The Gaming Outpost

The Librarians had tied us up for having ‘unaproved reading material’.  Inside the side room full of metal roller shelves with third full shelving was just enough space to put two wooden chairs back to back, and plop Lucinda and me, in them.  Considering the very sturdy wooden door was locked, the whole bit with winding fifty feet of yellow nylon rope around our chests, and down between our legs seemed overkill.

“What’s going to happen now?” Lucinda Greyley asked me, and the empty air in the room.  I tried to be quiet.  Honest, I did.  She’s five foot three inches, with a pert nose, rosebud lips, and curly black hair.  The rest of her is up to specs as well, except for her sense of honor.  That is wholly deficient.

“Well…your friends….they are going to come back, and feed us into an incinerator.”

She gasped a little at my charge, and then shuddered oh so delicately at the prospect of her imminent demise.  Mine, I’m sure, did not even occur to her as a topic to be concerned about.

“They are not my friends.” She said cuttingly.

“Not anymore.” I said in mocking reply.  She drew angry breath, and then saved it for later as the door rattled.  But no one entered.

I should mention that my name is Gregor Vlachev, and I’m about tall enough to touch the sky, and heavy enough to hold it up, and I look dumb enough to be fooled into doing so by a pretty face.

We, being me and Benjamin Salt, had attempted to smuggle copies of  Elementary Chemistry through the lands, but our local contact betrayed us to the Librarians.

I leaned forward and tried to loosen the rope, but it was bound tight with a number of knots, and many layers of rope.

“Lean forward.” I said.  Nothing happened, and I waited a second.

“Lean forward.” I said again, and this time distinctly heard tears in her voice.

“Lucinda…” I said in a warning voice.

“No.” She said, and I could imagine the large falling tears, and the thrust out chin, and the achingly miserable face.

“Whaaaat?”

“Not until you apologize.”  She said, sounding on firmer ground.  I stared in disbelief at a carry wagon with books, and mentally asked them if they told tales of crazy females.

“Apologize for calling you a traitor?  Why should I?  You are one.” I said, my voice rising in volume a bit.

“I knew that book was dangerous.  I mean you could make acid with it, and toss it in someone’s face.”  She defended herself.

“So you just went over to talk to our good buddies, the Librarians, who just want to put a stop to ‘dangerous knowledge’ , and told them where we were.” I sneered as best as I could.

“You can’t have Peace, if someone is not willing to lay down their weapons first.”  Again, I smiled, and this it held the full knd of condemnation.

“You are an idiot.” I snapped at  her, disgusted.

“Really?” And her voice quavered around the small room, set dust motes to spinning.  It was a really spectacular voice.

“Really and truly.” I said flatly, like a steam press coming down on someone’s hand. But this did not keep her quiet.  I doubted anything would shut her up.

“But what about the danger…?”

I just shook my head.  Some people, no matter how safe something was, were going to whine about unlikely dangers in the Future while ignoring the greater dangers, the more certain dangers of Doing Nothing.  They posed as Agents of Progress, but they really were Luddites and Reactionaries.

“You wouldn’t understand.” I said softly, maybe willing not to spit in her face as we both waited for death.  She was the youngest daughter of a rich merchant, and used to parties, and social cards.  Reality, with its complexities, sharp edges, why that was far from her understanding of the world.

I sighed.

“Please lean back, Lucinda.” My voice was very weary.  She did as I asked this time, and so we began working our way loose, by rocking forward and back.  This tightened the loops around our ankles.

No joy, I realized.

“Its not working.” I said softly. Lucinda kept on.

“Its not working, Lucinda.” I said louder.  She stopped, and I could feel her shoulders slump in the tightening of the coil about my chest.

“Oh. Okay.” And she, who had never sounded down before, sounded defeated.

After a minute, she quietly asked.

“Whatever are we going to do, Gregor?”

I bit my lip to restrain the sarcastic comment of ‘We die.’ and the snarl flashed across my lips.  Now she listened to me?  After delivering us to the Librarians?

“Didn’t expect them to kill you too, did you, Lucinda?” And the words were barely out of my mouth before I regretted them.  I’m tougher than most folk, and I knew I was likely going to have an end like this, after all freedom fighter against oppressive overlords is hardly a career most people retire from.  There was no need for me to subject her to the full weight of reality.

And then I heard her tears, and gulping in her voice, and I found myself muttering lies to her, telling her that it was okay, which it manifestly was not.  But after a few seconds, she struggled to tell me to be quiet, even as she kept on crying.  But the defiance in her voice was gone so I hardly listened to her.  But finally sheer persistance paid off for her.  And I heard her tear-broken voice say.

“I’m so sorry, Gregor. I am.  I was a fool, a perfect fool.” And instead of speaking on, she held silent, letting her quietness testify to her sincerity.  And I, I found my heart broken.  Oh, I am a big, tough guy, but her, well to be fair, given what she knew, what lies she had been told, she had been brave to do as she did.

And so I fell in love with her.  Which was inconvenient because we were on schedule to die shortly.

“Lucinda…” And I really wanted to stop there, to plunge on, to not show anything, to lay it all out, and in that one word, I heard my heart.

“Oh, Gregor.” And I heard hers too.

And so I flung myself against the rope until her cries of pain stopped me.

And then the door clicked open.

And a smiling Benjamin Salt was standing there.

“May I be the first to congratulate the new couple on their bethrothal?”

“What?” I exclaimed truly shocked to hear him say this, even as my heart leapt in my chest.  But I did not hear a word from Lucinda, in fact, she held very still.

I gulped, and mustered all my nerve, and spoke magisterially, I thought (although it may have been closer to a squeak.)

“You may, Mr. Salt.”

And I heard a sound from behind me, in the chair, that sounded like a ‘yippee’, very faint, but that’s ridiculous as Lucinda would never say something like that.

“How did you know?” Lucinda asked as Mr. Salt beamed at us in approval from the doorway while we sat tied up waiting to be taken off to burn to death.

“Here we go.” I sighed.

“My dear, you two are going to have a wonderful baby boy who will grow up to unite the Country and the Rivertowns to throw off the yoke of the Librarians.”

“Really, but how…” Lucinda began. I interrupted.

“Tell her the whole tale. He’s crazy. He’s been standing outside that door ready to rescue us, listening in, and ….”

“Be silent, boy.” He admonished me. “I just came to the door.” I rolled my eyes, but he ignored me.  Obviously the early tester of the door had been him.  Lucinda urged him on.

“I am a precognitive, I see futures with my dreams.”  This was a new one on me.

“The rest, Ben. Tell her so she will know you’re nuts.” I ordered him.

He shrugged.

“I am an immortal dimension traveller, or verser.  I’ve been to several dozen different universes in the last four hundred thirty years, and I was born in New York City in 2017.”

“See? Nuts.” I said.

“Yes, husband to be.” Lucinda said, and Ben smirked at me.

“Cut me free, Ben. No cut Lucy free first, then me.”

He nodded, and I heard another intake of breath.  I had gained another point with my lady.  Perhaps Ben is not all mad.  He has some keen insights.  I think he knew that we had to fight to get the truth out there, and he knew that Lucy would never fall in love with a man who was too afraid of her to tell her what for.

But the rest? Oh, he’s stone cold bonkos.