NOVEL NEXT 2.14 Through the Glass Eye
Salazar was the last person to get a turn sleeping in his own bed, and after the two humans were done they had messed everything up for him. The cot felt wrong, smelled wrong, and he fought to find any comfort in his own blankets. Was any of it even his, anymore? His vehicle was more than a highly customized mobile home, it was his whole world. It was his precious Isabel, but thanks to these kids and their robot she had been chewed up by the phase and stitched to their own tank like an afterthought. They were woefully unprepared for traveling across the tarmac, yet confident enough in their black market upgrades to just help themselves to all of his stuff.
His tumultuous thoughts were interrupted by a rude awakening, as the car suddenly lurched to the side and threw Salazar out of bed. A bright light in his face added to the confusion, until Salazar realized it was the morning sun pouring through the gaping hole in his beloved Isabel. The chains stitching their cars together still held, but the subpar links were already warping under the strain. That hyperactive kid must've jackknifed, because no one knows how to drive on this damn blacktop hell except for him.
"My apologies, everyone!" Tapper shouted, and Salazar's mood reached new depths. They were letting the robot drive? After it single-handedly got all of them into this mess? "I did not intend to stop so suddenly, but we have reached the coordinates as per Mister Salazar's instructions. And what a spectacle you have led us to!"
Tapper, Phanya, and Ricky all leaned forward over the dashboard to gawk at the infinite horizon. For their entire waking lives the three were surrounded by mounds and mountains of garbage in all directions, but now both the garbage and any sense of direction was gone. Ahead of them was nothing but an infinite expanse of flat black tarmac, perfectly bisected by an equally infinite void of pure blue sky. Not even dust nor cloud existed, far as the eye could see. It was beautiful.
Salazar yawned louder than was necessary, and the moment died. "Oh, we actually made it this far. Great," he said, smacking the sleep away. His movements were sluggish, but automatic with routine as Salazar pulled open compartments and unfolded compact tools. One hand grabbed an edible product bar out of a drawer while another pulled a small, rectangular box down from a cupboard. The bar went into the box, his tail pressed a button that made the box hum, and Salazar finally turned to acknowledge the three separate glares.
"So, welcome to the Glass Eye. Neudopolis is that way, so we can either drive around the Glass Eye or through it. You really, really want to drive around it."
"Fascinating! What is the Glass Eye?" Tapper asked. His head spun fully around and his arms bent backwards so he could lean over the driver's seat in Salazar's direction.
"Hn, a dozen or so square kilometers of deadly pitfalls and laser bombardments from above. The space messes with your eyes, you can't see the pitfalls or the bombardments until it's already too late to dodge them."
The driver's seat creaked under the force of Tapper's enraptured leaning. "Is it another phase shift anomaly?"
Salazar perked up slightly, now that someone was actually listening to him. "I don't think so. It's too stable for how large it is, and shift storms can still happen inside it. And it doesn't move, the Glass Eye has been right here since before I was born. I think it's one of the old gods, still looking for something in the area."
"Why would an old god use laser bombardments?" Ricky asked, making a face that killed Salazar's little perk-up. "Sounds more like an orbital satellite to me."
"And more importantly," Phanya cut in, "why bring us here if it's so dangerous to go through? What's your game in giving us a choice?"
Salazar held up a placating hand, still too tired to really bite back. "Chill, lady. I don't control the phase or where it dropped us, and there's weirder stuff out there than this. You're keeping me around to guide you safely through, right? I'm giving you the choice because I can, and have, driven through the Glass Eye, so I know I can do it again. I just also know that only stupid or desperate people do that."
"Then why did you venture through it, Mister Salazar?"
"Because I was stupid," Salazar shrugged. "So how desperate are you to avoid spending half a day driving around it?"
Phanya had more questions, but Tapper did not. "Sounds adventurous! Of course we must go through!"
"Tapper. It could be a trap."
"It is also the most logical choice, Phanya. Mister Salazar has shown us that he is quite unwilling to risk his own life, so I am fully confident in his ability to guide us safely through the Glass Eye. If only for his own safety."
Phanya held up a finger, but she paused before a rebuttal could form. "That's… a good point, actually."
The rectangular box dinged and Salazar turned his attention to it, speaking over his shoulder. "Plus if it helps, stopping the car for any reason makes it really easy for god's angry gaze to find us. It's not worth the risk, even if I thought I could ditch you psychos at this point."
Phanya huffed, but deep down she knew that the time they've already lost would justify the risk. "Alright Sal, do what you gotta do."
"Thought so. Just need to run a final check that I still have the bare minimum of my radar instruments working," Salazar said, turning to nod at them. He held a steaming container by the tips of his claws, and that finally caught Ricky's attention.
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"Hey wait, is that the ed-pro bar?" He recognized the wrapper, only it had swelled and hardened into a bowl twice its size. A pile of hot mush steamed inside, smelling faintly of artificial fish and corn byproduct.
Salazar looked down at his food with a quizzical tilt to his head. "Uh, yeah? How else would you reconstitute food? Wait… don't tell me you trash villagers eat these things raw?"
"No wonder I always felt so full after eating one…"
Salazar sighed. It was too early in the morning for this. "I am going to ignore you now, and talk to my AI for some actual help. I'll be ready to go by the time I'm done eating, don't talk to me and don't touch anything until then." He swiped one hand over his head to manipulate something that only he could see, and the outside world vanished from Salazar's existence. His only consideration of them was keeping his voice too low for anyone to hear, even in the cramped confines.
Ricky leaned over the reconstitution box, not touching it but looking very closely. Phanya tried to keep a lookout, but kept getting distracted by the endless depths of the blue sky. Tapper tried to follow all instructions, but without any talking or touching he couldn't do much more than listen. Social programming said that he shouldn't listen in on Salazar's conversation with his private AI, but it was a very cramped space and Tapper had very good ears.
"Well good morning to you too, beautiful…"
Ten minutes later and Salazar finished, leaving Tapper very thankful that his damaged faceplate lacked the capacity to blush. He hoped that some of the terms he heard were actually metaphors and innuendos far outside of his purview, but Tapper knew he could never ask for clarification. Not without admitting that he had unwillingly infringed on Salazar's privacy.
Salazar, for his part, acted as if that conversation never happened. Phanya still wouldn't allow him to drive, even just through the Glass Eye, so in retaliation Salazar insisted they not move until he set up some sensor readouts that Ricky could also see. Ground vibration sensors painted a holographic map onto the windshield, indicating any sudden drops in ground elevation before they got too close. He'd still guide them, but Ricky could at least avoid the pitfalls on his own.
"Trust me kid, pay more attention to the map than the road here," Salazar said, with a hint of humor in his voice. It was like a joke, because he knew that they wouldn't. Once they were moving Salazar only spoke up whenever they needed to course-correct, or when he noticed Ricky getting too distracted. Otherwise he just grinned at their gawking, content to know how well he called it.
"What the hell is this," Ricky groaned.
"I believe we are experiencing the visual distortions that Mister Salazar warned us about," Tapper answered, without turning to look at him.
"That was rhetorical, Taps."
"I know. I cannot look away." Neither of them could. From outside the Glass Eye the tarmac looked perfectly flat, almost glossy, but once they entered it they realized how badly Salazar underplayed the pitfalls danger. The ground was pockmarked with holes ranging in size from potholes that they could drive over and barely feel, to massive craters that they could never escape from. Some contained structures that were always sliced off precisely at ground level, and other craters had filled with chemical runoff that sparkled all colors in the sun.
The strangest craters were all large enough to see in the distance, but it was impossible to judge their distance. And that was the true danger of the Glass Eye; a pitfall would look like it hovered far away in the distance, until it was suddenly right under them. After several close calls Ricky started to pay more attention to the map hologram.
"Why would you want to look away?" Phanya was equally awestruck, but the road didn't make her eyes swim when her gaze was busy flying. She had seen patches of the clear sky before, of course, but smoggy cloud cover was the norm in her world. And patches were nothing compared to this endless ocean, Phanya felt like she could fall straight upwards if she stepped outside.
Half an hour of slow driving later and they were still going at it, much to Salazar's growing surprise. Even the robot was still transfixed! Salazar thought it was just a basic trick of the light that distorted the far distance to look like an infinity, but he underestimated its effects. He'll need to give some thought on setting something up for the next time he needs to ditch someone here, as the mouthy one was so nice to suggest. Maybe he could dig a little shelter into one of the craters, include a small electric scooter to get him back out of the Eye…
Phanya suddenly pouted, "Aww, the clouds are back," and Salazar broke out of his musings with a curse. Did she say clouds? He swiped at his interface and in his haste accidentally knocked his physical goggles askew, searing his naked eye with the bright daylight. Salazar hissed through the pain and squinted up at the sky, just as a blanket of shade fell over the cabin and confirmed his worst fears.
"Kid. Kid! Shit, um… driving boy!"
Ricky blinked away from the road to give Salazar an incredulous look. "Dude, are you serious right now? ...Wait, are you alright?"
Salazar was starting to hyperventilate, and his neck frill was twitching in time. "No I'm not alright! You need to let me drive, right now."
That got everyone's attention. "Mister Salazar, what is the problem?"
"The problem is that I don't have all my sensors, because someone smashed most of them," Salazar snarled back. "The problem is that I don't have full coverage, I could only look forward. And now we have to drive fast and the kid is asking stupid fucking questions instead!"
Tapper squinted at the mercenary. His social programming said that Salazar's fear was genuine, and comparable to his reaction to the gremlin. His second thoughts mirrored Phanya's worry of this being a ruse, but the voice wasn't nearly as confident against his programming. "Ricky, please let Salazar take over driving," Tapper eventually said, his voice quiet but firm.
Ricky looked between them and slowed the car to a gentle coast before he squirmed out of the seat, heading straight for his exosuit. Phanya grumbled under her breath, but she didn't protest. "Fine, but you drive and talk, Salazar. What's going on?"
Salazar didn't answer at first, he was too busy fumbling with the seat belt. Once that clicked he slammed on the accelerator and the jitney lurched forward, scattering everything and everyone that wasn't tied down. Salazar made a double take at the other occupants, as if he only now noticed they were present. "What are you kids doing!? Buckle down already! We have bugs!"
He only looked away for a brief second, and that was enough for Salazar to miss the scout. In a blur it rammed them headfirst and lost the battle, splattering across the almighty vehicle as bugs tend to do. Except that the impact sounded, felt, and smelled like someone had launched a rotten pumpkin at the jitney. And it left enough bug guts smeared across the windshield to suggest that the scout was also approximately the size of a medium pumpkin, rotten or not.
Everyone screamed, until the sound of a million buzzing wings drowned out their voices.