Antakarana. Quest in Reality

The interior furnishings and decoration of the room are as simple as possible. The cell is a square about three by three meters, without windows and any adornment. The walls and ceiling are painted white, traditional for the Corporation. There is a small bed against the right wall, next to it is a bedside table and a chair. Looking closer, I notice a small niche in the wall. Nearby I see a button, when pressed, the metal screen moves. Behind it there are a toilet and a tiny shower.

All scarce furniture, bed linen and a towel in the shower are snow white. There is an electronic clock on the nightstand, which shows 20:07. On the back of a chair, a crisp white nightwear is neatly folded. It smells sterile clean. The temperature in the room is quite comfortable, obviously supported by the central climate system. And yet I am extremely disappointed that there is no window inside. The smell and sound of the ocean would be dearer to me than the most comfortable temperature created by the modern technology.

I wonder what to do next. According to the schedule, at 21:00 you need to be in your bed, but for me there is no chance of falling asleep. All the shocks experienced today and a long sleep in the car will not allow me to relax. This means that a restless, sleepless night is ahead, and in the morning I, very tired, will start my first game day. With these thoughts I head to the tiny bathroom, but the water flows only in a cool, thin stream, so that the hope of soaking up under a warm shower after more than a day of flights is crushed to smithereens.

«The conditions created by the organizers are far from ideal,» – I note with regret to myself.

After the shower, I put on my pajamas, sit on the bed and take out my notebook. Time to make the first notes about this strange day. But not a single worthwhile thought wants to go into the head. My gaze falls on the last record about the young stranger. What a mysterious girl! Certainly, I must learn more about her. Why am I so attracted by her secret – is the reason her age or something else?

Suddenly I hear steps outside the door. Without thinking twice, I jump to my feet, look out into the corridor and immediately see the bright red head, whom I was thinking about a second ago.

«Wait, don’t go, please,» I whisper.

The girl, without turning around, stops in place. At least she’s not deaf and dumb, I think with relief. Where to start so as not to scare her away?

«I saw a chessboard in your hands. My father loves this game very much. From my childhood he made me keep him company. If you get bored or need a second player, maybe then you will let me join?»

The girl turns around and looks at me seriously with big blue eyes. Suddenly, a wide, sincere smile lights up her face. I feel confused from surprise and don’t know how to react.

«Thank you, dad,» I think to myself, «finally your queens are good for something.»

Her smile shakes to the core and fills with incredible warmth. Perhaps this is exactly what I need to overcome the shock I experienced today.

«You’re right. It’s better with a partner. Playing chess alone is not very interesting. I win at myself all the time,» she nods, a little thoughtfully, as if doubting her decision.

«It seemed to me that only adults are allowed to participate in the quest. The fact that it can be children…» I abruptly shut up, scolding myself: «Damn it! These are definitely not the words to gain her trust.»

«I’m not an ordinary child, but a master of sports in chess in the junior category. And I take part in this Game because they need me,» she calmly answers.

«I’m sorry, of course! I did not mean to offend you. It’s just that the things happened today are capable of breaking the psyche of an adult, let alone children…»

«I’m not an ordinary child,» she stubbornly repeats, «and I’m capable of much more than many of those people.»

«I don’t even doubt it. But how did you cope with the flight? I mean…»

«The plane crash? You may not look for the right words. I am older than you think, and endured it better than all of you. Because I can disconnect from the outside world when something bad happens. This may seem strange to some, others call it „autism.“ As for me, I consider it as a protective reaction against external irritants.»

I can’t believe I’m hearing these words from a little girl.

«How old are you?»

«I just turned 10. By the way, my name is Leeloo.»

Before she can say anything, I know who she reminds me of! Leeloo is the character of Mila Jovovich from the famous film «The Fifth Element».

«I really like this movie! The main character is brave and innocent, and yet so longs for love,» my little friend adds quietly.

«That name really suits you. What’s your real name?»

«It doesn’t matter. Just like our real life hasn’t the slightest relation to this place.» She utters the phrase «to this place» so hostile that I get goosebumps.

«Listen, we still have 20 minutes. Would you like to come in?» I suggest carefully.

«Why not.» Leeloo looks around the room and notices:

«My cell looks exactly the same.»

I try to ask her a couple more questions, but she answers everything extremely evasively. I am amazed at her wisdom and calmness. Leeloo is indeed much older in her head than her age. The clock shows 20:45. My new friend gets up and says:

«I don’t trust anyone and prefer to stay aloof. A modest invisibility, a dull shadow. But I like you and we could be friends. Please do not discuss our conversation with anyone! You know, I have plans to win,» she gives me her charming smile again.

My heart is melting. Suddenly I feel happy because this girl is here on the island. She stands and waits for an answer.

«You agree?»

«Sure. But what about Alex? It seems that this guy can be trusted, although sometimes I want to kill him.»

Leeloo thinks it over for a minute and answers:

«Maybe. But not right now.»

With these words, she goes to her cell. I go to bed and start taking notes. Leeloo never leaves my head. She is strange, but I feel comfortable and calm in her presence. I will definitely find out more about her secret when the time comes. The clock shows 20:59 and the lights go out.

«Great,» I sigh, «now I have to lie all night in the dark, alone with my thoughts.»

But, obviously, all recent events, experiences, fears and worries have tired me so much that I almost instantly plunge into a deep restful sleep.

The Game

Day one

When I wake up, first of all I look at the digital clock on the bedside table. It shows 9:00 a.m. I have been sleeping for exactly 12 hours, which surprises me a lot: never in my life have I slept for so long and been so punctual.

Despite the long rest, the head is still buzzing, and the same unpleasant metallic taste is felt on the tongue. I was probably lying in the same position through the whole night, because my neck and shoulder muscles are terribly numb. As I begin to stretch the shoulders, a chair catches my attention. In surprise I jump out of bed: it no longer has my yesterday’s clothes on! Instead, there is a white suit made of soft dense material: tight long pants with elastic bands in the calf muscles, a tight jacket with a zipper and long sleeves ending at the wrists with the same elastic bands. Under the chair there is a pair of white high boots with thick soles and lacing. This costume wasn’t here yesterday! I feel uncomfortable with the idea that someone was in the room while I slept in the dark.

Tormented by thirst and hunger, I dress quickly. No wonder, I haven’t had a crumb in my mouth since yesterday. It is unknown if the tap water can be drunk, so I decide not to risk it. Instead, I head to the gathering place – the Platform – hoping to get breakfast and find out how the first Game Day will be.

Outside, the sun is already shining in the blue cloudless sky, flooding this paradise with its dazzling light. Our Bungalow is made of snow-white textured bricks, drown in lush tropical greenery. It is surrounded by tall, wild-growing palms. The playful vines hang along the perimeter of the clearing, as if inviting you to swing. The ocean is visible a few meters from the Bungalow.

Cheerful waves rush onto the shiny sandy shore, crash noisily against it and roll back like white lambs to return again. Every now and then a motley bird breaks down from one of the branches and, waving light fans of its wings, hovers to the next one to hide again in the dense crown of a tree. Despite the fact that the tropical air is humid and stuffy, I enjoy breathing it in with my lungs tainted by the urban environment.

Directly in front of the Bungalow, a round area has been cleared, in the middle of which there is a massive wooden table, oddly enough, only on three legs. The same solid benches stand around it. Most of the players have already gathered at the table. On the wall of the Bungalow, facing the Platform, there is a wide monitor – apparently, a means of communication between the organizers and the players.

I come to the table and greet everyone present. The players salute me in return. They are all dressed the same as me. The design of the table itself is also impressive: the symbol of Antakarana, striking in its beauty, is engraved on its entire surface – three volumetric sevens, which, as if form the edges of the cube, diverge from the center and shape three legs of the table.

Gradually other players join us. I think of Leeloo as she walks out of the Bungalow. Instead of going to the negotiating table, she heads in the opposite direction, sits down under a branchy tree at a distance and begins to take apart her chess pieces. The large leaves provide a perfect hiding place, so you need to look closely to see her there. The girl, in turn, does not even look in our direction. In my mind, I decide to talk to her later.

«I think it’s time to get to know each other better and eat something,» Alex interrupts the awkward silence.

«We’d have eaten something long ago if there was something edible here,» the athlete answers tartly, «there is not a damn thing here. It looks like the organizers are planning to starve us.»

I don’t like the tone he has chosen. The guy’s appearance scares me: he personifies strength and aggression, as if a silent threat comes from him.

«What about the tap water?» the blonde girl complains, «I’m just dying of thirst.»

«You can safely drink tap water,» Planck replies, «judging by the temperature and low pressure, water does not come directly from a natural source, but through a desalination system. Heating occurs naturally from the sun’s energy. By the evening the water cools down, and in the afternoon, judging by the morning heat, boiling water will run from the tap. This water can be drunk without any harm to health.»

«They aren’t very hospitable here,» the southern woman sighs.

At this moment, the screen lights up, and we see already familiar Maestro. His expression and tone are still calm and friendly. Like the rest of the players, I’m just dying of curiosity. Almost the same as of hunger and thirst.

«I welcome you to the Location and congratulate you on the first game day in the Great Game «Antakarana. Quest in reality»! I hope you are well rested after a tiring journey and ready to start the challenge. Some of you are professionals in the hidden object genre, others are good at logic puzzles. Today you will join forces to find provisions for the upcoming game week. I will give you the hints every day. It is extremely important to listen carefully and memorize them. Indeed, they contain not only the key to the correct decision, but also, often, to life itself. So today’s tip goes like this:

The mysterious number seven:

Life starts with seven grounds:

Earth, Fire, Water, Air

Are filled with Light and Sounds,

And a bright Thought is there.

By finding germs of life

And merging them together,

You’ll get a little clever

Feed hunger through awareness.

So, seek for nature’s voices:

Where the harmony reigns

Unnatural darkness appears

To misinterpret the view —

There you’ll find the clue.

Happy Game start, Players! The Corporation trusts in you!»

Maestro disappears. Instead, four red arrows show up, guiding towards the interior of the island – the projections of light from the same screen. Silence reigns for a while. We can barely hide our disappointment. Angel breaks the hush first with a common thought out loud:

«And this should be the promise: we’ll be provided with everything we need? How will I complete tasks if I’m just starving?»

«What are you whining like a girl?» The athlete growls contemptuously at him. «As soon as this damn plane flew upside down, it became clear that they wouldn’t pat us on the head.»

«Your disputes and differences are useless,» Planck interrupts them, «there is not a minute to waste. In the tropics it gets dark quickly, and we don’t even have the slightest idea in which direction to move.»

He’s right of course. We all understand this, so we immediately start discussing the action plan.

First, we write down the Maestro’s hint. Then we spend 20 minutes to briefly introduce ourselves. Everyone knows Planck, thanks to his courtesy on the plane. Nevertheless, he repeats his name, then makes a short pause and adds: «My real name is also Max Karl» and laughs good-naturedly. We look at each other in confusion, not having the slightest idea what he is hinting at. From the expressions on our faces, Planck understands that his joke doesn’t fit this audience, and briefly introduces us the outstanding German physicist Max Karl Planck, known for his works in the field of thermodynamics, quantum physics and thermal radiation. The blonde calls herself Blonda, which makes many players smile.

The woman with a southern appearance turns out to be that mysterious BeBe – short for the full name of Beatrice Bianchi. The name of the athlete sounds like Runner, that is, «runner» in translation from English. A thin woman in glasses in her 50s introduces herself as Martha. Then follows Angel with an angelic face, Joleo, who named himself after the satellite of Saturn that he discovered, and Alex and I. The last one appears to be the Chinese woman – a miniature girl with thick black hair that reaches down to fragile shoulders and with too bulky frames of glasses for her neat little face. The Asian woman’s name is simply Yu, an abbreviated form for Yuming. Nobody asks for the name of the little red-haired girl, and I don’t bring it up.

We decide not to waste time on further discussions and to start searching immediately. Judging by the direction of the sun, our Platform is located in the west part of the land. The arrows on the screen clearly show directions: north, south, southeast and northeast. We make a general decision to split into four teams: Alex and I choose the northeast direction. Runner volunteers to accompany Blonda and looks frowning when Angel joins them. However, he doesn’t mind out loud, and this team gets the southeast. Joleo and BeBe take a southerly direction along the coastline. Planck and Martha remain to explore the area around the Platform, because of the age they are inferior to the others in physical parameters. Yu insists on heading north alone, also along the ocean line.

«I grew up by the sea,» she firmly denies all objections, «this is my element, nothing can happen to me.»

Now we have a vague idea of what exactly we are looking for. It’s only clear that you need to pay attention to some unnatural objects or phenomena in nature. Or, as Alex quoted the Russian fairy tale: «Look for that – I don’t know what.»

Before leaving, I ask Alex to wait a couple of minutes. We have absolutely nothing to fill water in and take it with us. It remains to hope for a fresh source on the way. I drink a lot and greedily and then immediately head to Leeloo.

She is still sitting under the tree. I have never had any particular knowledge of botany, so I have no idea what kind of plant it is. Nevertheless, I definitely like it – the branches covered with large leaves hang down almost to the very ground, giving a healing coolness in the midday heat and shielding from the outside world.

«Leeloo, do you want to come with us?» I ask, sitting down next to her. The tree immediately envelops me with its hospitable aura. We seem to be cut off from everything that happens outside in this secluded leafy hut. I even feel a slight euphoria from our «hide».

«No, I’d better stay here and try to find something,» the girl replies. After a pause, she adds: «Be careful and come back before dark. It gets dark terribly quickly in such places. I don’t want you to get lost and spend the night in the jungle.»

Her voice is full of alarm.

«Don’t be afraid, Leeloo, we’ll be back in time. The sooner the better. My stomach is already cramping with hunger. We’ll have a feast tonight, I promise.»

We exchange smiles and a sudden urge to hug Leeloo seizes me, but I hesitate. Instead, I get to my feet and run to Alex. He is already waiting for me to leave the Platform and go towards adventure.

***

For 10 minutes we’ve been moving forward in silence.

Just a few meters from the Platform, the thickets become unexpectedly dense. Our legs get tangled in intricate grassy plexuses, every now and then some impudent liana grabs the face or sleeve. From this angle, we no longer see the soothing blue of the ocean or hints of civilization, so the heart gets filled with anxiety. There is something mesmerizing about the sounds of the jungle. Multi-toned cries of birds. The buzz of insects. The rustle of trees. Whistling tops in the wind. They seem alive and pierce through – they frighten, surprise, delight, but do not leave you indifferent.

If in the morning a white tight-fitting suit seemed to me unsuitable for such a hot tropical place, now it would be difficult to imagine the best clothes. Tall fern with unknown inhabitants, tropical and often unfamiliar shrubs and the ubiquitous dense clumps of lianas are definitely not suitable for close contact with my northern skin. In addition, the sun beats down so mercilessly from the blue sky that I could be burned to the crust in a matter of minutes.

Alex walks in front, wearing his suit more loosely, which gives him a bit of the look of a factory worker. Finally, I break the silence and address Alex in Russian:

«Looking for objects in this jungle is the same as looking for a needle in a haystack…»

As soon as I utter the phrase to the end, suddenly a piercing ringing begins in my ears. The sound is so intense it feels like my head is about to explode. It causes such unbearable pain that I fall to the ground and hold my ears tightly with the hands. Through the veil in front of my eyes, I see Alex, with a frightened expression on his face, run up to me and say something. At this moment, he also grabs his head, and his face distorts a grimace of pain.

«… is happening here?!» the end of the phrase reaches me, after which he screams loudly and falls to the ground.

«How damn painful it is!» Alex rolls on the ground, and blood runs out in a thin stream from his right ear. A guess comes to my dull consciousness, and I scream with all my might in English, hoping that Alex will hear:

«Shut up! Not a word in Russian! Shut up! Quiet, quiet, quiet!!!»

I crawl up to him, look into his eyes and take my hands from my head.

«Can you hear me? Shut up!»

He nods, still wearing the same haggard expression. We sit side by side under a palm tree and try to come to our senses. The ringing in my ears gradually dies down and I can think more clearly. It takes about twenty minutes before I can move my tongue again:

«Alex, we violated rule number three: «The language of communication of the Players is exclusively English» and the rule number eleven was applied to us: «Players will be punished for violating the rules of the Game, and eliminated from the Game for significant violations». First, this deafening ringing in the ears. I don’t know what happened after your second sentence. But your eardrum seems to be hurt.

«I’ll tell you what. It was as if thousand needles had pierced eyes, ears and brains at the same time. But, of course, it seemed to me not enough,» he jokes sadly, «for the third time I felt a small explosion in my head. I guess I should throw away my right ear as it is hopelessly damaged.»

«At least you don’t lose courage,» I grin, «but just in case, from now on, not a word in Russian on this damned island.»

«After this I’m afraid, not a word for the rest of my life.»

«But how do they do such cruel things to us?»

We look at each other and understand at the same time. The answer is so elementary and terrible that we begin to laugh nervously:

«Coordinators! We are not just figures with the built-in navigators, we are puppets in the hands of the organizers. They can punish players, control every step, every word…»

«And turn off our consciousness any time convenient for them,» Alex finishes calmly.

«What?!»

«Look. Yesterday everyone fell asleep, barely got into their cars. None of us knows how long we were on the way, or which road we were driving. At exactly 21:00 p.m., I fell asleep, although I usually don’t fall asleep before midnight. And getting up at 9 a.m. in the morning is absolutely fantastic! I don’t even ask how it was with you, because now there is not the slightest doubt that everything happened in the same way.»

«That’s where this disgusting metallic taste in the morning and back pain comes from!» I whisper. «But it’s illegal! This is an infringement on a person’s privacy. They just don’t have the right to do it.»

«Lavina, something tells me that nobody in this ominous place thinks about our rights. Perhaps this is just the beginning. How did we end up here?»

«But… but how?! It’s just a game! And we almost went deaf by breaking a little insignificant rule. What will happen if…»

I feel depressed. There is no trace of hope that this adventure will turn out as I expected. This is a serious organization and it plays for real. High bets – high demands. How deep is my regret that I responded to the request, passed all the tests and did not leave that fatal plane while there was still an opportunity!

The words of Zhang Kiang come to my mind again: «Don’t trust anyone. Follow the instructions carefully. This is your only chance. "Maybe she really wished me well and wanted to warn me of the impending danger? I can’t wait to discuss this with Alex, but now that I know that every word of ours is being tapped, I hesitate, fearing to get Zhang Kiang into trouble. Of course, the Glossy Lady is not the best example of hospitality, and she has a brilliant talent for getting on your nerves. And yet, what if she is as hostage to the situation as we are? Alex interrupts my train of thought:

«One thing I can say for sure. You have good English if you know the word „eardrum“. And I seem to be able to hear with both ears again.»

***

We walk through the jungle in silence, still impressed by what happened. Our goal is to go as far as possible in order to explore the place in which we find ourselves as best as we can. I roll my head around in search of something unusual. In these thickets, it is simply not possible to see this something. My pessimism picks up steam when I suddenly hear Alex say:

«Look at that tall tree, something is clearly wrong with it.»

«What exactly?»

«It’s extremely high.»

As I get closer to our subject, I admit that Alex is right – this palm is different from other trees. Probably, it can be seen from any hill in the area. We examine it from all angles and find a tiny red Antakarana symbol at the base of the tree.

«We found it! Symbol!» I exclaim.

«Do you think this is our subject – a palm tree?»

«Maybe a piece of bark with a symbol? Let’s take a closer look.»

Examining the base of the palm tree thoroughly, we notice a square of earth directly below the mark. It differs from the rest of the tree’s surroundings: grass also grows on it, but the ground under it is red. Without thinking twice, we break the square with our hands. At a depth of about five centimeters, our fingers press against a plastic box.

Alex takes out a white box with the familiar black symbol – three sevens, placed in a volumetric cube. It contains a small glass bottle with a red liquid.