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Mandica immediately turns around, and tries to go back down the steps, but
they’re gone. A stone barrier has appeared over the stairs a half meter
below the surface. It is probably some kind of service entrance designed to
be hidden to preserve the integrity of the mythology unfolding under this
dome.
“Do not be afraid, I’m not here to hurt you,” the man who calls himself
Daedalus claims. Well, he probably is indeed the manifestation of Daedalus
in this simulation. He’s a man with functioning wings. “I could have done
that a long time ago if I had been so inclined. I would like for us to be
friends.”
“How do you know who I am?” Mandica questions. “You’re just a character. You
were programmed to follow the script and believe that this is all real.”
“I was programmed to be a genius because the original Daedalus myth wrote
him as such,” Daedalus clarifies. “I was programmed a little
too well, and grew clever enough to uncover the truth about my own
existence. I have ways of reaching beyond the confines of my realm, to the
bustling world outside.”
“You still could not have invited me to this dome,” she reasons. “I was
intending to go to King Arthur’s world. That’s not myth, that’s legend. I
only changed my mind because it was a related recommendation, and since they
are not unrelated themes, it was not an unbelievable pairing.”
“True, and I do not claim to have access to the recommendation algorithm on
the prospectus, but I knew you would find your way here eventually, because
I knew you were interested in this sort of thing. No, my invitation came
much earlier, before you even left the real Earth.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Mandica argues. “I first heard about this planet in
2420. Even if you were in beta prior to that—which I’m guessing you were
before 2500 —116 years is a long-ass con. I just don’t believe it. Daedalus
may be a genius, but he’s not a god. Even the gods here aren’t real gods.”
He chuckles. “True words, but I am the one who got you excited to
come here.”
She shakes her head. “I’m not buying it. This lie is too outrageous.”
“Vanore,” he says to her simply.
“What?”
“That was the name of the woman you met on April 1, 2420, was it not? She’s
the one who told you about a resort planet that they were paraterraforming a
hundred and eight light years away. I believe she called it pillow talk?”
“How do you know that name? How do you know that story? I’ve not thought
about her in years. She was like me...unenhanced, so she is long dead.”
He shakes his head. “I’m sorry, but I’m not sure that she was as unenhanced
as she led you to believe. Vanore isn’t even her real name. She adopted it
to trigger your attention, which was my idea; I apologize for the
deception.”
“Why? Why do any of this? Don’t try to tell me that I’m some kind of
chosen one. That’s not a thing. And I don’t really do YA.”
“As far as I know, you’re not a chosen one. I actually don’t personally have
any interest in you, but I owed someone a favor. They wanted you here, I
found a way.”
“Who?”
“Your name is Kolar.”
“That has been established, I’m not going to be shocked by it a second
time.”
“Their name was Kolar as well. They never told me their first names.”
“Some kind of distant relatives, who I have never met.”
“I wouldn’t know anything about that. I’m not here to make your life harder,
but I wanted to make contact, because I wanted to warn you. If you
are related to these people, it doesn’t mean that you will get along
with them. Your values may be far out of alignment, and I decided that you
deserved to know, so you could be on the lookout. Others are aware that
you’re here, and I cannot attest to their motivations, Mandica.”
“And Vanore? Don’t tell me she’s my relative too. We...did things together.”
He chuckled. “No, I think that she owed your relatives as well. She seemed
rather reluctant to participate in this. I didn’t ask why.”
“Well, where is she? Somewhere in here with you? Where are the other
Kolars?”
“I have no idea where they are now. They had the means of coming and going
as they pleased, much like you, but with the stars. And it has potentially
been over a hundred years for them. I do know how special relativity works,
even though I’ve never seen the true sky.” He looks up at the hologram above
them. It really does look real, but Castlebourne is uninhabitable outside of
the domes, so the real sky is ugly. He smiles sadly. “As for Vanore, I may
know where she is. She travels to other domes, but we’ve become friends
since our joint mission, so she checks in from time to time. Indeed, I’m
working under the assumption that she detours back here every time she
transitions to a new adventure. Last I heard, she was in Underbelly.”
“I don’t know what that is.”
“I don’t really know either, but she knew your family before I did, so she
may have a clue of where they might be now.”
Mandica sighs. “I suppose I owe you for all this information.”
He seems surprised by the suggestion. “On the contrary. I used subterfuge to
trick you into traveling somewhere that you might not have wanted to be. It
is I who owes you. I may still seem like a character to you, but I’m
powerful, so name it.”
Mandica looks down at the stone trapdoor. “I don’t like being owed any more
than I like owing others, and I’m not greedy. All I want you to do is open
that.”
He is surprised by this too. “Well, that’s easy.” He lifts his hand and
begins to tap the tips of his fingers against his thumb in what appears to
be a particular sequence. Once he is finished, the stone slides away and
recedes into its pocket. “That was not a very good favor, but if it’s a
psychological issue, let’s say that it counted. And then let’s say, if you
ever need anything else, you can return to ask for it. It’s not
another favor that you owe, per se; just an open window.”
Mandica turns and starts to walk back down the steps before stopping and
looking over her shoulder. “I don’t see what could possess me to come speak
to the great Daedalus again. I read about you and your son, but I don’t know
if what I know has come to pass by now. I don’t know where in the story we
are.”
His face falls into a deeply rageful frown. “It has already happened.”
“Then I’m sorry.”
His friendly demeanor has entirely vanished. “Go.”
Mandica leaves Mythodome and heads straight for Underbelly, but she doesn’t
get an express train this time. Maybe she should have just asked him for
that.
