The Crystal Child Read Online Free PDF

reluctant to switch off.  One night she played beyond midnight, losing track of the time as she pursued the game’s fiendish dark lord to the ends of the universe.  She was beginning to understand something about the addictive capacity of these amusements.   The fantasies don’t fade away; they simply get buried by adult banalities.
     
    ***
     
    Dr. Stein is getting better and better at HyperionQuest.  She has a neat character worked out.  She’s Alyssa the exiled Princess of TransSaturn.  I’m Sir Sharmer, her loyal defender.  We always solve problems together.  But some times it doesn’t work out like we planned.  Today, we were challenged by Cronos, the Time Lord, and Thor, God of war.  I had to make a choice.  Thor offered me a magic battle-axe that could slay a hundred foes at a stroke.  But Cronos offered me a thousand years of life.  Dr. Stein said, “Wait, it could be a trap!” But she didn’t warn me fast enough. Before she could stop me, I clicked on the thousand years of life.  And what happened was I started to get old right away.  I started just wasting away.  And there was this hourglass in the background that started running out of sand.  I think Dr. Stein wanted to switch off, but then a question popped up on the screen.  It said: “Princess Alyssa, are you willing to take a ten-point risk to save Sir Sharmer from his deadly fate? You have fifteen seconds to make your choice.”  A ten-point risk is the highest level of danger.  It’s for the most impossible tasks that can lead to death or disaster.  But even so, Dr. Stein clicked on “yes.”
    Then the screen message said, “There is a magical potion that will restore Sir Sharmer’s youth.  Will you, without asking the price, choose to administer the potion?”
    And Dr. Stein clicked “yes.”
    And right away a servant of Cronos appeared to offer Sir Sharmer the potion.  I didn’t know if I should drink it.  I wondered what would happen to Princess Alyssa if I did. But Dr. Stein said, “Drink it!”  She looked very worried for me as if this wasn’t just a game.  So I did, and just like that Sir Sharmer’s youthful beauty returned.  But at the same time there was this scroll that was for Princess Alyssa, and it said, “The price you must pay for the magic potion is the forfeit of your title, your riches, and your high station among the rulers of the Hyperion empire.  You are henceforth a beggar until you find the path that leads back to your lost glory.”  And there was Princess Alyssa in rags and crying.  And I felt so sorry for what I did.  So I said, “Don’t worry. We’ll find our way back.”
    And Dr. Stein said, “I’m sure we will.”
    And then there was another message.  It said, “Alyssa, what reward do you claim from Sir Sharmer for having saved his life?”  On the menu on screen there were three choices. 1. The magic ring of Kyros, which is one of the game’s magical kingdoms.  2. A time-warp shortcut to the Diamond galaxy.  3. A kiss.  I didn’t want Dr. Stein to know, but I hoped she would choose the kiss.  And as if she knew what I was thinking, she said, “Let’s choose the kiss, shall we?” And then she moved the arrow to the box marked A Kiss and clicked.  And on the screen Princess Alyssa and Sir Sharmer kissed.  And there was all this nice music and colored lights.   And the kiss went on and on until the screen got all bright and blurry and the kissing just faded in the light.  I said, “That’s sort of like the brightness.”
    She said, “What is?”
    I said, “The way it looks, how everything melts in the light.”
     
    ***
     
    “He took to it right away,” Julia reported to Alex.  “He’s already collected enough emerald medallions to gain admittance to the Lemurian Region.”
    “Where’s that?”
    “Why it’s just beyond the dominion of the Tressorian knights.  I guess you haven’t gotten that far,” she answered, giving him a sly wink.  “The