New Game

Jack looked at the cards for a few moments before picking up the three of hearts and two of diamonds. One thing he noticed was that there was a strange design in the middle that accompanied the standard symbols. It looked kind of like a rectangle, but with curved edges.

It was a bit weird to him, but that wasn't too big of a deal to him. On the other hand, he was more confused about why cards were considered rewards, but he decided that he might as well take it.

His thought process was that if he could eventually get every single card, then he would be able to play card games on his own again. While thinking that, he ended up thinking of his missing father as well, and teared up a bit. However, he shook his head before focusing once more. He was going to find his father soon enough.

The cards in his hands flew out and went into his red deck, which shut tightly afterwards.

Jack let out a small gasp.

"...I never knew it had that function."

[Would you like to play again?]

Two buttons came out from the table in front of him. One was green with 'Yes' printed on top, while the other was red with 'No' instead. Jack didn't think for long before pressing yes.

After a bit of shuffling, three cards were now dealt on the table.

This time, there was an ace of clubs along with an ace of diamonds. On top of that, there was also his joker card. He put it in his hand before putting the two aces in their respective places.

[Congratulations! You have completed Solitaire! Issuing rewards.]

This time, the three cards that were dealt in front of him were a two of diamonds along with two copies of the two of clubs.

Jack frowned slightly.

He didn't really care much about having copies of cards since after having one full deck, that was enough to play the games he wanted. He thought that he should've taken the spades the first time. After thinking for a while, he took both of the clubs and called it a day. One of the cards flew out of his hands and went into his red deck, but the other two of clubs stayed.

Jack just tucked it into the black deck, since there were no restrictions as to what cards he could put in.

[Would you like to play again?]

Two familiar buttons appeared in front of him again. However, he wasn't all that interested in the game. On top of that, he remembered that Jessica was probably waiting for him, so he pressed no.

With that, a bright light flashed and he was transported back to where he had been standing. Jessica called out to him with her arms crossed.

"You got your twos?"

Jack turned to her and shook his head.

"I only got some of the twos, not all of them."

Jessica rolled her eyes.

"As long as you have different suits, then it doesn't matter. Shouldn't you already be familiar with buying rations?"

Jack looked at her with a clueless look.

"Buying what?"

Jessica's eyelid twitched. She took a deep breath before pointing towards the center of the hub.

"Over there is the exchange center. If you give away a pair of twos with different suits, then you'll get some food. You clearly don't have any on you. I don't know how you could possibly be unaware of this as well, but whatever, I guess."

Jack turned to look towards the middle. What he saw almost looked like an office workspace, as there were quite a few booths along with chairs, all of which looked quite mechanical. At the center of the booths, a faint blue light was coming from the center, giving it a strange futuristic feeling.

He walked closer, right up to the seat, and stared at it for a good few moments. There were card-shaped empty slots, along with a screen in front of him. This made him gasp in awe as he walked closer to inspect it further.

Jessica was right behind him and furrowed her brows.

"Why are you acting like it's so special? You should've at least seen it before, right?"

Jack scratched the back of his head in confusion.

"N-No... this is the first time."

Jessica stared at him strangely, starting to think that Jack had something wrong with his brain.

A menu was displayed in front of him.

[Pair of Twos - Rations]

[Pair of Threes - Matches]

[Full House, Twos over threes - One Week of Lamp Oil]

[High Card Five - Promotion Test Admission]

Jack tilted his head to the side. He was a bit confused but decided just to put a pair of twos, one club, and a diamond into the card-shaped hole. A button then popped up, and so he decided to press it.

A mechanical fold appeared above the card hole. A few moments later, he saw his two cards shooting up into the sky, into who knows where. Then, the button sank down before a paper bag and bottle of water came back up.

Jack opened it up and let out a small gasp.

It was filled with many pieces of beef jerky along with one small lemon. The paper bag was generously filled, so that it would be more than enough for a day, even for someone that did a lot of physical activity.

Jack pursed his lips together.

"This is the food my Dad would always get me."

Jessica furrowed her brows.

"...Well, yeah. That's the only food that there is down here anyway."

Jack tilted his head to the side but didn't say anything more about that. Jessica scratched the side of her head and let out a sigh.

"Anyway, what do you say about... playing a certain game with me?"

Jack stuffed one piece of jerky into his mouth and turned to her with starry eyes.

"Sure!"

He was a bit excited because he only was able to play with his father sometimes, while the rest of the time he would be playing alone. Jessica was surprised by his enthusiasm but decided to take advantage of it.

"Ok, first play enough solitaire games until you have a full set of twos in different suits. I'll explain the game after that as we make our way there."

Jack gave a thumbs up.

"Alright!"

He went off to play two more games of solitaire. He was actually a tad bit annoyed by the joker since it added an extra step each time, but it still was very easy since it was just sorting four aces into the right spots.

All of his rewards were just different twos, which he took copies of until he had a full set. He also was able to get an extra two of hearts which wouldn't go into his playing deck.

Jessica first confirmed that he had gotten all the cards before leading him out of the hub.

"Ok, come along with me and keep your voice down."

Upon leaving the hub, they were once again brought into the dark and cramped narrow hallways. Jack held the lamp up and Jessica cautiously looked around. She let out a sigh.

"Alright, since you have a lamp, we don't have to be too careful and can whisper to each other without worrying too much."

Jack tilted his head to the side.

"What? Why would we be worried?"

Jessica clicked her tongue.

"It's not many, but there will occasionally be monsters roaming around the place, and we want to avoid them."

Jack rubbed his chin while lost in thought.

"So bad people?"

Jessica smiled bitterly.

"Is that what your father called them? Whatever, just follow me and I'll explain the rules of the game we'll be playing."