Chapter 3

Chapter III

Ruby set her treadmill for trail eight.  She and Pete had discussed it on the way home from the meeting and decided they could handle any of the trails and it might make it more difficult for Wilson to monitor them if they kept changing without mentioning it during their workout.

Pete joined her on the monitor and the trail opened up.

“Wow, you got new sweats.  Lookin’ good!” Pete said.

“Thank you.  It was getting hard to hold the others up.”

“I imagine, you’ve lost so much.” Pete stepped back to admire her. Then said “Man, it’s getting steep already.  Have you been on this path before?”

“I haven’t been anywhere without you,” Ruby said, then pointing off to the right she said, “That is the first thing I’ve seen that looked like it was put in by computer.”

“Does look like a typical old haunted house.”  Pete took her hand and they veered off the trail as he said, “We must be supposed to explore it.”

Wilson was looking at the monitor when Wells entered.  Wells looked closely before sitting. 

“That’s different sweats.  We are seeing them.  That wasn’t part of the program,” Wells said.

The figures on the monitor disappeared.

Wells and Wilson looked at each other surprised.

“Damn, they went off the trail again,” Wilson said.

“Maybe they cut it short today, eight is a steep trail.”

“No if they stop walking the monitor goes off.  They can’t walk on a separate trails, if one is on a trail, that’s automatically where the other goes and my monitor comes on if anyone is walking,”

“Right, but this is not how it’s supposed to work,” Wells said, pointing to the monitor “I’m starting to be concerned.  If they are stepping into the real world, they could get hurt.”

“If they see something strange, they’re bound to explore.  They think we built in little perks to keep them interested.”

“Have we?” Wells asked suddenly, “Is it possible that Johnson put some adventures into the program?  Has anyone run through and tested every trail?”

“Ralph and Porter joined up on a trail to see if it worked.  I don’t know how many trails they ran,” Wilson answered, reaching for his phone.  “We better call them in.”

“Good Idea!” Wells agreed.  “I never got the chance to talk to Johnson.  I’m running blind on this.  Ralph and Porter don’t work for the company do they?”

“We hire them by the job,” Wilson said trying to remember the occasion, “They happened to be available that day.  I don’t think Johnson was even there.”

Ruby and Pete appeared on the monitor.

“They’re back.  You’re concerned about them walking in the real world.  What if they’re walking in a virtual world?” Wilson asked.  “We might not be able to find them.”

“The body was real, real world.”

“But no one saw them.”

Pete called Ruby on the phone as soon as they were off of the treadmill.

“Hey, Rumble, what do you think of that guy?” He referred to a man they saw in a window of the haunted house.

“He was a computer image.” Ruby said into the phone, “I wonder if Wells and Wilson know about him,”

“He said he’s being held in that house.  It was twenty-four thirty Rosebud Way.  I’m going to go by there and see if it exists.”

“Can I go with you?”

“I’ll pick you up in about fifteen minutes.  Wear your new sweats we might have to run.”

“That’s why I don’t want you going alone.”

“Geeze, Rumble, I don’t want to put you in danger.”

“As long as we’re together we’re virtually fine.”

“That’s virtually together!”

“What can happen?” Ruby asked, then added, “The adventure is going to take place on the trail.  Now that we’ve found each other they’re throwing us a new curve.”

“Right and it will become more real if we see the house, so they gave us the address.  How’d you figure that out?”

“It all played as computer imagery.”

“Yeah!  Wear your new sweats anyway,” Pete said, he liked the way the tight walking shorts held her buns.

Ralph and Porter arrived at Wells office together.  Wilson spotted them through his inner window and followed them into Wells office. 

When all were seated, Wells said, “I understand you tested the treadmill.  Did you run all the trails?”

“We ran three of the five.  They checked out fine so it was decided to go with it,” Porter said.

“You mean three of the seven?” Wilson asked.

“Ten,” Wells corrected.

“There were only five trails,” Ralph said.

“Who installed the treadmills in the test homes?” Wells asked.

“We did.  Well, we were there, when the crews set them up,” Porter said.

“And there were only five trails?” Wilson asked.

“Yes sir,” Ralph said.

“Johnson may have had others set to add themselves as the people progressed,” Wells said.  “When you met on the trail what happened?”

“Porter showed up on my monitor.  We said hello and walked on,” Ralph said.

“You just saw each other on the monitor?” Wilson said.

“Yes, Sir, that’s how it’s designed.  You see yourselves walking along and you can talk to each other,” Porter said, “Like a computer phone.  Except you see yourselves together.”

Wells shook his head.  He and Wilson stared at each other, trying to reason it out.

Ruby and Pete had no qualms about rummaging through the old house.  The ‘for sale sign’ in front and the door hanging from the hinges were welcome enough.  Pete had actually thought to bring a flashlight.

They made their way to the downstairs room that was below ground but had an arched window that looked out onto an ally way below street level.  It was the room the man had looked out from when he spoke to them.

“No one here, but I kinda like this place,” Pete said.

“Yes, it has good lines.  Whatever that means.  Look, a computer; you think that’s him?” Ruby asked.

“Odd it was left behind, but no one has been here for a long time.”

“We can go back and talk to him tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen enough,” Pete said.

“I wish I were a hacker and could find what is on that computer.”

“No electricity.”

“Be practical,” she said turning in a huff over his mentioning the obvious obstacle.

They went back to the car and started off.

“You want to stop at The Hub and have a drink,” he asked, not ready to go home alone.

She said, “Yes!” too quickly for the same reason.

The Hub was a quiet bar, too small for dancing, but social and casual.  They found a quiet table and were served.

Pete reached across the table to take Ruby’s hand.

“You know, the other day, you weren’t that fast.”

“I know, I was kind of waiting for you,” Ruby said.

“I almost quit, but I had to see you again.”  Pete paused.  He wasn’t sure he wanted to admit what was on his mind, yet.  He said, “I was having second thoughts about falling in love with a virtual woman.”

She laughed, “I was thinking those things, but I thought, if we kept going, maybe I’d find the man you were patterned after.”

“I was so glad to find the real woman and you’re just like on the trail.”

“I am on the trail, but I think were supposed to see each other on that little monitor and talk,” Ruby said, “Being on the trail the way we are it’s a personal thing.  Sharing so much over six months we were bound to develop feelings – love or hate.”  She shrugged, “I was always heavy and dumpy I don’t get much response from real men.  I met you on the trail and you just encouraged me, but you looked good from day one.  Now you’re fantastic.  I wouldn’t have believed you had forty pounds extra.”

“Men are starting to notice you now.  How can they help it?  You’re looking great, but you were never dumpy.  You were a large woman and you carried yourself tall; maybe you intimidated men.”

Pete brought her hand to his lips and kissed her fingertips.

“Face it, Rumble, I fell in love with your buns the day we met.  Funny I always thought I was a boob man.”

She laughed.  “Do you think Wells and Wilson know what a great dating service they run?”

“I think it’s someone else’s program and they don’t know what’s happening to it.”

They sipped their drinks.

“You think the man in the house could be a real person like we are?” Ruby asked without reasoning the question.

“He looks like a computer image.”

She nodded slowly – pensively.

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