The grand doors to Phantasma Keep groaned open, and the party ventured forth into a vast entrance hall that appeared weathered by time's unkind hand. The air was thick with the dust of neglect, and cobwebs draped like funeral shrouds.
Surveying the desolate chamber with a mix of awe and confusion, the adventurers sought clues to guide their quest. Dim lamps and chandeliers cast feeble light upon the scene, revealing the hall's long solitude.
Across the expanse, they spied another formidable pair of doors, adorned with a wooden likeness of a venerable man's countenance.
As they approached, the visage stirred to life, issuing forth a challenge, "Speak the Passcode, and thou shalt tread my courtyard!" The large face on the wooden door spoke, "Fail, and through my barracks must thou wander to seek thy path anew."
Kayuli stepped forth, beseeching for guidance, playing alomg in character, "Might we receive a clue to unravel thy secret words?"
"The answer lies within this very chamber," the aged face intoned, "In tomes of old, untold stories unfold."
Turning to Anzyl and Neil, "Hear that? The clue to the passcode is somewhere in this room," Kayuli stated and the party, united in purpose, resolved to scour the room for any tome that might hold the key to their passage.
On an old dusty bookshelf, Anzyl perused the titles one by one, noting the curious assortment that adorned the entrance's library.
"Sherlock Holmes: The Hounds of Baskervilles… Warp Nacelles for Dummies… Mastering the Art of French Cooking…" he muttered to himself, then turned to his companions. "These seem to lack any semblance of order or cohesion…"
"Indeed," Neil concurred, scanning his own shelf. "Bio-Neural Network Programming… Memoirs of a Geisha… Adventures of Huckleberry Fin… A Hologram's Tale..."
"I believe we may have found our solution!" Kayuli exclaimed suddenly, gesturing towards a glitching and sputtering book. The others gathered around him, observing a large tome that flickered in and out of existence.
"Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," Anzyl read aloud, eyeing the partially cohesive book. "It's likely this tome conceals the password to a hidden door. Let's open it and find out."
With cautious anticipation, Kayuli pried open the book, revealing only a single page. The contents of the page surprised the team:
class Hologram:
def __init__(self):
self.glitched = True
def reveal_password(self):
if self.functioning:
print("The hologram is functioning...")
print("A hidden message appears: 'Open Sesame'")
else:
print("The hologram is functioning normally.")
"That's programming code…" Tey'un stated, his eyes scanning the page filled with similar linguistics, "but, there's our Password, right there," he said, pointing to a line, "Open Sesame".
"Well, that makes it easy for us, I suppose," Anzyl shrugged, "But why is the holodeck glitching like this?"
"First the 'Flotter and the Forest of Forever,' " Kayuli remarked, "then all those peculiar tomes on the shelf, and now this?"
"The holodecks have been running non-stop for several weeks now;" Tey'un explained, "I don't know when last there was an open slot available for maintenance."
"Well, this is an easy glitch to bypass, but it could get worse," Anzyl stated, his captain's demeanor resurfacing, "I apologize, gentlemen, but I would rather address this issue before it escalates into a true predicament. Especially with the Nexus Exhibition gaining popularity among the crew."
The others nodded, realizing that there might be more pressing issues at hand than a glitchy puzzle revealing its answers.
"The last thing we need is the Nexus Exhibition's safety protocols deactivating mid round," Neil reiterated, "And my 'Home Run Swing' actually decapitation someone,"
Looking up at the ceiling, Anzyl called out, "Computer, Exit," but to no avail, no answer, no reply, not non-holographic exit formed.
The party looked around, half expecting a Starfleet gateway to materialize and lead them back to reality.
"Computer, Exit!" Tey'un demanded, as the Chief Engineer on the Khitomer Alliance's flagship, not having a basic command followed by the computer was not a favorable sight for him.
Still, nothing happened.
"Computer, End Program," Anzyl called out, visibly annoyed.
But nothing changed; the holographic castle walls remained intact.
"Oook… Captain Praxas to Engineering," Anzyl started, looking around and tapping his combadge under his holographic sage garb, but received no response. "Tey'un?..." the Captain glared at his Chief of Engineering.
Tey'un shrugged, as confused as the Captain.
"We could finish the program," Kayuli suggested, "If we're locked in, the 'End Program' sequence of the holo-campaign could boot us out upon completion."
"It could be worse," Neil stated, "we could be in a cooking program with the captain," he joked.
"Ha ha… alright fine," Anzyl shook his head, accepting their predicament, "Fine, let's finish this program and see if we can get out of here quickly and safely."
The party proceeded to the old visage on the door at the far rear of the entrance hall.
"We have the password, doorkeeper!" Kayuli stated confidently.
"Speak the right answer, and thou shalt enter my courtyard. Speak wrong, and into the depths of the castle thou shalt go," the old visage decreed.
"The password is, 'Open Sesame,'" Kayuli declared proudly.
"That be the... incorrect passcode. The rightful passcode be…" his voice glitched and sputtered, but continued speaking like an old grizzled curmudgeon, "The Higher! The Fewer!" Then glitched again, returning to his older gentleman's voice, "Thou hast answered amiss, henceforth to the depths of the castle thou shalt be led!"
"What?!" Neil barked out, "This is Bull..."
"We found the answer in your glitching tome!" Tey'un shouted interrupting Neil.
Kayuli was lost in thought, dumbfounded. "The Higher.. The Fewer… Where have I…" he mused, then snapped his fingers in realization. "Aha! Yes! I remember where I heard that before!" Turning to Anzyl and Neil, he exclaimed, "That phrase is from the 'Parallax Colony' hologram simulation." He then motioning towards Tey'un, "We used to visit there to help Tey'un practice recognizing facial expressions of different emotions."
Upon recalling the educational program's childish personalities and games, Tey'un acknowledged, "Yes, I do remember. The colony helped me get in touch with my emotions and recognize when someone was mad, sad, happy, or angry, but…" He turned to the door, puzzled. "'The Higher... The Fewer'... Why would that particular phrase be the password? These are completely different and unrelated programs…"
Regardless of whether the phrase made sense, they still answered the password riddle incorrectly. A bookshelf to their left slid open, revealing a dark, unlit hallway leading into the depths of the castle.
"Well… whatever the computer's logic may be…" Kayuli stated, motioning to the new open hallway. "It seems our path is laid out before us. Probably where the dungeon in the novel wants us to go." Turning to the other members of the party, he asked, "Shall we?"
The four adventurers cautiously entered the dark, unlit hallway, delving deeper into the depths of Phantasma Keep.