The Great Game

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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.

“Is that supposed to be there, Mr. Sallis?” I pointed at the design.

He came up beside me and frowned. “No. I don’t know what that is.”

I knelt down, and jumped into the hole. It was only about waist-deep. I leaned forward to look at the design more closely. The shape was  obscured by the earth half-covering it, but even where it was exposed, it was hard to tell what the material was. My first thought had been metal, because of the glitter, but closer up I wasn’t so sure. It was wafer-thin, whatever it was, but too even to be paint.

Something about the material made me reluctant to touch it. It was difficult to make out the design, so I knelt on the ground beside it, and did my best to clear as much of it as possible by blowing the dust and crap off. It took a little while, but finally I was able get most of it reasonably clear — enough to see the shape, anyway.

Up close, the material appeared to shimmer a little. It was a soft, creamy green colour, with a hint of a regular, hexagonal underlying structure. Flecks and shards sparkled within it, seeming almost mobile. The surface was completely flat, suggesting a greater strength and weight than you’d expect.

I pulled away and stood back up, to get a decent view of the design as a whole.

“That’s odd,” said Sallis quietly, up above me.

I nodded. At first glance, the design looked like some sort of abstract maze. It was mostly enclosed by a long, sweeping curve, which led deep into the pattern. It then descended into a bewildering complex of sharp corners, blocks, spirals, switchbacks, loops, knots and more, on and on. Most of the pathways were less than finger-width. It was a long moment before I started suspecting that in fact it was one long, hyper-complex track; a minute more before I felt confident that was indeed the case.

Eventually, I identified one point where the track seemed to terminate, and decided to see if I could trace the path through to the other end. From the end spot, it led down a short, straight stretch to a tightly acute angle, and then into and back out of a hexagonal spiral pattern. This took me to a whirling curve, and along a sudden sloping straight that ran for most of the design’s length.

I shot down the straight as fast I could. There was a definite sense of rising threat, and the idea of being in such an open stretch was extremely unpleasant. I was panting by the time I got to the end. I threw myself round the corner, very relieved to see just a short corkscrew curve ahead. I leaned back against the labyrinth wall, painfully out of breath. It was revoltingly warm and spongy, but I tried again to put the thought of green, sparkling flesh out of my mind.

It occurred to me that I’d forgotten something. Odd.

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Today’s Photo is The Labyrinth of Mysteries by Snarl