‘Very interesting,’ said Professor Palimpsest, scratching at his goatee. ‘Yes, yes, yes. Very, very.’
‘Interestin’?’ spluttered Tark, gesturing wildly withhis hands. ‘Ya stupid machine hads no effect on that
... that thing in the cave. And all ya gots ta says is interestin?’
Tee put a hand on Tark’s shoulder to calm him down, and then looked at the professor. ‘So, what do you think happened?’
‘Well ... well, well, well. I would surmise that the discharge was not strong enough. Yes, that is what I would surmise.’
‘I used the override,’ said Tee.
‘Yeah,’ added Tark. ‘Maybe it just don’t works.’
‘You said my IDD was effective against the VIs.’ The professor nodded. ‘Yes, yes, yes. Therefore it should work on the manifestation in the cave. It is considerably more powerful and therefore needs a larger discharge. You had already expended a reasonable amount of the substance on the VIs. Yes.’
‘So, you think a full discharge should do it?’ asked
Tee.
The professor shrugged. ‘It seems .. . possible.’ Tark snorted.
‘Well, now. If I had more time, I could perhaps attach a second syringe,’ said the professor. ‘Thus expanding the storage capacity. Yes.’
‘How much time?’ asked Tee.
‘Oh dear, dear, dear.’ The professor scratched at his head with one hand, stroking his goatee with the other. ‘I would have to take the whole thing apart. So well . . . let me think . . . at least, well, at least six or seven hours, I should think. Maybe more. Yes, maybe, maybe. Yes.’
‘Yar kiddin’?’ huffed Tark.
‘Oh, no, no, no,’ assured the professor. ‘I do not ... kid. No.’
‘We don’t have the time,’ said Tee. ‘That thing looked like it was going to break through the force field. We need to hit it ASAP, and we need to hit it hard.’
‘Yeah,’ agreed Tark. ‘Hard enough ta thrash the static outs of it.’
‘Well, well, we can charge it up right now.’ The professor took the IDD from Tee and carried it over to a workbench. Picking up a cable, he plugged it into the back of the IDD.
‘Wot’s that?’ asked Tark.
‘Ahhh.’ The professor’s eyes lit up. ‘I have set up a link to an exposed area of Interface.’ He pointed to a cable. One end snaked across the ground into an alcove in the rock wall at the back of the workshop. The other end was plugged into a box with switches on the workbench. Numerous cables protruded from the box, leading to a variety of devices, including the IDD.
‘This is like a switchboard,’ explained the professor.
‘From here I charge the bolts and the patches. Yes. As well as any experimental devices, such as the IDD.’
He flicked a switch on the box and the IDD filledwith static. Then the professor disconnected it.
‘The very best of luck.’ The professor handed the weapon to Tee. ‘Luck, luck.’
‘We needs more than luck,’ complained Tark. ‘Weneeds betta weapons. I is gonna has to keep the VIs busy while Tee blasts the thing in the cave.’
‘Well, well, well.’ A smile crept across the professor’s face. ‘I have been working on other things.’
‘Oh yeah?’ A glimmer of interest entered Tark’s eyes. ‘Anythin’ I coulds use?’
‘Hmmm.’ The professor raised a bushy eyebrow.
‘Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. You would need, I presume, something that can fire more than one shot?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Preferably rapid fire?’
‘Yeah,’ Tark said again, with greater enthusiasm. The professor held up a hand. ‘Now, I have not, asyet, had the opportunity to properly conduct all the necessary testing, but-’
‘Yeah?’ Tark raised his hands impatiently.
The professor shuffled off to a locker at the other end of his workshop and came back carrying a large weapon that vaguely resembled an oversized double crossbow. Its centre was encased in a black cylinder with a series of holes at one end. At the business end, a long metal tube protruded.
‘A rapid fire crossbow,’ announced the professor.
He handed it to Tark, who turned the weapon over, examining it from all sides, disappointment evident on his face.
‘Don’t ya has any guns?’ asked Tark. ‘Likes the one Hope wuz usin’? Or maybe one of them machineguns the guards on the Hill has?’
‘No guns, I’m afraid. No, no,’ lamented the professor.
‘I already told you,’ added Tee. ‘We only have what we can salvage.’
‘Yeah, yeah, I knows,’ grumbled Tark. ‘But it ain’t fair.’
‘You will have to make do with what is at hand,’ said the professor, patting the experimental crossbow that Tark was holding. ‘This is loaded with forty-two bolts and has a double action, twin-bow setup. Yes. As the first bow fires, its release of power not only launches a bolt, but also pulls back the second bow, ready for firing, whilst also slotting the next bolt in place.’
Tark looked at the weapon with respect.
‘Pull the trigger and release, to fire one bolt.
Keep the trigger pulled back for rapid fire. It has the capacity, in theory, to fire one bolt per second. I will be endeavouring to increase the speed for the next model. Yes.’
‘In theory?’ Tark’s enthusiasm wavered.
‘Yes, yes, yes, in theory. As I said, it requires further testing.’ The professor smiled. ‘Testing, testing, testing. That is what you shall be doing.’
‘l\nd how do you reload?’ asked Tee.
‘l\h.’ The professor’s forehead creased into a heavy frown. ‘That is the drawback. It must be returned here for reloading. Yes! Here!’
‘Forty-two is enough,’ Tark said.
‘Thanks, Prof,’ said Tee. ‘Come on, Tark, we need to get going.’
The professor watched them leave. He removedhis glasses and rubbed at his worried eyes. ‘Dear, oh dear,’ he whispered to himself ‘Dear, dear, dear.’
***
‘You’re taking him with you again?’ Gal shook hishead incredulously.
‘It’s my decision,’ said Tee flatly.
‘Your decisions are becoming questionable,’ said
Gal. ‘Tark’s too erratic and too new to all this.’
‘l\nd if you’re going to question every decision Imake, then I can’t risk taking you along.’
Gal folded his arms and glared. ‘He can’t even speak properly.’
‘I can, if I so choose,’ Tark piped up, scowling at
Gal. ‘I am not the moron you think me to be. I have spent a great deal of my gaming life in Suburbia as John Hayes, speaking the way supposedly normal people do. I can speak like you if I want to. But I is choosin’ ta speaks like me.’
Gal stared at him in stunned silence.
‘Get a team together,’ said Tee, stifling a smirk.
‘We leave in five minutes.’ Gal huffed and left.
‘He hates me,’ said Tark, glaring at Gal’s back.
‘He’s not all that fond of me either,’ said Tee. ‘It’s a hangover from the game. Our characters were often opponents.’
Tark remembered how he stole the sword o’lightfrom Princeling Galbrath.
‘Now,’ said Tee, his expression turning grave. ‘Are you okay to come along? I need to know I can trust you.’
‘Ya can,’ assured Tark. ‘Last time wuz . .. it’s just that I is worried about Zyra. I knows she can takes care of ‘erself. But ...’
‘I know,’ said Tee. ‘It’s hard when you know she’sin danger and there’s not much you can do.’
‘I feels helpless. Useless.’
‘And you’ve never felt like that before,’ said Tee.
‘Playing the game was a lot easier, wasn’t it? There was no helplessness. There was always something to do, one more trick to try. If Zyra was in danger, you’d just go and help her and save the day. But now you can’t, and there are all these feelings that go along with it.’ Tee managed a wan smile. ‘I know exactly how you feel. But I don’t have a magik solution. It doesn’t get any easier. You just learn to cope. And there’s always ... hope.’
Tark looked into Tee’s violet eyes - tired,surrounded by creases, yet still sparkling with life. They were his own. ‘Let’s go.’