Two things happened. The griffin squawked and flew right at him, its front claws extended. And his sword went dead. He felt the magic leave it, and saw that it had become the pretend sword, the Bokken. That confirmed his earlier suspicion that he could not depend on magic.
He put both hands on it, as he had practiced. He whipped it up as the griffin came in, stabbing at its chest.
And scored. The hard wood jammed into the feathered breast and sank in several inches.
The griffin squawked more in amazement than in pain. But it had been badly injured, and in a moment its wings folded and it dropped back down into the foliage.
Mark hung onto the sword so that he would not lose it, and it drew out of the griffin. There was blood on its tip.
“You slew it!” Kelsie cried. “You’re a hero!”
“I caught it by surprise,” he said, sickened by the blood. “If it had known what I was going to do, it would have swept the sword out of my hands and clawed me to death. The magic was gone.”
“But it didn’t know. And you were more of a hero for winning anyway. Now let’s surprise them again.” She swam down into the foliage.
“Be careful!” he cried, following her.
For a moment they were dropping through leaves and branches. Then they dropped beneath the green canopy and came to a level surface below. It looked like the flat roof of a building, with pebbles set in hard tar to make it waterproof. The huge tree grew beside it, leaning over it.
They had just enough weight now to come to rest on its plane. “This must be the place,” Kelsie said.
Then Mark saw the griffin on the other side of the roof. It was lying there, its head on the pebbles.
“It’s hurting,” he said. “I’ve got to help it.”
“But it tried to kill you!”
“It was just doing its job.”
She studied him for a moment. “You’re right. But be careful. Here, let me hug you.” She came and did it, making him strong. Again he was reminded of Witch, wishing that she had been the one there to hug him. Darn that kiss!
Then he went to the fallen creature. “I’m sorry I stabbed you,” he said. “It was in the middle of battle. Now I want to help you, if you’ll let me.” He stopped just out of the creature’s range.
The griffin lifted its head a little and looked at him. Then it sank back down and closed its eyes.
“It didn’t try to attack again,” Kelsie said. “I think that means it understands.”
“I think it’s just a flesh wound,” Mark said, kneeling beside the creature. “Maybe a bandage will stop the bleeding, so you can rest and recover.”
“I found a bandage,” Kelsie said, bringing it.
He didn’t ask whether she had found it or conjured it, maybe learning new magic. He took the bandage and pressed it against the griffin’s breast. It fastened there firmly, magically adhesive, neatly covering the wound. “I’m no medic,” Mark said. “I’m hoping the bandage is clean and will prevent infection. I don’t know how else to help you. Is there a keeper or someone who will know what to do?”
The griffin just lay there. But it seemed to be breathing more evenly.
“I think the bandage is easing its pain,” Kelsie said. “Maybe if we just let it rest, it will recover.”
“I hope so.” Mark got up.
“This is the place of hope,” she said. Then she stood still. “Look!”
Mark looked. There was a raised panel on another part of the roof that they hadn’t seen before. It was an opening into the building.
“I think we just passed a test,” Mark murmured, awed.
“I think we did,” Kelsie agreed. “We showed compassion. Instead of blind hate for a fallen enemy. That must matter to somebody.”
“I guess,” he agreed. “Unless it’s another trap. Do we go in?”
She took his hand. “Yes. We have to know.”
Chapter 8:
Revelation
Kelsie was far more nervous than she tried to let on, as they descended the stairs from the roof into the building. She always tried to put a positive face on things, but sometimes she didn’t succeed. Such as when she had first entered Pandora Park, and gotten hopelessly lost. She still appreciated the way Mark had rescued her. She was a smart girl, but had never been good with directions.
They reached the foot of the stairway and stood in what appeared to be a single small-building-sized chamber. She glanced at Mark. For some reason she had an irrelevant thought: had that kiss by Witch really given him a crush on her? Kelsie didn’t think of herself as a jealous girl, and they had agreed to just be friends, and she knew that was best, but somehow she was tempted to kiss him the same way and make him have his crush on her. That would be wrongheaded and foolish, yet there was the thought.
“This looks like nothing,” Mark said. “Just an empty room.”
Kelsie had a horrible thought. “Maybe it’s a decoy. A pretend center.”
“A decoy? What for?”
“To lead us wrong so we won’t find the real control center and gum up the works.”
“Then why guard it with a griffin? It was bad enough hurting that handsome creature, without it being for nothing.”
“You’re right,” she agreed, relieved. “This must be the place. We just have to figure it out.”
“Still, let’s be careful,” he said. “Just in case it’s not a decoy, but a trap.”
That idea gave her a chill. “Maybe we should leave now.”
“Let’s do this: go back on the roof, and if it lets us, we’ll figure it’s not a trap. Then we can explore it with more confidence.”
“And if it is a trap?”
“Then we try to fight our way out of it.”
She wasn’t sure of the logic, but it seemed better than nothing. There would not be much point to their effort if they did not remain to discover the real nature of the park.
They mounted the stairs. The panel had not closed, and they stepped out on the roof. The griffin remained there. It raised its head to look at them.
“Are you healing well?” Kelsie asked it, just to say something positive even if it didn’t understand. Now that she had had time to consider it, she was rather proud of Mark for going to the aid of the creature. That was a really nice thing to do.
“Yes, thank you. I appreciate your concern.”
Kelsie and Mark looked at each other, their mouths similarly open. “You talk!” Mark said after a moment.
“Yes. Now I do. I was not permitted, before you qualified.”
“Qualified?” Kelsie asked blankly.
“You showed compassion. That’s important. Not all children do.”
“Well, it’s my fault you’re hurt,” Mark said. “I’m sorry I did it.”
“Exactly.”
Kelsie was impressed. “You mean, if we had not tried to help you, you wouldn’t have let us into the building?”
“No. My part is done. The panel would not have opened, and you would have found no way inside.”
“So this is the control room?” Mark asked.
“It is. But I can’t tell you how it works, because I don’t know. I am merely a guardian robot.”
“A robot!” Mark exclaimed. “But you’re flesh! Otherwise I could not have hurt you.”
The griffin got to its four feet. “I am a machine, made up to look alive, like other creatures you met. You did not hurt me.”
“But I stabbed you! You were bleeding.”
“A fake wound. It was my job to test your courage, and drive you away if I could. You were no more in danger than you were from the scale hog or the roller coaster. You are not in danger now. But you do have a considerable challenge ahead. I will leave you to that now.” And before they could say any more, the griffin spread its wings and flew into the foliage above.
“Somehow I believe it,” Kelsie said. “And I feel better. Let’s resume the challenge.”
“Yes,” Mark agreed, gazing up where the griffin had gone.
“We still don’t know who made the park, or why, or what it wants with us. There must be a good reason, because this is too fancy for a bad reason.”
“Your logic is like your finds,” Kelsie said, smiling. “Not quite right, but close enough.”
“And your comments are like your kisses: they don’t do exactly what you might expect.”
“Oh? Suppose I kiss you as Witch did?”
“Don’t do that!” he said, backing off.
She laughed. “Maybe if we were twice as old as we are, I’d try it.” But she couldn’t resist asking. “Do you really have a crush on Witch?”
“Are you jealous?”
“I think I am.”
“Then here’s the truth: I do like her, but I know it’s because of the magic or whatever and doesn’t make any sense otherwise. I really don’t know her, and I’ll never see her again. I’ll get over it. But I do know you, and respect you, and I think you’re pretty, and if you kissed me like that it would have twice as much effect. So please don’t do it.”
Kelsie felt herself blushing. “I am more than answered. Thank you.” She was immensely reassured, because she did like him despite not wanting to date him. Girls were like that, and she was a girl. It came with the territory.
“Let’s go figure out that control center.”
She was glad to agree.
They went back down the stairs and looked around the empty chamber. What was its secret? It wasn’t large, hardly more than a bedroom. If things were stored here, it wouldn’t hold much.
Then she saw that there were glassy screens around the edges. In fact the four walls seemed to be made of shiny plastic, that curved around at the corners, floor, and ceiling, so that there were no sharp lines. It was as if they stood in a cubic plastic bubble.
“This is not an ordinary house,” she said.
“You bet. It’s more like the inside of a water tank.”
“I wonder.” She faced a wall and peered at her reflection. “Could it be magic, or their super-science?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, maybe there’s so little to see because it’s not turned on. What we need is to tell it to start.” She snapped her fingers. “To flip the switch.”
“Hoo!” Mark exclaimed. “What’s that?”
For now they stood before a forested scene. In fact they stood in the scene. The four walls, the floor, and the ceiling had become like transparent glass in the middle of a glade. They were on a path leading out of the glade, and it looked so real she wanted to walk along it. She took a step, without meaning to.
A twig snapped under her foot, and the soft ground sank slightly. A faint gust of wind tousled her hair.
“Mark! Do you see it too?”
“We’re back in the park,” he said. “I remember this place. See, there’s your taped X mark.”
She looked, and there it was. “How can this be? We never left the building.”
“I think I know.” He snapped his fingers.
The scene faded. They were back in the chamber.
“What is it?” she asked, astonished.
“It’s a 3D scene. You know, all the walls are TV screens, and there are sound effects, so we seem to be in it.”
“But a twig snapped under my foot. How could that happen?”
He snapped his fingers and looked down as the scene reappeared. “There’s the twig. Pick it up.”
She stooped to do so. Her fingers passed through the twig as if it wasn’t there. “It’s illusion!”
“It’s a holo projection. You see it and hear it, so you think you feel it. But it’s really just the floor. This is really something!”
“It is,” she agreed faintly.
“And it’s real. I mean, not just a recording, because otherwise that tape X wouldn’t show. I think this means that this screen can watch any part of the park, depending on where it’s set.”
“Someone was watching us?” she asked.
“I guess. If someone was in here. But it doesn’t seem that anyone was. There’s no cookie crumbs or cigarette butts or anything.”
She had to smile at his implication about the habits of spies. “The griffin wouldn’t have let anyone in.”
“Maybe,” he agreed. “I wonder if we can set it for other parts of the park.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. The griffin said we had a big challenge coming, but we’re not in danger. So maybe we just have to figure out how to work this thing.”
“So we can spy on an empty park? What’s the point?”
He considered for a moment. “Maybe the point is to figure out how to work it. So then we can use it for whatever it’s supposed to be used for. Does that make sense?”
“A learning program,” she agreed. “Maybe it does.”
“So we know that snapping our fingers turns it on and off. There must be something else to make it change pictures. Maybe stomping our feet.”
He tried a stomp. Nothing happened.
“I wonder whether this is really my X,” Kelsie said. “I’ll go see.”
“You think you’re going to go there? You’ll bang into the wall.”
“I’ll be careful.” But as she oriented on the X, the scene shifted. That part seemed to expand to fill the view. It was as if she were actually walking along the path. She lifted her feet in turn to walk in place, and the path progressed as though she were really walking forward. Soon she was standing right before the X.
“That’s something,” Mark said. “But I meant jumping to a whole different place in the park.”
“Maybe for that we have to turn it off, and turn it on for the new location.” She snapped her fingers, and the scene faded.
“I’ll try another wall,” he said. He faced away from her and snapped his fingers.
The same scene appeared, but the path was going the opposite direction. Then Kelsie saw something else. “There’s a glimmer near your head.”
“A what?”
“Something like a reflection. Not quite there.”
He looked around, and spied it. “It’s a faint panel. I see it better now that I’m focusing on it. It’s got different little pictures.”
“Poke one,” she suggested. “Maybe it’s a touch screen.”
He tried, but nothing happened. “It’s ignoring me.” He looked at her. “You have one too.”
Kelsie saw it now: a faintly flickering square just to the right of her forward gaze. She focused on it, expecting it to disappear, but instead it intensified. It had nine small pictures of scenes around the park, several of which she recognized: her candy tree, his chocolate ball tree, and the amusement center. “This one,” she said, touching the amusement center. Nothing happened.
“It doesn’t work for you either,” Mark said.
“Oh, pooh!” She poked her finger at his square.
The scene around them changed. Now it was the roller coaster before them.
“You did it!” Mark exclaimed. “What did you do?”
“Yours worked for me. Maybe they’re turned on now.” She touched another picture on her own square. Nothing happened.
“Suddenly I have a wild idea,” Mark said. “Let me try yours.”
“It’s not working.”
He touched a square. The scene shifted. Now they were before a lovely pond where a long-necked creature gazed at them. Then it dropped its head under the water with a splash.
“We have to work each other’s panels,” Mark said. “Just as we have to make each other float, or be strong, or whatever. The way Wizard and Witch had to speak for each other. Except when we find things; I guess we can’t make each other find things.”
“Cooperation,” Kelsie said. “We have to interact.”
“Why does it care?”
She considered. “Maybe if one person could do all the magic, he’d just please himself, and try to make himself king of the world or something. But if he has to work with another person, he has to compromise, and that’s safer
.”
“Maybe,” he agreed thoughtfully. “I’ve got the feeling that the park doesn’t much like selfish or thoughtless people. Which is sort of what most children are, really.”
“True,” she agreed. “We’re not like that.”
He smiled. “Well, less like that, anyway. We got tired of candy pretty fast, too. We’re sort of grown-up children. Which is maybe why we didn’t have too many friends.”
“And why we get along well together. We understand each other, even though our cultures are different.”
“The park must want children like us. But why? If it wants maturity, it should have let our parents in.”
She nodded. “It must want sensible children. And we’re more sensible than the others who came here before us, so we were able to find this center.”
“Let’s make sure we have it right,” he suggested. “Let me poke you.”
“If you do, I’ll giggle.” But she knew what he meant, and turned so that her screen angled toward him.
He touched another picture, and the scene changed back to the path they had marked. “I bet if we worked at it, we could figure out how to zero in other sections too,” he said. “These are just samples, to show us how it works.”
“Yes.” But Kelsie had noticed something else. “What’s that center picture?”
He looked. “A one-eyed snaggle-toothed green ape.”
“I’m glad we didn’t run into that!”
“It does seem sort of out of place. Look—the background isn’t like the park. He’s standing in front of, well, maybe an alien world.”
“If we touch that picture, will we be on that world?” she asked nervously.
“Maybe. But it’s a mock-up, just pictures. So it should be safe. Anyway, we can quick punch another picture if we have to.”
“I wonder. Could it be that the other pictures are to show us how it works, and this is the one that counts?”
“You mean, the one that gives us all the answers?”
“Or at least leads in the direction of answers.”
They pondered. Then, almost together, they both said, “Let’s do it!”
“So do you poke mine, or do I poke yours?” he asked.
“Are you poking fun at me?”
He laughed. “I’ll let you have the first poke.”