Continue Online (Book 1, Memories) (21 page)

Of
course, players like me would be able to resurrect eventually. Beth
had all but told me that death wasn’t permanent. It was
inferred from her description of leaping off a cliff dozens of times
and the fact that Continue was a game.

"And
this is popular?" James sounded conflicted like he was almost
worried about getting an answer.

"Oh
yeah. Old ladies will sit for hours on slot machines. At least they
did until computerized gaming took off." I said.

"Very
well. I have more questions."

"Is
there a Voice for Gambling?" Time to cash in one some of my owed
questions. James would likely call me out if things got carried away.
I rarely put much thought into my words anyway. It was part of the
strategy I employed to avoid depressing thoughts. My conversations
meandered around sometimes as a result.

"For
Chance, there are two," James replied.

"Let
me guess, male and female? One's kind of a shifty looking fellow, the
other's a dressed up dame." I loved this game. How often would
anyone get to use the word dame in real life? Moments like this made
me smile.

"In
some aspects," He said

"I
feel like you're giving away too much information for a Voice."
My cheek turned down with a slight frown.

"That's
the nature of our bargain. Much of what we're talking about is
readily available in the world. Were you to ask for something dire, I
would be equally invasive." James had proven to speak with his
flat tone frequently. His facial expressions flipped between empty
and a faint, almost sly, smile.

"Wait.
I've lost track of where we are on questions. Do you mean that I can
ask you anything I want to about the world? Like about secret moves
and overpowered items? And the price would be some horribly invasive
question?"

"In
essence." Thank goodness he treated that as one question. I had
gone rather hog wild with the tone. "Does this bother you?"

"Why
would it? I've been explaining the inner workings of my mind to a
counselor. On the bad months I admit I'm human in front of a crowd of
strangers." That didn't mean that those admissions didn't hurt,
it only meant I didn't hide what, who, I was from anyone.

"Then
we'll get along fine. When my questions bother you, all you need to
do is stop answering."

"I
can't see any reason I would." I responded.

"Time
will tell, Grant Legate." Hearing my name started my teeth
grinding again. "There. That motion. You seem upset whenever
anyone calls you by your entire name. Why is this?"

"Because
it makes me feel like a child. Only my parents used my entire name."
That was the main reason.

"And
that question didn't bother you? You answered so quickly."

"As
I said, I try not to hide how I feel. Explaining it is a bit harder
sometimes." I had been through lots of books during my attempts
at self-repair. Human emotion was a lot more complex than computer
wiring. Hiding was useless and only prolonged the pain. Yet I still
danced with an image of my fiancée. I guess we all coped
somehow. There I was again, thinking along depressing lines.

"Alright.
Load up the next event. Let’s do something that involves any
sort of chance. Dice, cards, whatever your world has." A world
where I could gamble with no loss of personal money? Neat. Learning
new games would also be interesting.

"Very
well," He said.

The
next room had tables and cards. I could see how some of this lined up
with gambling pretty easily. A run-down table in one area of the room
reminded me of street vendors. Find the Queen and win a twenty! There
was a set of dice. Two giant, slick orbs that did who knows what.
Many more items littered the poorly made tables.

Identification
was an easy enough skill to use. I focused on an object and switched
eyesight to the small plus icon that floated nearby. Windows opened
up with more information much like all the other pop-ups this game
used. Most were boring and I floated around trying to see if this
helped the skill grow.

I
raised an eyebrow.

James
wasn't in this room anymore. I looked around for the larger black man
and couldn't see him hiding behind any of the devices. He vanished
during my perusal of the objects lying around. I didn’t
actually need him for this. The Voice would probably be out there
observing this, somehow, like he had during the feast trial. All the
Voices were probably out there somewhere. My whole purpose for this
room, aside from playing games in a game, was to talk to another
Voice. Maybe something neat would happen.

Maud
had given me an idea. Not because chasing in-game advantages was in
my nature. I wanted to change the program a little.

“
Oh
look, a coin.” I picked up the coin. "What's a good deal
for this place?" Choices and possible wagers were weighed while
wandering through the tables and games.

There
was a strangely shaped dart board. Next to it was a bow, throwing
knives, and a few other items that looked like they flew terribly. A
cage had a bird inside. The bird was golden, fluffy and seemed to be
half drunk. No telling what form of gambling that was. Maybe people
passed it around until the bird barfed on someone.

"Hah!"
Laughter escaped me as realization dawned. What better way to talk to
a Voice of Chance and Gambling than to gamble on what it would like?

"Alright,
here's my proposal." I waved the coin around. "Heads,
whatever Voice presides over Chance comes down for a talk."

"Tails,
you apply a penalty of your choice once I'm down on the world."
The feast had taught me that there were penalties in this game.

Wait.
This wasn't a two-sided coin was it? I checked both ends. A dragon
tail on one side and a head on the other. Good enough for me. I
flipped the coin and let the ground catch it. My next trick would be
to ignore the coin's outcome for awhile and use
[Identification]
on more items.

"This
makes no sense." A table nearby had cards. They weren’t
the normal decks, though. This was more like a tarot set. Images were
all different and had strange suits. Instead of diamonds there were
footprints on each card. Instead of a spade there was a scale of some
beast, probably a dragon again.

I
shuffled the worn deck as kindly as I could then turned some over.
First was a mask, much like the one on the Jester. Its expression
nearly mocking with a half-mad grin and sunken eyes. Jester’s
suit was a beast footprint. Trails of blood hung around the card's
border depicting violence in the background.

"Very
funny," I muttered.

The
next two were vaguely interesting as well. One was a representation
of Maud. Her suit was that of a burning fire over a brick which might
mean home and hearth. Surrounding her was a litter of grasping
children. I smiled. The look on her face was less exhausted and
closer to exasperated.

The
last was a man in a duster that I hadn't seen before. He might have
been in the portion I skipped over when looking through the Voices'
pictures.

"Huh."
He looked sort of snappy with only slight stubble. Clearly human,
though, so not belonging to any of the unusual races. His suit was
fine without a single hair out of place. The guy almost seemed like a
well-dressed pool shark. I could see it. At least his sleeves weren't
lined in stupid gambling symbols or anything similar.

There
was a clink behind me. I turned around feeling amazed. That noise
ushered in memories from decades ago.

"Pool?"
Numbers on the balls weren't the same. They looked almost like roman
numerals. The table felt was an off-red instead of the standard
green. Everything about the table screamed makeshift. Next to it was
a man with a pool cue who was dressed nearly the same as my earlier
tarot draw. He was chalking one end with a lazy half-smile.

"Pool.
Another game brought over by you visitors. I rather like it."

“
Nice
tie.”

“
Want
it?”

“
Not
my style.” I paused. “Why pool? More skill than chance?"
This man didn't seem like a complete gambler. My initial appraisal
was that he preferred a risk of uncertainty mixed with personal hard
work and knowledge.

"Gamble's
a gamble. It’s a matter of guessing skill. You up for a game?"
The pool player had basically announced that this would be another
measure of my abilities.

"Sure."
I stepped past the coin and took note of the dragon tail displayed.
Looks like I failed, but gained attention anyway.

"Your
go then." The balls had already been broken and the other man
hadn't sunk anything. His scatter was pretty good so I had a few
choices.

I
walked around the table and tried to figure out if there were any
obvious bumps or curves. One of the pockets looked a bit makeshift
compared to the regulation tables I played on during my teens. My
cousins had been pool sharks. Not me, I only visited. Still, I knew
the rules. At least whoever had created the game in Continue had kept
the stripes and solids.

"Which
one's the eight ball?" An eight ball shouldn’t be sunk
until the end. Too early and it would be a loss. Kind of like a
landmine on the table.

"The
Black Dragon Egg over there is last."

The
messages were waved away so I could see the table. My careful aim
helped to sink one of the stripes. Another two shots were successful
before missing. The cue I chose was actually fairly nice. My hands
ran up and down the pole in amazement at the craftsmanship. They
managed to replicate the smooth feel of a polished cue but still kept
some of the wooden grain so it almost curved.

The
man in the duster, whom I assumed was a Voice like James and Maud,
returned two balls before a miss. That made us even. I smiled and
made another shot. Accidentally sinking one of his had set me back. A
half smile, scowl, thing, crossed my face. He smirked in a lazy sort
of way from under his hat's brim right before sinking another two.

I
rolled my eyes and put another four in. Two went in at once from a
split shot and the fourth was pure luck. We were even now. While he
took his next shot I played with the dice on the table. Feeling their
weight, casting a few throws. They were the standard six sided.

"This
one of ours? Or yours?" I asked.

"Ours,"
He said.

"Guess
that explains the color." These dice were yellow cubes instead
of the normally polished white. "You have any other types of
dice?"

"Mh.
Didn't like them. One hundred sides on a dice seemed a bit much."
The male Voice responded.

"Silly,
right? Still, some loved them. Probably because it helped them
replicate something your world does with more realism." Here I
was filling the other man’s silence with mindless chatter. He
hadn’t really been the talking type so far.