The Great Game

If you’re new to the Great Game, please have a quick look at the blurb to your left, where you’ll find a short catch-up introduction!

“Your plan seems vague and ill-formed,” says a voice that sends chills up and down my spine.

I look round, and behind us is the guy who sent me here. I hear Alice gasp. His clothes are almost reasonable this time, comfy slacks and an ugly sweater. As before, he’s carrying a cloth and he’s got a huge bunch of keys.

I fight down a savage urge to grab him by the throat, and count to five. Slowly. Then I force a smile, and say “Please, join us. Would you like a coffee, or perhaps a chicken drumstick?”

“No,” he says, coming round to sit in one of the chairs. “Ground extract of mildly toxic vegetable diluted in artificially heated water, often served with the enzymatic secretions of a large mammal. The lower leg joint of an avian, burned until the protein chains are degraded.  Neither is appealing.”

Alice is just staring at him, goggle-eyed.

I shrug. “Well, when you put it that way, I can see why. What am I doing here?”

“Resting, refuelling your flesh’s energy supplies, and draining excessive emotional charge into the furniture. So it seems, at least.”

I grit my teeth, and think back to our last conversation. He struck me as being oddly literal that time, too. Alright, then. “Yes, that is a fair summary. Why did you transport me to this hotel?”

“You struck me as intemperate and prone to rashness. It seemed highly unlikely that you would have survived if I had left you where you were, so I brought you here instead.”

“Oh. Why was I in danger? Wasn’t I in Milwaukee?”

The man nods, uncertainly. “Yes, but the structure you were in was not part of regular space-time. It had become detached, and it was being explored by inimical beings. You would not have been able to leave, even had you so wished. Most likely, your mind would have been consumed. Causing considerable damage to causality, may I add.”

“What about me?” Alice is looking a little less freaked, which is good.

The man looks at her “You were not there. It is highly unlikely your mind would have been eaten or caused any damage.”

I sigh. “What she means is, why is she in this… hotel. Place. Whatever.”

“Hotel,” says the man firmly. “This is Hotel MANDI. Your companion is here because she broke a series of wards put in place by another individual. The energy she triggered left her dislocated, so she was assigned a room and booked in.”

“Well, thanks and all, but we’re OK now. Please send us back to our homes.”

“That is not the Hotel’s function,” says the man.

Alice audibly grinds her teeth. “What the hell do you mean?”

“The function of the Hotel is to gather rogue consciousness from locations where it should not be, to ensure that it does not cause damage to the fabric of the web. By spending time here, you accumulate energies in different vectors and charges to that of your original location. If I sent you back, those energies would clash, and I do not have the time or inclination to waste in balancing. The idea is to preserve reality, not to kick holes in it.”

Alice and I fall silent for several long moments. She steels herself to ask the question first. “So we’re stuck in here?”

“I understand that there are ways out which can lead you to energetically compatible locii. Feel free to take such an exit if you locate one. Exiting in such a way as to harm causality is strictly forbidden however.”

The way he says it suggests that the prohibition is more than just theoretical.

“Just who are you, anyway?” Something else has been niggling me, too. “And what kind of name is Mandy for this place?”

“MANDI,” he says. “An acronymic one. I oversee the mechanics of the web underlying the various space-times. I don’t have a name as such, but if you feel the need to give me a label, you can reasonably refer to me as Valis.”

Whoa. “On behalf of whom?”

Valis looks at me. “I understand that inhabitants are typically fascinated with the workings underlying their particular reality, potential purposes and meanings attached to that, individuals who may be in authority, how reality is constructed, and so on. I’m not permitted to discuss such matters, as a moment’s thought must clearly make obvious.”

“So what, you, one of the architects of the multiverse, came to talk to us to welcome us to the cage and to tell us to be good kids?” Alice sounds simply disbelieving.

“Oh no,” he says. “I came here to offer redress for your highly irregular duplication.”

Alice blinks back tears. “Duplication? Really?”

“I’m afraid so.”

Ouch. I really don’t want to let my mind go down that path.

“Kill that evil son of a bitch and let my other me out of…” Alice trails off, the rage fading as she clearly thinks about what our counterparts are going through.

“I am not permitted to do that,” says Valis. “But, if you so wish, I can remove all memory of your duplication from the two of you here.”

“But…” Alice looks horrified. “But then how would I rescue me from that hell?”

“You would not,” Valis says.

I’m not sure what to think. “Is there anything else you can do? Any pressing reason for us to forget?”

“Nothing,” says Valis. “But duplication weighs heavily on limited consciousness. If the memory is not removed, you may in time be mentally distorted to the point where your awareness becomes damaging to the Hotel. I prefer to avoid such eventualities.”

“And then…?”

“At that point, your energies would be dispersed and recycled.”

“Will you offer the same deal to our copies?” Alice’s voice is shaky.

“I already have,” says Valis calmly.

“We… They… declined,” I say. “Hoping to go mad and get obliterated.”

“Yes,” says Valis. “Your copy asked me to urge you to choose oblivion. On the other hand, Ms. Rogers, yours begged for salvation.”

Alice starts sobbing. “I…” She chokes to a halt, clearly torn — and badly, too.

Today’s photo is Dan and Dave by I Should Be Folding Laundry.