Chương 56: The Ill-Starred Knight… Rider

Rider George sped down the straightaway in front of the hangar and followed the line Morat traced in the window in front of him. The area around the hangar was a fairly normal race track. The road wound its way further out from the vehicle garage in larger and larger concentric arcs that doubled back on themselves but consistently carried him further away from the central hangar. As he navigated the curves, George caught glimpses of other parts of the track. >>Wow. It's weird out there.

Morat turned the music down and said, "The Vessel® Selection Garage is at the center of the Sarsparilla Delight Dream Track. The garage's surrounding area is based on a standard earth race track laid out in a contemplative clover pattern. It is designed to allow drivers to familiarize themselves with their Vessel® before venturing onward to the more exotic sectors of the track.

"Tokens, mysteries, and bonuses are seeded throughout the track beyond the inner area. I have mapped a path to the nearest prestige token to our current location. It is just inside the aquatic sector. This vehicle was not designed to be submerged, but, provided you stay on the roadway, we will be able to acquire five prestige tokens within the first quadrant of the aquatic sector," Morat said as George hurtled through the turns. >>Yeah? And how long will that take?

"At maximum safe speeds, it should take twelve more minutes to arrive at the aquatic sector and around 30 minutes to collect all five tokens," Morat said. >>That sounds like a long time for five tokens. We just found a baker's dozen of those bad boys sitting in the back of a bookstore. Took ol' George about three seconds to snap 'em up. That is the sort of lifestyle we have become accustomed to these days. >>Take us to a place where we can get a bunch of them all at once. >>That would really sarsparilla delight me.

"Of course, I can reroute us to the nearest challenge room if you'd like. Players are only permitted a single use of the challenge rooms during their time at the track, but this one contains the densest concentration of prestige tokens. However, higher token density comes with increased risk""How much risk?" George asked. He drifted left and right across the road surface, hugging the turns as though he had been driving professionally his whole life.

His right hand darted back and forth between the shifter and the steering wheel.

"Most participants are able to survive the challenge room and tend to emerge with between ten to fifteen prestige tokens. However, some do not emerge at all," Morat said. >>OK. What is the challenge room like? >>Spill.

"In the challenge room, participants travel on a series of floating platforms suspended above an abyss. The paths of the platforms intersect one another amid a large area strewn with prestige tokens. The safest procedure is to pass to a new platform only when it comes within stepping distance of your current platform. The path of any single platform should intersect with up to ten prestige tokens. When your platform passes a prestige token, you have only to reach out and take it."

>>And what if we want more than ten? Do we jump from platform to platform?

"Some participants possess the means to pass to platforms either above or below in pursuit of more tokens. The farther you get from the middle zone, the less stable the platforms become; however, the more the concentration of tokens increases. No participant who has remained in the middle zone has ever died. I do not recommend pursuing the higher or lower sections." >>Uh huh. And how do we get out?

"The challenge room has a short duration," Morat said.

"When the time limit has elapsed, a one-way portal will appear in front of you and take you to the Vessel® Selection Garage." >>Yeah… we got this. >>Take us there.

"Ill-Starred Knight?" Morat said. >>(…rider.)"Take us there," George said.

"Very well," Morat said.

"I will plot a course to the entrance to the challenge room. I will meet you at the Vessel® Selection Garage once you've completed the challenge room." The path in the windshield turned green and now led off to the right before it bent out of sight. George spun the car around and set off toward the challenge room.

"We will be there in seven minutes," Morat said. George asked, "Morat, why did you call me the Ill-Starred Knight?"

"Is that not your designation?" the car answered.

"I read it from your eyeshard." >> OK. Full disclosure, George doesn't know what the shard does. He just stole it off a dead guy's body, and I had to kill it so it didn't take over our body. It is mostly broken now and mainly functions as a fashion accessory in George's burgeoning "B-Team Ninja" build.

"Or some version of that story…" George muttered.

"Yes, it seems to be extensively damaged. I can begin a support ticket with the Moa guild for repair. Be warned, they can be quite expensive. If you'd like, I can also include detailed damage specifications."

"No!" George said quickly. >>Hell no! >>Maybe you missed the "so it didn't take over our body" part.

"The armor is fine the way it is," George said.

"I don't want the Moa to know I took it." Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. >>Yeah, KITT… mums the word.

"They certainly already know," Morat said. >>Wait. What?

"When it was damaged, the armor would have lost connection to the Moa's cybernetic hive intelligences and inquiries would have been launched," Morat said.

"What report did you give to your guild operator?" >>Morat. Talk to me about your privacy regulations. Do we have, you know, attorney-client privilege or something?

"Certainly," Morat said.

"Each driver's history and records are kept on a secure, partitioned quantum vault that is only accessible even to me when you are using this Vessel®. We have a wide range of drivers with a variety of specialized needs. If their information were accessible to other drivers, it would not be FUN. If you desire, I can delete the memory of your drive when you are finished. Or, I can retain it for your next drive." >>That's good news. >>Because, truth be told, we don't really know what we're doing.

>>And we don't know what it means to be in the Moa guild. Since it seems like you might have some insight into that, why don't you chauffeur us some clarity on that topic?

"Morat, do you know what an emissary shard is and why this one says it belongs to the Ill-Starred Knight?" George said.

"It does not properly belong to the Ill-Starred Knight. That is the designation of the bearer of the shard," Morat said.

"Shards are powerful artifacts whose energy can be harnessed in various ways. In the case of this Faraday Exosuit, the shard empowers the armor and imbues it with rare abilities. The incorporation of shards into items is a specialty of the Moa guild.

"Consider a prism," Morat continued, "A prism bends pure light, resulting in a rainbow of color. A shard performs the same function for essence—raw magic. I do not know what the emissary moniker denotes. It is probably a specialized class or profession within the Moa guild."

"When you joined the guild, you ought to have been incepted with an upload from the Celestial Library with basic guild knowledge," Morat said.

"Was the nature of shards not covered?" >>We didn't exactly "join" the guild so much as we were drafted into it when George—in an ill-starred moment of blatant avarice—put on the armor and it nearly killed us both.

"Have you had any contact with the guild since then?" Morat asked. >>Nope.

"Then, I must advise you that it is standard practice for new inductees for any guild to make contact with their guild representative for induction and training," Morat said. >>We've been a little busy.

"What is an Operator?" George asked. Outside, the flat pavement had given way to an interconnected series of ramps and long, arcing bridges. George could see the aquatic section of the track spread out below him. Ahead of him, the road turned into a transparent tube and he received a new notification. You have entered a Controlled Gravity Zone. While in the tube section of the Sarsaparilla Delight Dream Track, ring-gravity is in place.

"Morat, what is that gravity notification about?" George brought the car to a sudden stop and was relieved to discover that he hadn't gone floating down the tube when he applied the brakes.

"While you are in the tube section of the track, the walls of the tube exert a common gravity," Morat answered.

"Many participants find that it is FUN to drive on the ceiling as well as the floor. Try it."

"Right," George said and looked up at the track above and ahead of him. It arced and doubled back on itself for hundreds of feet above them.

"Is there no other way to the challenge room?"

"The challenge room is inside the tube section of the track," Morat said.

"At the pinnacle. At top speeds, you will be able to get there in three and a half minutes. Just remember: out is down." George tentatively accelerated and steered into the side of the translucent tube. It was strange to see the horizon tip sideways, but the car did not slide back toward the bottom of the track. George steered back down to the bottom and drove a little bit up the other side. He couldn't feel any difference driving on the side of the tube. >>Let's go, grandma.

>>Jagged time doesn't mean "infinite time." George sped up a bit but tried to drive mainly on what he thought of as the bottom of the track. Still, he couldn't help but slow down again when the track curved upward at an impossible angle. George closed his eyes and kept going even as his mind told him the car would start sliding backward at any minute. But it didn't. When he opened his eyes, they'd entered a part of the tube that was no longer transparent.

It helped that he couldn't see the horizon anymore, and George started to accelerate again. >>Just keep thinking about that sweet token cache waiting for us… >>And get a move on! George tried to drive as fast as he could but wasn't driving the Mustang like a racecar anymore. Apparently, the magical upload of driving knowledge didn't include fearlessly driving upside down.

Gradually, he started to get the hang of it, but it was still hard not to slow down when the track did things no normal road could, like corkscrews or hairpin curves that went up and down instead of left and right. He just told himself, "Out is down… out is down" and kept going. >>Morat, how far until the challenge room entrance?

"500 vertical yards," the car answered. >>Pick up where you left off. What is a guild Operator? And why would we want to contact one?

"The Moa uses a system of Operators to support their members during trials. The purpose of the Operators is to aid, guide, and resource trial-committed agents. It is one of the many reasons why the Moa is one of the top guilds, as it enables them to deploy exactly the right support and keep abreast of any developments during the trial. Not every guild is able to offer this functionality, but Moa Operators are renowned for their ability to provide just the right support at just the right time." >>Morat.

Are you getting an affiliate stipend for this or something?

"The information I have given you is common knowledge," the car answered.

"My only purpose is to ensure you have FUN during your time in the Sarsaparilla De—" >>Yeah, yeah. We get it.

"200 yards to the entrance to the challenge room," Morat said, then added, "Excellent driving, Mr. Brandiss. I commend you on your quick acquisition of the skill of driving in ring gravity. Many drivers struggle with this aspect of the track." >>Morat. We try not to let George's head get too big. We hope to get that helmet off someday. >>Try to tune your comments to "deprecating, yet charming banter," mmmk? George chuckled and shook his head. He said, "My life… has become very strange." >>So, car. To recap… >>…

The gem in George's hand is like a magic battery with all sorts of special powers that the Moa are good at harnessing.

"Aptly put," Morat said, before adding, "And here we are. Mr. Brandiss. Stop the car at the zenith of this curve. You will see a portal there. You may exit the vehicle and step through the portal. I will meet you back at the garage." As the hill that George had been climbing started to flatten out, they re-entered a transparent part of the track, and George let the car idle to a stop in front of the portal. He looked out the windows.

"Whoa," he said. They could see for miles in every direction. The racetrack was truly one of the stranger things he'd seen in this trial. He could see the garage where they started far below in the center of the Hunting room. On the far side of the track, he could see an actual volcano erupting. The adjacent section of the track was full of jumps and gaps in the roadway.

The pterodactyl-like Skybaxes swooped and dived throughout that part of the track and George idly wondered if cars ever struck them as they jumped across the gaps in the track. >>George. >>Clock is ticking, bud. George got out of the car and walked to the portal. Behind him, the green car turned around and sped away. Unlike the other portals, he couldn't see through this one. It was only an opaque, sparkling green film.

"How much time do we have left in this round?" George asked. >>Clock says 44 minutes. Which doesn't mean much. I think it has been nearly an hour subjectively since you used your ability orb.

"OK," George said, and blew out a breath.

"Here we go." He stepped through the portal into the challenge room.