All around him was… excess. For all his talk of ‘gaudy’ in the portal entrance, to Jack, this seemed much worse. The walls were covered in art, wooden sculptures, paintings, and strange shining lights that created floating images. There was fabric draped on the walls in triangles and patterns, and intricate rug-like materials were laid out along the floor with differing colours to accent the centre path.
The walls were a deep mahogany, and unlike the exterior, everything inside looked like wood. In fact, as Jack looked around, he noticed that he couldn't see metal anywhere. Based on Brandt's affinities, Jack assumed that maybe his tastes didn’t find metals appealing. Come to think of it, did he just create gold a moment ago when he fixed the ring? That could have similar repercussions as his mana generator as far as economics was concerned. Jack filed that away to ask Turrel when he had rested.
They followed in silence, Monty and Turrel barely reacting to the building around them. While Jack was gawking at everything he saw, he got faint vibrations from some of the pieces of art as he passed them, triggering his mana sense. They were strange teardrop-shaped glass containers that were hanging from the ceiling. Inside floated an almost black material; occasionally as he watched there was a lightning-like crackle that pulsed through the black, collapsing into a bubble of colour as it hit the edge of the glass before floating back down.
Then it clicked; these were mana lamps. Like lava lamps, but somehow instead of whatever they put in the lava lamps to bubble and float, these used mana. Contained not in a gem but somehow in a liquid, and visible. As he noticed he had fallen behind, he dragged himself away and followed quickly to catch up, just as Brandt opened the inner doors.
Inside the next room was what Jack could describe as a conference hall. It was much less decorative than the previous room, but it was still classy. There was a large table in the centre of the room that currently had a number of platters spread across it, heaped with food. It wasn't until the aromas hit his nose that he realised he was hungry. In the rush to leave his room with Monty and then get in the teleporter, he had missed breakfast. Jack didn’t like missing meals; his stomach agreed as it grumbled about the disrespect he had shown it by forgetting.
As he managed to take in the rest of the space he noticed a very large and regal-looking desk at the far end of the room. There were scattered couches and circular tables around as well; this room stretched out taking up the full size of the building, having room for hundreds of people if Jack had to guess.
“Come in, eat. I can hear at least one of you is hungry,” Brandt said as he strode into the room and past the food, heading straight for the desk at the rear of the room.
Monty, who seemed slightly on edge, moved to the table and grabbed a wooden bowl. He reached out and grabbed a few items from the table and put them in his bowl as he paced over towards Brandt while stuffing his face.
“Eat something even if you are not hungry. It is a social necessity to show respect,” Turrel whispered as he too went and took a bowl from the table and selected a few items.
Jack would have been eating regardless, but he nodded his thanks to Turrel as he followed suit and inspected the food options. He saw a few things that looked a little exotic for his tastes, including some sort of shelled creature that Monty had picked up. He would have tried it, loving crab and all forms of crustaceans, however, this one's shell was a shade of green that he felt instinctually meant danger.
Staring over the plates for a moment he settled on a sausage-like piece of meat on a skewer and what looked to be a pastry of some sort. It was flaky and crumbled slightly as he picked it up and placed it in his bowl. He was hungry, but now wasn't the time to test how his digestive system would work on alien cuisine.
Brandt was swiping away on a tablet while Monty was sitting at a couch with a table in front of it. Turrel had been distracted by a bookcase in the corner, so Jack made his way over to sit beside Monty.
As he sat down, he sank slightly into the most comfortable couch he could remember sitting on. He let out an audible sigh.
“Jesus, that is comfortable. Can we get one of these back on the ship, Monty?” Jack asked as he placed his bowl in his lap and leaned back.
“It’s a vessel; a ship is a much smaller spacefaring vehicle. And sure, if you want to pay for it, we can refit a few couches. Magitech couches are not cheap, not to mention the running costs.” Monty let out a half-laugh. “Actually, that’s probably not a big deal for some people.” He finished, shaking his head.
Jack caught a few things in that moment. One: Monty was anxious; his foot was tapping and he was crunching the shell of the creature in his hand without even attempting to bring it to his face. Two: Monty only just caught himself before he almost said something he shouldn't; hopefully Brandt had not been listening too closely. Third, and most importantly: this couch was Magitech.
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That sounded a little bit like it was some sort of magic memory foam. If it needed mana to even function he could understand why it was expensive, but for him? He smiled to himself and he thought back to his list of goals; he just found something new to add.
Jack’s New World Goals
- Learn to Hulk Smash
- Destroy Testing Machine
- Pass Induction Retest
- Summon a Fireball
- Learn to manipulate other frequencies
- Become a Shardlord [Achieve Tier 10]
- Obtain a Magitech Couch
Monty's tapping foot brought him back to reality. He placed his bowl down and put a hand on the man's shoulder.
“Hey, what's up man? You seem a little… on edge,” Jack asked.
Monty stopped tapping his foot and took a deep breath. Staring at the crushed fluoro green shell oozing a bright red meat, he took a bite before turning to Jack, still chewing.
“Sorry,” Monty mumbled around a mouthful of crustacean. “It is just much worse than I was anticipating. I am not…” He paused as he sucked a stubborn piece of meat out of the remains of the shell. “I’m not a static thinker like Turrel.” He licked his lips as some red juice ran down his chin.
“I am trying to work out what comes next. How to handle these Riftspawn without putting people in danger and finding a way to close this rift.” He discarded the shell in his bowl and sucked his fingers clean. “Let me deal with that, Jack. You have no obligation here and honestly… this is much more dangerous than I anticipated. If you can help me with getting a chance to talk to someone in charge, that would by itself be amazing.”
“Sure man, I want to help. This is only one city right? This is happening elsewhere without Brandt and others to help. Having seen how… normal everything is here. I…” Jack paused trying to find the words.
“Look, I want to help however I can. If that is just getting you into that rift, then tell me what you need me to do and I will do it,” Jack said.
Monty grabbed one of the sausage things Jack had picked and motioned at Jack’s bowl with it.
“Thanks Jack, try it. These are very good.” He took a big bite of it.
Jack squinted at Monty; he could humour the stressed man slightly, he supposed. He picked up the sausage and took a bite. It was surprisingly sweet. He had been expecting something savoury, but instead, a honey-like flavour filled his mouth with a smooth, almost chocolate-like texture. His brain and mouth were disconnected, but he enjoyed the flavours.
“Now, I talked with Overseer Brandt while you were observing the Yeti. This is complicated with politics and honour and all the silly little things involved. We agree for now, our best option is not to push to ask about closing the rift for them. They are a long-lived race and would rather wait years on the chance their leaders are alive and succeed than ask for help.” Monty sighed as he put the dessert sausage down.
“No, we are probably best to ask instead for permission to enter the rift to assist and search for their leaders. More of a rescue mission than a saviour mission. But Jack, to be clear, the chances of anyone that entered that rift being alive after not returning after weeks… it is very unlikely. I need to look over Brandt's reports to get more information and make a plan but that is the goal for now.”
Nodding, Jack continued to chew on the sausage. It made sense in a roundabout way. Jack had done his time early on in life providing tech support to an older clientele; he had some experience in maintaining egos while trying to save someone from themselves.
“Montarg,” Brandt called out from his desk. An attendant had quietly entered the room, handed him something, and left while Jack and Monty had been talking. “Come, the secure device is here. The reports can’t leave this room however, but feel free to make what you will of it while here.”
Monty almost burst out of the couch, he moved that quickly; as he power-walked over to the desk, he started to stare at the device.
Finding himself alone, Jack stretched back and enjoyed the feeling of the couch beneath him. It seemed to merge with his body, like a cloud that had just the density he desired. When he thought of it being firmer, it was; as he leaned back to sink in, it softened and flowed around him.
He let his mind wander a little as the couch caressed him. Being here it was hard to not compare things to Earth, which made him think. If this was Earth, if Monty needed to meet with and get approval from the world's “Leaders”, who would that be? How would Earth decide that? Would it be peaceful?
A part of him hoped so, but he knew that there was probably a bigger chance of a rapid and violent escalation as people struggled for power as the world was changed forever. Actually, that had to be something that happened quite often, right? Didn’t Monty mention something about Overseers being there to stop that?
Damn, this is a comfy couch, Jack thought as he let the thoughts of world politics give way to the sweet embrace of nothingness.
The couch dipped as a massive weight settled next to him, startling Jack out of his daze. He blinked, turning to find the Overseer smiling at him, like a shark eyeing off its next meal.
“It seems we are alone. I think it is time we had a chat, Jack. I will answer three questions. You can ask anything you want and I will answer as honestly as I can. Then you will do the same for one of my questions.” Brandt's smile was predatory.
“Sounds fair, right? Trust me Jack, people would pay a planet's ransom to have three truthful answers from me. It is a good deal, so what do you say?”