Sorry, wrong chapter went up the first time. This is the proper one.

Final Votes: Pharoah's Dance 1

Back Trap 2 (3, if you count the last vote)

Original Order (Back Trap first) 1

So you'll be getting Back Trap today.

And a note to the awesome Guest who popped in asking me to please finish this... I plan to. But I'd rather do small updates on a regular schedule than give you a big update every few months. I'll go into more detail when I post the end of PitD, probably at the end of July/early August.

Predator in the Dunes

JOB 5: Back Trap

Khamen exits the back of the van at a run, balancing on the balls of his feet as he moves forward. His job begin point is mere steps away from the van, and by the time he's reached it, Bentley's already wheeled over to join him. "I do not need you to accompany me, chair-turtle," says Khamen. "Now that I know what awaits me, failure is not a possibility."

"Look, Khamen, whatever you might think you can do, there's problems occurring even you couldn't prepare for," says Bentley, adjusting his glasses. "You might be a Cooper, but there's a reason some moves in the Thievious Raccoonus aren't being used in our time."

"Mere words could never communicate all the subtleties of being taught firsthand." Khamen starts walking towards town without even glancing at Bentley. "While Sly may be my descendant, he acknowledged being self-taught. There are nuances of which he is unaware."

"Look, Khamen, I'm trying to save your life so you get descendants." Bentley wheels himself in front of Khamen, stopping the raccoon in his tracks. "Your father's specialty was the invisibility technique, right?"

"Of course—"

"It's useless against lasers," Bentley interrupts. "We've faced, and this guy has, technology that detects heat. Unless you can make yourself stone cold, some things will kill you, even when you're invisible."

Khamen growls under his breath. "And you can do that, turtle?"

"No," says Bentley. "But the devices I control can turn that stuff off. Which is why I'm coming with you."

Khamen snorts in irritation but continues forward. "Fine," he grumbles.

Loading screen! Loading loading loading, we're going to Khamen's hide-out on the outskirts of town, which has been partially destroyed by that giant fissure.

When the loading screen clears, Bentley and Khamen are inside one of the Egyptian houses; light comes from the gap in the roof where the fissure goes through. A stairway reveals a basement, which is also divided in half, with a Suspiciously Unsuspicious Bookcase on the opposite side. Khamen waits by the fissure, which is too far to jump across.

The player controls Bentley and explores the house. There's a large amount of debris around—fallen stone and bits of roof, pillars that support things that don't exist anymore... and, when the proper items are bombed, they fall into the basement and create a bridge across the fissure. Khamen leaps across it at once, Bentley following.

Khamen moves the bookcase to reveal a 'hidden' door... with laser security. "So," he says. "Are turtles capable of passing through such holes?"

"With my grapple-cam, I can get us past this barrier."

Yep. Bentley's got the grapple-cam. You know what this means, everyone: controlling a small item with extendable grappling hooks that can either A: hold the cam in place or B: attach to a far-off location and pull the camera along with it. Along with the gun, ability to cause distractions, and self-destruct button, of course.

All of which Bentley explains aloud, presumably for Khamen's benefit, as he navigates the camera through a gap in the lasers and down the stone staircase beyond. At the bottom of the staircase is a bright red button, which Bentley presses by putting his grapple-cam on it; the lasers turn off.

"Ah. I see I underestimated you," says Khamen.

Bentley exits the viewfinder and the two of them go down the stairs. Khamen uses one of his canes to unlock the door there, and they step through into...

...well.

Bentley, at least, has flashbacks to Prague. Swinging axes, spikes in the floors, swords thrusting from the walls at intervals, massive pits, giant rocks rolling down predetermined paths, spotlights, laser grids that move back and forth along select paths, guards on the rare locations that are safe... and there, at the very end, are Khamen's tools in a ceremonial case.

Khamen's grip on his canes tighten. "My security has been... reactivated, and repositioned. Without my tools, I cannot get through this."

"Hmmm." Bentley says. He wheels back and forth in front of the closest obstacle, careful not to trigger it. "Gimme a moment to think."

"Think, you say," says Khamen. "Think. It's not like a turtle can fly—"

"Wait a minute," says Bentley. "Khamen, can you—I don't think walking on ropes was a skill you'd know."

"It is not," says Khamen. "Do you mean merely to mock me?"

"How about climbing them?" asks Bentley.

"Of course I can climb them," says Khamen. "I can climb pipes, I can climb ropes... I can hook my canes over them to slide along or climb across them, hand over hand. Ropes are no challenge."

"Perfect," says Bentley. "I've got a plan. I'll get my grapple-cam to that chandelier," he says, pointing; unlit candles dangle from it. "Once it's up there, I'll extend the wire; you should be able to climb to its position. From there I'll locate another safe location, and a third, until you cross the room."

"And once I have my tools," Khamen says, "this room will be... of no concern. Are you certain you can do such a thing?"

"Don't doubt my skills with this, Khamen," says Bentley, already bringing up his virtual keyboard. "I may not have your athletic capabilities, but I am a god of technology."

"Do you not fear Anubis will take offense?"

"It's just an expression. Sheesh!"

And so begins some teamwork. The grapple-cam, of course, is familiar to anyone who's played games 3 or 4. Controlling Khamen as he moves along it, however, is trickier. For the first time this game, players are introduced to grabbing onto things with canes (and Khamen can strike out with the cane he's not using to slide) and climbing along ropes and wires and such (Khamen does so mainly with his legs, canes held tight in either hand). A few guards get shoved into pits along the way, since getting a clear shot that avoids all the traps and spotlights is a bit of a challenge.

At last, however, Khamen's reached the case. He pulls out his tool, which appears to be a length of chain he uses to connect his twin canes. "At last," he murmurs.

"All right, Khamen, you've got your tools," says Bentley. "Let's see what those things can do."

"Let's see," Khamen murmurs to himself. "In order to use my destabilizer, I need to approach a trap and press the circle button." He approaches the closest trap—triple swinging axes, for the record—in a crouched position, then, when he uses the device, uses one cane to whip the other in a circle through the air, wrapping around all three axes and making them... vanish, as though sucked into the cane. "Then, I can reposition the devices, and turn them on once more, by pressing triangle." There's an obvious spot meant to have swinging axes, with scrape marks on the ground, and Khamen walks over to that and presses the circle button; a swing of his other cane, and the axes are swinging merrily along over there, and the spikes along the next part of the path retreat.

"That's remarkable," says Bentley over their earpieces. "How did you create such a device?"

"I myself am skilled with technology, though I am only capable of altering one trap at a time," Khamen says, as he continues along the path to the next trap. "Alas, it does not seem to work on the items from your time; perhaps it is not yet advanced enough. And I cannot rid the world of problems set into the ground."

"You'll still need to time yourself to avoid the lasers and spotlights, though."

"That will be... a trifling thing," says Khamen, doing so.

Negotiating the path of death takes time, some careful jumping, a bit of climbing, and careful timing, but it's just one more job. They finish with ease.

"Khamen?" asks Bentley when they're done, and headed back up the stairway to Khamen's hideout.

"What is it?"

"Can I inspect your tools? I really want a set of those."

Khamen laughs quietly. "Only if you explain the design of your grapple-cam. While I understand you do not wish to tamper with time and give me technology, knowing its design could prove... useful, in the future."

JOB COMPLETE

Bentley gives himself a massage with some of his robotic arms; Khamen stands sideways to the camera, crossing his canes and looking stern