It took me several days to feel better since entering the crater at the far end of the Valley. Something very strange happened to me there. While I obviously made it out intact, my memory of what happened there has disappeared. From the ride back, I remember spells of dizziness and nausea during the brief times when I was awake. After I recuperated with the generous help of Imoen, I found that I had a strange relationship with the air around me. Like never before, I could push on air like it was a solid object. In private, I practiced walking on the air, climbing on it, even running down it like a slope. Once I became accustomed to it, I was pleased. This new ability would be a great help to the team. I could now make an even greater contribution. There was no way they could reject me now.
We made two discoveries about Simon. The first was when Imoen figured out how to use the “bathroom” in the back. It seemed very strange to me; was the water for shitting also the water for drinking? The second was that Simon’s full name was Sentient Interactive Multiprocessing Onboard Neuralnet. That made less sense to me than the bathroom.
Simon took us to Cedar City, which was much the same as we left it. I heard someone ask Simon to “scan” for life forms in the area. He looked around and reported none. I found myself liking Simon more and more.
The first building we entered was apparently Joe’s Café. It was inhabited by skeletons. While Treylin raided the cash machine, I “scanned” for tracks and found numerous man-sized rodent tracks in the dust. Those scavengers had been here, and recently. While I ignored the cash, I saw no point in letting sharp knives in the kitchen go to waste. Imoen found a room that was as cold as ice, and seemed to be a food store. We could not find a cause of death for the skeletons, and I suspected the food in Joe’s Café, but it was no real concern for us. Even if they had fish I would not eat it.
We followed the tracks to a round hole in the street, but decided not to enter for now. We next entered Fran’s Clothing Factory, where statues made clothing. Perhaps they used to make clothing, for they were doing nothing when we entered. When they became increasingly unwilling to react to us, I cut one open, and found machinery inside. It was a robot, like Neil and Simon. But its clothes were stylish, as well as I could tell.
While the others wandered upstairs, I investigated office rooms on the first floor. One had a well-dressed skeleton sitting at a desk. I removed it to use the desk myself. It would not respond to my verbal commands, so I attempted to activate it by pressing my fingers in various places. Imoen thought me strange for doing so when she saw me, but I thought my behavior was obvious. Still, the desk would not activate. With their help, I carried the desk to the second floor and threw it off a ledge. I hoped to break it open and see the inside. Instead it tumbled along the ground, making a racket.
By the time we made it to the ground, we had attracted the attention of a pack of rat-men. They approached us in curiosity, seeking the source of the noise. It was a bullet from Treylin’s gun that alerted them to our presence. I walked up to the rooftop and waited till they charged Treylin, then I pounced on them, slicing as many as I could reach. It felt so good to swing a blade again. When the creatures were all dead or fled, I used their blood to paint a tally on the side of the bus: IIII I. |
