“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.

“Mm, then I’ll go over the introduction and rules now.” Iliya’s phone vibrated one more time, and the screen changed into a blank white background. The image of the pitiful little black cat in the box appeared again, and the real black cat in front of them dramatically cleared its throat. “Thank you for playing Feed the Kitten,” it said in a droll, sarcastic voice. “Oh challengers! How could I possibly thank you enough for coming to my aid? The streets have been vicious, the drought unbearable, food so scarce. Oh, how my kitten and I have hungered!” The cat raised its paw to its brow in an approximation of distress. “But you challengers. You came at just the right time. I have caught wind of a hidden stash of food, hidden somewhere within this building. I implore you, oh brave challengers! Please feed my kitten!”

Unbidden, a list of rules popped up on Iliya’s phone screen.

Challenger Red, you have been assigned the mission challenge Feed the Kitten.

To win, you must do as the Moderator asked within the time frame of 2:00.

Lose, and you will suffer punishment.

After reading the rules, the professor dashed out of the room. Once again, the door slammed shut behind him. Iliya looked down at his phone. The second line had already changed to this:

To win, you must do as the Moderator asked within the time frame of 1:59.

The clock was already counting down from two hours. There were a couple paths Iliya could take. He could run after the professor and hope to beat him to the stash of food. But it was likely the professor also had no idea where the stash of food specified by the game was hidden. He just wanted a head start. Iliya turned back to the cat, who was watching him with interested golden eyes.

“Are you the kitten?” Iliya asked the Moderator.

The Moderator gave Iliya a disgusted look. “Do I appear to be a kitten?” Iliya shook his head, and made his way to the refrigerator in the room. “What are you doing? Grabbing a snack before you play?”

“Yes.” Iliya retrieved his dinner. He checked inside- the apple, sandwich, and juice were all still there. He then sat down at his desk, and pulled out a completely clean sheet of paper. Using just his memory, he made a map of the Garrison building. It was three floors, and the kitchen was on the second floor. Alongside the kitchen was a series of classrooms, one lecture room, and a few offices. The top floor had an exhibit area for artwork, a lecture hall, and a small library. On the bottom floor was the entrance area, more offices, and the lounge. Iliya decided to start at the top of the building first, unsure if the burnt bodies the professor had mentioned were real or not. Even if they were real, there was a possibility that if the game world was separated from reality, they would not be there. Iliya’s thoughts paused. He was amazed with himself, that he could be so calm in a situation like this. In fact, Iliya felt more focused than he could remember ever feeling.

“I don’t know much about cats. What do you guys like?” Iliya asked as he drew his inelegant map.

The cat hopped down from the top of the chair he had perched on, and onto the table Iliya was working at. It looked down at the map. “Loathe as I am to group us all together, as we are individuals, we do tend to have our preferences. Just as you humans typically hate to kill at first.” The cat snickered to itself. “Let’s see. We like the thrill of the hunt. The warmth of blood filling our mouths after a victory.”

Iliya raised an eyebrow. “So then why do we need to find food for your kitten, if you’re so good at hunting?”

The cat pushed out its claws and rapped the table. “Don’t try to be clever, Red.”

Iliya hummed, and considered. “Can I ask one of my questions now?”

“Again, I might choose not to answer.”

He ignored the cat. “Does this game still take place with the same laws of physics as the world I came from?”

The cat blinked. “This game does, yes.” Iliya took note of how the cat specified this game. Then he got up and began to make his way to the third floor.