“So now you’ve got a choice here. You can stick around and keep doing the mission, following our lead and learning everything there is to learn about these aliens, or you can take your marbles and go home,” Neil said. “The problem now is that, if you go home... well, you’re abandoning a crucial mission in the eyes of the CIA.”
“Are you kidding me?” Sang asked. “This is manipulatory and… and incredibly unprofessional!”
“I acknowledge the fact that what we are proposing to you is crazy,” O’Hara said. “We didn’t bother sharing this information, up until now, because we didn’t have any viable way to convince you that aliens were real and worth investigating. Now that we have enough information, we can share it with you.”
Sang froze. “You can prove this?”
“Indeed, we can,” O’Hara said quietly.
Sang felt her heart skip a beat. Both of the agents wore grim expressions. Neil quietly moved over to the holograph display and fiddled with the controls. Another picture hovered in front of them. It was a rock of some sort, but it was shifting and moving uncontrollably. The strange symbols emerged from the rock again and a small face emerged alongside the symbols. Then came a voice: “Iiah vveerr,” it said. The sound of the voice was almost terrifying... it was somewhat hoarse , and sounded as if it were from a broken radio. It repeated the words over and over again, for almost three minutes straight.
“What is that?” Sang asked quietly.
“We think it’s trying to say hello,” Neil said.
“At least we hope it’s saying that,” O’Hara said. “This is the whole point of it, Sang. We’re not here to play X-Files; we’re here to play Men In Black. The truth is that we don’t know what these things are, what they want, or why they’re using some kind of video game to make contact.”
“My money is on the fact that they connected into the servers remotely and mistook the game for being our actual world,” Neil said.
“Regardless, if these creatures are friendly, then we need to know as soon as possible.”
“And if they’re not?” Sang asked.
“Then we gotta kill them, I guess,” Neil said. “I mean, once we get confirmation of the whole alien thing and we can disclose this to the President without being shoved into a nice padded cell, we’ll figure it out from there. This is all about scouting and getting information. After we get sufficient data, we can call it quits until we can get some instructions from our higher-ups.”
“And they’re just going to believe us?” Sang asked.
“Believe it or not, but we have an official charter on alien activity,” O’Hara said. “Don’t blab about it until you can prove it, but if you can prove it, do it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, that was Eisenhower’s thoughts on the subject,” Neil said.
Sang glanced at the strange recording and back to her colleagues. It was all too much to take in, but there was some curiosity in her. It wasn’t like she’d be able to walk away from this anyway. If she did, she’d be in major trouble with Frederick, and probably end up being charged with some kind of crime.
“Alright, fine,” Sang said. “I’ll keep playing alien detective, but we better find something.”
“We’re going to,” Neil said.
“And what about Van?” Sang asked. “Does he need to know?”
“No, absolutely not. Learning this kind of thing as a civilian is what earns you a trip to the desert where you get to dig your own grave.”
“I don’t see why we can’t tell him,” Sang said.
“Like he’d believe you anyway,” O’Hara said.
“Just seems like something you should tell someone, that’s all,” Sang said.
“I don’t think it’s worth telling him. He’s too much of a blabbermouth anyway,” O’Hara said. “If things get any weirder, we’ll tell him. For now, jump back in there and keep your eyes open. These communications from the aliens keep growing clearer with each passing day.”
“Very well,” Sang said as she turned to go back to her haptic pod. “I need to go save Van from that dragon anyway.”
Chapter Twelve
Van screamed as the burning smell of smoke greeted his nostrils. He had attempted to hide in various different forests, but each time he made it to a new section of the woods, a blast of fire would remove the entire area. By the end of it, he had run in a complete circle and was now near the foot of the hill again, hiding behind a stump. He wasn’t sure if the sheriff was playing with him or really was having trouble finding him, but he didn’t want to stick around to find out. There wasn’t much he could do, after all, hiding behind a charred stump. He didn’t have a weapon that would be anywhere close to able to kill the sheriff, and nor did he have any clue as to what to do. He’d kept hoping that Sang would log back in, but she didn’t particularly seem interested in actually helping anyway. How she’d logged out in the first place was beyond him, but the reality was that he was on his own.
As he sank deeper behind the burning tree stump, he pondered how to get out of this mess.
“COME OUT AND FACE ME, COWARD!” screamed the sheriff. Van glanced back to see that the sheriff had landed where one of the forests had been and was patiently waiting. He could see the words Sheriff of Castle Redscale Level 10 hover over its head. He drew up its stats really quickly.
Health 1000
Stamina 500
Strength 16
Breath Attack 150 damage +10 damage per second
Bite Attack 50 damage +50% chance of swallowing whole
Van grimaced at the stats, which showed that he didn’t have much of a chance. Without any cover left to protect him, he knew he was done for. He gripped his bagpipes and decided that he would go out on own his terms, playing a beautiful funeral dirge that he had learned in the last level. Pressing the pipes to his lips, he began to play. In his mind, he was hoping it would be beautiful, but reality dictated otherwise. The screeching sound pierced through the sky, causing a great flock of birds to take off from their various hiding places within the woods.
“What is that awful racket?” cried the sheriff. Van realized something based on its reaction to the noise, though—it wasn’t just a regular NPC... it might be an advanced one! If that was the case, maybe he could bargain with it or lie to it. He stood up and continued playing his horrible song as he marched out in front of the dragon.
“What mortal man stands before me so defiantly? Do you hope that your music might kill me?” the sheriff taunted him as it leaned its massive purple head right in front of Van. Its jaws were glistening in the sun and Van could see drops of saliva dripping from its mouth. The smell was none too pleasant either.
“My name is Semimodo and I am a musician of the highest regard!” Van said! “And I am here to bargain with you for my life!”
“Speak your demands, foolish musician, so that I may weigh them,” the sheriff said.
“In exchange for allowing me to live, I will… uh, bring to you the orchestrator of all of this!” Van said. “Yes, the evil and very powerful woman by the name of Jane! Jane, the evil wench! She put this all together! Her and her wicked frowns!”
“Yes, there was another, but she fled!” the sheriff answered. “You are saying that she is responsible for all of this?”
“Indeed, she is!” Van lied, tapping his Amulet of Lies, hoping that it would help, too. “I mean, look at me... I’m just a moronic bard who isn’t even good at his only useful skill! How could I possibly cause all of this trouble?”
“You are indeed a fool! A jester of the lowest regard!” the Sheriff growled as it pulled its massive face away from Van. “Then I must find this Jane. Take me to her and I shall spare your puny life! For perhaps there is less dignity in life for you than in death, having no skills and only wretched bagpipes to play.”