~*~
"And that's when I left."
Lisa listened intently while Sandra briefed them on what she had observed at the orc's camp. She seemed quite pleased with herself, but then she often did.
"It was fun, wasn't it?" Brax teased her.
She cocked her head as if seriously considering her answer. "To be honest, it was, in a way. I'm sure you think it was a little like those silly games you play. That was the point you were trying to make, wasn't it?"
He smiled. "No, I was being completely pointless, as usual."
"Well, my point is, it wasn't exactly like one of your games. It wasn't some imaginary me in some imaginary danger. It was the real me, and the danger was also real, so I didn't stay any longer than I had to. When the two orcs I was eavesdropping on walked away, so did I. If those things had discovered I was there, I could have ended up as lunch, or as an unwilling girlfriend, or something else equally unpleasant. I really don't want to think about it."
"Yeah, but you were invisible to them."
"They couldn't see me, but they could have heard me if I made any sound, which I tried very hard not to do."
"They could probably smell you, too."
The frosty glare she gave him could have frozen an active volcano.
He backpedaled quickly. "I just mean that it was a good thing they were by that smoky fire because, with those big noses of theirs, they probably have a great sense of smell."
"Orc noses are one more thing I do not want to think about now, or for the foreseeable future. I always thought your games were stupid and pointless, but they're like fine literature compared to what the orcs do for entertainment."
Lisa wanted to hear more about what Sandra had overheard.
"You said they called the leader a 'brain eater'," the commander said, "which means they must have been speaking English, right?"
Sandra's eyes widened with sudden insight. "Well, yes. They were. I didn't think much about it at the time, but you're right. That’s strange."
"Why? Gorbo speaks English," Brax said.
Lisa could not believe he did not see the issue. "But Gorbo was raised by humans. These orcs probably have very little contact with people other than for brief periods when they're trying to climb over their city walls. I assumed orcs would have their own language."
"Maybe they do," Sandra said. "But the ones I heard spoke English, and not as badly as you might assume. One of them also referred to the leader as 'sucker-head', but I don't know if that was a description or an insult."
A polite ping announced that Sims wanted to join the conversation.
"Go ahead," Lisa said.
"Miss Suarez's information, added with the data collected last night, allows an identification of the creature in question with a ninety-four percent confidence level."
"Continue. What are we up against?"
"The fictional creature that best matches the available data is known as a 'mind flayer'. Variations appear in several books and games, but its origin appears to be in a role-playing game first devised in the mid-twentieth century." The small screen in the galley came on to show a crude black and white drawing of what looked like a person with a domed head and what might have been a braided beard. "Additional data is available."
"Hey! I fought one of those once," Brax said. "In a game, of course."
"Screen off!" Doc ordered.
Lisa turned her head quickly and gave him a confused look. "Why did you do that?"
Doc hesitated a moment. "I think it would be better if Brax simply tells us what he remembers about them."
Lisa raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Why?"
"I'm working on a hypothesis that ties what we find here to what we expect. I know it makes little sense, but I think we should just hear what Brax recalls about them before we do anything else."
"All right, but you will tell me later." She trusted his judgment, but he was clearly withholding something significant from the explanation he provided.
He smiled. "You should be safe."
"So, Brax, what do you know about these things?" Lisa said.
"A mind flayer is humanoid and about as tough as a vampire—in games, that is."
"You'd be amazed at how little that tells me."
"Right, uh, I suppose you could say it's tougher to beat than a lion but not nearly as bad as a tyrannosaurus."
"Still not much help, but go on."
"Let's see. I know they often have minions. This one is obviously using the orcs. I seem to recall that they're known to set traps in their lairs, but maybe not in this case because it would probably need to keep the way clear for the orcs. It has tentacles that—"
"Wait a second!" Sandra interrupted. "Tentacles? I thought you said it was humanoid, and humans are well known for their complete lack of tentacles, at least in a literal sense."
"Oh, the tentacles are on its face. It has the normal two arms and legs."
"On its face?"
"Yeah, and if they grab you, you only have a few minutes before it sucks out your brain. But the worst thing about it is—"
"There's something worse than the brain-sucking thing?"
"Let him go on, Sandra," Doc said.
"As I was saying," Brax continued, glancing victoriously at Sandra, "the worst thing about it is its Mind Blast. It's like a mental cannon that can knock you out, cause a coma, or even kill you. It's pretty nasty. Oh, and it has other psionic powers as well."
Lisa wasn't entirely convinced that an imaginary monster from a role-playing game could somehow be real here—wherever here was, and assuming, for the moment, that 'here' possessed some kind of reality. She still had not completely abandoned her 'this is just a dream' hypothesis. But she had to admit that, so far, the parallels between this…setting and Brax's games were extraordinary, and it was, unfortunately, all they had to go on.
"So, in a game, how would you defeat one of these?" she asked.
"Long-range missile weapons from behind a thick wall on a sunny day would be best."
"They must have some weaknesses," Lisa insisted.
"Why can’t we just have Sims make machine guns or grenades or something?" Sandra said.
It seemed an easy and direct solution, but Lisa knew it would not be that easy.
"Sims, do we have specs on file for the devices Sandra just mentioned?"
"No, Commander," the AI replied. "Also, our stock of the metals most likely required to fabricate such items is low."
"Wait a minute," Sandra said. "I'm confused. Sims has data on a role-playing game from the middle of the twentieth century, but it doesn't have specs for a gun?"
"The crew of a spaceship is expected to play games on long missions," Brax said. "It helps pass the time. They're not expected to shoot each other. They are expected to want to on occasion, though, especially on very long missions. Most companies frown on that, so the omission makes sense."
"Even if we could make weapons, who here knows how to use them—safely, that is?" Lisa said. "I know I don't."
Sandra shook her head. "Me either. I never got into all that kind of stuff. I did take martial arts lessons when I was a kid, though. I was actually pretty good at it, but the only weapons we used were nunchakus and bo sticks, and those were padded. But if this is what Sims said it is, and if it's like the thing in Brax's game, it does have one weakness we know about."
"What's that?"
"One of the orcs I overheard implied that their brain eater wouldn't come out in daytime. If we go down after it during the day, it probably won't chase us outside if we have to run for it."
"That's right!" Brax said. "They hate light. They live underground. And once you get past the mind blast, a few good fighters can take one down."
"Is that how you did it in your game?" Lisa asked.
"Kind of. A bunch of us went into its lair, and those who saved against the psionic blast eventually beat it. A couple guys died, but fortunately we found a Raise Dead scroll in the treasure heap—"
"I really don’t think we should count on something like that in this case."
"No, probably not," he agreed. "I suppose we need a more tactful approach. That's not really my strong point."
Doc cleared his throat for attention. "I may have an idea, but I'll need a couple of hours and a look around the medical bay to make sure of a few things."
"I think we all need to think about this a while," Lisa said. "Let's break for now. And Doc, I'm coming with you. You're going to tell me what you suspect."
~Chapter 12~