THE MOMENT
"Sorry, who are-,"
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!" Carrie screamed. She had been about to give the so-called 'Moon Goddess' a piece of her mind when a black hole suddenly appeared in her daughter's bedroom. A pale, teenage girl with rainbow hair wearing a crisp white suit walked out of the portal and surprised Carrie. She recovered quickly as she recognized the teenager. And, she even took a step forward to both get a closer look and show the stranger she wasn't scared. "You??" Carrie asked as her mind offered up the teen's name. "You're Monday, right?"
"Oh, hey," the teen nodded at her in recognition. "That's me; you were looking for a gift for your daughter, right? Carrie, was it?"
"You're the Moon Goddess??" Her mind was trying to make sense of the situation. It couldn't have been a coincidence that she meet the teen around the same time the Moon Princess started saving people. Another hero in the news wasn't particularly noteworthy. Although, Carrie couldn't help but notice how enthusiastic her daughter was when it came to the Moon Princess' exploits. She was the girl's mother and her daughter wasn't especially devious; it was easy to see the connection.
"Yeah," Monday giggled and nodded. "Your daughter decided that was my title, so sure. I don't mind."
"When did you meet my daughter? WHY??" Carrie took two steps closer to the door. She found the teen selling knickknacks out of a backpack in the mall. She initially thought Monday was working some sort of charity selling chocolates or pens and she wanted to take a look. Instead of letting her dig through the bag, she just asked what Carrie was looking for. After revealing her daughter's upcoming 14th birthday, Monday said she had the perfect gift. She reached into the backpack and pulled out a transparent glass card. After a brief demonstration, Carrie was convinced it was better than the latest and greatest smartphones, and cheaper too. At the time, Carrie thought she'd never see Monday again. Now, she was realizing that the phone was probably part of a larger scam.
"I helped her set up the node you bought," she said.
"You're the reason she's out there!" Carrie wasn't going to let herself get distracted from why she called. She didn't even do any snooping. She wandered into her daughter's bedroom to drop off laundry and the Moon Princess locket sat on the desk in plain sight. The golden crescent moon lined with pink gemstones was distinctive enough for Carrie to recognize. Her daughter couldn't help but point it out every time it was on the news; and somehow, the news in her house was always talking about the Moon Princess.
Carrie felt like her daughter would have showed her if she got a replica, the girl regularly showed off her cosplay gear. And, as she had that thought, she realized her daughter had been spending more time out in the evenings instead of working on her hobby. She grabbed the locket from the desk and it felt real and heavy. She tugged at it and the crescent moon opened with the hinges at the tips. Once it was opened it looked like a golden full moon with legible text floating in the empty center. She saw an entry that said: "Moon Goddess" and pressed it.
She didn't know who it was at the time; but, as soon as Monday answered, she went off on the stranger for putting her daughter at risk. Instead of listening to the abuse, Monday Traversed to see who was angry and why.
"I mean, technically, you're the reason she's out there," Monday shrugged. "The important thing is she's having fun and enjoying her gift, right?"
"What??" Carrie tilted her head at Monday. "You think I wanted this life for my daughter??"
"What?" Monday mirrored Carrie's response; but, she was genuinely confused. "No, that's a weird assumption. How would you know what your daughter wants? Your gift let her choose exactly what she wanted."
"She wanted this??" Carrie asked. "Why? Why is she putting her life in danger?"
"Who's in danger?" Monday asked.
"MY DAUGHTER!" Carrie shouted. "Every night! She goes out and fights evil! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO SEND KIDS????"
"Ohhh," Monday chuckled. "Yeah, no. It's not real," Monday said. A look of confusion took over Carrie's face and remained there as she stared at Monday. Luckily, the teen kept talking. "Okay, let me back up," she said. She raised her hand in the air with the palm facing Carrie. Her hand was empty until it wasn't. Carrie watched it happened, but she couldn't explain how Monday plucked a transparent glass card out of literal thin air.
"This is a node, like the one you bought," Monday said. "They're made from nanos and can look like anything. Most people think it's convenient if they look like nothing," Monday pushed the card forward into the air. It disappeared completely as she pushed it into nothing. "But, some people like to get creative," she added. Monday plucked the node out of the air again. She held it out on her palm and Carrie watched it disintegrate into white powder before it change shape into another Moon Princess locket.
"Nodes...," Monday nodded at the locket to drive the point home. "...have a lot of functions. But, the most important one is AlterNet Access. The AlterNet is a life-sized game that takes place across alternate universes networked together. Your daughter made an AlterNet character and she's playing the game. There's a good chance the villains she's fighting are other players too," Monday added.
"Just 'a good chance'?" Carrie asked. Monday had given her too much information to try and reason through then and there. And, she could actually talk to her daughter later now that it sounded like the situation wasn't as dire as she thought. She'd mentioned alternate universes; but, there was still a chance her daughter was in danger in this one. That was her priority. "What if there are Supervillains that aren't playing the game?"
"Oh, that's not possible," Monday shook her head.
"But, you just said there's 'a good chance' they're other players. What about the ones that aren't?"
"If they're not players, they're known as NPCs," Monday said. That was a term that Carrie had heard often enough from her daughter to kind of know what it meant. It was actually a little bit disturbing to hear that NPCs existed even in reality. But, given everything else Monday had proven, she was willing to accept the statement. "The thing about the AlterNet is Players know they're in a game. NPCs just go about their business and stick to the system. They're going about it in different ways; but, EVERYONE is playing the game."