Quantum Katana Online: Websuit 0.E (Archived)

Chapter 7: Singularity? (Part 1 of 3)

As the men carried Ken in a suffocating canvas bag, he twisted this way and that. But it was no use; the men held him fast. The gag muffled his screams for help.

Before being taken into the hidden passageways of the mansion, he'd counted seven of them. Four of them we're carrying him, two of them single file in front and one as rearguard, probably. He hadn't actually seen them, but that made the most sense.

After about thirteen minutes of walking, he was thrown onto some wooden slats. He rocked a little. A cart. Some light filtered through the fabric of the bag. Oh good, we're going somewhere else. At least they haven't killed me here and now. I have a chance at escaping. Didn't want to dirty up their floors and leave any evidence. I guess Mr. Johnson—oh excuse me, Calvin—is quite the fastidious one. I'll remember that when I make it back and kill you, you bastard. You no good lackey! "I'm not going to die, do you hear me! I'm never going to die!" He kicked and pummeled the canvas bag. If my body is, in fact, already dead, then I've only got this one life in the simulacrum—oh God, it must be the lack of oxygen, but my head's about to explode—thus, this simulacrum isn't merely any simulacrum but the absolute and singular true simulacrum—the Singularity. And I'm part of it, I'm a component in the Singularity. I've got to deliver this epiphany to the outside world.

"Stand down!" a female voice yelled. It sounded familiar.

The clashing of swords and the screams and yelling of men and women lasted barely a minute.

The top of the bag opened, light streamed in through the opening, and he blinked. Two brown eyes peered in. A ruby bindi. "Betsy?" he mumbled through the gag.

Betsy and another person pulled Ken out of the bag, untied him, and removed his gag.

"Betsy, thanks for saving me!" Ken coughed and gasped for air.

"Hey, that's Slicer Sarge, to you, noob," a man with a loose ponytail and an impish grin said.

"Thanks, Slicer Sarge," Ken said. He started coughing again and then sat up on the edge of a wagon bed. They were in a stable. An animal shuffled about in an adjacent room. With his arms crossed, the man stood next to Betsy. "Is this the noob, Sarge?" he said to her.

She wore beige hakama over trousers and a loose long-sleeve t-shirt instead of a blouse with lace and a long skirt. She still wore the same knee-high boots. Her hair was tied up in a tight bun instead of a pony tail.

Without responding or even a nod of her head, Betsy stretched out her hand to the man. "Water."

He unlooped a flask from his shoulder and handed it to her and then she handed it to Ken. He gulped down the cold water.

"Let's move," Betsy said, tossed a grey cloak over her shoulders.

The man did the same and then tossed a matching cloak over to Ken.

Both of them about-faced and started walking out of the barn.

Ken stepped over a body. Its hand was stuck to its neck in what had been a vain effort to staunch the bleeding. Critical hit. Ken walked past the six others gagged and tied up against the walls of the barn. To think that minutes before, they had been leading him to his execution.

The man turned his head around to look back at Ken. "You heard the Sarge, c'mon, get a move on."

Right outside the barn doors, were eight others, who joined up with the three of them as they charged across the meadow towards the edge of the woods. Three others were waiting for them with mounts. They weren't horses. "Hey, noob, you can ride with me." the man said as he jumped up on one of them.