Chapter 3

Again he found himself in the blackness with the two graphics: prologue and play game.

What just happened? he wondered. Was that a glitch in the game? Or did I just mess up? Does that count as one of my lives?

Once again he chose to play the game over watching the prologue.

“Wake up, Solo_Lobo.” Lobo opened his eyes. He was back in the kite-shaped bed, which he now realized was made to fit the Orionans’ bodies. He stood up. Spec hovered over his head, gesturing with two of her arms.

“What just happened?” he asked.

“The Orionans have powerful lasers in their eyes. They can drain your life force.”

“My life force?” he questioned. “Oh!” They must be disanimators—as soon as they see me, I fade away and go back to Start. He’d played other games where being caught by an enemy caused the player to disappear, pixel by pixel, until they were sent back to Start. But he’d never experienced it in a virtual reality game before.

“You cannot let them see you for even a moment. If you do, you will be frozen and returned here.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that before?”

“I assumed you knew,” Spec said. “Surely you did not enter the Orionan Cluster without researching their abilities.”

“Of course not,” he lied. Did the Game Runner tell me about that? Guess I should have paid more attention.

“I suggest that you stay out of the sight lines of any aliens,” Spec continued.

“You think?” he said sarcastically. Reaching into his pocket, he found that he no longer had the mapping device. He slipped out of the room, headed to the small office, and started searching the drawers again. Empty. “What happened to the map thingy?”

“The alien who caught you kept it.”

Lobo turned away from the drawers. “Really? They don’t do a complete reboot?”

“Reboot? I do not understand.”

“Reboot,” he explained. “You know, like resetting things when I go back to the beginning of a level.”

Spec took a moment before responding, as if she were struggling to compute. “You mean the entrance to this tier of the space station?”

She doesn’t know she’s in a game, so she doesn’t know what I’m talking about, he reminded himself. “Never mind. I need that map to find my way around.”

“I hope you will show more caution,” the robot said, and by the tone of her voice it sounded like she meant it. “As an Orionan servant, I have taken a big risk in helping you escape. A failure on your part will have severe consequences for me as well.”

“Consequences?” Lobo questioned. “You’re an appliance. What are they going to do—recycle you for parts?”

Spec didn’t respond. Lobo felt himself wince a bit, looking away from her. I guess that was a little harsh. But it’s not like she has feelings I can hurt.

There was a noise at the door. He crouched behind the desk. His hand brushed the floor and hit something hard that scraped across the floor.

He peered beneath the desk to see what it was, hoping it might be loot or some sort of tool he could use. But no, it was useless. A hardened lump of what looked like dried cat food in the shape of a biscuit. A hard biscuit.

It must be Orionan food. Disgusting. Glad this virtual reality doesn’t include smells.

The alien entered, looked around for a few seconds, then turned and exited.

Lobo slipped the alien biscuit in his pocket, just in case. I might have to knock an alien in the head, he figured. From behind, obviously. This’ll have to do until I get a real weapon.

He started for the door, but Spec rushed in front of him and blocked his path. “The area outside this room is well guarded,” she said. “There is risk of being seen the moment you leave the room.”

“So what do I do?”

“I suggest you observe the aliens and memorize their patterns,” the robot said. “That way you can avoid being seen.”

“Yeah,” he said. “But how am I supposed to learn their patterns if I can’t open the door to watch them?”

“Remember that I am an Orionan robot.”

“So?”

“The Orionans are used to seeing me. I am as invisible to them as . . . as an appliance, like you said. I can exit the room and observe their patterns, then return with information about their movements.”

“Oh!” So you do serve a purpose. You’re a spy! “Thanks. Yeah, let’s do that.”

Spec slipped through the door and was back a moment later.

“Wait . . .” she said. “Wait . . . Wait . . . Wait . . . Go now! Five, four . . .”

Lobo bolted out of the room into a wide hallway. He ducked behind a post just as an alien turned to face the door. The post was wide at the floor and ceiling, but narrowed in the middle. He wasn’t hidden very well but the aliens kept their gaze straight ahead.

They act the way teachers tell me to, he thought. Eyes forward, focus on what’s right in front of me, don’t pay attention to anything else.

This hallway was wide in the middle, narrowing at either end, with doors along the curved walls. The walls were mustard yellow and the posts were dark brown.

There was a guard marching along either wall. A third guard entered one room after another, disappearing for a moment, then emerging and moving on to the next door. That was the guard who’d caught him. Lobo could even see the mapping device in the alien’s rear pocket. The guard still held the egg-shaped object in its hand.

No way I’m getting that weapon, he thought. But maybe I can get the map back.

Lobo moved slowly around the post, keeping it between him and the guard. As the guard passed by, Lobo snatched the mapping device out of the alien’s pocket. He quickly ducked back behind the post. The alien didn’t even notice.

Spec had been hovering by the door, watching. She now zoomed over and he expected her to scold him for being reckless. But he was wrong.

“Excellent work,” she said in a low voice.

Lobo stayed hidden behind the post and studied the map. This part of the station was shown on the map. But there was no clue to what was in the other rooms. There would probably be loot in at least one of them. A laser blaster, maybe, or a key he could use somewhere else?

He turned to Spec. “I’m going to check out those rooms.”

“I do not recommend it,” the robot said. “The doors will be locked.”

“But you can open, them right? You could see what’s in there.”

“I might attract attention if I start barging into rooms where I am not assigned.”

“You did tell me to explore,” he reminded her.

“You have the entire space station to explore,” the robot argued. “I suggest going toward the transport network access portal.” She pointed with one of her arms. “From there you can find a data center to complete your map.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” he admitted. I wish I knew what I might be missing out on here, but maybe I can come back later.

He darted from post to post until he reached a narrow opening. Spec stayed close to him. Two guards stood, unmoving, at either side of the opening. There was no way past them without being seen.

“So what’s next?” he whispered to Spec.

“We are approaching an aerovator dock,” she said. Before he could ask what that was, she went on, “Aerovators are the station’s transport network. We can use the capsules to move quickly about the space station.”

“But I have to get past those guards.”

“Perhaps you can create a distraction.”

From down the hall they heard the chatter of alien language.

“Be quick,” Spec told him. “They must have noticed you’re missing.”

Lobo remembered the lump of hard food in his pocket. He reached for it and hurled the lump of stale food at a light hanging from the ceiling. He’d only been hoping to rattle it and distract the guards, but the biscuit actually cracked the fixture.

Oops.

The light dimmed and started spraying sparks. The guards looked up at it and walked closer, staring and speaking rapidly in their language. Lobo darted behind one of them and sprinted down the hall.

As he did words flashed in front of him:

First achievement unlocked: Escaped lockup