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By the time Gelda and friends arrived in Alkupera Town, noon was almost upon them. People busied themselves going in and out of buildings and vehicles, most stopping several times to chat, all bearing smiles and warm greetings. The temperature was mild, the air fragrancers had come and gone, and the prettiest tiny red and yellow fleurs were in bloom. It was another lovely day.
For the entire trip, Tolbert had been consumed with the tracking device and commenting on how it seemed like it was following them rather than the other way around. ‘This confounding thing is really on the blink,’ he said as they rounded the corner onto the street of the address. ‘Now it’s defaulted back to its home location.’
Gelda couldn’t help but occasionally glance back at him as she drove to see he still chatted to the space ahead of him. He was indeed an odd man.
The Domers League clubhouse was on a busy street near the town centre. A block away from the address Prinn gave them, the car made strange gurgling noises, offered up a few clunks, then the engine packed it in.
‘And there it goes,’ Gelda mournfully sang.
‘Oh, dear!’ Hazzy commiserated. ‘It almost made it. That’s something.’
‘That’s something indeed,’ replied Gelda.
Gelda steered the vehicle to the side of the road as it rolled to a stop. They got out and looked for signs of the cause but saw nothing.
‘No point in wasting time on it.’ Gelda led them the remaining distance to the club. It was a two-storey building with a pink and green ‘Patik’s Best Couries In Town’ sign emblazoned above an ornate door at the front. Next to it was a small red arrow with ‘Domers Club’ handwritten in yellow that indicated to go round the side. They walked down a narrow alley and up a flight of metal stairs around the back to a locked dark-green wooden door. Gelda pressed a small round button where a door handle might’ve been.
‘Hello?’ came Lanseth’s voice from the speaker.
‘Tawawa! It’s Gelda and friends.’
‘Tawawa, Gelda, and friends!’ The door clicked open. They entered a small empty foyer, then an internal door opened ahead.
Lanseth greeted them with a smile and was about to say something when a voice from behind said, ‘Who wants breakfast?’
They turned to see Alrick holding a basket of pastries and fruit. The sweet aroma made mouths water and stomachs grumble. They followed him inside a large room that had six gaming cubicles backed up against each other in two rows of three in front of a partition wall covered in maps, notes, diagrams, and schedules. Alrick placed the basket on a bench in a kitchen area where Renoy was making jova.
Prinn appeared from a door next to the window. ‘Tawawa!’ they greeted each other.
Hazzy went to the window to look out while Tolbert disappeared around the partition wall.
‘Hungry?’ Lanseth asked Gelda and Bryll.
Gelda’s stomach grumbled. She thought it polite to only take a light puffly until Alrick said, ‘Try a sugar ring. Oh, and definitely a liosh bredde. They’re from my mother’s bakery.’
‘They’re the flakiest pastries in town,’ Renoy said with his mouth full.
‘And she grows the best berries,’ Lanseth told them, arranging large and luscious redberries, freshly picked zingberries, and brightly coloured speckleberries into a bowl, then selecting a liosh bredde from the basket.
Gelda poured jova into a bright orange cup then selected the recommended sugar ring and flake wrap, while Bryll chose a sweetspice scroll and a puffly twist coated in shoka and nibbleberries. The pastries were melt-in-the-mouth delicious and the jova was full-bodied and smooth. Jovas in hand, they followed Lanseth past the gaming stations to a rest area behind the partition wall. Lounge chairs surrounded a round lowset table.
Tolbert already sat in one, tinkering with the tracking device and chatting to SID. When he saw them, he said, ‘It’s not the most robust device I’ve invented, but I do have a sort of portal—’
‘A portal? Why didn’t you say?’ Alrick had only just sat down, but now he jumped up. ‘Let’s go!’
Tolbert waved his enthusiasm aside. ‘It’s more of a space gate, and it’s of no use without coordinates and what about the intel we’re here for?’
Lanseth checked his aide. ‘She should be here by now.’ Just as he said it, in walked Shellany.
‘Shellany?’ said Gelda and Tolbert at the same time.
Everyone exchanged looks of confusion.
‘You know each other?’ Lanseth asked Tolbert and Shellany the same question Gelda and her friends also wanted answered.
Shellany’s eyes moved from Lanseth to Tolbert to Gelda. Instead of answering, she unzipped a pack and presented a capsule with a zig-zag pattern.
Gelda gasped. ‘My Universe?’ Lanseth shot a glance at her so she added, ‘I mean the missing Universe?’
With a curt nod, Shellany placed it gently on the table.
‘What?’ Lanseth exhaled the word.
Renoy donned a doubtful frown. ‘How?’
Shellany’s hand went up to silence any further questions. She took a deep breath. ‘When I first came to the club, I told you I was a Cosmo Dome fan, and I am – kind of – but that’s not the reason I joined.’ She looked at Tolbert when she said that. ‘It wasn’t to play. It was to steal the Universe.’
‘What?’ Lanseth coughed and almost choked on his puffly.
‘B-But we’re friends!’ Prinn stammered.
‘You betrayed us?!’ said Alrick.
Gelda and friends watched the conversation play out to piece it together.
‘I don’t understand,’ said Lanseth. ‘We welcome you into our club and even offer you a Jinverse to play, and you steal a Universe?’
‘Not just any Universe – the last one.’ Renoy looked almost as fierce as a Gorgon.
‘I’m sure she had her reasons,’ Gelda soothed. ‘Let’s not forget she brought it back.’ She gave Shellany a smile of encouragement, and they learnt that she’d been hired by the Gorgon former Boss Queen, Giorana, to find it.
‘I regretted it immediately and even pleaded with her to let me have it back when it was clear she had no use for it. I didn’t know she’d listed it on the Marvellus exchange until you did.’ She addressed Lanseth when she said that. ‘When you tracked it down, I followed you to Gelda’s then took it from the Gorgons at the restaurant. I went in disguise and made sure I wasn’t followed.’
‘You still haven’t said why,’ said Lanseth quietly.
‘I was angry over something that has nothing to do with you.’ Shellany glanced Tolbert’s way. Tears welled as she forced herself to make eye contact with everyone in the room. ‘It’s the worst thing I’ve ever done. I am fond of you all and I am so sorry.’ Their hurt and anger was punishing. ‘I don’t expect your forgiveness, but my hope is bringing it back will at least ease your distress.’ She turned and left.
‘That’s it?’ Lanseth stood and called out as Shellany reached the edge of the partition wall. When Shellany turned, he added, ‘You steal a Universe, bring it back, say sorry, and then leave?’
‘What else is there?’
‘Forgiveness?’ Prinn joined Lanseth at the wall edge. ‘We’re still your friends.’
‘There’s no need to leave,’ Alrick encouraged from his seat.
Bryll shrugged. ‘You helped Gelda fix and play Cosmo Dome, so you’re obviously a good person.’
‘And did a stellar job of it, too.’ Gelda beamed.
‘Nothing’s ever so bad it can’t be fixed by a cup of kerai.’ Hazzy skittered off into the kitchen to brew some.
Renoy’s expression went from angry to blank. Then he gave a curt nod. ‘I get it. I’ve done shitty things too.’
Lanseth looked up from staring into his empty cup and gave a soft smile. ‘It takes courage to own your mistakes.’
Tolbert was the only one not to offer encouragement. He kept his head down and rubbed thumbs over curled up fists.
Shellany stood motionless in a fight-or-flight conundrum. Leaving was the easy option. Staying was the right thing to do, but the awkwardness was unbearable.
‘Don’t go,’ Lanseth said quietly. ‘The Jinverse still needs a player, and we’d miss you.’
With all eyes on her, Shellany forced her legs to return her to everyone. She sat down in a vacant chair. The capsule lay untouched on the table. No one spoke. The looks between Shellany and Tolbert didn’t go unnoticed.
‘Tell them the whole truth,’ Tolbert encouraged softly.
Shellany stared at him for a long moment. ‘My surname is Shimble.’ No one understood the significance.
‘She’s my daughter,’ Tolbert told them, then said to Shellany in a matter-of-fact tone, ‘You stole the Universe to get back at me.’
‘I knew you’d hate a Gorgon overlord being the first to complete a set, especially one with its biospheres severed,’ Shellany confessed.
‘I left to protect you,’ he said, though the words felt profoundly insufficient.
‘You broke our family.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Tolbert said almost inaudibly.
Lanseth got up and motioned for the others to do the same. They congregated in the foyer to give the estranged pair a moment alone. No one spoke but many yawned. After what seemed to be an eternity, Tolbert appeared at the door. ‘Thanks. I feel responsible for her actions and appreciate your kindness.’
Lanseth smiled. ‘Of course.’
Everyone dragged their weary bodies back into the rest area and they got to discussing what to do next.
‘They’ll be back,’ said Shellany.
‘How did you happen to have the last Universe anyway?’ Tolbert put to Lanseth.
‘Good question,’ Gelda agreed.
‘And why wasn’t it played?’ Tolbert asked.
‘It was mine,’ Lanseth confessed. ‘I ordered it when I lost my first Essaverse but couldn’t get past the glitch.’
‘The glitch?’ Gelda queried. She kept hearing the term and was eager to know more.
‘So you reset it?’ Tolbert asked at the same time.
‘I did,’ Lanseth confessed. Head down, he turned away.
‘Resetting a game restores it to pre-initiation,’ Shellany explained to Gelda and her friends.
‘Which means a biosphere reverts to its original state. It’s rarely done.’ Tolbert added.
Lanseth looked up with remorse clear in his sad eyes and tight lips. ‘It seems appalling, I know, but I had hoped to overcome the glitch.’
What is the glitch everyone keeps talking about?! Gelda had to know. She also desperately wanted to discuss what had happened to her inside the Universe on PEACH, but the conversation took its own direction.
‘It would have perished otherwise,’ said Alrick.
‘None of us were up to the challenge of playing it after that so we made a group decision to lock it away until a worthy player came along,’ said Renoy.
‘And no one did,’ Prinn added quietly.
‘Until you,’ Shellany said to Gelda. ‘I didn’t mean to deceive you. I honestly came to warn you about the Gorgons and explain that it shouldn’t have been on the market in the first place, but when I knocked on the door someone pulled me inside and handed me a decanter of very good elixir. Everyone was crowded around the Universe having such fun. I guess I got caught in the excitement and saw the opportunity to save it by you playing the construction levels so Boss King couldn’t sever it. It seemed the perfect solution, but it was misleading. I should have just told you the truth.’
Gelda shook her head. ‘If you had told me all of that I probably would have shoved it in your face and asked you to leave.’
‘You would not!’ said Hazzy. ‘You’re much too polite for that.’
‘Perhaps, but I wouldn’t have played it, but I did, and now here we are and I’m glad. To be honest, I’m more concerned about this glitch you all keep talking about. What is it?!’ Not to mention finding myself inside the Universe, she wanted to add, but one thing at a time.
Tolbert shook his hand and sighed. ‘It’s an anomaly that seems to have infected all the Universes. There’s no pattern to it at all.’
‘First thing’s first,’ said Shellany. ‘As much as I’d like to think our trouble with the Gorgons is over, they won’t give up, which means they’ll be back to retrieve the Universe very soon.’
‘Exactly, and the only way to stop them from wanting it is to finish construction,’ said Tolbert. He looked to Gelda. ‘Do you think you have what it takes to play?’
‘She definitely does,’ said Shellany.
‘I hope so,’ Gelda replied.
‘Trust me. You have what it takes,’ Shellany affirmed.
‘Good, good,’ said Tolbert. ‘And the glitch?’
With eyes closed, Shellany nodded. ‘It’s appeared.’
‘It has?’ said Gelda.
‘Let me guess: a planet in a distant galaxy?’ said Tolbert.
‘Yep,’ replied Shellany.
‘It’s always a planet,’ Tolbert lamented. ‘Will you code?’
While Shellany suspected her father suggested it to win her favour, she also wanted to make amends to the club and to help. If she could prove herself a worthy Domer, perhaps they would still have her. ‘Of course,’ she said simply. It had been a long few days and she was done with talking.
‘So, it’s decided,’ said Lanseth. ‘You’ll fix the glitch and Gelda will finish construction so that the Gorgons can’t stop it.’
‘Just like that,’ muttered Shellany.
‘Are you okay with that?’ Gelda asked Lanseth. ‘I mean it was your game before it was mine.’
‘I’m just glad it’s in the right hands.’ Lanseth smiled encouragingly.
‘Let’s get started.’ Shellany headed for the game stations, but Lanseth called her back.
‘Not here,’ he said. ‘It’s not safe. The Gorgons only have to search the public feed and they’ll find the club. It’s the most obvious place to begin their search.’
‘Then where?’ Gelda wondered.
‘My place on Anon,’ said Tolbert.
‘Isn’t that a secluded world?’ said Hazzy.
‘Exactly. It’s the last place anyone would look.’
‘It’s too far away,’ said Gelda. ‘We don’t have time or energy for a long trip right now.’
‘Fortunately, you require neither.’ Tolbert reached into his satchel and took out the space compactor. He fastened the disc to his waist again, then pressed the buttons to make the pulsating transparent rings.
‘A portal?’ Hazzy admired the swirling colours rippling across its surface.
‘Broadly yes, but it uses a unique space-time method that compresses the layers of reality from departure to destination. The jaunt is a tad disorientating, but it got me here. I call it the space compactor.’ It looked like Tolbert just stopped talking to look into the space ahead as SID’s waveform fluctuated.
‘You should call it the spactor,’ SID said. Being mobile meant limited processes so she was only seen and heard by Tolbert.
‘An abridgement. Great idea,’ he agreed and smiled innocently at the people around him. ‘I’m calling it the spactor.’
‘It’s small,’ Renoy remarked.
‘It’s a prototype. Travel capacity is limited to one person at a time – two if you don’t require an immediate return. Initial charge takes a while, then it needs to recharge between jumps.’
‘It will take ages for us all to get through,’ said Prinn woefully.
‘You go. We’ll stay here,’ Alrick suggested.
Renoy objected. ‘It won’t be long before the Gorgons crash down the door.’
‘We can’t leave our Cosmo Domes,’ said Prinn.
‘Or anything that reveals we were here or where we’ve gone,’ said Alrick.
Lanseth sighed and paced about. ‘We pack them up, clear the place out, then go.’
‘Will you come back for us?’ Alrick asked Shellany.
‘Of course,’ she said, happy that she was forgiven and of use.
‘Then it’s sorted,’ said Lanseth. ‘You three go and we’ll message you when we’re ready to join you.’
Hazzy and Bryll were chatting near the window, but they came back and Hazzy said, ‘Odgio’s coming with Fansy and Finkle.’
‘I’m so glad you’re all coming with us!’ said Gelda. Tolbert’s spactor contraption would be put to good use transporting them all to Anon. She just hoped they would all get off-world before the Gorgons found them.
Hazzy shook her head. ‘No, love. They’re coming to collect us.’ She squeezed Gelda’s hand. ‘It’s best if we stay in Equion.’
‘What? No! You must come to Anon. What an adventure it will be!’
‘Your adventure, my dear friend. Go and enjoy.’
‘She’s right, Ma Varda,’ Bryll agreed. ‘We’d be surplus. Go save your game.’
Hazzy hugged Gelda tightly. ‘Let us know if you need anything. Worst case, I can get hold of a portal or book a flyover.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Absolutely! You have a grand project to accomplish and good support. It’s a wonderful gift. Enjoy it!’
Gelda walked them both out and they said their goodbyes, just as Odgio and Fansy arrived with Finkle.
Finkle wriggled in his travel pouch to get out. Gelda unzipped the top for head kisses. ‘Be good for Hazzy,’ she told him.
‘Bit of an escapade you’re embarking upon,’ said Odgio with a wink and wished her luck.
Fansy leaned in and whispered in Gelda’s ear, ‘Remember, it’s just a game. Though I am curious to see how it all turns out.’ She laughed.
‘You’re trouble, Aunt Fansy,’ Gelda teased.
‘Keep your aide on and update us!’ Bryll called out.
Hands waved and kisses blown, they departed. Gelda reeled in their residual energy, then went back inside. Ignoring the faintly pulsating compression rings of the spactor’s initial charge, the Domers sat around the table talking in faint whispers. Gelda sat next to Lanseth who turned and smiled. ‘It’s not the best of circumstances, but I’m so glad we’ve met. The club has been searching for a Universe player for ages, but there has been no one good enough to pass the glitch.’
‘Don’t get too excited. A faulty planet keeps stopping me from passing levels,’ Gelda admitted.
‘It’s a thing,’ said Prinn, as though she was an expert on the matter.
‘It’s true,’ Lanseth agreed. ‘All players of Universe experience it.’
‘That’s the glitch?’ Gelda wondered.
‘Probably,’ said Tolbert. ‘I analysed it for decades and never figured it out.’ He smiled at the Domers. ‘I have to say, it’s really great to finally meet you all.’
‘Same!’ Prinn said.
‘It’s an honour to meet you.’ Lanseth looked a tad starstruck.
‘Very much so,’ Alrick agreed. ‘We didn’t know who you were at first, so we were quite suspicious when we saw you at Gelda’s house.’
‘You were in the bright town van?’ asked Gelda.
‘We were on a stake-out,’ Prinn said.
‘We thought you might be Gorgons,’ Renoy confessed.
When Gelda laughed at the thought, so did they.
‘And then when you turned up, we wondered if you were a collector,’ Renoy said to Tolbert.
‘Never in a trillion years did we think you’d be the inventor,’ said Lanseth.
Tolbert laughed. ‘How did you even track the Universe?’
‘Alrick hacked your System,’ Lanseth told him. ‘He’s our tech genius.’
‘Only your notifications.’ Alrick said quickly. He didn’t want Tolbert thinking he was meddlesome or disrespectful.
‘I’m impressed you got that far.’ Tolbert made a mental note to ask SID about the incident. The mobile system was running low on power and so he kept their communication to necessary only.
‘Lanseth has the most cultivated Essaverse in Leffon,’ Prinn boasted. ‘That’s why he’s club president.’
‘Don’t forget head judge at CosmoCon,’ Alrick said.
‘I formed the club from winners of each model,’ admitted Lanseth.
‘That’s us,’ said Prinn proudly. ‘Want to see our biospheres?’
Dog-tired, the two guests were nevertheless eager. Prinn led them over to the long windows behind the lounge and unlocked the six white locker cabinets to unveil the biospheres.
Renoy was first to take his out. The Bonverse was a testament to simplicity. The biosphere was white with occasional dark spots. He hooked up the controller and projected it in the display. On a white background floated transparent creatures that were mostly bulbous with multiple spikes or nodules. They ranged from large to so small that Renoy had to zoom in for them to see. ‘The more you zoom, the more you see,’ he explained and zoomed in on a bulging lifeform that contained lifeforms, and they too contained lifeforms, and so on.
‘Breathtaking,’ said Gelda. ‘What do they do?’
‘Explore, connect, and multiply,’ said Renoy. ‘It’s a subtle game that suits my groove.’
‘It’s definitely your pace,’ Gelda said. ‘What status have you reached?’
‘Custodian.’
‘We’ve all finished the construction levels,’ said Lanseth.
‘Now we watch and care,’ said Prinn.
‘It’s a big responsibility,’ said Renoy.
‘But rewarding,’ said Alrick.
‘It’s frustrating when something goes wrong and you can’t fix it,’ said Renoy.
Prinn went next with Thalverse. Mostly blue and green, it had swirling patterns of cloudy areas interspersed with bold stripes or dots. She projected the display for a closer look at abundant and varied aquatic life that was calming and enticing.
‘I could look at it for days,’ Gelda whispered.
‘It’s relaxing, isn’t it?’ Prinn agreed. ‘I have two, but my other one is in the healing incubator recovering from an infection.’
‘Tawawa! I hope it’s okay.’
Alrick took his out. ‘Wellaverse was the first biosphere to have separate worlds. Check out the colours and textures.’ It was mostly black with some green and blue and patches of warmer tones. Its display revealed a few hundred worlds. Zooming in on a planet revealed the warm tones as rocky terrain and vast plains. Two- and four-legged lifeforms moved or settled in small groups or wandered alone.
‘I prefer my worlds to have pristine environments, and since there aren’t many civilisations, I focus on innovation as a means of evolution, rather than reproduction. It means each world has a better chance of survival without risk of overpopulation.’
‘Alrick is a diligent problem solver,’ Lanseth said.
‘He’s played Wellaverse to perfection,’ Renoy praised his club mate.
Lanseth’s Essaverse was mostly black with some blue and white. Revealed in the display, the intricacies of galaxies became apparent. Spaced far apart, they were simple clusters of sprawling dust, gas, dark matter, and a few thousand stars, all held together by gravity. Zooming in on a planet revealed a solid, active surface with mountains, valleys, canyons, plains, and so much more. Lanseth pulled up a screen with categories: habitability, location, sustainability, and species survival.
Both Gelda and Tolbert enjoyed seeing the differences and how each player put their own stamp on their biospheres.
‘What about the Jinverse?’ Tolbert gave the remaining model a head nod.
Lanseth said, ‘It was donated to us by a player who had other commitments off-world. Prinn has been its caretaker for quite some time now.’
‘It’s lovely and I don’t mind at all, but it deserves someone to care for it properly,’ Prinn interjected.
‘Shellany was going to play it,’ said Lanseth.
‘Before I messed up,’ Shellany said quietly.
Before anyone could comment, the spactor said, ‘This way is open’ and repeated the message between two long pauses filled with bleeps. The large button in its centre flashed a lit-up green Open.
‘It’s charged. Ready to go?’ Tolbert asked Gelda and Shellany.
‘I don’t have anything with me.’ Gelda hadn’t expected to be gone for days and had no change of clothes. She was still in her party gown, and her feet were sore from the fancy shoes.
‘No problem. We can get you whatever you need.’ Tolbert adjusted the spactor settings on his aide. ‘It will need to power up after each jump, but only for a fraction of the time of the first charge. When I say go, step through fast.’
‘Let me know when you’re ready, and I’ll come back to collect you,’ Shellany told the Domers.
They said their farewells. The spactor bleeped and recited its message once last time then, one by one, off they went.