| Generated by Google Flow text-to-video AI software, powered by Veo 3.1 |
After the fight is over, and the good guys have won, men in black emerge to
clean up. Mandica gets on the back of Blue Umbra’s motorcycle, and holds on
for dear life. They still have these kinds of death machines back on Earth,
but she’s never ridden one before, because they are not safe enough. While
they’re dashing through a tunnel, she sees both Blue Umbra and Wave
Function’s outfits change, as does the coloring on their bikes. Their masks
disappear too until they just look like regular people. They continue
zipping down the streets until they reach their underground lair. An oldish
man is waiting for them at the bottom of the ramp. “Any cleaning to do
today?” he asks them.
“Just need a recharge on these.” Wave Function carelessly tosses the
apparent servant his sonic weapon cartridges as he’s walking by.
“Rybold is an NPC,” Blue Umbra says to Mandica as Wave Function is plopping
down on the recliner, and beginning to play a video game like a typical bro.
“He’s been programmed to ignore all mentions of the real world. He thinks
he’s our butler, and always does our chores with a smile on his face.”
“A little bit derivative, don’t you think?” That’s the rude, socially
awkward Mandica talking again. She doesn’t want to be like that, especially
not since she needs something from these people. “Sorry. I don’t spend a lot
of time around others anymore. I was a nomad, and my only regular companion
was an android, like Rybold.”
“Will the Miss be joining us for dinner?” Rybold asks after he’s placed the
cartridges on the charger. “Will she be needing her own room, or sharing one
of yours?”
“Undecided,” Blue Umbra answers. She goes over to Wave Function and kicks
his legs. “Off the coffee table. We’ve talked about this.”
He blows a raspberry at her.
“He’s not as immature as he’s acting right now,” Blue Umbra explains. “He’s
just trying to cool down. It takes him a moment to step out of character,
and become more like his real self.” She sits down on the couch, and pats
the other side invitingly for Mandica. “So. How long have you been on
Castlebourne?”
“About two weeks,” Mandica answers.
“Oh, fresh fish,” Blue Umbra muses.
“I should tell you something else,” Mandica begins nervously. “I wasn’t
going to tell anyone, but this is a red dome—”
“I don’t—what is that?” Blue Umbra questions. “Did they institute a
color-coding system? I’ve been in-game for fourteen years.”
“Twenty,” Wave Function boasts, hand raised, but still focusing on his game.
“No, that’s just something my friend came up with.” Mandica keeps on
hesitating. “I needed that because...I’m human. I mean, I’m a regular human.
I’m not enhanced, and I’m not digitized. I die in the Matrix, I die in real
life.”
Now Wave Function drops his controller, and looks at her. His character dies
and waits for him to trigger respawn. “You shouldn’t be here. Do you know
how many times I’ve died? This is my fifth persona. This world has
consequences. If someone sees your body die, you have to come back as
someone else, if you choose to come back at all.”
“That’s not the point,” Blue Umbra argues. “If she dies, she can’t even come
back. She can’t come back anywhere.” She turns back to Mandica. “Why are you
here? I didn’t even know people like you could even come to this planet. You
would need a ship.”
“I took a ship, yes,” Mandica confirms. “I wanted a real life. I wanted
adventure.” She looks around at their lair. “I didn’t want to be having
this particular adventure, but as soon as I arrived, I discovered
that the choice to travel here wasn’t entirely my own, and I am looking for
the person who first piqued my interest about it. I was told that she was
here. I don’t know if you ever use real names, but hers is Vanore.”
Blue Umbra and Wave Function exchange a look again. “We’ve never heard of
her, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t around here somewhere. It’s a big
city.”
Wave Function stands up, and walks towards the other side of the lair.
“Blue Umbra goes on, “we are a duo, and don’t interact much with the others.
We don’t dislike each other, but we each walk our own beats, like police
officers.”
Wave Function comes back and drops what looks like a photo album on the
coffee table in front of Mandica. “These are the heroes.” He drops another
album. “These are the villains. We try to stay on separate sides in our
personal lives to maintain some level of integrity in the game, so we
couldn’t tell you if any villain is a real person.”
Mandica opens both albums at the same time. The first page in each is a
collage while the rest are dedicated to each character individually, giving
a rundown of their powers and abilities, what’s known of their origin
stories, and other basic information.
Blue Umbra points to one of the villains in the collage. “I know her. She’s
originally from Proxima Doma. She goes by Cardinal Sin when in costume, but
she carried her real name over for her secret identity, which is Jaidia
Robbins. I know where she works during the day. She’s tapped in, so she
might know who you’re looking for.”
Mandica winces. “Why would anyone pretend to be a bad guy? Don’t they feel
bad? I mean, I know most people are NPCs, and any who aren’t will just
transfer back to their real bodies, but it just seems so...”
“Pathological?” Blue Umbra guesses. “To each their own. We try not to
judge.”
“Have you ever fought her?” Mandica presses, but is that important right
now?
“A few times, during team-ups. Her main rival is the Ravensgate Rescuer.”
She points to a woman wearing a revealing black outfit in the heroes album.
“They’re both at the top of the food chain in this city. They programmed
themselves with the best powers. They really wanted to be the stars.”
“They’re new,” Wave Function says like he doesn’t respect them. “They’ve
been here for, what has it been, nine or ten years? They only came to this
planet because theirs got blowed up.”
“Wait, for real?” Mandica questions. That doesn’t happen in real life. It
never has.
“Yeah,” Blue Umbra agrees. “Tragic. Millions died when Proxima Centauri’s
sun flipped poles, and sent a massive CME towards Doma. You were probably on
your relativistic trip. They escaped through the quantum network.” She looks
over at her partner. “And they got to be where they are because they
understand the biotech better than anyone. If you wanted a better body, you
should have learned how to build one.”
Wave Function scoffs, and dismisses it with a wave of his hand.
“Anyway,” Blue Umbra continues, “Jaidia tends bar on Tenth, at a place
called Merry Wonderment.” She consults her watch. “It’s just about to open,
so she’s probably there right now. Rybold can drive you.”
“Certainly, Miss,” Rybold sustains. “We can take the Starburst, if you would
like.”
“Thanks. Thanks for everything. It was nice meeting you two,” Mandica says.
