit me."

"This unit doesn't understand." She was stuck in a loop.

"It's an undiscovered species?" I offered an escape for her. Treasure's eyes cleared up a little with an abrupt flash of light gold.

"It certainly does not show up on any of our records despite multiple scans. There seem to be pieces of lizard and something possibly Seraphic." Treasure's head tilted as she stared at Dusk with a slight glow to her eyes. "That would explain how he survived out in space."

"That's the superhuman race. The ones who might be gods?" I remembered that name from the race choices.
[Seraphic]
was a limited race and filled with no available options for me to choose.

"Indeed. Many of them contain energy unlike any others in the galaxy." She nodded like all our confusion was cleared up by blaming
[Seraphic]
unknowns. I too blamed something divine. They just belonged in another game.

I nodded. Breaking rules sounded about right for Dusk. He came from the black space all those Voices resided in. Clearly he could cross between pieces of software. This wasn't the first time he had broken through. Though how he managed to do so while the doorway was blocked by my sister's restrictions didn't make sense. Maybe it only functioned one way.

"Well, I have a feeling he'll be hanging around," I said.

"Then you better see Emerald. He's the resident Domestic Trainer." Treasure ran yet another scan upon Dusk and then giddily moved back to her screens to gaze at the results.

"We have those?" I didn't think robots, however human feeling, would train domestics.

"Yes. You may choose to learn Emerald's programming methods as one of your two specializations." Treasure waved one hand in my direction. She clearly cared more about the data on her screen than I. It seemed our entire forty minutes of interaction meant nothing. "Go to Emerald, he will advise you on the next step."

A task popped up again. The three optional ones I had bypassed seemed to have faded. Maybe they were only there to get me started and moving around the ship. I shrugged it off and waved goodbye to Treasure. She nodded and went back to the screens where Dusk's much clearer image sat on the wall.

Hopefully, his appearing here hadn't broken the programming somehow. The little guy clearly altered things wherever he went. I remember when he first came into my Atrium and destroyed glass that shouldn't have been able to crack. The
[Messenger's Pet]
had also chewed on a chair and destroyed numerous objects during one of my absences.

I still couldn't decide if he was a puppy, cat, or bird. Not that any of those applied now. Now he was possibly a space raptor, cat, critter. Dusk looked at everything to cross our path in search of prey as I walked a route toward Emerald.

"Don't even start attacking the ByteMites. I'm not sure what would happen," I said to him. He looked disappointed, a mystery. My only real hint was Xin existing digitally. Mother was interested in her, and I had a vested interest because letting go hurt. Maybe that fit into it somehow. My desperation, longing, and fixation on dancing with a deceased woman.

I shuddered and tried not to follow that line of thinking. Spending time going down that rabbit hole would lead nowhere useful and leave me full of suspicions. Doctor Litt said to focus on one task at a time then move forward.

"Well, we'll see what this task is all about. Cleaning the ship's hull was kind of dull," I said. The idle chat felt half-hearted. Thoughts of the Voices and Hal Pal worried me while Dusk and I traveled. Luckily we avoided any real trouble. Emerald was in yet another random room on this decently sized ship.

Walking in revealed a room unlike any other upon the
[Wayfarer Seven]
. Treasure's room had been amazingly robotic, full of sensor gadgets and electronic doodads. Most of my
[Mechanoid]
experience involved smooth corners and metallic objects, this room was opposite Treasure's abode and full of leafy greens. Small cages of shimmering glass lined both walls. Inside each were animals with small habitats. Outside and all around the room, larger plants sat in carefully controlled clumps.

"Neat," I said.

"Welcome, Brother Hermes. Treasure told me to expect you." Emerald had been one of the trio to greet me upon loading. Only he called me with the name brother instead of unit.

"Did she tell you about this little guy?" I pointed to Dusk. The small creature had leapt off my shoulder without completely untangling his longer tail. Both of us awkwardly jerked forward while Dusk hissed and tried to work the elongated limb.

"This unit was informed of an unidentified creature showing interest in one of our members." Emerald also had two tones, but they were much harder to pick out. Both were calm and steady.

Dusk finally untangled himself and I tried to stand upright. Soon the transformed
[Messenger's Pet]
was running full tilt around the room looking at everything. I stayed ready to intercept a falling plant or broken cage, but everything seemed well anchored.

"Right. I was told you could help?"

"I can. I maintain the programming cores for Domestic Trainer units. The information for this core should be coming across your interface now." Emerald shifted his head to peer around the room. He appeared to be visually checking the cages to see how they reacted to Dusk.

Indeed, it did. A small box popped up telling me both what
[Core]
s were, and all about the
[Domestic Trainer]
class. It seemed familiar, almost like Continue Online's
[Messenger's Pet]
–
[Companion, Exotic]
ability.

I shrugged. Dusk was worth having as one of my
[Core]
s to help us. I didn't feel right without him along anyway. Between this and my two-handed laser sword, things were almost back to normal. In space. As normal as deep space got. Maybe he would eat small aliens to help things feel better.

"Sounds good. How do I sign up?"

"It's simple enough, Brother Hermes. Simply take this core and place it on your chest." Emerald walked closer. Despite his slight hunch the
[Mechanoid]
was fairly tall.

I raised an eyebrow, or I hoped one went up, then took the light green
[Core]
from Emerald. Maybe he had another class of botany or something similar in order to get that second green color to his shell.

"Do be careful, Brother. This unit recalls the process feeling very disconcerting."

"Thanks." I put it against my chest with a bit of hesitation. Dusk tilted and chirped as the
[Core]
flashed brightly.

Warmth spread through my body. Hammering hit both ears as my heartbeat sped up. I felt dizzy like I had rushed to stand up then dove into a giant hot tub. A slight numbness rippled by seconds later as the
[Core]
sunk into my chest.

By the end of it, I wanted to huff and shake. The strange part was my body didn't feel short of breath, merely overloaded by a rush of sensations. Dusk chirped again and I brushed off the feelings.

Emerald had moved on to tend one of the many plants. A slight hunch to his body looked more obvious from the back. Dusk roamed around the room staring hungrily at small creatures.

"You can't get to them. They're locked up tight," Emerald said to my small friend. I let them talk while focusing on a pop-up box in front of me.