VcnV

Plan B

Josh and Pete followed Yancy home to see his new gaming system. He set it up in the same room as his pod. As he was taking his friends upstairs they ran into his Dad on the landing where he was involved with hanging a picture.

Yancy told his Dad he was going to show his friends the new game room.

Dad welcomed, “Hello boys. How is school going?”

Josh said, “Good, I guess.” Pete nodded as well.

Dad turned to them, “That reminds me son, I got a cryptic message from Mike today. It just said ‘Dag blast it Yancy, figure it out’. I don’t know what to make of it. It is very peculiar. There is something very unusual about him being conscious in your virtual school. What do you suppose he meant? I responded to him but he hasn’t come back yet.” He turned and went back to looking at the picture on the wall which was crooked.

“Well he wasn’t in our class environment. He was external to it,” said Josh.

“Yeah, and we are going to…” Pete interjected but was interrupted by a charlie horse from Yancy before he finished. Yancy put his index finger to his lips as a gesture to shut up.

Dad turned and said, “Going to do what?”

Pete finished with, “Ask him what he meant for you if we see him again.” Yancy gave a supportive nod.

Yancy said, “Come on guys. I can’t wait for you to try this.” They went upstairs and there it was taking up most of the pod room. He went over the equipment. There were virtual helmets that gave 3D viewing and two separate chairs equipped with sensor technology that connected to the user. “Lets try the medieval jousting. I’ve been waiting to use this because it takes two players. Who is first?”

Pete picked up one of the helmets and said, “I will knock your block off.” They put on the helmets and sat in the chairs. Then they put on special gloves and hooked up the many sensors to feel movements all about the physical body. Yancy launched the game. Josh had a remote view on a display screen to watch from the stands view. The two were handsomely clothed in medieval knights armor set atop gallantly armored horses at far ends of a stadium.

The two knights approached the Kings ensemble in a bleacher at the center of the field. The queen handed a cloth to a squire and the Knights bowed. Then they went to far sides of the field and waited.

Pete’s horse stood up on his hinds and whinnied waiting for a squire standing at center field. The squire raised the piece of golden colored royal cloth. He dropped it and the signal to start was when it hit the ground. He dropped it and it fluttered to the ground below. On contact with the ground Pete’s horse was off. Yancy got a late start. The individual view from the players perspective was spectacular looking out from the helmets but gave them a limited view especially peripherally. They charged toward each other having a lot of control of the horses movements. The excitement peaked as they passed with their jousts pointing at each other. On the first run they both missed.

Pete opened the Frog-mouth helmet by its hinge and said, “Its harder then it looks.” They turned and the squire at center field again dropped a royal cloth. He closed his helmet and they charged at one another this time Yancy’s lance came in contact with Pete’s breast plate armor and knocked him clean off his horse. It was a win for Yancy.

“My turn. I want a shot at driving a lance through Yancy,” Josh said as he swapped seats with Pete.

Pete enjoyed the game but couldn’t help saying, “Piece of crap,” Yancy and Josh didn’t hear him. Pete hated losing.

The players were in place They steered their horses to the royals and bowed while the queen provided another cloth to the squire for this match.

Josh was shocked when he saw the queen up close. He lifted his helmet to see clearer. She was the spitting image of their teacher, Miss Ursbrook. He looked to Yancy whose helmet was closed. He wanted to get his attention but couldn’t. So they went back to the far sides of the field and looked to the squire who dropped the cloth and the contest began. The first and second attempts were misses on both sides. Josh was fixated on looking over toward the queen as he galloped forward taking his eye off of Yancy’s lance which struck him in the head on the third pass. Yancy then dismounted and came to Josh sitting on the ground and said, “had enough?”

“Never mind that, did you get a good look at the queen?”

“How good a look do you mean?” he replied opening his helmet and scratching his head.

“Never mind,” he realized Yancy couldn’t or just didn’t see the queen well. “She could have been our teachers twin.”

“So she resembles the teacher, what does that mean?”

“She didn’t resemble her. She looked exactly like her,” said Josh raising his voice.

“What does she have to do with our teacher?” Yancy wasn’t making any connection.

“How could she randomly just happen to look like Miss Ursbrook?” Josh tensed up when he didn’t get through to him.

“You got me. Don’t get excited.” They both stood up in the room and removed their 3D hoods.

Josh said to Pete, “Did you get a good look at the queen?”

“Not really.”

Josh said, “I’m gonna get going.”

Yancy wasn't listening, “Want to go again Pete?”

“Sure.” they placed the 3D hoods on and sat in the chairs.

On his way out the door Josh said, “take a look at the queen while you are in there. He left Yancy’s house and walked home. He couldn’t help thinking about everything that happened since school started.

The game started and Pete and Yancy approached the royal’s with their helmets closed obscuring their view. They looked at the queen and then looked toward each other. Pete shrugged and they went to their start positions.

Josh admired the landscapes of the homes on Yancy’s street. Lawns were manicured like a golf course. Some had plants and trees that seemed like botanical gardens. One had a dry fountain in the center of the yard with an upset starling screeching at a fat fluffy cat waiting patiently for him to make a mistake which he would capitalize on. He was in no hurry looking well fed.

It was only a few blocks to home. He arrived and his Dad was sweeping the garage out.

“Hi Dad.”

“Hello Josh. Did you get a good workout at the gym?”

“Yeah.” he passed by him through the garage and into the house. Up the stairs to his room he went and plopped on his bed. He lay there thinking until he fell asleep.

In class on Monday Sheri filled in Pete, Josh and Yancy with what they had done as far as seeking assistance. The teacher started class without any mention of it. It wasn’t until the class ended that she made a request of Sheri and Molly only to remain behind.

Molly swung around in her seat and gave a worried look toward Sheri and the boys. The class emptied except Yancy who often stayed and worked on his homework.

The teacher said to him, “I need you to leave Yancy. You may return in a half an hour if you wish.” He was puzzled by her request but pressed his exit button.

Teacher said, “Now then ladies, what is this nonsense that you reported to the help desk all about?”

Sheri moved to the front and sat next to Molly who answered, “We were very alarmed by what went on here on the second day of class so we wanted to report it to the school system. We couldn’t exit and we were stuck here until we entered the hallway for help. How did you find out about our reported concern? Did they contact you?”

“No. The help request that you submitted from your school webpage comes directly to me. No one else.”

Molly’s jaw dropped looking at Sheri, “Oh.”

Teacher added, “Now, do you want me to push your submission up the ladder where I will have to add your misconduct for going against the class syllabus where it clearly stated in no uncertain terms that students must not leave class through the door for any reason.”

Molly looked at Sheri shaking her head.

Sheri said, “I guess that won’t be necessary.”

“I will consider the matter closed then. You may leave now,” she picked up her bag and left the room.

Yancy called Josh and they decided to return and see what the girls had to say. Josh popped in before they exited after the teacher left.

Sheri said, “We were hoping you guys would come back.”

Josh said, “Yancy should be…,” but before he could finish Yancy appeared in his seat. “Now that we are here, why don’t you tell us what she said.” Molly filled them in.

Yancy gives up, “That only leaves plan B.”

“Yeah, now we need to figure out what plan B is,” said Josh. “Let’s give it some thought. Maybe visit Mike with this new information tomorrow after class. I’m gonna go.”

The girls looked at each other nervously, “we are in,” said Sheri and they both exited.

Yancy sat alone but he didn’t mind. Maybe he could get some work done now. He worked on his homework.

Mike was editing a program when he found some images associated with it which looked like the teacher that the kids were complaining about. He remembered there was a hacker trend a while back where they embedded an image that was significant to them alone. It was akin to signing their art. He worried that this virus attack was much more broad than he thought. He decided the kids were going to need his help.