You sigh and scroll up. You should do what's right. Mom and Dad said study first and fun after, so that's the right thing to do. It's not like you can't read more later. In the meantime you'll just have to try to not think about it. And if Draggy comes, you'll just have to make sure he doesn't give you any spoilers.
You decide to continue the programming exercise you've been working on. That ought to be a fun start for the day. You click on the program and the exercise description appears. Let's see here... "a simulation of droids colliding in a 2D plane" "each droid must be represented by an object" "each droid has a position, a speed per simulation step and a direction: up, down, left or right" "droids collide if they end up on the same position or go through each other" "upon collision droids change speed and direction with the following algorithm" "input is a file showing initial position and speed with blah blah blah format" "output is a file with the same format showing the state at each collision and at the end of the simulation" "bonus points for displaying the simulation steps on screen" "bonus points for supporting fractional speeds". Okay. You remember now. You've got most of the thing set up, just needs some finishing touches and you can start testing it in full. It sounded easy, so you're going for full bonus points on this one! You switch to the programming interface and start planning your next steps.
...
Gah! This is such a mess! You look at the screen, at the points of light representing the various simulated droids, feeling a slowly growing despair. Why is only one of them blinking again? You somehow managed to make it so that from time to time droids both collide and miss each other. You switch to the memory viewer, trying to see how the latest adjustments influenced the droids' internal state. You step through the simulation, seeing the numbers change. No, no, no, this is all wrong.
You stare at the screen, trying to figure out where it all went wrong and what your next move should be. You can see multiple issues. You decided to make each droid responsible for determining whether or not it's going to collide (to make it more realistic), however that approach opens up the possibility for two droids to disagree on whether or not they're going to collide. It also makes detecting repeat collisions much harder. And then there's the fact that the numbers you're using to store their position are unable to properly represent fractions that result in repeating decimals, resulting in discrepancies between the droids' predictions. You tried to solve that by changing the collision detection to be more sensitive, but that just ended up creating false positives.
Ugh, you're going to have to rewrite the whole thing! What a waste of time. Well, not the whole thing but most of the collision logic, probably move it to some outside function that keeps track of the various droids. And you also need to change part of the droid representation to better handle fractions. Would it work if you just limited the number of decimal digits? No, probably not, there's a strange behavior with these numbers, like they change on their own. Maybe if you made an object that represents fractional location and attached that to the integer location... or would that be too complicated? Hmmm... What if you're going about it all wrong? Could you increase the scale of the input data to convert fractional input to integers? Working with everything in the same scale is so much easier. But there's the problem that this could result in numbers too large to store in memory and checking for collisions would become less simple than merely checking for equality. Maybe you need to create some sort of large number object to-
*bzzzt*
You're brought out of your thoughts by the sharp noise. You recognize that noise. Someone's at the front door, requesting entry. Your first instinct is to run to the refresher to close the window. But this couldn't be Mom or Dad. The lock should had opened for them automatically. Even if it hadn't, they know the lock-code that unlocks it. So who could it be then? The landlord? But he's not supposed to come in today.
*bzzzzzzt*
Whoever it is, they're not going away. You'd better go and check.
You make your way to the door. You hesitantly raise your hand and press the button that activates the microphone.
"Who is it?"
"It's Eiwhyl."
Eiwhyl? What is she doing here? Dad says she never leaves her clinic.
"Come on, open up."
Mom always says you should never open for anyone, even if it's someone you know or who says they know you. But... Eiwhyl would never do anything bad to you. Everytime your parents have taken you to see her she's been so nice to you. And she's Draggy's friend too. Surely you can make an exception, just this once. You raise your hand to the unlock button but hesitate.
"Hey, can you hear me?"
Instead you move your hand to the microphone activation button again.
"Yes, hi. Why are you here?"
Better safe than sorry.
"It's about our friend."
Our friend... She means Draggy, right?
"Did something happen? Is he alright?"
"Yes. I mean... He'll be fine, I think."
What does that mean?
"Now can you please open up? I'd prefer to talk to you face to face."
After a second's thought you press the button that unlocks the door and it slides open.
"Hey." Eiwhyl greets you.
"Hey." you greet her back and then gasp.
"Oh my! Eiwhyl! Your horn! What happened, are you-"
"It's fine!" she snaps at you.
You take a step back.
"It's fine. May I please come in?"
"Y-yeah. Sure."
You move out of the way, feeling a mix of nervousness and awkwardness.
...
Eiwhyl is sitting across from you, looking at the table. She reaches for the glass of water in front of her and holds it but doesn't actually drink from it. You know it's polite to offer something to visitors, but you didn't really have anything to offer, so you just gave her some water. You've been waiting for her to start talking, but it's been a while and she still hasn't said anything. Maybe you should try starting a conversation instead.
"So, I've been really enjoying that book you gave me. Thank you."
"What?"
"Well, I guess Draggy gave it to me. That book you gave him. 'The adventures of Captain Tristan', remember?"
"Oh, yes, that."
With that response she falls silent. The silence lingers for a while. You decide to try again.
"Well, I've been really enjoying it! The stories are fun, but I also like the characters very much. It can be very funny. But that last bit where Tristan talks to Purpruff about his true feelings was truly heartwarming."
"Yeah, I guess."
More silence.
...
This isn't going anywhere. You'll have to ask directly if you want to know what's going on.
"So, about Draggy..."
"Yes. About that."
She raises the glass and starts drinking the water, continuing until the glass empties. She sets the glass down, exhales deeply and looks at you.
"What do you know about sorcery?"
"Sorcery...?"
"Magic. Supernatural abilities."
Well, you've read stories with magical artifacts and evil sorcerers but you wouldn't say that makes you an expert or anything.
"Just stories."
"Hm. Have you heard of my kind? The Iktochi?"
"You mean how you can predict the future?"
Did she predict something bad?
"Yes, that's the rumor." she says with a hint of annoyance.
"But I can't. Not really. I've never had a prophetic vision or anything of the sort in my life, ever."
"Oh. Okay. Sorry."
She ignores your apology and continues.
"But rumors of the sort sometimes have a kernel of truth in them."
She's different than usual.
"The theory goes that sometime in the past my kind had some sort of heightened perception ability, but it was tied to something in our environment. When my ancestors left their home planet, they gradually lost that ability."
"Okay..."
That's interesting, but you don't really see how this all relates to Draggy. Or magic. Or why she's so... like this.
"Draggy is like that. His body was built for a different world or perhaps a different lifestyle. When his body gets what it needs, it gains certain unnatural abilities."
"I don't understand, what do you mean 'unnatural abilities'?"
"Enhanced strength. Poison resistance. Body modification. Extrasensory perception. Who knows what else. All with no discernible explanation. Sorcery. Magic."
It takes you a few seconds to process what she said.
"Wait. Are you- Wow! Really? That's-"
As you're trying to find words that express your feelings, you notice Eiwhyl doesn't share them. Your excitement is immediately replaced with fear.
"Why is that bad? Is there a problem?"
She doesn't respond. That means there's a problem.
"Is the lack of... is it hurting him?"
"Yes. His body will consume itself if it has nothing left to burn." she states matter-of-factly.
No no no.
"Is it... How bad is it?"
"Last time it happened he was out cold for several days. He only woke up a few days ago."
"Oh! Then we can't- We need to find more of it! Where can we find it? Is it rare?"
"No. It's more common than you'd think."
"Then... That's wonderful news!" you exclaim, breathing a sigh of relief.
However, once again your sense of relief is demolished by the fact that Eiwhyl doesn't seem to share said relief.
"...isn't it?"
Eiwhyl looks at the table. She's silent for a while. You're beginning to think she won't answer when she finally speaks.
"It's people."
"I'm sorry?"
"He needs to eat people."
What.
"What does- I mean, how- That can't be-"
You have a thousand things you want to say right now. You grasp one thought and manage to push it out of your mouth.
"How does that even work?"
"Whatever it is he needs, it's found in people, though apparently not all have the same amount. My assumption is that after he ingests enough of them the pieces are broken down and then liquefied by-"
"No!" you interrupt her, your voice louder than you intended.
"No, I mean, that's... That can't be. How do you know that?"
"From what he told me and whatever readings I managed to take combined with some educated guesses."
"He told you that he... did that to someone?"
"Yes."
"And..."
You struggle but can't bring yourself to ask that. Eiwhyl waits, her expression unchanging. In the end you ask something else.
"And when did he..."
"The first time was... Do you remember the time the security force came here and-"
You gasp.
"Then those bodies they found...!"
"Yes. It was him."
No. This can't be happening. Mom and Dad were right. It's all your fault.
Eiwhyl continues speaking, seemingly oblivious to your distress.
"He consumed one of them, that's as much as his stomach could hold, which resulted in-"
"Why?" you finally manage to ask, if only so that she'll stop telling you more details about it. She's silent for a few seconds before she finally answers.
"Revenge, I think. Because they hurt me."
That... you need to think about that. That changes things. But is that better? You take some time to wipe your eyes and compose yourself before asking another question.
"You said 'the first time'. So it has happened again since then?"
"Only once, that I know of."
"Only once?"
"Yes. For now."
"Why do you say that? He hadn't done anything like that for so long."
That's not true. You've seen the blood.
"And I'm sure he was just trying to help you when he..."
You both stay silent.
"The second time must have been the same."
"Not exactly. He tracked down the murderer of a young woman and killed him."
"Then I was right, he was just trying to help!" you state with some relief.
"It might have not been the right thing to do, but... What makes you say he'll do it again?"
"The first event seems to have kickstarted the growth of a certain organ that appears connected to the process. With the second event that growth has accelerated and is now actively consuming his body's reserves to... do whatever it does."
"Is he going to be... Is it hurting him?"
"It's not life-threatening. Not yet. So far increased nutrient intake seems to be enough to maintain an equilibrium, though he has expressed hunger and discomfort at times."
"And you're saying his hunger will get worse?"
"That is my guess."
"But you don't know for sure. Maybe this is as far as it gets. Maybe it'll get better."
"Or maybe it'll get worse until it's all he can think about. Maybe now that he has had a taste of it, he won't be able to resist."
"He's not-"
"Not like that? I've been hungry. Really hungry. I know what a starving man can do for a bite of food. I know what an addict will do for less."
You turn her words in your head. You don't want her to be right. But what she says makes sense. Except for...
"And yet you trust him enough to leave him alone with your patients."
She has nothing to say to that. She stares at you for a while and then looks away.
"Maybe there's another way. Some way he can get what he needs."
Eiwhyl sighs.
"Let me tell you what he told me. One of the abilities he gained during the last event was being able to sense what he called the 'inner fire' of others. The same fire he uses to fuel the fire in him. He said each one's is different. Different amount, different quality. Only some good for eating."
She shrugs.
"I'm not one that believes in souls and magic, but that sounds an awful lot like he's eating their souls to me."
That's a horrible thing to say.
"What about feeding him without hurting someone then? Maybe a transfusion or something?"
She shakes her head.
"Based on his accounts, he seems to enter some sort of feeding frenzy when he begins consuming appropriate material. I won't risk it."
"We can minimize the risk."
Eiwhyl sighs.
"Maybe. But even if you do so, even if it works, what if all it does is accelerate the process? Make things worse?"
It is your turn to stay silent.
"Some dragons can become as large as a spaceship. What happens then?"
You don't know. But you can't just... You need to find a way to help him.
"Look, I'm already thinking of things to do." Eiwhyl says, as if reading your thoughts.
"That's not why I came here."
You look at her, waiting for her to continue.
"I came here because I thought it was right for you to know everything. Not to force you to make a decision."
The two of you wait in silence for a while.
"Then... you won't tell my parents?"
"No. You should be the one to tell them, should you choose to do so. That is between you and them."
"Then... I don't think I will."
This is wrong.
"So be it."
She doesn't look surprised by that.
"And what about him?"
"I..."
You look at your hands grasping each other.
"Tell him I'll be waiting for him, when he gets better."
You can't let it happen again. You won't.
"If that is your choice. I only thought it fair to let you know." she repeats.
"Thank you, Eiwhyl. I appreciate it." and after a moment of silence "I appreciate everything you do for me and Draggy and the rest of my family."
"...okay then."
She gets up and heads for the door. After a moment of confusion you scramble up and run ahead of her so that you can unlock it.
"It was nice having you here! Come back any time!" you say as you stand next to the open door.
She stares at you. You hope she's not mad at you.
"Thank you."
And with that, she leaves. You watch her walk away for a few seconds before closing and locking the door.
You sigh and walk to your room. You fall on your bed and curl up, hugging your blanket. This is... You try to process the feelings inside you. Worry. Fear. Anxiety. And there's also a great amount of guilt. Part of it is because you feel responsible for what happened, for not listening to your parents. Draggy is your responsibility. You agreed to that when he first came into your home. Was it your fault for pressuring Mom and Dad to keep him? For not following their rules? Would it had been better if you had kept him locked inside the apartment or called the Security force? ... No. Even if that was the right thing to do, you couldn't do that to him. But the greatest amount of guilt comes from how you felt, how you're still feeling. How selfish you are for not wanting to lose him. The excitement at the possibility of adventure. Magic is real! Dragons are real! Instead of being locked in here, the two of you could be like a storybook heroes, two friends out to have adventures and change the world! It's difficult, childish, stupid, thoughtless, dangerous, selfish, wrong... But so, so, so exciting!
End of Interlude
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Topic: Surviving in an Alien World [Suggestion Game] (Read 106686 times)