HackSign 2

Chapter 2

Subaru had just gotten to the first dungeon of the night when she sensed something in the real world. "I'm sorry," she told her two companions in the game, "but I really have to go now."

"But we just got here!" one, a Twin Blade, said.

"I should be getting my kids ready for school anyway," their Wavemaster said.

"I don't think I can take this dungeon alone," the Twin Blade pouted.

Subaru produced a Sprite Ocarina from her pouch and handed it to him. "If you get into too much trouble, run, and use this once you're out of battle mode."

"Thanks, but you don't have to give it to me," he said.

"It's only a game," she said with a smile, then left the dungeon with the Wavemaster. Both gated out and logged out of the game.

Subaru switched off her computer, and wheeled into the bedroom. Tsukasa was sitting up in bed, covered in sweat, and she looked like she had seen a ghost. She didn't even seem to notice Subaru sitting in the doorway. Subaru switched on the lamp and parked her chair beside Tsukasa. "It's all right. You're here, in our apartment," she said. "What is it?"

"Just a dream. I was -" she stopped.

"You were what?"

"Nevermind," Tsukasa said. "I've forgotten it already."

Subaru backed up, and wheeled herself out to the balcony, which was accessible from both the living room and the bedroom. She liked to look at the moon at night, and being summer, the air was still warm. The moon was large, just over the horizon. She thought about the sheer numbers of people who played THE WORLD, and, looking at the other apartment buildings, wondered how many of them were in the game she had just left. Perhaps the Wavemaster who had left when she did, was somewhere in America, as she was getting her kids ready for school. She had met people from Japan, America, Australia, Europe, Canada, China... just about everywhere.

Tsukasa joined her on the balcony. Still drenched in sweat from the nightmare, she leaned over the balcony rail and looked down onto the streets. Though it was about 1:30 AM, people still walked the streets. It was, after all, a Saturday night.

"I've told you why I love playing THE WORLD so much, haven't I?" Subaru asked.

Tsukasa thought about it, and remembered when she first met Subaru in real life. She had passed that frail girl in the wheelchair when it occurred to her. "I play THE WORLD because I don't get out much in real life," she had said in the game, and that was what clicked in Tsukasa's head when she saw the wheelchair for the first time. She nodded.

Subaru answered anyway. "I was born without the ability to move my legs," she explained. "I've had to learn how to get around without them. But THE WORLD allows me to experience life as you do. I can stand on my own, walk on my own, and I don't need help going through doors or up a hill. It's great to have that freedom."

"Even if it's not real," Tsukasa added, still watching people on the street. "I didn't know who or what I was. I thought I was a boy. And I never slept. Six weeks, always awake, never needing food or water. It was one long - " she stopped short, afraid Subaru would put two and two together. She walked back into the bedroom, and fell asleep quickly.

"Nightmare," Subaru thought to herself, and retired to bed as well. She laid there, awake, trying to think of what it must have been like to wander a virtual world for six straight weeks. Or sit it out with a floating child who never awakened and a cat who whispered riddles. Pondering these mysteries, she drifted slowly to sleep.

The next morning, Tsukasa awoke to the smell of sausage. She dressed and walked into the small kitchenette. They had to get a special apartment, and though the stove and countertops were perfect for Subaru, if Tsukasa wanted to cook, she had to do it on her knees. Subaru had cooked a perfect Sunday breakfast - fried eggs, rice patties, and sausage. With hot tea. Somehow knowing Tsukasa would awaken, Subaru had already set her place. They did not have a traditional Japanese table, either, as it would be too much work for Subaru to get in and out of her chair just to eat. Tsukasa however prefered to sit in the traditional fashion, and had found a pretty large foot rest, which she pulled up to the table, and knelt down to her place.

Sipping at her tea, her body waking up, Tsukasa said to Subaru, "I have something I have to tell you." Subaru did not answer, so she continued. "I didn't forget my dream. I dreamed I was in THE WORLD. Normally when I dream of THE WORLD, I dream of a strange area, or a never ending maze in a dungeon."

"Tsukasa, you were trapped in that game for over a month. It's all you thought of."

"But last night was different," she said. "I saw Maho."

"Well, that's understandable," Subaru assured her. "We were just talking about him yesterday, remember?"

"Yes, I remember. But there was something else. I saw something I could not have possibly seen."

"Well, it was a dream," Subaru said, smiling.

"No... this is different. I was in a white room, no way out, and I saw Aura's bed." She told Subaru about Maho, the Infinity pendant and how it had transformed her into Aura, from what she could remember. "What do you suppose it means?"

"As an administrator, I never heard of a white room," Subaru said. "Was it a white dungeon room?"

"No, not like that at all," Tsukasa said. "White forever and ever. I walked into a dark room and must have been transported there, because the way back was gone as well."

"Tsukasa, it was just a dream," Subaru told her. "No such area exists, or could exist, in THE WORLD."

Tsukasa looked up. "You were with me in two areas that could not exist in THE WORLD. Aura's domain and Morgana's domain."

"But it was just a dream, Tsukasa," Subaru said. "You could not have been in THE WORLD. Only my computer was hooked up, and I was hooked up through it." She finished eating. "I have to go to the library," she said.

Subaru was always going to the library. She would read anything and everything. Tsukasa would help her, but it was only a couple blocks, and Subaru didn't appreciate letting someone push her chair everywhere. When she was gone, Tsukasa began cleaning up. Then she remembered: her own computer, boxed up in the closet. She hadn't touched it since moving in. She was sure that there was something in THE WORLD to explain her dream of Maho and Aura. Perhaps they wanted her to log in. She opened the closet, and looked down at the computer, her virtual reality helmet, controller, and flat panel monitor. She could just check it out.