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1256 Words
He was set back half a dozen times in that round, and his success was more pure chance than skill. The final test in the room counted ricocheting balls that hit him as failures, and he had just gotten lucky by freezing after rolling out of the initial trajectories.
He expected another exercise, but a door on the far side of the room opened. Awaiting him was another training room situated deeper in the building.
Here, Matt was presented with a pad and had to repeat color patterns that flashed in increasingly more complex patterns. His task was to tap their corresponding area on the pad and say the color out loud.
Matt wasn’t proud of the fact that he debated using his AI to memorize the patterns. In the end, he refrained. He was sure that Luna could see what he was doing and wouldn’t approve. Her displeasure was a larger deterrent than having an advantage over his friends, so he controlled the impulse to cheat and performed the task as intended.
Unlike the last room, there were no negative consequences, except the pattern resetting to the lowest level and a change in the pattern.
Having to perfectly replicate eleven different increasingly complicated patterns took nearly an hour, but it was a good break from the physical training he had been doing all day.
The third room was a footwork training room where he had to dodge the flashing red tiles that moved around.
Dodging the moving red light was easy for him. He practiced his footwork as a matter of course with his melee training. A slow melee fighter was a dead one, after all.
At least, it started that way, until it built to a brutal dance he had no way to beat. This room thankfully had only minor variations in its challenges and, eventually, he was able to complete the last challenge with a massive leap to the final safe area. It wasn’t pretty or the intended route, but the only one he could think of on the fly.
Matt sat in the empty room for ten minutes while he caught his breath. He had gotten overconfident with his early success and paid the price with the later levels of the room.
Room four was again physical training, just less intensive. Matt had to navigate a blind maze that changed around him. In and of itself, that would have been fine, but Matt kept getting shot by balls at random intervals. Which after many failed dodges, he learned was the trigger for the room to shift, which meant he was thoroughly turned around by the time he stumbled out of the maze and found himself surprised when the sudden light glared into his eyes.
When Matt entered the final room, he found a lounge room with Liz and Tara. He had plopped down to rest when his attention was drawn to Tara.
He froze in an air squat while she looked back at him and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Liz asked the same thing and patted the chair next to her while asking him to sit down.
Still, his instincts screamed something was wrong, and he reanalyzed Tara.
Liz asked with a voice that promised danger, “Are you checking out my competition?”
Matt ignored her and fixated on Tara when he finally realized what had raised his hackles. It was her shoes. Even back in the PlayPen, Tara had a weird habit of lacing her shoes left lace over the right. She had just been complaining about it on the train, so while he hadn’t paid attention to her shoes, the incongruity stood out.
Here, her shoes were laced haphazardly.
At that realization, everything in the room started to blend like water on fresh paint.
Clapping sounded out next to him, and Luna stood in the white room with him.
“Well done. That was the fastest anyone figured out that they were in the illusion array. I had to start introducing other oddities before they caught on.” Luna actually smiled at him.
Despite the woman standing on the floor and being two heads shorter than him, he felt like she was looking down on him.
Matt was too tired to really process that, as his mind was still focused on what she said. He asked, “An illusion array? I thought those were restricted.”
“They are. I’m licensed.” Luna pointed out the door. “They’re too perfect for training to not use and will prepare you for far worse. Get going. Out, out, out.”
Matt met the older woman’s eyes, and with every bit of energy and will he could muster, said, “Don’t use my parents in one of those.”
Luna just met his gaze for a long moment before she quietly added in a gentle tone, “You’ll have to deal with that eventually. And more than one person has found comfort in their self-made illusions.”
Matt vehemently shook his head. “No. Just no. If the information I read is even half true, you should have control over what is shown. Just don’t. Please.”
He half-expected Luna to push him on that, but she just nodded and pointed to the door that appeared when he completed the room. “You are waiting for Aster and Sam to finish their last rooms. Then, you all have a slightly longer break. Take that time and settle yourself. If you’re not mentally here for the training, it’s worthless. I want to push you to the breaking point not actually to break you.”
He had no idea if that was true, as his experience with the woman was nearly zero, other than her orders during the war. But, even then, that had been precious little to go on or gather any perspective from. Matt had little other choice but to take her at her word. When he entered the room, he found his friends already chatting about their training. Needing to center himself and quell his roiling emotions a bit, he stretched while listening. Or he did until Aster barreled into the room.
She honed onto his location and burrowed into his chest, complaining, “The ice cream rabbits were all made out of sand! It’s not fair! I want actual ice cream rabbits!”
Matt just laughed. If nothing else, Aster’s antics were adorable.
“If you knew they were made out of sand, why did you keep trying to eat them?”
Aster flicked one ear while looking at him like he was dumb. “If I found the real one, it would have been good to play with and tasty. That would be the best!”
He felt her push ideas of ice cream rabbit rifts at him. The mental pleading was paired with puppy eyes and a droopy tail. It was just too cute to resist.
“I’ll try, but I’m surprised that you even left willingly.” His joking words caused Aster to flop over and kick the air.
“I wouldn’t have if the stupid cat didn’t kick me out!” The indignation was too much for everyone, and even Liz started to laugh.
Aster hopped up and headbutted Liz. “Foxes eat cats! I’ll eat her one day. Took my ice cream. Big meanie! I’ll take her ice cream one day.”
Aster’s grumbling devolved into more threats about stealing Luna’s ice cream while Matt asked Liz, “Luna is a cat?”
- Writer
