Over the next couple of days, Cale found that he would wake up, eat, and immediately fall asleep again. By the third day after his awakening, he was finally able to stay awake longer than a few minutes and his thoughts could finally be gathered in length.

  He didn’t mind that his healing took a few days as he needed some time to mentally unwind and just rest. One of the healers had told him that if they hadn’t used up most of this stuff called Podimunal Fluid, they would have had him up and out of bed in a day. The fluid was also the reason he had purple circuit board looking lines running all along his body. Yep, even down there.

  On the morning of the third day, he finally woke up and found himself alone. For days he had been wanting to just take a peek at his interface, but one of his parents was always there and always awake. He would have been more upset but he was typically only awake for a few minutes before he fell back asleep.

  Two days must have been what his body needed, because he could tell he felt much better today. His body didn’t have the aches it had, the lines on his skin had become much thinner, and more importantly he had a lot more energy. With his mind back in the clear, he knew he had to mentally review what happened before someone walked in the room and took his attention away.

  He reached over and grabbed the cup of tasty liquid nutrition that was somehow always fresh and recollected what happened to him. About a week earlier, he had gone out to practice his scripts with his father, when one of the scripts malfunctioned... or something. This system was so buggy it could have been a feature for all he knew. So when he activated this... “script,” it bypassed all safety mechanisms and caused him to enter an installation for a new type of interface.

  This installation almost killed him, twice. Cale scoffed out loud when he realized that little factoid. The first time was due to some licensing issue, which would have been a very embarrassing way to die. If 005 hadn’t let him out, he would have just died in that first room as his body withered away… Which reminded him that he needed to figure out who 005 was…

  Then the second time, the interface installation itself… but thanks to some matter powered artificial assistant and his desire to survive, he now found himself here and, in a hospital bed, still alive.

  His first step was simple, check out his interface and see what Maggy has to say now that he is awake. He found himself grinning widely as he rubbed his hands together just thinking about summoning his interface. He had remained calm so far, but his excitement was bubbling over! His eyes focused as he willed his new interface into being, like Maggy had showed him.

  It took no effort at all, just a thought about his interface and up popped a wide long screen that sat perfectly in front of him. Its graphics looked very crisp and had nice shading. Especially when compared to the last one where it was basically lines of text in a square box within a larger box. By the looks alone it felt like he had gone from using one of those early cell phones to a modern touchphone.

  “Beautiful,” he found himself whispering to himself as he moved his hands back and forth through his interface, wishing he could physically touch the beauty that was in front of him.

  It was the most exquisite thing he had seen in this world with its shiny silvery edges that smoothed down into a semi-transparent background, which let him look through it while also still being able to easily see what was on his interface. He laughed as he shook his head back and forth and it stayed perfectly in place. He hadn’t realized that his last one seemed to always close the second he stopped thinking about it. This one seemed to stay until you told it to go away. He wasn’t sure which one he liked more and he hoped it was a setting or something he could figure out to change on and off as he needed it.

  “Snack break!” he whisper yelled as he sipped on more of his nutrition fluid before focusing back on his interface.

  On top of the interface’s screen were thin, longer, tab looking icons, like one would see on a web browser back on Earth, and each one had its own icon. One had a red crystal, one looked like a book, another a globe. He couldn’t help but wiggle his butt again in his bed and take another sip of nutrient fluid as he saw all the potential new stuff to look at!

  Underneath the tabs, starting on the far left, were a bunch of square shaped boxes, about the size of a postcard. He noticed the boxes contained the names of his scripts at the top with some stats underneath like “Charges,” and “Recharge Time,” but all the info was errored out and in the top right corner there was a white blank icon with two cracks through it. He figured this meant that they were broken, or at least inoperable.

  He wasn’t even sure if any of his scripts worked, other than his wind script. He had never even had a chance to try either of them! And now he didn’t seem to have any, but Maggy had said he could fix them. He did notice that his installation script was not located among the others and wasn’t sure what that meant.

  He played around in this view and found that he could make the boxes containing the script info larger or smaller, or he could show less or more of the stats as well as re-arrange the order they showed on the screen. It seemed easily intuitive, though he was unsure how it would work if he had to fight something. Wanting clarification on what each icon meant, out of habit he started talking out loud.

  “Maggy, can you remind me what these icons at the top here mean?” he queried, pointing at the icons on the top tabs. For a few seconds he found himself wondering why Maggy was delaying her response, when reality dawned on him! He had not seen or heard Maggy since he woke up! He quickly closed his eyes and went into his soul view and found himself back in the glass room orbiting his soul.

  He quickly scanned for Maggy, but he couldn’t find her anywhere. He looked behind the bar, under some stools, checked out the Soul Rider on its docking rack, and even went back into the ring where he battled the Red Terror and explored all the nooks and crannies of the place. He looked everywhere, yet she was nowhere to be found!

  In a bit of a panic, he left his soul view and opened up his new interface. He scoured the first page but didn’t see anything that looked like an orb, Maggy, or even a mug of ale. Figuring now was as good a time as any to explore, he focused on the next tab and his interface made a fancy sliding motion as the new page came in from the right. The back screen blurred as a notification popped up in the middle asking him if he was willing to accept a license agreement.

  Cale rolled his eyes as he clicked on the button for more info. Instead of pages of text, the words “Network not available,” popped up and the only thing Cale could do was accept or cancel. If he canceled, the notification would just loop so he did the only thing left to do and accepted the license agreement and hoped that it wouldn’t almost kill him.

  He flinched as he accepted the license agreement, but all he saw was a loading bar that showed up for a few seconds before a new popup flashed brightly in the center of the screen revealing an icon of a black circle with a giant round white pin sticking out of it. Next, he was brought directly into a tutorial on how to use this tab. Which apparently was a mapping software that worked a lot like a GPS on a phone if you had access to a network. But nothing was available to him and he was still looking for Maggy, so he moved on.

  On the third tab of five – he had counted them – Cale finally came across a screen that looked promising. The screen contained what looked like a page full of programs with some icons of stuff he found lying around in the room Maggy had created for his installation.

  The icon with the writing utensil ended up obviously being a notepad program. He saw the map icon again and when he clicked it, it just brought him back to the last tab. He scanned the icons until he came across one that looked oddly familiar, it was a hammer laying across a helmet with horns coming out the top, a helmet that looked exactly like what Maggy was wearing. Hoping this is what he thought it was, he clicked on the icon and hoped Maggy would appear.

  Instead, a loading bar appeared again, this time taking a bit longer than the map program. When the bar finalized, it switched to a new tab with the hammer and helmet icon on it, and a blurred background of the tab faded into view, showing the room he had spent so much time in the last week. Frankly it needed a name now that he knew it was going to stick around... The viewing room..?

  No that felt too smug. Maybe the Soul Lair… that didn’t sound bad to him. As he looked at his view, he recognized the camera angle from behind the bar with the controls to steer the room directly in front of him. He tried interacting with the window by thinking about it or using his fingers, but it wouldn’t respond.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Frowning, he clicked on the icon again, but it just brought him back to the same tab. He maintained his frown as he tried to ponder what this could possibly even mean. Was Maggy even real? Did I… Did I hallucinate Maggy?

  Thunk! The camera view shook as something seemed to hit it from behind. Slap! The camera shook and then slowly started turning toward the ceiling as the view of a helmet wearing lady’s eyeballs came very close to the camera.

  “Maggy!” Cale yelled out as he could finally see her. “I finally found you!”

  “Cale?” She asked. Cale frowned, she sounded lost, almost distant.

  “Are you alright, Maggy? Did something happen?” He asked, concerned.

  “Why are you in the orb? Can you make me a drink?”

  “I’m not in the orb, I’m using my interface.” He said impatiently.

  “Oh, nice! Can you turn off the feature that makes me have to drink all the time?”

  “Sure! Any idea... how?”

  “Look for something on the edge of the screen that looks like three vertical rings that are interloped. Might be in there.” She instructed.

  He looked around the edges of the window that looked into his soul and sure enough, in the bottom right there was a little button with the three vertical rings on it. He was about to push it when a thought crossed the back of his mind that maybe Maggie was pulling a fast one on him. Maybe this button did something else? He found himself scrutinizing the button when a little box of text popped up with an explanation.

  This button enters the configuration mode.

  Or… I am just being paranoid. He looked at Maggy again, just to see if she was noticing his hesitation, but instead he felt silly as he saw her slouched over the bar in front of him.

  He quickly pressed the icon and a new window popped up over the current one. It had rows and rows and rows of options. He could change the brightness, the hue, the tint, and even make it look like his soul view was underwater. He giggled as he went through the options but turned it back to normal when he didn’t see anything he liked, though the black and white option was tempting as it looked cool and old timey.

  Finally, on the third inner tab, under “Extra Settings,” he finally found the option to disable the drinking graphic for Maggy labeled as “Party Mode.” Before immediately applying the option and continuing, he recalled what happened with the configuration button and he thought about wanting to know what the option really was. Sure enough, a little text box popped up.

  This option toggles the drinking graphic for your MAIG. This option provides a visual for when your MAIG refills their energy reserves. Warning: Stopping the graphic may slow down your MAIG or make them unresponsive.

  Cale sighed as he read the description. What was party mode even for? He was hoping this wasn’t some chia pet situation where he had to feed her every day and comb her hair. Nonetheless, he toggled the switch.

  “How is that, Maggy? Feeling any better?”

  “Who is Maggy?” he heard his mother’s voice ask, making Cale jump in surprise and throw the only thing he had in his hands – the nutrient drink. His mother ducked down but part of it clipped her shoulder as it passed by, causing the liquid to fly out all over the wall and floor behind her.

  “Ahh! Wow, you scared me mom!” He exclaimed nervously.

  “Quite the toss you had there, Xavier. Sorry I startled you.” She said.

  “CALE! IT WORKED!” he heard Maggy yell into the camera view he had on his interface. For some reason her mouth was only inches away from the camera, like it would somehow make him hear her better.

  He did his best to ignore Maggy and continued.

  “I just didn’t see you come in the room. Sorry I threw my liquid food at you.” he eyed the now open door behind her and realized that he was so enthralled by his new interface that he hadn’t even heard the door open. Woops.

  “That is some reflex you have there. They must be putting something a little special in that drink.” She joked lightly.

  They laughed and grimaced as they both noticed the size of the mess. He noticed the liquid was the same purple as the lines on his skin, and after his mom’s comment… Maybe there was something special in that drink.

  “Oh no!” his mother exclaimed and ran over to a small table that was covered in nutrient fluid.

  “Did I wreck something?” Cale asked.

  “Oh, I hope not! Joury would be so mad!”

  “Joury? Your coworker?”

  She held up a square looking thing that was COVERED in nutrient fluid and brought it over to a table and started wiping it with one of the room’s well stocked towels.

  “This thing plays sound. Joury found it in some of the ancient stuff sent up from the ruins and it has been a great hit in the office. When he heard that you had been cooped up in here for days, he told me I should bring it up here so you could have some entertainment.” She explained as she continued to wipe it down.

  “A music box..?” he asked her inquisitively.

  “It has the nicest music. Since you’ve been at this base for a while, you might not even know what good music sounds like!” Her voice turned to almost horror as she started to clean it much more vigorously. “Some of it is very soothing and some of it is upbeat. I think you will like its.”

  She finished giving it a wipe down and turned on one of the songs. Cale noticed how easily his mom navigated the touch screen and the buttons all seemed to function the same as a music app on Earth.

  The song his mother picked had a nice calm sound to it but there were no vocals. He noticed an instrument that sounded like a piano, along with something that sounded like a stringed instrument, like a violin. He had not realized how long it had been since he had listened to music and he closed his eyes so the notes could take him. The song seemed to take the stress away from him and he noticed his mother smile as she enjoyed the music with him.

  His mother walked over to him and sat next to him on his bed, giving him that look that he realized meant he was about to have a serious conversation.

  “Xavier, I am sorry I almost killed you.” She said meekly.

  “I know you didn’t do it on purpose.” He said, placing a hand on hers.

  “I am glad. I love you very, very much. And I… I can’t bear the thought of you thinking I would ever cause you harm.” Tears were welling in her eyes now.

  “It is ok, mom. We will talk later. We have some stuff…” he eyed the door, making sure no one was there before continuing, “We have some stuff to talk about. A lot has happened.”

  This made his mother frown a little. “What do you mean a lot has happened?” She asked suspiciously.

  Cale stared at her, he knew he shouldn’t be upset. But he found that he was a little mad that his mother had almost killed him, and he had many questions. They just needed to be asked in private.

  “Later. At home. Ok? He implored her, his eyes giving her a look of plea.

  “Ok. That is fine.” She said, the moment suddenly becoming more awkward than it should between a mother and her not yet five year old son.

  Knock. Knock. Knock. They heard from the door.

  “Can I come in?” Phil’s voice said from the other side.

  Oh, thank god, Cale thought to himself. Dad is here.

  Diana waved him in and though the moment had been tense, his dad had a way of lightening the mood. “My boy! You are finally awake long enough for a conversation! Congrats on living!” He said, with way too much energy.

  “Uh. Thanks dad. You are in a good mood.”

  “How can I not be? My son is alive, my wife, beautiful,” he winked at her with a smile that made Cale sigh, “And I just got news that the script combo I used to save you is being considered by the General for some kind of special recon unit and I am being considered to lead it.” He said the last part proudly and puffed out his chest.

  “Congrats, dad!” Cale practically shouted.

  “That is wonderful news, Phil!” Diana said as she rushed up from the bed and hugged him and gave him a big kiss. “You just heard the news now?”

  “Yes! I met the Administrator on the way over here and he gave me the good news himself! But let’s talk about that later! You are awake and by the looks of the wall, very active.” He chuckled.

  “Mom’s a Ninja,” Cale retorted, not missing a beat.

  “I don’t know that word, Cale.” Maggy stated.

  “A Ninja?” his dad asked confusedly, at the same time.

  “A sneaky, sneaky someone,” he explained.

  “Ohhh,” he heard both of his parents, and Maggy say at the exact same time yet again.

  Cale kept a straight face, he wanted to tell Maggy to shut up while his parents were there, but her talking had caused him to notice a new blinking icon in the top right of his interface, and it looked a lot like the logo that had been displayed on the music box…

  “What are you looking at, Xavier?” his mom asked. Dang it! He didn’t need Maggy to distract him, he could do it himself!

  “Just uh… Can we talk about it later?” he asked them.

  “We have questions…” his mom said as she touched his arm and traced one of the purple lines. “But… I think we could wait another day.” She looked at Phil for his opinion, but he didn’t say anything and just walked out of the room.

  “Mom is everything ok?”

  “Your dad is… upset at me… about…” she ended the sentence by waving her hand and gesturing at him.

  “Oh.” Was all he could intelligently say.

  “Cale! What is going on! Why do you sound sad?!” Maggy yelled through the interface with no regard for what was happening. He felt his nose twitch in irritation as he did his best to ignore her and he really, really, wished he knew where the mute button was.

  “When do I get to come home?” He asked her, hoping to change the subject.

  “Tomorrow morning. They want to do one more overnight with you and make sure you don’t have any lingering issues… that they don’t know about.” She seemed sad as she said the words.

  “Yeah, my skin is a little weird isn’t it? Hey mom, what do you think sis will think of my skin? Where is she?” He asked, changing the subject again.

  “With your Aunt.”

  “Aunt Gistine? Why?”

  “When your dad and I saw how much you enjoyed being outside that first time, we contacted your aunt to come pick her up so she could live some of her life above ground… She just left yesterday.” Cale could tell this was hard for her as more tears welled up in her eyes.

  “I was hoping to see her.” Was all he could say before he started crying himself. He hadn’t realized how much he missed her until then.

  His mom brought him in for a hug, “Oh, my baby boy. Hey, we will see her in a few weeks, ok? I will take you with me into town when I get supplies for the Festival of the Frozen lady. I promise.” She consoled as she rubbed his back.

  Cale’s tears stopped and he cleaned his face with the bed sheets. “Ok.” Was all he could get out.

  They hugged for a while longer, but Cale started to get tired and wanted to sleep a little bit more. When his mother left, he finally got Maggy to shut up by closing his interface. A small smile was on his lips as he fell asleep. Tomorrow I go home!