Warrior Games

Chapter Six

Moving To a New Destination And Meeting a New Friend

Emily almost thought she had finally gone over the edge, her mind so desperately in need of something else besides white that it was conjuring up illusions.

She found it very hard to believe that she was seeing what she was seeing, that she was suddenly seeing things like, 'WELCOME' and 'WOULD YOU LIKE TO START?' that seemed to be burned into her retina. The words were green and looked like something from an old computer age.

Even now, those strange words were still forming at intervals:

'I'M YOUR WRITTEN EDITION MAGICAL ADVISOR, WEMA.'

'PLEASE CHOOSE AN OPTION; START UP OR SUSPEND.'

Emily just stared blankly. What was this? Was this real? Just how many strange stuff would she be able to digest before she snapped in one day?

'AS STATED BEFORE, I'M YOUR WRITTEN EDITION MAGICAL ADVISOR. YES, THIS IS REAL, AND, ACCORDING TO MY ESTIMATION, YOU WOULDN'T ENDURE VERY LONG BEFORE . . . SNAPPING.' Surprisingly, the words formed across her line of vision in response to an unvoiced question.

If possible, Emily's eyes widened more. Did this thing just read her mind? To be sure, she thought, What's my name?

'EMILY BRIGHTON.'

She was stupified. Yep, it could definitely read her mind. And good intentions or not, it was a trifle chilling to know that. Can you truly read my mind? She asked in her mind, to confirm.

The words, accordingly, wrote in response, 'I READ INTENTIONALLY PROJECTED THOUGHTS FROM YOUR BRAIN.'

Intentionally?

'YES. I CAN ONLY READ THOUGHTS YOU PROJECT TOWARDS ME.' Okay, she sighed, that's a relief. Then she was forced to check herself as the words wrote some more. 'ALTHOUGH SOMETIMES, THOUGHTS THAT ARE HIGHLY CONCENTRATED ON CAN STILL BE READ BY ME.' Okay, not yet a relief, but close. At least. She just needed to learn the trick to keeping her thoughts to herself.

****

"Warrior Games?" Kyle's mouth repeated the words in question. "What do you mean by Warrior Games?"

To his surprise, MAIA didn't answer. This was no waiting-for-long-before-answering. The voice that was supposed to answer his every question did not seem able to answer this one. It instead went so quiet that Kyle almost thought he had dreamed it up. But he knew that that was not the case. He had felt the voice, real as life, in his head. So why was it suddenly so quiet at the mention of just two words? It had mentioned the damn words first!

Kyle's thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a gentle grating sound.

His eyes turned automatically to the opening that had somehow appeared where only before there had been a metal wall. The gap was exactly where the depression had been.

Kyle held his breath as he waited for guards to come in and put him in handcuffs and then lead him . . .

Wait, why don't I see anybody?

Strangely, the door was open but admitted no one, which Kyle found to be more disconcerting than if someone had entered. It was almost as if something or someone was giving him a free invitation to his end.

Ok, he steeled himself, if they wanted him to go through the door, he would. He was sick and tired of this room anyway. The all-white design of the room made him feel like he was in some kind of realm, where his body was dead in some place, and he wasn't sure he liked that feeling.

Steeling his mind to be prepared for anything, Kyle advanced slowly towards the doorway, his mind going through countless possible ways a person could die in a setting like this. He could see only more white directly across the doorway and he wondered if the whole of the spaceship, if it was really a spaceship, was designed like this.

As Kyle exited the doorway, rather cautiously, his gaze flitted quickly to his left and right, half expecting to see a weapon charging at his head but all he saw was a long white corridor that extended both sides to his left and right. Unknowingly to him, he had been holding in his breath which he released in a shaky sigh. This place was doing a good job of keeping him on edge.

As he was contemplating on which path he should take, or not take, the computer-like voice invaded his mind again. You have an incoming message.

Before he could ask if there was any 'accept' command or something like that, his vision was rudely replaced by the image of a stunning lady, making him almost stumble backwards in shocked amazement. The lady looked his age but something in her eyes told Kyle that she appeared to have matured way more than that. Her hair was the colour of the skies and although she was stunning, her gaze was as cold as ice, her violet coloured eyes making him shudder and look away from them. This beauty, apparently, was someone that was used to power and control.

"Earthling." The voice, though enchanting, was full of cold indifference, and it made Kyle snap back from his thoughts. His face contorted slightly in a grimace as he automatically expressed his distaste. Not for the word itself but for the contempt contained within it. Who did she think she was, a god? And the people of Earth her subjects? Well, he hated to burst her all lofty bubble but she was not the god of him.

And he was itching to tell her that to her face but knew that even if she was not the god of him, she was at a level way more higher than he was.

So he suppressed his anger and tried to put on a blank face.

The image of the lady, meanwhile, continued indifferently, no expression whatsoever showing on her face, "You're to move to Sector D in fifteen minutes for proper briefing."

His vision returned to normal as the message ended.

What! That was it? Then why take the trouble of sending him a message in person. To him, it was inappropriate. Why didn't she just put it in letters instead. It would have at least saved him the trouble of looking at het stuck-up face.

"Alright. D sector . . . Fifteen minutes . . ." Kyle looked both ways of the corridor, thinking of how he would locate where he had been asked to go within the fifteen minutes he was given. Thinking about how the time was not nearly enough for someone like him, his eyes widened again as his vision was replaced again by a display. On the display were different interconnecting lines, some curved, some straight and some appearing as zig zags. At the end of one curved line, a green circle with Sector D above it appeared, then a red one, not solid like the green circle but constantly blinking, appeared nearly to the bottom of the display. Above it, E8818 shone clearly.

Oh, a map. He was thankful for that but would the display not block his sight? What was the use of a map if he couldn't even see where he was going. Kyle looked at the blinking red dot as he thought of a way to shrink the size of the map. Then he remembered that he presumably had something that could help.

"MAIA, uhh, please I need a smaller version of this map." It still sounds a little ridiculous to him, talking to something he couldn't see.

Moments passed before the map suddenly disappeared and appeared again, this time at a corner of his vision and smaller by many sizes. This was better, Kyle grinned. The AI had its uses after all.

"MAIA," Kyle murmured. Catchy. Now about that Sector D . . .

Fifteen minutes suddenly looked like a waste of valuable time.

****

Kyle walked through almost empty corridors that were so white he wondered if it was the only colour the designers of the spaceship knew. Occasionally he noticed guards patrolling branching corridors, their armors giving them an otherworldly glow as intricately patterned lines emitted a softly glowing light that made him feel like becoming one of them. It was hard to believe that a human of flesh and blood was behind the hard metallic exterior. Their weapons were envious as the subtle glow extended to them also, their edges efficiently sculpted, with glowing lines looping and curving around the surface. And although the swords were in fashionably created sheaths, Kyle had no doubt that they were also beautiful, judging by the hilts. And he also had no doubts that their beauty served to hide their lethal capability.

At intervals, he observed the different doors that lined both sides of the corridor, alternately placed with their entrances open and no sign of anyone in them. Kyle looked in one and found that it was exactly like his; white walls, bed and chest, as if it was photocopied. He wondered why they were empty and immediately answered his own question – they had probably had more of a headstart than him. He had a feeling that if he ran, he would meet another person from Earth buy he chose to take his time and try to know more about his prison. No harm in that at least. He still had more than enough time, thanks to the map display sitting at the corner of his vision. The red dot that was him was now more than halfway to its destination, still blinking across slowly but steadily. A small box at the bottom of the display that Kyle had had MAIA conjure up showed the time remaining, counting down from fifteen minutes. Now it showed 6:32, giving Kyle more assurance of time.

Kyle quickly became bored with the view as he only saw corridors and rooms that looked nearly the same, making it hard to even tell if he was truly moving and not just walking on the same spot. Perhaps, if not for the map, he would have certainly believed that the whole spaceship was designed by psychotic b*stards who wanted to torture the mind out of people. Even as it was, he was almost believing it, and it was all he could do not to shout in desperate frustration. Just who had designed this thing anyway?

He walked some more time before hearing the voice. It was high and cheerful and clearly belonged to a male, and for one silly moment, Kyle thought MAIA'S husband had also finally awakened in his head and was calling out to his wife, maybe to mate and give birth to other AIs, forming a whole family in his . . .

"Hi!"

Kyle blinked, his thoughts instantly vanishing as he turned back to see a teenager with freckles and frizzy hair sporting a smile that made him look mischievous and who was sprinting his way. The teenager stopped when he reached Kyle and extended a hand. "I'm Trevor."

Kyle absentmindedly shook the extended hand, still trying to leave the lonely mode he had been donning all this while. The hand felt like it was all bones and no flesh, and the teen's brown eyes twinkled merrily as his smile got wider.

"Kyle," Kyle finally managed to talk, at which point he quickly disengaged the handshake and managed to look as indifferent as possible. He had no social experience with his mates and didn't want to embarrass himself. Well, he had, but those were experiences he would rather not term as social.

They got in step again. "Gosh, I thought I'd never see a living soul here," Trevor said, visibly shuddering from certain memories.

Kyle turned his head to look at Trevor with a confused expression. "Didn't you see the guards?" he asked, prompting the teen to roll his eyes.

"Soul as in Earth souls. Those monstrosities are very hard for me to place in the human category.

They were certainly on the same page there, except that Kyle thought the armor and weapons were kind of cool.

"So how did you know where to go?" asked Trevor as they slowly walked down the corridor.

Kyle took some moments to reply as he wasn't sure the teen beside him would buy the idea of a supernatural AI in his head. All the same he replied, "I sort of had help from a magical artificial intelligence who goes by the name, MAIA."

To his surprise, Trevor just nodded to himself and said, "Glad to know it's not only me. For some time there, I thought I was losing it."

"What's yours?"

Trevor smiled sheepishly. "Oh. Yeah, well, I forgot so I just call him Trev."

Kyle almost laughed but only allowed a smile instead. "Why don't you just ask it then?"

"Didn't you think I already tried that? I don't know why but once he introduced, he seemed not to be able to do it again. Always keeping silent." He muttered the last one, almost to himself. Then he added pleasantly, "By the way, it's a him."

"Sorry?"

"I meant Trev, it's a him."

"Oh."

Then the two rounded a bend and found themselves facing something improbable in a spaceship. It left them breathing in wonder.

"Holy molly," Trevor muttered in amazement.