Андреа Хёст - The Starfighter Invitation

"That’s asking for a damn quick reaction time," Silent said, but not as if he thought it impossible.

"I don’t see many other options," Nova said. "Let’s start out triple-shielded, though. We’ll adjust when we know more."

There were no paths, just grass, mats of clover, and occasional small flowers—mostly daisy-type. Familiar plants beneath familiar stars, with only the gravity and that honeycomb glimmer of the ceiling to proclaim absolutely that this could not be Earth.

The grass was spindly and very soft, and walking over it produced a sharp green scent. My straining senses discovered insects, birds, and even a faint breeze, despite being in an enclosed habitat. Speculating on whether the waterfall was generating the breeze, I almost missed the bare whisper of a whine. But I was so keyed up for an attack that I responded to it even before the buzzing warning sound, snapping up a shield over the three existing, only to have it blown immediately away by a triple series of bolts. The next shield down also went, leaving Silent’s and Arlen’s, and then Nova adding hers over the top.

"Shit, that was heavy," Silent said. "Where did that even come from?"

"You shielded before it made a sound?" Nova asked me.

"There was a noise before the buzzing. Very soft, mechanical."

"Perhaps it’s another mech," Nova said, looking around alertly. "Swatting a couple of those would be easier, in a lot of ways. It’d have to be much smaller than the first—the grass is barely long enough to hide a rabbit."

"Let’s keep the triple shield at least until the next round," Silent said.

Nova nodded. "And concentrate on listening."

I was inner shield this time around, which should have been less nerve-racking, but only made me keenly aware that if I didn’t hold, injury or death would follow. As it was, when I heard the precursor whine, I stiffened, trying to turn lan to adamantine. Imoenne threw up an outer shield, and Silent added his a few moments after the blasts.

"Something, it came out of the grass," Arlen said. "Just over this way."

He pointed, then waited, since under the shields we moved as a group, or not at all. We approached as if expecting attack snakes, and only after persistent searching in the gloom found a silver circle embedded between stems of grass. Not one of the blaster apertures we’d seen before, but a cap to something that had risen from the ground

"Like a garden sprinkler," Silent noted. "But more sizzle."

"I heard it lift that time," Nova said. "With the extra warning, we can probably risk only two shields, bringing up extras as soon as we hear the sound. If these things are evenly placed all over the field, trying to maintain more than two constantly is going to be too much for us."

"Before we move on, I think we need to pick a direction," I said. "I mean, we can keep going straight ahead, but unless the exit happens to be that way, we’re going to facing a lot of extra walking and being shot at."

"Yeah." Silent surveyed the waterfalls. "There could be only one exit, or lots of them. And the way the whole thing’s curved means no point of it is closest. Anyone ever play Myst ?"

"I will gladly switch out being hit by lasers for a pretty puzzle game," Nova said.

"This one looks easy enough—a good thing since there’s shooting involved. Anyone see anything that symbolises dawn among all that carving?"

" Where the Meadow Weeps, And the Dawn Blooms ?" Nova said. "I don’t see anything that’s clearly a sun. There’s a half-circle, but not oriented correctly."

"There’s a circle in a square," I said doubtfully. "And a teardrop near it."

"Three radiating lines over there," Silent suggested, indicating the opposite side of the grand curve. "Could represent light."

" Blooms could also indicate a flower," Nova said. "A sunflower, perhaps. Or lotus, flower of the dawn."

"Suddenly this puzzle doesn’t seem so simple," Silent said.

"Let’s go for whichever options are clustered closest together," I said. "That way, if our first guess is wrong, we won’t have to trek far to try again."

"That’s almost guaranteed to make the one sitting off to the side the right choice," Silent pointed out. "But luck aside, I agree that’s a good approach."

Since the blast point we were standing near didn’t seem inclined to rise again, we took our time looking over each and every symbol, and finding a way to edit a shared photographic record of it using our Link. All symbols that could possibly match the quest description were circled, and a cluster including radiating lines , three circles and maybe a lotus chosen as our destination.

"We’ve really been underusing the computers-in-our-heads aspect of Dream Speed ," Silent said. "Incredible resource."

"Maps, overlays, GPS. We will not be lost here." Arlen bounced on his heels, then laughed as our shields jostled.

Our break had been uninterrupted by shooting, and the knowledge that we could stop and rest had buoyed everyone’s spirits, and gave me confidence about my ability to get through an endurance Challenge. Two hours was only an estimate, not a time limit, so we had no need to hurry through this making mistakes.

Only a quarter hour later we were close enough to the next tier to make out detail, and see that there was a sizeable pool between the meadow and the base of the wall. Narrow white bridges arched elegantly over the water and disappeared into the misting streams of the fall.

"A bridge for every symbol," Silent noted. "I can’t make out any doors on the far side."

Even when standing on the very edge of the pool, there was no hint that any particular bridge led to an exit. The section of wall rising directly above the far side of the pool was not conveniently glowing it, but had a pleated, concertina look that threw plenty of shadows and made it difficult to definitively say there was an opening or not.

"May as well try the radiating lines first," Silent said. "Then lotus, then circles."

"Five shields up," Nova added. "If there’s going to be a big attack, this will be the time."

The bridges were wide enough to walk across easily, but not for two people to move side-by-side. We rearranged ourselves into a line, set up our shields, and took careful steps onto the simple, flat arch. The lack of hand railing, and a certain level of slickness caused by the misting water, made it nervous going, but there was no attack in response to touching the bridge.

That, of course, was timed for when we were out in the middle.

We’d been braced for blasts, of course, but low gravity was our undoing. I let out a startled yip as Arlen stumbled and lost his shield, and then Silent’s shield took on a barrage and his feet slid from under him. All our shields struck each other—and us—as he went down, and then I was falling too, my ears ringing, to plunge into the pool below.

I’d lived by enough beaches to make swimming no issue, but I was dazed, and slow to surface, and then had to contend with Nova, who had found me as the nearest handhold, and was trying to climb. I went back under, tried to remember what I should do to rescue a non-swimmer, fought to get my head above the surface, and then the weight of panicked party member pulled away, and I gasped, coughed, breathed.

Silent’s long arms to the rescue. He’d found the edge, and then dragged Nova across to it. Arlen and Imoenne were further out, but were dog-paddling gamely in the chop caused by the water plunge from above.

Recovering enough to make it to the side myself, I coughed some more, then checked that Arlen and Imoenne were making progress. Only when all five of us were clinging to the wall did anyone speak, and that was Silent.