Irena - Part 9

Disclaimers may be viewed in the previous posts or accessed here: Disclaimers.

Shandi came in while Irena was unpacking. "How was your trip?"

"Great. Too much driving, like they always is, but so many relatives expect me to stop in."

"I wish I could have gone. I really love your dad."

"Is there any word?"

"No. The police are still nosing around, although their enthusiasm seems reduced. We're starting to slip at work. We need to have a live beta running next week, that's what we promised Rani Corp."

"Rani Corp? Who're they?"

"Jaime's backers. It's their money funding this venture and we promised live testing starting next week."

"I'm not a game developer, but I do know Jaime's characters pretty well. Reading through her notes last week brought them all back to mind. If there's any way I could help, I'd be happy to."

"I don't know, maybe. It's not just knowing the characters. You need to set them up, but that is done in an editing environment, so you wouldn't have to code them directly," Shandi said, more to herself than to Irena. "It might just work. Come in with me tomorrow and I'll run it by the director. You still have two weeks off, right?"

"I did take three weeks for a break, yes."

"Then come in and see. I think you can help."

"Uh, sure, I can do that," Irena replied nervously.

"Good! I'm headed off to Uru for a bit. You want to come along?"

"I'll see if I can catch up later. I need to relax a bit more from the drive first." Irena poured herself a drink, grabbed a book, and sat down to read. Every few moments a wave of nerves would hit her about her offer. She gave up after twenty minutes and linked to Uru.

There was a message waiting from Kreel:

Shandi's Notes

Not sure what all to make of Shandi's notes. The story about that girl disappearing is weird. Do you know what happened?

Kiril's journal has been hard to get to since he's been around so much lately, but I had a quick glance the other night and it seems that there is some sort of Bahro war going on right now. Also, he mentioned some ages I hadn't heard of before. Most likely new linking books have been found. And there was something about portals, too.

Clearly we have lots we'll need to discover together!!

Kreel

She sent a quick reply:

About Shandi's notes

Sophia seems to have just disappeared. Nothing in her apartment indicated a struggle. I found a strange crystal when I was checking, but that was the only odd thing.

Although, when the police were called, by Shandi's company, the bed was made and her computers wiped. All her data was still on them when I was looking. So, someone must have re-visited the scene. Which is definitely creepy.

Looking forward to exploring! Hopefully some time this coming week we can scratch out a bit of time.



She fed pellets to the lake, then climbed to the top of the central ridge in Er'cana, and sat down to think. Several hours later she fed the new pellets to the lake and returned home, no closer to any answers than she had been when she started.

Irena - Part 8

Disclaimers may be viewed in the previous posts or accessed here: Disclaimers.

Irena took a few moments to drop the latest batch of food pellets in the lake for the algae, then returned to the apartment. Ears tuned to the sound of the stairs outside, she carefully rummaged through the papers on Shandi's desk. Under the scrap with Annoyingny written on it she found another note.

The DRC site shows Annoyingny approaching completion. I hope it isn't as annoying as the version Cyan created for their Uru Complete Chronicles release. All that running around, back and forth, back and forth, and then dropping pellets and waiting. Worse than feeding the lake because you have to stand around and wait for the few seconds of glow from the pellet. Oh well, time will tell...

They were pretty close with Er'Cana, although the Cyan "recipe" for pellets was faster and not as optimal as what others have discovered now.

A stair creak alerted her to someone's approach. Quickly she shuffled the papers back to their order and leapt into the couch. Shandi opened the door to find Irena lounging with a book in hand.

"Hey Shan, how was the day?"

"Awful. Remember that online game I told you we were developing, the one based around the magical hut of all worlds?" When Irena nodded she continued, "We're getting close, but Sophia has gone missing."

"What do you mean 'gone missing'? Like out sick with an extended illness?"

"I wish. No, 'gone missing' as in not at her apartment, not with friends or family, not in the hospitals or morgue, not anywhere we can find her. Her bots and actor driven characters were going to be the backbone of the entire adventure."

Irena sat upright. "Have you called the cops? Has anyone been to her place?"

"Andrew lives near her and stopped by yesterday on his way in. Her car was in her spot and her apartment looked fine from the outside. When did she last stop in at Waverly's?"

"Four nights ago. She seemed ok, talking about her latest creations and the pressures, but that wasn't anything out of the ordinary."

"Did you notice anything when she left? Anyone following her or showing undue attention?"

"No, she just left, got in her car, and drove away."

"She didn't come to work the next day. She didn't e-mail in, which was strange. Usually she's really good at letting everyone know if she won't be in. No one's called the police yet, none of us are related to her and her family doesn't seem to care."

"Yeah, they haven't played a part in her life for years. They disowned her during her senior year."

"What?"

"I don't know details. She hadn't told me, it must have been weird, I can't imagine Sophia doing anything all that bad."

"I know. She's one of the nicest people I know. Well, I just stopped by to get some notes I forgot on my laptop. It's back to work and see if we can fake her stuff from her files." Shandi grabbed her laptop and headed back out.

Author's Note: there is a lot more on what happened to Sophia Nelson and what her friends did to deal with her disappearance, however, it doesn't belong in these tales of Uru. For more information please see Realms of the Hut.

Irena was kept busy away from the caverns for the next few days. She could find enough time to feed the lake, but not for exploring. She dug through more of Shandi's notes and went as far as to load Uru: Complete Chronicles on her laptop. She had been avoiding it, afraid it would taint her view of the real place, but the cryptic note about Ahnonay drove her to it.By the time she had found the linking book, there were enough differences that she decided not to actually link to the game age. Instead she went back to Shandi's notes and scoured them for more information.

It was no use. There was no additional information she could find and, with Shandi's laptop now at the gaming company, that option was gone as well.

When she linked in to feed the lake again, she left a quick message for Kreel.

I found a bit more in Shandi's stuff. Here's the rest of the notes on that new age:

The DRC site shows Annoyingny approaching completion. I hope it isn't as annoying as the version Cyan created for their Uru Complete Chronicles release. All that running around, back and forth, back and forth, and then dropping pellets and waiting. Worse than feeding the lake because you have to stand around and wait for the few seconds of glow from the pellet. Oh well, time will tell...

They were pretty close with Er'Cana, although the Cyan "recipe" for pellets was faster and not as optimal as what others have discovered now.

I was going to ask Shandi about her notes last night, but she was terribly distracted. Her company is working on an MMO for release in a few months. I was only half listening, until she mentioned one of their chief designers, Sophia Nelson, has gone missing. Sophia has been coming in to the bar where I work and we had been talking a lot on the slower nights. Turns out I might have been the last one to see her four nights ago.

If I seem a bit distracted, that might be why. I already asked Shandi if she had given Sophia a linking book in case she was just involved in exploration. She said she had tried but Sophia hadn't been interested.

Tomorrow the police will be called in. Maybe they can figure something out.

I promise to try and focus more in the coming days.

I hope your trip went well!

Irena