Page 2 of The Glass Unicorn: Part 2
“They’re pretty snug, so why don’t we settle down for the rest of the night and sort things out in the morning? There’s not much else we can do right now,” Liesel said.
We arranged our sleeping bags in a circle, propped a table against the front door to keep it shut, and began to settle in for the night. Liesel found a pillar candle and lit it, setting it in a bucket so if it melted down it wouldn’t catch anything on fire, and we huddled together. It took me a long time to get to sleep, and I felt so far away from home that it wasn’t funny.
The early sliversof sun pierced through the dirty windows. I woke up, wincing, as I realized how stiff I was. At first, I forgot where I was, and wondered why I was so uncomfortable, but then, reality hit, and I sat up too quickly, giving myself a sore neck.
“Crap,” I muttered, looking around. The others were still asleep. I slid out from my sleeping bag and wandered to the front door, where I gently pushed the table aside and slipped outside.
The dawn was spreading across the sky, lemon chiffon light beginning to infuse the fading indigo of night. A faint rose blush spread through the first hints of sunlight, and I headed over to the outhouse on the side. It had been let go, unused, for quite awhile, and the scent had faded to a sour muskiness. I made sure no spiders had spun their webs across the seat, then quickly did my business and hurried back outside, tucking the roll of toilet paper away. I dreaded when we ran out. Maybe they’d fix the game by then.
I looked around and saw a well off to one side. As I lowered the bucket, I was relieved to hear a splash, and I wound the handle until the bucket returned, filled with clear water. I wasn’t sure if it was clean, but Abarria Game-Guides did try to make certain that the water supplies were safe, that much I knew, so I splashed some water on my hands, washing them, then filled my water bottle and drank deep.
As I looked around, I lifted my wrist, thinking to ask the Game-Guides how things were coming. Then I remembered that, while they could communicate with us, we couldn’tcommunicate with them. Sighing, I stared at the watch, hoping for some sort of an update, but it remained silent.
“You okay?” Thornhold startled me. For such a stocky dwarf, he was extremely sneaky.
“Yeah, I am. Want some water?”
“Let me make use of the…facilities…first.” He lumbered over to the outhouse.
I watched him. He was so unlike his normal form, at least in body. In spirit, he was the same Thornhold that I knew and loved. I crouched down, squatting on my heels, surprised to find that it was actually quite a comfortable position. Had to be the elf form, because I couldn’t sit like this out of the game. At least, not for more than a minute or two.
When Thornhold returned, he washed his hands, filled his water bottle, and offered me a chunk of bread.
“Shouldn’t we wait for the others to eat?” I asked.
“There’s plenty.” He hesitated, then added, “Are you scared?”
“Yeah, I guess I am. I’m trying not to regret my choice to come here, but I’m feeling bleak. We have no idea when this is going to get fixed. We’re stuck. What if it’s a freaking month or more?”
“What if we never get out?” he asked.
I stared at him. I hadn’t even let myself go there. “No…there’s no way we can be stuck in here forever. How does this even work? If their computer system is trashed, how are we still alive? How is the game still running?”
“I have no clue,” Thornhold said. “It doesn’t make sense, but we may not know everything behind it. I guess, we’ll just have to do our best to survive until the next update.”
“Let’s keep Liesel with us,” I said. “Unless she doesn’t want to stay. As one of the employees, she probably has knowledge that’s going to help us.”
“I agree. We give her whatever she wants to stay with us. Help like that, you can’t really buy.” Thornhold stretched, yawning loudly. “Do you think we should head back to the landing station? If they suddenly fix the transporter, who knows how long it will last?”
“I tend to agree, but let’s ask Liesel when she and the others wake up. Meanwhile, why not build a fire out here and cook up some of the food that we have? Hot food always makes everything better,” I said.
Thornhold agreed, so we gathered some wood and built a campfire, shaded from the early breeze, and as I began to make some coffee in a pan we had, Thornhold fashioned several skewers so we could cook up some of the ham. He cubed the ham, speared some cherry tomatoes that he found growing to one side of the house in a garden that was equally as abandoned, and made shish kabobs.
The others finally began to meander out of the house, sniffing the air as they joined us.
Reggie, carrying a long brush, immediately climbed up on the roof. He lowered it into the chimney and then began to telescope it out, sliding it up and down to loosen the soot.
“This doesn’t look too bad,” he called down. “It shouldn’t take long to clean.”
“Thank you!” Liesel called. She watched him for a moment, then settled down beside me and pulled out the case that had the computer in it.
“So, does that thing still work?” I asked.
“Somewhat. It has satellite WIFI, so I can should be able to contact the outside world. But it’s not going to last long. The battery life on this laptop sucks, and while I have a couple power stations, they’ll lose their charge after a year or so if they aren’t used at all. If I use them to charge this, they’ll lose their charge after a few months, that is—if I only use the computer to contactthe outside. I sent a message to my supervisor, and I also sent a detailed message to my family. I gave them your names so they can contact your loved ones. I’m pretty sure that Abarria Game-Guides is going to keep this as quiet as they can,” she added.
I froze. “Won’t they ask for help?”
Liesel let out a long breath. “I hope they do, but you need to accept that they’re not going to want anything getting out about this. It makes them look weak, the shareholders will freak, and the company will go bankrupt. That’s the last thing they want.”
