Chapter 24

The decontamination and air pressure chamber hissed like an angry beast. It sealed itself shut once Aiden was in position, and a square of blue light expanded outward from the middle of the ceiling, thinning out into an outline by the time it reached the edges. From there, the four strips slid down the ridged metal walls and performed the scan, converging in the middle of the floor then rescanning the room again on their way back up. The air-filtration system came online shortly after and the sign above the door Aiden had come through turned red, while the one across from him changed from blue to green. A click reverberated through the room as the door unlocked and slid up, revealing an elevator.

Removing his helmet once it indicated the air was breathable, Aiden stepped in. He was taken underground and had to key in the access code again before gaining entry into the heart of the hideout. He followed a narrow tunnel illuminated by orange service lights, emerging onto a metal ramp which overlooked a spacious cavern.

Wow.

The chamber was perhaps three, four times as wide and high as the mess hall in Horizons and most likely part of a larger cave system that lurked beneath the surface of the asteroid. Sliding walls separated the space into five sections, each illuminated in a different color, except the one in the middle, which remained dark.

Transforming and equipping this hideout must have taken a great deal of time and effort. Money, too…

Aiden took the stairs to the ground level and walked through the first section. It seemed to be a control/strategy area if the dozen screens and computers were anything to go by, but he didn't linger there, more intrigued by the mysterious center. It came alive with his approach, revealing a war-room-like set up, with an interactive map of the Solar system encased inside a hexagonal table. Computers crowded the table and two holoboards hung on metal cords at its far end. Beyond them, Aiden could spy the hideout's remaining two sections which seemed to comprise living quarters, a lounge and a training area.

Did Darren, an ex-shipping mercenary, own this? Perhaps smugglers made more than people suspected.

As Aiden took in the impressive interior, more questions joined the ones residing in his mind. What was this place exactly? What was its purpose?And if Darren did own it, how had the police missed it?

Darren's riddle came to mind, making Aiden frown. He'd only been given a way to find Bea and the passcode. Was it possible that Darren didn't actually know the exact location of the hideout then?

It made sense. If Darren wanted to ensure that the authorities wouldn't find this place, then he himself not knowing could guarantee its location remained a secret as long as nothing else could be traced to it.

Aiden tried to start up a few of the computers, but couldn't get past the security prompts as the passcode didn't work for them. Moving on from the war room, he did a quick tour of the training area. He found nothing useful there, save for a mysterious hangar door he couldn't get to open, and continued to the living quarters. They reminded him of the suite in Luna's Nymphs with their gray and white tones, even if the furniture itself was closer to contemporary than Victorian.

In any case, the lounging area wasn't where Aiden would find whatever truth Darren had sent him to find, so he headed back to the war room to try the computers again. On the way there, he noticed a corridor with a door behind the kitchenette. He'd totally missed that from his vantage point on the ramp, likely so because of the thick columns on either end of the cupboards' wall.

Aiden circled the marble breakfast bar and slipped into the wide corridor formed by the columns. The door was unlocked and he entered what looked to be a master bedroom. It was bigger than the one in his condo and came with a couch and a small study area in one corner, a walk-in closet to the left of the adjacent en-suite and a massive four-poster bed like in Luna's Nymphs. Despite its pretentiousness though, the bed looked extremely comfortable, calling out to Aiden to lie down and forget about this craziness at least for a few hours.

Shooing away the tempting need to do just that, he turned his attention to the desk. He stifled a yawn as he found a customized Virtual Reality set hooked to a charging port and two folders stamped with different seals. He opened the top folder first.

The beginning of the correspondence in it dated back to the 2050s and spanned decades. The contents were gibberish, therefore, encoded, and the only thing he managed to obtain were the names of the two correspondents—PDL and GN Riley. No addresses. The state of the second folder was much the same, but the code was different, along with the nicknames of the senders—Lu and white raven. The letters inside were from twenty years ago, offering a bit of an overlap with the dates of those from the first folder.

Aiden massaged the left side of his head, trying to alleviate the nasty throbbing there. He had two folders of what seemed to be a secret correspondence between two sets of people, but with no decrypting software or a cypher, he had no way of working out the actual contents. He could have a go at cracking the codes manually, he supposed, but he doubted he had that kind of time—and mental capacity—when he had to be back to Europa tomorrow.

So, what was he supposed to do then?Given the secrecy around the hideout and the fact that these documents were encrypted, he didn't think that taking them with him to Horizons so he could demand an explanation from Darren was a good idea. And then there was PI Deverson's warning…

Aiden scowled at the folders and felt a twitch along the side of his neck. Should he go to the police? But they'd gaslit him so far, lied about so many things, and dismissed him so many times… Plus, if the authorities didn't know about this place, then him just being here could get him in trouble. Maybe even make him an accomplice. Giving up this location wasn't really an option.

Popping a painkiller, Aiden put the documents aside and started up the VR set. Thankfully, it didn't ask for a password, but the elation at that was short-lived as a message came up on the screen, informing him the device's storage was empty.

"Seriously…" He slumped in the chair, his brain already going foggy. He fumbled with the set's chip port in hopes that the damn thing was misaligned and thus showing empty, but it made no difference. "Fuck!"

This was too damn much. He was tired, sleep-deprived, hungry and angry and all he could show for it was a useless VR set and a bunch of documents he couldn't even decipher. He should've never bothered with Darren Howe's fucking riddles, should've just killed him. With PI Deverson's help, maybe he would've gotten here eventually anyway…

Aiden slammed his fists on the desk, knocking the folders off it. Paper scattered and fell off, landing on the floor with a clink.

He snapped his attention to the mess he'd made. Paper didn't normally land with a clink.

As his mind raced with possibilities, he dropped to his knees and started digging through the sheets. He found the small data chip buried under a few and then he also found the hidden compartment at the back of the white raven folder. Heart racing, he inserted the chip into the VR device. He held his breath as the thing booted up and cleared the systems check, lighting up in green to indicate it was ready for use. Judging by the list of configurations, the Virtual Reality he was about to enter was of the advanced type.

In an adrenaline-fueled frenzy, Aiden sat on the floor with his back against the desk's side and put the set on, diving headfirst into the unknown.

"Hello!"

Aiden tried to open his eyes, but bright light immediately blinded him. He shoved a hand in front of his face to block it out before trying again.

"Are you okaaay, mister?" a kid's voice chirped over a friendly snicker, its owner positioning herself between Aiden and the light.

Pleasant warmth like that on a spring day caressed his arm. He let it drop to the side of his body and squinted at the girl. She looked no older than ten and raven-black curls cascaded over her shoulders in layered waves, their gleam of dark blue matching her curious eyes. She wore a red cap and a frilly red dress with too many ribbons to count and held a massive bouquet of lotuses with both hands.

"Well?" she prompted, scrunching her forehead.

Aiden took inventory of himself, finding nothing amiss. "Ye-yeah. I'm fine."

"Then how long are you going to lie there for?" she scolded him. The frown lines left her face as it lit up with a heartfelt smile, which sort of ruined her effort to appear stern. "C'mon. Let's have tea!"

Tea?

Still disoriented, Aiden let the girl's small hand pull him into a sitting position, realizing in the process that the softness he felt under him was grass. Grazing it with his free hand, he looked around.

The sun was high in the cloudless sky, warm and welcoming. A crystal-clear lake shimmered at the bottom of the hill, and beyond it, a lush forest with a heavy canopy sprawled across the horizon. Birdsong and the buzz of insects reached his ears while the air carried the aroma of chamomile tea. He closed his eyes and let his brain take in the realness of this virtual world that felt and looked so much like the real deal. When some of the confusion left him, he met the girl's smiling eyes.

"What is this place based on?" He took her offered hand once again.

"This is my home," she said with pride, and pointed behind him.

When Aiden turned around, he found a beautiful mansion looming over them from the top of the hill. It had an angular layout, with protruding modern-looking second floor sections and a marble foundation. White lace and silks billowed from its windows, dancing at the hands of the soft breeze he could feel caress his cheeks.

He'd experienced texture to a degree at some of the high-end VR places, but temperature and smell were next level.

"Well? Are you coming?" the girl insisted, spinning in place to showcase her dress.

"Lead the way."

She took Aiden to a field with daisies on the left of the house. From there, they followed a path to the back, where a small wooden gazebo was situated near a pond with lotuses and lilies. She put the bouquet in a vase and sat on the gazebo's bench, scooting in next to a giant teddy bear. Then she started pouring tea from a porcelain set while Aiden sat down across from her.

"Your home is very nice," he said, accepting the cup and biscuit she handed him. He took a sip and wasn't surprised at the tasteless VR tea. The aroma was intriguing though—as was this fake world—considering VR technology wasn't this advanced yet. At least, officially.

"Thank you." The girl grinned another radiating smile, biscuit crumbles raining from her mouth as she squinted at him. "Aiden Kesley!"

"I see you identified me. And who might you be?" he asked the AI behind this impressive rendition of a human girl. He couldn't pinpoint the exact place the VR was representing, but it was based on something on Earth.

"I'm Sara Valrais. You might've heard of me!" the girl chirped.

Aiden studied her face again, then her dress. He'd never heard the name and he definitely didn't recognize her. Could she be… a commercial AI model that got scrapped? It happened often enough, though her range of expressions and her ability to maintain a natural flow of conversation weren't something most mainstream AI-controlled systems were capable of just yet. They were good, yes, but not this good.

"I'm afraid I don't know who you are."

Her delicate features clouded as her shoulders slumped down. "Then the bad guys have won."

Aiden gaped at her. Why would she say something like that? "The bad guys?"

"The ones that came for me and my mommy and daddy."

Aiden put the cup down, frowning at her despite his still ongoing headache. Was her coding faulty? Given the pleasant setting, it was strange for an AI which had taken on the role of a kid to say something like this. Unless he'd misunderstood…

Carefully, he said, "Are you saying that you were… killed?"

"Yes! Twenty years ago. But I still hold the legacy." She pointed to her head. "It's safely tucked in here."

Aiden didn't really know what to say to that. How to respond or what to make of it. He looked around and searched for those telltale signs that this wasn't a real world, wondering why anyone would've kept a glitchy AI.

But the system couldn't be faulty because the VR boot-up check had flagged nothing. Even if it was indeed a scrapped AI model, he would've been warned it had issues… And he hadn't been, which meant that whatever Sara was on about had to lead somewhere or Darren wouldn't have bothered to keep her data.

"Can you tell me what this… legacy is?" Aiden asked, deciding to play along and find out.

Sara shook her head, the smile turning impish. "Nope! It's a secret!"

Well, that wasn't very helpful. "Ok, I understand. But you see, Sara, I was sent here by someone," he tried, thinking back to Darren's riddle. "To find the white raven. Can you help me with that?"

Sara's eyes lit up with excitement. "So, you are his friend?"

The white raven's?"I'm not sure," Aiden answered, hoping it wasn't the wrong thing to say.

"I am his best friend!" Sara countered, pride lacing her words.

Aiden wrapped his fingers around his cup, sliding it and its small plate closer to him. "I think the person who sent me here knows him."

"Who sent you?"

"He's called Darren Howe."

"Hmm." Sara tilted her head left and right. "I don't know him!"

Right, of course. This wouldn't be so easy. If Aiden wanted to get to the truth, evidently he had to play Daren's silly games with an AI.

"I meant to say Sir Barnaby Albus II," he corrected, using Darren's codename and internally shaking his head at himself. But he'd come so far, so what difference did it make if he made a fool of himself in front of this AI?

Sara froze. Her form warped, pixels flying left and right. A glitch, Aiden guessed, since it lasted only a few seconds.

"When is he coming?" she asked with urgency once her manifestation stabilized.

"Darr—Sir Barnaby Albus II?"

"Yep!"

"I…" She didn't seem to know that Darren was in prison, so maybe it was best he kept that to himself in case she decided she didn't want to cooperate because of it. "I don't know."

Sara pouted and crossed her arms over her chest, the frills of her sleeves rippling. "But if he sent you, then he must be coming back soon."

"I'm afraid he can't make it here."

"He promised!" Her features clouded in a way which reminded him of a kicked puppy. "He can't break his promise! Not to me!"

A pang of sympathy flared in his chest, surprising him. Whoever had created this AI was truly skilled because Sara's capacity for emotion was exceptional. If Aiden didn't know he was in a VR, he wasn't sure he would've been able to tell her apart from a real human.

Feeling bad but also wanting to find out what this was about, he said, "Maybe that's why he sent me? So I can keep that promise on his behalf?"

Sara bobbed her head, thinking his words over. "Okay!" she declared, determination replacing the sadness in her gaze. "I have to make you a knight, then!"

"You have to make me a… knight?" Aiden blinked at her. How did she arrive at such a bizarre conclusion?

This was getting weirder by the minute, and he had no idea what any of it had to do with his quest here. Clearly, there was some connection, there had to be, or Darren wouldn't have sent him to the hideout. He just wasn't sure what it was yet.

"Yep, like Sir Barnaby Albus." She sprung up, her face alight with excitement. "Follow me!"

Aiden massaged the sides of his head and sighed. What had he gotten himself into? Seeing as he didn't have a choice though, he jogged a pace behind the raven-haired girl. She took him through a beautiful rose garden with a marble fountain in the middle, then toward the thicket of trees he'd spied when they'd made their way to the back of the house. From there, they followed a stony path weaving along the edge of an oak forest until they reached a chapel-like building with stained glass windows and two turrets. Its inside was dusty and murky, the aisle leading to an elevated obsidian statue of a man with a white raven perched on his shoulder.

"The white raven," Aiden muttered to himself, gawking at the statue.

"His name is Val," Sara said from next to him, a hint of longing in her voice.

He glanced at her. "The raven's name?"

Her twinkling eyes met his, and she smiled. "Yep. But father didn't let me play with him much and now I can't anymore."

"Why not?" Aiden asked, realizing he was actually curious. Not just about the raven and this AI girl who could make the VR world look any way she wanted, but about all of this, what it meant and how it tied into Claudia's murder.

Sara put her hands in the pockets of her dress and looked at the statue, shrugging her shoulders as if the answer should have been obvious. "Because I am no longer the heir."