Consoulia Chronicles: Booting Up [~ read description]

Chapter 7: Helix

Outside of the motel in Arcadia, a woman had overheard just about everything in the motel. She talked into her wristwatch, sending a transmission. "Agent Dolphin reporting from Earth. I didn't find Iris, but I did find a runaway gang of Consouloids. They've taken our scientists hostage." 

"Good to see you're well, Agent Dolphin. Standby for further instructions." 

"As you wish, sir." 

-    -    -

"Hey, are you ever gonna tell me that secret recipe you use for fish?" Iris pleaded. 

"Not a chance," Clover jested. "Heh, one day you'll learn it." She patted her youthful companion on the head. 

"Well, thanks for dinner, you two. I don't think any fish me and Clover had in this household had ever been eaten until it was nothing but bones and an untouched tail."  Zander yawned and leaned back further. 

"Would you get your feet off the table? Jeez," Clover rolled her eyes as Iris giggled to herself.

"Yeah, yeah." Zander dismissed as he got up and helped his chair up on its feet as well before scooting it back under the table. He approached the sink to twist the faucet, and while the host pressed a stopper into the drain to keep the water from escaping, he poured dish soap into the sink. Once it started to foam, Zander placed his plate in. He looked out into the living room at the fish tank with a catfish floating in it as he sighed. 

Down in the basement, Zander browsed the gaming area. He didn't spend too much time looking over at his side since his focus was more on his sister's side of the room. He stepped over the tape laid down in the middle of the floor and felt a nostalgic warmth. Deep down, he knew he couldn't stay on this side of the basement for as long as he'd like while Clover was awake, so he turned around and retreated to his side. 

Zander took to his shelf of old video games with low reviews and found a cartridge that once he found it, held onto it longer than he ever thought he could hold one. The cartridge was gray with no pictures or text to help define what game it was.

The cartridge in his hands had a single patch of tape with what appeared to be text written in black ink. He choked up when he read the words, Our first game, written in the fibers of the tape that was still legible to this day. He didn't have to have a title on it to know it was Mugsy 3D.

How could he forget a time in their lives when Clover also loved older video games? They'd make fun of the glitches, they'd criticize the graphics and make jokes out of them, and they held late night competitions between the two of them as to see how long either one of them could take the repetitive music that didn't seem to be music at all. 

"You good?" Clover stood on her side of the basement. Zander put down the cartridge, turned around to walk towards his sister, and stopped at the line of tape. 

"Yeah, sure, why bother checking on me? Go play some racing game or shoot 'em up or something." Zander dismissed; he began to walk the other way. "Don't you have a stream soon?" 

"What's your deal? Tell me." She teased.

"You nuisance. If you don't clean your side of the basement, you won't get dinner tomorrow night."

"Oh, I'm so scared, you forgot I'm the one who cooks around here."  Clover stood there with her arms crossed as her eyes were lowered slightly to denote impatience.  She wasn't buying any of it, if anything, it just made her even more confused.

Her older brother went back quickly to his side of the room and grabbed the old cartridge. "Are you sure you don't want to play one old game with your big brother?"

 Clover gazed at the cartridge, and a small smile crept onto her face, but quickly disappeared. "I would, but I don't think I'd find it as enjoyable as I once did as a kid." Even so, Clover was thoroughly impressed that his collection even went as far back as their first game. "I'll admit it, Mugsy 3D was always fun when we were kids, but everything about it and every game from that era only reminds me of the day our lives changed forever. I know exactly what level we were  on when we got that call from the hospital." 

Looking at the cartridge and having his attention caught by Iris whistling in the kitchen as she helped with clean up, he looked back at Clover. She was never the same since that day. As much as he wanted to empathize, the only thing she could think to say was, "you're always free to join me in the present."