“A cat?” For a moment, Iliya thought the words spilled from his own mouth, but it actually came from the professor. Iliya shot him a look. Professor Antoni had already confirmed this wasn’t his first game, but he was surprised to see a cat talking. There must be different kinds of games, then! And all with different Moderators, too.

“Yes.” The cat’s long black tail swished. Its voice was normal, for all that a talking cat could be considered normal. “Is there a problem, Blake?” Iliya knew that wasn’t the professor’s first name. That must be the name he chose when he first loaded up the app.

“Not at all. I love cats.” The professor seemed loathe to insult the Moderator. Iliya took note of that.

“Hello, Moderator Cat,” Iliya gave a half hearted smile in an attempt at amiability.

There was something almost amused in the way the cat tilted its head. “Hello, Red. First time challenger, yes?”

Iliya paused, confused, then remembered he had chosen “Red” as his name in the game. “Yes. Thank you for having me.”

“Any time. I like a polite challenger. It’s a nice change from the screaming,” the cat responded, its voice dropping low. “Besides,” it added, voice returning to normal, “it’s better that we’re acquainted. Since you took the initiative to sign up on your own, you’ve activated tutorial mode. I’ll be giving you a little bit of help. Just a little.”

Professor Antoni bit his lip, then asked, “what about me? I never got help!”

The cat yawned, showing off sharp teeth. “Nothing I can do about that. Maybe you should have found someone to invite you.” The professor’s lips thinned and he exhaled sharply.

Iliya paused, and gathered up his courage. Just as the cat looked like it was going to speak again, Iliya but in. “Am I allowed to ask you some questions?”

It was definitely amusement that flicked in the cat’s eyes, Iliya confirmed. “You are allowed to ask, but I may choose not to answer. I’m a busy cat, after all.” The cat relaxed its lithe body into a sitting position. It certainly had incredible balance. “Time is silver, after all, and you have a game to start playing.”

“Silver, not gold?” Iliya asked. The professor gave him an analyzing look from the side of his eye, unsure if Iliya was stalling for something, or acting dumb.

“Mmm, definitely silver. I might be busy, but being late is no problem to me. I’m a cat, after all.” The cat’s tail swished back and forth like a clock’s pendulum. “Was that your question?”

Iliya raised his hand, like he was in class. “No, actually. My first question for you, Moderator Cat, is why I had to open the door for the professor, uh, Blake to join me in the game.”

“You can put your hand down, you know. For now it’s just the three of us.” Iliya put down his hand. “And what a strange question to ask. Don’t you want to know why I can speak, or ask the rules of the game? And why not ask Blake? You seem to be acquainted.”

The professor glared at Iliya. Iliya returned it with his cheeriest smile. It succeeded in pissing the professor off.

“That’s okay. I would prefer if you would answer.” Again, Iliya received a weird look from the professor. Careful, keep looking at me like that and your face will freeze that way.

The cat nodded its head. “And I would prefer not to answer.” It lifted its paw up into the air, as if preparing to swat something. As the paw moved down, solid black followed it down, about a foot across. “Let’s see,” the cat said from behind the floating square. “Ah, yes. How about this? I’ll give you the answer if you’ll agree to take a ten minute penalty in the game.” There was most likely a screen on the other side of the square that the cat was reading from. The cat waved to the left, and the tablet followed his movement. It remained there, floating. Professor Antoni and Illya could not see the screen.

Iliya stared at it, eyes wide with incredulity. For some reason, it wasn’t until he saw something appear from thin air that the situation he was in hit him. New territory was being breached, and the road was unlike anything Iliya had traveled before. Sure, he had played escape rooms, and even tried out his roommate’s virtual reality helmet. But this was an entirely brave new world. In this world, what did taking a ten minute penalty mean? If his conjecture was right it could end with deadly consequences if he couldn’t make up the time. Besides, he was pretty sure he had already figured out the answer about the door on his own.

“I won’t take the penalty.” Iliya was resolute in his answer.

“No?” The cat lazily flicked its tail. “Smart boy.”

“Can we just get to the game?” Professor Antoni interrupted Iliya’s thoughts. He had considered asking another question, but starting the game might answer some of them.