“Level III, eighty-nine percent available. Levels I, II, IV, and V, one hundred available,” replied a suave voice.
“Activate the access codes!”
Right away, five fields of different colors appeared on the screen. She touched the plate to the surface of the display, and the codes flowed into their proper fields. The yellow code, for the habited islands, activated successfully. The same happened with the blue one belonging to the games. Those were the two codes known by three architects in the council, but they were changed when they woke up Ugo because he also knew them before he died. Then came the fire-red level III, the security level granting access to the prison islands and Firalia 9; the green level of the Parhontes Council; and the brown one, the world of shadows—the keeper of the kaura dead, she thought, shivering. Brown was the most guarded secret. Thousands and thousands of monsters like Ugo and herself were guarded by the brown string of symbols. Some abstract symbols represented the only protection of the physical universe, and now Ugo had them, too. What were the parhontes thinking when they gave him the keys? She didn’t have the slightest intention of waking them up to find out. If things went her way, Uralia’s world—the only world she ever knew, wonderful and frighteningly cruel at the same time—would end up deleted. Deleted forever. Now that all its virtual inhabitants were dead or disconnected, there was no point in its existence.
Suddenly driven by inspiration, she told the interface, “I want to change the codes!”
“Only the council of the parhontes may vote a password change,” the screen replied.
“The council is dead. I am the new council, and I want to change them now!” she yelled with her characteristic impetuosity.
“Sorry, but that is impossible,” replied the virtual architect, in the same even-toned voice. “Only the council may approve the change.”
There was no point in insisting. She wouldn’t be able to block Ugo from changing the world as he pleased, but on the other tail, he wouldn’t be able to stop her, either. The artificial intelligences guarded Uralia better than she imagined. That, of course, would only last until the monster found a way to control or corrupt them. Or wake up the Parhontes Council. Somehow, however, she doubted that Ugo would make such a stupid mistake.
Sandara was painfully aware that time was running out. The prospect of Ugo roaming around and building some patch of grass didn’t seem exceedingly plausible. Most likely, he was cooking up a nasty plan to prevent Gill from reaching the aliens.
She ran out of the portal, followed by a yellow architect display. A quick glance confirmed her worst fears—no landscape improvement, no new hill, no forest… not a single sign that Ugo was building the world. She turned to the translucent display floating nearby.
“I want a rock!”
A strange numbness she had not experienced in a long time tickled her forehead. First slow, then faster and faster, dozens of tinglings started to chase one another inside her head. A rupture appeared in the meadow’s continuum, out of which came a matrix, slowly turning into a stone. An ugly, brown, misshapen boulder was now resting on the grass. She kicked it, angered that she had neglected the programming discipline to such an extent.
“I didn’t imagine it like that; it’s awfully ugly! Can’t you read my thoughts properly?” she bristled at the screen. “Larger, yellow, and sparkling!”
After several failed attempts, she finally got something acceptable. She grabbed it and ran inside her portal.
“Table!” said Sandara, and a translucent surface appeared in the main hall, on which she threw the boulder. “Scan it!” she ordered the yellow architect.
A blue ray burst from a lens fixed on the ceiling, and one of the nearby screens scrolled the stone’s algorithms.
“Wait, wait, stop,” she told the screen. “I want to copy the stone. How can I do it?” Receiving no answer, she searched frantically on another screen. “Copy… copy… not good. Wait,” she exclaimed, “call the function index. How did the architects clone a forest? Come on, Sandara! Remember when Forbat took you to build an island—what’s its name? Search duplicate, right, something easier. Look, a wild acajaa patch… very good, very good! Father, why did I never listened to you?” she lamented. “Please don’t take off before I’m done,” Sandara whispered, as if Gill could hear her.
She was working with a speed she never thought she could reach in her entire life, her hearts beating madly, convinced that only a thin strip of time stood between her and disaster.
After several agonizing minutes, she finally found what she was looking for.
“Right, right, this is it! Take this function and scan the stone again,” she said, pulling the code from the index screen and throwing it into the yellow architect. “I want you to change the algorithms so that I can duplicate it just like it is here,” she told the virtual architect.
Immediately, a yellow light came from the same lens and scanned the stone. Without hesitation, Sandara took the boulder and pulled it with both hands. The stone began to stretch like a rubber band; before long, it separated into two boulders identical to the original one.
“Excellent,” she exclaimed triumphantly.
***
After having passed through the ruins of Xochicalco without further adventures, Gill reached the ship. Once he pressed the bump in the wall, the door sealed, and he ran to the navigation table on the bridge. Although he had never taken off from a planet, Gill was pretty sure he could do it; he’d spied Ugo’s driving, and the controls seemed simple enough even for an archivist.
“Let’s see what happens…”
He touched a random area on Mapu’s orbit, and the navigation wheel appeared around his finger. “Great!” After slightly pressing his finger like Ugo did, he used the other hand to accelerate by touching the speed circle. The ship’s shaking announced to him that he had left the planet.
Suddenly, the table’s surface rippled, and Mapu disappeared; its place was taken by a myriad of stars. Now came the hard part, but luckily for him, the galactic map was translated into Antyran. He quickly spotted a familiar name: Antyra. Mapu was in the same sector, so he didn’t have to search very far. A few moments later, he was heading toward it at full speed.
***
Overly worried, Sandara ran across the islet, looking for Ugo. Where did you hide, monster? He was clearly planning to shoot down Gill’s ship, and she couldn’t find him quickly enough if she wasted time scouring every bush. What would Ugo do? He’d use his little spies. Of course! She laughed, delighted. And I don’t have to break my tail programming them; their code already exists!
“I want a licant spy right here,” she told the yellow architect screen floating nearby, which was following her every step.
Right away, a licant matrix appeared in her palm, quickly becoming alive. She whistled for her portal and ran inside, followed by the display.
“Change its code so that I can duplicate it like the stone,” she ordered. As soon as the licant lay on the table, the yellow light scanned it.
The process had barely ended when she grabbed the creature and ran outside with it. She began to frantically pull it apart, creating more and more new licants.
“Duplicate!” she ordered.
Immediately, the flyers stretched and separated, doubling their number. Sandara repeated the order a few more times. Soon, a sizable pack of licants was swarming around her.
“Search for Ugoriksom,” she ordered them. “Don’t you dare to come back until you find his tail!”
A whirling river of licants erupted in the four corners of the forest, searching everywhere with their panoramic eyes.
Even though she didn’t have to wait long, Sandara had the feeling that a whole eternity passed before the small forearm display came to life, streaming the images recorded through the eyes of one of her spies. The abomination was hiding inside a big hollow tree! She rushed there, following the cheerful licant that had returned to lead the way.