Fantasy in Death (In Death #30)(35)

She walked around the large, empty space, listening to her own footsteps echo. She wasn’t much for games, not really. Training exercises, now, that was different, and she found the holo-room handy there.

More than once Roarke had used it to take her somewhere fantastic—a rainy night in Paris, a drifting boat on an empty sea. Romantic, seductive—well, the holo was handy there, too, though at the moment she doubted either of them felt particularly romantic.

He came in with a disc. “You’re still wearing your weapon.”

She’d forgotten, and now stripped off the harness to lay it and the weapon by the door.

“You wanted something close to U-Play’s Fantastical. We’ve been dissecting what we have of it in EDD, but I don’t have the data or components here. It seemed... a gray area to bring any of that home to continue the work here.”

“Agreed.”

“But I have our most current version of our game—no title as titles can leak. It’s Program HC84-K.”

“You have that at home? Isn’t that shaky security?”

“First, someone would have to know it’s here, then get through house security, into my private office, and find the vault, get through that security, then get through the passcodes and fail-safes on the disc. If they managed all that, they’re likely good enough to have developed this themselves.”

He slid it into a slot as he spoke, used both palm plate and retinal scan, added a voice command and several manual ones.

“In any case,” he continued, “it’s something I’ve been fine-tuning myself, and I prefer to do that here. So...”

He stepped back, studied her. “You want sword play, but you don’t know the era, the setting, the mode, or the goal. We haven’t managed to get anything off the disc Bart used to give you any of that. You’ll have to pick.”

“I don’t know. Sword fight. Not foils,” she added. “Broad blade. Strong, straight.”

“Broadsword.” He tilted his head, smiled a little.

“Don’t put me in some dumbass girl costume.” She jabbed a finger at him. “I mean it. I’m not doing this half naked for your perverted amusement.”

“A shame, but fair enough. Let’s try a few.” He went manual again, she suspected to keep his little game a secret until she was sucked in.

The air shimmered, wavered, and in a moment she found herself standing in a shadowy forest—and dressed in some sort of ancient Asian garb. She had a sword in her hand and soft boots on her feet.

“When and where are...”

She broke off, eyes huge. While her thoughts were in English, her voice had come out in what she thought was Japanese.

“How the hell—”

“Translator feature. Adds to the realism,” he said in the same language. “It’s just slightly out of loop. We’re working on that.”

“I... No, it’s too weird. I don’t want to speak Japanese.”

“All right, let’s try another.”

With barely a shimmer this time, she stood on a green hill, her hair long and tied back. She wore, as Roarke did, some sort of leather top that hit mid-thigh and snug pants that slid into the tops of boots.

She hesitated, then gave it another try. “Okay, now where... Gaelic. It’s Gaelic, isn’t it? I get the accent.”

“Ireland, Tudor era.”

“It... it smells green, and there’s a hint of something earthy, smoky.”

“Peat fires. All the sensory features have been enhanced. In the real world scenarios, the language, the syntax, the clothing, well, every detail’s been meticulously researched and replicated. There are any number of fantasy options already programmed in, or the players can program their own, either from an option menu or by going manual. There’s no limit.”

“Okay, frosty, because I’m hearing you speak Gaelic, but I’m processing English. Did Fantastical have this?”

“I don’t know, but tend to doubt it from the data we have, from their setup at the warehouse. We’ll offer a cheaper version without the translator, but I project the translator feature—which will be steep—will be a main selling point. And there’s the added educational aspect.”

“Sure. Educational.” She tipped her head. “I hear...” She turned on the hill, and let out a stunned breath. A battle raged in the valley below. Hundreds of warriors, horses, fires. She was pretty sure she was watching a castle being sacked.

“More scope than I’ve seen in holo before, more range. It’s more like being in a vid. A really well-produced vid.”

“That’s only limited by your skill and imagination. The program will adjust, follow your choices, your strategy.”

“How do you stop it?”

“By simply telling the program to halt, pause, or change. In a multiplayer game, doing so would cost that player points or result in disqualification.”

“Yeah?” She turned back to him and didn’t he look amazing with all that black hair blowing in the wind, in that scarred leather and with a bright sword in his hand. “I won’t be calling time-out.” She lifted her sword. “Let’s play.”

8

She set, planting her feet as she struck out. She heard the ring and clash as steel met steel, felt the force of it sing up her arm.