"I am a genius!" Jack exclaimed while he was waiting on Q to pick up his call.
"How is the situation Q?" He asked.
"The police showed up again, this time I had the entrance sealed. They talked about leaving this area alone… don't know if they meant it or if they are bluffing and want me to feel safe enough to come out, which isn't going to happen. Have you been making progress with reading the code?"
Jack grinned. "I indeed have. I have been reading through the code for some time now. Most things that we assumed are proven. The software establishes a direct connection to our brains, although I have no idea on the specifics, the exact processes seem to be in separate files in a machine-level language I have never seen before and can't make any sense of. As far as I could tell the software can read and write fairly extensively, though I only ever see it used for transferring sensory data and relaying instructions to your virtual body."
"Excellent. Anything else?" Q wanted to know.
Jack said: "Yes. I am certain now that we can't separate the code from Minecraft without the admins giving it to us. We might have to fall back to your original plan. I hoped that we could avoid that."
"That is not good. If we start killing them and the police gets us we all will be in jail for life, hell they might even make an exception and execute us. But if we stop now Fire knows where we live, especially where I live, he got to look at our data after all. We already crossed the line and now we need to keep going."
Jack sighed. "I guess you are right. I really hoped that we wouldn't have to do this. I'll tell you some more things I found in the code. Maybe that will help us find Fire."
Q answered: "Go ahead."
Jack explained: "I found a file with all kinds of objects scattered all around the map that may be able to help Fire remove us from the server. I don't know what they are, I don't know where they are and I don't even know how many there are, the file was very vague on that. They could be a key made from redstone, a gem shining in rainbow colors, anything really. There are a lot of them and only some may be relevant to Fire."
"And Fire is searching for those relevant objects." Q said.
"Exactly. Even if Fire is the only one who knows what those objects do, chances are that more people know about them. If we could extract information from somebody we could be one step ahead of Fire and prevent him from collecting those things. We even might collect them ourselves. Anything to avoid killing people."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I will inform everybody about what you found out. Bye." Q said and immediately hung up.
Jack looked at the code again. He knew what he had to look for but he didn't know where. He needed more information about those objects, it would be hard finding out where they were from the file because they were not stationary.
Jack thought to himself: "Somebody could just have picked up one of those without knowing what it actually is. If they serve any purpose besides removing us… at least one of them should be in a vault of a big town. Too bad I don't know where the big towns are."
Then he had an idea. Andreas and his brothers were on patrol duty most of the time, they knew their way around the map pretty well.
Jack opened his communication app and double clicked Andreas' name and hoped that he wasn't on the server.
He was in luck, Andreas picked up after thirty seconds.
"What's up?" He asked.
"Andy, I need your help." Jack said.
"It's about that broadcast message from Q we got a minute ago, right?"
"Yep. You need to inform me about the important locations on the server. I figured one of the objects might be there."
Andreas asked: "So, towns or general locations?"
Jack replied: "Towns."
"We've only been on the main continent but from what I have heard there isn't much along the lines of civilization overseas, mostly pirate dens or small settlements. For the main continent, first and foremost there is Rockhaven, it is something like the capital town of the server or at least a lot of the trade seems to converge there. Its walls are made from a material I have heard is called 'artificial bedrock' and it is protected by magical spells. I have only seen it from the outside but from what I have heard the king possesses an axe capable of splitting almost anything. If the name Threepeak Mountain tells you anything, that is near where it is."
"I know where that is, I ran a little search for mountains a bit ago, go on." Jack said.
Andreas continued: "Rockhaven is the only really fortified town I know of, the others are just large settlements. I'll tell you what the five biggest ones are. First there is Redwater, located by a large stream with the same name. Mostly a fishing town but I heard that they also brew potions there. Then there is Oakington. As the name suggests, it is in the middle of a forest, this town has specialized in cutting and manufacturing wood, they also tame and sell wolves."
"I will check those two out. Go on."
"Okay, next there is Drysprings, located at the edge of an unnamed mountainous desert, it is like a town from a wild west movie, complete with sheriff and saloon. They breed very fast and enduring horses there, they also produce weapons and armor from imported steel. Now, I don't know where the next town is, I have only heard stories about it. That town seems to be where most of the mined resources on the server come from, it is called Drandin."
Jack interrupted "That name is different from the others…"
"I know right, it doesn't say anything about the location of the town. Some say that it is high up in the mountains, some say it is in a hidden valley, others say that it is underground. The only other thing about that town is that not only a lot of the mined resources come from there but also a considerable part of the alcoholic beverages. They also seem to pretty much have the monopoly on diamond tools and armor. On that and on something that is called 'drandinian Heavybrew', some sort of alcohol I assume."
"I would bet that at least one of the objects Fire is after is something related to drinking or brewing…" Jack assumed and then asked: "What is the last town?"
"The last town is Treetop, it is in a jungle and consists of mostly treehouses. The people there are excellent hunters, there are also a lot of mages and enchanters there from what I have heard. I also heard that some of their constructions would be quite unsafe if it weren't for their magic."
Jack smiled and said: "Thanks for the info Andy. I can assume that your shift is over now? Just in case I need some more information."
"It is not exactly over but I can tell Jonathan to take the rest of my shift." Andreas replied.
"Thanks. I'll be looking at those towns now, one after the other. Bye and thanks."
"Actually, wait. I'll log onto the server right now and draw a map for you, just wait a few minutes and then log on, I think I'll be done drawing by then."
Jack thanked Andreas: "A map would help, see you soon on the server."
Before hanging up Andreas said: "No problem, see you."
Jack pushed his chair away from his desk and stood up. Before logging into the server again he quickly wanted to eat and drink some more, just in case. He walked into his kitchen and opened the fridge again. It was pretty empty since he never stockpiled food. There were just a few apples, some cheese, some milk and similar things. The thing he was looking for was a blue plastic bottle, which he found almost immediately. In the bottle was a mixture of different nutrients and water. He had prepared it for situations like this where he didn't have time to eat. He would be on the server for a long time.
He opened the full bottle and drank half the liquid inside, he shivered at the cold and the bad taste and put it back into the fridge and muttered: "Bah… disgusting."
Back in his computer room he logged into the server, he thought: "It is kind of creepy now that I somewhat know how it works, connecting my brain to software. Fortunately it is just Minecraft I am connecting to."
He woke up in his spawn bed, which he hadn't left since he died. He stood up and exited the room that had a good forty beds in it.
On the server Jack looked like a tall man with very short brown hair, grey eyes and pale skin. He was wearing a black business suit and a tie.
He now was in a hallway with wooden walls, he sprinted to the very end of it and opened the door to the processing building. The people there greeted him as soon as he entered.
A person sharpening an iron sword at a grindstone told him: "Andy told me to tell you that he is in Room 26."
"Thanks." Jack said and ran over to a hallway and then to said door.
On the inside he saw Andreas sitting on a wooden chair and hunched over a large piece of paper. Andreas was a short and thin man with short green hair and eyes. His skin was so pale, it was almost white. He was wearing wide red shirt and black sweatpants.
"Hey Jack!" Andreas greeted him. "The map is done."
"Thanks again for drawing it." Jack said.
Andreas answered: "No problem, take a look."
The map was very detailed, displaying the exact biome borders and important cities, everything that had a name was labeled accordingly.
"See, there is Drysprings… there is Oakington… there Rockhaven and here are Treetop and Redwater." Andreas explained and then continued: "But you with your appearance won't really have much success with asking the population, you will need to disguise."
"Disguise as what?" Jack asked, a little surprised.
Andreas replied: "Merchant, warrior, farmer, explorer, hunter… Whatever you want. We have a whole cabinet of clothes and equipment we found. Or stole for that matter."
"I didn't know that. Where?"
"Room 34. Take the map and we'll go there."
Andreas stood up from his wooden chair and went out of the door. Room 34 was in fact only a few doors further down the corridor.
Andreas opened the door and said: "You go first, the light switch is to the right."
Jack nodded and entered the room, he couldn't see much in the light that came in from the door. He turned right and flipped the light switch, he heard an electric crackle caused by the redstone in the wall, the lamps on the ceiling turned on one after another. What he saw impressed him. Dozens of mannequins wearing different clothes, ranging from solid iron plate armor over light and ragged travelers' clothes up to wide black mage robes.
"That is impressive, I never knew we were hoarding this here." Jack said in admiration
"Well, officially we aren't, it was Jonathan's idea to collect clothes, in the end it came in very handy. When you are disguised nobody knows you are one of us."
Jack smirked: "Right. Now for the difficult part. Who will I be?"