Chapter 2

Perhaps her anger was the cause of her unfocused state. Whatever the reason Laurissa found she was unable to locate the keycard for her room. Digging in her purse looking for it was definitely the reason she didn't see the ripple in reality as it flowed past her. Perhaps if she had, the keycard suddenly finding its way into her hand might have felt more ominous to her. Instead she felt a wave of relief. She quickly stepped into her hotel room oblivious to the oddness that had just occurred around her.

Once she was inside with the door was closed and locked, Laurissa leaned against the inside surface of the door. For the first time since Daniel showed up at their table looking at her like a side of beef at the market, she felt safe. It may have been a false sense of security, but the door at least separated her from the outside world. She glanced over at the phone that set on the stand beside the bed. The light on it was flashing letting her know she had a message.

'It's probably Steph, ' she thought to herself, 'I don't feel like dealing with her tonight. This whole mess, after all, is her fault, ' Laurissa rationalized to herself. 'Let Stephanie worry about things until tomorrow, maybe then she will have learned her lesson and won't pull this shit again.'

She decided not to mess with the lights. She had left the light on in the bathroom when she left. Even with it being dark outside the lone fixture shed enough light into the room for her to see what she was doing. Pushing away from the door she walked over to the small round table in the room to set her purse down. It was then she saw the gadget.

The word 'gadget' was an unfortunate carryover from her father. To him, everything small and electrical was a 'gadget', even the remote control for the TV. Instead of asking for the remote he would say, 'Hand me the gadget', and you just would have to guess which one he meant. Now that she was away from home the word intruded into her vocabulary at the least opportune times. Looking more closely at the thing, it looked more like the handheld computer she used at home for work. It was handy to help keep her organized. They had hand held gaming units that looks similar. Maybe it was one of those.

Her first thoughts were, ' Regardless of what it is. The big question is: how in the Hell did this get into my room?'

Of course then she thought of the housekeeping staff. Her bed was made so it was clear they had been in her room. In fact looking around the room, things felt different. She couldn't explain, even to herself, how it was different. It just felt different. Laurissa didn't feel like going to the bathroom to see if the towels had been replaced.

'Come on, ' she thought to herself forcefully. 'It's been a really rough night and you're just imagining things.' Even so, a deeper part of her answered, 'Someone has clearly been here, and you know it. Better to be on your guard.'

She ignored those last thoughts and sat her purse on the small table beside the gadget. The hotel provided two chairs for the table so Laurissa pulled one out and sat on it. Laurissa kept hearing a noise and it didn't take her long to discover that it was coming from the device. The sound it was making was sort of like her desktop made when it was loading a program.

Her natural curiosity caused Laurissa to pick it up. The gadget, she realized, was just as thin as her own PDA, but bigger otherwise, she could barely hold it in one hand. In addition, after flipping it over she didn't see any apparent screen. In the process of flipping it over, Laurissa must have hit a button, or something. When she flipped it back over, what she had taken as part of the case was actually a screen and now it was active. Curiously enough, it was already running a program.

Displayed on the screen was: 'Dimensional shift'. Under that was: 'choose option'. At the present, the demo option was highlighted.

'Maybe this is some sort of new game unit?' she wondered to herself. ' Not that I have ever heard of a game called Dimensional Shift, but since I don't keep up with those things, how would I know? Maybe I ought to try it out. Surely playing with this game would be more interesting the evening I've had so far. I'm sure whoever left it here won't mind. Even if they do mind, they should have taken more care than to leave it behind.'

Even to Laurissa her defense sounded weak. Since her other option was a hot shower and crying herself to sleep, she decided the game, even if it were a dull one, would be preferable. For the first time in her life Laurissa ignored the flashing warning lights in her head. She instead looked for the button that would start the demo. Figuring that playing the demo would give her a chance to decide if she liked the game or not.

She looked at the screen again and under the settings for options was the words 'press enter to begin'. After a moment of searching she found a button with enter under it and pressed it. The screen changed from what was on it previously and displayed 'Level One' under that was 'The Kraken Beast' and lastly, 'push enter to continue'.

'What kind of stupid name is that for a level, ' she thought. 'This must be one of those cheap knock-offs from Taiwan of something. No wonder the person who left it behind hasn't noticed yet.'

She hit enter again expecting to start the game. The display changed but now it said: Press enter to adapt player, player's environment, and create a beast. Laurissa's brow furrowed. What was displayed under that, on the screen, made her brow furrow deeper. The display cautioned: "Warning, this is your last chance to terminate Demo." 'Shouldn't it just say, start game?' she wondered. 'And that warning, it seems to be a bit over the top.'

Without another thought Laurissa's thumb moved over and hit the enter button. She felt a strange sensation flow over her, one that almost felt like someone caressing her body. She looked down in time to see her dress dissolving. "What the fuck is going on?" she demanded of the empty room, when her clothes were completely gone.