Chapter 2

Several days passed as Sid worked around the house, attended school, and worked in the evenings. The days were not without tension. His entire family was shocked that he would allow his aunt to be arrested, and have such serious charges brought against her. It didn’t seem to bother them that she was attempting to steal from him. Of course, in his family, that was ‘par for the course.’

With the passage of time, he had come closer to accepting that the house was his, and that his uncle wouldn’t come walking in. The first room of which he decided to take ownership, was the study. As he moved papers and other materials from the desk to make room for the computer, he was reminded of the conversation that he’d had with his uncle, about the wall safe. He located the wall safe behind the picture of dogs playing poker, recognizing the humor of his uncle in the choice of pictures.

Inside the safe he found a small box, a notebook, and an old diary written in some foreign language. As he opened the notebook, a loose sheet of paper fell out. He picked up the paper and started to read it.

Dear Sid,

You are the only member of the family that’s worth a damn. As a result, I am giving you my most valuable possession. If you have learned your lessons well, it will provide you with a lifetime full of adventure. In order to start your adventures, you must put on the ring (it is in the box) and enter the closet. Elizabeth will explain everything to you.

Love,

Gerald

Sid read the note twice trying to make sense of it. Opening the box, he found a ring with a sapphire stone. Shrugging his shoulders, he slipped it over a finger and went to the closet. Looking into the closet, he could spot nothing odd. He went back to the desk and read the letter again. Puzzled by the instruction to step into the closet, he returned and looked in the closet again. It looked like a normal closet to him.

As he stepped into the closet, there was a strange twisting sensation, and he suddenly found himself in a sterile white room. Disoriented by the transition, he required a few moments to get his bearings. The walls around him and ceiling glowed with a soft light. The effect was that the room was well lit, without shadows, and yet the light was low enough that it did not hurt the eyes.

As quiet as a feather landing on the floor, a door slid open in front of him. He stepped through it, finding himself in what appeared to be a waiting room. It was totally white, with white chairs arranged around a central overlarge white coffee table. After walking around the room, he found that none of the doors would open, and that he was basically trapped inside the room. He sat down in one of the chairs, to wait for something to happen. As he sat there, he understood that Uncle Gerald had left him something totally unique.

A door slid open without him noticing. He looked up when he heard a gasp from the woman who had entered the room. She looked to be in her early sixties, with fair skin, and hair that had turned gray. She retained the figure of a much younger woman, but it was the lines on her face that gave away her age.

Minding his manners, he stood and faced her as he said, “Hello, Ma’am. I’m Sid Jones.”

The woman covered her mouth with the back of her trembling hand as she came to understand what he had said. Her eyes watered and in a weak voice, she said, “Please excuse me for a minute while I compose myself.”

She stepped back and the door closed, cutting her off from his view. Uncertain of what to do, Sid stood there awkwardly staring at the door as if it could tell him what had happened. After a few minutes, he sat down wondering if he had just met the mysterious Elizabeth. It was hard to tell how much time had passed before the woman returned to the room. Sid stood again and faced her observing that her eyes showed signs of crying.

Having regained control of her emotions, she said, “I must really apologize for my behavior earlier.”

He realized that she had expected his uncle rather than himself, Sid replied, “I am sure that you were expecting someone else.”

She smiled and moved to one of the chairs. She sat down with grace and gestured for him to seat himself with a delicate movement of her hand. As Sid seated himself, she put four manila folders on the coffee table. Once both of them were comfortable, she said, “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Elizabeth Caretaker of Cassandra.”

Upon learning that this was the mysterious Elizabeth, Sid stood and walked over to her. Kneeling, he took her hand in his and kissed the back of it. He said, “My Uncle Gerald always talked about you with great affection and respect. His last request was for me to tell you that he loved you.”

Elizabeth smiled as tears welled up in her eyes at the thought that his last words were of her. She sniffed and said, “He was such a lovely man. I shall miss him dearly.”

Her grief was almost a relief for Sid. For the past week, he had felt that he and he alone had cared about his uncle. The knowledge that he was not alone in his grief let him know that his uncle had known love from someone else besides him. When she began to cry, he shifted to where he could hug her. On one knee, he held her as she cried on his shoulder, her entire body shaking in time to her sobs.

When her tears stopped flowing, she straightened and collected herself, as though embarrassed by her loss of control. Sid could tell by her manner that she didn’t want to be held any more and returned to his chair. She looked at him with kindness in her eyes.

“Your caretaker is going to be a very lucky woman. You are so much like Gerald,” she said.

The reference to a caretaker confused him. First his uncle had mentioned one and now Elizabeth, but he still had no clue what a caretaker was.

Sid asked, “My caretaker?”

Noticing his confusion, she asked, “Gerald told you nothing?”

“He left me a note telling me to put on a ring and walk into the closet. He said that you would explain everything to me,” answered Sid.

Elizabeth had suspected that would be the case. Gerald did not want to admit that one day he wouldn’t be able to continue, despite the fact that he was the oldest Hero, ever. He must have really loved her, since the only way he would be able to visit was to accept a mission.

She said, “Well, first let me welcome you to Crossroads.”

“Crossroads?”

“Yes, this is a world (or a place, we’re not sure which) where access to other worlds is possible. You are from Earth and I am from Cassandra. There is a fourth world, Chaos, which is where ‘The Game’ is played. On that world, women from my world are Damsels in Distress and men from your world are Heroes. If you choose to participate, then every time you come here you must undertake a mission to rescue a Damsel in Distress before you can return home,” she smiled as she said the last sentence.

Sid thought about the offer with the seriousness that it deserved, realizing that his uncle had been preparing him for this for a long time.

He said, “I have obligations at home. I don’t know how I can have adventures in Chaos and still manage to meet my obligations on Earth.”

She laughed at his choice of words. It was so much like Gerald that it almost hurt. She answered, “No matter how long you are here — or on Chaos — exactly fifteen minutes will pass on Earth. You can have an adventure during your lunch break and not miss a minute of work. You will only age fifteen minutes of Earth time, no matter how long your adventure lasts.”

The idea of being a Hero that rescued Damsels in distress attracted him. There had to be some negatives. He asked, “How does that work?”

“Two coffees please,” said Elizabeth as she looked up at the ceiling. Within seconds, two coffees appeared on the table, one in front of her and the other in front of him. She leaned forward and picked up a cup. Lifting it to her lips, she took a sip and looked across the table at the surprised expression on his face. She said, “Have some coffee while I tell you all about it. These things are best discussed in a relaxed atmosphere.”

Leaning forward, Sid picked up the cup and took a sip of the dark liquid it contained. Much to his surprise, the coffee was brewed exactly the way he liked it.

He commented, “Good coffee. Thank you.”

She smiled at his compliment and said, “That is the technology of Crossroads at work. We had nothing to do with the construction of Crossroads. Our scientists don’t understand how it works, but understanding it isn’t necessary in order to use it. One of the greatest pieces of equipment is the healing chamber. If you return from a mission wounded, it will cure you very quickly, and without scarring. You can be on the verge of death and within hours you will emerge fully healed.”

His eyebrows rose at her statements. It suggested that he could get injured here and that the injuries could be very serious. He asked, “How about if you are dead?”

She frowned at the question and answered, “Then you are dead. If you die anywhere, then you are dead everywhere. If you die on Chaos, your body will return here, and then it will return to Earth. If you die here, your body will return to Earth. Dead is dead.”

“Do people die on these adventures?”

She nodded and said, “Yes. Most Heroes die while on a mission. Gerald was a very rare Hero. He lived a long life, and went on regular missions of very high degrees of difficulty. Most Heroes go once a month, Gerald went every week.”

“It sounds dangerous.”

“Oh, it is,” replied Elizabeth. With a thoughtful look on her face, she said, “While it is dangerous for Heroes, you have to remember that many more Damsels die, than Heroes.”

Raising an eyebrow, Sid considered the implications that these women were risking their lives for an adventure. He asked, “What motivates the Damsels to do that?”

Elizabeth looked into the coffee cup and said, “The women of Cassandra are highly motivated to go for reasons that we wish to remain private. Let me just say that we have so many volunteers that we hold lotteries to see who can go. A woman can only go once in her lifetime.”

Curious if this was how his uncle had met Elizabeth, Sid asked, “Did you go?”

With a heart wrenching look of sadness, Elizabeth answered, “No. I was never eligible. I became a caretaker instead.”

Sid thought about it for a minute, still not understanding how everything fit together. He said, “Okay. So, let’s start with the Damsels. What happens to them?”

She smiled at the directness of his question and his desire to get at the root of the issue in the most efficient manner. It was so much like Gerald.

She said, “They go to Chaos and eventually get into trouble. Once they get into trouble a Hero comes and rescues them. Their role is pretty simple.”

Sid asked, “So where is the danger?”

“If the trouble is very bad, they can get killed before a Hero rescues them.”

“That explains the Damsel,” said Sid, although he still had questions about what would motivate them to take such risks. He asked, “So what about the Heroes?”

“A Hero selects a Damsel in Distress and then goes off to rescue her. Once she is fully rescued, they return here.”

It all sounded very simple, but there were a lot of cases that still needed to be covered. “What if the Hero is killed?”

Elizabeth answered, “Then the Damsel has to wait for another Hero to rescue her.”

“What happens if the Damsel dies before the Hero gets to her?”

Elizabeth answered, “Simple, the Hero is immediately returned here.”

“I take it that’s a failure, and would be the end of the Hero’s career,” replied Sid. There had to be a consequence of not rescuing a Damsel.

“Not so. Sometimes a mission is impossible. Suppose it takes a day to get to her, but she dies ten minutes after he arrives. He wouldn’t have had a chance to save her. Many things can happen on a heroic adventure to prevent a Hero from reaching the Damsel in time.” Elizabeth was quiet for a moment and then said, “The portal does not let men who do not have the proper heroic attitude enter Crossroads.”

“Oh,” replied Sid. He hadn’t thought about that as a possibility. He asked, “So what happens now? Do I go on a mission?”

Elizabeth laughed as she answered, “No. You have to pick your caretaker.”

“Okay. How do I do that?”

Looking up, she requested Caretaker Candidates, and a pile of folders appeared in front of her. She slid three manila folders across the table and said, “Read these and pick one. I will get her.”

He opened the folders and read through each one. When he had finished he looked up at Elizabeth and said, “I might as well flip a coin. I have no idea what a caretaker does. How can I pick one, if I don’t know what qualities are most important?”

A broad grin spread across her face as she recognized that Gerald had trained this young man very well. She said, “A caretaker helps select the missions for a Hero. She investigates the situation and determines what strategies would be most effective. She watches over him and then gives assessments of his performance after the mission. You might consider her a trainer, a manager, an assistant, a nurse, and a companion.”

Sid picked up the folders and read through them much more carefully now that he knew what was important. Clearly, an organized mind that paid attention to details would be an advantage. She would have to understand and interpret situations of a military sort. Understanding human psychology would also be a benefit.

The first dossier described a woman that was a nurse. The information suggested that she was a nice person, but she had nothing suggesting a strong background in strategy or military history. The last page was a full nude photograph of the woman. To say that she was gorgeous would be an understatement. He closed the dossier and set it on his lap under the others.