Gideon opened his eyes. The sight of gray rock passing beneath him suggested movement, but his legs weren’t moving. He was also not the right side up.


    After a moment of confusion he realized that he was laying over someone’s back, jostled up and down as he was carried across the moon’s surface. The distance of his face from the ground and the hard bone and muscle slamming into his abdomen suggested that Red was doing the carrying.


    That fact was confirmed as he caught sight of Mia running just behind, her eyes wide as she scanned the area ahead with what looked like one of the alien rifles in her hand.


    “He’s awake!” she said, moving up close as Red slowed his pace and then hefted Gideon onto the ground.


    He stood shakily and Red held a hand on his shoulder to keep him steady.


    “You okay, boss?” the broad-shouldered brawler asked.


    Gideon nodded. “Yeah. Just a little shaky that’s all.”


    “Can you walk?” Mia said, moving in close.


    “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Gideon replied, walking half a pace before Red yanked him back by the shoulder.


    “Not so fast, boss. We need to walk together.”


    He pointed down to a small tube which was running from his suit to Gideons. It looked like a whole had been cut in each and the tube had been locked off with sealant.


    Red nodded to Mia.


    “Homegirl rigged up this setup, so we’re both breathing the same air.”


    Gideon waited for Red to catch up.


    “That would explain the smell,” he said with a grin.


    “Hey?” Red barked. “I’m keepin’ you alive, bro.”


    “Yeah, sorry. Thanks. It smells great. Not at all like a thousand armpits.”


    They kept moving towards the airlock where they’d exited the base. Mercifully there were no enemies nearby as they seemed engaged at the front of the base.


    “Book messaged while you were out,” Mia explained. “He said they should be able to take out the rest of the enemy soldiers now that we’ve taken out the Striders.”


    Gideon nodded, suddenly remembering that Bullseye was still stashed in his inventory. He whipped out the turtle and dropped it onto the ground ahead of him.


    “Sorry, Bullseye.”


    “Never mind,” the AI responded. “In truth, I am growing used to confinement within your inventory. Existing in such a compressed state is somewhat calming, almost meditative.”


    Red grinned. “Maybe you should stick him back in there then? He could just stay there forever.”


    “Maybe,” Bullseye countered, “from this point on suggestions could be offered from beings with a mental capacity larger than a pea?”


    They reached the airlock and found Book waiting for them on the other side, sweating as though he’d run to meet them there with Maddox sitting calmly at his side eating an apple. After passing through the airlock and heading into the station, Gideon and the others climbed out of their EV suits.


    Gideon’s and Red’s were little more than rags held together with sealant, whereas Mia’s barely had a scratch. Maddox stared down at the scorched, ripped, sealant blotted rags sitting on the floor in front of Gideon.


    “How’d you find the prototype?” she asked, voice heavy with sarcasm.


    He shrugged. “Honestly, it was a little snug in the crotch.”


    Maddox snorted.  “Well, at least one of you isn’t a bumbling idiot,” she said, walking over to the suit Mia had carefully folded and placed on a nearby bench.


    “Teacher’s pet,” Red snorted.


    “Well, firstly,” Book interjected, “the Commander would like to thank you all for your efforts. The fighting is still continuing of course, but thanks to you we’ve broken the back of the enemy, and we should have the battlefield fully cleared within the hour.”


    Red gave an elaborate bow. “You’re welcome.”


    “Yes, well, she wants to see you to talk about your next mission, but the Commander will be busy for the next few hours, so you’ve got until 21:00 to do as you wish. I’ve also assigned you temporary sleeping quarters down in the basement which you’re welcome to use during this time.”


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    He tapped a button on his data pad.


    “You’re in room Alpha-Two-North.” He hugged the data pad to his shirt, nodding. “Thank you all again. Your efforts are most appreciated.”


    “Again,” Red said, “you’re welcome. Now where the hell do we get food?”


    Somewhat confused by the request, Book blinked. “Oh, yes, of course. The mess hall has been out of service since the attack, but I believe it will be back up and running within the hour.”


    “Don’t bother with food,” Maddox said, motioning for the group to follow as she walked down the hall. “We need to sort out your gear first, then you can stuff your mouths as much as you want.”


    “What’s wrong with our gear?” Red asked.


    She turned to face him. “Seriously? Are you dense?”


    Maddox turned towards Mia. “Is he dense?”


    “A little. But it’s mainly because he’s never seen the Great Hunt. He lost a bet and had to buy a ticket to pay his debt, and the lucky bastard actually won. So, assume he doesn’t know anything about the Artemis System, echoes, any of it.”


    The Chief Technician nodded. “Right. Well, dense boy, you need to upgrade your gear because you’re gonna be facing more and more powerful enemies and worse odds. If you don’t upgrade you fall behind. It’s the basic economy of the Hunt and it applies just as much here as it does on Artemis. Every chance you get, you’re gonna want to improve your gear.”


    She walked off, still talking with Red while Gideon and the others followed behind.


    “I should go,” Book offered, pointing off in the other direction.


    “Yeah,” Gideon said. “Thanks for your help with everything.”


    Book nodded. “I didn’t really do anything. You guys are the heroes here. But you’re welcome, and if there’s anything else I can do to help you, just let me know.”


    Gideon extended an arm and shook the other man’s hand. They parted ways and Gideon caught up with Mia.


    “That was good,” she said with a wry smile.


    “What?”


    “How you handled Book just now. It’s something Red and I probably wouldn’t think of, but it’s important. Keeping morale up, making people feel valued. Leadership stuff.”


    Gideon snorted. “Leadership isn’t really my thing. Just figured it was the decent thing to do. Need to keep the little guy on side because we’re probably gonna need him a hell of a lot more in the future.”


    She shook her head, leaning in so that her shoulder brushed against his, and sent a thrill of excitement up his spine.


    “That’s called leadership, you bozo. And whatever you did or didn’t do before you got here and got into that body, I can tell you now that you’re a leader.”


    He smiled, unsure how to respond and a little embarrassed by the flush of excitement he felt as she brushed against him.


    “You thought about what you’re gonna craft?” he said, eager to change the topic.


    She shrugged. “I was originally gonna stick with the bow, but honestly I could do some real damage with this rifle. Individual shots don’t do as much damage but it’s much easier to fire and the ammo is only limited by my ether reserves. Seeing as we’re in the middle of a war and we don’t have to worry about the Artemis tithe, I figure that won’t be a problem.”


    “Oh, snap. I forgot about that. You’re right, we get to keep all of our ether.”


    Mia nudged him once more. “Not you. You’ve got that ether debt remember. What’s it up to now?”


    He looked it up through the menu in his HUD.


    “Just over ten thousand, but I’ve got eight and a half thousand ether stored up already, so I could probably pay it off after another couple of kills. If they even want it.”


    “They probably won’t at the moment,” Mia suggested, “given the war and all. But guaranteed, the second things settle down they’ll be calling in all their debts. Hell, they’ll probably figure out a way to bring the tithe back as well and start taxing our damned ether.”


    Gideon wanted to disagree, but the fact was she was absolutely right. The Artemis Ministry might have instituted and governed the lottery and Great Hunt, but the fact was they were a private corporation interested in one thing. Ether.


    It powered life on earth, replacing conventional energy sources and serving as the most useful resource on the planet. Cars used it, so did trains, aircraft, spacecraft, but it was also used in medical equipment, emergency generators and even the big screen projectors where Hunt broadcasts were shown throughout major cities across the world.


    There were a million uses for ether and, up until now, it had been an unlimited source of power because the Hunt had continued uninterrupted since its inception and the tithe skimmed from hunters was more than sufficient to meet the need. It also allowed the Artemis Ministry to hold the reins of power and rise to become the dominant financial and political entity on the planet.


    “Shit. I need to pay off that damned debt.”


    “Hell yeah, you do,” Mia agreed.


    WARNING: You have harvested a new form of ether – Royal Ether - without proper Ministry approval. As such you are in violation of Article 34.5b of the Ether Dispensation Act and will be punished accordingly.


    Gideon stopped walking. He broadcast the message so that Mia could see it.


    Recently incurred ether debts have not yet been paid in full, so you now owe the Ministry a total of 50,020 ether. Given the substantial nature of this amount a Ministry official will be dispensed to meet with you and discuss a range of easy payment options. If you are unable to pay your ether debt, you will be discharged from Artemis and ordered to pay the cash equivalent of 50,020 ether depending on market levels at the time of the payment.


    “Well,” Mia said, “that’s disturbing. You think the System was listening to us?”


    He turned to face her, eyes wide. “I think so. I think the damned System is out to get me. From the very first moment I opened my eyes I’ve been racking up a debt.”


    “It’s understandable.”


    They both turned to see Bullseye who was walking slowly behind them. Gideon realized he hadn’t even noticed the little turtle.


    “The System doesn’t know how to handle all of the new information it’s receiving. It will do its best to interpret the new data and translate it into a language which makes sense, but when it comes to the emergency actions you’ve had to undertake and innovations like this Royal Ether, it will slap an ether debt against you because that’s the only way it can make sense of what is going on.”


    Gideon nodded. “How the hell is the System gonna figure out what to do with shit like Royal Ether then if it doesn’t know what it is?”


    “Time and data,” Bullseye responded. “That is all it will take. The System is profoundly gifted at assimilation and with a little time and a little more data to work with, it will be able to incorporate any new factor into its schema.”


    “Hey!” Maddox said, poking her head out of a nearby doorway. “You wanna pick up the pace a little? We don’t have a lot of time.”


    “Yeah, come on you doinks!” Red called out from inside the room. “We gotta pimp our shit!”