Chapter 36: The Cube

Jo’ra ran to his room with a distinct panic in his eyes. Before the following people could enter the room, Jo’ra hastily hid traces of junk food, trash cans and generally cleaned up the room in mere 5 seconds. He jumped from one corner of the room to another, he utilized every limb and his tail to grab all sorts of scrap metal, tech parts, and different kinds of oddments. With one quick motion, he swept everything from the table into a box that he prepared in advance. And threw it to another room.

After the swift move that closed the door to his bedroom where he buried the boxes and all litter, he jumped to his seat in front of his terminal, quantum computer.

“Come on in, be my guest, I apologize that I don’t have anything to offer you, only snacks and some beverages if you wish. Make yourself at home. So… how are you, O’rmon?” Faltering Jo’ra asked.

“Good, thank you. We are short on time though, so straight to the business. We need you to add him into your game so he can fight while sleeping.” O’rmon apparently knew all about Kutch’s friends and just ignored their pathetic attempts to get her attention. Even though they all knew that she saw only a bunch of losers in them, they never gave up a dream to impress and win her cold heart.

“Yes, of course. Will do. You came to me because you knew that I’m the best who suits this job right? Although the words were coming out of his mouth he was totally unaware of how in the world he could talk such nonsense. He was sure that it was Kutch’s initiative. “You did the right thing. Let me see your 3comm, uhm...who are you again?”

“Oh yeah, right. I didn’t introduce you to each other. Safo Nur, meet Jo’ra my best friend, he is super stupid and super smart at the same time." Kutch chuckled at his witty joke. "Jo’ra, meet Safo Nur, our future king.”

“What?” Jo’ra jumped up from his seat and rushed to Safo Nur. “I apologize for my manners, your highness. I apologize for this place, it is a mess…”

“Oh, relax man. He is not like that.” Kutch patted the green monkey who started mumbling the apologies.

“Haha. Yeah, it's fine. I should apologize that we didn’t inform you in advance. We really had no free time.” Safo tried to ease the situation, he felt awkward standing before the kneeling monkey. “Please help me with my 3comm, it is breaking every time I use my fire resource.”

Jo’ra came to his senses and began acting normal, as best as he could, considering that he was in front of royalty and O'rmon. Kutch introduced Achraf too, who was staring at tech stuff with hungry eyes. Jo’ra reacted as if he found his soulmate. Very soon they forgot about others and dived into tech-world news.

“Ahm.” Kutch had to remind Jo'ra that they had a narrow schedule.

“Yes, Yes.” With that, he connected a small black device the size of a grape to Safo’s 3comm. Along with Achraf they started their tech magic. Nobody dared to interrupt them, so Kutch, O’rmon, and Safo sat still watching professionals at work.

Less than 30 minutes took to complete a new device for Safo. Jo’ra carefully peeled off the main body of the 3comm from Safo’s neck. It was glued to the central nervous system. It went all the way to the brain and spinal cord and plugged itself into them.

Instead of a duct tape-like 3comm that consisted of two components, the tape itself, attached to the neck and a bracelet device on the forearm, Jo’ra installed a semi-sphere black device on Safo's nape.

“This is the newest invention, it is way better than 3comm. Inspiration for this device came from The Cube, so I’m sure you will appreciate it. Kutch probably already asked you to join our guild right? You better comply, we are in fourth place!” Proud overflowed the monkey. He was helping a future king with his tech issues and he bragged about his guild, the best day.

“Actually, no, he didn’t. I never played The Cube before. This will be my first..”

“What? No, no, no. It can’t be! You never played The Cube? Where have you been living since today?”

“Leave him alone. He lived on a wild planet. Instead, explain to him about the game, you will do it better than me.” Kutch covered Safo Nur before Jo’ra could start his interrogation.

“I see. Then you came to the right place. I know everything about the game! It is my life! My love! My passion! Sit down, and listen…”

Same as before, nobody dared to stop or disturb him. Kutch once told that Jo’ra bit a guy just for asking a question during his hour-long monologue about a game.

The Cube was a mystery and a progenitor of VD technology. One day, 2 years ago, a giant cube-shaped metallic thing appeared at the edge of the explored territory of the universe. Between the Empire’s lands and restricted areas.

The Empire took months to research the anomaly. It was made from unknown material, it was an unknown technology all by itself. Construction consisted of nine Cubes attached to each other making a huge rectangle. Each cube was the size of a regular planet, making a device gigantic in size and mass. And the strange things started from there; the device had no gravitational force nor it had a mass that it was supposed to have by all the logic and physic laws.

The surface of the construct was reflective as a mirror. Painting it in black - the color of space, the place it was located.

The only thing that they could extract is the instruction for Virtual Dimension technology. Which they used to develop a brand new type of entertainment.

In two years many other companies released their VD games but none could be as good as The Cube. Companies spent millions to research the field to be able to compete with the mysterious cubes.

Up to date, no one could crack open the cubes puzzle both in the game world and outside of it. It seemed that the sole purpose of the enigmatic structure was to create a gaming world for the player’s joy.

People received a touch more information after the invention of the VD set using the instruction given by the cube. Still, it wasn’t crystal clear but the game gave a hint that the one who won the game gained access to its secrets.

Players flooded the game afterward. Alas, even two years later no one passed the seventh Cube.

“I hope it is not too much for you. It is a bit complicated in theory. Though, when you start playing you will fall in love with the game, I guarantee.” Jo’ra finally finished his story.

“Okay, I’m ready. How to play?” After listening to the prehistory of the game Safo felt intrigued and was eager to start. And he didn’t want to disappoint Kutch and Jo’ra who were dreaming to seduce another person to join their guild.

‘This word again. Okay. What does it means and why is it not translated?’ everybody in the room and Luna asked almost the same question inwardly.

“Just lay down and relax. Turn on the Bean and follow the link that I sent to you.” Jo’ra made a comfortable place for Safo on the sofa. Kutch was practically vibrating, unable to contain his excitement. He remembered his first time and the long days and nights after. Explorations, gifts, level-ups, all sorts of trials and quests, he especially fancied the time in the guild. He was the leader and creator of it after all.

It took him a great amount of time and energy to bring it to the fourth palace on the leaderboard, considering that the companies spent an unlimited budget on their players. Any means, just to discover the secrets of The Cube.

Its first instruction brought billions to those who managed to produce VD sets in time, later more billions were earned from creating supporting applications and guides for the gamers. Another wave of billions came from other VD entertainment; videos, movies, porn, new VD games, and many other interactive things.

Moneybags maniacally wanted to see what else they could find in the game, so they sent armies of hired players to discover the world.

Kutch, however, recently moved his attention to other games due to him being stuck in one place. He reached the highest accessible world, Cube 7. From there, none yet ascended further to the next cube. So he lost his interest a bit.

“WOW! This is awesome! The screen is in front of my eyes and yet I can see you too. It is like those systems described in light novels and mangas. Feels incredibly unrealistic.”

A half-transparent screen with options that were before in his 3comm now was in front of his eyes. He could choose just by thinking about it. It was the newest technology that Jo’ra was learning so hard, cyber-ordinance.

“Oh, here. I see the link to start the game. Wish me luck, I'm going in.”