While the princess admired her new looks, Marcus picked up a stone that was about fist sized and hammered away at the bark of a tree until he’d torn substantial strips from it. While the bark itself was grey, the inside of the tree was dark red, so the impact of his efforts were very visible. Then he walked about ten metres and did the same to another tree.

‘What are you doing?’ asked Sina.

Pleased with his foresight, Marcus gestured with a finger. ‘From that tree to this one is a line. As far as I can judge, the line points to where the spaceship crashed.’

Sina looked blankly at him.

‘I wanted to mark it, while the direction was clear in my mind. It’s very easy to lose your sense of direction outdoors, we don’t even know for sure the motions of the sun here.’

‘Oh, I see. Well done.’ She picked up a stone and walking past the imaginary line, started damaging the bark of another tree.

‘What are you doing?’ Marcus asked.

‘The sea is this way. I think we should go to the sea. For fish and bathing.’

‘Remember what the AI said about predators. We should go to the spacecraft wreckage first and get metal to make spears with.’

‘I think the coast would be safer. Don’t lions and tigers live in forests?’

Although he wanted to give the princess an authoritative answer, Marcus found that he did not know if predators like lions hunted on beaches. What he did feel, very strongly, was that they needed metal from the ruined spacecraft. To extract metal from some kind of mining process was an enormous challenge, involving locating ores, hard digging, and the creation of a high-temperature furnace, not to mention molds and appropriate tools. Yet there were probably sharp pieces of tough metal just lying around near the crash site.

All he said was, ‘I must go and get my parachute. We’ll need them. You get yours too… please.’

‘I’ll come with you.’

‘It’s only over there,’ Marcus pointed to the bright greens and whites of his parachute, clearly visible through the spaces between tree trunks.

Sina blinked. ‘Honestly, I’m a little scared. Why don’t we go together and do yours, then mine.’

The sincerity of her words softened Marcus and he nodded. ‘All right.’

Footsteps crunching on fallen branches, they walked through a wood that was pleasant enough. Blocks of sunlight penetrated the canopy and picked out small purple flowers. Insects very similar to bluebottles shone with an indigo iridescence as they zig-zagged through the blocks of light. A memory flashed up of a painting in these colours, one he’d long forgotten. Not only were the colours right – gold, purple and indigo – so were the proportions. What had he been thinking back then? Similarly cheerful thoughts, he was sure.

‘Did you see the interface rectangles?’ asked Marcus.

‘The game menus?’

‘The things you see at the corners of your vision.’

‘Yes, I see those.’

Suddenly curious, Marcus wondered aloud. ‘What does the one with your personal details say?’

‘My character sheet?’ Sina stopped walked and had a distant expression on her face. Marcus looked around in case he could see the green rectangles that she was presumably looking at, but there was nothing.

‘Princess Sina Koskina, modified human. Strength seven, Constitution eight, Dexterity twelve, Intelligence sixteen, Wisdom six, Charisma twenty.’ She paused, ‘want me to go on?’

‘If you would, please.’

‘Does not age: age fixed at twenty-seven. Teeth do not decay. Perfect vision. Immune to cancers and malarial diseases. Top skills: Ballroom Dancing fourteen; Piano Playing eleven; Gracious Dining ten; Violin Playing five; Ballet four; Negotiation three; Fishing two; Shotgun one.’

Sina turned her vivid emerald eyes to his. ‘What?’ She sounded aggrieved.

Realising he was grinning, Marcus said hastily, ‘nothing. I just hope you get to use your ballroom dancing skill sometime.’

There was a very distinct pout on the princess’s face.

‘You are intelligent,’ Marcus said in an attempt to mollify her. ‘More intelligent than me.’

‘Honestly, I’m not that surprised.’

Saying nothing, Marcus strode to his parachute and it was only after several minutes hard work with this wonderful youthful body that his temper settled down. What had he said or done to make her think him stupid?

The parachute material was thin and light; to get it to fold down properly they had to co-operate. Once free from branches and debris, the material had to be stretched and folded repeatedly.

‘I have quests. Do you have the same ones as me?’ asked Sina.

Without answering her, Marcus continued to work at folding the parachute until at last it was a manageable size. ‘Now, let me see.’

Quest: Storage

Build a place to put your stores.

Requirements: Construction 1; dry ground; tarpaulin; stones.

Reward: stores degrade more slowly.

Quest: Lean-To Shelter

Build a place to sleep.

Requirements: Construction 1; dry ground; tarpaulin or equivalent vegetation; 3 units of timber; tree trunk.

Reward: refreshes fatigue.

Quest: Discover Rittle Berries

Obtain 5kg of Rittle Berries.

Requirements: Foraging 1; Rittle Berry bush; summer season.

Reward: refreshes hunger. Unlocks new recipes.

Quest: Discover Clean Water

Obtain a source of water.

Requirements: Foraging 1.

Reward: refreshes thirst.

Quest: Create Spear

Build a simple spear.

Requirements: Weaponsmith 1; 1 unit of timber; fireplace.

Reward: a simple, fire-hardened spear.

Marcus read the headings of each aloud, then flicked the rectangles away with a sidewards motion of his eyes.

‘Mine are exactly the same,’ said Sina, ‘it’s very considerate of the planet to give us suggestions, don’t you think?’

‘Suggestions?’ Holding his bundle across his chest, Marcus set off for Sina’s parachute and she hurried after him.

‘Don’t you think the planet is guiding us with these quests?’

‘Perhaps. But food, water and shelter were always going to be our priorities.’ He dropped his burden and began to untangle Sina’s parachute from the debris it had accumulated during her landing, throwing any dry looking branches into a pile. ‘And fire. How are we going to start a fire? Perhaps with the power source for our suits.’

‘But the box about Rittle Berries. The implication of that quest is that Rittle Berries are safe to eat. That’s new knowledge that we wouldn’t have without the assistance of these quests. That, and the name of the berry.’

Marcus nodded. ‘Fair point.’ His hand went to rub his chin, as it often did when he was thinking, but the thick glove and high neck of his suit prevented the gesture.

‘What I’m wondering,’ mused Sina as she brought her edge of the parachute towards him, ‘is how does one obtain the required skills to complete the quests. I don’t have foraging, construction or weaponsmithing. Do you?’

This caused Marcus to pause and look at his own details – his ‘character sheet’ as Sina put it – again. ‘I do not.’

Once her parachute was folded into a bundle, Sina sat on it with a sigh. ‘Now that the idea of finding clean water is in my head, I find that I am thirsty.’

‘You might be right about going to the sea.’

‘Why do you say that? Does it have something to do with being thirsty? Do you hope the sea water is drinkable?’

‘Rivers flow to the sea. We should go to the coast then turn left and walk until we think we are parallel to the spaceship crash. Hopefully, we’ll find rivers or at least a stream along the way.’

‘Very well.’ Sina got up and pointed to the tree she had marked earlier. ‘That way.’

As they tramped side-by-side through the forest, Marcus drew a deep breath and felt happy. There was a light breeze on his face, carrying a faint scent of a herb like garlic or onion. His arms were swinging and his legs were moving easily. In his twenties, Marcus had been adventurous. With just a small backpack, he’d gone hiking for weeks up and down Ireland and the UK. Only now, with his youth restored, did he realise how small and unexciting his world had become this last decade. How unexpected and marvellous it was to have this opportunity to re-live those days of freedom and travel in the countryside once more.

‘Mr Korol?’

Marcus looked at Sina, surprised at her formality.

‘I owe you an apology. When I said I wasn’t surprised at my intelligence score being higher than yours... I didn’t mean to reflect in any way badly on you.’ Those extraordinary green eyes were moist, as though Sina was close to crying. ‘I was just thinking of my mother. She used to say that I was far too clever to be a princess. It would be better for me if I could cut ribbons and charm foreign dignitaries without being bored.

‘If you’ve taken offense at me, I understand, but please, my remark was a clumsy reference to my childhood and not intended to be derogatory.’

Again, Marcus found himself disarmed by her honesty and again something gave way inside his chest. He reached across and patted her arm. ‘You know, even if a giant dinosaur comes crashing through the trees and bites my head off, I’ll die happy.’

‘Because?’ Sina looked around, startled.

‘I’d reached the end in any case. I knew I’d never finish my latest sculpture. I was in a lot of pain and hardly able to walk. This last hour has been amazing.’ Marcus gave a skip and then managed a fairly good attempt, given the bulky suit, to click his heels while off the ground. A cartwheel, however, would have to wait. Much to his delight, Sina smiled.

‘Were you old on Earth?’

‘Ninety-two.’ He felt a certain pride in that figure and also enjoyed the gasp of the princess. ‘How old are you?’

‘Eighteen.’

Eighteen. He should try to remember that if he ever became irritated with her again. She was a teenager still.

Trying to remember what it was like to be eighteen, Marcus walked on, hardly bothering to avoid brambles and plants that might have stings, like nettles, but which could not penetrate his suit. Eighteen. He had left his home in Dublin that year, intending to join the avant-garde artists and bohemians on the Left Bank in Paris. He’d gotten there all right, only to find the language barrier impossible. Eighteen. Full of dreams. Utterly impractical ones though.

After a few minutes, Sina spoke hesitantly, ‘do you really think there might be dinosaurs here?’

Although she probably wanted reassurance, what reassurance could he give? And she was too smart to take any comfort from a platitude. So he answered honestly. ‘All we know is that there are predators here who will hunt us. And that the AI thought them a serious threat.’

‘Well, perhaps too we have a hint from the planet when it gave us our quest for a spear. Surely, if we were warding off dinosaurs, a spear would not be of the slightest help. Perhaps the predators are of a size we can protect ourselves against with a spear. A wolf, say.’

Knowing that this was only wishful thinking, all of a sudden Marcus felt anxious. His remark about the dinosaur had been frivolous. Given that simply walking in a forest was such a joy, losing his new life would be tragic, in the true sense of the word. It was time to get serious. And with the concentration that he brought to sculpture, Marcus studied the forest ahead, attentive to every wayward motion of branch or bush. Immediately, he became much more aware of the avian life. There were dozens of species of bird and mentally he equated them to those he knew from Earth: a swift moving starling; a ground-feeding robin; a noisy dove; a knowing magpie; and more. It was while watching the robin (the bird’s breast was violet, rather than red, but was the same size as a robin and skipped across the ground as it looked for food) that he saw the bird jump into a bush and emerge with a purple berry. Could it be?

You have discovered Foraging

‘Princess, wait. That bush.’ He walked over and pushed at the foliage to reveal clusters of the berries. ‘Could that be Rittle Berry?’

‘What makes you think it might be?’

Safely protected from poison by his gloves, Marcus plucked a berry and squeezed the juice from it. ‘I just had a message pop up, I have discovered Foraging. I was studying a bird at the time and watching it come out of the bush with a berry in its beak.’

‘Oh, how absolutely wonderful.’ Sina looked thoughtful. ‘We need to give you five kilograms of the berries. Then if they are Rittle Berries, you should complete the quest and that will confirm they are safe to eat.’

‘Good idea.’

It was easy enough to gather clusters of berries still on their branches and before long they had made a pile that was definitely over five kilograms.

‘Now what?’ Marcus asked.

‘Pick them up?’

He gathered as much of the pile as he could to his chest and stood up.

Congratulations! You have completed the Quest: Discover Rittle Berries

Reward: Refresh your hunger

You have unlocked the recipes: Rittle Berry jam; Rittle Berry Spirit; Rittle Berry spread.

‘Well?’ Sina was staring at him with great intensity.

Dropping all the branches but one, Marcus picked a berry and slowly, with great deliberation, put it into his mouth and bit into it. Even though he loved the sight of the smile that crossed Sina’s face, he had to close his eyes, because the intense, delicious taste that flooded him required his full concentration.