The room was lit with ambient blue light, redstone and fenceposts and chest and books everywhere. The floor looked like large sections of it were comprised of stained glass, and under the stained glass was more redstone. "I think it's safe to say we found the lab," Cassie said drily.
Jesse rummaged in her pockets, hand bumping into the journal every couple of seconds, which somehow had not gotten damp. "Before she got abducted, Harper gave me this," and she pulled out the rose, the red petals not even looking crumpled from its short stay in her pocket. "She told me to give it to someone named 'Harry'."
Petra gave Jesse a funny look. "And that will find this 'headset' thing?"
Jesse looked at the rose. "That's what she said."
"Jesse," Petra said, tentatively, "are you sure Harper hasn't... you know..."
"Completely lost it?" she and Cassie chorused, both of them sharing surprised glances with one another at that. Winslow seemed to snigger from his spot on Cassie's shoulder.
"Hey," Jesse said, rather seriously, "think about how long she's been alone. Nothing but- but this lab, and mindless... um, PAMA-people for company. I'd be a bit... odd, too. Let's cut her a bit of a break."
"That seems like a reasonable request," Ivor said calmly.
"You're just sayin' that 'cause you looove her," Cassie teased.
"I'm not even going to honor that statement with a response."
"Anyway," Petra said, trying hard not to smirk as Ivor crossed his arms, cheeks rather pink, as Cassie and Winslow sniggered. "She might've built this place kinda weird, but I guess we shouldn't judge her too harshly."
Ivor nodded, arms still locked across his chest. "Especially when we need her help to save everyone who's been chipped by PAMA."
"Good point."
"Right now, we should probably just focus on finding the headset," Jesse said, drawing all eyes to her, "For starters, let's see if we can figure out who... or what... Harry is, and why he wants flowers."
And all of them fanned out, Jesse still holding the rose by its stem as she looked around, Cassie standing in front of a large picture on the wall with a strange look on her face. Next to the picture was a sign that read: "Prototype: Autonomous Management Agent." "P, A, M, A- ohhhhhh, PAMA. I get it," Jesse hummed, walking over to the picture and looking at it.
It was Harper, but her hair was black and shorter, and PAMA was just a little box on her lap.
"This looks much more like the Harper I used to know," Cassie said, quietly.
Jesse looked at Cassie, a funny look coming over her face. "Were you two close?" she asked.
Cassie shrugged. "I think out of all the... Old Builders, she was one of the ones I liked the best," she said softly. "I guess that's why it was so easy to blame her after... what, ten years?"
"A little over ten, I should think. Well, I'll keep looking."
Cassie nodded, green eyes slowly wandering back to the painting. "You do that."
Jesse walked over to a machine with a blank frame and a zombie head, a jukebox sitting next to it. She reached out and gently nudged the button, a robotic voice grating out of the box and making her step back with a wince (what Harper needed to work on in two words: volume control) as it blared out, "Good morning, Harper!"
"It's morning?"
"It is Harry! It's always so good to see you!" the robotic... thingy... blared, ignoring Jesse's somewhat flippant comment (well, duh, it was a jukebox next to a redstone-thing that had a zombie head on it), as it continued, making Jesse start a bit, rose still in her hand, "You should not let yourself feel guilty. You had the best of intentions! You are like a flower in the desert and bring joy to those who have none."
Jesse sheepishly rubbed her head. "Oookay." And she leaned forward and pressed the rose into the frame. "Here ya go, Harry..."
The redstone under the glass lit up behind Harry, making a grin play across Jesse's mouth. "Ooh, looks like I'm on the right track!" she exclaimed, before stepping away and looking at the floor. There were sections of gold stained glass, the blue stained glass that 'Harry' had lit up... now what...?
Walking over to the 'robot' standing at the end of the gold stained glass, Jesse went ahead and pressed the button to the jukebox of that one, which had a skeleton head. Creepy.
"Hello, Harper!" another robotic voice called out, "It's Margaret, so good to see you! Hope you've been well. You've got to melt that ice around your heart and forgive yourself. You're not the one to blame."
"So," Jesse spoke aloud, rubbing her temples, feeling a headache coming on, "not only is Harper kind of lonely, but she likes making little puns and jokes. Good to know."
Jesse looked at the floor, then back at the wall, and then tried pulling the ice out.
A section of redstone fizzled out, and Jesse gave a small nod. "Okay, so this is the right item..." and she poked it back into place. "Good to know, I guess. Now what..." she looked down at the floor, and began to look for a different one, before spotting a 'person' nearby. This one had a creeper head.
".. ah." And she gently kicked the button, pressing her foot carefully.
"Hey Harper!" This voice did not blare across the room, making Jesse feel relieved. At least she wouldn't go deaf anytime soon. "It is wonderful to see you. You've always been like a bright beacon, a torch, of hope to this world's citizens. Brighter than all the redstone-"
"Torch," Jesse cut off this 'person' and trotted over to the bookshelves, looking around. "Torch, torch, redstone torch... oh, hey, a book." She reached out and flipped it open, carefully looking through it, a confused look coming over her face almost instantly as she stared at the pages. "There's so much technobabble and numbers in this book, I can barely tell if I'm holding this thing right side up or not."
She carefully flipped it open, looking at it. "The Redstone Heart by... oh, hey! Soren!" Jesse exclaimed, making Ivor peek over at her.
She held out the book to her daaamentor, showing him the cover. "He wrote a LOT of books," she hummed mildly, pushing the book into his hands, which he immediately flipped over and started looking through, curiously.
Jesse went over to the other end of the room, poking open a chest and looking through it, lower arms rummaging through the chest and her upper arms keeping the lid from slamming on her fingers. She'd let that happen before and hoh my Notch you would not believe how much it hurt.
"Oh, hey! Sticks, redstone, that might come in handy. And a bucket... or two... or three... and I guess some TNT couldn't hurt either. Unless it exploded, of course." And she straightened up with a chuckle, her pockets now once again rather full.
Jesse looked around, before her eyes lit up and went over to a crafting table, placing down the stick, and then the redstone.
A moment as the two ingredients shivered together, before slamming together to make a redstone torch, the tip glowing faintly even with nothing else. "And... yep! Got that down," Jesse said cheerfully, her lower right arm scooping up the torch and twirling it casually as she rapidly trotted back over to the... robot... person.. thing.
Putting the redstone torch in, the purple stained glass beneath Jesse's feet glowed as the redstone lit up, a square of stained glass in the back of the lab sliding aside behind the bigger stained glass square on the floor slid aside to reveal... something. It looked a bit like a hat, but with a visor that went over the eyes.
Jesse trotted over to it, taking ahold of it and looking at it cautiously. "... hm." She slid it onto her head, the blue part of the visor beginning to glow from what she could see of it. "Hey, there we go!" Turning around, she stepped onto the larger stained glass square, everything around her lighting up.
But that's not what Jesse was seeing. Her jaw practically hit the floor, eyes widening behind the visor. "Whoa!"
A/N: That's the second time in a row we've ended a chapter with 'whoa' or something similar. Anyone else hyped up for Virtual Reality Jesse?
UGH I'm tired. Sorry, I was signing up for National Novel-Writing Month and I got distracted xD
LittleAngelbun: Oh dear, I have a stalker. 0-0 And yes. The fam fluff is the best fluff.
RattlesnaketheSandWing: Well it isn't exactly subtle or anything xD
NoItsBecky: Heh, thanks!
angelwings: Pff nice xD
DemonCatLady: Haha xD nice. Well, probably not gonna happen, but maybe the memory chip's gonna get a little fuzzy.
Choco: Lol that was random xD I wanna see it when you're done xD
RapidSammi: That good or bad? xD
Toni42: Lol, you won't have too long to wait xD
Fruzsi3624: Hehehe xD
rebekahtpe: The wolves as well. I'd just throw some TNT at 'em while wearing armor and carrying tons of food.
x.X. A.L. X.x.
