Recursive Loops and Failed Queries
Henri awoke in his bed, just like every day. But something was different this time…he rubbed his eyes and reached for his spectacles. The light was brighter as it streamed in the windows of his bedroom. The gloomy weather that had been pervasive since he arrived had finally cleared. Yawning as he rose from the bed, he mulled over the peculiar dream he’d had just before waking. His daughter was here, but she didn’t look like he remembered. And she was with Lex; that was a good thing. He knew he could trust Lex. The player that ran the Prophis was part of Val’s company and was a fine young man…like the son Henri had always wanted.
As he went through his morning routine, flashes from the dream drifted through his mind. Most of it was too blurry to make a difference, but there was one bit that stuck out in his mind. Henri paused after he washed his face and dried off with a hand towel, and rolled up his sleeves. He had the strangest feeling that he would see a tattoo on his arm, like the ones the Prophis bore or perhaps a bar code like the ones found on some of the NPCs that were similar in appearance. But there was nothing there. He turned his arms over and looked at the backs of his biceps in the mirror but there was nothing there either. Henri looked at himself in the mirror as he pulled his long gray hair back and frowned. He would have to talk to Val about how old the innkeeper NPC appeared if it truly had been based on him.
He shook his head to rid himself of the strange memory and walked out to the workshop, where he and Val worked on the game, with a steaming cup of coffee. Hopefully, he could find the bug that Val had asked him to look into soon so he could go back home to Maggie. Henri blew on the coffee before taking a tentative sip. A stopover in England to visit Maddie at her new job could also be arranged. He sat down at his desk and turned on the laptop. The holo-matrix that Val and his two apprentices had created was fascinating, but there was still a glitch that made it obvious who was a player running an avatar and a non-player character. So far, he couldn’t figure out why the glitch was appearing, but it was just a matter of checking the right section of the code. Probably. Hopefully. Henri took another sip as Val entered the workshop, whistling as he walked. “Ah, Valentin, You’re in a good mood. Did you figure something out?”
“Non, but I have a good feeling about today. Pourquoi tu ne parles plus français ?”
Henri sighed. “We have been over this. I don’t speak French as much as I used to because I don’t live in France anymore.”
“Ah.” Val clucked his tongue disapprovingly. “I would wager that, being American, your wife doesn’t speak French at all.”
“You’d be wrong.” Henri grinned, pride swelling in his chest when he thought of Maggie. “She speaks French in addition to Spanish and some Welsh…and Klingon.” Val rolled his eyes and sat down at his terminal. Henri looked over his shoulder and frowned. There was nothing on the desk. “Where is your laptop? Are we not working on the code again today?”
“Watch this, mon ami, I finished working out the last bug last night.” Val held out his fingers and a keyboard appeared beneath them. “In-game virtual keyboard.” Henri smiled in spite of himself. It was good to see his oldest friend so happy. “It is fingerprint locked, so it knows which keyboard layout to use when you open it.”
“Which keyboard?”
“Oui. Watch. It knows I am a GM because I’m logged in on my GM account. But watch this.” He tapped the keys, lifted his fingers, and then put them back down. The keyboard was still there. Henri frowned. “No, you have to come closer so that you can see the keys from the top.” He scooted over and Henri came to stand behind him, leaning over Val’s shoulder and peering down at the translucent keys. “Now…” He logged out, and then put his hands back on the keyboard. “See?”
“Yes! Très impressionnant! The key combinations for GM commands are all gone. That’s very impressive.” He leaned in closer. “May I try?”
“Of course.” Val did not leave his seat but removed his hands from the keyboard. “Quickly now, or it will…” The keyboard faded from view.
“Oh, whoops, I wasn’t fast enough.”
“Just hold out your hands.”
“Like this?” Henri held his hands out, palms up.
“Non.” Val reached for Henri’s hands but paused with his hands hovering in mid-air. “I’m sorry, may I?”
“Bien sûr, please.” Val took Henri’s hands in his and turned them over. An electric shock passed between them but instead of pulling his hands back, Henri looked up at Val. He was watching Henri closely.
“Now…hold your hands here and move your fingers as though there is a keyboard under them.” After a moment, Val released Henri’s hands and he moved his fingers, chuckling when the keyboard appeared. “See?” Henri met Val’s gaze again and held it this time. “What?”
“Valentin…Je suis désolé, I am so sorry that you feel like I left you behind when I went to America.”
“Nonsense.”
“I’m serious. I know that’s why I haven’t heard from you for so long…why you didn’t even come to my wedding.”
“You didn’t need me there, Henri. Now, type something.”
Henri studied his childhood friend for a moment and then sighed. “Fine, but we will discuss this afterward.” He typed <What is the time of day here?> and the screen displayed the time in-game, in Arcstone. “That’s interesting.”
“Que veux-tu dire?” Val moved closer to him, looking over his shoulder.”What’s interesting?”
“Well, the syntax is strange. I asked what time it was ‘here’ and it thought I meant inside Arcstone.” He chuckled. “I will add it to my list to investigate.”
“Oui, do that.” Val wasn’t smiling. “In fact, I will leave you to it, as I have boring business meetings to attend.” Henri nodded but didn’t look up from the keyboard for a moment, and when he did he was alone. Val could seemingly disappear without a sound – Henri had always found that fascinating. He kept at his work and soon found the bit of code that handled the answer to that question.
“What…?” The code read correctly, so it should have told him what time it was in Paris, or wherever the player was located that was asking…not Arcstone. Henri took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes before returning to the text editor and reading through the lines on the screen bit by bit. He was right, the code had been written correctly. A strange notion crossed his mind and he rose from his chair slowly. What if…He and Val had both been able to move in and out of the game with little trouble thanks to that holo-matrix, but…no, that was impossible; this was too real. Henri stood slowly before crossing the room and gazing out the window. He’d done this many times since he’d been here visiting Val, to clear his mind when a solution wasn’t coming to him as fast as he’d like. But he’d never really looked, not closely. There was the familiar arrondissement, the street stretching out below him as the cafes opened up to face another day of customers. Further along the skyline, he could see the familiar sites of the city he’d grown up in…wait a minute…the buildings weren’t right. Something was off. After cleaning his spectacles and replacing them on his nose, Henri leaned in even closer to the window, almost resting his forehead on the glass. As his skin approached the window, what he could see shifted…pixelated. He jumped back as though the glass had shocked him. What happened? He stared as the scene outside the window settled into another familiar picture – it was the exterior of the inn in Ghostfell. Not the building in Paris that he’d entered. Not Val’s home where he’d been staying while they worked on the game. Henri felt like a fish out of water for a moment, gasping for air. This just wasn’t possible. No, of course not, that was just one of the holograms that Val had designed…wasn’t it? He wasn’t inside the game…was he?