Neverquest - Part 105
Characters: Sophia, Jesse, Alyssa, Russell, Michelle, Neil, Pip, Wallace
Location: The basement of CNN
Time: Day 4 - 10:36 PM
Wallace and Jesse finished pushing the last Neverquest chair into a circle. There were eight of them now, strapped back to back to back. Michelle walked around with a wireless headphone in her ear and Sophia and Alyssa stood against the wall, out of the way.
“Why are they doing this?” Alyssa asked. “It’s suicide.”
“Somebody has to do something,” Sophia said.
“…You should’ve gone to the police. They could’ve helped.”
“The police can’t solve everything, Alyssa.”
“But if somebody gets hurt…”
“Nobody is going to get hurt.”
“How can you be so sure? Didn’t you say one of the other programmers was cut into six pieces? I can’t imagine how that would feel. What was it like to look at him after that? I bet you can’t get that bloody image out of your head. It’s going to haunt you forever, isn’t it?”
Sophia closed her eyes. “Alyssa, why don’t you go see if Pip needs any help?”
“Will that make the pain go away?”
“Just go.”
“As you wish,” Alyssa said, stepping past Sophia with a smirk on her lips.
Sophia watched her walk away and shook her head.
“Sophia…” Jesse said. He was standing in front of her with his hands greasier than usual. “You can tell your father that we’re ready.”
“Jesse… Who is going in?”
“Wallace and the security guards,” he said, jerking his thumb behind him. “They’re trained for this kind of thing.”
“But they’re guys. They won’t be very big in the other world.”
“You’re not going, Sophia.”
“I know how the game is run. I know all Tony’s protocols, the inner workings of the system, the characters and the rules…”
“I said you’re not going. I forbid it.”
“So do I,” Russell said, coming down the stairs. They were now in the basement of CNN, which was being used as the new control room. It was bigger, with more computers, larger screens, and enough desks for everyone to sit at. It wasn’t supposed to be used until the servers went live, but they had no other choice. “There’s no way I am allowing my only daughter to go into a virtual world that my best people can’t even keep under control.”
“I have to do something,” she said.
“I know, my dear, but I’m not risking your life. You belong here.”
“Don’t tell me where I belong.”
“He’s right,” Jesse said.
“Don’t you tell me where I belong either!”
“We’re just trying to protect you, Sophia.”
“There is no protecting me from what I’ve already seen today. The only thing you can do is let me see it through.”
Russell shook his head. “Absolutely not.”
Stopping next to them, Michelle put a hand over her headpiece. “Russell, are you almost ready?”
“Ready for what?” Sophia interrupted. Then she looked into her father’s eyes and knew the answer before he could speak. “No, Dad, you can’t…”
“I have to do this,” Russell said. “For Tony.”
“I have to do this, too. You need a girl.”
“He has one,” Michelle answered. “I’m going with them.”
“You? You don’t even know how to play Neverquest.”
“Not too long ago, Sophia, I was a kid like you. I’ve played my fair share of video games and I think I can hold my own.” Then she took off her headpiece, smiled, and handed it to Sophia. “We’re going to need you to lead us. Can you do that?”
Sophia glared down at the silver mini-headphone.
“Please. I’d rather put you in charge than…” She looked over her shoulder at Pip and Neil, who were sitting around a table and drinking coffee with Alyssa. They were both trying to be funny, but she just stared right through them like ghosts.
“Well, I can understand that,” Sophia said dimly, “but I still don’t like it.”
“Look, if anything goes wrong, we need somebody we can rely on to get us out of the game. And right now, Sophia, you’re the only one I trust who is qualified to operate these systems.”
“…This doesn’t mean I’m going to start liking you.”
“I wouldn’t ask you for that. I’m only asking you to help your father and me navigate through Neverquest. You don’t have to do it for me or even him. Just do it for the lives of all the people trapped inside.”
“For the people then,” she said, snatching the headpiece.
“That’s my girl.”
Sophia put the piece in her ear and turned away. She walked past the coffee table, where Pip and Neil were still making bad jokes.
“So Henry Ford looks at Bill Gates,” Pip was saying, “and he’s like, ‘Yeah, but would you want your car to crash three times a day?’” Then he snorted into his drink and so did Neil, but their laughter dried up quickly as Alyssa only sat there with a vacant look in her eyes.
“…I think I’ll go see if Michelle needs anything,” Pip said, setting down his mug. Then he pushed in his chair and hurried away, leaving Neil alone with Alyssa.
Neil cleared his throat, drumming his fingers along the table. “So… Alyssa… Alyssa, Alyssa, Alyssa… That’s a pretty name. Who gave it to you?”
She didn’t answer him or even give him the satisfaction of looking in his general direction.
“You know…” Neil said—try, trying again. “That Pip is a real geek. I only hang out with him because I feel sorry for him. And even worse for his parents, haha!”
“…You shouldn’t talk behind the backs of other people,” Alyssa whispered. “It’s not very nice. You never know what they say about you, what they’re thinking in the back of their twisted and perverted minds, what kind of terrible misfortune they pray might happen to you when you close your eyes for the last time.”
“Um… I’m sorry…”
“Yes, you truly are.”
Neil nodded, biting his teeth together, and started to perspire. “You have…beautiful hair.”
“How old are you?”
“What? I’m…like, thirty-five.”
“Do you know how old I am?”
Neil started to answer and then closed his mouth, turning it into a grin. He shook his finger at her. “Ah-ah-ah! That’s a trick question if I ever smelled one. I may have no social skills whatsoever, but my mom always taught me never to guess a woman’s age out loud.”
“I’m twenty years old. That would be a fraction of your age—four-sevenths, but I’m sure you already did that in your head—and it is very disturbing from this side of the table. Perhaps if you looked at yourself in a mirror, you would realize what a dreadfully hideous person you are both inside and out and you could spend the rest of your hollow life curled in a fetal position in the darkest corner of your mother’s basement, crying tears of shame and sorrow as your virginity consumes you from the inside out and carries you away from this mortal coil.”
Neil gawked at her, open-mouthed.
“And while you’re at it, please stop staring at me like you want something. I have nothing to give you.”
“I-I…I just thought we could be friends…”
“Fine. We’re friends.”
“Wow… Really?”
“No.”
“Everyone, listen up,” Michelle said, clapping her hands. “We’re almost ready to open the portal into Neverquest. Once we’re inside, the only contact we’ll have with the outside world is through Sophia. She will coordinate our actions. If you have something to say, take it up with her—or with me. I will be leading ground team Alpha. Russell will lead team Bravo. Each unit will carry three men in addition to its captain.”
Pip raised his hand.
“Yes, Pip?”
“Wouldn’t it be safer if both units stuck together?”
“Ideally, yes, but we have a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time. Now, take a look at this.” Michelle clicked a button on the controller in her hand and a freeze-frame image of a girl with pink hair appeared on the front wall screen. “This is Siarra. Our intel reports that she is responsible for leaking the virus into the Neverquest servers. As we speak, the virus is quickly spreading through the circuitry and it’s only a matter of time before our systems are rendered useless. Now, I have broken through all but the seventh-door encryption placed on the virus, but the only way we can open the last door in a reasonable amount of time is to locate Siarra. She does not have a criminal record and it’s possible that she didn’t even mean for the virus to do what it did. If that’s the case, it shouldn’t be too difficult to convince her to hand over the password. At the very least, her own life is at stake.”
“Will we be able to maintain our GM status once inside the game?” Neil asked.
Michelle frowned, but only for a moment. “Unfortunately…because this is a backdoor into Neverquest, we will not be able to manipulate the stats of our in-game characters.”
“So…we’re going in as regular players?”
“Not exactly. We won’t be able to cheat, but we will be able to enter Neverquest with the class, weapon, and armor of our choosing. Now, I realize there are many options available to us, so I have taken the liberty of putting together the best combination of class and gear for each of you.” She nodded to Russell, who began passing out folders to the five security guards and Wallace. “In order for this operation to work, I need every one of you—both in and out of the game—working together. Pip, I want you and Neil on protocol and in-game radar and tracking. It’s nighttime in Neverquest, so we won’t know where we’re going. And we’re in a double-blind because we’re not precisely sure where to find Siarra.”
“So we’re double-screwed, you mean,” Sophia said.
“No. This image of Siarra that was captured—taken moments before you lost contact with Tony—appears to be the coliseum in Felwinter, the capital city of Ellewyn. According to the time stamp, Siarra was there about eight hours ago.”
“That doesn’t mean she’s there now.”
“No, but someone else in the city might know here whereabouts. Our goal is to split up, find Siarra, and pry the password from her by any means necessary. We don’t have much time, people, so let’s work with what we have. Any questions?”
Alyssa raised her hand. “What do you want me to do?”
“…Who are you again?”
“My name is Alyssa…”
“Oh, um…” Michelle looked down and began flipping through the clipboard under her arm. “…Do you know how to cook?”
“Yes… I cooked the dinner you had.”
“Oh. Yeah, in that case, don’t do anything. Just sit there. We’ll have taken care of in no time. Let’s move, people.”
Giantess World
