Continue Online (Book 1, Memories) (13 page)

"Two
dollars, plus taxes."

Not
worth it yet. Maybe later I would download one. I brushed off another
pile to the side with my rolled up towel and took a sip of the water.
It came from a hose spigot outside with the hot tub. Luckily digital
water had no chance of corruption and tasted mountain fresh. I
inspected the counter next. Creamer typically stayed neat and in
order on the counter. They were scattered all over and some were
clearly torn open and leaking. I tried to mop it up with the towel
and didn't get very far.

Something
yawned behind me. A sound I vaguely remembered from Sniffles my cat.
The half meow mixed with a snapping of jaws. Maybe the box had been a
cat program?

I
turned slowly and looked.

That
was no cat.

It
was maybe half the size of one. Tiny and calm while sitting in the
second doorway. I raised an eyebrow. It tilted an oddly shaped head
to one side. Large haunches twisted under its back. There was a long
line of black almost as deep as the obsidian card, broken up by the
same gold as the lettering. Wait a minute. This creature may have
looked like a cat. It may be sitting like one. But it had leather
wings on its back.

“
Huh?”
I questioned out loud.

The
creature, which had to be a pet-sized dragon, turned and lazily went
into the other room. I looked at the mess in my Atrium that was
barely contained. Had that tiny dragon messed up my room? There was
no longer a doubt in my mind. This was certainly tied to Continue
Online.

I
walked into the second door and onward towards mystery.

Inside
the room was dark. There was a lot more depth here than my dance
program. Not that I could have seen ten feet from the door. This
place had a feeling of vastness that could swallow someone whole. I
looked down and could see a little bit of my surroundings thanks to
the Atrium's ambiance. My head turned to the area behind and the
doorway was plainly in sight. Everything around it faded off into
black.

Okay.
Well, this wasn't real. My body was sitting in a device hooked up
with every safety feature a paranoid human could envision.
Exploration into an abyss wouldn't be the end of my life.

This
was actually very neat.

Forward
wasn't clear. There was nothing to put my hands on. No wall, no
objects along the startlingly smooth floor. Atrium me had shoes on
which made a slight clomp with each step. I clutched the half full
glass and prepared to be scared by some jump scene. Finally, after
minutes of slightly hesitant walking, an odd lack of frightening
monsters, and saying 'echo' over and over, I found something. A
pillar jutted out of the ground, surrounded by far too dramatic
light.

Next
to the pillar, at the shadow's edge, was that tiny black dragon thing
that had likely destroyed my front room. It yawned again, with a snap
of jaws. Then it proceeded to clean its scales with a disturbingly
pink tongue. Worse still, steam billowed out of its mouth speaking of
possible fire. Dragons were iconic creatures when it came to fantasy.
Continue Online likely had a few. This little one was a wacky thing
to be escorted by. Lured, actually, was a better description.

I
approached, which the small creature clearly observed. Tilting its
head just right in order to keep cleaning and have me in sight. I
walked closer to the marble column. The marble column reminded me of
an old Greek piece. Broken edges across the top gave it an uneven
surface. Upon that lay a giant book.

"Well.
That’s different." I said.

Speech
startled the small creature. It leapt up on top of the pillar, claws
digging into the book and almost kicking from strain as it
positioned. The tiny dragon thing huffed and let out a sputter of
flame off to an empty space behind the pillar. The fire failed to
truly get going. The tiny dragon tilted long ears back in irritation
and looked at me. The expression on its face was an almost wry
embarrassment.

"It's
okay." I tried to smile reassuringly.

The
creature snapped its head between looking at me and the empty space
and resumed attempts to start up a good roar of fire. Something in
its throat seemed to be causing the dragon to sputter like a failing
lawnmower. I knew what was causing the problem. This little devil had
been in my virtual creamer. I used the creamer as a poor man’s
coffee while reading or watching a sports game in my ARC.

"Here.
Try some water."

I
set down the half full glass and backed up a few steps.

The
creature looked at me, down at the glass, cocked one ear up almost
like a confused puppy, then leapt over.

"Heh.
Aren't you something." At least I was smiling. That was an
improvement over the emotional roller coaster.

My
tiny dragon buddy used a claw to knock over the glass and proceeded
to slurp up all the spilled water. I chuckled more but tried not to
move too quickly.

"Better?"
I asked.

The
small thing looked at me momentarily before diving for the pillar and
once again sucking in air. Fire spiraled outward and seemed to splash
into something. An engraved panel was forming where the flames
sizzled. Its last few puffs were almost completely devoid of fire.
The dragon creature was struggling and basically blowing hot air.

Once
completed, it curled up at the column's base and seemed to go to
sleep instantly. I looked at the floating object. Words were slowly
coming to life, another set of gold letters, like the card, like the
dragon's crest, almost wet looking.

“
I
don’t have proof?” I had an empty glass. I had what
remained of a water puddle. I had clothes and clomping shoes. Where
would I have gotten proof of ownership?

I
had a card that wasn’t in English. Oh. Of course, I had thought
about it a moment ago when seeing the letters form in front of me but
didn’t mentally register the connection.

“
Did
you want this?” The card was glowing in affirmation while I
talked to a plaque that was floating in front of me. I expected
machines to respond anytime I asked a question. Hal Pal was a good
example.

I
moved the card around, noticing that the glow increased and
diminished. A few more waves and I narrowed it down to the broken
pillar and book in front of me.

“
This
whole thing starts out with a puzzle huh?” I looked around for
the tiny dragon. Not a sign could be seen. The door to my Atrium was
somewhere extremely far in the distance.

“
Multi-pass?”
I asked the air while dramatically waving the card.

The
book looked huge. A giant, old fashioned tome bound on one side by
hand. I could see the thread weaving in and out of its spine in an
embroidered pattern. The same illegible letters sprawled across the
cover.

“
Open
sesame!” I tried to touch the card to the book's cover. Failure
and awkward silence resulted.

“
Keyatus
Becomcacus!” I shook the card in my hand and spouted my worst
guess at a Latin translation. It refused to bend.

“
Decoder
ring go!” I slid the card across the book's cover in hopes that
something would line up or clearly define what to do next. At least
the glowing had stopped.

The
cover was done in the same overplayed gold inking. The normal black
sheen that went on everything else was muted with the cover.

I
held the card up and tried to study both objects. If this was a
puzzle, diving in would be pointless. A careful analysis was required
to find the connections. Both the book and card gave a similar vibe.
Lettering, however foreign, looked the same, had the same cuts and
curls and spacing. I tried counting them in order to see if any was a
cipher for Continue but was unable to find a direct connection. The
squiggles seemed clearer now, easier to understand.

Back
and forth went my eyes scanning over each shape. It was easier to
recognize the exact shapes and links, but nothing was clearer. Then I
realized something absurdly stupid. I was judging a book by its
cover. One hand slammed into the side of my head.

“
Duh.”
In all my life of playing games, buying new objects, downloading
things for my ARC, there was one constant. Each one had a user’s
manual.

This
was probably it.

Cracking
open the cover page was an experience. I hadn’t held, much less
touched, a real book in ages. Everything was digital and floated
around on interactive screens. Continue was a fantasy game, it would
have a ton of elements that threw back to earlier generations, old
methods of solving problems.

The
sound made me smile happily. Inside the front cover there was a
plastic sleeve that my little illegible card fit perfectly into. On
the other side a hand-print outline sat. I was smart enough to follow
these instructions. My hand went onto the outline while the card went
into its slot.

Noises
came from all around, like the murmuring of a thousand voices growing
closer. The floating sign in front of me that had asked for proof of
ownership fell and shattered on the ground. From somewhere in the
darkness a giant object moved, like the small dragon's much bigger
and much scarier older brother.

I
managed to hold my ground, not through resolution, but because I was
too surprised to react. Then the ground gave a heave, knocking my
hand loose. Shaking continued to rattle the room while I finally felt
panic at all the things that had happened. Questions flashed through
my head. Was the Atrium still there? Was I able to log out? Was I
safe?

The
book slammed shut and glowed brightly for a moment. Once it dimmed
the giant room I existed in went back to normal. Darkness was broken
by the single point of illumination around the pillar and book.

I
stood up in a scramble and looked around. In the middle of that vast
black area, I felt an almost amused sense of peace. How I could
describe formless darkness as amused was beyond me, but it was.

“
Hello?”
I said.

Nothing
responded.

“
Hello?
Little dragon thing?” I wondered briefly if the dragon was male
or female. Checking out which way it was equipped hadn't been
important. Calling a dragon it and thing over and over would be
tiring.

I
went back to the book. The ink was the same, a color of wet gold, but
now the words made sense. ‘Continue Online’ curled across
the worn cover followed by more unexpected words. ‘Ultimate
Edition’. I about fainted right there on the spot. Instead, I
managed to grip the side of the pillar with one hand and stay
upright.

“
ARC!”

“
Awaiting
in…”

“
Log
me out! I need to make a call.”

“
Suspending
program. Logging out. Please wait.”

I
sat in the ARC device, waiting. Counting backward from thirty until
my breath slowed and the world stopped spinning.

Was
this for real? Had Henry seriously given me an Ultimate Edition? As a
god damn prize for doing my job? I ran out to the van and dialed up
Henry. Making the call from my house phone wouldn’t be as
effective. Plus this way I knew if Henry was online or not. His
grumpy face spun into existence across the vehicle's interface.

“
How
was it?” Henry asked.