The City: PuzzleLocked Book 1

Alastair looked at his interface. A happy smile took him. “Flor! It worked! I’ve got a new interface! Whoa. Check it out! It’s…amazingly useful.”

Still in the interface, Alastair could see four sub-menus. Cats, Items, Lore, Achievements.

Curiously, he selected cats. A list showed up:

Cats: 13 of 144 petted.

{It’s interesting to note that the developers designed the cat completion page to order the cats by the order in which they were petted, rather than assigning them a number. This was to allow each player to encounter the cats in their own order.}

000 Princess Dusty Butt (Persian)

001 Ellington (American Shorthair)

002 Finigan Chalupa (Turkish Angora)

003 Narcisse Madalitso (Balinese)

004 Ivonette Lillias (Devon Rex)

005 Unnamed (05 daughter of Ivonette Lillias (Devon Rex))

006 Dacian Sebastian (Ragamuffin)

007 Ratree (Korat)

008 Lady Eulalia Grier (British Shorthair)

009 Scruffs (American Shorthair)

010 Mohana (Bengal)

011 Sage (Egyptian Mau)

012 Mild Davis (Maine Coon)

013 Peanuts! (Birman)

014 ???

The list of not-yet-pet cats rolled down until Alastair stopped looking. I’m not chasing hundreds of cats. Flor can if she thinks it’s useful.

Alastair remembered that he had three additional new interfaces. He selected Items.

University Badge - allows unfettered access to the West Shilgrave University grounds.

But it was the only item listed. Selecting Lore, he was happy that there was more there.

World

Island

City

Puzzles

People

Other

He was quickly overwhelmed with the options. To minimize his focus, he clicked on 'People.'

People

Rudolf - Prison Warden 4, =

Horace - Prison Tavern mgr 4. =+

Emma Ragna - Merchant 4. =

Arnar Mattias - Farmer 3. =

Andile - Guild Leader 3. =+

Helena Lara, Assistant 3. =

Klaos Norbae - Lieutenant (boats) 2. =

Nikolette - Barkeep 3. =+

Irving - Thug 1. =+

Oliver Guillem Francesc - Lord 3. - - -

Rosa Beatriu Meritxell-Francesc - Lady 3. =

Sithembile - Scribe 8. =

Olamida - Scribe 3. =

I did not realize I had met so many people…Wait? Mida’s name is Olamida? It's strange that it shows up just as Mida. And the symbols must indicate their disposition toward us.

I wonder what is in achievements?

Achievements: 12 of 35 complete.

& Taxes!

3…2…1…Fight!

But wait, there’s more!

Craft!

Devil on a match head!

Found!

Hated!

Legerdemain!

Locked!

Random!

With your eyes!

You too!

All those blanks must be pending achievements. I’ll have to dig through this more before we sleep next.

Alastair finally looked up from the interface. Flor seemed to be consoling Mida, which Alastair figured meant that Mida had not turned persistent. Flor held the cat named Sage and stroked it from the nose down to the tip of her tail. Sage looked pleasantly chuffed. The other cats seemed to have skedaddled, as had the scribes.

Alastair moved closer to hear Flor and Mida. Flor said, “…maybe it’s not worth my words, but maybe you need to pet more than four cats?”

Mida, crestfallen, shook her head. ‘No. I’m happy we tried.” Alastair thought she looked almost to the point of tears, for a dream gained and lost so quickly.

I don’t know how to help. So instead, he stood there, trying to be patient. Yet, Alistair recognized the gigantic amount of possibilities available to review in his interface. These two visits to the university had proved enormously productive. Although they still didn’t have a specific objective, they could track their progress by viewing the things they had done.

Eventually, Mida said, “Well, sorry for bringing everyone down. It was a hope, and I think I put too much faith in it.” With inner willpower, she straightened herself up. “I should be grateful it worked for you. I want to ask questions about your new capabilities, but I also want to tell you about the second part of my scheme. Come back with me to my office.”

“Can I bring Sage?”

“Whatever…sure, it’s fine. Sorry for being short. I’ll forget this whole thing in the morning.”

“Was that a joke?” Alastair asked.

“Surprisingly, yes.”

Back in Mida’s office, Flor took the chair, forcing Alastair to choose the stool or to stand. He glanced at the memory cube still on the desk. “Where did you get the memory cube? Is that something we can buy, or construct, or something like that?”

Mida looked at the cube, picked it up, and put it in her drawer. “Some items are available for purchase, some as blueprints. Or maybe you’ll find some when exploring. You looted those thugs you beat up, right?”

“Whoa. Those thugs attacked us. And the knives that we acquired from them disappeared the following morning.”

“But you said my cube remained. So, maybe look for unique items, and maybe they’ll be persistent?”

“Where might we purchase them?”

Mida looked at him like he was stupid. Then she shifted to her schoolteacher’s face. “Do you want me to answer that, or do you think you might deduce it yourself?”

Flor chuckled, which felt like a knife wound to him.

“Seriously? We’re supposed to be working toward the same objective.”

“Yeah, but it was funny. Mida knows how to get under your skin, and since you’ve been so insensitive toward her, it’s justified.”

“Regardless, I don’t like it,” he said.

“Sorry. I’ll restrain myself.”

Mida watched the interaction as if two children were figuring out how to share toys. She almost looked pleased. But then, she looked at her notes and then went back to them, “If you’re done?” She waited for their attention.

She does treat us like kids. Although, it is arguably effective…

“So, my experiment worked, supposedly. We acquired cats and you have new capabilities. I’m willing to expand upon this, though. I want to send out some of my scribes to find other cats in the city. They’ll deliver them here, and we’ll see if you get new abilities.”

Flor, with Sage in her arms, nodded enthusiastically.

“What’s the deal, though? What do you get from us?”

Mida again looked at him as if he was slow. “I would tear your brain out of your head and inspect every portion of it.”

Alastair protested.

Mida continued, “Metaphorically, of course. I want to know every…single…thing that is in your interfaces. Both of yours. Every menu. Every sub-menu. Every current setting and some idea of when you changed the setting last. I want you to tell me how you see it. I want you to tell me how you feel about it. And I want you to draw it as you see it, as shoddy as those drawings might be. I expect to fill pages and pages. So, that is what I get from you. Okay?”