Previously on…
In the last chapter, we saw two more of George’s memories. One memory occurred during the post-apocalypse, and we saw more of how George survived those crazy weeks after the AI took over. (More on that to come in the future.) The other memory gave us a glimpse of George’s lackluster parenting during the middle of his life.
Looking ahead…
Things are about to get crazy, folks. We had a nice bit of action during the first event, but other than that, this story has been pretty slow. If you have read this far, it is probably because you think Nod is as funny as I do or you like watching click counts rise (btw, if that describes you, play this game.)
But that is all about to change. Once the second event starts, this story will be action-packed to the last page. But first, we need to spend a few more chapters getting Cinderella ready for the ball. Our heroes need to build a new clicker device, upgrade some skills, and George needs to get some more levels. Then, it is onward to the second event: Monsters in the Dark.
If you want to read all of the story that has been published so far, you can do that here.
On to the story…
>>Whoa. Heavy. Pre-Nod George was a real asshole.
“I am so sorry,” George said, but he wasn’t talking to Nod. When the memory ended, George was kneeling on the ground with his arms wrapped around himself. “I am so sorry.” The Tom Petty song was running through his head.
>>I guess that answers a few questions.
>>I wonder why ALL CAPS showed you that stuff? Couldn’t be random. You get a quest to find your family, and then two of your memories involve looking for your kids. That is either an awfully convenient coincidence or… plot setup.
>>Maybe this is your Ebenezer Scrooge story.
>>I can see it now. Black-hearted old Georgie sees the error of his ways, setting the stage for his transformation into a good and decent man.
>> That makes me Tiny Tim.
>>I don’t know if that fits.
>>Maybe in this rendition, Tiny Tim is more like Tiny Kruger, and instead of saying, “God bless us, everyone,” and throwing off his crutches in the end, he sprouts claws and slashes everyone’s faces off.
“I need a minute, Nod,” George said. “Just… shut up for a minute.”
The memory of Christopher felt like it was lodged somewhere in his chest like a weight. His throat felt like it was swelling shut, and he couldn’t get enough breath. He wanted to leave the car, run back into the apartment, collect the boy in his arms, and tell him he was sorry.
>>We could do that. On the other hand, I’m starting to wonder if dwelling on these memories might not be great for our… you know… survival. I propose a new strategy I call “Bottle It Up and Push It Down.” It is the Plan B when the primary strategy of “Stop Buying These Damn Memories Anyway” is not observed.
>>What do these pop psychologists know about emotional health anyway? Bottle it up, I say! Who has time to process their feelings when there is a game to win/survive? Not you, my friend. Not you.
>>How about this? Why don’t I treat you to a beer and pizza so that you can chill out for a bit while I update you on some… developments?
Nod pulled up the store interface and bought “Pepperoni pizza with pepper jack cheese and beer (IPA)” from the food menu.
Purchased: Pepperoni pizza with pepper jack cheese and beer (IPA)
>>Deliver that food!
“What?” George said. “You can buy things without me?”
Two large slices of pizza on a cardboard plate flopped down on the cradle floor next to George. An open bottle of beer sat next to it, glistening with condensation. The pizza filled the cradle with the rich smell of melted cheese and pepperoni.
>>Well… heh heh. Funny you should mention that.
>>I guess now is as good a time as any to tell you I can watch those memories, but I’m not exactly IN them like you are. I can also do other stuff while the memory is happening.
>>Like buying things in the store.
“Nod, what did you do?”
>>Well, you spent all that gold on new stuff, and I thought it was high time for Noddy to treat himself, too.
>>To make a long story short, I have an announcement. We’re a papa!
>>I refreshed the Familiar Upgrades until I found one that was extremely useful and a Must-Have. In fact, that useful upgrade is about to pop out of your body in, let’s see… about 90 seconds.
“Explain!”
>>I got knocked up. We’re pregnant.
>>That’s the good news. The bad news is you only have thirteen gold left.
“What? Aren’t you… a boy spider? I mean… that is what I thought. And what does it mean that they will pop out of me? From where?” George stood up. His body suddenly felt weirdly itchy.
>>Oh please, George. Please don’t put your archaic, anthropomorphic gender norms onto me. Node spiders don’t divide into sexes. We reproduce through… how to explain this… something between mitosis and how a car is made in a factory.
>>But these little spider babies are made from your genetic material, so they are sort of like your kids. Just don’t lock them at home while you go to work! Jeez.
>>Actually. Belay that order. That is exactly what we should do with these little guys.
“Get to the popping out of me part!” George shouted.
>>Yes. The miracle of life! It looks like the egg cluster is in your… give me a moment… right shoulder. You should actually be able to feel it growing there. This is going to hurt a bit. Sorry about that. But it’ll be over fast.
>>Just don’t stomp them like you did when you met me!
“Are you telling me there will be more Nods in here? Are they going to crawl back inside me like you did?”
>>Oh, no, no, no. There is only one Nod. These are more like little nodling droids that we can make do stuff for us. They’re barely even sentient. Very useful. You’ll see.
“Ow!” George scratched at his shoulder, where a noticeable bump was rising. He pulled his sleeve up and saw a red mound. Then, as he watched, the top of the mound protruded into a point, and the itch became searing pain. A hair-thin black needle pushed its way out of his skin on top of a lump now the size of a golf ball. The needle disappeared back into the mound, shot out again, and disappeared. Soon, it was joined by three other needles rapidly shooting in and out.
“Nod! Is this normal? It hurts.”
>>Hmm. I think so. I’ve never been a parent before. Just breathe through it. Heee heee whooooooo. Heee heee whoooooo.
Then like a damn bursting, the perforations on his shoulder split open and black eggs gushed out from the narrow rip in his skin and plopped onto the floor.
“Ah! Gross!” George shouted. The cut in his shoulder was dripping blood onto the floor of the cradle, where it glistened for a moment and then disappeared.
>>Might want to get a bandage on that.
George stepped around the five wriggling masses on the floor and used his teeth to rip a strip from the flight blanket. He held it against his arm, never taking his eyes off the tiny black spiders.
“What happens next?”
>>Oh, you know. Diapers. Bottles. Sleepless nights. The first day of kindergarten. Too much screen time. Then… before you know it, you are standing on the street waving as they drive off for college, and you realize you wasted most of the time you had with them and you’ll never get it back.
>>Then it will just be Nod and George, and we’ll have to figure out how to share this body all over again without the distraction of the little ones in the house.
>>Sigh. There it is. Our future is right in front of us.
“No, Nod… I meant…”
>>I know what you meant! Sheesh. It is a burden to carry the comedic relief for both of us but that is my lot.
>>First, don’t think of these things as people. They are not the Great and Glorious Nod. They are more like the robotic slaves you humans always wanted. They have rudimentary intelligence, and they have to be trained. They’ll grow bigger eventually and gain more capacities—which, knowing this place, we will probably have to pay for.
“So… of all those other possible upgrades, why did you choose the one that would make five black blobs pop out of my shoulder?” George started the sentence in a level tone but was shouting by the end of it. The wound on his shoulder was still leaking blood, and his makeshift bandage was nearly saturated.
The nodlings had all sprouted several tiny legs and were rolling around, getting their bearings much as Nod had when he had first arrived in the cradle. They were each slightly larger than a quarter and were becoming more coordinated by the second. They were using some of their legs to lift themselves and the other legs to tap one another in staccato bursts, almost as if they were locating each other or communicating.
>>Check your trial timer.
George mentally clicked the trial button and got a notification that said:
Next trial: 06:35:01
>>Georgie. The prologue is over. We’re going to have to face a long series of trials. That means we will have to grind clicks while we’re alone and find a way to keep that click count rising while we are off doing the trials. So we either need an engine, a perpetual motion machine, or…
“Little black spiders.”
>>That’s right.
>>OK. Watch this.
>>Spiders, assemble!
George didn’t know how the spiders heard the command because Nod didn’t have a voice, but they snapped to attention and linked their arms to form a line.
>>You try it.
“Come,” George said.
>>Wrong. Think it.
>>Come.
The chain of spiders skittered forward until they almost touched George’s foot. He resisted the urge to kick them away.
>>And look at this. There’s a new store category just for the nodlings.
Store
▶ Upgrade Cradle
▶ Upgrade Button
▶ Upgrade User Interface
▶ Upgrade Familiar
▶ Upgrade Minions
Increase intelligence — 1 gold.
Increase strength — 1 gold.
Increase dexterity — 1 gold.
Increase vitality — 1 gold.
Select body morph — 50 gold.
Unlock special abilities — 50 gold.
▶ Personal
Select Amenity — 1 gold.
Pain for gold
“So what do we do with them?”
>>I know this will be a new concept for you, but why don’t you play with your kids for a while? See what they can do. Bond with them, you know?
“That sure would be easier if I wasn’t leaking blood from an open wound right now!”
>>I know… these working conditions! You aren’t even getting maternity leave. But, then again… I guess that is better than getting eaten by something as soon as the next trial starts.
>>So suck it up!
>>We’ve got work to do. Here is the agenda as I see it:
[ ▢ See what the nodlings can do.]
>>And these little guys aren’t going to be able to pull the Wanker Yanker (TM), so that means we need a spider-sized clicker device.
[ ▢ Use the arsenal of junk to make a spider-operated clicker.]
George sent the spiders a mental command.
>>Jump.
The spiders bunched their legs beneath them and started to flail around. A few spun sideways, and two managed to pop a few centimeters upward.
>>Stop.
The spiders instantly went still. George picked the ball of twine up from the pile of amenities and unraveled a few inches. He set the twine down next to the spiders and gave them a mental command to pull it.
The spiders skittered toward the twine and swarmed over it, pushing it in every direction as they tried to get purchase on it to pull it.
>>Hmm. Not promising.
Nod gave them a command of his own.
>>Stop.
>>Line up.
The spiders ceased their ineffectual efforts at pulling the twine and formed a line.
>>Link arms.
The nodlings intertwined their arms. They looked like a team preparing to play tug of war.
>>George. Give that front one a bit of the twine.
George unspooled more of the twine and tied a loop on one end.
>>Hey, nodling in the front. Stick an arm up.
The front nodling obediently stuck one of its paperclip-like arms up. George carefully dropped the loop over it and backed away.
>>Now, kids, HEAVE!
The nodlings pulled on the ball of twine and made it rotate toward them. As they strained to pull the twine, a loop of loose twine came loose, and the nodlings fell. George bent down and blew on the spiders, and his breath tossed them backward like dry leaves.
>>George, pick up that baking sheet and hold it on the ground in front of you.
George picked it up and held it upright between himself and the spiders.
>>Nodlings, attack!
Two nodlings rolled into one another. One wandered off in a random direction. The fourth did something that looked like he was trying to mate with the ball of twine. And the fifth charged at the baking sheet, only to bounce off it and roll away like a marble.
“Hmm. We have some design challenges to overcome here,” George said.
>>They are adorable, though, aren’t they? Like little kittens.
“They seem to do better with your instructions,” George said.
>>Oh, that’s sad… Because you’re bad with kids?
“No,” George said. “I meant because you are a spider too.”
>>Oh. Yeah. Sorry to break it to you, but that doesn’t matter.
>>Chin up, old-timer. You’re a little rusty at this parenting thing, but you’ll get the hang of it. It’s like riding a bike. Or whatever.
>>Besides, if you screw up and alienate one of them, we’ll just go down to the local strip club and scoop her back up. Meanwhile, she will have picked up a few life lessons, a couple of hard knocks, and some new dance moves.
>>Speaking of friends in low places… Kat was cute. I like her. She’s got fire. She woulda made Charlie James her boy toy.
>>She and I could have gone far together. Instead, I got the paterfamilias, a.k.a. George of the Lumpy Log.
“Nod, that is my daughter you are talking about,” George said.
>>As far as you know.
>>Hey…
>>…You know she totally danced at that club, right?
“Again. My daughter,” George said.
>>And good for her, I say! She packed her suitcase full of Dad baggage, got herself a couple of tats, moved out to Hollywood, and made her way out there in the Big, Bad World, shaking what nature gave her.
>>I respect that. I’m all about personal autonomy.
>>Except where you are concerned, obviously.
>>But you desperately needed someone to take you in hand.
George tried to think of a retort but found himself chuckling instead. “I see what you’re doing, Nod.”
>>Was that a laugh I just heard? Does this mean my irrepresible, irascible charisma is making a dent in that bland, beige armor around your heart? This is a big day for us.
>>That pizza isn’t going to eat itself, George. Sit down, have a drink, and let’s think this through. There’s a good lad.
The pizza did smell good. The nodlings might agree because they had started to drift toward it. He sat down next to the paper plate and shooed them away. He took a bite and had to admit it was just what the doctor ordered.
“Beats nano slurry in pill form,” George said.
>>I bet it does, George.
George took a drink of the beer and sighed. He tried to lean back against the wall, only to hit his head on the curved ceiling. He sat with his legs crossed and fell silent as he ate the rest of the pizza.
“How could I have tossed him inside the apartment and left him alone?” George said.
>>Maybe it is best to think of that guy as Old George and this guy in the cradle right now as New George. You know? Get some separation.
“He was crying alone, and I walked away,” George said. “I wonder what he did after I left.”
>>Probably ate that chocolate donut and played some video games. Kids are resilient.
>>Look at me. You tried to stomp me the day I was born, and look at us now!
“I was thinking about the traffic as I walked down the hallway. My son was crying behind a locked door, and I was thinking about getting to work,” George said.
>>Look. That happened. Fine. It is also in the past. I get that you just got that memory back, and it feels fresh, but it isn’t. Old George made some choices that didn’t work out, but Old George isn’t here. New George is here and has Nod to keep him in line.
>>Anyway, all that was years ago, and you don’t know what else Old George did between then and now. Maybe he changed. Maybe he turned around when he got to work that day and took Christopher to the movies. Maybe he bought him a goddamn pony. You don’t know. All you have is what some sadistic AI chose to show you. Don’t let him fuck up your head more than it already is.
>>Here’s what I know. You are in the game, and there is a good chance some of your family is in the game, too. That says a lot.
“What do you mean?” George said.
>>Well, we know they didn’t want much to do with you as soon as they got old enough to buy their own beer. But once the apocalypse started popping off, you went after them. That is what brought you to that bunker.
>>Put that together with the mysterious quest to find your family, and we have Probable Cause.
“I’m not following,” George said.
>>What if you are in here because they are in here?
“And what about the part where I end up in a room with no memory and only a button to click.”
>>That’s not the point. The point is, let’s worry about the past when it enters our present, mmk? If we find one of your kids, we invite them over and hash it all out. I’ll preside as an impartial mediator. We’ll get another pizza and beer and stockpile a few amenity Kleenexes.
>>Until then, this is exactly the kind of navel-gazing that will get us eaten by something. I need your head in the game. And so do you if you want to see your kids again.
George was quiet as he watched the nodlings wander aimlessly around the room. It seemed like they were getting the hang of walking, at least.
>>Now, are we good? If you feel sufficiently pep-talked, I have an idea.
“OK, Nod,” George said. “I feel moderately pep-talked. The past is the past. If I somehow do find one of the kids in here, we go from there.”
>>That’s the spirit.
“What is your idea?” George asked.
>>What say we splurge those last thirteen gold and get these kiddos a birthday stat upgrade? I vote for strength and intelligence.
George shoved another pizza bite into his mouth and said, “I think we should save the gold. It is all we have left, and there isn’t much time before the trial.”
>>That is why we need to upgrade them. Think about it. How many times did your first contraption break? Like, constantly. So what if we build something for the spiders, and then it breaks five minutes into the trial, and you aren’t there to fix it? They are dummies right now, and they weigh about as much as a flower petal, so…
“So we need to smarten them up,” George said.
>>And beef them up. Why don’t you hit one of them with that Expand skill a few dozen times and see what happens? I’ll remind you every time the skill goes off cooldown.
George complied, casting Expand on the nodling that had managed to attack the baking sheet. Next, George spent his remaining gold on intelligence and strength on the Upgrade Minions dropdown on the store.
Store
▶ Upgrade Cradle
▶ Upgrade Button
▶ Upgrade User Interface
▶ Upgrade Familiar
▶ Upgrade Minions
Increase intelligence — 1 gold.
Increase strength — 1 gold.
Increase dexterity — 1 gold.
Increase vitality — 1 gold.
Select body morph — 50 gold.
Unlock special abilities — 50 gold.
▶ Personal
Select Amenity — 1 gold.
Pain for gold
Purchased: Increase intelligence—1 gold (12 remaining)
Purchased: Increase intelligence—2 gold (10 remaining)
Purchased: Increase intelligence—3 gold (7 remaining)
Purchased: Increase intelligence—4 gold (3 remaining
Purchased: Increase strength—1 gold (2 remaining)
Purchased: Increase strength—2 gold (0 remaining)