They spent the remainder of the day setting up house. The main hall would be the meeting and working area. They set up beds and furniture and everything else they thought they'd need. They had an uncomfortable few moments when discussing sleeping arrangements, seeing as there was only one room to serve as sleeping quarters. It was Jess who finally came up with a solution.
"In Vas Sanct Ylem," she chanted a few times, and sectioned off the room into two areas with stone walls. The "Vas" modifier to the standard spell made the walls permanent.
In the chest marked for her, Jess found a deed that was definitely not standard UA equipment.
A notebook computer deed
She invoked it in their private room. It was an exact duplicate of the custom model she had built in RL... right down to the pirated copy of Turbo Virtual C+++ 11.3. She stashed the terminal in the writing desk and went to join the others downstairs.
Fluffy watched the humans stake out their territory by placing various objects around the building. He scratched absentmindedly and wondered what sort of sensory abilities they had that territory could be marked by things, instead of scent. Somebody should pee in the corners. He tried to, but found that his bladder was completely empty... how strange.
Shortly after dinner, and unexpected knock came on the door. There stood Tormod MacLeod. The Agent greeted them with nod and came into the house.
"You may have noticed," he began, "We have a problem. It seems that everyone currently in the game, is now locked into it".
He paused when he saw Talon. Yim and Jess explained how they met, and that Talon was now just as much a part of the team as they were.
"Very well, as I was saying, everyone is locked into the game. This is especially troublesome for those who are hardwired, like us. MedTechs outside tried to disconnect one of our people. Unfortunately, that person did not survive the process. Those who are flatscreened can walk away, but their terminals are dominated by the game... and if they turn off the machine, it goes up in smoke. It looks as though some very nasty virus has been inserted into the game, one that has RL impact as well. We have very little doubt that Draxx and his cohorts are the ones behind this. Some of what they stole... is a utility to invade networks in exactly the way they have done here. The lockin is a new twist and something that was not anticipated. There is one things you should be warned about. Getting killed, here in game, could have some dire consequences in RL."
"What's happening back there? ... to our bodies?" asked Yim.
"Your bodies are being monitored and maintained... just as mine is. Until we find some way out of the game world, this is our home now".
