Act V: Concerning The Other Seven
Chapter Forty-Six: First Entry
Theo Gibbons still felt high when he woke up, Sunday afternoon. It had been his very first time smoking, after all, so it was only natural for him to feel an 'afterglow', if you will, to the effects of the marijuana, which had long since worn off.
He could see why his friends enjoyed smoking, now, though he would be lying if he said he enjoyed it as much as the others did. Not to say that he didn't have a fun time—last night had been one of the best nights he'd had in a while—but the feeling that he got from marijuana was a bit too manic for his taste. That, and it didn't exactly mix well with his asthma. His chest had gotten really tight, last night, prompting him to abstain from smoking any further and get some sleep.
Speaking of which…
Theo retrieved one of his inhalers from his backpack. He had two different kinds of inhalers—one of them had a preventative drug that would, true to its name, help prevent asthma symptoms from arising. The other had a relief drug that would be taken to—you guessed it—relieve symptoms in the middle of an attack. Right now, Theo took the former.
After taking a puff from his inhaler, Theo shook the last of the weariness from his body. He also felt kind of sore—he'd passed out on a stone floor, after all. He wasn't too bent out of shape over it, though, because while the Frog Temple was lacking a little in the 'comfortable floor' department, it was incredibly warm inside; warmer, even, than Cruz's house.
Theo wondered for a moment where the others had gotten to, but only for a moment. When he'd passed out, the others had all been sitting in a circle in front of the giant, glowing purple lotus flower that dominated the center of the Frog Temple's upper chamber. Now, they had simply migrated into the entrance hall, sitting just far enough inside so that they wouldn't get wet from the downpour outside. Cruz was passing a joint over to Gwen, and Tami was lazily improvising a tune on her ukulele.
"April showers…" Theo murmured to himself, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the daylight, watching the thundershowers outside.
"Hey, hey, fellas! Fuckin' Sleeping Beauty's awake!" Gino was the first one to notice Theo's arrival.
"Welcome back to the land of the waking, amigo!" Cruz grinned, smoke seeping from his mouth and nose as he spoke. "Care to join?"
"Naw, man, I'm good for today," Theo chuckled, easing himself into the circle. "I'm still feeling it."
"You sure?" Cruz got the joint back from Gwen, holding it out enticingly to Theo. "Senor Joint would love to make a new friend; he's very social like that!"
"C'mon, Cruz, you been smokin' so long you've forgotten how it feels your first time." Gwen plucked the joint from Cruz's hand, passing it over to Gino. "Theo's still feeling an afterglow!"
"He's feeling karma," Adam grunted when the joint was passed to him. He took a moderate hit, exhaling the smoke towards the ceiling. "He passed out like a fucking baby because he stole my phone."
"Jesus Christ, Adam, will you drop it?" Tami lowered her ukulele after strumming a very discordant note. "We all know you never would've had the balls to ask Cass out yourself; you should be thanking Theo in every language you know. Then learn a couple new languages so you can thank him some more."
Adam lapsed back into silence. Tami returned to her ukulele, giving Theo a surreptitious wink. Theo decided to remain silent—Adam was his best friend, but Theo knew him well enough to know that when he got into one of his moods, it was best to just let him steam until he cooled off. Adam wasn't actually pissed off that Theo had stolen his phone and asked Cass Galavis out for him…he just loathed surprises. And that had been quite a surprise.
The day was beginning to draw into the evening when people made their way from the Frog Temple back to Cruz's house and started to leave. After that last joint, the others abstained from smoking any more—with the exception of Cruz, of course. Cruz was smoking almost every time Theo saw him, so that was nothing new. But almost everyone else had to drive home, so they wanted to sober up a bit before hitting the road.
Gino and Gwen had both driven to Cruz's, and they took off in their respective cars by six o'clock. Tami was staying over at Cruz's until Monday—they both went to Downingtown West, so she would just hitch a ride to school with Cruz and go home from there. Theo didn't know what they'd be doing tonight, but at the same time he didn't really want to know. Probably something involving some kind of hallucinogenic drug.
After saying goodbye to Cruz—who gave Theo a long, heartfelt hug; proud of him for finally popping his weed cherry—Theo packed up all his stuff into his backpack and headed outside with Adam, who was his ride home.
"See you next weekend, man?" Cruz asked Adam as he said goodbye. "Tami and I were thinking 'bout visiting Philly, Friday night. You in?"
"Should be able to," Adam replied. "Just, uh… I mean, I'll have to tell my Sis that I'll just be chilling here for the weekend; no way in hell she'd let me go to the city. Other than that, I'm down."
"Far out, man!" Cruz grinned, stepping back into his house. "See you then!"
"Later Cruz," Theo waved goodbye.
"Bye, you dirty hippie!" Adam chuckled, producing his car keys and unlocking Little Blue. Theo climbed into the passenger seat while Adam started the car. It was still raining pretty hard, and the evening had gotten kind of chilly, so Adam turned on the heated seats and got the windshield wipers running. He flicked on the headlights and pulled into Cruz's driveway, heading out onto the back roads. He drove slowly—the roads back in the woods could get treacherous in the rain.
"I'm still pissed you took my phone and pulled that shit," Adam said to Theo as he neared the onramp to the Route 30 bypass, putting on his turn signal. "But, uh… Well, I guess Tami had a point. And I do have a date with Cass, now, because of it, so…uh… Thanks. Thank you. For doing that. Yeah."
Theo watched his best friend try to say something heartfelt for a change, trying really hard not to regress into laughter. "Try not to get a hernia, there," he snickered. "I know letting other people see that you have emotions causes you physical pain, dude; take it easy!"
Adam let a faint smile reach his face. "See, this is why we're friends."
The two friends didn't say much as Little Blue cruised down the bypass. Adam hit the radio and turned it to station 89.3; it was a station that was broadcast from Temple University, and it would play jazz after six o'clock PM. Jazz, Theo found, was a kind of music that went well with just about anything. Especially rain.
It wasn't until Adam got off the bypass and onto Route 113 that he broke the near-silence once more. "So… Do you think she likes me? Cass, I mean."
"Thanks for specifying; I thought you were talking about Natalie Portman," Theo remarked dryly.
Adam rolled his eyes. "Natalie Portman, yeah. You hear she got a Golden Globe for Best Leading Actress in Go Fuck Yourself? C'mon, I'm being serious."
"What, I can't be the sarcastic asshole just once?"
"No, that's my thing." Adam shook his head. "You're the nice one; that's your thing."
"Well, then being dumb must be your thing too, because that's a dumb question!" Theo maintained. "God only knows what Cass sees in you, but she wouldn't have freaking agreed to go out with you if she didn't like you!"
"Girls don't like people the way guys do, bro; it's not so cut-and-dry!" Adam protested, determined not to be bested in this particular verbal duel by his friend. "They think the hell out of it! Okay, maybe I should've worded myself better—I wasn't expecting you to act like me! But…seriously. Does she, like… I mean, I know for a fact she doesn't wanna go out with me 'cuz she thinks I'm hot—because, let's be honest, I'm not. People always think I'm fucking cute, not hot. And even if I was hot, that's not something Cass would go for; she's not that kind of person. So does she think I'm, what…cool? Interesting? Is it because she thinks I'm funny, or something?"
I guess girls aren't the only ones who overthink things, Theo thought to himself. He didn't say this out loud, though. Instead, to Adam, he said, "Why don't you go on a date with her…and find out yourself?"
Adam released a low, grumbly sigh. "Have I ever mentioned how much I'd love to slap you, right now?"
"Nope, you've been mum on that."
"Well, it's okay, 'cuz I'm not going to. You're lucky I'm the nice one."
Theo allowed himself a small chuckle, lapsing back into silence. Sure, Adam usually won their verbal jousts, but Theo had the monopoly on physical strength. More often than not, Theo would grow tired of Adam's constant ability to come up with a withering comeback, and he'd end the argument by putting his best friend in a headlock until he cried uncle. Unfortunately, Adam was driving at the moment, so there was a limit on the number of things Theo could do.
By quarter of seven, Adam was turning into Liongate—the community where Theo lived. There were two entrances; the road that ran through Liongate looped back around and returned to Route 113. And throughout this loop were various turnoffs that led to all the myriad parking lots, where the residents would park their cars.
Adam dropped Theo off at the community building. "You sure you don't want me to drop you off at your parking lot?" Adam asked his friend. "It's raining pretty hard, dude; it's no trouble."
"Naw, dude, I'm good." Theo shrugged on his backpack and opened the passenger door, stepping outside into the rain. "It's just water; it ain't gonna kill me!"
"Okay… See you tomorrow, then."
"Yep, see you eighth period! And let me know when you get Sburb in the mail; I'm dying to play it with you."
"Yeah, will do. And again, dude… Thanks."
Theo closed the passenger door and stepped back, watching Adam drive off into the rain. Then he pulled the hood of his jacket over his head and started making his way into the parking lot which his house was on. The homes in Liongate consisted of row homes, not apartments—several smaller, separate houses within a larger superstructure. Theo's house was at the end of one of these row homes, so he had he bonus of having windows on three sides, as opposed to only two.
Theo stopped at the mailbox before going inside. He wasn't expecting to find anything—it was usually just junk mail, random magazines, bills for his Gran, etc. Not today, though. Today, he found a thick, nondescript brown envelope that had his name on it. He had a feeling what was inside, but was still somewhat apprehensive—it wasn't supposed to arrive until Monday, tomorrow.
Theo took the mail inside and laid it out on the coffee table. "Hey, Gran, I'm home!" he called out. "Gran?"
"Boy, shut your mouth!" A reply was shouted down from upstairs, muffled by the floor. "I'm tryin' to sleep, up here!"
"Love you too, Gran!"
"Uh-huh!"
Theo tore open the envelope and, lo and behold, out came two computer game discs. There was one disc for the server application, and another for the client. Sburb had finally arrived.
Theo could barely contain his excitement. He almost cheered at the top of his lungs before remembering that his Gran was trying to sleep, so he contained himself at the last possible instant, resulting in a noise that sounded like a strained squeak. He took the two discs and went straight up to his room on the second floor.
He had a small bed against the opposite wall. Next to the door, just on the left, was his computer desk. He also used that desk to do homework—when he wasn't rapidly finishing his homework in the class before it was due, that is. But the desk's primary use was simply a resting surface for Theo's computer, as well as his large Subject Delta figurine—a result of his Bioshock phase. Subject Delta was a Big Daddy, as well as the protagonist of Bioshock 2—which wasn't going to come out until February of next year, but Theo's Gran had managed to somehow find a figurine that had been made before the game's release. Part of the marketing campaign, Theo guessed.
Theo knew a tiny bit about Sburb—the result of Skaianet's first foray into the realm of gaming—but not anything useful. He didn't even really know what kind of game it could be considered to be, other than sandbox-style. There'd been nothing like it, before…and there would probably be nothing like it again. Theo could only hope that there was a single player mode, or something, because he knew for a fact that Adam wouldn't be getting it until tomorrow.
Theo looked at the server and client discs, unsure of which one he should choose. Ultimately, he decided to use the client disc—he didn't want to host anything, he just wanted to find a dedicated server, or whatever, and play. At least learn the basics of the game, so that he'd know what he was doing when he finally was able to play with Adam.
When he inserted the client disc, the computer screen turned black for a few moments. Then a small window appeared, with italicized text showing up as if it were being typed by an artificial intelligence.
SBURB version 0.0.1
SKAIANET SYSTEMS INCORPORATED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
SBURB client is running.
Searching for host…
There weren't any other options, so it looked like there wasn't any single player. There also didn't seem to be anyone else in the area who had the game, yet, because Theo wasn't able to connect with any hosts. Then, as he was beginning to lose hope, the black loading screen was automatically minimized, and he noticed a flashing icon in the bottom corner of his screen. It was PalHassle…
-gamblingTheorist began hassling turbulentGamer at 19:16-
GT: Hey, Theo
GT: You got the new Skaianet game, didn't you
TG: Hi Gwen
TG: Yeah I just got it from the mail a couple minutes ago
TG: Wasn't supposed to come until tomorrow
TG: But hey no complaints right
GT: Okay, awesome
GT: Because I got it in the mail when I got home, too
GT: I loaded the server disc, and I've only been able to find one other client, and I'm pretty sure it's you
TG: You're probably right
TG: Give it a go
TG: If it's me can I call you
TG: I mean PalHassle is gonna get real annoying real fast if I have to keep minimizing the game every time we chat
GT: Yeah, I was thinking the same thing
TG: Aight awesome
TG: You can go ahead and connect
-gamblingTheorist is no longer hassling turbulentGamer-
Theo pulled the game back up, looked at the window. For a few seconds there was no change, but then…
A SBURB host user is attempting to connect with you.
Client has established connection with host.
Press [ENTER] when ready.
Theo gave a wide grin. "Alright…let's see where this goes." He pressed enter.
Then chaos ensued. Well, chaos on the computer screen—it's not like it pressing enter ended the world, or anything. The black screen turned white, and a green loading bar appeared in the bottom. Then a trippy, geometric pattern of curved lines that looked like they'd been drawn with a spirograph appeared. The background began to change colors, too, constantly shifting and flashing. It reminded Theo of a kaleidoscope, in a way. Lot of colors, lots of patterns, lots of headaches.
Finally, after an incredibly flashy and elaborate loading sequence, the progress bar reached one-hundred-percent. The loading screen went away, and the client application closed, returning to the computer desktop. Theo frowned, searching for an icon, but he wasn't able to find one. He was about to access the computer's hard drive to search for the application file, so he could start it manually, when he was interrupted by his phone vibrating.
Theo picked up his phone and answered it. "Hi, Gwen!"
"Hey, Theo," Gwen answered. "You connected?"
"Yeah, uh… It went through, but I don't know what to do next," Theo said. "The loading screen exited out, but there's nothing else happening, and I can't find where the application file was downloaded onto the computer."
"You don't need to do anything, yet," Gwen informed Theo. "I checked out a couple walkthroughs, and…well, it's hard for me to explain, but I kinda just know what to do. Follow my lead…"
What happened next was almost enough to convince Theo that the weed he'd smoked last night had been laced with some sort of long-lasting hallucinogenic substance. That was the only explanation he could come up with when his room suddenly doubled in size. Everything was normal, and then, all of a sudden… BOOM! The wall of Theo's room that faced outside the house was suddenly dragged, all by itself, out far enough to double the length of the room. The floor and ceiling followed accordingly.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" Theo shouted, nearly dropping his phone in shock. "What the…room…fucking… My fucking walls just… What the fuck!"
"Relax, dude!" Gwen tried to calm Theo down. "It's just the revise tool. I'm gonna be dropping some machines in, and your room's too damn small!"
Theo did not calm down, however. He kept on shouting until he felt the familiar tightness grip his chest. Panic started to worm its way into his mind as he found he was unable to breathe. He set down his phone and quickly rifled through the pockets of his jacket, whipping out his inhaler. He brought it to his lips and breathed in the relief drug—to Theo, it kind of tasted a little bit like eraser.
Bottom line, inhalers tasted like shit.
Immediately, the tightness in Theo's chest abated, and he was able to take full breaths once again. If his asthma were ever to have a silver lining, it would be that after relieving an attack, his head would always be really clear. The shock of watching his room suddenly, magically double in size had worn off, and he was able to talk to Gwen, again.
"Okay, I'm back… Sorry, my asthma started acting up," Theo apologized, holding his phone back up to his ear. "Any more surprises I should know about?"
"Uh… Yeah, I'm gonna drop a couple things into your room. They're probably just gonna appear out of thin air, so watch your head."
The next few minutes were a blur. There were three large machines that popped into existence, floated through the walls and ceiling and coming to a rest in the newly-extended portion of Theo's room. Gwen then paused after setting down the machines, saying that the extended part of the room needed supports to keep it from collapsing.
Cruxtruder, Totem Lathe, and Alchemiter. Those were the names of the three machines that Gwen deployed into Theo's room, as well as the order in which they were supposed to be used. In addition to the machines, Gwen had also produced a captchalogue card that had some sort of pattern punched into it, and Theo had picked it up and set it onto the cruxtruder.
"Okay, uh…cruxtruder," Theo inspected the first machine, rapping his knuckles on the large, cylindrical object in several places, examining the epicycloid pattern stenciled on the very top. "What am I s'posed to do with this thing?"
"Uh…" For once, Gwen finally sounded at a loss. "I just know you're supposed to get a cruxite dowel from it. You take the cruxite dowel to the lathe, and use the pre-punched card to make the lathe carve the correct pattern into the dowel—almost like the grooves of a key. Then you take the carved dowel to the alchemiter to create a cruxite artifact."
"Yeah, sounds interesting. But how do I get the…the, uh…whatever it was?"
"I'm really not sure…"
"Okay, why don't we figure that out…then I think I'll head to bed for a bit; I'm pooped."
"It's a deal—I've had enough of this crazy shit for one night!"
After engaging in some extensive research, digging through the nooks and crannies of the internet to find other player walkthroughs to the game… It was growing close to two in the morning. Theo had been at it for over six hours, much to his surprise. This always happened when he gamed—time seemed to fly right past. He was impressed that Gwen was still playing, as well. When he saw her again, it would be with a newfound respect; he hadn't known Gwen enjoyed gaming so much.
Theo stifled a yawn as he pounded his fists onto the top of the cruxtruder. Gwen had suggested that, to open the contraption, he would have to apply pressure to the top of it. Whack it with something heavy. Theo tried pounding on it with his fists, but that didn't work. He could feel a bit of a give in the top of the machine, but it wasn't enough. So next, he tried climbing on top of it and jumping up and down…but that didn't work, either.
Giving up, Theo hopped off the cruxtruder. He'd set his phone to speaker, so he didn't have to keep it practically attached to his ear for hours on end. "Jumping on it ain't workin', Gwen," he said to his friend. "I'm out of ideas. Unless you can pick up something with your magic server application powers and drop it on top, I don't know how to get it open."
"Uh… I think I have an idea," Gwen murmured. "How heavy of a sleeper is your Grandma? This could get loud."
Theo checked the time. It was 1:53 AM. It was now the Thirteenth of April. "I think we're fine…" he surmised. "She goes to bed by eight, and once she really goes to sleep it'd probably take a cannon going off next to her ear to wake her up."
"Okay, I'll take your word for it. You might want to take a step back…"
Theo backpedaled as he watched the cruxtruder suddenly rise into the air. Gwen, when she'd first pulled something like that, had told Theo that she was using something called the 'select' tool. She could 'select' things within a certain proximity of Theo's house and move them around, almost like the Sims…only the objects she was moving around were real objects, in the real world.
And so, Gwen 'selected' the cruxtruder and brought it crashing up into the ceiling. Theo's eyes almost widened to twice their size. The top of the cruxtruder actually punched a hole through the ceiling. "What the fuck, Gwen?" Theo shouted into his phone. "You just knocked a hole in the ceiling! Gran's gonna kill me!"
"Fuck, sorry!"
Despite the damage done to the ceiling, though, Gwen's method had worked. The top of the cruxtruder popped off, thudding to the floor as Gwen set the cruxtruder back down. The four dark, blank panels set into the base of the cruxtruder on all sides lit up, displaying a countdown. The countdown was in the style of a stopwatch, rather than a numerical countdown—right now, it was at six minutes and twenty-three seconds.
When the top of the cruxtruder came off, an orb of bright, flashing blue light emerged, hovering in the air. Theo could only stare at it, his jaw nearly hanging slack. "Uh… Gwen? Gwen, why is there a ball of flashing light in my bedroom? Are you seeing this?"
"Yeah, I'm seeing it… Um… I think that's the kernelsprite," Gwen replied.
Theo arched an eyebrow at his phone, as if he thought Gwen could see his expression through the speakers. Then he remembered that Gwen actually could see him through the server application. "You say that like you think I'll know what it means."
"I found some reference to it on IGN," Gwen explained. "It plays a big part in this game, though I'm not exactly sure what that part is. The walkthroughs mention something about prototyping it; I'm pretty sure that means you're supposed to combine it with something."
"How do you know that?"
"I, uh… I don't know. Call it a good feeling. Intuition."
"Okay, let's pretend that you actually know what you're talking about, then." Theo forced himself to look away from the blue kernelsprite, returning to his desk. "You say I'm supposed to combine it with something. Cool beans. How would I do that? You think I should touch it?"
"No!" Gwen snapped, raising her voice all of a sudden, causing Theo to jump in surprise. Then Gwen spoke again, having calmed down and softened her tone. "Sorry for yelling… Don't ask why, I just don't think touching it is the best idea. Not until we know what it does… What about your Bioshock figurine? See what happens if you combine the kernelsprite with the Big Daddy."
"Okay…" Theo picked up his Big Daddy figurine, turning back to face the kernelsprite, approaching the flashing ball of blue light cautiously, as if he were a zoo worker feeding tigers. He then hesitated. "I really like this Big Daddy, though. Will I get it back?"
"I don't see why you wouldn't."
"Well, if you say so…" Theo got as close to the glowing blue orb of flashing light as he dared before tossing the Big Daddy figurine into it. The orb turned white for a moment, and there was a blinding flash of light…
And then the light subsided, revealing a significantly altered kernelsprite. It was no longer an orb of flashing blue light—it was now a disembodied, old-fashioned diving helmet; identical to the one Subject Delta was wearing, with the glass windows in the front, sides, and top. It was still composed of blue light, however; Theo wondered if there was a head inside that helmet.
"Uh…" Theo blinked several times. The Subject Delta-sprite had stopped flitting about the room as it had been upon its release from the cruxtruder, and it now remained perfectly still. It looked as if it were looking at Theo, though it did not speak. "Gwen, you still seein' this? Is this what's supposed to happen?"
"I guess so," Gwen answered hesitantly over the phone. "I mean, it's not like I've played this game, before; I'm just going off of intuition and guessing!"
"What's a kernelsprite supposed to do?" Theo asked. "Does this game need a flashing light-creature thing for me to win?"
"Your sprite is supposed to act as some sort of guide, I think. I'm not exactly sure how it'll do that, though…" Gwen's voice started to trail off. "Unless it's talking to you and I'm missing it?"
"Nope, you aren't missing a thing," Theo confirmed. Another thought occurred to him, then, something he'd noticed when the cruxtruder had opened, but had forgotten in the surprise of having an entity of pulsing blue light nearly being shoved into his face. "Uh… Well, forget Deltasprite for now; what's the story with this countdown on the sides of the cruxtruder? When I opened it, it was counting down from six minutes…now it's at three minutes and twenty seconds. You know what happens when it hits zero?"
"It's weird; none of the walkthroughs I've read have gotten that far," Gwen observed. "Everyone who was writing them just kinda…stopped updating them before the countdown finished."
Theo was silent for a few seconds, ignoring Deltasprite and staring at the three machines that had been deployed in his room. "Cruxtruder, Totem Lathe, Alchemiter…" he murmured quietly to himself, as if saying the names of the machines would help him figure out what they were supposed to do.
And, much to Theo's surprise…it actually did help. He'd said them in the order they were supposed to be used. And that'd gotten the wheels in his head turning. He looked at the countdown on the cruxtruder as it reached the three-minute mark. Then he raised his gaze up to the central platform of the machine, which the upper cylindrical portion of it rose from. It was where he'd left the pre-punched captchalogue card that Gwen had deployed for him. That card was the key…one of two keys. And the other key…
Theo stepped forward, brushing past Deltasprite—who continued to watch Theo passively—and stepping up to the cruxtruder. He reached up to the top of the machine and pulled out the medium-sized dowel of blue...cruxite, he thought Gwen had called it? He pulled the cruxite dowel from the top of the cruxtruder, taken aback by how weightless it felt. He then picked up the pre-punched card, holding both objects in his hands. After looking over at the totem lathe, a possible answer came to mind.
"What if it's like a puzzle?" Theo suggested. When Gwen didn't answer, Theo knew that she was interested in his idea and wanted him to continue. So he did just that. "You deploy these three machines, and then this captchalogue card. Maybe I'm supposed to create that, uh…that thing you mentioned, what was it called?"
"The cruxite artifact."
"Yeah, maybe I need to create the cruxite artifact before the countdown hits zero, and then…" Theo blinked again, trying to convey his thoughts into words. "I dunno if it'll unlock something, or whatever… But I think if I can do it before the countdown hits zero, then maybe it'll be like beating the first level of the game. Then I'll be able to move to level two! Maybe there'll be more machines—another puzzle, more complicated than this one."
There was silence on the other end of the phone for another few moments. Then, "Sounds… Well, it's the first real idea we've had, so I'll roll with it," Gwen reasoned with herself. "Okay… Okay. I can see a slot in the totem lathe where the pre-punched card can be inserted. The punched holes in the card are obviously some sort of code—I think the lathe's job is to transfer that code from the card onto the cruxite dowel. The dowel has to be carved in a specific way to correspond with the card."
"Sounds reasonable," Theo agreed. Glancing again at the countdown, he decided to give it a go. He set the card down on the surface of the lathe, then laid the cruxite dowel horizontally down into the machine, tightening the vice so that it was held in place. He then took the pre-punched card and slipped it into the slot.
The effect was immediate. The totem lathe seemed to scan the punched captchalogue card, and the cruxite dowel started to spin around on its central axis. It spun faster and faster, until it was almost a blur. Then the carving tool was lowered, and Theo barely had time to blink before it shaped the dowel and was retracted. The dowel stopped spinning…and Theo saw that its sides had been warped, almost like the grooves of a key.
Theo removed the dowel from the lathe, conscious of the fact that the countdown had reached a minute and a half. He needed to step things up if he wanted to solve the puzzle. "Okay, the cruxite dowel is all carved up… Where should I put it on the alchemiter?"
"Put it on the smaller pedestal," Gwen recommended. "I think that mechanical arm attached to the smaller pedestal is the thing that scans the dowel."
"Then what's the big pedestal do?"
"Dunno." Theo could see Gwen shrugging in his mind's eye. He could tell that there was a mote of excitement that had crept into her voice—now that progress was being made, she couldn't wait to see what would happen next. "Let's scan the dowel and see."
Theo placed the dowel on the smaller pedestal of the alchemiter, figuring correctly that he should set it down on one of its flat ends. When he did that, the mechanical arm that was connected to that pedestal came to life, unfolding and displaying some sort of laser where the 'hand' should have been. That laser was shined directly onto the carved dowel, scanning it up and down several times, noting the pattern of the grooves.
Theo was ready for something to happen, which was why he didn't jump at the flash of light that happened over the larger pedestal. And when the light cleared away…
"Gwen?" Theo raised his eyebrows again. "It's a turkey. This dowel just created a turkey."
Theo was right on the nose in terms of accuracy. A turkey had materialized on the larger pedestal. It wasn't a normal turkey, however—it was completely blue, the same color as the dowel, and slightly transparent. It looked like it was made of energy. It clacked around the larger pedestal several times, its head flitting to and fro. Then it caught sight of Theo, gave a single gobble…and vanished.
Well, most of it had vanished. The cruxite turkey had left a single part of itself behind on the platform—its furcula. It was a small bone found in birds that was formed by the fusion of their two clavicles; most people, however, called them wishbones.
"Is…is this it?" Theo picked up the blue cruxite wishbone, holding it up to the light. It felt like a real bone, even though it was made of cruxite. Other than its color and origin, there was nothing particularly special about it. "Is this the cruxite artifact?"
"I mean…it has to be," Gwen was at as much of a loss as Theo was. "Can't be anything else. Interesting how it didn't just appear on its own—an entire turkey had to appear first. I like the detail. I wonder what mine will be…"
"That's right." Theo grinned. "After this, it'll be your turn. You'll fly through it, though, knowin' you."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves! Make sure you're all done, first."
Theo's attention was suddenly turned to the window over his bed. He'd just heard a loud explosion. It had been distant, so it wasn't like a bomb going off in the parking lot, or anything…but still. It had been an explosion—distant, but still loud and large enough to be heard from far away. Theo hurried over to his window, pulling up the blinds.
He couldn't see outside, though, because of all the rain streaking down the outside of the glass. So he had to open his window. The wind was blowing away from that window, luckily, so Theo didn't have to deal with the whole damn thundershower coming into his room.
"Gwen, did you hear that just now?" Theo asked his friend over the speakerphone.
"Good, I'm not the only one," Gwen replied. "That sure as fuck didn't sound like thunder; I'd wager money that it wasn't thunder. Sounded more like an explosion."
"Yeah, I'm lookin' outside now, and—fuck!" Theo broke off abruptly when he saw a streak of fire spear through the veil of storm clouds in the far distance, shooting down towards the earth and out of sight. There was another muted explosion, exactly like the one Theo had heard before, only a bit quieter.
Had a meteorite just made impact? Was that really the cause of the loud explosions? "Gwen, I just saw a meteorite make landfall," Theo reported to his friend. "You looking out the window?"
"Yeah, I saw it, too…" Gwen sounded uneasy. "Something feels wrong, Theo. I don't like it. Are you all finished?"
Theo looked back at the cruxtruder and swore to himself. The countdown had just hit thirty seconds. "The countdown's still running; the puzzle isn't solved, yet! Fuck, what am I supposed to do?"
"Your cruxite artifact is the key," Gwen replied. "It's a wishbone. Maybe you should break it!"
Theo looked down at the blue cruxite wishbone that he held in his hands. Having no other ideas, he decided to simply follow Gwen's suggestion and go for it. I wish we can win this game, Theo thought to himself, figuring he should use the wishbone properly and make a wish before breaking it. Sure, the 'proper' use of a wishbone required two people, but Theo was willing to overlook that.
"Okay, here goes nothing!" Theo exclaimed. Then, as the countdown reached eight seconds, Theo broke the wishbone.
At first, there wasn't any obvious effect. But then, Theo noticed that there was a subdued blue light glowing outside of his windows, and he could no longer hear the storm. He ran over to his opened window and thrust his head and shoulders out, trying to see what was going on…but all he could see beyond the blue aura was darkness.
"Gwen! Gwen, I broke it, and there's this weird light around my house," Theo spoke rapidly into his phone, retrieving it from his nightstand. "What the hell is happening? Gwen? Hello?" There was no answer. Theo looked at his phone. "No signal…" he murmured.
The countdown on the cruxtruder had vanished, the panels going dark once more. When Theo looked up from his phone, he noticed that the blue light had vanished. He could now see outside. Theo returned to the window and looked out. The sky was gray and hazy with a thick veil of mist. He could not see the sun, and everything had been cast into shadow.
As for below the sky… "I don't think we're in Kansas, anymore, Deltasprite…" Theo murmured. He'd been talking mostly to himself, so he was surprised when he actually got an answer.
"You never were in Kansas, Theo Gibbons."
Theo whipped around and nearly had another asthma attack. Floating in the middle of his room was Deltasprite…but it had changed. It was no longer a disembodied diving helmet contained within an orb of light—now, it actually looked like a slightly smaller than life-sized Subject Delta, made out of the same blue energy…only it had no legs. Instead of legs, the sprite's lower body trailed off into a wisp of insubstantial energy, like a ghost.
"Though if you had been in Kansas, then you would be correct," Deltasprite continued. "Your house has been transported into the Medium."
"You…you're…" Theo fought to get the words out of his mouth. "Deltasprite, you're talking!"
"Of course I'm talking!" Deltasprite replied. "Now that I don't have all that kernel bullshit cluttering up my mind, we can get down to business. Welcome to the Land of Fog and Shadow! First thing's first—we need to create a way to access your roof."