Disclaimer: I don't own Minesweeper.
Sorry for the long wait; I was busy with school and my other fics.
SUNGLASSES: Chapter Four
They probably wouldn't be able to find him here. Smiley #936 had never gone so far from the Smiley Kingdom before in his life. Already the white cubic passages were widening slightly, and the place was getting brighter. He figured he could afford a short rest.
#936 wondered what was going on in his absence. They probably wouldn't have sent #1121 to play The Game since he hadn't acknowledged the lottery results yet. If anything, the Smileys were sticklers for rules. If the rules said they should die, they probably would do so, and willingly too, #936 thought bitterly.
So what had happened, then? Were the other Smileys just staying put, not knowing what to do now that something as unexpected as #936's departure had happened? Sooner or later, the flags would have to give up. At least, that's what he hoped. He couldn't run forever.
Ahead of him, the passage turned to the left into another, perpendicular to the first. #936 thought he detected a slight drought coming from that direction, as though there was some open space up ahead. Perhaps he had come to the end of his journey… wherever that was.
Smiley #936 speeded up and whizzed around the corner, and then he suddenly found himself in a vast room, so huge that the corridor leading out at the other end seemed only a small dark speck against the complete whiteness of everything else. The room was just one large, white cube, and #936 looked around in awe as he rolled in. For the first time in a long while, he felt strangely at peace.
"Hello?" he asked, and his voice echoed off the four walls, floor and ceiling after several seconds.
There was something moving out of the corridor nearest to his, and as it got closer, #936 saw that it was a Smiley – one somehow different from the rest in a way he couldn't quite place.
"Hello, #936," the Smiley said in a lilting, musical voice. "We've been expecting you."
"What… where is this place? Who are you?"
The other Smiley smiled. "I'm one of the Elite," she said. "I used to be known as #172, back in the days when I still played The Game. Welcome to the Upper Realms, #936."
"The Upper Realms…" #936 whispered in reverence. "You knew I was coming?"
#172 did the Smiley version of a nod. "We've been watching you from here," she continued, leading the Smiley King down the corridor she had come from. The walls here weren't as glaring as the others had been. "We all agree that that was a brave thing you did back there. However, you needn't have worried. #62, the Head Elite, is quite fond of #1121. He wouldn't have let him die. He'd probably have let him join us, too."
A sudden realisation hit #936, and he stopped moving, turning to face #172.
"Is there a problem?" she asked.
"You mean you can control who enters the Upper Realms?"
"But of course," #172 answered with a gentle smile. "From here, we can see all the mines in The Room. We can also change their positions accordingly if we want to, though most of the time we leave them alone."
"You could save all the Smileys then! None of us would have to die!"
#172 raised an eyebrow. "What's the point in that? If everyone who plays The Game wins, there would be no more suspense; there would be no more purpose. There would be, essentially, no Game. There always has to be losers as well as winners, because only then can the winners feel good about winning."
There was something very wrong about all this, #936 thought, the peace he had felt earlier all gone. He thought of all the young Smileys he knew, of how each of them dreamed of becoming one of the Elite and entering the Upper Realms… what if they knew the real truth behind it? "And who decides who lives and who dies?"
"The Head Elite, of course," #172 replied, as though that were the most obvious thing in the world. "With all due respect to you, it is actually him, and not the kings and queens who really control what goes on here. That's why it's always important to make sure he is happy. Who knows what he may do if he's not? I was lucky to have known him in the early days. If not, I wouldn't be here now."
"But… that's not…"
"Fair?" #192 continued for him with a condescending smile, as though #936 were a young child.
936 nodded numbly.
#172 sighed and started walking again. "Nothing is fair, #936. You should have learnt that by now. Every day, Smileys die for no reason while the flags live forever. Is that fair? The Minesweeper gets to destroy us whenever she feels like it. Is that fair? Justice and fairness don't exist in the real world, #936. Over here, if you want to survive, you just have to know the right people and not do anything stupid. It's every Smiley for him or herself. That's life. Live with it."
"It doesn't have to be that way. What if all the Smileys refuse to play The Game? What will the Minesweeper do then?"
#172 stopped and turned to face #936, the expression on her face suddenly serious. "The Minesweeper can do a lot of things. She is more powerful than you can ever imagine. If the Smileys don't play The Game, bad things are going to happen, #936."
"What kind of bad things?" the Smiley King asked, curious now.
"Total wipe out. Everything you know will be gone, and it will all start again, with Smiley #1. You won't have any memory of anything that happened in your life. It would be as if none of it had ever happened. And this time, when it's your turn to play The Game, you might not survive."
"Then… you mean all those Smileys who died might become alive again?" Hope appeared for the first time in #936's eyes.
#172 shook her head slowly. "Yes, but it won't be the same. They wouldn't remember anything. And most of them will die again, anyway."
The hope left #936's face. "Then what can I do?"
"Nothing," the Elite replied simply. "At least, you can't do anything to change that once it happens. But you can start by preventing it.
"You mean it's going to happen? The total wipe out?"
#172 looked at him. "When you left, everything stopped. The Smileys don't know what to do. So the Minesweeper couldn't play, and if she decides there's something wrong with the system, she might give us a total wipe out." #172 paused to let the words sink in. "The Elites have discussed this matter, and we want to strike a deal with you. Tell the Smileys to continue playing, and you and #1121 can live in the Upper Realms for the rest of your lives. It's an offer you can't refuse."
"What about the other Smileys?" #936 half-yelled. "You can't just leave them!"
#172 shrugged. "They'll die, I suppose. As usual. But it doesn't matter; you don't have to worry about them. You just have to make the choice. You and #1121 can live here in the Upper Realms, forever, and everything else goes on as per normal. Or you don't do anything and put everyone at risk of a total wipe out. It's your choice.
"Everything's arranged if you choose the former, as you should. We'll send you back, you apologise to the Smileys for leaving, #1121 plays The Game, he wins and enters the Upper Realms, another Smiley plays the expert level game, wins, gets the sunglasses, becomes the next king or queen, and when you're called up to play you'll get the sunglasses if it's an expert level game or you'll enter the Upper Realms if it's a beginner or intermediate one. Sooner or later you'll get here, anyway, and no one will be the wiser."
#936 blinked uncertainly. He wanted so much to just give up and go along with what #172 was saying… it made so much sense… why keep fighting the system? What was there to gain?
The lives of Smileys, a voice in his head was telling him, but #936 wasn't so sure anymore.
"Well?" the Elite asked. "What will it be?
----
They had been moving for a long time, and already #1121 was beginning to tire; the young Smiley just wasn't used to this kind of distance. #1031, too, was starting to feel the strain of the journey. At every fork in the tunnels, she felt their chances of ever getting anywhere were diminishing, and so were their chances of ever finding the Smiley King.
It would be too easy for them to get lost here. To prevent that as best as they could, they were sticking to just one side of the wall and following that side wherever it went. Sooner or later that would eventually lead them all over the maze, and hopefully they would get somewhere.
Then again, their purpose in setting out in the first place was just to get away from the other Smileys. And on that, at least, they were succeeding. No one had bothered to come after them. The Smileys figured that if the two of them wanted to put themselves in danger, that was their own problem and they were on their own.
Smenzer: The one at Neopets is called Neggsweeper. I used to play it a lot, then I quit playing Neopets and stopped. Thanks for reviewing!
Nobody in particular: I love your name too. ;P Yeah, there are too many fics out there with warped gramer and spelin (sic). Thanks for your review!
Bwilbur: Yup, their lives are very depressing. I changed the genre of this fic to 'Humor/Angst'. What's wrong with an angsty Minesweeper fic?
FarSeer: Why does everyone keep saying that… Thanks for reviewing!
Blissey: Short review, short reply. Thanks for reviewing!
Spiritsnare Flux: Okay, I've written chapter four.
Bonsaei: Thanks for reviewing!
Schuvaltz, God of all Mythics: Thanks for your review! Sorry, I'm getting jaded and running out of things to say.
X37: Don't worry, I've killed lots of Smileys too. Though I've won a few games.
N/a: Pointless? Minesweeper isn't pointless… not when compared to the others, like Freecell and Solitaire…
Wydinel Sheergale: Chapter four's here. I don't know what will happen to all the Smileys. I'm just writing chapter by chapter, so I never know what's going to happen next until I write it.
Bloody Pheonix: Yup, there is a Minesweeper section on fanficnet. There should be a Solitaire section too. Someone should suggest that…
Gorgac: That's a lot of 'HAHAHA's. 0.0 Have you been to a psychiatrist lately? O.O
Thunder the Hedgehog: Thanks for your review! If you want more Minesweeper fics, read 'Mineswept' by Aetre. It's good.
Xaxle: Thanks for reviewing! Your wait is over.
Thistle Demon: Sorry that I'm running out of things to type; thanks for reviewing!
Dylan555: I don't know. What are OJ's gloves?
Blakdogg: Thanks for your review!
Uncle Al: Um. Okay. I'm "one sick little puppy", I know.
Lk(asterisk)zn(at)c (at)cig-x: You know, if I type out your screenname as it is, it won't show up. It's called 'dark humour'. You're supposed to read the rest of the fic if you want to know what the blackness means. ;P Where's alt.sysadmin.recovery?
Skimbleshanks, the Railway CAT: I just made up the bit about the level having to be beaten seven times, because if it was just one time, the Upper Realms would get overcrowded. Thanks for your review!
Kari-Bloom: Thanks for reviewing!