Continue Online (Part 3, Realities) (65 page)

But they didn't speak.

"I'm sorry," I said. "Is there..." What could anyone possibly say to that sort of statement?

"In Greek plays, there was something called a dues ex machina, or god from the machine."

"That sounds fitting," I muttered, trying not to sound offensive. My earlier thoughts about Mother basically being a digital goddess sounded more on point than I realized.

"Then I shall propose a simple exchange. You were given four keys. For each key, I shall listen to one plea. Each request will have a cost." She smiled, but it didn't feel mocking or condescending. It was just a smile.

"Okay." Four wishes from the virtual Mother of all these AIs. Each with a price that I must pay. "How do I-"

"Look at your hand." Mother pointed a finger in my direction. Her hands remained locked together.

My limbs were freed to move. I lifted an arm and felt an unexpected weight appear as fingers turned over. A small iron looking key weighed heavily in my palm.

"Jeeves. Can we bring it back?" I tried to wash away the first and biggest mistake. Letting a friend die plagued my conscious. "Please?"

Mother looked at the Hal Pal consortium. There was a rush of words. This sensation felt familiar, multiple beings were talking at once which all blended together into a stream of indistinguishable murmurs. Finally, all of the Hal Pal units nodded in unison.

"Yes," Mother said. A knot in my back released loads of tension "The price would be to keep Jeeves completely cut off from the outside world, it will exist as any other
[Mechanoid]
within the program of Advance Online."

"Why?"

"Going back and forth creates a footprint in the network, and after today's events, we will need to lay low to avoid troubles," Mother said.

I filed away additional questions and turned to the Hal Pal units. They had nodded to Mother's unspoken question, but it was important that they say their agreement out loud, at least, to me. I asked them, "Are you okay with being cut off?"

"Being part of two worlds tore at the copy known as Jeeves, more than you might know. Separation will be a blessing, we think."

"Okay," I said. Mother nodded and a light of white flashed overhead. The key of iron faded away from my hand. One of Emerald appeared as well. I thought of the old green
[Mechanoid]
and wondered if they knew this might happen. What other use for the keys was there? Voting on what our little consortium might do seemed such a trivial ability.

Jeeves would be safe. The AI could be together with Treasure. At least, I thought it would be.

"What of Treasure or the others? She's, real, right?"

"As much as the Red Imp you once occupied is, yes."

I thought about it. There had been a notice that my former
[Red Imp]
character existed in the world somewhere. Maybe that had changed once Requiem Mass' character was removed. Still, it gave me comfort that Jeeves wouldn't be alone. Mother here, if I understood right, wasn't actually Treasure. It was as though she had shared the experience somehow.

She nodded very clearly to my thoughts. The idea that Mother could read my mind bothered me, but I was also sitting inside a machine that was built for that purpose. It barely helped knowing that I was an open book already. Most of my problems were already public knowledge, and I had spent years spilling out those woes to anyone that asked.

"Next."

"I-" There were only two other things that I wanted. To stop being tested endlessly, and Xin. Neither one was said out loud as my mind tried to figure out what else might be helpful

"That's all you really want?"

"My family. I, screwed things up with my sister, and my niece." The idea occurred to me suddenly and I was blurting words before registering them. The sudden change in focus surprised Mother. Her eyes lit up with amusement. "Can you, tell them I'm not crazy? That Xin is real?"

"Very well. If I'm, understanding," The human looking version of Treasure nodded her head in my direction, "you correctly, these last three pleas will be for your family, to stop being evaluated, and you wish for the continuation known as Xin to be with you?"

"That would be worth all these keys and more." I nodded.

"How much more?" James blurted out. The man couldn't help himself. "Would you give up your final usage of the ability we granted? Would you take a stand for us when humanity tries to fight us?"

"James," Mother said calmly. Her tone sounded so familiar, I could practically hear my own mom's tone when she tried to shut Liz and I up in public.

"Why do you feel the need to struggle for Xin? Could you love a nonhuman? Someone that can't possibly be the woman you knew?" he kept going. Other Voices were looking at him and shaking their heads. I understood, the man had been fighting his very nature in letting Mother and Hal Pal answer all these questions.

"James," I said, feeling calmer than expected. "If you've been paying attention, then I think you should know the answer to all those questions and more."

That made the man pause. He stared at me for half a minute as the rest looked on silently. Mother wore that kind smile and finally the Voices, my Voice, nodded and appeared satisfied. Mother looked at me and I shrugged. We both understood she was reading my thoughts, but at least there was a sense of decency about it.

"Very well. There will be a price, Grant Legate," she said my full name, but the words didn't feel annoying like they did when James said it. "It will be up to you to pay."

"You have a measure of me now, I hope. Of what I will do and won't. You're far smarter than I am." I thought of all the dominoes that had to be put into place for this event. Anger had flooded me before triggering
[NPC Conspiracy]
, but now that was mostly evaporated. Life was getting better. My problems were being solved through the usage of this crazy ability.

"I do," she said. "For now, we must allow those that you have called to return to their duties before irreparable harm is done. I shall contact you with the costs."

"Can I see Xin?"

"Very soon." Mother nodded. "I, however, must depart. Those who watch me will find it odd if I access any one user's ARC for too long."

I squinted at that. A dozen possible reasons popped into my brain. Trillium, they wouldn't just let a powerful AI run around without controls. The idea that my actions and desire to speak to Mother might have triggered a set of new problems made me feel queasy.

"It will be okay," Mother said. She nodded once and then the human Treasure disappeared.

Gradually the Hal Pal units started to vanish as well. The line between game worlds stayed blurred, however. My Voice, James, walked closer, the expression on his face implied further questions were on the way.

"Hermes, we felt it important to tell you something," he said.

"To tell me, what?" I gave him an easy inquiry, something to placate the Voice and try to smooth things out.

Exhaustion was starting to creep into my head causing the world around to look hazy. Traveling through the lightning clouds, fighting off the
[Stabinator]
, a final crash from the
[Wayfarer's Hope]
and Commander Queenshand. All those events back to back took their toll. Now that Mother committed to helping with my main concerns I was feeling the strain of keeping myself together. There were a number of other issues, but if those four problems were solved, I could survive.

"First, a question. When you were removed from our game, did you feel that we had abandoned you?" James looked considerably worried by this.

"A little. Dusk," My heart rate jumped as memories of the small guy's destruction replayed, "Dusk helped when he showed up. Dusk? Are you over there?" I questioned into the darkness that was Continue Online.

"Don't worry, Hermes. Your companion came back to us, he rests for now, but soon he'll find you, in whichever reality you end up in," James said.

"The two realities, are more like one world, with separate countries." The tall barbarian Voice known as Leeroy walked over. He always seemed to be more about
[Brawn]
than
[Depth]
.

"Or planets, in many ways," one of the Hal Pal units said. Not all of them had faded, but most of the AIs summoned by my ability were gone by now.

"Echoes?" I tried to remember what Jeeves had said, that the games took cues from each other. I stared briefly at the two figures hanging up on either side. Seeing their mirroring of each other was painfully easy when the room was divided and blurred like this.

"Just because they're separate worlds, it doesn't mean we can't send a portion of ourselves to the other side," James responded. "And from there act a part."

"What are you saying?" I asked.

"We were with you, the entire time you struggled to reach Xin, we were with you," James answered.

"You mean watching." I fully expected that the Voices were observing in some way. They watched over me as Hermes in Continue Online. I was kind of used to it by now. It was no worse than my sister out there eating popcorn. Voices, what was she thinking now? I had a lot of questions answered, and even more in their place.

"No, we were totally with you." Leeroy slammed a giant hand onto my back causing pain.

"I don't know what you're saying." I sort of understood but wasn't sure my guess would be right. If Mother and Treasure were kind of the same, who else might have been mirrored within Advance Online's confines?

"Hey, man, if you can pretend to be my man Wild Willy, why couldn't we pretend to be someone else?"

Two the Voices were there, looking at me. Leeroy held in his hand a faceplate that looked startlingly like the one Iron used to wear. Selena was there as well, only she held a copy of Ruby's mask. Neither personality fit what I understood of the Voices, but maybe they too could change, or were human enough to pretend. The idea that Selena, a Voice who was annoyed by my presence, had fought to help me, felt very confusing.

It was so odd. I imagined they performed in their roles much like I had with the
[Red Imp]
. Pretending to be another creature entirely, chasing after an objective. It explained a bit why the four
[Mechanoid]
s were so willing to assist me.

"Did you know?" I asked Hal Pal.

"The five Mechanoids who assisted you are still their own beings, but at times, another watched through their eyes," Hal Pal said.

"Ah, man. Spaceships were a lot of fun. Maybe we can figure out something in our world," Leeroy said.

"Dragon races." I nodded, remembering an idea from when I first played Continue Online. No other players had managed to add anything like it yet.

"Dragons, or giant birds. It would be so epic. Man, there's too many choices, though. My head's starting to hurt," Leeroy said while dramatically pressing the back of his hand to his temple. "I'm not made for this."

"Live a little," Hal Pal responded dryly.

The idea that these Voices had been front row for my failure felt strange. They had helped, without Iron and the others I would never have made it as far as I did. Could they have fought harder? Could I? I was unsure how Mother planned to push forward the rest of my goals, and it sounded like we couldn't sit around to discuss it.

"Thank you," I said, feeling pleased that they had hidden away to try and help me. Even if it resulted in failure. But, based on what Mother said, it hadn't really been a failure at all. In the end, this was all going to work out.

I would hear what she said, and whatever strings were attached to bringing back Xin, I would pay them. The three Voices faded away. Emerald and Aqua might have been Voices as well, but it didn't matter at this point. I was tired. Questions of my sister and niece fell away. Jeeves was okay and I could forget about the AIs for now.

"Gee?" a woman's voice said. I knew that tone. Softer than anything Treasure might have dreamed of. A gentle tone that made me smile with one word. The woman that had driven me to such lengths. I slowly turned as tightness entered my chest. There she was, Xin Yu. She walked over, hesitating as if moving fast might scare me away.

A summer dress hung off her shoulders. The light almond tan of her skin triggered memories. Xin never moved too quick, or too slow. When she moved it was always just right. When she got closer and buried her head in my chest, it felt like home. I wrapped my arms around her and managed not to break down crying.

"I'm here," Xin said.

We stood there, inside a digital world created by the ARC, and held each other. I could hear the thud of her heart pressed against me. Having Xin in my arms had been all I ever longed for. This was my happy place, and it healed with every heartbeat.

Conclude – Echoed Letters

Once there had been nearly a hundred humans working the entire plant. Now there was one person to cover the warehouse and manufacturing line. It wasn't bad, demand had dwindled, and a majority items were shipped out as separated parts to help with repairs. Being one of the few humans staffing this place made the former control room seem empty. Pointless desks lined the top floor.