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“The door is locked for me, Kitty. Can’t guarantee anything! You might be out in two minutes, or you might be eaten by giant piranhas. How’s your swimming?”
“Not great...” grimaced Eden.
“Oh well, at least I prepared you a cute bikini and a cute duck buoy... Alright, get ready to jump. I’ll buy you some more time.”
Eden stood carefully and got on the edge of the tiger buggy. She was now much closer to the ground already and unfortunately, she still had some pursuers. The smartest among those bots had made their way under the tiger car, and were just waiting for her. However, as crazy as he was, if Loir said he’d buy her time, he would. She took a deep breath.
“Alright... now!”
Eden jumped and, as one would expect of Loir’s creations, she was able to land on all fours perfectly this time, just like a cat. She raised an eyebrow, agreeably surprised, and stood back up.
“Run... now!”
Eden took a deep breath and turned on her heels, running toward the giant head. She’d had plenty of time to rest and now was the time to go full speed. She didn’t even glance back to check how many of the bots were after her. She had to get to that giant head as fast as possible, get inside, and pray there would be nothing involving swimming in a stupid bikini waiting for her...
“Goodbye, my darling,” suddenly sighed Loir.
When Eden was about to ask what he was talking about, she suddenly heard and felt a big explosion behind her. The tiger buggy! Loir had probably programmed it last minute to reconfigure as a bomb and send it against her pursuers... Still, even if she felt the heat of the explosion on her back and smelled the smoke, Eden had no time to watch it. She kept running toward the head. She had underestimated its size from afar. She didn’t know if this was meant to be a trick to the eye, but this thing was obviously farther and bigger than she had anticipated.
Whilst she had thought she’d reach it quickly, Eden was still running, trying to flee her pursuers.
“Uh-oh...” suddenly said Loir.
“What? What uh-oh? Loir?” she asked, worried.
“You might want to accelerate, Kitty. We’ve been spotted for real this time. The Core’s System is going to come after you...”
Eden’s blood went cold. This was the last thing she wanted.
So far, everything they had triggered were automatic systems. The bots spotted an intruder, they would chase it as a reflex. They weren’t smart; they were merely little tools inside the Core, programmed just to chase intruders and do the simplest task. Just like when they’d rebounded against the fence, they weren’t capable of making any big or smart decision.
Loir mentioning the Core’s System meant something much smarter was going to join this little game of chase, and Eden was sure this would not be so easy... The System was artificial intelligence. It was smart, and unlike the bots, it could make decisions even faster than a human being. If it knew she was there, it was going to chase her relentlessly and, even worse, try to keep her there.
Eden accelerated again, feeling the devil behind her. She had to get out before the System got there. It could generate much scarier things than stupid bots...
She heard them just as she was only a few steps away from the door. Dogs.
Not cute puppies, but real, big, ferocious dogs! Eden heard them growling furiously and running behind her.
“Oh, crap, crap, crap...” said Loir. “Mean doggies! Mean!”
She could hear him typing frantically, probably trying to do something, but it wasn’t like Loir could reconfigure something generated by the Core, or create a wall between two moving targets. Eden was on her own. She accelerated, but clearly, the dogs were almost on her already. Damn things...
“Eden, Kitty, no...!”
She did it anyway. Eden stopped all of a sudden and, trusting her hearing, she instantly rotated her body. She sent her leg flying mid-air, trying to figure out where she thought the dogs were. She hit one and the horrible beast, which was actually half-dog and half-robot, was sent flying. A second one, though, growled and immediately jumped on her leg. Eden used the claws on her paw and scratched it off. Like a real one, the dog whimpered and retreated. The Core was probably confused that she hadn’t felt the pain on her leg. With the two dogs down, and no more in sight yet, Eden turned back and finally ran into the dark hole.
“Oh, damn it, Kitty, I really thought you were going to lose one of your nine lives there,” sighed Loir.
“Where am I?”
“We’re about to find out...”
Indeed, she was back in the darkness. Eden was walking carefully this time, but she could still feel the ground under her feet, something completely flat, so smooth like a mirror or something. This had to be another level from the cubes earlier, but she didn’t know what to expect. Could she make it outside? She patted her chest, checking the star was still there. In fact, she realized that not only was it there, but that it was glowing for some reason...
Eden took it out and used it as a dim light to help her.
“Ooh... Shiny...”
