Tech Trove was a big box store, with a high ceiling crisscrossed by steel beams. The fluorescents hanging from it were all broken, leaving the store lit only by glowing crystals mounted at the ends of each shelf.

  Roy could see why it had ended up that way. The submarine on the roof made a big splash, but inside, the theming was weak: just a few plastic portholes on the walls and some decorative rivets on the shelves.

  Most of those shelves were empty. It almost didn’t feel like a real store. What merchandise remained was mostly broken or worn out: cracked CRTs, boxes of loose, scratched CD-ROMs, game consoles with vents choked by dust. The air smelled of melted plastic and burnt wires.

  There’d been a time this place would have felt like stepping into tomorrow. Now it just looked like yesterday’s junk

  The only things that looked intact were the replica ships and submersibles dangling from the ceiling.

  When Bastion asked one of the shop assistants to see the owner, she ran off into the back to find him, leaving them with some time to look around.

  “I love this kind of stuff, Roy. Look at this, it's a battery-powered fan.” He held up a small piece of purple plastic with cloth rotors on the end. When he clicked the button, they didn’t move. “Batteries must’ve corroded, but if they hadn’t, this would be great.”

  “You need to find one with more flair,” said Roy. “Jazzier colors, or something shaped like a ray gun. Then it might still work.”

  “That’s not meant to be the point of technology, though. If you do it right, it’s supposed to just work, even without magic.”

  Bastion picked up a circular minidisc player encased in shiny blue metal and slipped on the headphones. “Hey. It’s working.”

  “Because it looks cool as hell,” said Roy.

  “Or maybe it uses a type of battery that doesn’t leak. Either way, I want this. It’s playing a kind of guitar music, but faster.”

  “OK, let me listen.” Roy tried it and gave a nod of approval. “Reminds me of a movie soundtrack.”

  “If we find the right disc, you could listen to those all the time.”

  “OK. You’ve sold me on it.”

  “Check this out,” said Bastion, already moving on. “It’s a Digi-Dog. I heard about these from the treasure hunters in the Star City market.”

  He held up an egg-shaped piece of plastic with a square, green-tinted screen.

  “What does it do?”

  “You raise a little puppy on the screen. There’s a button for feeding it and another to pet it. After a few weeks, it grows into a bigger Digi-dog.”

  “Does it eventually become a real dog?”

  “No, that’s not the—actually, maybe it does now. You never know.”

  “Yeah, we should definitely get that.”

  “We can negotiate for it when we sell the trident.”

  “I’m still not convinced this is the place we should be selling it.”

  Bastion wasn’t listening. He was already mashing buttons on the Digi-Dog.

  Roy wandered the store by himself, checking out the big blocky TVs and six-layered HiFis. A VR headset dangled from a mesh of cables, its connector hanging loose. One of the telephones had a tiny screen next to the keypad, though Roy couldn’t guess what it was for.

  He glanced at the “New In” section. That claim was a stretch, but it was still newer than anything else here. The last trend before the Warp had apparently been encasing everything in clear plastic so you could see the parts moving. Bastion would get a kick out of that.

  Lacking any real interest himself, he went back to the TVs and Ultra-Disc players to see if any of them worked. Most wouldn’t turn on, and the few that did crackled with static.

  Eventually, he found a screen that did display something.

  Unlike the others, it wasn’t black or silver. It was beige, resting on a wooden cabinet surrounded by small machines linked with thin cables.

  Its square aspect ratio confirmed it wasn’t a TV at all, but a computer. It displayed a simple screensaver: stars twinkling against a night sky.

  He poked at the dome-shaped thing beneath the screen, a trackball, maybe? It rolled under his palm with a clicky sort of friction, and the stars on the screen blinked away, replaced by a face made of photographic film.

  Each frame of the reel showed something different.

  An airship docking at a white domed building with “League of Nations” emblazoned across it in gold serif letters.

  Three identical towers rising above a glittering skyline, a silver monorail looping around them.

  A donut-shaped space station covered in neon logos: soft drinks, fast food, theme parks.

  A succession of different sounds played while a loading bar flashed across the screen. High-pitched chanting, guitar strumming, electronic beeps, birdsong, and finally a voice.

  “To all those who seek the light of knowledge, good morning.”

  The words “VentureSoft Scroll 2005” appeared, before fading into a layout of text and images. When he didn’t touch anything for a while, a small picture of the trackball appeared, along with the instruction to spin and press the orb of knowledge to continue. Roy took the hint and moved the trackball.

  It opened a page of information about something called an “accelerator card”. He went to the atlas instead. A map of places that mostly no longer existed or had different names now. He did see one place he recognized, however. He tentatively rolled the ball to highlight Lightner World, then pressed it down and marvelled at the swooshing sound effect.

  Lighter World is a theme park resort complex located 20 miles west of Orlando, Florida. Opened on August 5th, 1985, the resort is operated by Lighter Destinations, a division of the James Lightner Company.

  The property covers 50,000 acres, making it the largest Theme Park complex in the world. It is split into six themed Worlds: Multiverse Market, Loot Landing, Future-ville, Candy Kingdom, Phantom Town, and Lightner Castle.

  Its founder, James Lightner, is credited with inventing the modern theme park by applying visual effects techniques from the film industry to create immersive physical environments, along with the extensive use of automatons. Following Lightner’s 1999 buyout of Virtua Corporation, Lightner World has increasingly incorporated Virtual Reality technologies.

  Roy’s heart jumped. It said it right there: the largest theme park in the world. Who knew what kinds of magic it contained now? He looked back at the map. If he could work out what Bay Town was called back then, he could find out how to get to Lightner World.

  As soon as he thought it, a small pixelated knight popped up on the screen.

  “Greetings! I’m Sir Protagonist, your companion and guide. If you wish for guidance on starting your quest, I am at your service.”

  Roy quite liked the look of the little guy. The blue metal armor, slotted greathelm, and red plume reminded him of his favorite movie, and of the reflection he’d seen when fighting the Sea King.

  He had no idea why he’d appeared, though. Roy kept reading the page. He didn’t know computers well enough to figure out how to interact with a help mascot.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “You wished for directions to Lightner World, my good sir?”

  “Yeah,” Roy mumbled to himself. “Don’t know what to click on to find them though.”

  “Never fear, good Sir. My trusty companion, Pointer, will show you the way.”

  Sir Protagonist drew an enormous greatsword from his back, far too large to have fit there, emerging from the same magical space as a cartoon predator’s oversized hammer. The sword had a smiling face on its hilt, but Roy was too preoccupied with how the knight had known what he wanted to enjoy it. These old machines didn’t respond to speech…did they?

  “Now,” said Sir Protagonist, pointing Pointer around an animated map. “The path to Lightner World is fraught with peril, and you have a long way to go, since you’re starting here, in Bay Town.”

  Roy Froze. Bay Town. The post-Warp name.

  “Do I have your attention now, Roy? As I said, I’m your guide. All of this is for you.”

  “Yes,” said Roy. “I’m happy for the help. I’m just surprised to be talking to you.” Theme magic doesn’t normally make things think like this.

  “Well, I am. So listen closely. Even if you reached Lightner World now, its sentry automatons would not grant you entry. Old magic guards the gates, and only the champion will be allowed through.”

  “The champion?”

  “Yes. Which you must become.”

  “How do I become him?”

  “By following your arc, of course. And never fear, I will provide instruction. Take heed, and you’ll go far.”

  “Thank you, Sir Protagonist. I’ll take heed.”

  “Then listen well. For this is the only clue I’m permitted to speak. Always seek the big prize.”

  With that, Sir Protagonist pulled the sprite of a castle up from the map and walked into its gatehouse. While he waved from inside, the drawbridge rose, and the castle dropped back down into the digital map of Florida.

  After that, the computer returned to normal.

  Roy clicked through a few more encyclopaedia pages to see if anything else would happen, but it seemed whatever magic had animated the old machine had run its course.

  He was still in shock when Bastion tapped him on the shoulder.

  “We’re up. Here comes the owner. Let me do the talking, I handled guys like this all the time back in the Star City markets.”

  The man who approached them introduced himself as Mr. Pepper. He wore a stiffly starched gray suit that Roy guessed had been pulled from centuries-old vacuum-sealed plastic wrap. His hair was neat in a way Roy had never seen back west. He struck him as the human equivalent of a blank piece of paper.

  “You have the item we discussed?” Mr. Pepper asked.

  “Right here,” said Bastion, tapping the trident.

  “Proof?”

  “Sure. Have you got any water around here? Or a crab?”

  Mr Pepper snapped his fingers, summoning a woman with a precision-clipped bob cut, holding a fish tank with a few lobsters languishing at the bottom.

  “It pays to be prepared,” he said, monotone.

  “Roy, do your thing,” said Bastion, handing him the trident.

  As Roy took aim, he felt sorry for the lobsters. The tank looked too small for them, and other than a few scrapings of gravel, it was lacking in anything for them to do.

  He’d had a goldfish once, brought in by a traveling salesman, and King Gilligan’s tank had a little castle for him to swim through, which had always seemed to make him happy. He supposed the lobsters wouldn’t be able to fit through one of those, but they could have at least put some plants in there for them to play with. Roy decided that he didn’t like this Mr. Pepper very much.

  “Fine,” said Roy, without enthusiasm. “Waters rise and fall, move around in a ball,”

  A sphere of water leapt from the tank, hovered in mid-air, then splashed back down without spilling a drop.

  “Good,” said Mr. Pepper. “Is the rhyme strictly necessary? We don’t normally go in for that kind of hijinks here.”

  “Oh, it helps,” said Bastion. “We can tell you how to use it better once we agree on a price.”

  Mr. Pepper narrowed his eyes. “As I stated earlier, I’m prepared to offer five thousand.”

  “You don’t know what it took to get this,” Bastion replied. “We had to fight a crazy automaton and his army of crabs.”

  “That doesn’t raise its value to me.”

  “Not even the army of crabs part? Because you could do that too, if we show you how.”

  Mr Pepper paused, suddenly focused. “That…may be worth something. Let’s say ten.”

  “There was a giant crab down there too, that should be worth a little extra.”

  “Twelve,” Pepper said, now eyeing the trident hungrily. “It’s time you told me how it works.”

  “You need to speak like Roy did, like a crazy old ocean king. The more over the top, the better.”

  Roy wasn’t fully listening. He was still thinking about what Sir Protagonist had said, trying to work out what he was meant to do.

  “Oh, and one more thing,” Bastion added. “The Sea King’s crown, that’s a real theming booster. We’ll throw it in for an extra three thousand tokens.”

  “Fifteen?” Pepper asked. “As much as I’m interested, we do have to work within a budget here, and theming is…volatile.”

  “It’ll work better than most of the tech you’ve got here,” said Bastion.

  “Technology works predictably, whether people believe in it or not,” Mr. Pepper said, folding his arms.

  Most of the time, Roy thought.

  “One last sweetener,” said Bastion. “There’s a costume store in town, Themes, Dreams, and Things. They’ve got armor that matches the Sea King’s perfectly. With that, the crown, and the trident, you could probably control the whole ocean.”

  Mr Pepper snapped his fingers. “Fifteen it is then.”

  He hadn’t taken that much convincing. It seemed he really wanted the trident. Just how well was this electronics store doing, for money to be no object?

  Bastion kept his face neutral. “Let me and my friend talk it over in private. We’ll get back to you in a minute.”

  They stepped outside, where the sun was falling below the horizon and the Victorian-style gas lamps were flickering to life.

  “OK,” said Bastion. “I think we can squeeze another thousand out of him if we act like we’re still on the fence. We’ll say we’re considering taking it to a bigger town, but if he holds firm we should take the fifteen. That’ll buy us a great setup for the road ahead. We got lucky here. I don’t know why he wants it so badly, but he was practically drooling when I mentioned crab control.”

  “Bastion, I don’t think we should sell it to him.” Roy said.

  “What? You think we should sell it somewhere bigger? That Great Mall place could pay more, but we need money to even get there.”

  “No, I mean we shouldn’t sell to him. I don’t like the guy. He was rude. Just the way he talked to us.”

  Bastion blinked. “We’re not interviewing him to be our new best friend. We just want his money, and he’s willing to hand it over.”

  “Tim was so much better than this guy though. He gave me all this advice on our future journey, and the suits we needed to get the trident.”

  “He gave that same advice to a dozen other people and got them all killed. Left that part out, didn’t he? Also he offered less money.” Bastion folded his arms.

  “I know, but I think there’s got to be more to it than that. And this Mr. Pepper, I just don’t think he’s a good guy, you know? Did you see those lobsters? They looked practically dead in that tank.”

  “Are you kidding me right now? Lobsters, Roy? Really?” I’ll make him give us the damn lobsters as part of the deal if it makes you feel better. I assure you, he won’t give a shit. Is that really why you don’t want to sell?”

  “OK. There’s more to it. I didn’t want to say it because I thought it’d sound weird, but… I saw something on the computer.”

  “What?”

  “A Knight. He appeared on the screen and told me to go for the ‘big prize’. Tim from the costume store said his offer came with a lead on something bigger. I think that’s the right way to go.”

  “That’s kind of vague. That was the whole entry?”

  “It wasn’t an entry. The Knight just appeared, and he knew my name and everything we’re doing here. He called himself Sir Protagonist.”

  Bastion stared. “Sir Protagonist,” he repeated flatly. “This is fucking insane. You know that.”

  “Yeah,” Roy admitted. And he hadn’t even mentioned seeing him while fighting the Sea King.

  Bastion sighed, then threw his hands up. “But you’re the magic guy, and if you say there’s a bigger prize to be had, then you know I have to go for it.”

  Roy grinned.

  “Right,” said Bastion. “Guess we have an appointment at Themes, Dreams, and Things.”

  “Just one last thing first,” said Roy.

  Roy turned and walked back into Tech Trove. He held out the trident. Mr. Pepper snapped his fingers, and his assistant stepped forward with a bag of tokens, arms outstretched. Roy ignored them both and pointed the trident at the fish tank.

  The tank shattered with a resounding crash, spilling its water in a miniature wave that carried the lobsters across the shop floor.

  Behind the counter, a cluster of gray-suited men started reaching into their jackets, until Mr. Pepper raised a single hand. They froze.

  Roy and Bastion walked out without a word.

  “Freedom!” Roy declared, watching as the crustaceans slid toward the sea.

  Bastion burst out laughing. “No going back now.”