I needed sleep. I didn’t care about how filthy I was, or the small concussion, I just needed to sleep.


    After Gary and I pulled Kade the rest of the way to the city we called emergency services to come get him. Their lack of shock or questions concerned me. Apparently this happened often enough that it didn’t warrant an investigation. They looked him over before placing him on a proper stretcher and loading him in to their private ambulance. Etsuko had already bled through her filthy shirt bandage and elected to share the ride with him. At a minimum she would need a few layers of graft sealer to close her wounds.


    They looked over the rest of us as well. None of us had gotten away unscathed. Morrighan told them she could find her own way to the hospital to get her wrist looked at. Junebug720, Oryx, and myself were covered head to toe in small lacerations and bug bites. Some of them were turning a very concerning shade of purple and beginning to ache. They offered us each a tube of some sort of ointment that should handle it, but at 600 rev per tube I was the only one willing to bite the bullet on that. The others would take their chances. Gary didn’t want them to look him over. He hadn’t made it this far to be poked and prodded while carrying prod-sensitive grenades.


    We traded contacts before parting ways. JuneBug720 and I were the only ones without prepared arrangements so everyone else gave their newbie hostel vouchers to us. It should keep us clean and dry for a week while we get settled.


    It wasn’t a tearful goodbye. Or a huge relief dump and a “we did it you guys.” This wouldn’t bond us forever. I actually hoped to never see a few of them ever again. We’d hardly discussed each other''s professions but I knew some of them – Oryx especially – were dangerous company. The most emotion came from Kade who gave each of us individually one of the most genuine, weighty Thank You’s I’d ever gotten. He shook each of our hands for a long time and said his thanks. He promised to try and repay it in kind or pay it forward. I believed him.


    But I was anxious to get away from there. Everyone was safe and sound and that was good enough for me. It felt rude not to walk with JuneBug720 to the newbie hostel, so once she had received her gratitude from Kade, we set off together with a final wave and a nod. With Home Zone now the only thing ahead of me, my spirits were instantly lifted.


    Home Zone as people called it (it official name was New Happelia but that name freaked some people out) felt like we were back in the jungle. The buildings were too close together with new units built on older ones as needed resulting in a haphazard, very unsafe conglomeration. Hundreds and thousands of wires and cables were knotted and bundled and coiled anywhere the could fit. Trash littered the streets where people just marched over it, stomping it until it became the new sidewalk. It was crowded, loud, and by the smell you’d think plumbing hadn’t yet been invented.


    All of that was perpetually lit by a cacophony of neon. Every stack had a dozen businesses attached follow by retro apartments and then more businesses. Restaurants, salons, clothing stores, weaponry, private contractors, lawyers, everyone just set up shop with no regard for zoning or juxtaposition. It wasn’t surprising to see an antique book store tucked between a night club and a caffeine shop. And the effect was a permanent pink and blue “daytime” with a constant electric buzz in the air.


    I felt at home again. Finally. I was fully aware that some of the stacks were just for show. The Galaxion didn’t have the population yet to support this mess. It was close, but something like 20% of the buildings remained empty, owned by the early developers. But I didn’t care. It felt exactly like the Hildrun, and it was enough to breathe some life into me.


    “I don’t know what I’m going to do.” JuneBug720 opened up conversation immediately. “I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do when I came over here, but now after all of that, I just want to leave.”


    “If you can afford it, go for it. But it ain’t cheap.” That was true. The cost to get to the Galaxion was significantly cheaper than it was to get off the Galaxion. Something like 250,000 rev. Plenty of people did it; it was just an expensive process. Probably half the people here intended to only stay for a short time. Just long enough to either have their fun or try to becoming some sort of mogul. There was plenty of rev to be made for sure. Though a lot of the wealthier participants would just put the return money in escrow aboard their home ship so they knew they had a way back whenever they wanted.


    “Yeah, no. I may be useless, but it isn’t because I’m rich as hell.” JuneBug720 laughed. “I came here to figure out who I am. Figure out what I’m good at and how to make my mark.”


    “I don’t know what to tell you. I guess just figure out something you enjoy and see if you can do that. You can swap professions all you want, you’ll just get a progress reset for whatever you do next.” I told her.


    “Yeah, I guess. But how do you do that?” She asked. I wasn’t sure if she was understanding.


    “I don’t know. My sister picked my profession for me because she thought it would be safe.” We both laughed at that. “So I’m probably the last person who could help. Maybe just register as a Shopkeep or Unemployed for a bit and feel things out for a while. Definitely get something on there by tomorrow though.”


    We had reached the newbie hostel after only a few blocks and a climbing a few more sets of stairs. We hadn’t even stopped to ask directions or to get a map, we were just wandering. I think once we had gotten in to the city, at least for me, it didn’t really matter where we ended up. This gray miasma was good enough. It felt safe enough. But we found the hostel regardless and went inside.


    It was just a single hallway below the neon “Hostel - Vacancy” sign. No attendants or bellhops or fancy to-do’s. We walked down the hall passing all of the plain metal doors with a red light above them until we found so with green lights on. I inserted three of my vouchers below the normal rev pad and the door opened up with the light switching to red. JuneBug720 did the same for a door across the hall diagonally from me.


    “Roane.” She said standing in her doorway. I stood in mine and looked back at her. “You’re a good leader. I know we worked together a lot to get back, but you never stopped. I don’t know if we would have made it without you.”


    “Thanks, but I think Gary deserves most of the credit.” I replied, feeling an upwell of some emotion I couldn’t parse. Some mix of glee and self satisfaction?


    “He helped a lot too, but you were someone I wanted to follow. He wanted us to follow. There’s a difference. Just… thank you. Truly.” It was the first time seeing JuneBug720 look this sure of herself. She met my eyes and held them.


    “You’re welcome?” I said, unintentionally making it a question. “Good night. Let me know if you need anything.”


    “Good night.” We both closed and locked our doors. I couldn’t tell you what the room looked like as I’m fairly certain I fell asleep halfway to the pillow.


    <hr>


    I’m not sure how long I slept, but my Horizon said it was early afternoon the next time I brought it up. And apparently I’d earned enough experience to gain another level.


    ROANE MORIZU.....................................................................................ANIMAL CONTROL SPECIALIST


    LEVEL - 6


    INTELLECT - 15 ......................................................................................................................................................PRIMARY EQUIPMENT:


    CHARM - 20 ...............................................................................................................................................................<u>ACS UNIFORM</u>


    BODY - 20 ...................................................................................................................................................................MACHETE


    AGILITY - 20................................................................................................................................................................________________


    DURABILITY - +2......................................................................................................................................................


    Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    HEALTH - 43/43........................................................................................................................................................CURRENCY


    UNASSIGNED POINTS - 5 ..................................................................................................................................REV - 2041


    EXPERIENCE REQUIRED - 1178........................................................................................................................


    ACHIEVEMENT(S) UNLOCKED


    <u>WHERE IN THE WORLD (2)</u>


    You discovered a new area! There’s loads of exploring to do!


    Just put one foot in front of the other.


    Current zones explored: 2/40


    50 EXP AWARDED


    <u>CAPITALISM!</u>


    You engaged in the purchasing or selling of goods or services!


    Because Money!


    200 REV OF PURCHASE PRICE REFUNDED


    Huh, well that was nifty. I tucked away my overlay before remembering I needed to message my mentor. I brought up the messaging system.


    Mr. Voss,


    You were correct. I wasn’t just held up by the delays, we were the delay.


    Apologies for the late message. We didn’t make it to a hostel until late,


    and I’m on the mend at the moment. Please let me know when and where


    you’d like to meet and I’ll make it.


    Look forward to working with you,


    Roane Morizu


    This time the message sent fine, and I received a reply a minute later.


    Heya Roane!


    Glad you made it out ok! Scary stuff. Come by the Third St. ACS


    building whenever. I’ll be here for the next 3 hours or so.


    Voss


    Really didn’t expect him to suggest today, but what can you do. I sat up on my stiff twin bed and stretched. Looking down at my accommodations I was initially horrified to see the sheets and pillow were stained with a variety of colorful liquids. I shook the sleep out of my brain when I realized it was me. I was still filthy. I desperately needed a shower and a change of clothes before I met with my mentor.


    I also noticed for the first time the effect my allocated stat points had on me. Maybe it was because I only got a nap before, but now I definitely felt stronger. My muscles hadn’t seemed to beef up, and my brain wasn’t about to pop my skull open, but the changes were very apparent. I felt tighter. It’s a weird choice of words, I know, but that’s how it felt. I still needed caffeine though, and soon.


    So I went about getting myself presentable for the world. Unfortunately the hostel didn’t have showers, but two businesses down there was a pay toilet with shower facilities. I decided I’d shower now with my clothes on as best I could, go buy some new clothes, then shower again and change in to my new clothes. It was a process and it set me back another 600 some-odd rev (I paid for more time and extra underpants), but it was worth it.


    I purchased myself a set of durable trousers, a long-sleeve shirt, and the underthings. I also thought I might want a hat since I still wasn’t used to being completely bald, so I bought just a plain baseball cap. Everything I got was in the same dark navy blue color. I was hoping since my jumpsuit was ruined this would hold me over for the time being. Or would at least show some effort on my part. I also grabbed some travel size toiletries and other essentials, stashing everything in my room before heading out.


    Finding the place wasn’t the easiest. My map tab was more useful now for sure, but it didn’t have the Third Street ACS building. It only populated with places I had been plus a few block in all directions. Locating Third Street was easy enough as I had crossed it on my way to the hostel, but it was a cointoss which direction to go. And as a main thoroughfare that ran in the long way, it would stretch 15 or 20 miles. I couldn’t just wing it and hope I uncovered it.


    I elected to buy a mid-range map program. It instantly synced to my Horizon and I was able to search “ACS” in the interface. It pinned 25 or so spots within the 200 square miles that was Home Zone. From there it was easy enough to find the Third Street location which was thankfully within walking distance. I was burning through cash faster than I expected and didn’t want to hire an auto-cab if I could help it.


    The place was more or less what I expected. A second story business with a big yellow neon “A.C.S.” above a plain door plastered with a gigantic QR code to save our contact information.


    Inside was a plain stone floor room with no chairs and a reception desk against a back wall. A swinging, windowless door was to one side, and a middle-aged pudgy fellow sat with his feet up behind the desk. The whole room stank of insecticide and animals dunked in dumpster water.


    “Did you put in a request through the contact form?” The man behind the desk asked without looking up from his tablet.


    “Mr. Voss?” I asked. I didn’t wait for him to answer. I could see his name over his shoulder. “I’m Roane Morizu, your mentee.”


    He perked up like an old toy with fresh batteries. “Oh! Roane. Good to meed you. Yeah, call me Javik. Or Jav. Whatever works. How are you feeling? Recovering ok?” It was a warm welcome and it immediately put a smile on my face.


    “Nice to meet you. Yeah, I’m alright. Little banged up here and there.” I wasn’t in the mood to talk about the events of yesterday. I felt like I might break down if I tried to recount it. I changed the subject. “So you’re my mentor, huh? Is that like job supervisor? Do I follow you around until you sign me off?”


    “Oh god no. I mean, you can if you want, I’d appreciate the company. But it’d cut in to our wages, so most of us go it alone. No, I’m more like an AA sponsor if you know what that is. I’ll help you get familiar with SOP and if you run in to trouble you can contact me directly. I’ll whitelist you on my DND list. Don’t worry about bothering me, but I probably won’t answer if I’m asleep or drunk.” He told me.


    “Do you have access to the contractor portal yet?” He asked. “You need to scan that QR code. It’ll give you all the contacts but it’ll see you as an ACS and give you the portal.”


    “Oh in that case, no. One second.” I scanned and installed the portal. Like he said, I now had several contact links for Animal Control, but I also had a separate tab within messages for mail directed to me. A business account. If I thought to bring up the portal, that opened up as well.


    It was pretty extensive. There was a lot of information to try to parse all of a sudden. Hundreds of requests had been made and were hanging in the portal. Most didn’t have pictures attached, but some of them did. There was no shortage of rat and raccoon problems which usually didn’t have pictures, but there were also tasks for slimes, gnomes, and goblins with attached verification photos. I even saw one for a hydra, though it didn’t have an image and I guessed it was fake.


    Javic must’ve seen my eyes glaze over because he waved his hands in front of my face to get me back to solid ground. “Yeah, don’t go diving in straight away. First thing you’ll want to do is apply a few filters. Right now you’re seeing jobs in every zone, not just Home Zone. Also filter out any jobs paying more than 20,000 rev. Those aren’t for newbies. Then sort by how close they are to you. You can change all of this later, but for now that’s a good way to start.”Once I had done all of that the list was a lot more manageable. It now contained only a few dozen requests and they were almost all things I had seen on the Hildrun. Possums, raccoons, bats. Normal things.


    “Yeah that’s a lot better. Thanks.” I confirmed for him that I was paying attention.


    “So the way it works is, you’re like a private contractor. Client puts in a request, and on their end they have a starting and max bid. Once they submit it, every ACS can see it. Then it’s a game of who wants to get out of bed. The longer it sits, the higher the bid. So a possum might start at 600 rev, but no one will take it for that, so after an hour or two it’ll climb up to 1200 or more. Eventually it’ll be worth someone’s time. So don’t wait for things to cap out or you won’t ever get any work.”


    “Makes sense. Then who do I report to? What do we do with the animals?” I asked.


    “Auvira2 is technically our boss, but you’ll never see her. You pretty much work for yourself. Sometimes something big comes through and people might ask to crew up, but don’t worry about that.” He told me. “Ideally you want to trap and remove the creature. Small thing, but we don’t say ‘animal’. They’re creatures. If you do that, you can bring it to any ACS and put it in holding until we can relocate them. Or you can put it out in the wild yourself as long as its 1000 feet or more in woods. If you have to kill the creature, we have bio-disposal here that gets sent to recycling. I’m sure you can smell it.”


    “Oh I sure can. Do I have to supply my own gear? Where do I buy that?” I asked, remembering my dwindling account.


    “No way! I mean, you can. Some guys do because they’re snobs. But we have everything here. Working the checkout is the only time you’ll hear from Auvira2. She has a schedule and we’re all on some kind of rotation. But come on, I’ll show you the tool shed.” Javic almost skipped his way to the back door.


    The backroom of ACS was bonkers. Shelves upon shelves of devices that looked like torture machines, baits in every shape and color and size, and a huge yellow cabinet I assume was full of a number of pesticides, poisons, and repellents. Armored clothing from thick leather to chain mail and even full steel reinforced anti-slash material. Nets, hooks, pokers and prodders.


    I didn’t know what most of it did or how it worked, but it was all here. I even found in one corner a small crate of coveralls still in their packaging.


    “Can I take one of these? Mine got shredded.” I asked.


    “Oh, yeah go ahead. Take a few. You’ll want spares. Get you some gloves and boots, too. That’s all basic kit, you don’t need to sign that out. Just let me know how much you took.” Javic said as I rooted around for my size.


    We spent the next few hours playing with all of different equipment, while he pointed out some of the finer points of the job. Most of the complicated stuff was the different traps and knowing what to use when. Box traps, snares, footholds, all sorts of things for different applications. There were also the various chemicals, but he suggested I avoid jobs that required those for the time being. I suddenly remembered a mechanic that had never been explained to me.


    “The blurb for ACS said we innately know when an infestation is fully dealt with. Will that just be like a pop-up or alert?” I asked.


    “Oh! Great question. Can’t believe I almost forgot that. We call it swarm sense. At first you just won’t get experience or achievements for things you trap or kill if there are more members of a hive. So you kind of need to keep an eye on those numbers before an after a job. As you get better at it and progress you ACS skill, eventually you won’t need to do that any more. You’ll know in a variety of ways.” Javic informed me. He spoke with his hands a lot, pinching and swiping at the air whenever he was talking about Horizon stuff, or snap-clapping his hands when he started a new topic.


    “I need to get home. I didn’t realize what time it was.” Javic said, snap-clapping his hands together, and moving toward the front door. “But Roane, it was a pleasure to meet you, and please message me any questions you have. Just stick to raccoons and possums until you think you’re ready to change it up. You’re gonna do great.”


    I shook his hand again and thanked him for the tutorial, added him as an ally, and headed back to the hostel. I stopped for a quick bite and an extra to-go order to save for fourth meal, and spent the evening studying the ACS portal.


    This was the most optimistic I’ve been since before even coming to the Galaxion. It was amazing what the encouragement from a stranger could do. And he seemed to genuinely love his job and his life. It was hard not to be excited for the future when it smiled at you like that.