Author: Hillary Lyon

The shining silver ship cruised in, causing waves of wind to unfurl across the landscape, spawning swirling towers of dust and dirt and debris from an abandoned civilization.

Once the craft stabilized, the main door slid open and the four spacemen tentatively descended the ramp. The last man wandered out, hands gripping his helmet. He attempted to adjust his visor, gave up and pulled the head-piece off entirely.

“Arrrg!” Moira groaned. “I’ve already seen this movie!”

She tapped the small glowing green cube on her coffee table. “Bijou! Find me something I haven’t already seen—something weird and alien, something exciting. A game, a movie, anything.”

Bijou, as she called her personal AI entertainment assistant, scanned the planet’s database for her request. Finding nothing she hadn’t already seen or played, it extended its search to the outer regions of the solar system, then the galaxy.

The cube shivered and flashed through a kaleidoscopic assortment of hues before settling on one Moira had never seen before. She wrinkled her nose; how would one even describe that color? A beam of this weird-colored light shot out of the cube, broadened, and within it a humanoid shape coalesced.

First appearing as a hologram, it quickly solidified into a three-dimensional form. Like pouring water into an empty glass, Moira thought. The being wore a dull matte-gray armor of flat scales. The creature was angular like a poorly rendered video game character—yet still exuded strength and determination.

Moira rose from the sofa for a closer look. “Arkzulia awaits,” the being urged, extending one of his four hands.

“This is new,” Moira murmured. “Good work, Bijou.”

“Arkzulia awaits,” the being reiterated. As Moira took his hand, a burst of white light filled the den. She disappeared with the being. Bijou went dark.

* * *

After 30 minutes the cube warmed and began cycling through a panoply of colors, before settling on the indescribable color that opened the gateway to Arkzulia.

Moira first appeared as a hologram, then rapidly solidified. She wore dented and scuffed matte-gray scaled armor; the exposed skin of her hands and face bore long-healed scars. She used her right eye, now a bionic scanner, to scope out her apartment. Finding no enemy warriors, she relaxed, though still kept a firm grip on her Arkzulian war-hammer.

Bijou brightened into his familiar, friendly green upon recognizing Moira.

“Thank you for playing ‘Campaign for Arkzulia: The Final Battle.’ Congratulations! You finished Level 1 with a four out of five star rating. You have successfully unlocked Level 2,” Bijou chirped gleefully, channeling the game’s programmed voice-over.

The cube continued, “The Level 2 access code will be downloaded to your—”

Before it could finish, Moira raised her war-hammer and brought it down upon Bijou with all the strength of a battle-hardened Arkzulian warrior, smashing both the cube and coffee table to bits.