Flat multicolored mud of the marshes stretched endlessly in all directions.

Rapid climate cooling and wildly erratic seasonal rains had turned lush rain forest into a vast stretch of muck covered with algal blooms in red and yellow. Decay from submerged trees emitted gases which stirred the muck in endless anemic blooping. Plants here were limited to patches of ground with subtly higher elevation, crouching at the edges of expansive plains of putrefaction. The mats of algae possessed an oddly metallic sheen in places, playing havoc with any sense of light and contour to the eyes.

As far as Lilijoy could tell, there was no animal life at all, not even the annoying flies she encountered on the way to Manaus. The stench would have been unbearable, if she hadn’t figured out she could disengage her olfactory system. As it was, she felt light headed and a little nauseous. As the sun-blob began to sink in the rippling air, she heard Jiannu’s voice.

“I have connected to the med bug’s distributed processor. Their coverage of your body is very attenuated, so I have concentrated them only in your left upper extremity.”

“You can call it an arm, Jiannu,” said Lilijoy

Jiannu ignored the comment.

“It is clear that this variety of med bug is only efficient in high concentrations. The nanobody count in the pills was clearly inadequate to their intended purpose, however the quality of the individual bot is viable. I have been researching the subject in the background of your network communications, and I believe these would be characterized as a rank three or even four. I suspect that each of the pills you received represents less than five percent of the appropriate dose. When you have achieved sufficient progress with our system, we will be able to create sufficient quantities for ongoing prevention of physical ailments such as arterial plaque, precancerous cells and systemic inflammation. Acute injuries up to a moderate level will also be quickly repaired.”

That all sounded good to Lilijoy, in a completely not understood way. “What about my arm now?” she asked.

“I believe there is sufficient concentration to allow for internal amputation, with a certain degree of prosthetic preparation.”

Lilijoy spoke out loud. “Anda, Jiannu says I can do an ‘internal amputation’ with some ‘prosthetic preparation’. Does that mean anything to you?”

Anda gave a sigh of relief. “I hadn’t dared hope that Boggs’ bugs would be up to that. I was afraid I would have to do it the hard way.”

He made a chopping motion to illustrate.

“You should do it right away. The med bugs will invade the bones just past your elbow and attenuate them. Then they will degrade all the connective tissues in the area. Finally, they will cause the cells in a thin slice of your arm to self-destruct. After that is complete, it will be like removing a tooth on a large scale, requiring a little force, to finish separation of the bone. The remaining surface will be covered with an extremely thin layer of new skin at first, and all the nerve fibers will be capped and available for future connection. The circulation will be remodeled to avoid blood pooling in the area. All of this will happen more or less at the same time, except for the final apoptosis, so in about a day, we can pull your arm off.”

Lilijoy didn’t like the almost pleased tone in Anda’s voice as he said that last phrase.

She gave the command to start the process, and then occupied herself with another round of cultivation. This was the fourth time she was to cultivate, and she asked Jiannu to calculate the optimal ratio of vines and lotuses. (It turned out that dividing resources evenly was best for now.) After she finished cultivating, still lingering in a blissful state from the enveloping beauty and flow of becoming one with the Golden Flower, she checked her accomplishment.

STATUS: UNRATED

Nanobody count 16,602 [Action Needed] Power Ratio 77% Stage One Integration 14% Stage Two Integration .02% Secondary/Support 3 detected, 1 identified Communications Stealth Mode Sensors Passive Active Interventions 3 Personal Quantification None Options | Logs | Data | Reference | Menu

And then her count.

NANOBODY COUNT 16,602 [Action Needed] 16,602 : 50,000 minimum recommended Current Average Attrition 2/hour (stable) Estimated Time to Minimum 48 hours Cultivation Rate 691/hour over 24 hours Cultivate | Differentiate | Assign

She was so pleased that ‘Urgent Action Needed’ had been changed to the less stressful ‘Action Needed’. She was even more pleased to see that ‘Time to Failure’ had changed to ‘Time to Minimum’. It was only two days away!

She remembered something she had been meaning to ask Jiannu.

“Why do I keep dreaming memories from Emily Choi?”

“Since you didn’t have sufficient integration for full sensory engagement, the dream state works as an alternate interface. The brain is much more pliable when sleeping, and it only requires little hints and nudges to get it to engage the senses. The system is recovering sensory data and sharing it in an ongoing way. Would you like it to withhold the data from the logs until you have sufficient integration? For sight and hearing, that should be only a few hours. For other senses it will still be a day or two.”

“That would be nice. I liked the dreams, but I would rather choose when and what I see.”

She paused for thought. “Jiannu, do you remember Emily?”

“As I understand it, Emily had the system removed before Stage two, so the only memories I possess are those available to you. I do have additional data regarding her levels of Stage one integration, communications, external files accessed and so forth. Would you like access to any of that data?”

“Can I see her messages?”

“I have access to all messages that were not deleted by Emily. There are forty to her parents. Five to her mother, thirty-eight to her father, seven hundred and ninety-two to Jane Petersen, of which seven hundred and eighty have been deleted, three hundred and...”

Lilijoy interrupted, “That sounds great, Jiannu. Could you please make a list for me and put it on the Status screen, so I don’t forget? Then, can you show me the last message to her parents?"

Sent Message from Emily Choi Mode: Local Network Message Content: Text Title: This Sucks!!!!!!!!!

Message Body:

I know that you think this is for my safety. MOM. You guys don’t think I know what is going on but I know that Dad wants to keep me safe from something like Sydney, and if that happened here you would feel really bad. I know that you let Atticus go to stage two and he’s not even 18!!!! So you think he’s more important than me? I guess the oldest son will always be more important. I don’t understand why you have to take out stage 1 and give me some old system like Jane. She still can’t even feel things in vr! I don’t care that it could poison my body. They can fix that now anyway. I like my system. . Except you really need to put in emojis. Dad I’m talking to you here. This interface needs some work. Even Jane has emojis.

This SUCKS!!!!!

p.s. please change your minds.

p.p.s I’ll practice for a month without being asked.

Contact | Delete | Blacklist | Quarantine | Menu

Lilijoy contemplated Emily’s last system message to her parents. She hadn’t learned much that was new, just that Emily had a brother, and something about Sydney. She wondered who Sydney was and what had happened to them. She also learned that she wasn’t the only one a little underwhelmed with the system interface. She didn’t even have any others for comparison.

She emerged from her internal world. Anda sat in the seat across from her, eyes closed. She wanted to distract herself from even beginning to think about what was going on in her arm, so she pulled up The Lord of the Rings and returned to the adventures of Frodo and company. The scene with ‘The Watcher in the Waters’ had her eyeing every bubbling pool with suspicion as they drove past. This dead marsh seemed like just the kind of place such a monster would hang out.

Soon, all thoughts of the outside world were driven from her mind by the treacherous journey underground, the doom of the drums, and then Gandalf’s fall to the monstrous Balrog. At this point Anda awoke, due to Lilijoy’s yelling at the text.

“No, no, no. That is not okay. Stupid book, take it back!”

Anda raised an eyebrow and said, “Met the Balrog, I take it?”

“Anda, tell me that Gandalf comes back. He can’t be dead, he just can’t”

“All I can tell you, my dear, is that you will never see Gandalf the Grey again.” He paused, “Although, he has been known to make an appearance on the Inside from time to time. One of Guardian’s sub-processors seems to enjoy the ‘Ancient Wizard’ archetype and will sometimes show up to aid those in need, or to provide mysterious quests for the lucky. Sometimes he manifests as a specific wizard, like Gandalf or Dumbledore...” he gave a little wink to Lilijoy “...who I’m sure you will get to know soon."

He raised his eyebrows. “Now that I think of it, perhaps this is the perfect time for you to try out the Inside. I’m sure the next couple days won’t be great, with your arm falling off and all. I think a little vacation would be just the thing. You’ll need to come out a few times for food and necessities, but your system will let you know when. There are hundreds of low earth orbit satellites and high-altitude platforms, especially around the equator, and we are the only humans within a hundred miles, so I’m quite sure the bandwidth will be more than adequate. Ask your system...” (Lilijoy had noticed he tended to avoid calling Jiannu by name), “...and you’ll be there in no time. There are many things I could tell you, but there is a tradition of letting everyone discover the beginnings for themselves.”

He leaned back in his seat, slumped down and with closed eyes said, “I think I’ll get a little more sleep.” He settled himself. Just as she was turning inward, he mumbled, “Say hi to the Gate Keeper from me.” Rousing just a bit, he went on.

“Oh, and just be yourself in the trials. That always works out best. Just remember, nothing will actually hurt you, but taking it seriously will go far. It’s how my people got where they are. Primal and direct, that’s the ticket.” His final words dropped in volume, almost as an afterthought.

After making sure no further communications were coming from Anda, Lilijoy found the satellite link for the Inside. A whole host of satellites that had been encrypted before her registration to the Guardian network were now available, but this one was certainly the most exciting to her. After a ‘Connecting to network’ message and a warning: “The Inside is a sensory immersion experience. Please make sure you are in a comfortable and secure area before proceeding,” she finally got to select ‘accept’.

The initial impression was quite like her inner space. A dark disembodiment, then her senses slowly warming up to the new task, allowing the impression of soft white light and rushing water. A faint earthy scent entered her nose. The nose attached to her face, face and body, and she realized that she was all there, not just her awareness, but her, in the flesh. She took a moment to feel around, before she realized both arms were working. A little dance of joy followed, waving both her arms in the air triumphantly. Then she realized she had all her teeth.

After a few minutes of jumping around and singing, “I’ve got teeth! I’ve got my teeth, and my arms!” she heard a powerfully deep grunting sound. It was followed by another, almost a snort, and another in succession until the sounds piled on one another in a cascade of grunting snorts, all pitched low enough to vibrate the ground beneath her feet.

Lilijoy looked around in alarm, initially seeing a babbling brook running through a lush green field, a large sandy dirt hill with stone pillars (supporting nothing in particular) around it, and a pale blue sky that looked almost like her first dream with Emily.

The hill trembled, shaking itself in a way that initially made no sense to her preconception of its ‘hill-ness’. From the hill emerged another hill on top of it. She heard the chiming of bells, huge bells, and saw that a necklace of brass bells circled the new hill which turned out to be less of a hill the more she looked, possessing warm brown eyes the size of Anda’s head and enormous protruding leaf shaped ears. The head (as it turned out to be) was elongated, with two round nostrils over a mouth of flat brown teeth. The nostrils were currently emitting a watery spray as the giant beast snorted with renewed vigor at Lilijoy’s expression of bemused awe.

“Well hello little two arms,” the creature said in a voice worth at least two back-rubs of vibration. “I thank you for the honor you have given me with song and dance, and for the lightness you have brought to my spirit. My name is Nandi, and I am the gatekeeper to the great master’s work of creation. What may I call you?”

After a moment to pull her jaw back up to the rest of her face, Lilijoy replied.

“Hi. Oh, hi. I’m Lilijoy. It’s very nice to meet you, and before I forget, I think that Anda said to greet you from him. He’s a tall guy with black skin and his last name’s Kukata.” She winced at her own awkwardness, but the huge creature didn’t seem to mind.

“Huh, huh little Anda Kukata,” he chuffed. “Fierce, brave and noble, that one. But kind too. Too kind for the mighty Maasai warriors. You tell him that Nandi would let him through the gate, if he ever despairs. Just tell him that.”

The massive eyes blinked slowly and regarded Lilijoy. “Do you wish to pass through the gate? I can feel a power in you, but I would offer you a caution. Those with no clan, but power of their own must be prepared for the hardest road. You will wage fierce battles with those who are established within, this I can tell already.” He paused, waiting for reply.

“Yes, I do want to go through the gate, but first I have a question.” She looked at him for approval before asking. He gave another chuff and nodded his head slowly.

“It’s just. I’ve never seen anyone like you before. Can you tell me about yourself? Do you have a family like you, or a house where you live when you aren’t here? What’s it like meeting everyone who wants to go Inside- are they mostly nice?”

The rumbling, grunting noise of what she dearly hoped was Nandi’s laughter began again, thankfully short in duration, as Lilijoy felt her new teeth might become loose and fall out all over again. Which made her realize another possibility. She reached up with two hands to feel her scalp, only to encounter fine threads of short hair, only a couple of inches long true, but hair. She began another little dance in place, vibrating with elation, barely refraining from adding ‘I’ve got lots of hair!’ to her earlier song.

Nandi looked on, excited. “The dance of creation lives within you!” he bellowed. His form emitted light, poured it out like water breaking a dam, though Lilijoy felt no discomfort from the thick brightness. She watched as his form shrank, folded and formed into a tall man. Nearly a man anyway, for somehow, he kept the same head shape, and managed to find an extra pair of arms.

He danced in a circle, moving his arms and hands intricately, his necklace of bells now chiming lightly as he flowed. His skin became pale white and was suffused with the same light that had poured out for his transformation, so that the color of his skin and the light merged and blended in a way that made him seem out of focus and diffuse. He broke into song, his voice now a deep baritone, no longer shaking the firmament.

“I’ve got four arms and I am Nandi the bull of Siva. I have eight hands and my family is the universe. I have two horns and I live among the stars!”

His song started as Lilijoy’s but then turned and twisted into a wavering chant unlike anything Lilijoy had ever heard. As he came to a rest and finished the short performance, he went on to talk in a normal manner.

“I meet many people, all who come to the gate. To most, I am merely the door, and they pass through without a thought. To some, I am a momentary impediment, to be brushed aside like a fly. Few see me with joy and wonder, and fewer still honor me with song and dance, though those who know of me from before they come have been known to try to curry favor. Only a handful have seen me in this form, and only you, Lilijoy, have seen me dance.”