Baker Bloch wonders where he lost his cowboy hat. He remembers visiting the antique village of Lips or One Pink with it — heard both while there. Then: here. Without.
Oh well. I’m sure he’ll track it down. He’s here for a reason on this stand alone peak, unusual for a continent dominated by long ridges. Not to ponder more about his supposed missing hat (in truth it just hasn’t rezzed in yet), but about Nautilus in general. He deems this place Point Zero, a new beginning for him and his family of core avatars. He figures they have to start over somewhere. Why not here?
Now to invite others to tell them the good news.
“Wheeler,” he texts. “I’m here on Cedar Mtn. I wasn’t banned this time (unlike you before). I think if you just stay on the property with the mountaintop and don’t fly over other parcels in the area you’ll be fine. I’ve been here for, I don’t know, 10 minutes now. I’m just missing my… oh wait, *there* it is.”
He feels the hat now around the crown of his head. He sees the brim in front of him, senses the air cool a little around his ears. Wheeler shows up.
And then immediately disappears. She texts afterwards: “No, no good Baker B. I’m still banned. 2 hours. But it might as well be forever. Someone doesn’t want me there, pheh.”
Pheh, he thinks. Typical. They’ll have to look elsewhere for Zero. Maybe Enzor still. It’s in the name after all. Enzor it is.
“Meet me at 128 128 Enzor,” he texts back. Poor Wheeler, he thinks.
Such a promising place too.
—–
“I wonder what it’s like to be without a heart, Wheeler. To… try to figure out what heart even means.”
“I don’t know. And I don’t think I want to find out.” Good answer.
Enzor it isn’t.