ã€ŠNot My First (Space?) Rodeo [A Sci-Fi Action LitRPG] (Book 2-5)ã€‹


 1.1 - How To Dress for the Apocalypse

    The minute before Earth¡¯s unlucky chosen representatives were abducted by the Reality Engine Exploitation Coalition, I was standing on Grandpa¡¯s porch, wearing his old duster and trying to remember not to raise my stirrup hoe in a way Deputy Young could take as threatening, while Sage clung to me screaming that the nasty old lady was going to take her away ¡ª and to be fair, Delores the Caseworker did have a face like a cat eating lemons.

    There was a blinding flash of light and a whooshing followed by a popping sound. My ears throbbed. I blinked away the purple-white afterimage and looked around.

    I was still standing on my porch holding the hoe. The deputy and the social worker lady were in the yard in front of me and Sage stood in the door of the trailer. But we weren''t on the Arizona Strip anymore. The circle of grandpa''s yard ended abruptly about ten feet past where Deputy Young was standing.

    The front half of the deputy''s truck was still parked in that circle. The other half was gone.Outside the circle was swampland. An enormous translucent box filled my vision full of words.

    A voice started talking inside my head. It was a man¡¯s voice, with weird tinny intonations, kind of like an airport announcer, but much more excited. He rumbled like he was about to introduce a batting lineup.

    [Welcome Earthling! You have been selected as one of Earth¡¯s representatives in your System¡¯s attempt to claim the local Reality Engine for your species!]

    ¡°What the hell is going on?¡±

    Sage was yelling, the deputy was shouting.

    The words in the glowing box scrolled upward now as the voice read off the text.

    [You have been placed in an attunement chamber. According to the agreement reached between this Reality Engine and the Exploitation Coalition, you will be allowed to progress in your quest if and only if you succeed in acquiring one Soul Coin in the next ten standard hours.

    Succeed, and you will be permitted access into the Portal Antechamber of this Reality Engine. Fail, and you will be unable to exit the attunement chamber before it closes.]

    I turned and the box followed me as the announcer kept talking. Deputy Young and Delores the caseworker, were shouting. But I didn''t care about them. Sage stood transfixed, her eyes focused on the air, maybe reading the same words I was. "Grandpa!" I said, "Where''s grandpa?"

    I pushed past Sage into the trailer, or what was left of the trailer. Right through the door was the main room. It was mostly intact, but the far wall was gone, ripped off like a tornado went through. Beyond I could see the swamp. Trees hung with Spanish moss spread their lichen-stained branches against a grey sky.

    It looked like the same circle I¡¯d seen outside had extended all the way through and around our trailer, shaving off about half of it. Grandpa lay on his hospital bed in the middle of the room. He looked up at me, saying weakly, "What the hell is all this, boy?"

    His once-bright eyes were dim with illness, and his chest rattled badly as he tried to speak. I leaned in closer. ¡°¡ª If this is the Rapture the Baptists were always on about, I¡¯ll just see myself to the hot place,¡± he gasped, and fell back among his pillows.

    His hospital gown had slipped off one shoulder, showing his weathered medicine pouch and, dangling from the same leather thong, my abuela¡¯s Miraculous Medal. That was my grandpa; always sardonic, even in the worst of it. Always ready with a side-comment. Another wave of pain swept me at the sight of him so frail. It¡¯d been six months since I last saw him, six months to go from a strong, hearty man in his sixties to ¡ª this.

    The voice in my head and the scroll of text finished up. [So good luck, and happy mining!] The box vanished. The voice went silent.

    Mining? Reality Engine? What was going on?

    Earthling. Earth representative. Meaning whoever was talking wasn¡¯t from Earth. They were ¡ª I didn¡¯t like the world alien. Made me think of little green men.

    Another box appeared. This one read:

    [Shad Williams

    Level 1 Unclassified miner

    Skills: Choose a class to gain access to skills

    Title(s): Corporal

    HP: 20]

    It knew my name, my preferred name not the ¡°Shadrach¡± on all my government ids, and my rank. There was ¡°miner¡± again. Miner, mining. Aliens had abducted me to mine an asteroid, maybe? And ¡°HP¡±? All I could think of were health points, like in a game.

    Sage popped through the door. ¡°Where are we? What happened?¡± she asked. ¡°Come help, I think the caseworker lady is about to lose it.¡±

    I followed her back out and took a look around.

    Tall cypress and tupelo leaned over banks of crumbling mud, frogs croaked unseen, some kind of bird trilled in the Spanish-moss covered branches. A little farther off, something moved just below the surface. I hoped it wasn¡¯t a gator.

    It looked just like a place I¡¯d seen when I took leave to visit a friend for Mardi Gras who turned out not to actually be from New Orleans, but a place ¡°just up the river¡±. In other words about fifteen hundred miles from the Arizona Strip. Not possible.

    The yard around the trailer was turning to mud as water ran in from outside the circle of Arizona we¡¯d brought with us.

    Delores scrambled out of the mud onto the porch. Her white linen slacks were caked with dirt and even through her horn-rimmed glasses I could see mascara bleeding into her turquoise eyeshadow. ¡°Deputy! Get me out of here right now!¡±

    I boggled. It hadn¡¯t registered before, but over her head, and Young¡¯s, and Sage¡¯s, were glowing blue labels ¡ª in her case, ¡°Delores Atigua, Lvl 1¡± ¡ª and a green bar. Like a health bar in a damn videogame.

    ¡°Well now, ma¡¯am, can¡¯t really say where we are, but if you¡¯ll give me a minute I¡¯m working on it.¡± He turned to me, frowning, but lowered his piece. ¡°Young Shad, you got any idea what¡¯s going on here?¡±

    ¡°No, sir.¡± I stood a bit straighter, my military experiences reinforcing a whole misspent youth where the difference between a warning and a night in the precinct¡¯s detention cell was in how I impressed Young, or one of his fellow officers of the law.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you get the admin message?¡± Sage cocked her head to one side. She wasn¡¯t nearly as terrified as I¡¯d expected. In fact her dark eyes sparkled. ¡°We¡¯ve been selected for initiation. All we have to do is find a Soul Coin. I s¡¯pose after that we¡¯ll get the next step of the quest.¡±

    ¡°This is not a suitable environment for a young girl!¡± Delores said.

    I ignored Delores, as I¡¯d been wanting to do all morning. I don¡¯t like social workers. After Mom found meth and Dad found Meg ¡ª and Sarah and Juanita and Alice -- the social workers bounced me and Sage around between four homes, never together, until Grandpa found out and brought the full weight of the Indian Child Welfare Act down on them. He even had to register with the Kaibab band to do it, which he¡¯d sworn never to do after the way those jerks treated him back in the 80s when he married Abuela ¡ª but that was almost a decade ago now, and hopefully Sage didn¡¯t remember any of it.

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    ¡°We gotta find a way out of here¡ª¡± Deputy Young began, and something huge erupted out of the water.

    I ducked back instinctively, raising my arm to shield myself. A spray of muck hit me in the face. Wild music started pounding in my head, like something from a German dance party. I¡¯d been to my share of those while stationed over there. This had that same thump-thump-thump pounding bass, while a female voice yowled in some language I couldn¡¯t make out.

    The announcer started enunciating like a prizefight caller, way more excited than he had been before. [It¡¯s a Fanged Spit-Toad. Level 3 common reptiloid, venomous!] A blinking box appeared in my view.I waved my hand furiously, trying to clear my vision.

    ¡°Get inside with Grandpa!¡± I shouted over the invisible speaker, and Sage splashed back to the bed, her face pale.

    ¡°It said level 3 and we¡¯re only level 1! Be careful!¡±

    I had bigger things to worry about, literally, as a huge, smart car-sized creature erupted from the murk. No way something that big could have been under there, the water was barely knee high.

    It was bright pink and orange spotted, its huge silvery multi-faceted eyes bulged out of its head like disco balls, and it was heading right for me. It had a health bar. A great big green health bar that read [40/40] and all I could think was that¡¯s twice what I have.

    The prizefight announcer guy kept talking ¡ª [So what if toads are amphibians, not reptiles? He doesn¡¯t care. You¡¯re in his swamp, and now you¡¯re lunch!]

    I swung my hoe. It was about five feet long, fiberglass, and had an unsharpened loop of metal at the end. You pull sagebrush and tumbleweeds out by the root with a stirrup hoe, not chop through them. As a weapon, it was slightly better than nothing. I caught the monster toad in the side of the face. It let out an ear-splitting loud ¡°blarp!¡± and then puked rainbows all over.

    A floating [-1] appeared over the toad, and its health bar dropped just a little bit.

    I dodged to the side, avoiding the stinking, multi-colored spew that just kept coming out of the toad¡¯s mouth as it landed on its haunches in the swamp. A couple drops hit my oilcloth sleeve and started smoking. The toad¡¯s eyes rotated balefully in their sockets, gleaming and winking.

    Deputy Young shouted and raised his pistol. He fired off eight rounds, right at the creature from about fifteen feet away, and I saw all the bullets hit the toad¡¯s flesh. They tore great big holes in its side, much larger than I expected for nine millimeter rounds. The toad blarped again and shifted, facing the deputy. I saw its legs crouching to spring.

    I shouted and threw myself forward, smashing the hoe into the toad hard and knocking it aside. A big yellow box saying [Stunned!] appeared over its head. I scrambled back,

    ¡°It¡¯s working!¡± Sage yelled. ¡°Its health is going down!¡±

    I censored a no shit.

    ¡°That hit took it to yellow! I think that¡¯s halfway!¡± she called again.

    I checked. She was right. The bar was yellow and it said [15/40]. Young¡¯s bullets had done more than my hoe, for sure.

    [Stunned!] went away. The toad lashed out with its tongue. I dove aside, but it wasn¡¯t going for me, it was after Young. It wrapped around his torso and pulled him off his feet, toward the toad.

    Young fired off another couple of rounds wildly, meaning he probably only had four or five left. ¡°Stop that! You¡¯ll hit us!¡± I shouted, but he wasn¡¯t hearing me. He fired again as the toad yanked him right into its mouth. The gun flew from his hand and splashed into the steaming multi-colored muck where the toad had vomited.

    That¡¯s when I saw the fangs. The description had tried to warn us, but I wasn¡¯t ready for foot-long gleaming crystal daggers. Young¡¯s whole body was almost inside the toad¡¯s mouth, about to get crunched. I could still see his health bar, floating over him; it was yellow and dropping. [6/20].

    I dropped the hoe handle and seized Young¡¯s legs. Yanking as hard as I could, I dragged him back from the toad. The tongue fought, but now Young was fighting back. He¡¯d drawn a knife ¡ª how, I don¡¯t know ¡ª and slashed blindly. One swing connected, half-severing the tongue. I yanked harder, and Young jerked free. We stumbled backward.

    Young¡¯s uniform was in tatters. Smoke rose off him. His face was a mess, covered in toad vomit, and he screamed as he tried to wipe his eyes. ¡°It stings! It stings!¡±

    Delores was shrieking somewhere behind me. I¡¯d forgotten about her. Sage was shouting at her, but I didn¡¯t have time to worry about them right now. I needed a weapon. My hoe was fifteen feet away, the gun was gone, but Young had the right idea. Any weapon in a pinch.

    I stooped and grabbed a handful of muck. I threw it at the toad¡¯s good eye, and hit the center of the glistening orb. I¡¯ve always had good aim. Mud splattered across the gleaming facets.

    The toad leapt for us. I grabbed Young¡¯s arm and yanked him clear. The toad slammed heavily against the side of the trailer, flipped back, splattering us in mud. It came to a stop half-in, half out of the water.

    ¡°Shad!¡±

    Sage stood on the porch, a long-barreled revolver in her hand, her eyes huge with fear through her glasses. I knew that gun; Grandpa¡¯s Ruger Alaskan. Fully loaded with six rounds of 44 magnum. It was a boat anchor of a gun I had mocked him for buying. Home defense was one thing, but the Alaskan was more like overcompensation when carried in country lacking in grizzly bears.

    Right now it was the most beautiful thing I¡¯d ever seen.

    Sage threw it in a long, high arc like a pop fly.

    Throwing a gun is a terrible idea, and I¡¯d scold her for it at any other time, but right now I dove for that gun like right field going for a line drive. The toad croaked and turned for me. I caught the revolver, cradled it to my chest as I landed on my back in the mud. My view of the grim sky was obscured by an enormous falling toad.

    I raised the gun, thumbed back the hammer, and shot three rounds, one after another, right into it. Each one was accompanied by a [-5] for the toad.

    A box popped up. [You have bonded [Ruger Alaskan, 44 magnum]. This weapon may no longer be equipped by another miner.]

    The toad missed me, landing hard nearby and slipping down into the water with a splash. Chunks of toad flesh rained down all around. I scrambled up, trying to keep the muzzle trained on the body. The toad¡¯s body looked like I¡¯d hit it with a grenade. Something about this place seemed to mean guns hit a lot harder than normal. Its health bar was gone, leaving a wan [0/40] over its corpse.

    There was a burst of cheerful fanfare and a giant notification popped up saying [Winner!]Then a bunch of different achievements scrolled through my vision, almost too fast to read. Something about hitting a mob with a ranged weapon, giving me a bonus to using firearms. Another for using environmental elements as improvised weapons, probably for throwing the mud. One stuck out in particular: [Achievement! Damage an enemy with a firearm 1/100.] That looked like something that would progress as time went on.

    I brushed them off and walked over to the toad to check on it.

    The toad was dead all right. Its head had exploded. The multifaceted eyes were glazed over in death. They didn¡¯t look so much like disco balls now.

    ¡°Are you all right?¡± I asked Sage, but Deputy Young answered.

    ¡°My eyes ¡ª I¡¯m blind! I think it broke my ribs.¡± He leaned over and coughed, wincing in pain as he did. His healthbar was red. [3/20]. He was in bad shape. I¡¯d have to help him inside and find the first aid kit while we tried to figure out how to call 911 from here.

    I set a hand on the disgusting toad and another box popped up.

    [Fanged Spit-Toad. Killed by Shad Williams, assist from Frank Young. Loot first choice to Shad Williams.]

    Then a list:

    [1 toad spleen (crafting ingredient, poisonous)

    1 partially digested swamp fly

    1 common Soul Coin.]

    ¡°I can see that!¡± Young said. ¡°How come I can see that and nothing else?¡±

    I took my hand off the toad and the box changed.

    [You have Passed. Loot given to Frank Young].

    ¡°Hey wait!¡± I yelled at the sky. ¡°I didn¡¯t pass, I didn¡¯t do anything.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s all this ¡ª wait, what¡¯s happening to me?¡±

    I looked over at Young. The deputy was still bent over, but now he was glowing. A golden light enveloped him. He reached skyward, a look of ecstasy on his face.

    His healthbar shot all the way back up to full green. The glow vanished. He opened his eyes. ¡°I can see,¡± he said, as a grin spread across his face. ¡°My ribs don¡¯t hurt ¡ª the message says I have attuned and will have access to a class after the introductory phase.¡± He frowned. ¡°Don¡¯t want a class about all this shit, I want to get out of here and back to the Strip.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that kind of class.¡± I could hear Sage rolling her eyes as she spoke.

    ¡°What just happened?¡± I asked, but Delores, who had finally stopped screaming, stepped forward. She scrutinized Young.

    ¡°Frank, you look like you did fifteen years ago. You just lost twenty pounds and I think your hair¡¯s growing back.¡±

    I had been so overwhelmed, I hadn¡¯t noticed, but she was right. Whatever had happened to Young, he looked way healthier than he had when he¡¯d heaved himself out of his Explorer back on Grandpa¡¯s property.

    ¡°I absorbed the Soul Coin, and it attuned me. Dunno what that means, but I like it.¡± Frank held up a hand, staring at it. ¡°I had a scar on my wrist, it¡¯s gone too. What the hell is happening?¡±

    ¡°I want one!¡± Delores turned on me with a wild, hungry look in her eyes. ¡°I need one of those Soul Coins. Right now.¡±

    But I wasn¡¯t looking at her, I was staring over the dead toad¡¯s bulk at Sage, and she was nodding, because she¡¯d just had the same thought I did. I slogged through the muck and leaned over to mutter in her ear. ¡°We have to get one of those for Grandpa. Right now.¡±

 1.2 - How to Handle Common Garden Pests

    "Whoa!" Deputy Young looked around, swinging his head around like one of those dashboard bobbleheads.

    "What is it? " I tried to follow his gaze, but all I saw was a swamp around me and the remnants of Grandpa¡¯s trailer and yard.

    "Everything is glowing," Young said. "It''s like I can see the outlines of everything all lit up. and when I look at you, or her." He indicated Delores, who had squelched up onto the nearest bank and was glaring angrily down at us.

    "What does it say?" Sage started bouncing up and down in the mucky water. "Tell me everything! Shad, you''ve got to get me a soul coin as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°Once I''ve got mine, the rest of you can do what you like," Delores called back. ¡±Hurry up. We don''t want to be too late. What if someone else gets all of them?"

    "Hang on a minute." I turned to Sage. ¡°You stay here and keep Grandpa safe. If there¡¯s a chance a Soul Coin can fix him up like it did the deputy, we¡¯ll try it.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re level one. That means there¡¯s a level two. I want to go with you and earn XP!¡±

    "What are you talking about?¡± Deputy Young looked like he didn''t have a clue what she was talking about. I did. I''d spent plenty of time as a kid playing video games of various sorts. We didn''t get good internet out where Grandpa lived, miles from anything in the Arizona Strip. but there were still plenty of games that didn''t need internet connection, and I''d amassed quite a library before going off to basic training. It seemed Sage had inherited my library.

    ¡°I¡¯ll explain later. We need to find another soul coin, and I guess that means finding another monster. Maybe we can find something a little smaller than that toad.¡±

    I looked down at my grandfather''s revolver, still in my hand. I cracked open the cylinder and double-checked. Three rounds with dimpled primers, three still ready to go. I took the empty brass out and started to toss it away, but Sage grabbed my hand. "Don''t do that! They could be useful. We don''t throw anything away until we know whether it''s got value to us.¡±

    "Spent brass? You think we''re gonna find a reloading press out here?¡±

    ¡°You never know." Sage took the brass from me and put them in the pocket of her jeans. She pulled out a speed loader with another six rounds of 44 magnum. ¡°It was under Grandpa¡¯s pillow with the gun.¡±

    "So that''s where you found the gun.¡± I should have known Grandpa wouldn''t be far from a firearm, not even bed bound and half incoherent. Actually, he''d always favored traditional weapons like bow and arrow or a good knife, but I knew he appreciated that a firearm in the hands of a sick man is a better choice. I just wished he''d picked something a little more modern, something with a 19 round capacity and a bunch of spare magazines. How he¡¯d expected to use this hand cannon in his frail state was beyond me. ¡°You don''t happen to have any spare 44 magnum on you, deputy?¡±

    Deputy Young shook his head. ¡°No. I''ve got three spare magazines of nine-millimeter, but I don''t see where my gun went. "

    "Look over there near the toad''s body," Sage pointed to where the giant orange polka dotted toad bobbed up and down in a scum of rainbow colored puke and mud.

    "No way I''m gonna find anything,¡± Deputy Young took off his hat and scratched his head before replacing the wide-brimmed fedora. ¡°Besides, that shit¡¯s like acid. I¡¯m not putting my hand in there.¡±

    "You''ve got that enhanced vision now, maybe you''ll be able to spot it.¡±

    Looking dubious, Deputy Young waded over to where we had fought the monster toad. I followed him over. My stirrup hoe still stuck in the toad¡¯s eye. I planted one foot against its side, feeling it give under my boot, and yanked hard. The hoe came free. Its end was all covered in slime, but I felt better having it.

    Deputy Young looked around, and I could tell what he was thinking as easily as if I were hearing him speak. No chance. Then, suddenly, he let out a sharp exclamation, bent over, and fished his gun out of the swamp. It was covered in muck, but there it was. He waded back. "You were right! once I got over there, and looked, I could see something in the water glowing. It was highlighted blue, not like all the yellow and white text I''m seeing everywhere else."

    "Maybe that''s because it belongs to you," Sage said, nodding her head gravely. "We''ll know more once the rest of us get our coins.¡± She held up her hand, palm up, with one of the brass casings on it. "Does this look special to you at all? Any extra text? I wanna know if it''s a crafting item, like the toad spleen.¡±

    Deputy Young was too busy looking at his gun. ¡°It says Durability: 9/10. What the hell does that mean?¡±

    ¡°I knew it! 9/10 almost certainly means we can reload these¡­ somehow.¡±

    The deputy stared at Sage like she had two heads. ¡°How do you know all of this?"

    Sage shrugged. "It''s just a game system. I''ve played plenty of games. My favorite part is always figuring out the rules, and how to exploit them in ways the developers never intended."

    From across the way, Delores the social worker cupped her hands to her mouth and yelled,"I see something moving over there! I''m going to just¡ª " She let out a scream and vanished, toppling backward out of sight.

    Deputy Young and I took off running at the same moment, splashing mud and water all around. The speed loader was a comforting weight in my pocket. I should have already reloaded those three missing rounds. No way I could load the cylinder while running.

    The drovers coat flapped at my ankles wetly as I squelched up out of the water onto another mud bank. There was no sign of Delores, but I heard a scream from not far off. The deputy was swearing as he ran. "Damn woman''s gonna get us all killed."

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    I put my head down and concentrated on running, stirrup hoe in one hand, gun in the other. The screaming kept moving farther off, way faster than I thought Delores could have made it through this swamp. Something must have her. A little voice at the back my head warned, maybe you shouldn''t be getting so far away from Sage and Grandpa.

    I skidded to a halt as we burst through some low-hanging branches, passing a hand across my face to clear the Spanish moss that I''d just run through from my eyes.

    There was an open space here between giant spreading oak trees.The ground was muddy, but more or less solid. A ring of knee-high, bright red toadstools that looked for all the world like they''d been painted just now by an overly cheerful forest fairy, stood in the clearing.

    The ring was about twenty feet across. In the center of the ring, Delores lay in a crumpled heap. Her pantsuit was completely bedraggled with mud, but I couldn''t see any blood from here. She faced away from us. Deputy Young charged past me. ¡°Wait!¡± I shouted. ¡°It¡¯s a trap!¡±

    I felt something grabbing at my leg and threw myself to the side just in time, tripping over a root and going sprawling. The hoe flew out of my grip and went flying.

    [Toadstool Gnomes, Level 2 common humanoid, pack!] The WWE announcer was back, shouting the words in my ears. What the hell was a toadstool gnome? [They¡¯re mean. They¡¯ve got teeth like a shark and an attitude three times bigger than them, and you¡¯re in their house now!]

    Too late to stop himself, Deputy Young stumbled into the ring of toadstools. His boot caught the nearest toadstool, knocking it over. Instead of going flying, the toadstool let out a deep booming noise, like a drum.

    Then the wave of tiny people poured out of the trees all around us. There must have been a dozen or more of them. They were about two feet tall, wore bright blue caps just like I''ve seen on every garden gnome statue I''ve been unfortunate enough to run across. They had long white beards matted down to their knees, and as best I could tell, wore nothing else. They had sharp daggers in each hand. Each of them had a little health bar over his head. Their health all read [4/4].

    Young started firing. A couple of the gnomes screamed and fell, as the rest swarmed him. I had my revolver, but even if I made every shot count, there were too many of them. I got back up to one knee, taking up a kneeling shooting stance, one leg forward of the other.

    I didn''t want to tangle with them up close if I didn''t have to. I took careful aim, and shot one of the little men right in the head. It blew up in a cloud of red mist, the body dropping into the muck. ¡°Whoa!¡± Like with the toad, my bullets were doing 5 points of damage.

    I shifted my aim, fired again. This time I winged one in the shoulder. It tumbled away, shrieking, hat and knife flying in opposite directions, but still took 3 damage. One round left.

    But I had made myself a target. Four of them turned to face me. I squeezed off my last shot, turning another gnome into a pile of hat and beard bits. The other three came running.

    I laid my empty gun aside and snatched up the hoe from where it lay. They came at me in a tight knot. I stepped forward and swung, digging low like a batter chasing a slider.

    I hit them all three, low and hard. One went flying. He bounced three times before rolling to a rest in the mud. His health bar vanished. [0/4]. One just went down dead at my feet, while the third must have gotten the least of it, because he bounced right back up and threw himself at me. [2/4].

    I saw wild dark eyes filled with rage, teeth barred, and a knife heading straight for my nether regions. Oh fuck. I didn''t have time to think. I just reacted. I kicked out as hard as I could, and I punted that gnome like a football. He flew twenty feet, landed in a heap inside the toadstool ring next to Delores. [0/4].

    Deputy Young was fighting off three of them. Each had taken a point or two of damage but were still biting and kicking furiously. More gnome bodies littered the forest floor.

    I charged toward Deputy Young, holding the stirrup hoe high. I brought it down hard on the gnome that had wrapped itself around his legs.

    The hoe gave a satisfying thunk, taking the gnome¡¯s remaining 3 HP off along with its head. These guys certainly a lot more fragile than that giant toad had been.

    One gnome was wrapped around Deputy Young''s head. It had apparently lost its dagger, and was gnawing at the deputy¡¯s ear. I grabbed for it but ended up with a handful of hat. Instead of coming free, the hat stayed firmly attached to the tiny head. I yanked, snapping the gnome¡¯s head back, and threw the little asshole away from the deputy. It bounced off a cypress tree and landed in a heap nearby. I stood over the dazed creature and swung the stirrup hoe in a blow that would¡¯ve uprooted the most stubborn sagebrush. Overkill, since it only had 1 HP left.

    The gnome exploded in yellow and red fragments of gore. It splattered all over my legs, and coated Deputy Young in gnome guts.

    Deputy Young had gotten both his hands around the neck of the final gnome. He screamed as he throttled the creature. I waited until it went still, breathing hard as I watched. The deputy slumped over, shaking.

    A [Victory!] message popped up. The system announcer wound down his spiel and fell silent. More notifications scrolled past, including a progress update on my ¡°damage an enemy with a firearm¡±, which was now at 5/100.

    First thing I did was walk over to the middle of the circle to check on Delores. She was a crumpled heap on the ground, her head a mass of gore. I knew she was dead without even touching her, since her health bar was gone and a [0/20] floated over her head, but I knelt at her side and checked her pulse anyway. Nothing. Her body had even started to cool. I bowed my head. I hadn''t liked the woman, hadn''t liked any social worker. She''d been trying to take my sister away from me and my Grandpa. But she hadn''t deserved this. Ripped away from her home, thrown into some sort of sick twisted game, and then murdered by these creepy little gnomes.

    "Is she?"

    I stood up and stepped away from her body. "Yeah.¡±

    Deputy Young didn''t have anything else to say. He turned to look at the gnomes we had killed. "Where the hell did these things come from?"

    He kicked one of them with the toe of his leather boots.

    Next thing I knew, another one of those boxes appeared, this one again with a list of loot. Right at the top, it said:

    [ Twelve Toadstool Gnomes

    Killed by: Shad Williams and Frank Young

    Kills apportioned according to contribution.

    Result:

    Seven gnomes allocated to Frank Young, five allocated to Shad Williams.

    Do you want to change default loot options now?]

    Then there was a list of items below. A total of 12 common soul coins, some gnome hats, something called Toadstool Elixir.

    ¡°Holy ¡ª¡± Young exclaimed. ¡°It''s offering me all sorts of things I don''t understand. All about loot. What''s all this mean?"

    I had a pretty good idea, but I wasn''t going to go into it right now. "Let''s get back to Sage and Grandpa and talk about it there." I mentally focused on the default option in the box, and next thing I knew there was a chime of music playing in my head and a little bag in my hand. The bag was a little smaller than my fist. It looked like leather dyed dark blue. It was heavy. I hefted it, and it clinked. I peered inside. Shining silver tokens stared back at me. "Are these soul coins?¡± Young asked. He didn¡¯t have a bag of his own

    ¡°This isn''t what it looked like when you got one before?"

    "It appeared in my hand then. But it just sort of sank in as soon as I touched it. It says I got loot but I don¡¯t see any. Says looted to inventory.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll figure that out in a minute. Let''s get back to Grandpa and Sage before something happens to them.¡±

 1.3 - How to Clean Up a Horders Stash

    We made it back to Sage and Grandpa pretty quick. Sage was looking terrified, and as I appeared, she hurried over and gave me a big hug.

    "I was so scared. We heard the screaming, and then it just stopped. Where''s Delores?¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°She didn''t make it.¡± Sage¡¯s face went white. Wanting to change the subject quick, I opened up the bag and held it out to Sage. ¡°But look.¡±

    "Are those¡ª?¡±

    ¡°Soul coins. Yeah."I reached into the bag, intending to take out a coin and hand it to Sage. Instead, as my fingers touched the first one, a wave of light rushed over me. Swelling orchestral music chimed. My whole body tensed, shook, quivered. It was like goosebumps, all over me. I stood struck dumb by what was going on. The sensation rose in pitch, then died away.

    Sage touched my arm. ¡°Are you all right?" She looked up at me, her wide dark eyes full of fear. ¡°Was that?¡±

    ¡°I don''t know¡ª¡±

    The announcer was back, but in my head, not for everyone to hear. I could tell the difference somehow. Miner Shad Williams, you are now attuned to this Reality Engine. Certain status and menu options will not be available until you have chosen a class.

    I blinked away another series of achievements. The last one hung around for a minute: Miner! You have taken the first step down a long path that could lead to untold riches ¡ª or your untimely death. Achievement Step: Attuned. Next step: Class Choice. Complete next step for further progress details.

    My eyes felt sharper than usual. The day around me seemed brighter than it had been a moment ago, but I was pretty sure we were still getting the same gloomy light filtering through the trees in the swamp.

    I looked over at grandpa. He had a health bar too, naturally. Except instead of the green bar over me and Sage, it was yellow, and there was an icon next to it that I didn''t like the look of. It looked uncomfortably like a skull and crossbones to me. [8/20] health points remained.

    I dug into the pouch, reaching for another coin.

    This time it didn''t dissolve in my hand. It sat there, shining up at me. It was about a half dollar size, silvery, and the face looking up at me was not remotely human. It reminded me a little bit of a medusa, lots of squiggly snakes all around it. Or maybe it was some sort of odd stylized halo. There were the faintest suggestion of features, a gaping mouth, maybe too many eyes. Details really weren''t clear. I wasn''t sure I liked it.

    I hesitated for just a minute. "Sage, I don''t know what this is going to do to him."

    "I know."She bit her lip, looking much older than her 11 years. "But, it can''t make things any worse."

    She was right about that. I took the coin, and set it on Grandpa''s outstretched hand.He was unconscious again, his eyes twitching gently underneath his eyelids.

    As I set the coin on his wrinkled palm, a light enveloped him. It started out pretty dim, but grew in intensity, deeper and deeper, until I had to look away. Deputy Young hadn''t been nearly that bright.

    Sage gasped. "You didn''t look anything like that. It''s like he''s on fire.¡±

    I stood back, my stomach churning. It was too late now. What was done, was done. The light grew so bright, it enveloped the whole hospital bed he was standing on.

    There was a triumphal crash of symbols,

    I blinked. When I opened my eyes again, the hospital bed was empty. I yelled.

    ¡°Grandpa!¡± Sage called, looking around

    "Right here, you two."

    I turned.

    Just off to my left, a man stood. He couldn''t have been more than 10 years older than me. His skin was a dark walnut color, his long dark hair in two braids behind his back. He was wearing a nightgown and pajamas, and his feet were in oversized bedroom slippers. His bright green healthbar was maxed out at [20/20].

    "Grandpa?"

    "Who else would it be, you young whippersnappers?" He grinned at us, white teeth sparkling. Grandpa had lost most of his teeth in the last couple of years, the victim of poor childhood nutrition and inferior dental care available on the reservation lands where he''d grown up.

    He lifted a hand, holding it up to the light. ¡°Well that''s something. Where the hells are we?"

    "I don''t know, but it sure isn''t Arizona." I shrugged. "One minute we were at home, the next we were here."

    Sage turned back to me."My turn!¡± She held out a hand.

    I hesitated. "I don''t know if that''s a good idea. We don''t know what this is really doing to us."

    "I don''t care.¡± She put her hands on her hips and glared at me."All of you have done it, and I want to know what happens next. We can''t progress the game until we''ve all got a soul coin. They were very clear about that.¡±

    "Game? Soul coins?" Grandpa glared at us."What have you gotten us into? For a minute, I thought I must be back in Vietnam, with all the mud and green shit. Well this isn''t ''Nam." He peered around us. ¡°Trees all wrong.¡±

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    "No, looks more like Louisiana to me," I agreed. "But it isn''t either of those. Someone picked us all up and brought us here."

    "Someone?" He cocked his head. "Who?"

    "I''m not sure," I began but Sage interrupted.

    "It was aliens, Grandpa. Obviously. How else would we be wherever we are?" She turned back to me. "Coin. Now." As I continued to hesitate, she rolled her eyes so hard I could practically hear them. ¡°It¡¯s got game System mechanics, Shad. I know games. This isn¡¯t my first rodeo. Hand it over.¡±

    I gave her a coin. I didn''t really have a choice. She was right. We didn''t know what was going on. I couldn¡¯t risk her being left on her own.

    Deputy Young wandered over. He held a hand out to Grandpa. "Mr Twofeather, I must say, I''m glad for you. You look good. Healthy."

    Grandpa looked down at himself. ¡°I feel good. Like I just had a good night''s sleep for the first time in years. Don''t know what it is that''s happened, but I''m not in pain anymore. That''s something.¡±

    Meanwhile, Sage had taken the soul coin. Just like the rest of us, it lit her up like a Christmas tree for a minute.

    The light died away, and Sage opened her eyes. ¡°Wow. That was something. More achievements. I hope there¡¯s some way to check what we¡¯ve got because some of them seemed important.¡±

    She shook herself, took a step away from the hospital bed. She jumped. I watched her with amusement.

    Then she took three big steps through the muck. After that, she reached down, grabbed a rock, and hurled it as far as she could.She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

    "No improvement in my strength. I can''t jump or walk any farther than I could before, and it doesn''t feel like anything else has really happened to me yet. Darn it¡­ I was hoping for some major stat buffs right off. I feel different, somehow, it just isn¡¯t translating into any abilities yet.¡± She peered into the swamp, then took off her glasses. She blinked. ¡°Oh. Oh wow. I can see perfectly! Shad, this is great!¡±

    Young just stared at her. ¡°What the hell do you think you''re doing?"

    "Obviously, I''m trying to find out what abilities the game has given us.¡±

    ¡°Game?" Grandpa took a look around, and snorted. "What the hell sort of game is this?¡±

    We were interrupted by Airport Guy again. [Congratulations! All surviving members of your party have absorbed a soul coin and been accepted by the Reality Engine.

    You may now proceed to an exit. Closest exit has been marked on your minimap.]

    Thinking about a map caused a square to blink in the left corner of my vision. I focused on it and it burst open across my field of view. After a couple of tries, and some quick exchanges with Sage, I learned how to focus on a particular section at will.

    There was an icon in one corner that, when I focused on it, let me resize and move the map centerpoint around. After that I moved the map to one side. If I wasn¡¯t staring at it directly, the map was a translucent outline. I could get used to that.

    Off to the northwest, a point blinked red. Since it was the only mark on the map, it had to be the exit.

    Sage said. "The initiation briefing said something about 10 standard hours before the next phase. I don''t know how long that is. I think we need to get to the exit before then.¡±

    That brought me back to my senses."Yeah, And we''ve had two life or death fights already." I turned to Grandpa. "There''s stuff in these swamps that''ll eat you as soon as look at you. Giant toads. Gnomes. Weird stuff. Don''t take anything for granted. Delores the caseworker just found out the hard way."

    ¡°I¡¯m not going anywhere,¡± Deputy Young began.

    Sage was ignoring us. She had found the bag of loot I''d dropped when I got back. She opened it up and peered inside, taking out first a blue gnome hat, then a wad of something sticky-looking.

    Her eyes widened. ¡°Some of these are marked as crafting items. Oh, we''ve got an inventory now! Look!"

    She instructed the rest of us how to open our inventories. It was pretty straightforward; I just needed to think about it. She began taking items from the sack of loot. As she held each one, it vanished into her inventory. Her eyebrows knit together as she concentrated, and one of the gnome hats appeared out of thin air into her hands. It vanished again. "All right!"

    Grandpa was moving toward the door into his bedroom. He poked his head in and stared around at the mess. I looked over his shoulder. About a third of his room was still there. The rest was shaved off and presumably left behind in Arizona. Half his bed stood against one wall, and a chest of drawers at the side of the room was intact, and so were some of his wall hangings.

    He went over to the chest of drawers and started rummaging through, pulling out clothes and tossing a few on the bed. The rest disappeared into his inventory. "At least I kept my hunting gear." He pulled open the bottom drawer and took out a heavy pair of camo-patterned pants and his good hunting vest, blaze orange and tan. He glared at me. "Shut the door. I want to get dressed."

    I shut the door behind me, which felt foolish since the rest of the room was open to the air and turned back to where Sage was looting our trailer. She picked up items and they disappeared. ¡°As far as I can tell, the inventory doesn''t have any kind of weight or size storage limit. That''s good. I always hate inventory management in games. Hmm.¡± She had lifted an open cardboard box full of knick-knacks that stood beside the table. It didn''t disappear. ¡°I wonder if it''s because it''s full of other items.¡± She took one item out and it vanished into her inventory, then a couple more, and then all of a sudden the basket itself disappeared. ¡°Oh, I got it below a weight limit and then it let me pick it up. Huh.¡± Sage started picking up and setting down random things around the room. ¡°It looks like my limit is about 15 pounds. Here, try this.¡±

    She pointed at a half-packed box of books. We''d been packing up Grandpa''s things in preparation to clear out the trailer after he passed, and a lot of the house was already in boxes.

    I lifted the box and was given the option to add it to my inventory. I said yes, and the box disappeared. It appeared in my inventory, labeled as "box of books" and stating that it was collected in Grandpa''s house.

    "That''s not fair," Sage said when she saw the box disappear. "Your weight limit must be higher than mine."

    Grandpa emerged from his bedroom looking like he was dressed for the first day of deer season. His shirt was a little tight on him. He''d obviously gained weight and muscle mass back from when he''d bought these clothes a few years ago.

    ¡°Of course, they left my gun cabinet behind in Arizona,¡± he said in disgust. ¡°But here.¡± He tossed me two boxes of .44 Magnum. I caught both and added them to my inventory quickly. 100 rounds. Good. I didn''t know what else was out there, but at least now I''d be prepared.

    I thought about it, and six rounds popped out in my hand. I loaded my gun, then loaded the speed loader. I dropped both into the pocket of my drover''s coat.

    Grandpa looked at Sage, who was over in the kitchen section of the main room. The fridge was gone, but some of the cabinets beside the stove were still here. She was opening the cabinets and grabbing every box, can, dish, and bottle of spice in them and tossing them all into her inventory. "What''s she doing?"

    I explained. Grandpa nodded. "Good thinking. We can''t stay here, but I don''t want to leave anything behind."

    A message popped up in the corner of my vision. Party Chat: Sage: Look what we can do!

    I concentrated and a blinking cursor appeared. I tried thinking the words. Nothing. I mumbled under my breath, and my reply appeared. Stop playing around, we need to get moving.

    Sage: I¡¯m looting and talking at the same time. Take everything. No weight limit = loot the world!!

 1.4 - Finish the story withe Podium

    Grandpa pushed past the hospital bed where he had so recently laid dying and glared at it in disgust, then picked it up and added it to his inventory. "Who knows?" he said at my look. The IV pole followed.

    He crossed over to the couch that stood against the remaining wall of our living room. I explained about the weight limit. "What if we both pick it up?"

    We gave it a try, but even with the couch lifted a foot into the air, it refused to go into either inventory. So we put it back down, took the cushions off, and went back to looting.

    Deputy Young wandered in. ¡°My AR was in the back half of my SUV,¡± he said in disgust. ¡°All I''ve got is my sidearm. Found a couple more magazines, though.¡±

    ¡°We''re taking everything, whether we think it''s helpful or not,¡± I told him, "Anything you can put in your inventory, grab.¡±

    He nodded and went back out as Grandpa lifted one of the display axes from the wall and hefted it. He had a series of three that hung over the couch for as long as I could remember. One was a genuine obsidian stone axe that his grandfather had knapped a hundred years ago. It was bound to its wooden handle by leather strips that Grandpa replaced every few years. It disappeared into his inventory, and then he took down the other two axes. One was a good steel tomahawk with a carved and painted handle that my mother had made years ago as a teenager. The other axe was a cheap, made-in-China tool like you could buy at any big box hardware store. Grandpa had a whole series of lectures about those axes, about how the stone one of them represented days, maybe even weeks, of a man''s effort, and the modern axe was churned out by the thousands at some warehouse in China.

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    He wasn''t in the mood for any lectures today. Instead, he stuck both of the steel axes through loops of his belt. He had a bowie knife and a sheath already.

    ¡±Got any more knives like that?" I asked, pointing at his. Grandpa shook his head.

    "I did. It was in the other part of the house."

    "Want a kitchen knife?" Sage asked brightly. The sharpest vegetable cutting knife appeared in one hand, our meat cleaver in the other. I took the vegetable knife and put it in my inventory...

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    The next button will take you to book 2. Thanks to everyone who had read and enjoyed Book 1 of Not My First (Space) Rodeo. Try listening! It''s a whole new experience!

 2.1 - The Importance of Cultivation: Does Lead Beat Jade?

    A breath of air blew through the courtyard of the Jade Blossom School. The gleaming white marble steps in front of us led up to a green and gold gate in which hung brass-bound wooden doors. I stood at the front of the party, Sage and Grandpa behind me, with Bill and Bob bringing up the rear.

    Between us and the doors were three men and two women arranged in an arrowhead formation.

    The man at the point of the arrow wore long flowing white robes and a red sash. His jet black hair was long too and hung loose past his shoulders. His jade eyes narrowed as he took in me and my party.

    "How dare you profane these halls?" he demanded. "I, Master Li of the Jade Blossom School, will teach you to respect your betters. Any of my students could beat you with no more than a single pinky. The students at my school have trained for years even to have a chance of advancing to the first rank. And you, you outsiders without a trace of cultivation in your bodies, you dare come here and ask us for our most sacred treasure. I tell you no. The Elixir of Heaven shall never be yours."

    "Yeah, okay, I guess that''s our answer." I unslung the grenade launcher from my shoulder and raised it casually. "Time for Plan B.¡± I fired off a shrapnel grenade.

    The grenade arced over the head of Master Li and his disciples. It landed below the gate. The disciples turned to look at it for a moment, as if waiting for the delayed explosion.

    Master Li''s mouth gaped open. He pointed at us. His sleeve was ridiculously big, hanging from his wrist in a long silken loop. "Fallen Leaf disciples, end them!" he shrieked.

    The woman to his right stepped forward and beckoned one elegant, golden-clawed hand. A bevy of students wearing gis with orange sashes appeared in the courtyard to our right.

    "Did I just not notice them?" I asked Grandpa. He was, after all, our team ninja.

    Grandpa shook his head. "Pretty sure they just spawned in. How long¡¯s the fuse on that grenade?"

    "About another two seconds.¡±

    Sage cast Mucking Out the Stalls under the Fallen Leaf disciples'' feet, just as our fragmentation grenade went off in a thunderous roar. The grenade sent a wave of shrapnel down the stairs, clinking to the ground close to where the cultivators stood. A blast of air ruffled their robes, but did no damage.

    Master Li howled. "Students of the Flowing Wind, attack!"

    The man to his left stepped down, and a squad of blue-belted ninjas appeared on the other side of our courtyard.

    "Bill, Bob, let''s clean these up!" I shouted. I lobbed my second grenade at the gate and stowed the launcher in my inventory. Then I Quick Drew my gun and fanned down the hammer.

    Six shots left the barrel so close together I could barely hear the individual retorts. I didn''t bother to aim, just pointed in the direction of the blue-belted ninjas. I was shooting flechette rounds. As soon as they got within ten feet of a person, they exploded into a dozen heat-seeking darts each.

    The ninjas stumbled back away from us as Bob and Bill went to work. Bob used his Babel spell to disrupt their coordination, then followed up with Lost in Translation.

    He''d picked that up a couple of missions back. It was a nifty little spell that caused enemies to go into an enraged state for thirty seconds. They''d attack whoever was nearest.

    I made sure to stay away from its area of effect. The disciples tore into each other like a pack of angry tigers. Speaking of angry tiger, my attention was diverted as Master Li swore an oath to the heavens and called upon the patron spirit of the Jade Blossom School.

    I would have assumed their patron spirit to be something floral in theme, but apparently it was a heavenly tiger. Li reached heavenward as a bolt of lightning dropped from the clear sky to the ground where he stood. I blinked away the after image. An enormous white tiger, tall as a man, stood in Li¡¯s place.

    "No fair!" Sage shouted. "He¡¯s tripled his hit points!" She and Grandpa had made quick work of the Fallen Leaf ninjas and their mistress. Only two of the ninjas still stood. Sage had her t-shirt cannon pointed at the ninja mistress, who was lying on her face in the courtyard with Sage''s boot on her back.

    "Just try it," Sage purred. "I''ll wrap you up before you can say ''Pressed Cotton.''"

    Grandpa had used his ability to teleport behind an enemy and deliver a [Crippling Blow] to great effect. He and Sage had only taken a couple of points of damage each.

    I turned back to my side, but Bob and Bill were cleaning up the blue ninjas. Only the tiger and his two disciples remained.

    It also left my other grenade. I had been counting down the seconds. The fuses were longer than I liked, since theoretically someone could have picked it up and thrown it back at us, but we were working with the materials we had.

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    "Brace!" I shouted as the second grenade exploded. This one sent flame rocketing down the steps. The blast wave knocked one of the two remaining senior disciples off her feet.

    I charged over, activating my Fastest Gun in the West ability to cover the distance in an eye blink. She had taken a lot of damage in that fall.From her knees, she raised her hands heavenward, praying the spirit of the wind to intercede.

    No time for that, with a giant tiger only ten feet away. I emptied six rounds into her, reloaded, and dumped another six. She fell forward onto the steps.

    "Looks like lead beats jade," I quipped. I was hoping to earn a new skill from the system based on my scintillating wit. It hadn¡¯t happened yet.

    I ducked as the tiger leapt at me. The last disciple glanced at the scene before promptly skeddaddling up the steps. I swore. "Get him! I''ll keep the tiger busy! Don''t let him get to the vault!"

    The two grenades should have gotten the ironwood doors open. From our earlier scouting of the Jade Blossom School, we had learned all about its defenses, most notably the ironwood doors. They were impenetrable by normal means. Blades would only scratch them. Fire would do little more than mar the surface.

    We conducted experiments on similar boards. The knife''s scratches were just enough to get under the outer coating. Then apply an alchemical solution that would burn hot enough to make the ironwood literally explode.

    My first grenade had scratched the door in a hundred different places and applied the solution. The second one was full of thermite. I knew it had worked because of the explosion of ironwood that had knocked the disciple at my feet off her balance.

    Bill, Bob, Grandpa, and Sage scrambled up the steps past me. Meanwhile, the tiger prowled in the courtyard below, lashing its tail. I didn¡¯t know whether it still had Li''s intelligence, but even a stupid tiger is dangerous.

    "Well, Master Li," I said, choosing rounds from my gun belt and loading my gun manually since I apparently had the time. "You haven''t been very friendly to strangers. Your sect could take a few lessons on hospitality from, well, basically anyone else in all of history. We tried asking nicely, you know. We needed that heavenly elixir, and we told you so. But you didn''t have to lose your whole sect over it. Pretty sure those vaults are brimming with cultivation treasures and growth items. This isn''t the first Wuxia mission we''ve faced, Brother Li.¡±

    The tiger yowled at me.

    "Yeah, well, I''m not sorry. From what I can tell, you guys are just the book one assholes. If it hadn''t been us, it would have been some other adventuring party come to blow your school up and steal all the treasures. Nobody here looks like a protagonist to me. You¡¯d probably all be stuck on silver, or whatever is your third level up, forever."

    I aimed my gun. The tiger crouched to spring. I fired an incendiary shot as the animal leapt into the air. My bullet struck it in the chest and lit the beast''s fur on fire. It took 15 points of damage right away.

    I had been putting points into my strength on my last couple of level ups, and my bullets were starting to pack a punch. Of course, the tiger was level 8, and I was only level 4, so this might take a little while.

    I ducked and the flaming tiger sailed past my head. It hit the steps hard. I fired another round into its flank. This one we had made special from materials we had gathered earlier in this mission. It was brass wrapped around a heartwood core, and the sage who had helped us with the recipe guaranteed it would do extra harm to a spirit animal.

    Sure enough, Tiger Li went down to [350/500] hit points. We only had two incendiary rounds, and I was holding on to the other one for emergencies. I fired a couple of truesilver rounds. They¡¯d been more effective against the werewolves we had encountered in the previous mission, but the tiger didn''t seem to like them.

    In chat, I asked, How''s it going?

    Found the Tears of Eternal Youth and the Elixir of the Heaven, Grandpa reported.

    There''s so much good stuff here! Sage said. I could imagine the excitement in her voice. I found a sack of holding and I''m stuffing everything into it!

    Sage, your inventory is infinite, I replied as I threw a couple of fragment rounds at the tiger. I reloaded and then booked it across the courtyard as the tiger charged at me, snarling.

    I ducked behind a pillar. It overshot and slammed into a wall. I fired six rounds into its flank, then used my [Roped Into It] ability to throw a line onto the top of a pillar and shimmy up it.

    I perched on the edge of the parapet surrounding the courtyard. The tiger was at a bad angle now, but I''d be able to get him as soon as he moved.

    Who cares about my inventory? That''s boring. This is cool, Sage said. I found a flying carpet!

    Great. Get on it and come pick me up, I replied. We''re on a timer here. The Great Son of Heaven is dying, and if we don''t get the elixir back to him by sunset, we''ll fail the mission.

    We''re on it, Grandpa assured me.

    The tiger yowled. It began to claw at the column I had just climbed. I used Trick Shot to put a spirit poison round into it and was gratified by the dismayed yowling. The tiger''s health ticked down.

    We''re on our way, Grandpa said. Heads up. We''re coming out fast.

    I''m up on the wall to the left. The tiger''s just below me. He''s angry, but not dead yet.

    Understood. A moment later, my party burst out of the ruined doors and flew down the steps past the bodies of the fallen members of the Jade Blossom School.

    Literally flew. Sage was sitting at the front of an 8x10 Oriental rug that hovered about four feet off the ground. She whooped and hollered as the rug answered her bidding. Grandpa was behind her. Bob and Bill hugged the back of the rug, curled up like pill bugs.

    "Come get me," I shouted.

    "We can''t. It only goes this high," Sage yelled back.

    "What kind of stupid flying carpet is that?" I stood up and checked the distance. Time for a Tarzan moment. I used my Roped Into It skill again, lashing it to a pillar on the far side of the courtyard. Thirty feet was the extreme range. Then I sprinted to the edge of the parapet, threw myself off, and cancelled Roped Into It at just the right moment.

    I tumbled into the middle of the carpet. Grandpa caught me. "Finish off the tiger!" I yelled at Bill and Bob, but they were too busy trying not to fall off.

    We zoomed out of the doors of the Jade Blossom School. "I can''t believe we failed to kill the sub-boss!¡± Sage shouted over the rushing wind.

    "Well, we''ll lose a lot more if we don''t get back to the Emperor''s Son in time," I said. "So, just keep flying!"

 2.2 - Running a Guild: Personnel Management and You

    There had been a lot of changes to Threshold in the last two months. The ramshackle buildings and makeshift tents had been replaced by real buildings directed by the various crafters of our coalition or one of our allies.

    We kept to one sector of the great portal room. While the whole place was circular and the portals were hard to tell apart, there was one enormous unopened portal three times bigger than all of the others that everyone designated as "North". From there, we went clockwise around the circle.

    Our sector was located between 7 and 9 o''clock. We sometimes ventured into the 5 or 6 o''clock or the 10 and 11 o''clock regions for portals, but mostly we stayed fairly close to home.

    Our coalition had grown to over a thousand people. I no longer even knew half of their names. But the center of the Misfits Guild was still Mama Grace¡¯s restaurant. Now it was housed in a long building that looked like a barn, that stretched nearly 100 feet along one of Threshold''s streets. The outside was painted bright red and each end had a quilt-like design painted over the door.

    It was two stories high. The bottom floor held the enormous dining hall, a large spacious kitchen, and multiple different crafting rooms. Upstairs were bedrooms and dorms for the crafters and for anyone who was not currently in a mission or working a farming zone.

    Out back was a bathhouse. We''d put that in two weeks ago. I was proud of our contribution. My team had fought a pair of dragons and brought back their steaming hearts to serve as power source for our crafters. The waste heat was used for the baths. I¡¯d spent several glorious hours soaking in a hot tub of suds

    We stepped into the restaurant and found an empty booth at the back. Rosa appeared, spotted us, and hurried off to tell her mother. They both emerged a minute later bringing drinks and platters of good homemade food.

    "How did it go?" Mama Grace asked.

    "Great!" Sage exclaimed. "I got a flying carpet and the cutest little cloud pet. But I couldn''t take it out of the mission with me. I had to give it to the Princess of the Sun. That was alright. She married the son of the Emperor. And they''re going to fix everything so the cultivation schools have to be opened to everyone, not just the elite."

    Rosa laughed gently. "Sounds like you really got into this one."

    "It was great! Shad didn''t kill a tiger and I fought a whole army of ninjas at once."

    I helped myself to some of the delicious cornbread muffins. "Is Juana here?" I asked around a mouthful.

    Rosa smirked at me. "She''ll be sorry to have missed you. No, she''s not. She went to one of the farming levels to check on our quotas. They''ve been down and she wanted to make sure our people are alright. Don''t worry," she said as I struggled to chew the muffins so I could get another word in. "I had a message from her that everything''s fine. They just were pushing themselves too hard and needed to take better work rotations. She should be back in a few hours."

    "More importantly," Grandpa interjected. "We," he gestured at me, him, and Sage, "just hit level 5 and the brothers made level 4. We¡¯re staying ahead of the curve."

    "Did you get anything good?" Rosa asked, diverted.

    I held up a hand. "Hold on just a second." I had just received a priority message from Veda, our sponsor, and the guild backer. I opened it. Very important I see you at once. Come up immediately.

    I sent back a message. We''re talking with Grace and having a meal. How urgent?

    Drop everything and come. I have to handle some things on my end. We''ll talk when you get here.

    I looked at Grandpa. He nodded, having seen the same message. "Sorry, we''ve got to run," I told Mama Grace. "Veda sent for us."

    "Surely it can wait until you''ve eaten."

    "She says it can''t."

    Grace looked at Sage. "You want to stay here, honey? You can eat and take a bath while your Grandpa and Shad go up to the hub."

    Sage shook her head. "Nuh-uh," she said. "What if Veda has a present for me? Maybe she remembered it was my birthday." She rolled her eyes at me.

    "Okay, look, I didn''t forget it was your birthday," I said. "It''s just the system clock rolled over while we were in that mission, and the times didn''t match up at all. I already said I''m sorry, and I said happy birthday to you."

    "Not good enough, Shad."

    "All right, we don''t have time. Veda wants us right now. Bill, Bob, you can come or stay or..."

    The brothers looked at each other. "Uh, yeah, so about that," Bill said.

    I got to my feet and slid out of the booth, letting Sage come out so that Grandpa could slide over and get up. "Look, we really appreciate how you''ve been helping us get leveled and geared up. We''ve learned more running missions with you than we would have any other way."

    "But what he means to say," Bob interjected, "is that you''re insane, Shad. We like you, we really do, man, but you''re going to get us killed. We can''t keep up with you three."

    "And honestly," Bill said, "we don''t really want to." He held up a hand. "We''re okay still running missions. Just, we need partners who match us a little more."

    I looked at Grandpa and Sage. "Are we really that bad?"

    Sage shrugged. "They''re like the fifth people to have said so, so I guess we are," she said.

    I hadn''t thought I was taking that many risks, not with my sister and Grandpa along, but in order to beat the missions, in order to do what needed to be done, you couldn''t go halfway on things.

    Grandpa slid out of the booth and nudged me. "Come on, we don''t want to keep Veda waiting."

    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    All the way up the elevator, I stewed over what Bob and Bill had said. "We''re not crazy. We just get things done."

    "It''s all right," Sage said. "If they''d been more on it, we could have killed that giant tiger when we were on the flying carpet. There was at least 30 seconds when it was still in range of their guns, but they were too busy being fraidy cats. We''ll find someone who has a little more drive."

    I looked over her head at Grandpa. Bob and Bill weren''t the first miners to leave our team because they couldn''t keep up. Our first partner, Frank, had said much the same thing when he left.

    We still spoke with Frank regularly. He had taken over one of our coalition''s mining levels and was supervising all of the teams that worked there. He was doing brilliantly. They hadn''t taken a single casualty in the month and a half he had been leading, and their production rates were through the roof.

    "I''m not crazy. We''re not crazy," I said again.

    "Just take it easy, Shad," Grandpa advised me. He turned to Sage. "Well, then, young lady."

    She stood up a little straighter. "Yes?"

    "What is it you''d like for your birthday?"

    That brought me back to reality in a way Bill and Bob hadn''t. It was Sage''s birthday. We had been involved in this crazy scheme for almost four months now. We had been kidnapped from our home on the Arizona Strip, brought to an alien construct beneath the surface of Ganymede, and thrown into one insane simulation after another. Our lives at risk almost every day as we competed to earn soul coins and other resources that would enable us to, what, keep playing this stupid game?

    Back when this had all started, the alien artificial intelligence that we all called the system had said there would be a chance for some of us humans to claim ownership of the reality engine behind all of this. Veda, our sponsor, had told us there was a three-phase process of exploiting the reality engine, and that we were only in phase one. She also said that the locals, meaning us, never made it to phase three.

    This was no place for a twelve year old, girl risking her life in one ridiculous scenario after another. On the other hand, I had to admit the past four months had been some of the best of my whole life. Maybe that meant I was screwed up.

    The thing was, at least I felt like I could protect Sage, could protect myself. I didn''t wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat anymore hearing a baby cry and knowing there was nothing I could do about it. I got to spend all day with my sister and my Grandpa.

    I''d always had a wild streak. I used to indulge it riding a dirt bike I''d managed to buy when I was 14 and then keep running with bailing wire and a lot of elbow grease. I''d ride that thing up the side of bluffs on paths a goat wouldn''t take. I''d race along the edge knowing that one wrong turn would mean plummeting dozens if not hundreds of feet straight down. Helmet? Nobody on the strip wore a helmet. Those were for town people who came out on weekends to drive their fancy side by sides. Not us local kids.

    My abuela used to scold me, but even she had given up eventually. She had died shortly before I went into the army. I wished she could have been here with us and been rehabilitated like Grandpa, but on the other hand I didn''t think she''d have made the transition as easily as Grandpa and Sage had.

    Abuela had been not-quite a pacifist. Her Catholic beliefs in just war doctrine meant she didn''t approve of most of the military actions of the last 50 years or so. She had tried to dissuade me from enlisting, but Grandpa had put his foot down, one of the few times I''d ever seen him outright contradict my Abuela. They had been married for probably 40 years at that point, and I still remember how shocked she looked when he told her that it was none of her business and I was going to do what I was going to do.

    I shook myself out of my reverie as we made the now familiar journey up from Threshold to The Hub. Sage kept her nose pressed against the invisible force field almost the whole time. I had to admit, the view didn''t get old. Jupiter hung below us, round and ruddy, a hundred times bigger than any full moon I''d ever seen. It was almost worth everything just to see that up close.

    "What do you think Veda wants?" I asked Grandpa, trying to get my mind off other things.

    "No way to know. Hopefully she hasn''t sold us to some other conglomerate."

    "Surely not."

    "They could have made her an offer too good to refuse," Grandpa said. "We''ll wait and see. Might as well sit back and relax." From his inventory, he pulled out a box of cold fried chicken that Mama Grace had pressed into his hands as we left. He chewed appreciatively, offering me a piece. I took one of the drumsticks. "We''re going to have to interview again," he said. "Not looking forward to that."

    "Who in the Coalition isn''t already teamed up?"

    "There''s a couple pairs, but I''m not sure any of them match our strengths and weaknesses."

    "Neither did Bill and Bob," I pointed out. "We could really use someone who''s got better heals than just Sage''s Raise Your Spirits. And more area damage would be nice, unless Sage can whip me up a bunch more grenades."

    "I told you, just get me the mats," Sage said, her attention still focused on Jupiter. "Besides, what''s wrong with my heals? I''ve kept you alive so far, haven''t I?"

    "Sure," Grandpa said. "But more would always be better. Right now we have to plan our fights out pretty well. And one mistake could be deadly."

    "Shad hasn''t even come close to dying in six weeks now," Sage said. "We''re good, Grandpa. We''re really good."

    "Well, we''ll see what Veda has to say."

    We docked at the hub and followed a glowing ball of light to the quarters Veda had rented us. They always looked about the same. I''d heard from other mission runner teams that their sponsors went all out on fancy suites with all sorts of luxuries, like chairs that massaged your back while you sat on them. Veda bought us the budget model.

    I wasn''t complaining. There was plenty of room for us to kick back for a day or so, relax, see the medical professionals of the Hub to make sure whatever we were doing in the reality engine hadn''t caused some sort of soul damage. I really wasn''t clear what they were talking about there, and I wasn''t sure I wanted to ask too many questions.

    The last couple of times there had even been packages of Earth entertainment we could watch, brought in fresh from home. I was pretty sure the movies and shows had been censored. There were no news shows available, and the dramas offered were conspicuously lacking in any reference to current events, like, say, 10 million humans being abducted by aliens.

    I knew Earth governments understood some of what was going on. We had received one communication from the Joint Chiefs of Staff months ago, but I didn''t know what they were telling the rest of the world. Had the Reality Engine Exploitation Committee announced what they were doing, or were they only talking with the heads of state?

    Someone would have had to come up with an explanation for why people had just vanished, especially since we had all taken a chunk of Earth with us. In our case, it had been about a hundred-foot radius circle chopped out of Grandpa''s ranch and the nearest couple of vehicles and outbuildings. Mama Grace had brought along a big chunk of her old restaurant. If someone had been taken from the middle of a busy city, that could have made a noticeable dent.

    Veda wasn''t here yet, which wasn''t a surprise. She almost never met us in person. Usually her projected presence was already waiting. We filled up at the buffet and took a seat.

    Sage started playing a Spider-Man cartoon movie that had been included in the latest media package. "Why don''t you watch something educational?" Grandpa suggested. "You''ve missed four months of school. You might try to catch up a little on your learning."

    Sage rolled her eyes. "There''s nothing they''ve got to teach in school that I''m going to find useful," she said. "What, I''m going to study Earth history? Really? Or algebra? I think we''re a little past algebra, Grandpa. Besides, it''s my birthday. I get to do what I want."

    Veda appeared in the middle of the room. She was wearing a yellow sarong-like outfit today, with her hair piled up in two conical spikes on her head. She was an objectively pretty woman, maybe even beautiful, and looked fairly human. But somehow I could tell she was an alien. I would have said it was pheromones, except she wasn''t really here, so I couldn''t be smelling any. Could I? Maybe their projections included smells. I had never noticed one way or the other.

    "Thank you for coming," she said. "I''m sorry to have called you up so abruptly. I know you just finished your last mission, but I wanted us to be able to strategize in person. Phase two opens in three days."

 2.3 - Retrain as a Career Counselor and Impact Lives!

    "Phase two?" Sage jumped up from her seat, scattering a plate of fruit and cookies all over the floor. "I thought it was still at least months away."

    Something Veda had told us about phase two way back at the start of this whole adventure was bugging me. I shook my head. "No, no way. You said phase two couldn''t start until we had lost enough of Earth''s miners to make room for the outworlders. You said something like 50%. That would mean we had less than four million humans left here, and I know that''s not the case. I''m not in touch with everyone, but we''ve been talking. We have a good picture of what''s going on."

    My coalition had a secret weapon, in fact. One of our members, Arjun, had a class, [Mycroft] that let him compile vast quantities of information. He also had a skill that let him trade that information with other similar miners through the system. The last I had spoken to him, he had a million and a half miners'' information, skills, and affiliations in his personal database. I had no idea how one mind could hold all that, but I assumed the system was helping him out somehow.

    "I would know if we were taking losses like that," I insisted.

    "You''re right." Veda dipped her head. "In fact, you humans have been taking losses far less than we projected. Since arriving four months ago, you''ve only lost 423,000 more miners."

    423,000 people dead. That was an enormous number, almost half a million. Yet my heart swelled with pride because it could have been so much more.

    One big advantage we had was that several of the remnants of various Earth-armed forces were now cooperating. We were coordinating who used what portal and avoiding conflict as much as we could. "So then how is Phase 2 starting?"

    "Your numbers were so good, actually, that several of the big conglomerates who usually show up in Phase 2 petitioned the Reality Engine Exploitation Committee to allow them to start Phase 2 early. They pointed out that even though you humans aren''t dying, you also don''t have as many mission-capable miners as most species. You seem to be a lot fonder of working together in groups than the last few Reality Engine exploits have seen. So you''ve got more people farming, fewer running missions."

    That matched what I knew. "So that gives them an in?"

    "Exactly. For their mission-running teams, anyway. There aren''t slots available for their farmers, so they''re going to have to make deals with you human miners or with your sponsors." Veda grinned. "We are potentially in a really good spot, Shad. I know we only have two fully mission-capable teams in your coalition, but with all the farming and crafting, we''re going to be able to sell to the people coming in. I hadn''t expected that before. It''s not my family''s usual strategy to make money off of Phase 1. I''ve got a plan drawn up. What I''m thinking is we coordinate with a few allies and work on taking an early Phase 2 objective. If we can hold it for a month, we''ll have more than made back my investment and paid off a lot of your coalition''s debts. Also, being up front with you, that will renew my company''s Phase 2 license, which will let us stay in business. It''s probably my second most important goal after making my money back."

    "You told us before that Phase 2 isn''t deadly. That if you die, you just respawn," I said. "Is that true?"

    "It is."

    I sat back on the couch. That was something, at least. We¡¯d made it through the dangerous part.

    "How about party size?" Grandpa asked. "Is that going to work differently?"

    "It''ll be like when you worked together to claim a farming level. You''ll have individual squads who can be managed by the officers in charge. The party size will increase to 15, which can be split into three squads or teams of five. Larger bids will feature multiple teams, but there¡¯s no discount for less than a full party, so recruit or convince some of your farmers to join the team."

    "Bid?" I asked.

    "So for phase two, some of the portals that were offering missions will now be tuned to the new large phase two maps. These are going to be bigger even than what you saw in farming zones and much more diverse. The exploitation committee is negotiating with the reality engine right now over how many maps it will open and what kind of stakes are to be provided."

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    She gestured, and my system pinged with an information packet. I held it in reserve to look at once she was done talking.

    "We''re hoping that since we have more eligible human miners than usual, the system will be inclined to be generous.Once we know how many maps are open, teams can put in a bid for entry. It''ll be based on team composition and a lot of other factors. An all-human team should be able to make it in with a smaller bid than what the outsiders are going to have to do."

    We drank that in. "Does the Reality Engine have a preference for locals?" Grandpa asked.

    "Kind of. There¡¯s all sorts of conspiracy theories about that. Anyway, I want you to put together a bid proposal. We''ll run it through my systems and see what kind of suggestions we can get. The initial maps are going to be blind bids. Nobody knows what to expect and nobody can see anyone else''s bids until they''ve been awarded. The system gets to do the awarding," Veda explained, "with a few vetoes and legacy slots that the exploitation committee will be able to use."

    "Vetoes?"

    "Not on individual bids, more like on rule sets. That''s another of the bids going on, but that''ll be at a much higher level and we aren''t going to get a look in. What I''ll do is attach our team proposal bid to a couple of different rule set bids and then whichever we can afford, we¡¯ll buy into. There''s almost always a battle royale map," she told us, "and I don''t think that plays to our strengths. We''re going to look for something more of a capture the flag or perhaps a take a point and hold it rule set. Something we can build up. I''m hoping we''re successful enough with our initial foray that one of the larger companies will offer to buy us out. That''s when we can really make some money."

    "And what happens to us when we do take the buyout?" Sage asked, leaning forward and clasping her knees.

    "I¡¯m not going to accept any offer that leaves you here in debt," Veda said simply. "Your coalition, I don''t owe as much to, but I''ll make sure they''re not shafted in any way. At the very least, I will negotiate a buyout that gives them a favorable contract for supplies. They won''t be forced into running anything dangerous."

    "You said phase two, nobody dies," Sage said, shrugging. "So how bad could it be?"

    "You need to take it seriously," Veda said. "I¡¯m going to have you all on a very strict schedule of coming up here for medical and psychic evaluation."

    I snickered at that. "What we''re going to have Miss Cleo read our palms and tell us our future?"

    She frowned. "I don''t know that allusion. There must be a translation issue here. We have very sensitive systems and trained specialists who can analyze what kind of damage you''ve been taking to your psyche. You won''t die in phase two, but you''re going to think you have." She leaned forward, her voice deepening as she spoke. "Respawns hurt. Not just physically. You''re going to be in situations where your brain deep down believes you are about to die and that there''s nothing you can do about it. And then you''re going to wake up somewhere else and be asked to do it again."

    "Shell shock," Grandpa said.

    "What we call PTSD now," I agreed, sitting back on the couch. The army had been starting to take PTSD seriously in the past couple of years, but I knew they''d still had a long way to go based on some of my colleagues experiences. "You''re saying you can prevent it?"

    Veda shook her head. "I¡¯m saying no one can prevent it, but we can monitor and make sure that we intervene if things get too bad."

    "Is that part of what you''ve been doing already?" I asked.

    "It''s included in the package," Veda said. She seemed a little hesitant, probably because they were doing something shady with our brains that I didn''t want to ask about. "So let''s get down to work and start planning strategies. I''m going to call up a list of some of the most common rule sets and we can list them in your preferred order. You''re going to need to recruit more people either from your guild or some of your associates. If their sponsors are willing to let them work with me, I''m willing to work with them."

    "Oh!" Sage jumped up. "Wait. We reached Level 5 last mission and I finally got my class evolution! I have to tell you about that."

    "Wonderful!" Veda clapped her hands.

    Grandpa had gotten a class evolution at Level 3. His [Tomahawk Ninja] class had evolved to [Last War Chief]. He¡¯d kept all his abilities and gained some buffs for allies, as well as a couple tactical skills. It had also enabled our coalition to double in size immediately. That plus the coalition upgrade tokens we¡¯d been picking up in missions had been key in letting Misfits Guild grow.

    Sage had been angry at level 3, then incensed at level 4, not to get a class evolution. She¡¯d pouted for days. I had been more relieved than she was when she finally got it at level 5.

    Sage displayed her character sheet for us all to see, a nice trick possible here on the Hub. "I¡¯m a [Barrel Racer] now!" she exclaimed. "I¡¯ve kept everything else but I have a [Three-Barrel Race] skill that lets me designate two points on the battlefield and teleport between them and my starting location at will. And I¡¯ve upgraded my T-Shirt Cannon. Now it can take rounds I craft with my reloading press. There¡¯s still a stupid long reload time but I¡¯ve got decent aoe damage at last!"

    "That¡¯s excellent. You should still be looking for more area damage and healing abilities to supplement your own. Or add team members who can do those things. Just because you won¡¯t die, don¡¯t neglect healing. The respawn timers can be brutal. Now, let¡¯s focus on our plans for Phase 2." Veda projected several images into the air. "We¡¯ll go through and then list them in terms of your favorites."

 2.4 - Off the Reservation

    We spent hours strategizing with Veda before she at last excused herself. "Alright, we have a decent set of frameworks here. You tell me what allies you can round up and I''ll file our plans once those are done. In the meantime, there''s plenty for me to do."

    She disappeared without further formality. I stretched and yawned. "Guess we might as well get a good night''s sleep," I said. I stood up to go use the restroom.

    While I was in the facilities, a message popped up from a new contact. That surprised me. Usually, I could only receive messages from people I had previously met. This one simply said, Ames: Can we talk?

    Who are you and what do you want?

    Trying to keep a low profile. Meet me here in 20 minutes. Come alone. The message blinked and then vanished from my logs. I got a ping on my minimap for a location not far away.

    I washed my hands and popped out of the bathroom. Sage disappeared in after me. "I claim the shower," she said brightly.

    "Okay, I''m going out to look for a birthday present for you," I said. "Don''t wait up. You can have it in the morning."

    "Sure!" She closed the door.

    I stepped over to where Grandpa was sitting, staring at a baseball game that had come up in the latest package from Earth. It was spring training by now, and the Diamondbacks were looking good.

    I lowered my voice and told him about the message. "Ames? I recognized that name. Hang on." He thought for a minute and nodded. "Wasn''t that the colonel that the Joint Chiefs told us about a couple months back?"

    "I tried to remember. "You might be right. He didn''t send you a message?"

    Grandpa shook his head. "Nope."

    "Think I should go?" "Sure. I don''t see the harm. Not here on the Hub. Let me know what he says," Grandpa turned back to the game.

    I felt a bit adrift. If it was Colonel Ames, the ranking US Armed Forces officer here in the Reality Engine exploit, it felt like Grandpa should have a message for him.

    I left, heading for the appointed rendezvous. It was in a section of the hub I hadn''t visited before. Overhead, what felt like it must be half a mile up, an enormous glass window stretched the whole length of the great cylinder. Through it, I could see Jupiter. There were little shops and stalls all along the corridor here, offering various alien wares and delicacies to other aliens. They shot me unfriendly looks as I went past. I didn''t think this was a section that catered to miners.

    The address given turned out to be a small park full of green and red plants. They looked similar to earth plants to me, with grass-like leaves growing from the ground and odd alien trees with thin purple trunks that twined around each other, then radiated outward into yellow-leaved branches. The effect was quite lovely.

    In the center of the little park was a bench. A man sat with his back to me, one arm draped along the bench. I stepped in front of him. He had no system tag displayed. I didn''t know how to hide that information myself. Either he had gotten an upgrade somewhere, or he knew a few secrets I didn''t.

    "Did you send me a message?" I asked.

    The man nodded. He didn''t stand up. He was wearing civilian clothes, tan slacks with a blue dress shirt and a loosened tie at his neck. No hat. If he was the colonel, he was being informal. Maybe that''s why he was sitting like that, so I didn''t feel a need to salute.

    "Thanks for joining me, Williams," he said. He moved his arm off the back of the bench and gestured for me to sit down. I did. "I''ve been wanting to speak with you and your grandfather for some time, but I am attempting to keep a low profile here."

    "You are Colonel Ames, yes?"

    He nodded. "I am."

    "Then the Joint Chiefs put you in charge."

    "Not precisely, as you know. I''ve heard all about your squabble with Waters." He raised a hand as I started to speak. "Don''t worry. Like I said, I heard all about it. Waters is no part of any plan of mine, but I would very much like it if you and your grandfather were."

    "Why''d you call for me and not him?"

    "Because I am certain I am being watched, and I suspect he is as well. But the watchers are automated systems, and if we do not meet directly, it may keep them from flagging us for a higher attention."

    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    A creeping sensation of dread filled me. This sounded like it was about to turn into secret agent bullshit. "What do you want?" I asked, maybe a little too brusquely, considering I was a lieutenant and he was not just a colonel, but also the ranking military officer for the nearest half billion miles.

    "I want you and your team to keep doing what they''re doing," Ames said. "I''ve got channels back to Earth. We have allies here, even if that''s hard to believe."

    "Don''t trust them," I said at once. "Everyone here has got their own agenda. Even our sponsor wants us to do things for her that may not be for our benefit."

    "We aren''t trusting," Ames said mildly. "Believe me, the U.S. Army is used to working with people who are out for what they can get. Has your sponsor told you that phase two is about to start?"

    I nodded. "We were just having a meeting about that now."

    "Good. I thought that was the case based on the timing. How much latitude are they giving you?"

    "She wants us to build a team out of our allies and present it to her. The team ought to be able to take an objective and hold it for the first month. That''s her goal."

    Ames nodded. "Sounds like she has reasonable expectations. I want you to raise them considerably. We aren¡¯t just going to make a profit here. We¡¯re going to take a stand."

    "What?" I didn¡¯t understand what he was getting at.

    "When you get back down there, you''ll be approached by another group with an offer. They will have funding to back it. You''re going to need to do more than take a point and hold it. We''re going to need you to construct an entire outpost."

    Veda had used that term briefly when talking about what the larger corporations that would end up owning Phase 2 would be working toward. The implication was she could never hope to afford such a thing.

    "I don''t even know if our sponsor knows how to go about that."

    "Not a concern." Ames lifted a hand. A message popped up in my queue, blinking. I didn''t look at it yet. "That''s an information package that will have all of the details on outpost construction. Share it with your grandfather. I know it''s not his area of expertise. Fortunately, we have a logistics officer ¡ª don¡¯t we, Lieutenant Williams?"

    I felt myself turning red. "I was only a corporal back on Earth. I don''t have any command experience. Mostly I was just a guy moving boxes around."

    "Well, then I guess it''s time you earned your rank, Lieutenant."

    "Sir." I gathered my courage, "what''s the point of all of this? Our sponsor is trying to help me and our team because we''re helping her. She''s willing to help our friends out as much as she can, but this sounds like you''re asking us to go a lot farther."

    "I am, soldier. I''m asking you to go all the way." Ames had a grim smile. "It isn''t going to be easy. Once the Galactics realize what you''re doing, they''ll come for you. I¡¯ll be straight. We need to have a human-owned outpost at the end of Phase 2. We need to get representatives into Phase 3. That''s where the real deals are made. That''s where they''re going to decide who owns our solar system. You realize what happens when all of this is over?"

    I nodded. I had picked up that much from Veda. "They move a couple quadrillion aliens into this reality engine."

    "Right. And Earth becomes the most backwoods reservation you''ve ever heard of. I know where you grew up, Lieutenant. I''ve seen your family background. You know what that means. Imagine all of Earth being treated the way the United States has treated your native kinfolk. Shoved off into the worst pockets of land. Any time someone finds gold or oil, there''ll be a well-backed businessman there to swindle them out of it."

    He let that sink in. I knew very well what he was talking about.

    "Well, we''re going to do our best to make sure that''s not the case. We''re not going to be able to claim this reality engine for ourselves. That''s not in the cards. But we might be able to claim a piece of it. That''ll get us a seat at the table. Not much of one. We''ll be like Rwanda at the UN, getting a few pity invites to cocktail parties and an aid package thrown our way now and then. But that''s still better than not being at the party at all."

    He stood up. "It was good to meet you, Lieutenant. Convey my regards to your grandfather. I''ve read his profile. Tell him I know he''ll do what''s right and that I have faith in his willingness to take decisive action."

    I watched as Ames strode off and disappeared, my mind full. It took an effort not to salute as he went, but we were being undercover here and neither of us was in uniform.

    Ames seemed like everything Waters hadn¡¯t been. Patriotic. Forward-thinking. Decisive. But I wanted to know what was going on. Who were his allies? Were they just using us humans for their own game, or was there a chance we could wrest a victory out of this massive shitstorm?

    I wandered the station for a while after that, thinking about everything Ames had said. My mind whirled. I had gotten almost comfortable in the last few months with being part of a coalition, taking risks, doing what had to be done. I was making a difference.

    Now we were being recruited into a much bigger fight, and I wasn''t entirely sure how I felt about that.

    I finally stopped at one of the stalls and bought a present for Sage. I couldn''t resist.The whole booth was western-themed gear, shaped like a wooden saloon door with a counter over it. Behind the counter was a row of glass whiskey bottles. Sombreros, cowboy hats, and preposterous Indian war bonnets like the worst Hollywood movies showed hung from the roof of the booth. On the counter was a cow skull, complete with horns.

    When I stopped, the sales clerk, who looked like her ancestors had been snakes but possessed arms and legs like me, took a look at me and hissed, a long tongue protruding from between her lips. "You are one of the human minersss," she said.

    "I am."

    "You look like a good candidate for advertisssssing."

    She pointed at some posters on her back wall. One of them showed John Wayne from one of his cowboy movies. The other was Roy Rogers atop his horse. "You interested in advertissssing deal?"

    "I might be," I said. "Assuming there''s good coin in it."

    "Best," she said and smiled with her wide, lipless mouth.

    I pointed at a pink cowgirl hat next to a bright green sombrero. "And that. My sister will love it."

    I came away with the pink hat, a pocket full of SoulCoin credits, and an advertising deal with her booth. This time, the Indian had got the better of the pale faces.

 2.5 - A Noobs Guide to Outpost Building

    A Beginner''s Guide to Constructing Your Phase 2 Outpost: Introduction.

    Interview conducted by Colonel Jefferson Ames, U.S. Army.

    Interview subject, Ostrichka Corporation Representative Sitska, after four rounds of something called Proximin Ale in one of the hub bars.

    You know you guys are fucked, right? Nobody who has a chance of constructing an outpost needs to know any of this. They''ve already been doing it for longer than your species has been out of the caves or trees or stagnant swamp pools, wherever it is you crawled out of. You look like the monkey types. Is that right?

    Well, doesn''t matter. These techniques get handed down from parent corporation to child corporation. Sometimes somebody comes up with a refinement, but it''s pretty much the same strategy.

    Anyway, fine. Step one is picking a good location. What''s good for almost all of them isn''t going to work for any of you because they''re going to target you right away. So you''re going to have to choose a spot they don''t care about that much. It''s still got to be worth your time though.

    There''s basically four tiers of resource generating locations. Alpha tier, forget about that. Those belong to the big boys. Beta tier, if you could take and hold one of those all the way through to the end of phase two, you''d be in good. You won''t be able to. They might let you hold onto it at the beginning, at least for a while. That''d give you a pretty decent income. After that, they''re either going to buy you out or send in an overwhelming army that you can''t possibly defeat.

    Delta tier, those are probably worth your time, but you''ll never be able to grow it big enough to sustain the sort of outpost you''ll need to make a serious phase three entry bid. And gamma tier, they''ll let you have a gamma tier node. No question about that because nobody wants them.

    So there''s your answer. Anything you can hold onto, you don''t want. Anything you want, you can''t hold onto. Like I said, you''re all fucked.

    I played through the introduction in the building outposts for noobs guide that Colonel Ames had sent me for a third time. I had already given grandpa a copy as well as a rundown of the conversation we''d had. Like an idiot, I hadn''t thought to record it.

    Grandpa was perusing the guide, looking serious. I¡¯d taken a quick look myself. There were dozens of chapters covering all sorts of different rulesets, and scenarios. Way more than I¡¯d be able to study in the next couple days, especially since we still had to recruit the rest of our team. I¡¯d checked with Bill and Bob, and they were in. Juana was working with Arjun to put together a list of candidates for us.

    "Ames¡¯s the one who put this together," I said. "And he still sent it to us? Seriously?"

    "There''s good information in here," Grandpa said. "Just have to get past all of the depressing parts about how we are doomed to lose and our species is going to spend the next ten thousand years as serfs, peons, and zoo exhibits."

    "We should bring Veda into this." We were sitting in the elevator on the way back down to the surface. Sage had downloaded a bunch of media onto the birthday present Veda had given her. It was basically a space iPod that let her watch shows wherever she was. She was sitting back in her seat and giggling at some teen drama.

    Grandpa and I were taking advantage of the mostly empty elevator to strategize. "I don''t think we should tell Veda," Grandpa said.

    That surprised me. He was usually a straight shooter and I would have expected him to say we should lay our cards on the table.

    "Ames is right about a lot of this. All the aliens have their own agenda. Veda''s been mostly straight with us, but there''s still something she hasn''t revealed. I don''t want her to know just how much Ames is entrusting us with."

    "They''ve got agendas, so does he. I am a little burned out on that whole patriotism bit after our encounter with Waters."

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    "I get that," Grandpa said. "I really do. But Ames isn''t wrong. When the aliens are done here, they''re going to pack up this circus and leave. Then 100 trillion or 1 quadrillion or however many aliens move into the neighborhood. What happens to us puny 8 billion earth folk then?"

    "I don''t even know how much a quadrillion is, but it sounds like a lot." I knew how many zeroes were in the number, but I couldn¡¯t picture it, couldn¡¯t reason from "billion" to "quadrillion".

    "You two grew up with me, out on the Strip. You know what it''s like to have nothing. Me, I grew up on a reservation. That''s even worse, because it''s nothing and the stink of that nothing follows you everywhere. You get off the res and try to make a life for yourself and all anyone around you says is "there''s that Indian off his reservation again" or tell you to get back to it. One of the reasons I didn''t go back after marrying your abuela. Not that the strip''s a whole lot better off, but at least I had land that was my own."

    The talk was getting gloomy and I was feeling worse. "Alright, but what I don''t like is that Ames is foisting some mysterious other teammates on us sight unseen. What if they come in and try to start bossing the show around? What if they do something that''s going to hurt our friends? Our plan was for just those of us who''ve trained for this to go into phase two. For this outpost," I tapped my head as I looked at the very long table of contents in the How to Build an Outpost guide. "We''re going to need everyone. The whole guild and then some. I don''t know if I want to bring Grace and Rosa into this sort of situation."

    Grandpa''s eyebrows raised. "What about Juana?"

    "She can take care of herself." I shifted uncomfortably, aware he was teasing me. "Look, you heard what Veda said. Death might not be permanent in phase two but it leaves scars."

    "I know I''d spare them if I could but what else have we got to live for?" Grandpa asked. "We can''t go home."

    That had been an unpleasant revelation when Veda informed us that attuning to a soul coin meant that we were now technologically bound to a reality engine or reality engine derived technology. We might be able to go back to earth but it would take the help of some very expensive alien prosthetics.

    Same for Mama Grace and everyone else in our coalition. Everyone else on Threshold. Most of them didn''t know that yet. They were still dealing with digging out from underneath 20 years worth of debt that the reality engine exploitation committee had foisted on us all.

    "Before we can get out of here we''ve got to negotiate buyout packages for everyone who has put themselves into our coalition," Grandpa said. "We owe them that much. It will be easier to do if I''m a position of strength. Whatever Ames¡¯s up to, it''s going to leave us in a stronger position. Besides," he said, "the first six or seven steps are pretty compatible with what Veda wanted anyway. All we have to do is get these new players on board, write up a proposal and send it to her."

    He leaned back in his seat and folded his hands across his chest. "And that, my dear boy, is exactly what junior officers were invented for. I suggest you start working on the proposal now. You can finish filling in the details once we''ve met our new friends."

    I groaned. "I should never have let them promote me."

    "Cheer up," Grandpa said. "At this rate you''ll be a captain by your next birthday."

    "Oh yeah? I haven''t seen a board of promotion around here."

    "Between me and the colonel, I think we can probably swing it." Grandpa closed his eyes and pretended to snore.

    I spent the rest of the trip down studying the first couple chapters in "How to Build an Outpost."

    There was no point in getting ahead of myself. The outpost guide itself mentioned that until you had completed step four, you really didn''t need to worry about the more advanced steps.

    So I focused on the first four. It wasn''t that bad, honestly. We needed to select a location that we could claim and guard. The higher the resource spawn rate of a location, the better our income would be, but we''d also need to spend a correspondingly large amount to defend and exploit the location. Too valuable a resource node would attract attention from other players. They would try to take it away from us.

    The defenses that we had to defend our node from the reality engine spawned opponents - I mentally tagged them as "creep" like a couple of MOBA-style games I had played back a few years ago - would also let us defend against the enemies. I decided I would refer to them as "champions."

    Ames¡¯s guide, although quite thorough and depressing, tended to use army-style phrases to refer to enemy combatants and their capabilities. I thought I would translate everything into something a little more readable.

    In fact, the more I read, the more I thought this reminded me of a tower defense game. We needed to build up our defenses, kill attacking spawn, collect resources from them, use them to strengthen our defenses, and also to pay off our miners and backers. Put it that way, it didn''t seem so intimidating. I started to make notes. We were going to need more than just the initial attack team. Building an outpost would cost a lot of money. If we could put our crafters to work right away, then have them sell what they made back to the aliens coming in to take a piece of our engine, we¡¯d be able to build up a warchest. Supplement whatever Veda and the colonel got us. But I didn¡¯t want to equip our enemies too well. This was going to be a delicate balance.

    By the time we were back, I had a few good ideas, which was, of course, why Juana was waiting at the elevator station to derail everything for me.

 2.6 - Why to Sort Your Applicant List On Starcraft Ladder Rank

    "What have you been doing, Shad?" Juana demanded.

    I had never seen her look flustered before. Her face was red and her braid had started to come apart with strands of dark hair falling across her face.

    "Me? Haven''t done anything yet."

    She let us step off the elevator platform and down into the surrounding empty space.Threshold was full to bursting. There were people bustling about everywhere, more than I had ever seen here at one time.

    "We got a system notification about an hour ago that the member cap had been raised to 8,000 thanks to an anonymous donation of several Coalition Level-Up tokens. We¡¯ve also got enhanced communications abilities, a dozen custom channels that the coalition officers can use to address different categories of guild members. Like a ¡®general emergency¡¯ channel that goes out to everyone but only officers can use." Juana said. "And then we started getting applications. Dozens of them. Maybe hundreds. So I''m asking again, What did you do?"

    Colonel Ames had implied he was sending a few people to join us. I had assumed maybe a dozen tops. "How many applications?" I asked weakly.

    "I don''t even know. I''m having Kieran and Arjun go through them. They''ll present me with priority lists once they¡¯re done. Meanwhile, I''ve been dealing with requests to meet from several other important coalitions. Something is going down. Do you know what it is?"

    "Uh, yeah. Phase 2 starts in a couple of days."

    Juana swore. I had never heard her use language like that before. Usually she made me feel guilty when I dropped too strong a curse word in Mama Grace''s restaurant. "Alright. I don''t have a whole lot of time. I was hoping you guys would be heading back down. That''s why I was waiting for you. Let''s talk on the way back to the restaurant. Then I have to go to the meeting. Phase 2 starting. What does that mean for us?"

    I tried to collect my thoughts, glancing at Grandpa. I sent him a quick message. How much should we tell her?

    Everything, eventually, he replied. But for now, let''s keep it simple.

    "There''s a lot going on here. Some of it we will have to fill you in on later," I said. "Short short version, we''re going to need more people because we''re going into Phase 2 hard and we''re going to make our mark. This is where we start paying off our debts. This is how we''re going to be able to help our people."

    She shook her head. "We''re doing fine right now. We''ve got the farming zones under control and we''ve doubled the number of crafters our coalition can support. I told Kieran and Arjun to prioritize applications from crafters with unique skills."

    "And we''re still going to want those," I said, "but we need people capable of fighting, too."

    "I don''t want to put our people at risk," Juana said.

    "They''ll be less at risk because in phase 2, death isn''t permanent. You respawn," I explained. "The more people we get into phase 2, the safer we all are."

    I had several niggling doubts about that at the back of my mind, but there was no need to get into that just yet. "Look, we still have to actually make our plans, but we''re going to need to recruit some more people like me and Gramps," I said, gesturing.

    "And me," Sage declared, looking up from her handheld entertainment device indignantly. "Don''t forget about me."

    Juana laughed. "No one can forget about you, sweetheart. All right, what next?"

    "The more alliances we can make with other coalitions, the better chance we have of really cleaning up here," I said. I still had a lot of the Outpost Construction Guide for Beginners briefing to get through, and I knew there would be a point of diminishing returns where we had no hope of holding a node valuable enough to pay all of us, but that point was a ways off.

    I had already considered plans for taking multiple smaller nodes, holding onto them as long as we could to build up a war chest, and then concentrating on keeping just one. But until we knew the rule set and had an idea about the strategic layout, I wasn''t going to commit to any strategy.

    "In phase two, we''ll have crafting materials too. I''m not saying we abandon our farm zones, certainly not at once, not until we know for sure what phase two is going to do for us, but we need to be ready to pivot. Everyone in the coalition will get a briefing about what they can expect in the next few days." I made a note to myself to figure out what those briefings would look like, or maybe to foist some of this back off on Grandpa. My action items were getting pretty long.

    I kept up my conversation with Juana, Grandpa interjecting his two cents now and then, until we got back to the restaurant. Juana looked torn. "I¡¯ve really got to get to this meeting. There''s six of us local coalitions, and we''re meeting with a representative from the Free Human League. He says they kicked out Waters and are reforming. I''m interested in seeing if we can work with them. They still have a foothold in some of the most profitable farming levels."

    I nodded. "Go on. We''ll fill you in when we get back." I stepped into Mama Grace''s restaurant.

    I was not prepared for the chaos I found there.

    Mama Grace was in the kitchen shouting loudly enough that I could hear her from the door of the dining area. Coalition members ran back and forth. All the tables had been pushed together into three long work surfaces. There must be 40 different coalition members running back and forth, carrying everything from stacks of brown paper to boxes of salvaged plastic zipper bags to trays of steaming food that have just come out of the kitchen.

    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    "Just follow the instructions," Mama Grace was shouting. "No innovating. Do what the sign says. If you can''t figure it out, ask your team lead. I''m busy in here."

    We pushed our way through the throng. I noticed poster boards tacked to the wall with sets of numbered instructions on them. They looked like steps for making packaged meals out of Mama Grace''s concoctions.

    I saw now that the three long super tables were being used as primitive assembly lines, with food and wrappers being deposited on one end for guild members to bundle up and then push along to the other end where they were carefully labeled and packed in big boxes.

    "What''s all this?" I asked one coalition member I vaguely knew. Emma was one of our farm team members who usually managed a squad of seven farming miners. She was standing at the head of one of the long tables supervising.

    "Not now, Shad," she snapped. "We''ve got a deadline and a lot of meals to pack." "

    We should go into the back room and see if we can find Arjun," Grandpa said.

    "Yeah, I''ll just pop my head in the kitchen real quick and meet you there." I pushed through the throng, stepping out of the way of a woman carrying a tray heaped high with sliced meat and entered the kitchen.

    It was even worse in there. It felt like 120 degrees. A dozen coalition members were standing over the stove or in a corner or along one section of the countertop. They were peeling potatoes, chopping onions, slicing fruit.

    Mama Grace ran about being everywhere at once. She touched a pot boiling on the stove, then leapt across the kitchen and passed her hand over a roast. "What''s going on?" I asked.

    "Bad time, Shad," she panted. "I¡¯ve got to keep my concentration up for this." She looked exhausted.

    "Yes, but¡ª"

    "We got a contract from one of the off-world conglomerates. They want as many basic buff meals as we can possibly provide them, with a bonus if it''s at least 5,000 by the end of the day. They said they''ll renew the offer for as long as we can get them the finished products. They''re paying us four times what I''ve been able to charge the local miners."

    That pulled me up short. Mama Grace''s meals had kept the coalition afloat until we had managed to diversify our income streams a bit. She was easily almost as profitable as my team was. She never had to face anything worse than a raw onion or a dull knife. If she was quadrupling her take, with an unlimited new market, we had to take advantage.

    "Which conglomeration?"

    "I don''t know. Spectra, Astra, something, something."

    I sent a quick note to Veda to see what she could find out.

    "Now get out if you''re not going to help. You don''t have any useful skills,so go away," Mama Grace told me. "And don''t let Juana come back either. I told her she''s not allowed inside the restaurant until I''m done. She keeps distracting me."

    Mama Grace''s other daughter, Rosa, was in one corner of the kitchen kneading loaves of bread. She shot me a look of despair. I gave her a hopefully sympathetic shrug and backed out of the kitchen.

    The back room was more full than I had ever seen it. Apparently anyone who didn''t want to catch Mama Grace''s attention was crowding in and working on their own projects.

    Arjun and his manager/helper, Kirin, were all the way back in one corner huddled over a mundane looking pad of paper and a couple of pens. I pushed my way through the crowd toward them.

    "Where''s Dwight?" I asked. I would have expected to see our master crafter in here hard at work on gear to equip the coalition.

    "He''s out back trying to rig up a massive bread oven for Mama Grace," someone told me. "And keep your head down or you''ll get a task of your own. She''s got a bee in her bonnet for sure."

    Grandpa had taken a chair over to the small round table where Arjun and Kirin worked. I swiped another chair from a crafter who had foolishly gotten up to fetch something from the other side of the room and carried it over to join them. Sage sat in the corner playing with her new entertainment system.

    "Louis¡¯s just been explaining matters to us," Kirin said. "We''ll get that applicant pile re-sorted by mission runner capability as quickly as possible. The two of you together can approve any applicants to the coalition that you like the look of."

    Juana, Dwight, and I were officially the stakeholders for the coalition. There were another ten members with the power to give secondary approval to any applicant. It required at least one stakeholder or two secondary approvers to let anyone in.

    "Just a second," I said. "I¡¯ve been thinking about phase two. Arjun, we''re going to need some specialized skill sets here and I''m hoping you can help me find them."

    He looked up, his eyes briefly meeting mine before he fastened his gaze on a point just past my head. "What do you need?" he asked. I thought he sounded eager, but sometimes it was hard to read him.

    "First on my list," I tapped the pad of paper in front of him. "People with serious eSports background. On Earth I mean. Champions would be great. Somebody who''s won a couple of tournaments. Strategy games would be best, things like Starcraft or even Civilization. Did they have Civilization tournaments back in the day? I don''t know if they did. That would be best, but anyone with an eSports background, give me their information so I can contact them."

    Kirin frowned, "eSports?" she asked, "like professional video game players?"

    "Exactly. Phase two is a very different set of skills than phase one. Sage and I have a lot of hours playing games between us, but almost none in a real time strategy or base builder kind of game. I could use some help with my strategy going forward. Let me know what you can find."

    "Right," Kirin scribbled down a note on the pad in front of them. "What else?"

    "I don''t know yet, but I''m certain there''s going to be other specialists we need. I''ll tell you as soon as they come up." "

    And I suppose those requests will have priority, and that as soon as you do think of them, you''re going to need them immediately." Kirin had just a bit of a sarcastic edge to her voice.

    I shrugged. "Pretty much. Hey, think of it this way. It''ll keep you here in Threshold helping Arjun and not in a phase two mission getting killed over and over while we try to figure out the ropes."

    Her eyes went wide. "I¡¯ve finished sorting the new applicants list like you want," Arjun said. "I¡¯m pushing the top hundred or so candidates to both of you right now."

    I got a ping from the system as Arjun''s information packet transferred over to me.

    "Thanks." Grandpa stood up. "What is it?" I asked him.

    "I just got a message." His tone was very noncommittal. "Says it''s from old acquaintance who needs to talk to us. I think you should come for this, Shad."

    I rose at once. If someone was contacting Grandpa without already being on our contact list, there was a good chance they were part of Ames''s team.

    "Sure, I''ll come along," I said. "Sage, you good there?"

    "Uh-huh," she said, her head buried. Oddly it didn''t look like she was watching any kind of show. The people on screen looked a little like superheroes, but the action was cutting back and forth way too fast. From above her and behind the display, it was hard to get much of a look at what she was viewing, so I left it at that.

    "I suggest you go out the back door," Kirin said.

    "What back door? Not through the kitchen."

    "No, we had Dwight install a door before Mama Grace caught him. We figured we needed a way to get in and out without getting tasked on to team meal prep." Kirin pointed and I saw that there was indeed another door at the far side of the room. I thanked her and ducked out the back.

 2.7 - Is the Plural Mongeese or Mongooses?

    "I¡¯d be complaining that Ames¡¯s men are making us meet them on their turf if it weren''t for the fact that the restaurant is not exactly a quiet place to meet right now," I complained as Grandpa and I trudged through the streets of Threshold. "But they could at least have offered to meet somewhere in between."

    The location was just about on the opposite side of Threshold from us. If we were down by 7 o''clock, they were up around 2, and on the far outskirts of the town, the outer ring facing the portals.

    I hadn''t ventured through this side of Threshold very much. Most of the other miners I saw were South Asian or African. There were dozens of different coalition symbols painted on walls or floating above doors. I didn''t recognize any of them except for the Glorious Morning of the New Dawn faction. They were, as far as I knew, one of the largest player factions. While they didn''t particularly like cooperating with the rest of us, they listened to advice from the remnants of the Chinese military here on Threshold.

    Since we at least had communication open with the Chinese military, I felt like we had an understanding with the Glorious Dawn. Of course, the understanding was basically, "You steer clear of us, we''ll steer clear of you."Now Grandpa and I were walking through their turf.

    We stopped in front of a nondescript small building. It looked like it had been built out of a cargo container with a tarpaulin awning over the open door. I didn''t know how anyone would have managed to bring a cargo container into the reality engine with them. That had to weigh a lot more than any ordinary human''s weight limit. All of the stuff from Earth had come in through the initiation chamber, whatever people had the presence of mind to grab. At the time, nobody had had class buffs to strength yet. So a cargo container was weird.

    Grandpa stood outside and called, "I''m Louis Twofeather. Somebody here ask to see me?"

    We got an immediate reply. "Come on in, both of you."

    Grandpa stooped and ducked into the cargo container. I followed. "Close the door," the same voice said. I couldn''t see anything in the gloom.

    Grandpa closed the door and immediately light flooded the room.

    Five men sat on top of metal crates at the edges of the room. They wore Army camo uniforms, modern ones, not relics or surplus store castoffs. One of the men was cleaning an M4. They had removed their rank markings and name tags. I didn''t know if I ought to salute or not, but Grandpa didn''t, so I followed his lead.

    Grandpa sauntered over and took the single metal folding chair in the tiny room, leaving me to stand awkwardly. "So," he said, looking them over, "I''m guessing you came in with Amess."

    One of them nodded. "We did."

    "I''m also guessing you''re snake eaters."

    The man cleaning an M4 looked up sharply. There was a tense feeling in the air, like a fight was about to break out, but I wasn''t sure why. I tried to guess what made Grandpa think these men were special forces. Was it because they didn''t salute? Or maybe he''d just met enough in his time to have developed a sense for them. I had run into one or two special forces during my time as active duty, but they don''t tend to hang out and fraternize with a logistics corporal.

    I felt suddenly tongue-tied, like they were going to measure me up and find me wanting.

    "Does it matter?"

    "Not really," Grandpa said. "Just figured if we''re going to be working together, we oughta know each others¡¯ competencies."

    One of the men stood up from his crate. He laced his hands behind his back and began talking. "We''re going to be working alongside each other. That doesn''t necessarily mean together. We''ve got a common goal, I believe."

    He shot us a challenging glance. Grandpa nodded. "Take and hold an outpost in phase two. Reasons why are a little unclear, but it''s for the good of humankind."

    "Reasons are because it''s our orders," the man cleaning an M4 shot back.

    "Now then, Lieutenant, we can look for more reason than that in a situation like this," Grandpa said. The man''s eyes narrowed. Grandpa laughed. "Or did you get a field promotion too? I should have said, ''Captain¡¯?"

    "No need for rank here,''" the one on his feet said. I guessed that meant that he was their highest ranking officer and that he wasn''t a major like Grandpa. My brain was busy telling me that this was worse than secret agent shit. This was going to be more military brass bullshit.

    "How many missions does your team have under their belt?" Grandpa asked. "I don''t mean back home, I mean here."

    The men looked at each other. "We''ve run several."

    "Well, my granddaughter has over two dozen under her belt. She''s level five. None of you are higher than level three. That''s the only rank that really matters here. I''m sure you''ve all seen some shit. You''ve made a difference. You''ve got experiences you can''t tell us about. Back home, that''s fine, but we''re not back home anymore. The only experience that matters is with this reality engine. That''s why the colonel put me and my boy here in charge of this project. So, are you in or are you out?" Grandpa asked.

    The men exchanged a glance. The one I was pretty sure was their commander said, "I wouldn''t take that insolence from anyone, not even a superior officer, if I didn''t know your record a bit, sir." The "sir" sounded a bit forced. "But you''ve seen some things, too. If we''re all agreed on the objective, then we''ll work with you."

    "We''re agreed on the first objective," Grandpa said. He held up his finger. "We take and hold a viable outpost in phase two that will let us have a bid accepted for phase three. We''re still learning what exactly that is, and I''m not sure that even your colonel knows that for sure. So, to hedge our bets, I''ve got a couple more objectives." He held up two more fingers. "Keep our current sponsor in the game. She''s willing to play ball. She even stuck her neck out for me and mine, and if we can do her a solid, I think she''ll prove to be an asset."

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    "It''s humans first," the other man said coldly.

    "Humans first, last, and always," Grandpa agreed. "But that doesn''t mean only. How about you boys? You got any kind of sponsor we should know about?"

    They shook their heads. "We''re on the basic system contract. Colonel didn''t want us to get entangled up with any aliens."

    "Good, though sounds like he''s got some behind-the-scenes diplomatic thing going. We''ll leave that be for now. All right, and the third objective is we take care of my people. Got a coalition of good sorts, mostly peaceful folk, crafters and the like."

    "We¡¯re not interested in dead weight," the man cleaning the gun stated.

    Grandpa¡¯s eyes narrowed. "You ever fast rope, son?"

    "I don¡¯t see what-"

    "Have you ever jumped out of a fucking bird?" he snapped.

    "Of course. So?"

    "Was the crew chief dead weight?"

    I thought I saw where Grandpa was going but I enjoyed seeing this side of him. The gun cleaner looked taken aback. "What?"

    "Was the man that tied your fucking rope to the fucking helicopter dead fucking weight? Was the crew that fueled the bird dead weight?"

    "I¡ª"

    "Shut your filthy mouth, boot, and don¡¯t speak while the adults are talking." Grandpa turned to the one who seemed like he was in charge. "Now, you boys on board, or not?"

    The soldier considered. He looked my grandfather over, then me. At last he nodded. "Colonel knows what he¡¯s doing. We¡¯re in."

    "Good, then let¡¯s get down to business. Shad, you''ve had a little time to look over that information. What are you thinking about the initial strike force? We need to get a proposal to our sponsor here in the next few hours."

    "Uh, right," I said. "We have a team of five. Plus you five. Ten. We¡¯ll "be looking for more likely recruits to fill out that third squad.

    They shook their heads. "Don''t need it. We''re a match for a dozen."

    "I¡¯m sure you are," I said. "But we¡¯re putting together a whole party. No discount for going undermanned. We," I indicated Grandpa and me, "will review those new applications and see who looks like they''re worth a risk."

    "Might be better to go with ten we can trust, rather than bring in more possible traitors. We heard what Waters did to you."

    I had to admit the unnamed captain had a point there. I turned to Grandpa, deferring to him.

    "We need all the bodies we can get," Grandpa said. "Our sponsor¡¯s digging into their backgrounds."

    "And the rest of your people? The¡­ non-combatants?"

    I stepped back into the conversation. "Once we''ve gotten through the initial setup stage, that''s when we''re gonna need a lot of grunts. The farm teams will come in handy then. They''ll help us set up defenses and start using what we find there."

    "Let''s worry about stage one first," Grandpa said. "So we need another five, for the third team, then we submit the list of names for our bid. Right." He rose from his char. "Time for you all to join up."

    They looked at each other. "What do you mean?"

    "Shad, toss ''em an invite." He stared them down, and one of the snake eaters was the first to look away. "You''re gonna be joining our coalition."

    They looked like they were about to object. But Grandpa held up a hand. "Nope. No lone warriors. We''ve gotta be able to work together. Anyway, it¡¯s not so bad. You¡¯ll get a 20% discount at the restaurant."

    * * *

    "This is ambitious," Veda said.

    We had just sent her our bid proposal, and she had surprised us by initiating a request for a video conference. Previously, she¡¯d said those were far too expensive, and that if we needed to speak to her in person, we''d have to make the trip up to the hub.

    That wasn''t too onerous. We had to visit the hub every week to ten days to be looked over by the alien proctologists and shrinks to make sure we were handling our transition to the reality engine. I still didn''t know what they were watching for. Were they worried we were going to grow tentacles?

    Now we sat in one of the small rooms in the upstairs of Mama Grace''s restaurant. Bunk beds lined the walls, but we had found an empty chamber and shut the door so we could have some privacy.

    Sage sat cross-legged on the floor studying her entertainment system. I was a little concerned how much time she had spent watching videos on it since Veda had given it to her, but I knew she wouldn''t let it distract her once we got to work again.

    "You want eight different sorts of auto-turrets. Six self-targeting mods. Three different base wall upgrades¡ª" She looked up from the list, shaking her head. "This is way overkill for hold a gamma node."

    "No, it''s not," I contradicted. "It''s exactly what we need. We¡¯re going in with almost no backing. We¡¯ll look like easy prey to any of these galactic consortiums you''ve been telling us about. We''ve got to be prepared for them to hit us hard and fast. Our only chance is to get solid defenses set up."

    "You might be right, but I can''t possibly afford this. I''ve already indentured my future. I''ve got mortgages on top of my mortgages. My family is in Storage because I can''t even afford the basic upkeep fees for the reality engine where they live. I''m tapped out."

    "I know. You''ve been a good partner for us," Grandpa said. "And so we''re willing to come to the table with you. Our coalition has funds. You know that. You''ve been taxing our income, you know we¡¯re doing ok. Well, we want to buy in on this bid." He sent her a figure.

    Veda''s eyes went wide. "That''s got to be everything you''ve made in the last two months."

    "Pretty close. But Mama Grace picked up a catering contract, and it looks like we''re going to be clearing a nice profit there," I said. "We believe in this, Veda. It''s our best shot out of the mess we''re in."

    I still felt bad lying to her. The money had come courtesy of our new team members, who had joined up and then disappeared, promising to be ready on opening day.

    They had given us names so generic I felt sure they were fake. Like with Ames, they must have found a way to convince the System to display false information because there was no way that they were really named Smith, Jones, Brown, Black, and Smith. Grandpa had assigned them all to one squad and called it Team Mongoose. Because, he had said, when I asked him if he was crazy, "Mongeese very famously eat snakes."

    I left it at that and decided to make sure if they asked that I told them just who had come up with that idea.

    We had added Bill and Bob back to our team. Nobody was thrilled about that situation, but the brothers had agreed they were willing to give Phase 2 a try, especially since death wasn''t permanent. Then we had grouped our five new recruits into a single squad. Grandpa and I were willing to shake things up and have them moved around between teams if we decided it was necessary.

    "We can afford it," Grandpa said persuasively. "The party we¡¯ve put together can take a node, and with this materiel, we can hold it."

    "I suppose so," Veda said. "This says that you want to rank one of the Capture the Flag rule sets highest."

    "We do," I said. "Based on your projections, those are the most similar to games we have experience with. Tower defense games, base builders, that sort of thing." It was also the most common variant and the one that our beginners guide to building phase 2 outposts briefing covered in the most depth.

    "Then I''ll submit the build," Veda said. "I just hope you know what you''re doing." She ended the connection abruptly.

    "So do I," Grandpa said to the air. "So do I." He stood up. "We''d better get a good night''s sleep. It''s going to be a big day tomorrow."

 2.8 - Welcome to Paradise, Population Not You

    A Beginner''s Guide to Constructing Your Phase Two Outpost. Section 2.7: Location, Location, Location

    Interview Conducted by Colonel Jefferson Ames, U.S. Army.

    Interview subject, Hua¡¯Laona Gough, Purveyor of Fine Footwear and Former Phase 2 Elite, at the Hub¡¯s most exclusive club, over two bottles of Rayellen Champagne.

    I don''t know what you''re trying here. I thought you were inviting me out for a nice dinner. I only agreed because I do so like a smaller male.

    What''s that? Oh, my glory days. Well, I don''t mind if I do. Yes, I captained four different Phase 2 teams that had been assigned a 2% chance of returning profitably and came back with buckets of soul coin every time. No, I won''t tell you my secrets. What kind of girl do you think I am?

    Yes, yes, go ahead. I''ll take another glass.

    Well, the really important thing is, of course, location. There are so many factors that go into choosing the right location. I don''t just mean what level of node. I''m going to assume you already understand the type of node you''re going to be able to take and hold.

    There''s so much more to it than that. You''ve got to look at the map and make some snap decisions in the first six or seven minutes of the level opening. You''ll be able to tell a few things right off. Node quality, how far you are from other nodes, and some rough information about other resources spawning near your node. Those will be your crafting materials of various sorts, your rare spawn mobs, that sort of thing.

    The map probably won''t tell you what they are or how high a quality. You have to purchase upgrades for that, and most Phase 2 teams don''t bother. They just assume they''ll scout them manually and take over any enemy outpost they need to get hold of what they want.

    So, yes, you want to consider those when picking your location. You also need to think about who your neighbors are going to be. If you''re lucky, the rule set will provide you with information about who''s in your sector. That''ll let you make some intelligent decisions, assuming you know what they are talking about. Obviously, you won''t, because you earthlings are new to this whole thing. You''re just the cannon fodder. Oh, don''t take it that way. I don''t mean anything personal. You look like you''d... Well, never mind. The point is, you need to think about the neighborhood.

    My heart hammered as I stepped through the portal. It looked like any of the mission portals I had entered since coming to this reality engine months ago, but I knew better. This was where things got interesting.

    We didn''t know what to expect. Veda had given us her best guesses, but admitted that she was basing them on very little. And yet I was still surprised to find a wooden deck creaking under my feet, white sails billowing in the wind overhead, and the cry of a gull somewhere off to my left.

    Sage inhaled, "The sea!" She got excited any time our missions involved big bodies of water. Can''t blame her. She was a desert kid and had never seen an ocean before coming to the reality engine.

    I looked around. We were on a wooden sailing ship. It had a parapet deck behind us and three tall masts festooned with various ropes and sails. Sailors in white and blue uniforms ran around the deck. I was no sailing expert, but this looked to me like approximately a Napoleonic era ship, based on a couple of movies I¡¯d watched. I wondered if there were cannons down below.

    My team was scattered over the whole deck. "Map!" I shouted. "Where''s the map?"Our first steps were straightforward. Pick our target node, get to it, claim it, and hold it for the initial period. During that time, our allies outside could send in supplies, but not people. Juana¡¯s teams would be busy hauling crates and boxes of cargo over to the portal to ship through for us, while we claimed the node.

    Once the node was ours, we¡¯d be able to bring in our backup teams and erect defenses, but first we had to stake a claim.

    "Over here!" Sage yelled brightly. She was up behind the big steering wheel, pointing up the steps to the top deck area. I hurried over, Grandpa joining me.

    There was a big paper chart laid out on a table on the rear deck. A man in a gold buttoned coat with a big hat stood beside the table. I assumed he was the NPC captain of this boat and was just grateful that the Reality Engine wasn¡¯t going to make us sail the damn thing ourselves.

    The map showed a whole bunch of different islands, ranging from tiny specks to shapes about the size of my fingertip. "Is there a scale on this thing?" I asked. "How big is that?" I jabbed a finger at one of the biggest islands. It was long and skinny, shaped a little bit like Cuba.

    The NPC spoke. "Ah, that''d be the pirate island of Hispana. You don''t want to be going there. The crews that land there all end up fighting to the death over its treasures."

    "Yes, but how big is it?" I asked.

    "Oh, a league or two across, and twenty the long way."

    I assumed that a "league" was something on the order of a mile. That meant even the smallest islands had to be at least a quarter of a mile in diameter.

    There were different levels of resource node picked out along the map as color-coded dots. The map didn''t have a scale, but it did have a helpful legend. Gold was Alpha Tier, Blue was Beta Tier, Red was Delta Tier, and Purple was Gamma Tier.X''s and skulls marked spawning locations of valuable beasts, and other symbols marking resource gathering locations.

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    There were marks on the map, indicating that what were currently separate islands would be connected by sandbars at low tide. Right now, all the nodes were on their own islands. The legend on the map indicated tides were on a forty-eight-hour cycle, which was of course nonsense if talking about Earth, but would make for very interesting gameplay.

    Grandpa said, "I''ve sent a list of everyone else that''s going to be in this sector to Veda so she can start running an analysis. What do you think?"

    I pointed at a red dot not too far from the edge of the map. It was equidistant between two gold nodes with a smattering of purple and a single blue in the nearby vicinity. At low tide, all eight nodes would be connected together on a single giant island.

    "That one," I said.

    "Explain," Grandpa said.

    I pointed to the ship symbol on the map. "That''s us, so we can realistically expect to get about this far in the next two hours." I drew a circle. "I queried the rule set and the ship¡¯s speed is in there. Everyone gets a basic level 1 vessel to start, and we can upgrade it later. Our top speed is ten knots." I managed not to say per hour. I wasn¡¯t a seaman, but at least I knew that much.

    "Those two alpha nodes are far enough from each other that no team is going to try to claim both of them," I said. "If we''re in between, then any attempt one of our neighbors makes at dislodging us will be seen as a threat by the other big power. Hopefully they''ll respond."

    "That''s a lot to hope for," Grandpa said mildly.

    "The other delta-tier nodes I see are in worse situations." I pointed out the ones we could reasonably reach in a short time. "Look, they''re all surrounded by blue nodes. Anyone going after beta nodes will snap up a delta in the process. The Alpha node teams might not bother, at least not right away."

    "You¡¯re making a solid case," Grandpa agreed.

    "We''ll have a chance here. We''ll need to try to secure one or two of these gamma nodes if we can. I like how close these two resource patches are. If we''re lucky, we''ll be able to do serious harvesting. Remember, we have a strong farmer and crafter backline, and the galactics don¡¯t. We can¡¯t compete with them head on, but we can corner a market and get an economic win. Probably."

    Grandpa nodded. "I''ll back that," he said. "Captain, set a course for this island." He tapped my selected node.

    "Aye, aye, Commodore," the NPC captain said. He shouted to the sailor at the wheel, and the ship turned hard to starboard. I think. It might have been port. I was clearly going to have to brush up on my nautical terms here.

    Fortunately, the NPC sailors did a great job of driving the ship. I was pretty sure you couldn''t actually sail a ship like this so directly into the wind, but they did it anyway.

    My guess was that the reality engine was taking liberties. The ship speed had been given in straight up knots without any elaboration on whether that meant upwind or downwind.

    Soon we were approaching our chosen island. Sage had scaled up the mast, clinging to the top and peering out. She yelled "Land ho!" and then swung down on a rope, dropping to the deck and giving us a "ta-da!" in triumph. Her cheeks were tinged pink. "Can I have a pirate hat?"

    "Maybe later," I said.I directed our team into two boats, with Team Mongoose in one, Team Ragtag in another. Grandpa had let the other newcomers name themselves.

    Our team split up. Sage and I went with Team Mongoose, while Grandpa, Bill, and Bob clambered in with the Ragtag squad.

    Team Mongoose complained when they saw Sage. "You can shut it," I advised them. "She''s the only one here with a healing spell. Not to mention, she has about eight times more experience with reality engines than any of you do."

    The sailors lowered the boat over the side, and as it hit the water, I touched the oars. The boat immediately began moving forward.

    "Whoa," I said, taking my hands off the oars. The boat stopped. "Okay, one of you get the tiller or rudder, whatever that thing is, and steer," I said. "Make for the closest bit of sand you can see."

    "Looks like rocks over there," one of the Smiths pointed out. "Try to avoid that," he told Jones, who had taken the big steering stick at the back of the boat.

    I grabbed for the oars again, and we raced in toward the shore of the island. Dazzling white sand beach, thick, dense green jungle, a black volcanic cone sticking up from the middle of it. It looked like the perfect example of a desert island. There were even a pair of palm trees at the nearest edge of the jungle, crossing each other to make an archway with a narrow path beneath it. It looks idyllic.

    We saw no signs of life as we came ashore. The boat ran aground, and we hopped out and pulled it farther up on the beach as Grandpa''s boat nosed in to shore.

    "Alright, we''ve got to get to the node claim point," I said. It was on my mini-map now, blinking at me. I pointed and pinged it on the map. "That way. Everybody keep your eyes open for trouble."

    According to both Veda and the noob guide, phase two NPC opponents didn''t usually start spawning until a node had been claimed. We kept our eyes open anyway as we raced for the point.

    The node capture point was on a hill that stuck out of the surrounding jungle. No trees grew on the hill. Instead, it was littered with giant obsidian boulders. At the top was an enormous stone head like on Easter Island, except that the head was carved to resemble a snarling orc. I had seen several of those on the hub, and it disturbed me to know that there really were creatures in the galaxy that looked like that.

    "That''s the capture point," I shouted, pointing at the statue. "Gramps, do the honor!"

    Grandpa charged up the hill and placed his head on the statue. "And don''t call me Gramps!" he yelled back as the statue shifted and melted, its features rearranged into a likeness of Grandpa''s face with a feathered bonnet on top of his head. "That''s more like it," he said approvingly.

    A timer appeared over the statue''s head. "24:00. 23:59:59. 23:59:58." It would tick down for a whole day until it reached zero. At that point, we would be able to begin erecting defenses. Until then, we were vulnerable to attack from another team.

    Another counter started under that one. [Soul Coins earned: 1]. It ticked up when the timer reached [23:58:59]. One coin per minute during the initial claiming phase was the base rate for Delta nodes. A Beta level node would give ten times that, an Alpha node, a hundred times, but a Gamma produced only ten coins an hour.

    I pulled up my chat and sent a message to Juana, who was coordinating the team''s back-in threshold. Start sending the defense supplies through.

    As soon as we had claimed the node, it became a portal. Any material sent through by our coalition would come out here. We just wouldn''t be able to use it for 24 hours. That was all right. We had plenty of work to do before then.

    "Spread out and patrol," I said. "We can expect the first wave to spawn soon. Call it in and coordinate with each other. This is our fall-back point. Remember, if you die, you respawn, so don¡¯t be too cautious, but it¡¯ll take time for you to get back here." Later we would be able to build player respawn points that worked faster, but until then, anyone who died would come back on the deck of our ship. It would take time for them to get back into the action. "Whatever happens, we protect the node. We can¡¯t do anything else in the game until it¡¯s claimed."

    "Why not just stand here and wait for whatever¡¯s going to attack, instead of going out there?" Bill asked.

    "Because that lets the npcs mass up and launch a bigger attack. If we take them out as they¡¯re spawning in, it¡¯ll be easier on us." I tossed out assignments, leaving three of the new recruits, Annie, Mitch and Lakshmi, to defend the point. "You¡¯ve got your assignments, let¡¯s roll."

 2.9 - Wheres the Bottle of Rum, Yo Ho?

    Veda had brought me another upgrade for my map skill. This one would reveal the location of enemies so long as they were not using some sort of camouflage ability. My mini-map was big enough to reveal the entire island if I chose to zoom out that far.

    I activated my Sense Enemies skill and watched three clusters of red dots pop up on the map. "Okay, we''ve got spawn." I pinged everyone the locations. "I suggest we hit the nearest group together, then split up and take on the other two."

    "Sounds good," Grandpa agreed as we moved out. The closest group had spawned on the beach about a hundred yards from where we had left our boats. I briefly worried that they would destroy the boats, which would leave us unable to return to our ship unless we were dead. But as we stepped out of the jungle and into the brilliant sunlight, it was clear the enemy weren''t that smart.

    "More zombies?" Sage asked in disgust.

    "These are clearly pirate skeletons," I said. Backing me up, the System announcer proclaims [Avast, Mateys! You¡¯ve been boarded and keelhauled by Admiral Scaggers and his Skeleton Crew! Defeat them within one hour, or they¡¯ll claim your island for their own!]

    There were a dozen of them, wearing tattered sailor outfits and wielding rusty cutlasses. Or, in the case of the skeleton with the enormous black captain''s hat and eyepatch, a brace of pistols. None of them had more than 60 health, except for the one labeled "Cap¡¯n Black" who had 150 health. He also was providing a buff to the other skeletons, called "Shiver Me Timbers," which made them immune to any crowd control effects we had.

    I marked the captain with a skull. "Take him down, then we''ll worry about the rest." It didn''t seem like we needed much more organization for a group this basic.

    We rushed at the skeleton crew. Grandpa, Shadow Stepped in behind the captain, hit him with Coup, then stepped behind another skeleton. If he got in the first hit on one of the smaller skeletons, it took almost half the creature''s health in one hit.

    I fired a Barrage into the captain, sending all six shots from my cylinder straight into his skull. I reloaded with normal .44 Magnum rounds. I had almost a hundred special rounds in six different types, but I was saving them for something that seemed like more of a threat.

    Team Mongoose swarmed into action. One of the Smiths dropped a wall of sandbags a little ways down the beach. They formed a waist-high semicircle. Brown called up a machine gun from nowhere. Either it had been in his inventory, or the machine gun itself was a skill. He set it up and threw himself prone on the beach behind the sandbag wall, firing away into the mass of skeletons.

    "Watch friendly fire!" I shouted. Even if we would respawn. I didn''t want anyone getting killed this early.

    "It''s fine. His rounds only hit enemies," the other Smith called to me as he threw a smoke grenade into the mass of skeletons.

    Grandpa hit the pirate captain with coup de gras and yelled triumphantly as the skeleton collapsed at his feet. "I knew it! He''s not a real boss! My ability worked just fine on him."

    That was good to know. Several of our abilities specifically said they did not affect bosses. I had found that any sort of elite creature that was one of a kind, whether or not it was labeled as a boss, seemed to count, which was really annoying sometimes.

    On the other hand, a mob that was merely in charge of a lot of other lesser minions usually could be hit, and the pirate captain was no exception. We downed the rest of the skeletons in a matter of seconds.

    "Cease fire!" I shouted, and we converged on the piles of splintered bone and scraps of cloth that had been the skeleton crew. Sage bent down, picked up the captain¡¯s black hat, and admired the skull-and-crossbones. It vanished into her inventory.

    Over our triumphant discussion, the system announcer blared, [Wave one, thirty-three percent cleared. Time remaining: forty-five minutes.]

    I checked how much time we had left on our node claim timer. Sure enough, it was down to 23:45.

    So we had an hour to clear the first wave. I didn''t know if that meant we''d have an hour for the second wave and so forth. I wasn''t going to be making any guesses just yet.

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    "No loot," one of the newcomers, a man named Aaron Jackson, who had asked us to call him Ice Spice for reasons that I didn''t ask, said.

    "We''re not expecting any. Leave them and let''s split up."

    I sent him a private message. I can take the newbies and Bill & Bob. Mongoose will listen to you.

    That¡¯s why you¡¯re taking them, Grandpa said. Team Mongoose respects me, or they think they do. They don''t respect you and Sage yet. I need to know if you can win their trust, or at least keep them in line. Meanwhile, I''d like to get an idea of what Aaron and Lara can do.

    Acknowledged. So Grandpa took the brothers, Ice Spice and Lara, and headed for the farthest group of spawn. The plan was that Team Mongoose, Sage, and I would handle the closer group, then join Grandpa''s band.

    We split up, Grandpa and his team heading deeper into the jungle, while I led Team Mongoose farther up the beach. "Is there a cool down on that machine gun nest?" I asked as we went.

    "20 minutes, but I can only conjure it six times a day," Brown told me.

    "Alright, let''s get a look at the next threat before we use it then. This is going to be a long day. By day, you do mean a 24 hour period, yes?"

    "The timer also resets if we sleep for at least four hours," the shorter Smith told me.

    "Good to know. I doubt we''ll be sleeping in the next 24 hours, but still good to know."

    I kept an eye on my map in case any other red dots showed up. While I didn''t expect any more spawn until the end of this wave, there was always a possibility that other miners or the Galactics might appear. I wanted us to be ready if that happened.

    There was a rocky promontory between us and the next spawn location. "Anyone have any kind of spying abilities?"

    Jones stepped forward. "I¡¯ve got a drone, but it costs five soul coins for each use."

    "Well, then use it," I said. "We are not going to be hurting for soul coins, not if we do this right."

    "Sure thing," he agreed.

    "How about a roger on that?" I snapped.

    They shot me a quick glance. I couldn''t make out his thoughts. "Roger," he said.

    I wasn''t sure how much of their attitude was disrespect and how much was just a more casual approach to missions. Special forces types had a certain reputation.We weren¡¯t using our military ranks, but grandpa had put me in charge. It was hard to get used to ordering anyone around. I¡¯d been a corporal, back on Earth, and my promotion to lieutenant still didn¡¯t feel real.

    Jones popped out a drone. It looked to me more like a mechanical falcon. After it spawned, it perched on his wrist while he gave it directions. Then it rose into the air and hovered like a drone would before hopping over the rocks and making a swoop along the cove beyond.

    "Huh." Jones scowled, his eyebrows knitting together. "It looks like a bunch of pigs walking around on hind legs wearing loincloths with feather headdresses and war paint. They''ve got javelins and what look like bows and arrows." He turned back to me, looking upset. "What the hell is this stuff? Is this was the aliens think of us humans?"

    I was too used to the nonsense by now to be offended. "This is all dreamed up by some sort of alien artificial intelligence that''s older than our solar system, if I understand it right, and then translated through other alien artificial intelligences programmed by people who don''t consider any human worth giving the time of day," I said. "Of course it''s racist. Don''t read too much into it. We''re going to get down there. We''re going to slaughter them. We aren¡¯t going to try to understand their culture. Anything interesting, strategically speaking?"

    "They''ve got a cook pot boiling over a fire and a couple of those statues that are carved to look like a bunch of animal heads on top of each other. You know what I''m talking about?"

    I nodded. "Sure. Gotta assume that any of those might be the focal point of an ability of some sort." I checked our clock. 37 minutes to go and I wanted to be able to help grandpa. "Right, here''s what we''re going to do."

    * * *

    I sprinted up to the row of boulders, vaulted past them onto the beach, then ran full out for the cannibal pig camp, assuming my team was right on my heels. My drover''s coat flapped in the breeze behind me. The sun was warm, but the drover''s coat felt as comfortable in this heat as it did in -20.

    The system announced: [Admiral Scaggers¡¯ loyal allies, the Cannibal Pigs of Greenfeather Mountain! Defeat them to deal the admiral¡¯s invasion a swift blow!]

    My revolver in my hand, I shouted as I approached the camp. As soon as I was in range, I cast Call ¡®Em Out and then turned tail and sprinted back toward the rocks.

    Team Mongoose and Sage stayed behind me, ready to act. All four of Team Mongoose had M4s out and would fire as soon as I was out of the way.

    Sage cast Mucking Out the Stalls on the beach just past me, catching the first six or so pigs. I went into a slide as I approached the team and Team Mongoose fired over my head. I slid past them one leg out like a runner trying to steal third, then rolled over and started firing.

    The pigs were stuck in the mud and despite stereotypes, they did not look happy about it. A couple of them threw their javelins toward us. One sailed right past me and pinned the corner of my coat to the sand. I reloaded and shot that pig a couple times in the head for his insolence.

    Team Mongoose was busy turning the pigs into Swiss cheese. We dropped them all, dark blood staining the white grains of sand.

    I got up, pulled the javelin out of my coat, and examined the hole. "I¡¯m going to have to pay Rosa to fix that as soon as we''re done with this first phase," I lamented. The hole was big enough for me to get three of my fingers through.

    "Right." I checked the progress. It now said [Wave One, 66% cleared.] "Let''s head for the other team and help them out."

 2.10 - The Importance of Time Management

    I sent a message to grandpa. Finished here. What''s the situation?

    Got another set of skeleton pirates, but these ones had a chance to dig in before we got there. The so-called admiral is with them so I assume we defeat them and then we¡¯re done. They''ve got a gun boat pulled up on shore.

    A what? That didn''t seem era-appropriate.

    Like our landing craft, but with a small brass cannon in the front of it. It''s got a decent range. We lured five of them out and took them down. I was considering just charging in now.

    We''ll be there in five minutes, I said. Want to hold up?

    I think we will. There was no way of telling from the plain text, but I wondered if the new recruits weren''t performing up to grandpa''s expectations.

    We crashed through the jungle, not much caring about noise. I checked my mini-map regularly. No new red dots appeared. We could see the little green dots for grandpa and his party and made right for them.

    They were concealed a little ways back in the forest, peering around palm trees to study the enemy setup. I poked my head out.

    This crew had a pirate boss, "Admiral Scaggers", and a Ghostly Cockswain. The cockswain was giving all the others a buff to their ranged damage, and these pirates were armed with muzzle-loading long guns. I couldn''t quite make out the details from here, but they looked like wheellocks to me, not flintlocks. They probably weren''t very accurate, would be slow to reload, but pack a heck of a punch.

    "What''s the operational plan?" I asked.

    Grandpa turned to Team Mongoose. "We haven''t had a chance to see you fellows take the lead. What would you suggest?"

    Smith, the tall one, who I was pretty sure was at least an O-2 like myself, peered out, then ducked back behind cover with the rest of us. "Anything wrong with just charging them head-on?"

    "That would probably work," Grandpa agreed. "The thing is, we might take the opportunity to get a better look at some of their capabilities. We''ve gotmore waves coming before we''ve claimed the node. I''m gonna assume we''re going to see more of these guys."

    "Then I think we need to use your team as bait while we sneak in behind them and knock them out," Smith said at once. "How often can you use that trick to get them all to pay attention to you, Williams?"

    "It''s back off cooldown now," I said.

    "What else have you got? We need to understand each other''s capabilities if we''re going to work together," Smith said.

    Grandpa grinned wickedly. "Indeed we are. So why don''t you share your ability list with us and we''ll share ours with you?"

    Smith blinked like he hadn''t been expecting that. The four men that Colonel Ames had landed us with had been pretty reticent to share much about their capabilities. "We can just tell you," Smith said.

    Grandpa sighed. "Now I get that there are things you are hiding from us. I don''t rightly understand why. We''re all on the same side here. I assume the colonel''s given you some secret orders, but for as long as you are going to be working with my team, we need to work together. Shad, Sage, send them over."

    I pulled up my abilities list and sent it to the men. Sage stuck her tongue out and followed suit.

    The other two newbies sent their info without being asked. I''d already seen their skill lists before. They weren''t particularly impressive. Neither one had a very coherent class. Ice Spice was a [Self-Defense Self-Taught Specialist] with moves like [I Know Kung Fu] that gave him a 30-second ability to fight unarmed in melee and actually inflict some serious damage, and another one called [3 a.m. Martial Arts Movie Marathon] that sounded like it gave him a different batch of martial arts skills for a five minute period but had a three hour cool down.

    Lara was a [Soccer Mom] with a [Minivan] ability that could teleport her entire current party out of battle space. That seemed like it''d be situationally very useful. Her offensive moves included [School Run] which let her get in and deal crippling blows to three different enemies, then disengage. [I Brought Oranges for Everyone] was actually a grenade lobbing move like our buddy Deputy Young had.

    Tall Smith blinked. His eyes went distant for a minute. "Thanks," he said. "Yeah, I''m getting the idea for a plan now." He did not share his own sheet.

    "Captain Smith," Grandpa said, his tone dangerously cold. "I will now make it an order. You and your men share your skill sets with Shad and me immediately." There was no room in his voice for questioning him.

    Smith''s jaw muscles worked. I could see the men glancing at each other and knew they were having a private conversation in chat. The seconds ticked by. They were getting dangerously close to insubordination.

    Finally, Smith said, "Understood, sir." A moment later, an information pack pinged on my system.

    "Good. I''ll take a look at that at my convenience. Now, it sounded like you had a plan," Grandpa said.

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    "Yeah." Smith was definitely ruffled now. "Right, so it is pretty clear those guys have a ranged move. The ones we fought earlier were mostly melee. I''m wondering whether they can switch back and forth. So what I suggest is we drive in hard and scatter them, then take some time to see what moves they''re capable of. Everyone here ought to be able to take one hit. If you take more than that, get out of combat by any means necessary."

    "I can keep people topped off," Sage offered brightly. "And my team buff is powerful enough now to hit everyone here. It''s not just limited to my original party."

    "Then cast that as we start," Smith said. "Williams, I want you to charge in and do your ''pay attention to me'' move. Lara, I want you to lob some grenades at the group as soon as they''re focused on Williams. I''ve noticed a few cases where sonic damage will break a crowd control, and it would be good to know if these suffer from that limitation."

    That was good to know. We had used plenty of crowd control with Frank, and I''d never noticed that. I filed it away for future reference.

    "After that, pay attention to how much damage they take from which abilities. Don''t use any AOEs," Smith continued. "We want to be clear about who did what damage. We will debrief after the firefight."

    That made sense to me. I could have suggested a few refinements, but Grandpa seemed to be interested in letting Smith do the leading here.

    "On your signal then," I told Smith.

    "Go!"

    Sage cast Cowgirl Cheer on all of us. I ran ahead of the group. I didn''t use my Fastest Gun in the West move yet. I wanted to save that for getting out of trouble if necessary. Its range had gone up as I leveled, and I could now charge a hundred feet in a straight line. I would just have to be careful where I was pointing and make sure I ran along the beach and not back into the woods and hit a tree. That had happened once in a previous mission, and it had hurt a lot.

    The pirates looked up as I ran in. The admiral raised his arm and brought it down in a sharp motion and a pair of skeleton pirates in their beached landing boat jumped to the cannon. They began wheeling it around to point it at me.

    I ran into the middle of the group and cast "Call ''em Out" as they were aiming their muskets at me.

    A barrage of small orange grenades landed all around. They exploded. I hadn''t expected the orange scent or the cloud of acrid smoke that arose. It made me cough. My eyes watered.

    Some of the skeletons looked disoriented. They turned to seek the source of the grenades. My skill hadn''t worn off, so this must be one of those effects that Smith had mentioned. I would have to see if we could figure out the rules later.

    I fired a Barrage at the pirate admiral. We needed to get him and the cockswain down, and then the rest would be fairly easy pickings. The admiral had a flintlock pistol and a rapier.

    He fired his pistol at me. The slug caught me in the arm. I staggered back, the pain burning. My eyes were already watering from the smoke, and now I could barely see. I took 25 points of damage just from the one hit.

    Sage cast "Raise Your Spirits" on me and a cool wash of relief flowed over me, easing the pain and restoring my health. The heal-over-time aspect started ticking me upward.

    The skeleton admiral dropped his pistol and swung his rapier at me. Grandpa Shadow Stepped in behind him and used Scalp, knocking his hat off. The skeleton whirled on him, rapier coming within inches of grandpa''s hunting jacket.

    Grandpa Shadow Stepped away to another of the skeletons, and I put another six rounds through the admiral. He was hurting pretty bad now, down to [10/150].

    One of the Smiths came in behind him with a k-bar knife and ran it across the admiral''s non-existent throat. That did the trick. The skeleton''s health bar disappeared and he collapsed.

    All of the other skeletons lost the buff the admiral had been providing. I turned to look for the cockswain just as the skeletons on the boat fired their cannon.

    The cannon shot blew through the middle of the melee, knocking one of the pirates out of the way and nearly hitting Jones. My ears rang. I aimed at the gunner skeletons and shot one, dropping its health from full to nothing in two seconds flat. The other one was struggling to reload, a heavy cannonball in its bony hands.

    Grandpa Shadow Stepped up and scalped it, then hit it with his [Take No Prisoners] move. He didn''t use that very often because he was usually more mobile, preferring to dance around the battlefield and deliver a little bit of damage to a lot of different targets. But when he needed to drop a single damaged enemy fast and didn''t have enough coup points to cash in, Take No Prisoners dealt a lot of damage really fast. It required him to have an axe in each hand, then hit the target three times with each.

    By the time he was done, the skeleton was a pile of broken bone shards.

    "Help!" Sage was shrieking. I turned to find her.

    She was standing over Ice Spice, who lay on the ground with one arm and half his torso blown away. "My heal''s not working!" she exclaimed. "He''s still going down!"

    "Potion! Quick!" I shouted, running over to her. There were still three skeletons up. The Mongeese ran around dealing with them.

    "I can''t!" She wrang her hands. Ice Spice lay on the sand, his blood leaking out. His eyes were rolled back in his head, and he was convulsing. His health bar was ticking down. Ten points left. Nine. Eight.

    I grabbed a potion then hesitated because I had just noticed the debuff on him. It read [Shrapnel]. The effect was [This wound cannot be healed while Shrapnel is present. Time remaining: 15 seconds.]

    I swore. He wasn''t going to make it. "Can you hear me, buddy?" I said, grabbing his remaining hand and squeezing. "Hold on. It''s gonna be alright. You''re gonna respawn right back on the boat and we''ll send someone for you. It''s alright. You did good."

    I held on tight as I could as his health trickled down to zero.

    [Victory! You have defeated Admiral Scaggers and retain control of this island. Lick your wounds, savor your victory, and prepare for the next round of invaders!]

    The battle was over. When I regained control of myself, I stood up. Sage was quietly sobbing. I put an arm around her shoulders. "It''s alright, Sage. He''s not really dead."

    "I know, but it feels like he is. I was trying to heal him and it didn''t work." Sage rubbed her nose as she sobbed.

    "That was good intel," Tall Smith said, walking back to us. "Now we know those cannonballs apply a nasty debuff that we can''t afford. We''ll have to target any cannoneers first."

    I restrained myself from calling him all of the names I was secretly thinking. He was right. Ice Spice wasn''t really dead. In fact ¡ª I checked. He''d be back with us in five minutes.

    We had 22 minutes remaining on our timer and the wave was 100% clear. I noticed something else. "Hey, look," I said to Grandpa. "It''s asking if we want to start the next wave now."

    "So it is," Grandpa said.

    "You think if we do that, it''ll make us able to take the node any faster?"

    Grandpa looked around at the beach, the piles of broken bones, the looks on all our faces. "Everybody, grab a drink and a snack," he said. "I''m going to start this up in five minutes so we can find out what''s going on. Leave a message for Aaron to get back here as soon as possible." We had left the boats beached, but Ice Spice would be able to recall one from the ship. "Then let¡¯s see what we can do."

 2.11 - How Many Men Can Fit On A Dead Mans Chest?

    Starting the next wave before the timer ran out did not advance our capture of the node point. That was still ticking down from 24 hours at a rate of 1 second per second.

    Instead, our timer to clear the second wave was [1 hr 16 minutes], the leftover time from wave one rolling over to wave two.

    "I wonder if that stacks?" I said, excited. "That could be really useful." I was already thinking of ideas. We could get 4 waves ahead and then take a couple of hours down time, get some big cooldowns back.

    "Let''s clear this wave first, then meet back at the node point and have a quick discussion," Grandpa said. "What do you see?"

    I checked my map. "Three spawn points, same as before," I said. "Looks to me like they''re slightly bigger." I pinged them so they¡¯d show on everyone else¡¯s map.

    One wasn''t too far from us. We decided to tackle that one as a group. Jones pulled out his drone and sent it out to scout.

    "Cannibal pigs again," he said, "and this time they''ve got some lizard folk with them. The lizards don''t have any weapons that I can see. Big sharp teeth and claws, though."

    We agreed on a pincer movement tactic for this one and sent Team Mongoose to sweep around to the far side of the camp.

    Then Grandpa, Sage, Lara, and I crept up closer. Lara was looking very uncomfortable. She had just seen a man bleed out and die in front of us, and even I was having trouble believing that he''d be back. I didn''t blame her for being a little nervous.

    Team Mongoose signaled when they were in position. "Let''s do this," Grandpa said, and we charged in.

    I had Lara throw a barrage of her orange grenades before anyone else stepped in. The smoke clouds went off again. I had a hunch it was those that had broken my crowd control and not any kind of sonic damage. Plenty of games had mechanics where you¡¯d lose focus if line of sight got broken.After all, I would stop concentrating if someone threw smoke bombs into the middle of my camp, too.

    The pigs and lizards seemed confused for a few seconds, especially once Team Mongoose started firing into their camp. Some of the lizards dropped to all fours and went charging into the brush. Sage cast Mucking Out the Stalls where they were going and tangled them up. She Lassoed one of the pigs who wasn''t standing in a cloud of smoke and had him run around and attack the others.

    I stepped in closer to get a decent shot. I could feel something sharpen as I did and a minute later I realized the totems were staring at me. There were three of them, about six feet tall each, each a stack of four non-human heads on top of each other. They looked like the pigs and lizards here in the camp. The bottom totem on each pole opened its mouth and spouted gouts of fire.

    I jumped back. "Ah! Look out!" The gouts passed inches from me. I shot the nearest pig and dove for the brush. "Take out the totems!" I yelled and Team Mongoose started shooting them. One by one, they blew up into clouds of splinters.

    That enraged the pigs. They started charging around the clearing, swinging their stone axes and javelins at anything that moved, including each other. The lizards weren''t so angry, or reckless. They were still sniffing around the brush after us. I shot one as it charged Sage. She laughed and had her tamed pig take out another lizard.

    We cleaned up the camp pretty fast. The enormous cauldron bubbling on top of the fire smelled suspicious to me. The pigs and lizards hadn''t done anything with it, but I was concerned that each spawn wave was going to get successively harder and that we might find out what it was for sooner or later.

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    After that, we split up to go clean out camps. This time, Grandpa sent Team Mongoose off to clear a camp on their own with no instructions except to report back anything that they thought we should know about. We took Lara with us to the closer camp.

    The next spawn was located deeper in the jungle. We slogged up a heavily forested, vine-covered hill. I had to pull a machete out of my inventory and start hacking through the vines to cut us a path.

    We were almost on top of the spawn point before I spotted the enemy. There were only three red dots and I hadn''t been able to tell what they were, but as we approached the bottom of the hill, I noticed three piles of mossy boulders in approximately the right location. I pointed them out to the team.

    Sage used her "Eye-Spy" ability. "Rock trolls," she said. "They''re immune to fire, poison, drowning, and any kind of edged weapon."

    "So what''s that leave?" I asked.

    "Sonic," Lara said cheerfully. She pulled out a stash of her orange grenades.

    "Ice. Most of my bullets. Old age," I added as I thought about it.

    "How about the boom rounds?" Sage suggested.

    "We''ve only got ten of those," I said.

    "They don''t do us any good if you keep them in your gun belt the whole fight," Sage retorted.

    "All right, I''ll give it a try." I switched out my load to include two of Sage''s boom rounds. We''d used them two missions ago and they had made an impact, that''s for sure.

    I looked at Lara. "Toss your grenades in to wake them up, then I''ll take my shot. After that, we assess."

    She nodded brightly. "Ready? Go!"

    I was glad to see she was doing better. Ice Spice had messaged the whole team after respawning, assuring us that he was okay, that it had hurt to die, but coming back was fine, and that he was on his way back to the island now. That had lifted my mood and I¡¯d noticed Lara had more spring in her step since.

    Lara threw the grenades. They rained down around the three piles of boulders. I held myself ready as they exploded.

    The boulders stood up. It was like watching a rock fall in reverse as the piles became coherent, humanoid-shaped lumps with rock arms, rock legs, and small moss-covered rock boulders atop the large shapes of their bodies.

    Sage giggled. "They''re like evil rock snowmen!"

    The orange grenades had done some damage. The rock trolls¡¯ maximum health was 120, and they were down to 105 each.

    I took a deep breath and pointed my gun in their direction, then squeezed off one of the boom rounds.

    My shot landed in between the three of them. It exploded a chunk of forest about 20 feet in diameter. Bits of tree rained down all around us. There was a crackling sound, and then smoke began to rise from small fires started around the edge of the circle.

    The inside of the circle was just bare dirt. Even the plants and fallen leaves had been blasted away. Piles of loose stone lay scattered all about. I checked our progress bar. It said "Wave 2: 55% Cleared."

    "They''re not all dead," I warned and looked around.

    "There," Sage pointed.

    One of the rock trolls had five health remaining. It was trying to pull itself back together. It was a bizarre sight. Individual rocks rolled toward each other, and when they touched, they stuck together.

    "Uh-oh," Sage said. "They''ve got a regenerate ability!"

    "Well shit!" I really didn''t want to have to use another of my boom rounds. They were expensive and, as we had just seen, very effective.

    I turned my revolver''s cylinder to a different chamber and fired a normal round at the largest chunk of rock I saw. It hit and did two points of damage, chipping away a flake of stone from the troll¡¯s head.

    I fired a couple more times, then reloaded, returning my boom round to my gun belt. It took ten shots directly on the reforming troll to knock it out completely. I was literally chipping pieces of rock away with each round. Finally, it was dead, and we were at 66% complete.

    How''s it going? Grandpa asked Team Mongoose.

    We''re finishing up here. Meet you back at the node.

    "Should we go check on them?" I asked.

    "They say they''re fine," Grandpa shrugged. "Let''s go. We''ll meet them back at the node."

    I hesitated. I was starting to have an idea. ¡°What about starting the next round immediately? I think we could clear three or four rounds pretty quickly. Earn ourselves a chunk of time.¡±

    ¡°Then do what? Take a nap?¡± Grandpa scratched his head. ¡°You¡¯ve got a plan here, don¡¯t you.¡±

    ¡°Not quite. It¡¯s starting to form. I feel like we¡¯ve got an opportunity here. Need a target to aim at, though.¡± I holstered my gun. ¡°I¡¯ll work on the thought while we get back to our node.¡±

 2.12 - How to Be An Effective Pirate

    We made it back to the node before Team Mongoose got there. They let us know they had finished without an issue, which the system had already informed us of.

    We had cleared wave two with 45 minutes to spare. That meant we had nearly two hours before we¡¯d have to have wave three finished. It wasn¡¯t enough time to take a break, or do anything else, but maybe we could keep this rolling

    The miners on guard duty at the node hadn¡¯t just been standing around. Once we started the node claiming process, we¡¯d messaged Juana to start sending our gear through. Annie, Lakshmi and Mitch had hauled everything off the node¡¯s receiving circle and sorted it into piles.

    There were big heaps of crates and boxes scattered all around, all full of the gear Veda had sent us to use once we got our node fully converted and were able to start putting up defenses.

    I picked up one of the crates and got a shock. It was eligible to go in my inventory. We hadn''t brought any of this stuff through with us because none of this gear could be stashed in our inventory, at least not on the Threshold side. It had been brought down on big floating pallets from the Hub and delivered to our staging area. Then our coalition delivered it through the portal to us.

    Our whole strategy was built around how much support gear we could get here and how quickly. The crate I held was labeled as containing one autonomous self-targeting defense turret, continuously reloading as long as it was connected to an active defense network with a base rate of fire of one shot per five seconds. The other crates had everything from the building blocks of the defense network we would need to erect to a couple of boxes containing the start of various buildings.

    Veda had a lot more stashed back on the hub for us. She was waiting for the price of shipping it down to threshold to be more reasonable. For the first couple of days, space on the elevator down was at a premium.

    I stored the crated up turret in my inventory, picked up another of the boxes, stored it as well. Then I walked over to the other side of the hill, pulled them out, and dropped them.

    "What are you doing?" Sage asked, looking curious. "I thought these didn''t go in inventories?" She picked up one of the crates herself. It vanished. "What do you know?" she said. "Rules must be different once it''s in a portal."

    "Yeah." My mind was racing. "That gives me some ideas."

    I sent Juana a quick message asking her if all of our supplies had come through. She replied back, almost at once, that they had, was there something else we needed, and how was it going?

    It''s fine. Fill you in later, I said. My mind was racing. I didn''t know if what I was thinking was possible, but I did know the next couple steps we would need to take.

    As Team Mongoose emerged from the brush, looking tired but all in one piece, Grandpa said, "Now is probably a good time for us to take a break and start laying out the defense network. I know we won''t be able to get it online just yet, but¡ª "

    "Hang on," I said, holding up a hand. "Sorry to interrupt you, sir, but I''ve got an idea."

    He looked at me, eyebrows raised. "What''s that, Shad?"

    "This is more of a Lt. Williams idea and less of a Shad idea, sir," I said, formally stressing the command structure between us. "If I may suggest something?"

    He nodded. "Go ahead."

    "There''s a lot of variables involved here. I don''t know if it''s even going to be possible," I said, "but I think I''ve got an idea for how we can get a jump on the competition."

    That got everyone interested. They clustered around me, waiting for me to speak. I gave them a quick overview. Grandpa was nodding, Sage grinned maniacally. Even Team Mongoose looked impressed.

    "The first step we need is to gain a couple more hours. I think we should trigger the next three waves and clear them as fast as we can. Then we''ll see if my idea is even feasible. I want to send a couple of quick messages while we¡¯re clearing waves."

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    "All right," Grandpa said. "Let''s do that."

    We left Ice Spice, Lara, Bill and Bob to guard the node while Annie, Lakshmi and Mitch got to come with Grandpa, Sage and me to clear waves. Grandpa wanted a chance to see what the other three could do. He hung back and gave them suggestions, while I took the lead, rushing in to camps with Call ¡®Em Out, catching everyone¡¯s attention, and letting my team clear up the resulting mess.

    While we cleared camps full of Skeleton Pirates, Cannibal Pigs, and a new variant that had just popped up, sea monsters coming ashore to try to eat us, I sent a furious slew of messages.

    To Veda, I sent: Can you tell anything about the other teams in our sector? I don''t have access to the map right now. That would be one of our early upgrades. Right now, we could only see the level map from our ship. One of the improvements Veda had sent along would give us a map table in our outpost.

    I can pull up a list of who, but not where they are.

    I should be able to check locations myself soon, I told her.

    All right, I''ll send you the listing.

    Also, let me know which of them I should not piss off.

    What are you planning, Shad? I could practically hear her alarm in her texts. I thought we went over the strategy and everyone was agreed.

    Yeah, well, you know how it is once you get boots on the ground. Plans change.

    We had not yet mentioned to Veda that we were trying to take a delta node instead of the gamma node she had planned on. At some point we were all going to have to sit down for a nice long chat.

    We tore through the waves of spawn like a machine gun through cheesecloth. I wondered if this was supposed to be a challenge or not. Certainly, it seemed like there was plenty of time for players to interfere with each other during this phase.

    The fourth wave was equally easy. The fifth wave changed things up a bit. We had five spawn points this time. We tackled the first spawn point as a group to make sure things hadn''t gotten too much harder, and found our old friends the skeleton pirates. They had four officers with them this time and two different gunboats. Now that we knew to target the cannoneers first, it hardly counted as a challenge. I used another Boom Round to blow up both boats, we charged in, the skeletons died. Then we split up to clear the rest of the spawns.

    Grandpa, Sage, and I were standing looking over the last camp, a bunch of the pigs. I paused. "Grandpa? We should have enough time for an attempt at my idea after this, but first I''ve got to find out which nodes are being taken by whom means getting to the map on the ship. I don''t want to waste everyone''s time if there''s not actually a good opportunity here. I took a deep breath. Fastest way over to that ship is right through that camp." I nodded at the group of cannibal pigs.

    Sage''s eyes went wide. "No, Shad. No."

    "It''s not real," I assured her. "Besides, I''m going to be sending people in to combat knowing they have no chance of surviving. I need to know what it''s like."

    Grandpa nodded. "All right," he said. "Just make sure we''re going to get a camp clear before you let them finish you."

    I grinned at him. "You and Sage could clear this camp with one hand tied behind your back, Grandpa." I looked through my inventory and found what I was looking for. It was an early attempt at a fragmentation grenade Dwight had made. Problem was, it had ended up weighing about 10 pounds. Too heavy to lob unless you had trained in shot put, which I hadn¡¯t. It would, however, make a nice bang.

    I took a deep breath. "See you on the other side," I said. I leapt out of cover, sprinted toward the camp, and ignited the fuse on the bomb.

    So, interesting fact about phase two. Death doesn''t hurt. You blink, and you''ve respawned. Dying, however, is a bitch.

    When that bomb went off, I felt my body being torn to shreds, the metal ripping through my flesh and bone. The shrapnel tearing me to pieces. Then, nothingness.

    I opened my eyes, and I was on the deck of the ship. I took a deep, deep breath. That was not fun. I sent a message to Grandpa and Sage right away. I''m alright. I''m back on the boat. It didn''t hurt, I lied to Sage.

    Don''t ever do that again, Sage replied. I just saw you blow up. This was a stupid plan, Shad.

    I didn''t reply as I climbed the stairs to the poop deck and shouldered in next to Captain NPC.

    The map lay in front of me, different icons and markings covering it. Our ship was indicated on the map just off to the side of the island we had claimed. In the middle of the island was the Misfits Guild logo, a pair of barbeque tongs crossed with a hammer.

    The two nearby alpha nodes had both been claimed. I checked their sigils against the list Veda had sent me, and identified them very quickly as large galactic conglomerates. Happily, none of them was Sicaris Corporation. We had had unpleasant dealings with them previously. Both, however, were on Veda''s list of "Please don''t piss these guys off. They could eat us all alive for breakfast."

    They weren''t who I was really interested in, though. There was a beta node not far from us. I had seen it on the ship map before, when we first came through, and had briefly considered making a bid for it. But Grandpa and I had already planned out our delta node strategy and I didn¡¯t want to change up on the fly. It had been a tempting target, though.

    Sure enough, someone had claimed it. I looked up their icon. The company was known as TriStar Unlimited, and was in a list Veda had labeled "Nobody likes these guys, but they come every time. If you piss them off, we might survive."

    That was good enough for me. I double-checked the distance, consulted with the captain, and sent Grandpa a message. It''s on.

 2.13 - A Guide to Finding Bargains at Garage Sales

    I had nothing to do for fifteen minutes but stand around and wait. I stared out across the waves toward the island until my eyes hurt. Finally, at last, I saw our two boats sailing toward the ship. Grandpa, Sage, Bob, and Bill were in one boat, Team Mongoose was in the other. That just left Team Ragtag on the island.

    It was a calculated risk. We had over five hours until the next wave had to be cleared. Theoretically, Ragtag shouldn¡¯t even have to do anything, just stand there and look pretty. If one of our rival teams decided to try to attack us, though, they''d be in big trouble.

    I was making a gamble, but one I thought could pay off big. The NPC sailors hauled the boats up into their hoists as Grandpa and Sage climbed up to join me.

    Sage was wearing the hat she''d stolen from the first pirate captain we''d killed. "Are we ready?" I asked.

    "No sense wasting time," Grandpa said.

    Sage put her finger on the beta node island. "Set course for Sage Point," she ordered the NPC captain.

    The captain saluted her. "Aye aye, Captain Sage."

    Wind billowed in the sails. The helmsman turned the wheel, and our ship set course for the other island.

    "Did you hear that?" Sage exclaimed in delight. "He called me captain! It must be because I stole the hat. I got a promotion now. Do I have a title?" She dove into her menus and emerged again a moment later, looking disappointed. "I don''t. That''s not fair. I want to know how to get the title. I need an achievement." She looked up at the sky overhead and addressed the system. "I want a pirate captain title. Do you hear me? Make me an achievement for that."

    "Don''t go changing your class now, Sage," I said. "Not when you''re doing so well as a Barrel Rider."

    She pouted. "I wanted Rodeo Queen, but that wasn''t one of my class evolution choices. Maybe next time. Or maybe I will multiclass. Horses aren''t much good on a boat."

    "Are those even options?"

    "They should be."

    It took us about 40 minutes to reach the other island. Once there, we took both boats over. Grandpa ordered the NPC captain to return to our island without waiting for us. The two boats were programmed to return to the ship no matter where on the map they were. It was another calculated gamble. If we all died without recovering one of our boats, we would respawn on the pirate ship, which would be anchored off the coast of our island, and have no way to reach the shore. However, by sending the ship on ahead of us, we were that much closer to getting back to our node control point.

    We assembled on the beach, and I looked at Jones. "How''s our camo working?"

    Part of my planning had included perusing the skill list from the five Mongeese. Jones and the others all had entirely different names listed on their skill sheets, but Grandpa and I had agreed to respect their covers and use the names they had given us. I had been nearly overcome with laughter when I learned Tall Smith¡¯s class was [Ring Knocker]. I¡¯d had to go off on my own and take long deep breathes for a good five minutes after that one.

    Anyway, Jones, who was a [Army Scout] had a camouflage skill which would keep all of us from appearing on enemy minimaps unless they had a high enough level of pierce camouflage. Hopefully they didn''t. We had activated it before leaving our ship.

    "I can keep it up for another twenty minutes," he said, "but only if you stay within a hundred yards of me."

    This island was about three times the size of ours. A hundred yards was a long way, but hardly enough.

    I checked my minimap. There were red dots on the far side of the island, and blue dots mixed in with those red dots, as well as blue dots around what I presumed was their node capture point, since it matched the location where their sigil had been on the big map.

    "All right," I said, "looks like there are eight of them. Five are busy with clearing a wave. As we know, that doesn''t take too long, so we''ve got to hit hard and hit fast."

    We moved off through the jungle toward their node point. This island looked a lot like ours, right down to the same kinds of trees and jungle. Their node, however, was at the bottom of a bowl-shaped valley. It was a big stone ring about eight feet tall in the center, devoid of trees, with stone steps cut into the side of the bowl. Three aliens patrolled the bottom of the bowl, glancing frequently up toward the jungle. We lay low beneath the concealing fronds of palm.

    "Those are the ugliest aliens I''ve seen yet," Sage said.

    They really were. They had three legs and an odd rolling gait where they would rotate which leg was in front, like they moved forward by spinning. Their heads had two wide multifaceted eyes, one on each side, and they had cilia-like tentacles hanging in front of their maws. If I knew anything from Grandpa''s lectures on hunting, the eyes meant they were a prey species originally, trying to watch everywhere for predators. They would likely see us as soon as we came out of the trees.

    "Sage, how close do you have to be to activate your three-barrel race skill?"

    She rubbed her hands. "I''m looking forward to this!" She had only gotten a chance to use it in combat once before. It let her designate three locations, one where she started and two others within 300 yards of that first spot, and then teleport between them as much as she wanted.

    There were big piles of crates, boxes, barrels, and bags in the valley below, like at our node but even worse, like the aliens were having a big rummage sale. It didn''t look like the aliens had started to unpack their supplies, just piled them up wherever they felt like it. The patrolling aliens had to weave around between them.

    Sage marked out the two largest piles. "Those are mine," she said.

    "Right." We were going to need to get a little bit lucky here, but I thought we would be able to do it. I took a deep breath. "Bill, Bob, you''re with me."

    I grabbed for Bob. This was a move I had practiced, but not yet used for real. We stepped out to the edge of the trees, and I activated Fastest Gun in the West with my arms wrapped securely around Bob¡¯s torso. We rushed forward right into the center of the bowl.

    The aliens pointed their weapons at us right away. I cast Call ¡®Em Out, even though that probably wasn''t necessary, just as Bob cast Babble. Then the rest of my team broke from the trees to join the fight.

    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    I focused on the nearest alien, who was suddenly having trouble using his weapon. Bob¡¯s Babble skill had leveled up. Now, in addition to making it hard for them to work together, it also sometimes made them have trouble using complicated equipment. It looked like I''d gotten lucky.

    I put a Trick Shot through the appendage holding the weapon, just for good measure, and then shot the rest of my cylinder into the alien''s torso. Big, green globs of bloody flesh tore loose.

    Team Mongoose were firing their M4s, and I was glad they had a skill that meant their weapons didn''t hurt us, because the bullets whizzed right past my head as I reloaded. Sage had Lassoed one of the three aliens. It was running around in circles, pointing its weapon at the ground and firing. It shot big, purple blobs of jelly that turned the grass to dust where they hit.

    "No fair! I can''t attack the others while he''s got the Babble debuff," she said in disgust as we took down the aliens. A moment later, their bodies vanished, presumably to respawn on their own ship. Respawn was almost instant, but getting back took time. We only had two landing boats, which took almost ten minutes to reach the beach from our ship. I hoped the aliens had the same constraints.

    "Go, go," I told Team Mongoose. They took off for the north. I watched my minimap. All of the previous blue dots were now red, presumably because we had attacked them, which made it hard to tell which ones were the aliens and which ones were the NPCs. My guess, though, was the five red dots heading our way were the aliens. Babble might have prevented the three here from alerting their friends, but as soon as they had died and respawned, they would no doubt be able to communicate again.

    Team Mongoose sped north as I pinged the map where the aliens seemed to be. Then Grandpa, Sage, Bill, Bob, and I got to work stealing the aliens'' gear.

    We went through those piles like a kid through Christmas, grabbing bags, crates, boxes, everything we could pick up, and stuffing them in our inventory.

    A couple of the crates were over my weight limit. I could now store anything that weighed less than 120 pounds in my inventory, but there were a couple of big coffin-shaped boxes that I couldn''t manage. That made me want them even more. I spent some time trying to figure out how to open one up. It seemed to have some sort of fingerprint ID, or the equivalent for those aliens, and I couldn''t get anywhere with it.

    Bill noticed what I was doing and came over. "I think I can help with that," he said. He pointed his finger, and a yellow stream of liquid came splurting out in a jet. It cut into the side of the box.

    "What''s that?" I asked. He hadn''t had that skill the last time we had worked together, I didn''t think.

    "It''s called Environmental Safety Hazard. There''s a couple different forms it can take. I picked it up from a skill seed on that last mission, you know, the one with the weird kung fu people."

    I wasn''t going to complain. A circle fell out of the side of the box, revealing the contents. I reached in and started grabbing. There were several smaller bundles, all weighing less than my weight limit. I took everything.

    Jones sent us a message. We got three of them. Smith''s down.

    Buy us a few more minutes, I said. Then make for the boats.

    I pinged my mini-map again and spotted a single red dot moving from the ocean to the sea. I swore. "Looks like they''re landing really close to our boats." Cancel that. Disengage. Get to our boats now. Whatever you do, get one of the boats away. I turned back to my team. "I think they''re going to try to cut off our escape. We need to get out of here."

    "There''s still so much to loot!" Sage exclaimed, popping up next to one of the two piles she had marked. She grabbed armloads of boxes.

    "You want to get caught and have them make us give it all back?" I demanded. "Come on."

    I grabbed a last few goodies myself. Team Mongoose had disengaged, like we asked. They were down to just two. And now three more of the enemy were approaching the shore. "Let''s go," I said.

    We ran for it. "I didn''t really get to use my ability," Sage lamented. The plan had been, if the aliens had made it back, that she would dart between the piles, doing as much looting as she could, and then use her third point as a getaway.

    I debated trying to give Sage all of the loot, and then shooting her in the head to make sure she got away. But that didn¡¯t feel right to me. Even if it was a good strategic move to make sure we got away with everything, I couldn''t kill my own sister. Not even temporarily.

    Besides, if we didn''t get those boats, we were screwed. Hold up, I told what remained of Team Mongoose. They''re on the beach. We need to hit them hard together. We need to assume they''ve got some sort of tracking skill like mine, and know we''re coming.

    Yeah, no, they won''t, Brown replied. I''ve got my camouflage up.

    Good. Whatever it takes, get those boats off the beach, even if you have to leave the rest of us behind. We''ll respawn, and it''ll be fine.

    Roger.

    My team had just become the distraction. If we could draw the aliens'' attention while Smith and Brown stole the boats, this would be an all-out win. A couple of respawns was nothing compared to what we had just looted. They have a spot about 15 yards from our boats. They haven''t moved in a minute. I think they''re setting up some sort of entrenchment.

    I pinged my map. "We''re going to come in on this side, away from the boats. They may see us anyway, but it''ll draw the attention away while Brown and Smith get the boats out. Sage, I want you to try to get away."

    She shook her head. "It''s too risky. If I don''t go with you, they''ll know it''s a feint. We don''t have any way of camouflaging."

    That, at least, was true. I nodded. "All right. Bill, Bob, we''re up first."

    Bill and Bob had their guandao polearms out, I had my revolver, as we charged across the sands like it was the beach at Normandy. The aliens must have been taken off guard. They turned, raising their weird guns to shoot us. One lobbed blobs of purple goo my way, but missed. I shot him. I couldn''t tell if it was the same one I''d killed previously, because-- I hate to say it, but they all looked the same to me. They had shiny silver uniforms with various different alien decorations on them that meant nothing to me.

    I felt tingling on my arm. I looked down. One of the purple blobs had hit my left arm. It was crawling up it, encasing my arm in purple jelly. My skin burned. I tried to shake it free. I didn''t dare claw at it, even though I wanted to. Instead, I raised my gun and fired again, taking one of the aliens out of the fight.

    Smith and Brown were at the boats. They were hauling one to the edge of the water together. Smith jumped in, got one hand on the oar and the other on the tiller, and the boat started off. Brown went back for the other boat.

    "Help him out!" I shouted. Sage had Lassoed one of the aliens again, preventing it from shooting at us. She ran for the boat, Grandpa on her heels.

    Bill, Bob, and I charged the aliens. They had erected a small metal wall facing toward our boats and had something that looked a little too much like a machine gun for my liking aimed right at them. One of the remaining aliens dove for the machine gun. I shot at him and missed.

    The burning in my arm was intensifying. I glanced down and nearly lost my lunch. My arm was gone. I could see white bone under the jelly, and it was crawling up higher. It had begun to wrap around my chest. I fired a Trick Shot at the alien with the machine gun and winged it. Bill and Bob blasted away with their mini guns. Another of the aliens fell forward.

    Across the beach, Grandpa and Sage had reached the small boat. They were helping Brown pull it toward the water.

    There was one alien left. He had a gun, and he was aiming it for my family. It didn''t matter to me that death was only temporary right now. I wasn''t going to let some alien melt my sister.

    I threw myself forward and wrapped my jelly-covered skeleton arm around the neck of the alien. The goo moved off my arm and onto its face. The alien began flailing and kicking, letting out the most horrendous noises, like a pig being butchered if that pig had swallowed an accordion. I felt triumphant. I also was almost dead.

    "Get to the boat!" I yelled to Bill and Bob. As I wrestled with the alien, they took off running, not even stopping. My health was still ticking down. I had a debuff on me called "Eaten Alive" and about 30 points of health left.

    I saw the boat hit the water and start away. They were safe.

    I reached for my revolver. I couldn''t aim it. The pain was too much. I was lying on the sand with the alien under me as the purple blob ate away at both of our health. I had almost nothing left.

    I fired a Trick Shot right at my own head.

 2.14 - Outpost Construction for Even Bigger Dummies

    A Beginner''s Guide to Constructing Your Phase Two Outpost. Section 3.1: Basic Base Building for Beginners

    Interview Conducted by Colonel Jefferson Ames, U.S. Army.

    Interview subject, Daronda Velross, Former Base Planner (note: sources indicate they were fired by three previous conglomerates for incompetence and have since been working as a dishwasher in a dive bar on the Hub)

    Early mistake people make is overextending. You¡¯ve got to get your core base built and set up before you start trying to claim smaller nodes or take resource spawns. I know, that sounds obvious, but people are always making that mistake. It¡¯s a real art to decide what to construct first, second, third. If you don¡¯t get your defenses up, your combatant miners are tied down defending the base from the spawn. If you don¡¯t build a miner respawn point, you come back far away from the base and are out of the fight for ten times as long. If you don¡¯t have your buff buildings, you¡¯re fighting at a disadvantage.

    It¡¯s an art form. You earthlings just don¡¯t have the experience to know how much you need me. It¡¯s fortunate for you I¡¯m available right now.

    No, I don¡¯t want to give away my secrets.

    Ok, I¡¯ll give you a hint. Autonomous Self-Replicating Miniature Attack Millipedes. SWARM for short. Huh? Well, it does in my language. You have to get as many of the basic base-cleaning miniature attendant kits as you can, then hack them with a military-grade AI. I know the backdoors to remove the safety features. They¡¯re much better than static guns. Just imagine your foes being devoured from the legs up by a swarm of tiny metal bugs! And that¡¯s just one of my innovations. My hourly rates are very reasonable¡­

    (Note: sources were VERY EMPHATIC that we do NOT want to hire Velross. We have offered them a small stipend to answer questions on a standby basis).

    The other downside of dying is when you respawn on the boat and don''t have any landing craft to get you out of there, you have to sit around waiting for 40 minutes for someone to get back. I had plenty of time to start on a new hobby. One of the NPC sailors showed me how to whittle.

    By the time we all made it back to our island, we had forty minutes until our wave clear timer expired, so we went and took out the spawn before taking a break. I was tired and ready for more than a short rest. We still had 16 hours, 32 minutes before the node was ours.

    Everything had taken less than 8 hours. It was hard to believe. I ate a boxed meal Mama Grace had sent along while reclining in the grass by our node capture point.

    Sage had burned through her lunch and a whole pile of snacks and was now jumping up and down, reenacting the raid for the benefit of Team Ragtag. Her version was even more exciting than the real one, since there were about three times as many aliens and they had Death Ray Blaster 9000 weapons, whatever those were. She was just giving a reenactment of my dying fight against the final alien as the rest of the team sailed triumphantly, yet sadly, away from the beach, Sage weeping sadly into the waves as I perished.

    I had to interrupt. "I did not say, ¡¯Tis better to die a thousand deaths than live in ignominy.¡¯ I don''t even know what ignominy means."

    "Well you should have said it if you''d taken any time to think about these things. You''re going to have a lot of opportunities to die, apparently, Shad. You need to start thinking of good last words."

    "They''re not last words. You just respawn. It''s not that big a deal."

    "It is if you do it too many times," Grandpa said. "I¡¯ve been looking through the ruleset provided by the System. You may have missed the section that says more than three times your number of team players'' deaths in a single 24-hour period will incur a one-hour respawn cooldown permanently. And it stacks."

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    I blinked. "Which section?"

    Grandpa gave the citation. I pulled it up and read through trying to understand. "So if we have fifteen people on the team," I gestured at everyone around the node, "and we die, uh, forty-five times in one 24-hour period, then after that we have a one-hour respawn timer forever."

    "Do it again. Two-hour timer," Grandpa reminded me.

    "That could get really ugly really fast. Oof." I started skimming through the rules. "There''s got to be a way to reset that, surely. It''s just begging for some griefer to take advantage of."

    "There''s an upgrade for our player respawn beacon," Sage said after a minute. "It''s in section 14.9.3.7, allowed tertiary building modifications. It''s expensive, though. Forty thousand soul coins."

    I tried to do some math, but failed. One peculiarity of this rule set was that you could not bring soul coin currency in from elsewhere in the Reality Engine. Any soul coins you spent to upgrade your buildings had to be earned in this map. However, at the end of the phase, if you were holding an outpost, you got back all the soul coins invested in it. It was an incentive for people to improve their outposts and then hold them.

    "We''ll definitely pay for that upgrade if it becomes necessary," I said. "But for now, I guess we should try not to die so much."

    "Speak for yourself," one of the Smiths said. "You''re the only one who''s died twice. The first time definitely wasn''t necessary."

    "I was trying to save everybody else a wasted trip back to the boat," I said in my own defense. "Besides, I wanted to know how it worked before I told anyone else to go through it.¡±

    Smith looked taken aback. "Really?"

    "Yeah?"

    "Interesting." He didn''t say any more, but went back to eating his packaged alien MRE. I knew Mama Grace had offered Team Mongoose some of her delicious homemade lunches and wasn''t sure why they had refused. Didn''t matter. Sooner or later, they would get a better look at all the snacks Sage was eating, and then they''d be hooked.

    After our break, we fought off another two waves of skeleton pirates and cannibal pigs, and then Grandpa instructed all of us to lay down and try to nap for 45 minutes or so. He and Jones would keep watch. I agreed on the condition that he''d take a shut eye once I was done.

    I lay down and was asleep instantly. That''s one benefit of having been through basic training. You can sleep anywhere, anytime. We swapped off after 45 minutes. I felt much better for the shut-eye.

    I let Grandpa snooze while Sage and I started looking over our haul. "We have so much stuff," Sage gloated. "We''re going to be able to create an awesome, awesome defensive line here."

    ¡°Yeah. Hopefully there''s not too many repercussions from this," I said. I was starting to feel a little bit of buyer''s remorse as the adrenaline finally drained away. "That other team is not going to be happy."

    "Maybe they didn''t figure out who we were," Sage said.

    "Pretty sure they''ll figure that out."

    "Whoa, cool," Sage said as she pulled out a crate and examined it. "Look at this! It''s my own personal skeleton pirate army." She held up the box. It was labeled "Standard NPC Recruit Squad, Appropriately Themed for Map," and then underneath in a different font, it said "Skeleton Crew! This contains the pattern for one unit of NPC troops that may be commanded by a sponsored team member."

    There was more detail listed. It was an item which could be equipped here in this map and reused indefinitely. It just had a cool down after each use. It would generate a squad of skeleton pirates, melee style, ranged, or a group of both. The pirates would have 40 health each and attack at the direction of their summoner.

    "Are there more?" Sage asked. She dug around through her inventory. "I¡¯ve got another one. What about you, Shad?"

    "No, nothing that cool. You should ask Grandpa."

    "I will," she said, as soon as he''s awake. Oh, this is so cool, Shad. I''m going to have my very own skeleton army. I need to figure out if I can buff them up somehow." She buried herself in her inventory again, cataloging the contents.

    It seemed like we had really accomplished something here. We had our foothold underway and we had made a move nobody would expect. I was feeling pretty good about myself.

    Grandpa brought me back to earth quickly. "We got lucky," he said. "If we¡¯d been attacked during the raid, we could have lost everything."

    "Then why¡¯d you agree?"

    "It was a gamble worth taking. We¡¯re never going to upset the status quo by playing it safe. I don¡¯t care what Veda wants, I don¡¯t even much care what Ames wants.¡± He leaned back against our stockade wall, arms folded across his chest. ¡°I¡¯m personally grateful to the aliens that took us. I¡¯d be dead by now if they hadn¡¯t. But that doesn¡¯t give them the right to turn us humans into slaves. We¡¯re one of the only earthling teams here, and we just told anyone who¡¯s watching that we¡¯re more than pawns." He walked over to the node and laid a hand against it it, as he looked up at the timer. "They¡¯re here to take our land and push us out. Maybe they will, we haven¡¯t got much chance of winning. But at least we will make them remember our names, remember that we fought back."

    I nodded. There wasn¡¯t much else for me to say. ¡°If all we manage to do is write ¡®Twofeather was here¡¯ all over their records, that¡¯s enough for me.¡±

 2.15 - Inflatable Buildings and You: The Ups, the Downs, and the Deflations

    "So I need you to take over setting up the defenses for me," I told Juana. "We¡¯ve kind of got a lot more than we¡¯d planned. I need to get back out there and help Grandpa."

    "What am I supposed to do with all this?" Juana spun in place, staring at our piles of ill-gotten loot.

    Our 24 hour timer was up. The node officially belonged to the Misfits Guild. Now the portal was open and our small army of crafters and expert farm level miners streamed in.

    Grandpa and the rest of the party were out stopping the creep waves that had started spawning just as soon as the node converted. There were eight different spawn points around the island ¡ª the same locations we had cleared during the initial phase. Now every thirty minutes, waves of skeleton pirates, cannibal pigs and other mobs spawned and began moving toward our base.

    As soon as we got the defenses set, we could start letting the turrets and other automations handle the creep. That would free us up for better things, like hunting rare spawn. It was also the main way to make money here in phase 2. Sure, we got an hourly income from the node, but each creep killed by our automated defenses was worth a soul coin bounty. No coin for killing them ourselves, which seemed backward, but it did motivate us to get everything up.

    Juana had come in with the first wave to help set up the defenses. She had a knack for that sort of thing. In preparation for phase two, she had managed to acquire an [Organize Base] skill. We hadn''t had a chance to try it out yet, but this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

    She and all our farming and crafting staff had a bright yellow tag over her head: [Non-Combat Miner]. Our bid for this map had specified only 15 combatants. Team Twofeather, Team Mongoose and Team Ragtag would be allowed to engage other combatants and the "creep" that spawned to attack our base. Nobody else would be able to fight: if they tried, their abilities would fizzle out. On the other hand they also couldn¡¯t be harmed.

    That restriction was lifted for the special resource nodes. If those challenges included, say, killing feathered dinosaurs for their leathery hides and meat, the non-combat miners would be able to help ¡ª and the dinosaurs would be after them in return.

    "So we get these defenses set up and then what, I have to babysit them for the rest of the phase? What are you going to be doing?"

    "We''ll keep a small crew on hand here to make sure that we are ready to defend against surprises. But the main use for the mission teams is going to be going and taking down rare spawns or securing resource nodes or fighting against other teams."

    "How often is that likely to happen?"

    I ticked off the likely scenarios on my fingers. "If they come to try to take our node away, if we decide to try to take theirs, or apparently there are events that can pop up that will require at least one 5-member group from each nearby claimed node to go and fight over it."

    "What happens if you don¡¯t go?

    "Your node goes back into claiming mode and all of your automated defenses shut down for 24 hours until you''ve proved it again."

    "Ouch," Juana said. "Yeah, that wouldn''t be good."

    "As soon as we''ve got some of these defenses set up, I''m going to see about scouting out a couple of the nearby resource nodes. There''s some sort of school of fish close by that says it drops meat, as well as scales and bone that can be used as crafting materials."

    "Then let''s get on it," Juana said, looking at what my team and I had already set up.

    We had the crates arrayed as a kind of outline of the defenses we were going to make. We¡¯d laid out a circle around the node, 10 meters in diameter, which was a distance we¡¯d gotten from the Beginner¡¯s Guide to Constructing Your Phase Two Outpost.

    Juana pointed. "My Organize Base skill is suggesting a couple tweaks. You¡¯re building turrets every eight feet, but if we spread them to ten feet we¡¯ll have room to put in elemental cannons in between. Otherwise we¡¯ll just have to move all the turrets once we can afford the cannons."

    I had shared the outpost guide with her before starting phase two. It sounded like Juana had been studying up as hard as I had.

    "We can do that. I only planted the first couple turrets. There¡¯s so much to do, I can¡¯t quite figure out what to do first."

    "That¡¯s my job," Juana said. "Planting buildings has a cooldown, so let¡¯s get one started. Let¡¯s start with the barracks, then the miner respawn facility."

    "You think it¡¯s worth the cost right off?" I¡¯d been eyeing the barracks myself. It was going to cost us nearly all of the soul coins we had earned in the first 24-hour period, and that was with using some of Veda''s outside mods to get it up to strength.

    Juana nodded. "It''ll let up to 10 team members at a time rest. Anyone who rests in the barracks gets a buff to their effectiveness, as well as a small health pool increase for the next 12 hours. The really important thing is you can rest there for 4 hours, and it has the effect of a full night''s sleep. So for our mission teams, it''ll cut our downtime in half."

    "All right, but I think we need the map next, not the respawn point."I led her out into the second defensive ring, another ten meters beyond the first,where we had a box unpacked and ready to go. "It''s a Class C structure, and not too expensive, but it will let us see the vicinity around us. If someone launches an attack on somebody else''s node, that will be shown. If somebody claims another node, that''ll be shown, too. Right now, it''s limited to about 100 nautical miles around."

    "Upgrades aren¡¯t too expensive," Juana said, her eyes unfocusing for a second as she probably consulted the guide. "How big is this map? How many other parties?"

    "Veda passed on a list of participants. There are 27 major conglomerates with multiple teams each, 103 smaller organizations like Veda''s, and 16 of what she calls NGOs, non-government organizations, I think. I''m not entirely clear. The way she talked about it, some of them sounded like religious orders."

    "How many other human-backed teams?"

    "Well, there''s a lot of miners and crafters being hired on to do farming. And, uh, three human-lead teams."

    "That¡¯s it?" Juana¡¯s eyebrows raised. "Really?"

    "We wouldn¡¯t be here if Veda hadn¡¯t told us to train by running missions. Sounds like most of the galactics were planning on bringing in their own people all along. I bet most sponsors steered their miners away from missions."

    "You might be right," Juana said. "Ok, barracks, then map, then respawn. How does this communications array strike you as our fourth build?"

    "I¡¯m not sure how necessary that''s going to be. Since everyone here is part of the same coalition, we have our guild chat to fall back on. We can talk to Veda, since she''s our coalition sponsor."

    "It says here it allows for communication with rival factions."

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    "So?" I said. "Why do we want to talk to them? We''re trying to take their stuff."

    Juana sighed. "Shad, you''re a nice guy, and it sounds like you''re really good in the gunslinging field. But you really don''t have a future as a politician, do you?"

    "I sure as hell hope not."

    "It''s going on my list for when we can afford it."

    "Let¡¯s get the bunkhouse building, then you can get out of my hair while I start setting up turrets."

    I grinned. "I like bunkhouse a lot better than barracks. Bunkhouse it is. We''ll set up a chow wagon outside of it, stocked with as much fresh home-cooked food as we can. We''ll have to see if we can persuade your mom to come through and make us dinner sometimes."

    Growing the bunkhouse was pretty darn cool. Juana opened the box containing it, and a system message popped up for us both to read saying, [Do you want to activate this building?

    Yes/No.

    Warning. Building cannot be moved once it has been created. Building must be destroyed and recreated.

    Warning. This building is capable of taking six expansions. If you place this building in a location where it cannot expand, those expansion slots will be unusable.]

    I had already known this and had marked out with a couple of stakes from my inventory the edges of the bunkhouse''s eventual footprint. I told the system, "Yes," and leapt back as the bunkhouse sprang into existence.

    It folded up out of the crate and rapidly expanded, reminding me of one of those bouncy houses at a kid''s birthday party, inflating from a plastic bag to, well, a plastic bag shaped like a castle or something.

    "I¡¯m going to work on the turrets," Juana announced, as I considered our new building. The bunkhouse was square, squat, and concrete gray. That was no fun. I accessed its properties through the system and played around until I had a long, low, one-story building with wood slat siding, and a shingled roof. I''d even added a porch with a rocking chair on it. The rocking chair didn''t offer any kind of buff. It was just for the ambiance.

    I stepped up onto the porch, then opened the door. It creaked satisfyingly under my hand. I stepped inside. Five stacks of bunk beds lined the small room with a little washroom at the far end. There was a cheerful braided rug on the floor, and each of the beds was covered in a homey scrap quilt. Pegs by each bunk offered a place to hang up a coat or a hat or what have you.

    I nodded appreciatively. "That''s more like it," I said aloud.

    By the time Grandpa got back from making the rounds of the island, killing creep as it spawned, Juana had the first set of turrets up. She had also sorted through our stolen goods and located a pair of elemental cannons which she mounted by the front gates, programming them with an icy attack that would debuff enemies, making them move slower as they wound their way through our defenses.

    We had built the bunkhouse, the map table, and a simple crafter''s shed that would allow our farmers and crafters to start using the materials that they would hopefully collect.

    I had resisted adding any particular tools, like the leather curing racks or the fish drying racks that Juana suggested, saying we would get those when we knew exactly what kind of mats we had to work with. I reminded her we had a strict budget.

    We also had the miner respawn point under construction. That was inside the inner circle for the very simple reason that it had a 24-hour cooldown on construction. If we lost this one, it would be 24 hours before we could build another one. That made it a vulnerable point that enemies would be looking to attack. We were out of money for now, but with the turrets coming online, we could start killing creep here at the outpost and really make bank.

    Grandpa looked around appreciatively, then settled into the rocking chair. "Starting to look downright homey," he said.

    "We should have enough of the defenses up in another hour to let them start taking over," I said. "I''d like to take a team out to check out the fish resource and see about getting that harvested."

    "Good thought," he said. He looked around. "Where''s Sage?"

    "I thought she was with you," I said.

    Grandpa stood back up from the rocking chair. "No," he said grimly. "She wasn''t."

    We pinged her in chat. A minute later, she replied, What is it?

    Where are you, young lady?

    Out foraging, she replied. I could practically hear the defensiveness in her voice now. She knew very well that when Grandpa started slinging around the young ladies, she was in trouble.

    Ping the map where you are, Grandpa said.

    A minute later, it lit up. There were three green dots in that area and no red ones, so I relaxed.

    Who''s with you?

    Dwight and Amity. And Mitch.

    Dwight and Amity were the two best crafters in our coalition. Mitch was one of the new recruits from Team Ragtag. My suspicions went through the roof. What are you up to?

    We were trying an experiment. It kind of worked. We''re on our way back now. She stopped talking in chat.

    Grandpa and I looked at each other. I shook my head. "I know there''s respawns now, but that doesn''t mean I like her wandering off and doing whatever she likes."

    "No, indeed," Grandpa said. "We''re supposed to be a team here."

    "I''ll remind her of that."

    A couple minutes later, Sage marched back into camp. Dwight and Amity followed her, almost bent double under the weight of the heavy loads they were carrying. Each of them had a wooden yoke over their neck with a pair of baskets dangling from each. Mitch trailed along behind, looking smug

    Grandpa and I hurried over to meet them. "What''s this?"

    "Well, I noticed when we were fighting the pigs that they had buckets set up by the trees with some sort of pegs in the trees," Sage said defensively. "And I thought later, ''That looked funny.¡¯ It reminded me of how people make maple syrup, but these aren''t maple trees, so I was wondering what they were. And then I had an idea, so we went to look. Mitch agreed with me," she added.

    Mitch nodded. The Canadian redneck was a [Tapper], which apparently was explosives focused but with a maple tree and syrup theme. "Got a nice bonus by using my non-combat skill on the taps!"

    Dwight set down his baskets carefully. He stepped back, and I took a look inside. The basket was absolutely full of a milky white liquid. "What is that?" I asked. "Palm juice?"

    "Better than that." Dwight''s eyes were shining. "That, my friend, is rubber in its natural state. The trees on this island produce rubber."

    "What?" I would have killed for the map right now. "It didn''t say anything about that on the map back on the ship. The trees weren''t marked as a resource."

    "They weren''t marked as a resource deposit," Sage said patiently. "It doesn''t mean we can''t harvest other resources. It just means it''s not something you have to fight for. Well, not if you''ve already cleared out the NPC camps, that is." She sounded triumphant. "There are so many things we can make out of this. Better gear for everyone. Improved weapons."

    "She''s not exaggerating," Dwight said. "This really will give us an edge. And Mitch¡¯s bonus will really help out. If he can come by once a day and refresh it, we¡¯ll be swimming in the stuff. Rubber''s incredibly versatile, and it''s hard to replace with anything else. Nobody''s found a rubber source in any of the farming levels before this."

    "Don''t you have to refine it or something?"

    "Yes," Sage said. "So look through the listings and figure out how we can build a rubber refinery station."

    Juana called over, "I''ve already found it. The pattern''s in the database. We can adapt one of the basic crafting stations to refine rubber, but it''s a pretty big footprint item. It''s a Class B. I think it''s going to have to go in the second ring. And it''s expensive. We won''t be able to afford it until sometime tomorrow at the earliest."

    "That''s fine," Sage said cheerfully. "That just gives us all time to start collecting now."

    Grandpa and I shared a glance. "Sage," I said, "you need to let us know about this sort of brainwave. It was a great idea. Really valuable. I''m glad that you thought of it. But we need the team to be in on it."

    "The team," she said scornfully. "What team? You mean you and Grandpa want to vote down anything that you don''t like the sound of?"

    "That''s not quite how I meant it," I protested.

    "You sure it isn''t?"

    "We definitely would have gone after the rubber," I said. "Just maybe not yet."

    Sage put her hands on her hips. She looked me in the eye. "Look, Shad, I know I''m twelve. I know you still think of me as your little sister. I am your little sister. But right now, right here, we''re equals. You need to get that through your thick head. I am as much a member of this team as anyone else here. Would you have scolded Dwight if he''d gone off on his own?"

    "Well, hell yes," I snapped. "The point of being a team is that nobody goes off on their own."

    "And how much did you ask the rest of us before you ran into that pig camp and blew yourself up?" she demanded.

    There was a long, awkward silence. Juana said carefully, "He did what?"

    "It was a strategic move," I mumbled.

    "He triggered Dwight''s big boom bomb while he was holding it," Sage said in disgust. "Just ''cause he was in a rush to get back to the ship and look at the map."

    Juana sighed. "All right. That isn''t such a dumb thing to do, as it sounds, I guess. But really, Shad, you should listen to your sister."

    I turned on her. "What, you too?"

    "All right," Grandpa said. "Enough bickering. I¡¯m recalling the team. Next creep wave spawns in twenty minutes and we¡¯re going to test just how good the defenses are." He grinned at me. "You get to stand outside the final gate and stop ¡®em with your face if the turrets don¡¯t work. I¡¯ve got a bet going with Frank that you die three times today."

 2.16 - Humans vs. Orcs: Strategies and Tactics

    A Beginner''s Guide to Constructing Your Phase Two Outpost. Section 9.1: Alternative Strategies

    Interview Conducted by Colonel Jefferson Ames, U.S. Army.

    Interview subject, The Great Impressario Rodari of Sirius Major, in an expansive mood after a party in his honor at the Aldebaran Embassy.

    Since you and your allies are new to Phase Two and have never built an outpost before you might want to consider an alternative strategy.

    Yes, there''s plenty of ways to win the game. The biggest conglomerations are going to take and hold an alpha node or three while their contracted allies gather more resources. They are either gearing up for their Phase Three efforts or to sell to the dedicated Phase Three groups. You could offer to work with some of them. Put your crew to work as mercenaries, hire out your crafters and anyone who''s good at farming. The conglomerates are always looking to hire locals for that sort of work.

    Option two: become pirates Nobody likes pirates, but there''s always a couple of groups in every map. The pirate outfits go around attacking outposts they think might be vulnerable. They don''t necessarily have to win for long. Even just taking and claiming a node for themselves can generate money, plus you get a soul coin bounty if you destroy someone''s outpost entirely. 20% of what they''ve put in to building it.

    The real key is you don''t necessarily even have to succeed just make it look like you''re going to and then demand a ransom in order to leave What''s that word? Danegeld? I don''t know that one.

    Oh, yes. Yes, exactly. Just be careful if you try that strategy you might piss off the wrong people.

    I sat bolt upright in the bunkhouse as someone shook me awake.

    Jones stood over me looking worried. One of the Smiths was at Grandpa''s side pulling him out of a sleep cycle.

    I checked. It had only been two hours. I hadn''t even got my Rested buff. "What''s wrong?"

    "We''ve got invaders."

    I leapt out of bed and grabbed for my gun belt, strapped it on, then shrugged into my coat.

    Grandpa was on his feet. Sage sat up, swinging her legs over the edge of the top bunk she had claimed a few hours before. I checked my map. There were a bunch of red dots heading toward our outpost in three groups of five. They were making a pincer movement. Creep showed up on the map as a steady stream of orange dots, so I knew these had to be something different.

    We rolled out of the bunkhouse and surveyed the outpost. Our crafters were hard at work refining the materials the farmers were bringing back.

    "Anyone had eyes on them yet?" Grandpa asked.

    "We''ve sent out Ragtag as spotters," Jones said. "They''re supposed to get eyes on but not engage."

    "Good," Grandpa said. "I want the farmers and crafters pulled back." He sent out the order right away. We got an instant flood of questions. "NOW!" Grandpa bellowed to everyone in hearing range. Reluctantly, the crafters left their work and streamed up the hill to the node.

    "They can''t be harmed," tall Smith objected. "We might as well leave them out there."

    "I guarantee you people who have been playing this game longer than we¡¯ve been using tools have tricks up their sleeves," Grandpa said grimly. "I can think of three or four ways to interfere without any physical harm myself."

    He sent out a followup message on the coalition''s main communication channel with more details. That also alerted our allies back in Threshold.

    What was going on? I sent Veda a message. She replied back almost immediately. I''m not surprised, seeing as you idiots went after the wrong node, of course someone''s going to try to take it away from you.

    I winced. Ouch. So you heard.

    Juana filled me in. We need to talk, Shad.

    I sighed. Even as a guy who''d never had a serious girlfriend, the phrase "we need to talk" left me in chills.

    I¡¯ve kinda got an invasion to deal with here.

    We got a reply from one of our scouts. Lara reported, I have eyes on the southwest group. There''s five of them. They look like orcs to me. They''re from the Firebrand Cooperative

    I passed the message along to Veda. Grandpa was asking for more intel from our spies, guesses as to what their abilities were, that sort of thing.

    Veda replied back to me. Firebrand is a known merc and pirate operation. They could be hired out on behalf of one of the larger conglomerates. I¡¯ve heard Gustaril Corporation is making a play for a foothold in this sector. Or they could be opportunistic, trying to force you guys to pay a ransom.

    Not gonna happen I replied at once.

    I told Grandpa what Veda had said then added, "If they''re pirates, that''s good news."

    "Why¡¯s that?" tall Smith asked me sharply.

    "If we have one of the larger conglomerates seriously after our node we¡¯ll have a much harder chance. The pirates, all we have to do is make it too expensive for them to keep attacking us."

    "I think I see what you¡¯re getting at," Smith said, nodding. "It¡¯s the death penalty, right? Kill them enough and their respawn goes up."

    "Exactly. There¡¯s fifteen of them. That means if we get 45 kills on them in an hour, their respawn timer goes up. Permanently. I''m betting they won''t stick around for that. We should be able to drive them off if we hit them hard enough. Once we get close to 45 kills, they¡¯ll back off."

    "Yes," Grandpa agreed, "but we''ve got to make sure that we keep our own death count low. We can¡¯t afford that penalty ourselves."

    He messaged Team Ragtag. Return to base. Avoid contact with the enemy. Do not I repeat do not engage. Pretend that your deaths matter. They sent back affirmative replies.

    I watched my map as our scouts¡¯ green dots moved carefully away from the red. "They¡¯re not making any kind of effort to hide from us. No camouflage skills. I would think pirates would have one of those," I said.

    "Unless they''re letting us know they''re coming so they can start the extortion talks immediately," Grandpa said grimly. "Communication array up yet?"

    Juana had wanted to build that next but I had overruled her in favor of a couple of buffs to our Turrets. "Not yet," I admitted. "We have the advantage here. We''re behind defensive walls and our turrets will help us."

    "But they know what they''re doing," Grandpa reminded me helpfully.

    "Yes, but we are desperate." I hoped that would help.

    The farmers streamed up through the gates. I mentally checked them off my list as they filed through the portal. I called up the outpost options and changed the wall settings. Now each of the two inner walls had a parapet running around the inside, four feet below the top of the wall. We¡¯d be able to stand on our walls and shoot, then duck down behind cover.

    Team Ragtag had almost made it back by now.I looked nervously at our node. It was fine, surrounded by an intangible haze of shields. That could change quickly.

    Ragtag wound their way through our lines of defenses, passing the last couple farmers to report in, and joined us atop the hill. "All right," Grandpa said crisply. "How close are they?"

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    I checked my map. "Still about five minutes out."

    "Ok, listen up people!" Grandpa shouted. "I expect them to make a priority of the respawn point. They do that then we''ll be forced to respawn back on the boat. At that point we¡¯re fucked. Anyone who''s killed will be out of the fight for too long."

    Even Sage looked grim and serious, holding still as she listened to me intently.

    "We want to let the defenses do as much as they can. We¡¯ll stay behind walls, use abilities from here. Kill them without getting killed, protect the respawn point."

    Everyone was nodding agreement. I checked my map again. The first team of enemies had reached the edge of our clearing and stopped, waiting for their friends to catch up. I passed the information along. The idea of letting them dictate the terms of our engagement didn''t sit right with me.

    I turned to Jones. "What''s the range on your drone bird?"

    "About three quarters of a mile. Why?"

    "I have an idea," I said. "Let''s send it up and see."

    Jones had the ability to share out his drone¡¯s vision to anyone else on the same side. The bird-like drone circled above our hidden enemy. Jones had it on a heat-seeking mode. We could see their bodies outlined through the foliage. They were moving toward the edge of the jungle. A moment later, they stepped out and the drone gave us a clear view.

    I leaned forward, despite not needing to do anything to improve my vision, and got my first look at the invaders.

    They were orcs, alright. Tall, green-skinned, bald, with teeth that protruded out above their lower jaws that I could see even from atop the hill. Unlike a stereotypical fantasy orc, they weren''t wearing loincloths or battered chainmail. They wore silvery bodysuits, tight at ankle and wrist and billowing a bit in the middle, with logos on the front and back so thick they looked like NASCAR drivers.

    One squad of five carried odd halberds, very long weapons with an axe head at one end and a nasty hook at the other. The second group to emerge from the brush carried rifles. There were no obvious magazines. The rifles were silvery, sleek, and wicked looking. I kind of wanted to get my hands on one. The third squad was hanging back for some reason.

    I targeted the first halberd-bearing orc and fired Trick Shot. The range on my Trick Shot had increased as I leveled up. I could now make a shot almost half a mile away. My bullet would zip past cover and track my target to ground if necessary. I just had to be able to target in the first place, which was why I had asked Jones to send up his drone.

    Two of Team Ragtag also had abilities that could be targeted a long way away and then fired. Annie was a [Magician''s Apprentice]. Her skills mostly revolved around illusion and battlefield control, although she also had a couple of nice damage abilities. Right now, she targeted the orcs and cast Misdirect Audience. A flash of light accompanied by a series of popping sounds went off just behind the orcs. Most of them turned to look, compelled by the spell. The two who resisted must have higher wisdom levels than Annie''s spell. Those who had looked gained a debuff [Fooled!] which would make them miss their targets more often for the next ten minutes.

    At the same time, Mitch cast his once daily [Spike Their Trunks] spell. Mitch was a [Tapper]. I had at first assumed that was a typo, then realized that didn¡¯t make sense. During our interviews I had pushed him until he admitted that he hadn''t read all of the details of the class as well as he should. "I thought it was Sapper too," he said. "Everything''s about blowing stuff up and making holes and things. But, well," he looked embarrassed. "I''m Canadian, you see? My brother-in-law had a great opportunity involving a bit of contraband maple syrup. I was helping him out with that when we were taken. I ended up with a whole lot of gallons of unrefined sap in my inventory and I guess the system cueued off of that when they offered me the class. I did have some sapper experience in the military though and all my abilities are good for offense."

    "Are you why Mama Grace has been serving Sage authentic maple syrup with her pancakes?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Those had been a recent addition to Mama Grace''s restaurant and Sage ordered a giant stack every time we came in.

    "Could be," he said. "Yeah, that''s how I got hooked up with Misfits in the first place."

    I had yet to see any of Mitch''s special abilities in action. He also had a shotgun that he had used during the wave clearing phase of outpost construction. But the descriptions of his abilities made them sound pretty darn cool, and if Spike Their Trunks was an example, he was a powerful ally.

    I watched as the five orcs with guns suddenly dropped their weapons and started swearing. Sage laughed. "Is that syrup coming out of their guns?" she asked.

    "Yup," Mitch said proudly. "Those weapons won''t be good for anything until they''ve gone and cleaned and repaired them and that won''t be fast." It was a great ability, but with a day-long cooldown and limited to five opponents at a time.

    The orcs checked their weapons, tried to clear to them, even waved them over their heads to no avail. Finally, the guns disappeared into thin air and they all drew different weapons. Three had bulbous pistols, two had swapped to long knives. They regrouped with the halberd orcs, even as I fired another Trick Shot.

    I was chipping away at the health of my target. They had larger health pools than any of us, 180 health apiece. I checked my messages and sent Veda a quick summary of our situation. I hoped that she wasn''t too mad at us to help, but this was her future on the line too, so I thought she''d get over herself sooner or later.

    ¡°Here they come!¡± Jones shouted, recalling his drone, as the orcs emerged from the treeline en mass.

    The orcs began to storm the hill. They were fast, really, really fast, eating up the distance between us with long loping strides. I fired another Trick Shot as it came off cooldown. They were still well outside the range of my Barrage or a normal shot, but now they were close enough for Team Mongoose to take action. The soldier team had moved down into the second ring, M4s out. They were up on the walkway behind the second wall, shooting down as the orcs entered.

    Our slowing turrets had them targeted. We¡¯d put up a couple high-end designs we¡¯d looted from the beta node at our front entrance. The range on the turrets was insane, reaching twenty feet out from the entrance. They made keeping creep off us easy. By the time the creep even reached the entrance, they were half dead. Now the turrets hit the orcs, halting their rush.

    The orcs with pistols shot back at Mongeese, while the ones with halberds waded forward as if through Mitch¡¯s maple syrup. Once in melee range, they attacked our turrets, striking them with the long bladed weapons and chipping away at their hit points. The Mongeese kept ducking behind the parapets, avoiding taking damage from the pistol shots. I fired another Trick Shot. Sage, Grandpa, and I all stood on the innermost parapet with the Ragtags filling in around the rest of the circle.

    We had agreed to let Team Mongoose have the run of the second ring. They were more used to this sort of fighting, and we would only get in their way. Grandpa was looking longingly at the orcs as they made their way around the outermost ring, heading for our gate.

    We had deliberately left the first gate, the entrance into our outer ring, open. Only four of the outer ring turrets, and the slowing turrets, could hit the area outside our first gate. They wouldn¡¯t do much damage while the orcs took down our gate. Since losing it was inevitable, and we would have gained very little in return, I opted to leave the gate down and let the orcs move into the kill zone.

    Team Mongoose hosed down the orcs. I checked my map. The other four orcs were still hanging back in the trees. What were they doing? I sent a message to Jones. Can you get your drone over there to find out what''s going on?

    Roger, he replied without missing a beat as he fired down into the oncoming orcs. We dropped one of the halberd orcs, the one I had made my target for all of my Trick Shots. Sage let out a whoop. "One down, thirty-five to go!" she yelled, pumping a fist in the air.

    ¡°Our normal turrets are barely scratching them,¡± tall Smith noted. ¡°But the ones you looted are chewing the hell out of ¡®em.¡±

    ¡°Victory for Pirate Sage!¡± my sister cheered. ¡°Her awesome foresight and larceny pays off again!¡±

    "We''ve got a long fight ahead of us," I cautioned her. She just grinned and cast Mucking Out the Stalls in front of the lead group of orcs. They were letting the halberd bearers go first, while the ones who had been riflemen followed behind. That might be an effective tactic, had they still had rifles, but with their mismatched weaponry, it just meant the four in the back were pretty damn ineffective. It was interesting that they didn''t seem able to adjust on the fly.

    I changed my target to one of the two with guns and set off another Trick Shot, and followed up with a Barrage into the same orc. The rings were tight enough together that I could now hit a target in the outer ring, as long as it was in the same sector as I was.

    Grandpa looked longingly at the bogged-down orcs in Sage''s muck. He fingered one of his tomahawks. "I could get down there and¡ª"

    "Nope," I said firmly.

    "They won''t be able to touch me with Shadow Step going."

    "You could get in, but you won''t be able to get out," I pointed out. "Remember, we''ve got to kill them more than they kill us." Grandpa sighed, but just kept hurling shuriken at each orc in turn.

    The next orc to go down was one of the knife-wielders. His body lay in the muck for a moment before it shimmered and vanished. Jones sent me a message. The five in the woods are up to something, boss.

    I didn''t want to be distracted with the drones'' point of view at the moment, so I asked Jones, What do you see?

    For one, they''re dressed different than these. They''re wearing long purple robes with stars on them. Makes me think of wizards or something. They''ve got some sort of strange machinery in the woods. A thing that looks like a giant sarcophagus, and then they''re building a contraption with wheels and a big ol'' barrel on it. I think it''s some sort of siege engine.

    Uh-oh. Give me a quick shot of that, I replied. For a moment, my vision changed as Jones passed along his drone viewpoint to me. The image vanished almost as quickly as it had come, and I blinked, trying to make sense of it.

    Jones was right. It looked for all the world like five orc wizards building some sort of contraption that would mean our doom. And what was with the sarcophagus? Had they brought some evil necromancer king along with them? Orcs always served evil wizards in the kind of fantasy books I had read growing up, but these were space orcs. They were different, right?

    Suddenly, I noticed a dot on my map breaking away from the ones in the woods and making for us. A second later, another dot followed. I realized there were still five dots in the woods clumped up around the orcs¡¯ gear. These two were separate.

    "Ah, shit," I said aloud as they emerged from the woods. It was the halberd-bearing orc and the pistol-wielder we had just killed. They ran past the barrage of shots from our outer defenses and into the line of our first ring of defense. "They''ve got a portable respawn point!"

 2.17 - The Importance Of Regularly Scheduled Equipment Maintenance

    Our enemies had brought a respawn point with them. We were in trouble.

    "The dead ones aren''t going to be out of the fight for as long as we hoped," I shouted over the noise of combat.

    "Yeah, but it means they won''t take as long to kill our way through as we thought either," Grandpa pointed out as one of our turrets dropped another orc.

    "Time for something big," I said. The problem of the orcs in the woods was bothering me a lot. I wanted a quick breather so that I could think of a plan. "Smith! Lara! Grenades on the orcs now!"

    They obeyed, Smith throwing smoke grenades that put out an acrid cloud that made eyes water and throats burn, while Lara threw her orange grenades merrily. I shot one of my boom rounds at the lowest health orc.

    There was a massive explosion. Flames shot up all around the orcs. A cloud of smoke drifted across our outpost. I coughed and waved. "Who can see what''s going on?"

    "I''ve got eyes, sir," Jones reported. "Looks like three down. Three more hurting pretty bad. The two fresh ones are pretty high health, though." Jones had a night vision ability that let him see through small inconveniences like smoke bombs.

    "All right, go hard," I said. "Let''s push ''em all back for a minute so we can strategize." I leapt over the wall into the middle ring, then swarmed up the nearest ladder. I ran around the parapet until I was coughing my way through the smoke cloud.

    It was rapidly clearing. As soon as I could see anything, I fired a Barrage, reloaded, and fired again. Another of the orcs fell. I reported it in.

    "That''s six!" Sage exclaimed. "Thirty-nine more to go. We can do this!"

    I was starting to feel pretty good.We''d killed them six times, and they hadn''t gotten us once.

    Grandpa said, "Incoming!" and Shadow Stepped in behind the lowest health orc. He scalped it hard, taking it down to ten health left, then Shadow Stepped behind one of the returned-from-death orcs, the one with the halberd, and hit it with a Counting Coup.

    I fired again into the orc grandpa had just scalped, and then reloaded as the orc dropped to the ground. "Seven!"

    Sage appeared on the parapet beside me. "You''re supposed to be on the other wall," I said.

    "It''s too far away for me to use this." Sage had her t-shirt cannon out. In the downtime, right before phase two started, she had acquired some paint and glitter and made it bright, sparkly pink. It was kind of terrifying, if I''m being honest. She fired at the remaining orcs. Big cotton bands of fabric exploded in the air and then wrapped tightly around two of the orcs, binding their arms against their chests.

    Grandpa Shadow Stepped behind one and scalped it. "That''s more like it," he said. "I don''t like sitting behind the walls. I like to get my hands dirty." I wondered, not for the first time, just what exactly he had done in Vietnam.

    Annie had followed Sage to stand beside me. Now, all of a sudden, she was down in the melee near Grandpa. I started to yell and then saw she was standing next to me, too. It was her "Sawn In Two" ability, which let her create a doppelganger of herself who could launch attacks and hurt her enemies. She had only had 30 points of health, but when the doppleganger died, she was just fine. She was clobbering the orcs with a baseball bat.

    Team Mongoose focused fire. A few seconds later, the last of the orcs died and his corpse despawned.

    "Everyone back up to the inner ring," I said. "We need a quick chance to regroup. Who''s keeping count? How many was that?"

    "Twelve," Sage said promptly. "We killed all of them once and two of them twice."

    Twelve. Not quite a third of the way there, but we had yet to take a loss. I breathed a quick sigh of relief as we retreated back to our command post. Everyone had a quick drink of water. I kept an eye on the minimap. All of them were back in the trees now, clumped together. I knew they had something up their sleeves.

    Team Mongoose was congratulating each other. "Don''t get too cocky," I warned. "I think they were feeling out our defenses here. They''re up to something. Jones, can you show everyone what you showed me?" Jones shared the image from his drone. "Anyone got any ideas?" I asked.

    "It looks like some sort of siege weapon to me," Mitch said, scratching his head. He replaced his big plaid trucker''s cap and added thoughtfully, "I got a few ideas there."

    "Me too," I said. "I''d like to blow it up before they have a chance to do whatever it is they''re planning to do. If it is some sort of outpost destroying device, anyone have any bright ideas how to deal with it?"

    I checked my messages from Veda. She had replied during our fight, saying that her research on the Firebrand Corporation made her suspect they were loosely aligned with a galactic conglomerate who had taken a couple of alpha nodes about 50 miles away from our island. She thought they might be trying to take our node in order to put pressure on the two factions with alpha nodes near us.

    That wasn''t good news. If they wanted to take our node rather than just wanting to scare us into paying a ransom, then we might be in trouble. I asked her about the portable respawn point and the siege engine. She replied back immediately, Portable respawn items exist, but they''re incredibly expensive. Not something I would expect Firebrand to have. Maybe they raided somebody else''s stash like you did.

    That was possible, though from the way Veda had carried on, I thought it was unlikely. Her message continued. Or maybe they have big money backers. The other thing they''re building is probably a Wall Blaster 9000. It''s specifically designed to knock down outpost walls so that an enemy can walk through them instead of having to go around and be subjected to all of the turrets firing. The good news is they have to be right up against a wall in order to punch through. They are incredibly slow to move and they''ve got a limited number of shots in them.

    Yeah, but we only have three walls. Two if we don''t close the outer gate, I pointed out. Even putting a hole in one of our walls would cut our defenses down massively.

    They''re vulnerable when they''re set up to knock a hole in your wall. They''re almost indestructible when they''re being transported, Veda warned. Incredibly thick, heavy armor. So, turtles, I said grimly. Got it. Thanks for the information.

    I relayed what Veda had told me to the team and asked for opinions. "If it''s machinery, I might be able to help,¡± Lakshmi said. "My [Crystal Vibrations] are particularly effective against machinery." Lakshmi was a [New Age Healer]. She had abilities like [Smudge], which was a healing cloud, and [Dreamcatcher], which could put an enemy into a forced sleep. I hadn''t looked too closely at what Crystal Vibrations did, but I pulled it up now and checked.

    It was some long, wordy, new age description talking about the forces between forces and the pulls of dharma and chakra. But when it got down to the bottom, my eyes widened. An idea was starting to form.

    The problem was, if the orcs got their siege engine up to the wall, it was going to be hard to stop before it put a hole in our defenses. On the other hand, while it was in motion, it might be almost impossible to damage. I sent Grandpa a quick note. I think we need to take a risk. It''ll cost us a few lives, but them punching through our walls is worse.

    Name your team, Grandpa replied. This is your show.

    I looked at the wording of Lakshmi''s Crystal Vibrations ability one more time, the part down at the bottom that said, "Disables non-organic, non-sentient constructs for five minutes."

    My brain raced furiously. The plan clicked together in my brain, but we couldn''t afford to let the Firebrand orcs regain their momentum. "Annie," I said, "your hallucination ability, the Ventriloquist Dummies skill, how long can you keep it up?"

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    "Uh, probably about five minutes," she said. "I''ve never tried it in combat, though."

    "This is your chance." I checked the party, making a mental roster. "Grandpa, I need you, Team Mongoose, Lakshmi, Lara, and Mitch." I saw Sage''s expression, hesitated, then said, "Sage, is Three-Barrel Race long enough range that you can have one barrel inside our defensive lines and the other two at the orc camp or the woods nearby?"

    Her eyes sparkled. "Yes."

    "All right, I want you to set the one here before we get out there, then put down your other points as soon as we get close enough. Lara, your main job is going to be to get us out of there if things go really badly. Keep Minivan ready to go, otherwise do damage."

    I gave them the rundown of the plan. Lara started nodding as I went. Jones and Brown rubbed their hands together and grinned. Lakshmi looked a little doubtful. "But why¡ª ?"

    I explained my reasoning. She shrugged. "You''re the boss, Shad."

    There was no sign of movement yet. Jones'' drone swept in for another look. He flew it in low and one of the orc wizards noticed it. The orc pointed a finger and a jet of fire flowed out and baked the drone. The last image Jones shared was of a bunch of grinning orcs as the drone spiraled to earth.

    "Let''s go," I said as we vaulted over the rear wall, the opposite side of our outpost from where the orcs were hiding. Then Jones cast his camouflage ability on us all. I urged everyone to still walk quietly and not speak unless necessary.

    We made for the edge of the woods, then worked our way around until we were nearing the orc camp. I glanced back at our outpost. Eight human forms stood on the walls looking outward, clutching rough wooden rifles. Annie''s Ventriloquist Dummy spell wasn''t much good up close, but from a distance I hoped it would fool the orcs.

    We got within 20 feet of their camp, crouching behind brush. On my signal, I typed in chat. I held up a hand. Three, two, one.

    I dropped my hand and put my head down, sprinting for the camp. As I came crashing through the brush, the orcs looked up. I cast Call ¡®em Out and then engaged Fastest Gun in the West.

    I smashed through under brush and crashed my way through the trees, but fortunately the jungle here wasn''t that thick. A couple of palm branches smacked me in the face as I dashed forward. The orcs yelled as they chased me.

    Behind me, I heard the sound of machine gun fire as Team Mongoose pursued the fleeing orcs into the brush. I turned and started shooting.

    Grandpa teleported in. He Shadow Stepped behind the orcs, Scalped, and threw shuriken.

    Our purpose right now was to create madness and distraction, and we were doing that well. Sage cast Mucking Out the Stalls, miring the orcs yet again. From the way they shouted, I didn¡¯t think they were a fan.

    It''s done, Lakshmi said in chat.

    Take them down now, hard and fast as you can, I replied. I shot a Barrage through the heart of the closest orc, one of the halberd users. He responded by swinging the axe head of his long weapon at me. I darted back. It caught my coat and slashed.

    I Reloaded and shot him again in the face this time. "You have any idea how much it costs me to have that repaired?" I demanded. Some of the orcs had turned back to deal with Team Mongoose, but the soldiers had gotten their machine gun nest set up and were busily hosing down orcs. It was an expensive formation, requiring multiple abilities with long cooldowns to coordinate together in order to work, but Team Mongoose was good with it.

    They spat bullets at the orcs in a loud long rat-tat-tat. A couple whizzed past me harmlessly. Tall Jones, the Ring Knocker, had a skill that made his team''s shots immaterial to his allies. It was a godsend in situations like this.

    Meanwhile, Mitch was charging around the outskirts of the fight, attaching spigots and wire to various trees. When he''d made a complete circle, he yelled, "Get clear!"

    I dove for the underbrush. Grandpa dodged away. A minute later, a ring of explosions went off, toppling palm trees inward as he used his [Trunk-Toward-Enemy] ability and sent the trees toppling down on the orcs'' heads. One by one, their health bars hit zero and the orcs despawned.

    There was one left. I went after him. Grandpa was there first. He hit a Scalp blow, but the orc turned on him and grabbed hold of Grandpa''s neck. He yanked Grandpa''s head down toward his and bit the side of his neck hard.

    Blood spurted from Grandpa''s neck. His eyes went wide as his health drained away to nothing. A moment later, Grandpa''s body dropped to the forest floor.

    I screamed in anger as I emptied my cylinder into the orc. The orc''s body fell toward Grandpa''s, but Grandpa despawned before the orc hit the dirt.

    Is that all of them? I asked, trying to get myself under control. "Confirmed!" Sage yelled. "Lakshmi and I have been counting." Grandpa, are you alright? she asked.

    I''m fine, sweetheart. Back at the outpost now. You all finish up there and get back here.

    I breathed a sign of relief, then returned quickly to the site of the orcs¡¯ strange machinery.

    The respawn unit did look like a sarcophagus. It was a giant black rectangular box about 8 feet long and 4 feet wide with a heavy-looking lid. It was covered in alien hieroglyphics outlined in gold. Lakshmi, at my orders, had used Crystal Vibrations on the respawn artifact. It meant that when we killed the orcs, they came back on their ship, not here. It would take them several minutes to reach this point.

    "How do we destroy this thing?" I asked.

    "Leave that to me," Mitch said. He was pulling a bunch of strings and small brown-paper-wrapped parcels from his inventory.

    "Alright, then the rest of you, let''s get on that." I indicated the siege weapon. The orcs had finished setting it up. It had four rough wooden wheels in two sets with solid axles running between them, a 4 foot by 4 foot platform atop the wheels, and then a construct on top of the platform that looked like a cross between a small battering ram and a trebuchet. Like if somehow you were using the battering ram part as the counterweight to the trebuchet. I didn''t see how it could possibly work or how it ought to be able to punch through walls it was right up against, but none of this alien technology necessarily made sense.

    "Come on," I said, putting my shoulder to the contraption. "Let''s get this back to our outpost."

    Sage giggled as she cast Cowgirl Cheer on all of us. It put a spring in my step. Then I grabbed at the device and we started pushing it.

    It was damn heavy. It took us nearly 15 minutes to get it the less than a quarter mile up the hill to our outpost. As soon as we had it inside the walls, the weight dropped away.

    "It''s under our control now," Sage said as she used her Eye-Spy ability on the thing. "Since it''s inside our outpost and under our control, we can move it more easily."

    "Let''s get it to the inner circle," I said. I was checking my map every few seconds. The red dots had reached the island on the far side five minutes ago and were rushing through the jungle at what must be a breakneck speed. I closed the first gate behind me just in case the orcs reached us before we had their device back to our inner circle.

    As I helped my team haul the orcs¡¯ siege weapon next to our node, I couldn''t help grinning. "Veda better not have anything bad to say about this one," I observed. "We stole this fair and square." I checked my map again. The orcs were almost back to their encampment, and I saw that Mitch was still there. "What''s wrong?" I sent. "Do you need help?"

    "Let me have this one, boss," he said. I couldn''t figure out what he was talking about.

    The first four orc dots reached the green dot. Two seconds later, an enormous fireball rocked the forest. The four red dots and the green dot all vanished. A moment later, Mitch emerged from our player respawn, minor respawn point.

    He stretched, a grin splitting his face side to side. "Woohoo! That''s the best I ever done blew up. How about that, eh? They were nearly back by the time I got done rigging it to blow, so I thought I''d see if I could lure a few of them in."

    "Mitch, you''re a genius," I said. I couldn''t help feeling delighted. "What''s the score?" I asked Sage. I had been keeping track myself, but Sage was having a blast with all of this. She had stayed out of trouble, like I asked, and I wanted her to be sure that we knew she was an important part of this team. "We need forty-five kills in one hour to give them that hour-long respawn timer. They should pull back if we¡¯re close to reaching that number."

    "We killed twelve on their first assault, then all fifteen at the camp," she rattled off, "and four just now. So that''s thirty-one. Fourteen more, and we''ve won this."

    "Fourteen more in the next¡­" I checked the System clock and was surprised to see it had only been twenty-three minutes since the start of the orc assault. "Uh,thirty-seven minutes. We can do this," I said excitedly to Grandpa. We could get the forty-five kills within one hour it would take to give them a permanent one-hour timer on their respawns. No way they¡¯d keep fighting with that at stake.

    We regrouped, checked everyone''s buffs, and waited for the next assault.

    It didn''t come. The orcs were huddling back where their equipment had been destroyed. "Are they trying to fix or salvage their sarcophagus?" I asked Mitch, who shook his head.

    "I know this alien tech stuff is something else, but there is no way that thing is in any pieces bigger than my thumb," he said, holding up his right hand to make his point. Then he stared at the thumb, shaking his head. "Still can''t quite get used to having that thumb back," he said. "I know this is all kinds of messed up, but there are some benefits to this reality engine thing. I was down to seven fingers and one thumb when I got taken."

    I was going to reply when some movement on my map disrupted me. "We''ve got incoming," I said. "Just two of them."

    We assembled at the edges of our walls to watch. A pair of orcs, one of the sorcerers and one of the halberd bearers, marched out into the open field between our first line of defense and the forest. They stopped just outside range of our turrets, and the halberd bearer attached something to his shaft. He held it up, and the wind caught a white piece of cloth waving.

    I looked at Grandpa. "You reckon that means parley in orc talk?"

    "I suspect the system has filled them in on Earth customs," Grandpa said. "Come on, Shad, let''s go have a chat."

    "What if it''s a trap?" Sage demanded.

    "Then we will be at four deaths to their thirty-one,¡± Grandpa remarked. "And their respawn point is destroyed. I think we can take the risk."

 2.18 - How To Win a Duel Without Really Trying

    Grandpa and I strolled out of our outpost to parley with the pair of orcs. I left the gate down. If we did have to run for it, it would save us a little bit of time. We stopped just inside range of our turrets. If the orcs tried to attack us with their weapons, we would try to draw them back toward our fortifications.

    The wizard orc spoke. "I am Theram¡¯Goss, warchief of the Broken Tusk clan," he said. "I seek to parley with your leader."

    "That''d be me," Grandpa said. "Major Louis Twofeather, U.S. Army."

    The orc blinked. "That is a title of some merit, my System tells me."

    "Used to mean something. Not sure it does here anymore," Grandpa said. "But I''m not here to chit-chat. What can we do for you, fellows?"

    The orc spread his hands wide. He gave a great bow. "To an enemy far more honorable and powerful than we were led to believe. Our assessment of your strength was completely incorrect, but more than that,¡± he said. "You have shown great courage and great cleverness. Not many of your fellows have done as well."

    "Oh, you fought a lot of earthlings?"

    "We have fought humans before," the orc said, "though you are the first from this system. Generally, human miners are weak and cowardly. You though, you take risks, but not foolish ones. It was very clever of you to target our Rek''hapmah chamber."

    For the first time, the system didn''t bother to translate a word. I wondered why.

    "And then to steal our Hole Punch as well? That was well done.¡±

    I had to hide a snicker. So the bizarre-looking siege weapon was called a Hole Punch. I suppose there were worse names, like Wall Blaster 9000 or whatever Veda called it.

    "Tell me what you''re here for," Grandpa said. "If you''re looking to leave without a fight, be my guests. We won''t chase you back to your ship. If you''re just trying to kill time, well, the moment I think that''s what you''re doing, my team puts our next plan in action. You will not reach the end of the one hour limit before we spill enough of your blood to make you pay."

    The Orc chieftain nodded. "I know some other species would hold back and wait until a later time before attacking, but that is not the way my kin and I operate. You have won a great strategic victory on many fronts. We would like to negotiate with you for the redemption of our own honor."

    "Oh?"

    "A duel," the Orc chieftain said.

    Grandpa raised an eyebrow. "Now why exactly would we fight a duel when we''re holding the upper hand? We''re not going to cede our outpost."

    "No, indeed," the Orc chieftain said. "However, a duel will allow me and my men to prove to our superiors that either you are truly great fighters who have dealt us an earned victory, or perhaps that we could have triumphed and we attempted a different strategy, and that it was my foolishness in leadership that cost us this victory. If that is the case, they will doubtless require me to apologize to my ancestors in person for this error."

    I tried to think through all that. "Wait, so you want to have a duel ¡ª"

    "And record it," the Orc chief said, "with your permission. System can give the recordings, but we will need your permission to do so."

    "Right," I said. "You want to have a duel, record it, and show it to your superiors. And if you win, you''re going to have to commit seppuku?"

    The Orc cocked his head to one side. "The system is translating your concept. Yes, I believe that is the correct interpretation."

    "You''ve got to be nuts," I said.

    The Orc shrugged. "This is our way. If you will agree to the duel, we will conduct it here in the sight of your folk and mine. Should you win, we will pay you a reparation as apology for taking a worthy foe so lightly. If we win, we shall take our recording and leave."

    This has to be a trap, I told Grandpa in chat. There''s got to be a catch.

    They could be stalling for time, Grandpa suggested.

    Hang on a second, I said. I sent a message to Juana. We need you back here right now. ASAP. Emergency.

    Then I spoke to the orc. "I¡¯m willing to agree to the duel as long as we have one of our people here to oversee the agreement. She''s got the ability to create contracts that the system will back up."

    The Orc chieftain''s eyes grew wide. "You Earth humans have a Makana, a wise woman, with you? One blessed by the System? Perhaps you are not the easy prey we usually seek." He raised his hands. "Perhaps I shall be vindicated."

    Juana replied that she was on her way. I looked at Grandpa. "This is my duel," I said. I sent him a quick message. I think we can get even more out of this. Remember how I always get the first shot? Grandpa''s mouth curled up at the edges, but he made no other sign that he had understood me.

    "Our wise woman is on the way," Grandpa said. "While she comes, Orc chieftain Theram¡¯Goss, tell me, where are your people from? Another world like this?"

    "The Orc homeland was one of the first reality engines to be exploited by theExploitation Committee once they formed 15,000 years ago," the Orc chieftain said. "Though my people suffered grievously in the years since, we have found our place. We do not like to live at ease without earning it, so many of us serve as mercenaries and miners for the Coalition. It is always good when we find a worthy adversary."

    "Uh-huh," Grandpa said. "Were you working for yourselves or on a contract?"

    "I will not reply," the Orc chieftain said. "My duties do not include revealing my clan''s secrets."

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    Juana hurried down the hill toward us. I had given her the very short briefing as she came. She took a deep breath as she stopped between Grandpa and the Orcs. Smoothing her hair, she turned to the Orc chieftain and gave a polite nod of her head. "Greetings, Chief Theram¡¯Goss. I am Juana Lopez of the Misfits Guild. I am here to oversee the bargain between you and these men of my Coalition."

    I stepped forward. "I will agree to duel with Chief Theram¡¯Goss. He and his men may record it and return it to his people. I stipulate that if I win, they may return without further hassle from us. They have promised to give a reward." I looked at the chieftain. He named a sum. Juana''s eyebrows shot up. "If he wins, then they also return without paying us a ransom."

    I had a thought. The amount that the chieftain had offered, was it indeed a ransom? The equivalent of his life. If I won, killing him here, he would have his life spared and be able to return to his duties. I would have to look into that some other time.

    "Conditions of the duel are as follows," I said. "We will mark out a circle, 15 meters from a center point in all directions. The chief and I will stand at the center of the circle, back to back, and take ten paces away from each other. We will then turn and use any ranged weapon we like to take a shot at each other. If that shot is not decisive, then we may engage in any other form of combat desired. Anyone who leaves the circle admits defeat."

    The orc chieftain was nodding in agreement. "Agreed," he said."One final stipulation. If any other member of a team enters the circle during the duel, or assists from outside the circle, that team forfeits. Assistance includes healing or any ability affecting the inside of the circle, but shouting warnings or encouragement is allowed."

    "Agreed," I said at once.

    "Agreement witnessed and notarized." Juana used her notary stamp on her magic clipboard. She pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to the chief. "A copy for you."

    He read it over and vanished it into thin air, then shouted to his people while grandpa relayed the details of our agreement to the rest of our team.

    Meanwhile, I marked out the dueling circle. Everybody on both teams wanted to watch, so we let them come down. The humans stood on one side of the circle, the orcs on the other. I reminded them all not to cross over the line.

    "It''s alright," I told them. "Even if I get killed, I''ll respawn."

    "Won''t he just throw the fight?" Lakshmi asked. "After all, if you win, he''s off the hook."

    "I have a feeling his honor will require him to put up a decent fight," I said. "I''m gonna take it seriously. I just want to remind all of you, no matter what happens, don''t cross over that boundary. You lose a fight for us, Veda¡¯s gonna have our hides. Did you hear how much money is on the line?"

    I walked to the center of the ring, gave Chief Theram¡¯Goss a friendly salute, and we stood back to back.

    Sage stood outside the circle, her hand raised. "On the count of ten," she said. "One, two."I took a stride forward, then another. She counted down dramatically, but not too slowly, and I paced along to her count. "Ten," she finished.

    I turned and drew my revolver. Chief Theram¡¯Goss, standing a good fifty feet from me, near the edge of the circle, had a bulbous pistol in his hand. He fired it at me, but nothing came out. He looked at it, frowning, raised it, fired again. Still nothing.

    "What''s this trick?" he demanded.

    "Sorry," I said. "So I''ve got an ability that says I get the first shot in every duel."

    "Then take your shot," he demanded, holding his arms open wide. "I am ready."

    "Yeah, but I''m not," I said. I deliberately holstered my gun, then stuck my thumbs through my gun belt. "See, I was just hoping you would clear up something for me. My employer thinks that Alabaster Sky is behind this. She thinks they''re trying to make a move on us to put pressure on the closest couple alpha nodes. I''d really, really like to know if that''s the case, or if we''ve got a different enemy I don''t know about."

    His nostrils flared. "Why do you think anyone hired us at all?"

    "Because talking to you, I am damn sure if you were here for your own reasons, you''d still be attacking us. I think you stopped because your employer refuses to pay the fine you would have if you incur the respawn timer penalty. I think they told you to call us off, and you''re trying to reclaim whatever scraps of honor you can with this duel."

    The orc''s eyes widened, then narrowed. "You understand much, Earthling. Do you have similar customs of honor?"

    "We''ve got our own kinds of honor," I said. "Right now, my honor is wrapped up in keeping my family and friends safe. So I''d really like to know who''s behind you."

    "My contract says I should not reveal details." "Ah," I said, "so you do have a contract."

    The Orc chieftain glared at me. Then, to my surprise, he threw back his head and guffawed. "You humans are tricky," he said. "I think I like you. Shall we get on with this?"

    "How about a deal?" I said. "You answer three questions, yes or no. Then I''ll take my shot."

    "Very well, then."

    I paused, collecting my thoughts. "Did Alabaster Sky hire you?"

    Theram¡¯Goss shook his big green head. "No."

    "Was it one of the powers behind the two closest alpha nodes?" The Orc grinned.

    "Yes." I racked my memory for the names and came up with one of them. "Was it Existalis?¡±

    Theram¡¯Goss shook his head. "No," he said. "And now I can be glad that I have not revealed my sponsor''s name to you."

    He winked. We both knew that by process of elimination I had determined who his contract was with. Vortali. The Proxima surrogates. I sent a note to Veda as I prepared my next ploy.

    I deliberately removed a round from my gun belt, cracking open the cylinder and thumbing it into place. "I respect you and your people, Chieftain Theram¡¯Goss," I said. "I would very much enjoy if we had productive business dealings again."

    "As would I," the Orc said.

    I clicked the cylinder back into place and cocked my gun. I raised the revolver and fired. My bullet flew true, no Trick Shots required, and struck the Orc Chieftain square in the center of his chest.

    It exploded, hurling him backward twenty feet and out of the dueling ring. I only had a handful of Knockback rounds, but had decided to use one for this duel.

    [The winner!] the System Announcer proclaimed. I looked overhead in gratitude. Juana''s skill was really something, to be binding on the System itself. [Shad Williams of Misfits Guild has defeated Chieftain Theram¡¯Goss of the Firebrand Cooperative].

    I holstered my gun and stepped out of the circle. The Orc got to his feet, dusting himself off. "That was not the match I had expected," he said.

    "Nope, but it''s the match you got," I retorted. "Keep in mind, I don''t know what humans you''ve dealt with, but Earth humans, we''re tricky. We don''t risk losing a fight when there''s something important at stake. Like a Warchief''s ransom, or the life of an honorable man."

    I wasn''t sure what good etiquette was in Orc society, but I stuck out my hand. Theram¡¯Goss looked at it, then clasped his own hand around my wrist. I tightened my fingers around his wrist in response, and we shook.

    I walked back to our outpost on wobbly legs, relieved my ploy had worked. I had been a little worried that I would offend the Chief with my non-lethal approach to our duel, but he seemed to have taken it in good humor.

    We regrouped inside the outpost. "Let''s get the crafters and farmers back to work," Grandpa said. "They''ve lost enough time here."

    "Did the Orcs send the money over?"

    "System transferred the money as soon as the duel was done," Juana said. "Our coffers are full."

    "And we''ve got a really cool siege weapon, too," Sage said, looking over the Wall Burster 9000. I wasn''t sure I liked that name any better than "Hole Punch."

    "Yes, but we''re not planning on sieging anyone else''s outpost, so it''s fairly useless," Juana said. "I should see if I can sell it on the open market."

    "And have someone bring it right back here and have to do all that again?" I said. "No way. We''ll keep it just in case."

    "What kind of emergency would we need something like that for?" Juana demanded, eyeing it with revulsion.

    I shrugged, not wanting to admit I had already thought of several scenarios. Veda and Juana wouldn''t approve of any of them, I was sure.

 2.19 - Selling Out: How To Get What Youre Really Worth

    "No, of course I''m not accusing you of attacking my team," Veda said smoothly to the hologram representing the head of Parshkin Conglomerate corp here on the hub. "I would never suggest such chicanery of a noble and storied conglomerate such as your own. I merely thought if you did have interest in the node my team has claimed, that we might be able to come to some sort of bargain."

    "What sort?" the woman asked sharply. She was a sort of lizardkin Veda had never seen before, with golden scales mottling to white around the edges of her neck, and tall ears poking up through masses of dark curling hair that should have been out of place, yet instead accented the beauty of her form. The woman''s voice had a sibilant hiss to the edge, soothing and seductive at the same time. Veda had to keep reminding herself she was here to drive a bargain. "Are you looking to sell your interest?"

    "In the team and the node both," Veda said. "My team has done all I have asked of them." She had just received her company''s updated license with the endorsement stating they had successfully proved a phase two node in this Reality Engine exploit. She was eligible for the next three Reality Engine exploit opportunities. As for the team, they had made far more soul coin than she had ever expected. She had even been able to take a small tithe of the profits and send them along to her family to get them out of storage for a couple of months. Her mother said that was all she needed to make marriage alliances for Veda''s little sister.

    The lizardfolk woman''s eyes narrowed. "Indeed, it''s not usual to give up such a profitable node at this juncture. Why, we haven''t even had the first team challenge."

    "I know that," Veda said, "but family duties are recalling me to my home. I cannot manage the team remotely, so I am looking to end my connection with them. I do have certain stipulations, however," she added quickly. "I have a slightly unusual contract with my combat team that would have to be honored by anyone buying me out."

    "For the sake of argument, I would not mind looking at it," the lizardfolk woman said. Veda told her system to send over the excerpted contract she had made with Shad. She had removed a few personal details, but left the heart of the agreement intact.

    "This is a great deal of autonomy for indigenous miners," the lizardfolk woman said after a moment.

    "And you''ve seen how it paid off," Veda said. "They''ve done all I''ve asked and more. I will see this honored. Also, their support team would come along. There are a few conditions for them, though not as onerous. I have guaranteed that we will set them on a path to buy out of their indenture and into a comfortable retirement in an established reality engine."

    She sent over that addendum as well. The agreement had been made with Shad and his team, not with the other humans of the Misfits Guild. As far as Veda knew, they still weren''t aware of the permanence of their position.

    From now on, they would be required to spend their lives in a reality engine''s sphere of influence or with the help of very expensive support equipment. A reality engine completely transformed the physical body of the entity who merged with a soul coin in order to be able to support it inside the reality engine''s immense array of scenarios and simulations.

    One key change, invisible and unnoticeable for the most part, was equipping the body to utilize ethereum. Ethereum was the reality engine''s basic substance, still not well understood by galactic scientists. All they really knew was that if you took someone who had bonded with a soul coin away from a reality engine''s sphere of influence without providing a steady supply of ethereum, they would very quickly age and die.

    In addition, anyone in an untamed reality engine was in danger of ethereum poisoning until the core of the reality engine was breached and a contract was made with the reality engine itself. There tended to be side effects. That''s why all of the miners were checked at regular intervals by the reality engine exploitation committee''s team of veterinarians and minor psychologists.

    Veda had not told Shad and his team that over a million of those humans who had failed to complete the initialization chamber had died from a failed bonding with the soul coin that had caused them to explode in a massive cloud of ethereum. Since that tended to vaporize everything for about a mile around them, there were almost no humans who would have witnessed such an event and then survived. Sooner or later, Veda was going to have to tell Shad and his team the truth.

    Well, no, she wasn''t, because she was about to sell them out for their own good and her good. Of course, they¡¯d have to agree to the deal. But she was negotiating a fair bargain for all sides.

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    Veda took a deep breath. "Well, I think you can expect a very reasonable offer from us," the lizardfolk woman said. "We will get back to you, Veda Tvedra. Good day." She cut the connection.

    Veda slumped back against her cushions, relieved. She could be done with this soon. She could go home.

    Now that she had what she wanted, she wasn''t sure why she had striven so hard. All of this work just to make herself eligible for the next reality engine exploit. Was it really worth it? Seeing Shad and his team struggle so hard to achieve their goals, knowing that their place in this was already determined by thousands of years of habit and custom, was really starting to hurt. She needed to take the buyout and get out of here.

    Someone knocked on her door. Veda froze. No one ever visited her pod. It wasn''t done. Anyone who wished to speak to her would call and talk virtually, or agree to meet on neutral territory. Arriving at someone''s berth unannounced, uninvited, was, well, unthinkable.

    The knock came again. Veda got to her feet, shaking. She requested her personal systems check the external cameras. They showed her three dark-robed figures standing at the door. One held up a shining golden symbol.

    She recognized the logo. Veda''s shaking got even worse, but she managed to tell her system to open the door and let them in.

    The door disappeared. The three strangers stepped in. Veda dropped to her knees, raising her hands.

    "We mean you no harm, daughter," the central figure said. He was tall, with a deep voice. Veda was sure he was male.

    "Blessed be the progenitors," Veda said ritually, holding up her hand in a starburst pattern.

    "And blessed be their relics, to enlighten those they left behind," the man chanted. The door closed behind him. He drew back his hood.

    He was humanoid, but bald. The two with him left their hoods up. Veda was pretty sure one was a woman, but she couldn''t tell about the third. They all had the same golden starburst logo on their chests. They were members of the Order of the Progenitors, and from the symbol that the bald man held, he was very high up, probably an archbishop.

    Veda wasn''t a member of the Order of the Progenitors herself. Her grandmother had been, and she''d been raised in some of the rites and customs, but as an adult had drifted toward the Blessing of the Void sect instead. Still, all of the rituals and words came right back to her. And here, at the opening of a new reality engine, the old beliefs felt more impactful. "How may I aid your quest?" she said, keeping her eyes averted, while still being able to see the man''s expression.

    He lowered his badge of office. "I am Patriarch Kvaltash of the Path of the Seekers," he said.

    Veda took a deep breath. The Path of the Seekers were the Order of the Progenitors'' knowledge-seeking branch, not the searchers of false hearts, thank the void.

    "We are here because you have been making inquiries about selling your interest in Team Twofeather and the Misfits Guild."

    Veda raised her eyes to his face before she could stop herself. "You know of them?" she blurted out. "The Order of the Progenitors knows and cares about my team?"

    "As the Progenitors watch over us all, so too the Order watches all," the Patriarch intoned. "But yes, we are watching them with interest. We believe one of them has been marked by the reality engine as of particular interest. Not yet as a champion. Perhaps he never shall be, but he is of interest. Therefore we do not wish him to become entangled with any of the Coalitions. Certainly not one who has a link with these unbelievers."

    He held up a scrap of Duraplass on which the logo of Proxima Corp featured prominently.

    Veda gasped. "You mean they are behind Parshkin Conglomerate as well?"

    "Indeed," the Patriarch confirmed.

    "But why? Why do they care?"

    "That is something that my Order has not yet determined," the Patriarch said. "I assure you we are looking into it with great interest. All you need to know is that this transfer will not take place."

    "Yes, Patriarch," Veda bowed her head. "But what should I say?"

    "You will merely refuse the deal. We have been watching some of your colleagues'' attempts to interfere and are not amused. When the signs point to a Reality Engine maintaining its interest in its closest children, the rest of us should not push that aside in search of profit. Not when we could find a far greater treasure instead. Answers! We have seen this before, and the committee has squandered the chance at learning the truth. This time, it must not be permitted!"

    The man''s voice took on a fervored tone. The two with him raised their hands and spoke a ritual phrase that Veda repeated. "From the Progenitors came life. From life came knowledge. From knowledge came loss," they said.

    "And the step to reverse that loss is knowledge regained once more," the Patriarch said. "Do not worry, daughter. You will be rewarded for your part in this."

    "I understand," she said, though she didn''t understand any of this. She just wanted the Patriarch and his companions to leave her quarters as quickly as possible. Speaking to one of the Patriarchs of the Order of the Progenitors in the flesh was like flying too close to a sun.

    "Then I bid you good day," the Patriarch said. He raised his hood, and a moment later he and the others were gone.

    Veda took a moment to compose herself. Then she started her system algorithms, searching for answers. She didn¡¯t fully understand what the Patriarch was talking about. But she did know his interference could change everything.

 2.20 - Sixteen Authentic Polynesian Recipes: Youre Going To LOVE Number Seven!

    "I christen thee the Seeker!"

    Sage smashed a bottle of champagne across the hull of our new three-masted schooner. The NPC captain and crew of this ship wore cleaner, better fitting uniforms than the pseudo-Napoleonic era NPCs of our original boat. They looked like they¡¯d stepped out of the 19<sup>th</sup> century.

    This craft was built to carry cargo. It had vast holds under its decks, three levels deep, and instead of the cannon ports, it was lined with berths for stowing cargo. It had a respawn point located on the deck, but this was a harvesting boat for our crafters and farmers to use.

    We had saved up the profits from our node for almost two weeks before deciding to invest in the new ship. Juana and Mama Grace had argued strenuously in favor. I was still thinking we should be upgrading our outpost more. "We haven''t had a single other attack since those orcs came, and that''s been almost three weeks," Juana pointed out. "Veda says she doesn''t expect any trouble from our large neighbors. Everything''s calm right now."

    "That''s got me worried," I had said, but Grandpa took their side, and so did Dwight. Our crafters were making money hand over fist. Whatever the node was raking in was a pittance compared to the gear they were building and selling to the aliens on the outside. "I just hope it doesn''t come back to haunt us when a bunch of orcs wearing the armor Dwight''s been making come and steal our node from us," I grumbled at the time.

    But now, seeing the schooner launch, I had to admit it was a pretty impressive sight. Almost all of Misfits Guild was on hand to watch the launch, as the sun set on our island. Mama Grace and her assistants had an entire luau cooked on the beach and waiting for us. There was an enormous pit in which she had been roasting five wild boars that our farming teams, led by Frank, had hunted on a nearby gamma node island. Nobody had bothered to claim the node yet. I was considering proposing an expedition tomorrow, to claim the node and put up some automated defenses. Even if we only held it for a few days, we had a lot of turrets to spare, thanks to our raid on the beta node during the initial phase. Plus Juana had been wanting to experiment with base defense builds, and this would give her a chance to try out some cannon and turret combinations we hadn¡¯t used yet.

    There were loaves of bread baking in brick ovens along the edge of the beach, and tables laden with dishes. Everything from coconut milk ice cream that didn''t melt despite the sun, to taro root porridge, to six different kinds of fish prepared every way from raw to roast to dried and flaked. My mouth had been watering from the smells for a good hour.

    I helped myself to a large plate, then stood at the edge of the jungle as the party got underway. A couple of our farmers were also musicians. They ate, then went and set up their instruments. It was a motley assortment of guitars, violins, flutes, banjos, and even one accordion the people had looted from home, as well as some drums one of the crafters had built, and a set of coconuts Sage had set in the sand, along with sticks for bopping them. She had announced her intention of jamming with a few sessions hours ago.

    I was pleased to see her doing so well. The adults of our coalition tended to treat her like a mascot, or like everyone''s little sister. There weren''t many children here, thank whatever fortune had been unkind enough to bring us here. Because of that, Sage was almost universally loved and spoiled when the opportunities came up. She sat in the sand and pounded out a rhythm as the band struck up a tune.

    I sat on a rock at the edge of the beach eating my fill. Darkness began to fall. We lit four huge bonfires and people began to dance to the music.

    Juana came over and sat on the rock beside me. "Having a nice evening?"

    "Mostly." I checked my map. Only green dots and the yellow orange of creep. Mitch had set up a series of traps and tripwired explosives, all of which would create equal amounts of explosion and sticky syrup, around the edges of the party area. We had made sure to warn everyone where they were so nobody would accidentally set them off. If some of the creep got distracted from trying to attack our outpost, they would not make it here to disturb the party.

    Juana laughed at me. "I know that face," she teased. "You''re worried because there''s nothing to worry about."

    "It''s been going a little too well," I said defensively. "I''ve got to think about what might come next."

    "Why?" she asked. "Why not just enjoy the evening, Shad?"

    I let out a deep breath. Why not, indeed? It had been six months that we''d been here. Six long, hard, grueling months spent fighting for my life and then, for the last couple, trying to manage assault teams, build a base, and work up to an objective that I still didn''t understand.

    Juana held out a hand. "Come on, Shad. Let''s join the dance."

    I let her drag me away from my spot. We joined a line of dancers, slipping our hands into theirs. I stumbled along the sand, trying to keep up as we wove in and out among the fires.

    I was actually almost starting to relax. Then I saw Colonel Ames standing at the edge of the crowd. I froze. Juana ran straight into me. "What are you doing?" she demanded.

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    "Uh, sorry," I said. I dropped her hand in the hand of the next guy in the line and stepped out of the dance. "I, um, need to see a man about a... thing." I wandered away, over Juana''s objections.

    Ames had disappeared. I checked my map. There was no way of telling which of those green dots was him. I caught another quick sight of him moving through the crowd, slipping away like he''d never been there. I mentally targeted him, and now his dot stood out as he moved. I could have Trick Shot him if I''d wanted to, not that I did. Instead, I followed him to the edge of the crowd.

    He disappeared into the jungle. I stepped into the woods. "Colonel?" I called. "I know you''re there."

    The dot stopped moving. He was threading a path between some of Mitch''s explosives. I took another couple of steps forward. "I think you owe me a couple of explanations," I said. After a minute, his dot retraced its steps.

    The colonel stepped out from between two trees, his face expressionless in the dark. "Williams," he said. "I should have known you''d see me."

    "Why did you come if you didn''t want to talk to us?" I demanded.

    The colonel let out a sigh. "It was a temptation I couldn''t resist. News about this luau and launch had gotten all over Threshold. Mama Grace was handing out invites to one and all, so I snagged one and came through. You''ve accomplished a heck of a thing, Williams. You''ve done everything I asked, and it looks like you''re on track to keep it if we don''t attract the wrong kind of attention."

    I felt a quick swell of pride. "I''m glad you think so, sir."

    "It''s not just me. Our allies think you''ve done better than they hoped, but there''s going to be another challenge coming up. You''ll find out all about it soon enough. I have every faith in your team, but I''m going to need you to make it at least to the second stage."

    "Why? What happens then?¡±

    Ames stepped forward. He held something out to me, an envelope. I took it. As soon as it touched my fingers, it melted away. I started to ask, but he shook his head. ¡°You¡¯ll know when you get there,¡± he said.

    Frustrated, I asked him, "Why all this secret agent shit? Why not just tell us what''s going on?¡±

    The colonel snapped at me. ¡°Because there¡¯s more at stake here than you know. Do you know how many of us are left, Williams?"

    I shook my head, then realized he might not be able to see me in the darkness. "Last I heard, we were doing pretty well. Still over six million."

    "And how many of those do you see when you come through Threshold?" Ames challenged. "Hmm?"

    I didn''t have an answer. Now that I thought about it, I had never seen more than a few thousand people in Threshold. I usually stuck to one pretty small section, but if I multiplied that by how large Threshold was, it wasn''t nearly large enough. "I see your point," I said slowly. "We must be spending most of our time inside levels. But that makes sense. We''ve got to be there in order to earn soul coins."

    "Yes, but what levels?" Ames asked. "Hmm? Have you heard anything about the Lotus Eater level?"

    "What?" I scratched my head. "That''s a book or something? I feel like I''ve heard that term before."

    "Yes, I''m sure the American public school system did an entirely adequate job of educating you, Lieutenant." I could hear the eye roll in his voice. "Lotus Eaters is a term from Greek mythology. A island full of people who spent their time in a narcotic dream. The original potheads, maybe."

    I suppressed a snort at that. Colonel Ames was definitely of the age and military background to consider "pothead" a serious insult.

    "What if I told you that of the 150 or so portals that we have sent people through, only one seems to be completely non-lethal. No creatures therein to attack. Nothing to harvest. Just all of your wants provided for."

    "Is that so?" I asked. "How come I hadn¡¯t heard about those before?"

    ¡°The people who find that level, how many of them do you think ever come out?"

    I thought back to my first weeks here in the reality engine, of the fear of death at any time. The fear that Sage would be killed and there was nothing I could do to stop it. If someone had offered me an easy existence inside a level without any of that, would I have taken it?

    "Maybe we should encourage people to move there," I said, pursuing my thoughts. It went against everything in me. The idea of an easy life when there was a goal to be worked for was offensive. Especially now that we were in phase two and I was part of a team that was actually accomplishing things, not just surviving, but thriving. "There''s plenty of our farmers and crafters who are working hard but just don''t have their hearts in it. I know they''re enjoying themselves tonight. Tomorrow they have to get up and go back to harvesting fish in order to make belts to sell to aliens for a pittance of soul coins. And that''s all they can ever hope for, even if they don¡¯t know it."

    Ames let out a long exhale of breath, "So you know."

    "Our sponsor told us," I admitted. "I know the truth. Sir, wouldn''t it be better if we took most of the miners and put them into a, well, retirement home? They''re never going to get back to Earth anyway. What''s the point in making them fight?"

    "The point, Lieutenant, is that their struggle contributes to humanity''s chances of something more than just being shunted into a retirement home, as you put it. Or should I say a reservation. I think that''s how your grandfather would see it. Why don''t you ask him what it''s like, Williams, living off of government charity, when all there is to hope for is a bottle at the end of the day to drown out your sorrows? Ask him how many of his people he saw succumb to despair and alcohol back on the reservation where he was born. Ask him what made him leave."

    "Well, I think it was because the U.S. government decided not to recognize the Paiute as a tribe back in 1954," I said, "and so he grew up without a lot of the rights and privileges that other tribes had, such as they were."

    "And you know as well as I do that those rights and privileges don''t mean a damn thing to a man like your grandfather," the colonel snapped. "Go have a word with him. Think about what I''ve said, and I''ll give you some numbers. You can try to confirm them if you want. Your friend Arjun might be able to help. Three and a half million, Williams. That''s how many of our people have become lotus eaters. If you don''t step up, if they keep losing hope, it''s going to be even more."

    I had to take a step back and think about what he was saying. Over half of us had given up, found a hole and hidden in it. That struck me as wrong.

    Amess continued. "I¡¯m going to be starting a propaganda operation before long. You and your team, you''re the heart of it. You are going to be helping me inspire the rest of us to keep fighting, to keep struggling, to get up in the morning and get things done. You just do as you''re told. Besides, when you hear the challenge that the system is going to give you, you¡¯d give it a try anyway. Just remember. Make it into the second part of the challenge. You don¡¯t have to win, just get past the door.¡±

 2.21 - How To Tell A Patient Theyre Dying in Ten Easy Steps

    Even though Ames had warned me, the announcement took me off guard when it came the next day.

    I was helping our farm team capture a rare spawn on an island about two miles from ours. A giant platypus, 40 feet tall, had spawned in the middle of a small lake inside an extinct volcanic crater. The beast''s poison-spurred feet were a real menace. We were only able to apply debuffs and slows to one limb of the creature at a time and had to wear it down slowly. But when it finally hit zero HP, we got a bounty of soul coins and about an acre and a half of plush fur that could be used in crafting.

    The poison spurs were carefully removed by one of Dwight''s assistants and set aside. They had learned how to imbue crafted artifacts with various properties, including poison resistance or the ability to deal poison, by using raw materials like these. I was just congratulating Lara and Lakshmi on handling themselves well when the system announcer spoke.

    With a voice like thunder shaking the skies, the announcement appeared in everyone''s vision.

    [We have now begun the first special event. All teams participating in this phase two map will send a delegation to the island of Hispana within the next six hours. All combat miners are expected to attend and teams may bring a number of non-combat miners equal to the number of combat miners times a node score multiplier.

    Once you have arrived, the non-combat miners will be granted special opportunities while the combat miners pit themselves against other teams.

    Note: the special event rule set will apply. As of this moment, no creep will spawn on any node until the special event is resolved. All nodes are put into untouchable status. No team is able to mount an assault on any other team''s outpost.

    Any team which does not participate in this event will have their node put back into unclaimed status. Nodes cannot be reclaimed until after the conclusion of the event.]

    The announcer stopped as abruptly as he had spoken. I had about a million questions. But it seemed pretty obvious what our first step was. "We need to get back to our island ASAP," I told my team. "Grab whatever you can and let''s get to the boat."

    Grandpa was already in the coalition chat sending messages to Juana, Mama Grace, Dwight, me, everyone. He named ten of us for a council of war to be held on the other boat just as soon as I got back.

    I wasn''t actually the last to reach the boat.Mama Grace and Arjun arrived a few moments later.

    Grandpa looked around at all of us. "We knew there were special events likely to happen. Sounds like it''s time for one of them. I''m kind of excited to see what it is," he said. "Seeing as our node is safe while we''re gone, there''s no reason not to bring everyone as they suggest."

    Our node, being a delta, had a node multiplier factor of two. That meant we would be able to bring all 14 of our combat miners and a total of 28 non-combat miners.

    "I know the message specifically said crafters, but I think we ought to bring some of the best of the farm group," I said. Frank was already on the boat. I turned to him. "If we asked you for a team of five, could you come up with one?"

    "Give me a couple minutes," he said.

    Grandpa nodded agreement. "I think you''re right. It''s best to be prepared for different eventualities. Dwight, Arjun, that means you''ve got 23 slots to work with. We want your best."

    "I''m coming," Juana said firmly.

    Her mother shook her head. "If you go haring off there, who''s going to be in charge here?"

    "No one needs to be in charge," Juana said. "There''s not going to be any kind of attacks. That means we can just do whatever for as long as this event goes on. I need to be there because it sounds like there''s going to be representatives of all of the other teams. This is a good chance for me to make some connections. Besides," she continued, "Team Twofeather needs someone to keep them out of trouble."

    That got a laugh out of almost everyone. "All right, so be it," Grandpa said. "I don''t have to pick and choose between my combat team. We''re all going. No need for anyone to stay back and defend."

    I was going to need to take Grandpa aside and let him know what Colonel Ames had said sooner or later. But until we knew what was going on, there wasn''t much we could plan for.

    Veda sent us a message. I see the team event has begun.

    Any advice for us? I asked.

    No. Just do your best and hopefully that''ll be enough. You shouldn''t need to take any kind of special gear. Most outside artifacts, like those miner respawn points, are banned. Just yourselves and the gear you''re wearing. Your crafters should have good opportunity to exchange recipes and possibly sell their wares. I would advise loading up on as much gear for sale as you possibly can.

    I relayed the message to Dwight and Mama Grace.

    "Who are we going to be selling to?" Dwight asked. "Other miners?"

    "She didn¡¯t say."

    Mama said, "Well, it just so happens I''ve been keeping a stash of boxed lunches just for this sort of opportunity. I heard a rumor from someone that it could be a good money-making opportunity sooner or later. I''ll transfer those over to Juana''s inventory before we leave."

    "Then let''s get going," Grandpa said. "Dwight, Arjun, get me that list of crafters as quickly as possible. I want us lifting anchor in two hours."

    ***

    The island of Hispana was 400 leagues away. At our top speed of 20 knots, that would have taken a whole day. Fortunately, the system granted our boat a speedy buff that increased its speed by tenfold. So, we sat back for about four hours and enjoyed a cruise.

    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    We zoomed past islands like we were on a jet ski. I''d ridden jet skis more than a few times on reservoirs around the West. There''d been one memorable high school spring break where me and a bunch of friends went over to Page and rented a houseboat for the week. We''d had to bribe one of my friend''s older brothers to front the rental for us since no one in their right minds would rent a houseboat to a bunch of 17-year-olds. Then we''d gotten our hands on a bunch of cheap beer and weed and proceeded to do idiotic things on jet skis. I came back with a hangover, a hell of a sunburn, and a bunch of near misses that I never told anyone, especially not Grandpa, about.

    "So, how many other teams are we expecting?" I asked. I tried to remember how many we''d said there were on the map. "Something like 250?"

    Juana nodded. "Close enough. We''re estimating between 8 and 12 combat miners per team. Call it 10 to make the math easy. So, that''ll be 2,500 other fighters. Most of them are going to be aliens."

    I knew that much. While there were still plenty of us humans here in Phase 2, most of them were serving as farmers and crafters, adjutant to an alien conglomeration.

    "Arjun says he expects there to be perhaps 350 human minors at this event," Juana continued.

    "As many as that?"

    "Several whole teams were hired by some of the smaller conglomerations, similar in size to Veda''s outfit, I think."

    That made sense to me. "Have you already got their contact information?" Arjun was able to pass on contact information to certain other miner classes. Juana was one of them. Her Procurer class came with a few interesting benefits. Enhanced communication skills were one of them.

    "He''s sending me everyone he knows for sure is here. I''m supposed to try to meet as many of the others as I can and get their contact information. We''re still collecting contact info. Arjun''s really starting to tear his hair out over this one. He says he can''t figure out where all the rest of us are. He''s coming down to the dregs on those he doesn''t know, and there''s still millions of us missing. He and some of the others who are building up the database are coming up with some pretty elaborate conspiracy theories."

    Juana shook her head and gave me a wry smile. "They''re starting to worry me. The one about the aliens replacing humans by killing them and then wearing their skins as a disguise, that really bothers me. I''m pretty sure it''s nonsense, though."

    "Yeah, it''s a total crock of bull," I said. I censored my expletive at the last minute, although Juana never complained about my crude language. "I don''t think that''s it at all. I heard a theory myself I like better," I added quickly, not sure how much of Ames information to divulge. "It says that among all of these different portals, one or maybe two open to a level that doesn''t suck. Somewhere you don''t have to fight. Somewhere you can just stay and have your needs taken care of. Sooner or later, people are going to discover that and, well, just move in."

    "I like that idea better than I like the skin-changing aliens," Juana said thoughtfully.

    "Suppose you found a portal like that right now," I said, "after everything we''ve been through. Would you take it? Would you go through?"

    Juana tugged on her braid thoughtfully, her eyes going distant. "I don''t know that I would," she said. "It''s funny. I feel needed here. Valued. I¡ª"

    She looked away, her cheeks tinging pink with embarrassment. "You know, back on Earth, I really wanted to go to law school. I had this idea of myself as a community advocate. It was kind of an impossible dream. We couldn''t even afford more than community college for me and Rosa. But I thought maybe if I worked hard enough and saved up money from my notary jobs, I could at least finish a bachelor''s degree. And then there might be scholarships or something that would make it possible. Anyway, I''m saying I wanted to make a difference." She laughed at herself. "Only I¡¯m not really that selfless, I always try to help and end up telling people how they¡¯re screwing up their lives and how to help it. I¡¯d have ended up as a divorce lawyer for sure."

    "You¡¯re too hard on yourself," I said.

    She acknowledge my comment with a little nod. "And here I am. I''m making a difference for so many people. You, your grandfather, your sister, everyone else on our coalition. I''m helping us build a chance at a better future, one where we can get back what we''ve lost. How could I throw that away to go live inside a glorified television show?"

    I felt suddenly awkward. Sooner or later, I was going to have to tell Juana the truth, that none of us were ever going to be going home. That the best we might hope for was a life inside a lotus eater paradise. But not right now.

    "I should go talk to Grandpa about a couple things before we get to this island," I said.

    "Sure." She looked away, and I realized that I had just been an idiot.

    "I didn''t mean to insult you or anything, Juana. I think your idea, going to law school and all, I think that was really great. I never really thought too much about what I was going to do when I got out of the Army myself, even though college could have been an option. I hadn''t even made up my mind whether I was going to stay in and try for more training to become an actual logistics officer and not just a grunt. So I think it''s pretty cool you had ambition."

    A ghost of a smile flicked across her face. "Go talk to your Grandpa, Shad," she told me.

    Grandpa was sitting on a bench at the back of the boat, looking out behind us at the wake we were turning up. I wasn''t surprised that there was no one around him. Grandpa had an awfully foreboding-looking face when he was thinking about things, and people tended to just stay away.

    I sat down next to him. "Ames knew this was coming," I said. "I saw him the night of the luau."

    "¡¯Course he did," Grandpa said without looking up from the water.

    "He says we have to reach Stage 2 of this event, whatever that means. I assume we''ll learn once we get there."

    "¡¯Course he does," Grandpa reached into his inventory and pulled out a can of beer. I wondered how long he''d had that. He cracked it and sipped it, slowly watching as the ship sailed on. "This just doesn''t make any sense," he said abruptly.

    "What?"

    "All of this," he gestured around. "The first phase is okay. We were gaining powers, we were leveling up. Fine. And earning those coins, sure. All so that we could come and compete here and earn more coins. Great. And then there''s a phase beyond that, and somehow that phase, which I assume will involve even more coins, is going to determine the fate of Earth. Of who''s going own this reality engine, whatever that means. And so we''re all jumping through these little hoops designed by some aliens half a galaxy away. Why do it this way, anyway? They''ve been exploiting these here reality engines for millennia, and this is the best they can do? A giant video game full of random ideas and images from Earth history?"

    Oh boy. Grandpa was definitely in a rare mood. "I don''t know about that," I said. "There''s got to be a reason for it. And I don''t think that they''re going to tell us why."

    "Well, it sounds like Ames has a bit of an idea. Somebody''s feeding him information. We don''t know yet if they''re friend or foe to us. So we''ve got to take everything he says with a grain of salt. Especially seeing as he won''t even meet me," Grandpa said.

    He finished his beer and then tossed it over the side into the water. I was shocked at the littering for a second before remembering that none of this was real. The reality engine would just repurpose all of this at some point. There hadn''t been an ocean and islands and pirate skeletons here before we entered, and there wouldn''t be when we left.

    Grandpa was right. All of us felt hollow. "I think it''s because we''ve had too much time in between attacks, and because our lives aren''t on the line," I said. "It''s giving us time to think, and now we''re seeing the unreality of this."

    "Yeah," Grandpa stared moodily at the water.

    "And I think we''re starting to get a guilty conscience because of how we''re using all of our friends." I dropped my voice low. "I was just talking with Juana. She still doesn''t know that we''re never going home. I feel like I should tell her, but at the same time, I really don''t want to."

    "That''s exactly it," Grandpa said. "We''ve got all these people that we''ve convinced to help us work toward a better future for humanity, a better seat at the table, and they don''t even know that their own future''s been decided for them."

    "We''ll tell them," I said firmly. "After this event. We need everybody''s head in the game. If Ames is right, this is important."

    "Agreed," Grandpa said. He stood up, shading his eyes with his hand, and looked toward the front. "And I think we might be coming up on our destination. Let''s go take a look."

 2.22 - Be the Life of the Party! Tips for Wallflowers and Social Butterflies Alike

    The island of Hispana was about 2 miles wide and 12 long, and it was shaped like Florida turned sideways. In the elbow was an enormous volcano at least 7,000 feet high.

    From sea level it looked like Everest towering over us. Snow coated the edges except for one place where there was a gaping wound in the rim. Molten lava rolled slowly down the volcano''s slope. It hardened into stone long before it reached the sea. The rest of the volcano''s flanks were covered in bright green jungle.

    The beaches were the same gorgeous white we had come to expect, and the waters were completely full of boats. Hundreds of boats, thousands of boats, mostly Napoleonic era warships like ours, but it seemed some teams had gone all in on upgrading theirs. A speedy platoon of little river patrol boats zipped past us with frog-like aliens at the helm. An enormous two-funnel steamboat chugged past, blowing a horn. Alien passengers leaned over the rail, staring down at us with looks of disdain. A graceful yacht with orcs in polo shirts and pressed slacks sailed past. One of the orcs waved. I waved back, wondering if they knew the Firebrand team.

    Our NPC captain knew just where to take us. He steered our boat to an anchorage between another six identical ships. Only the identifying flags at the stern with different coalition logos on them varied.

    We were all anchored off the west side of the island. The NPC crew tossed out the anchor, and we waited and waited. And waited. Hours crept by.

    "Can''t we just go ashore?" Sage asked the captain over and over.

    He shook his head, saying, "We''re waiting for orders from the Commodore, madam."

    Sage even tried getting the pirate hat back out of her inventory and seeing if that made him obey her, but it didn''t work.

    At last, as one more straggler arrived, this one, a lashed-together raft of rough-hewn palm trees tied together and seated over a dozen blue plastic barrels that offered it very little buoyancy. It carried a single team of five sunburned and miserable-looking humans. As it edged into place then the system spoke to us again. [Welcome, miners! You have wisely chosen to answer the summons. The six parties that failed to obey the summons have been summarily removed from Phase Two and their earnings confiscated.]

    I wondered why anyone would refuse to come. It didn''t matter. There were plenty of us here.

    [Introducing - the Treasure Hunt! You will all be given a treasure map first thing tomorrow morning. The location of the treasure is somewhere here on this island. You have eighteen hours to reach the location. Those teams who fail to arrive in time will not be permitted to compete for the treasure. Only a single member from each party is required to reach the marked location to qualify their team for round 2.

    The fewer teams make it to the location, the easier it will be to win the prize! So race ahead. Take out your competition. Make deals. It''s up to you. If at any time every member of a party is dead, that party is eliminated from the competition.

    The death timers will be set at 30 minutes. If you die, you will respawn in the nearest graveyard. Every thirty minutes, all those waiting at the graveyard will respawn at the same time.

    If you die one minute before that 30 minutes is up, you will respawn almost immediately. If you die one minute after the previous respawn, you''ll have to wait the full 30 minutes. There are six graveyards scattered across the island. You will not respawn on your ship. No portable respawn points will function on this island.

    Rewards will be issued for performance along the way. The System is watching, so do your best! Daring strategies will be rewarded even if they fail.]

    That respawn timer might make or break a team¡¯s attempt. If there was a big skirmish, all the dead on both or all sides would come back to life almost at once in the same location. That meant fights were likely to start back up again in the graveyard itself.

    This could get really nasty. There were 2500 teams here and we needed to be one of the top ten. This was going to take more than strategy, more than luck. This was going to take a miracle.

    [However,] the system continued, [you will receive more of these details tomorrow. Tonight, tonight you are the guests at a grand party. The twin outposts of Scylla and Charybis will host your party. No violence will be permitted at this party.

    So let your inhibitions down. There will be intoxicants for every species labeled as to what they are. There will be entertainment. There will be vendors here to sell very rare objects.

    Your crafter non-combat friends are invited to join this party. When it breaks up, non-combat miners will be allowed to choose to visit one of the two cities for the duration of the combat phase. They will find much there to interest them.]

    Stolen novel; please report.

    I could see our crafters speaking to each other in low voices, clearly excited about this opportunity. Me, I was just worried about a lot of different things that I had no control over.

    I took a deep breath. I was all right. We''d come up with a plan. Sounded like I had all evening. Wasn''t like I wanted a party anyway. We just had one a couple of days ago. That would hold me for another six months at least.

    [And now! Welcome to the party.]

    A pulsing Eurodance beat filled the tropical night air. The party island was about a hundred yards off the coast of the volcanic island we''d be exploring tomorrow. Ships were moored everywhere between the two islands. their lights lit. Lanterns along the sides were strung up in the rigging.

    It looked like a fairy tale. There were little cabanas along the beach, small bars serving 30 or 40 people at a time. Bonfires blazed, plates of food were everywhere, fire-jugglers and dancers waved palm fronds from low stages to the pounding beat.

    Everyone mingled. At first I thought the number of human miners was greater than I had expected. It seemed like every 7 or 8th person I saw was human. Then I remembered to check their tags and realized most of these humans were not earthlings. They had different systems of origin listed, places I''d never heard of. They were laughing and mingling alongside the orcs, space elves, lizard people, frog people, fish people, strange tentacled aliens and more.

    There were even some of the really weird aliens we had stolen supplies from back during the initial phase. The system called them Grignarians and I noticed I wasn''t the only one steering clear of them. They huddled together in little groups of eight or nine, their weird face tentacles reaching out and mingling with each other''s.

    I strolled down the beach taking in the sights, trying to relax and not worry about where the rest of my people were. There would be no violence tonight. The system would enforce it. I kept a tab on where Sage was until Grandpa noticed me and kicked me out of the cabana I''d been lurking in, telling me to go mind my own business.

    A big group of orcs stood around one of the fires drinking frothy pints of beer. I paused. They looked familiar. Their outfits were the same as the firebrand orcs who had attacked us. I checked and sure enough the logo on their breasts was the same, the burning torch symbol. I hesitated then made my way over to their fire.

    They stopped talking as I entered the ring of light. Then one of them pointed to me. "You!" he said cheerfully. "You! The human duelist who talks too much! Come have a pint with us!"

    There was a small round table full of untouched beers. I grabbed one and joined the orcs, telling myself to relax, that even if they held a grudge there was nothing they could do about it tonight.

    The orc who had greeted me beckoned me over. I came and stood next to him and he draped one arm around my shoulder. He was about eight inches taller than me and probably at least a hundred muscular pounds heavier. "This human!" he said to a couple of orcs across the fire who wore different logos on their silvery suits. "He fought my brother and won. His people''s trickery put my brother''s life in danger but then his actions saved my brother''s life. I owe him. Give welcome to Shad Williams, friends."

    The orcs around the fire lifted their beer mugs and I drank as well. The beer tasted good. It fizzed as it went down, warming my insides. Or maybe it was just the friendly welcome I had received from these orcs.

    "So about that" I said. "Your brother is all right then?"

    "He is! He''s here somewhere," the beer drinking orc said. "I am Mak¡¯gar. You killed me four times. Well I say you, but mean your whole team. The short one with no hair, I saw him messing with our sarcophagus and rushed to stop him but it was a trap. He blew up. He blew me up." The orc laughed cheerfully, thumping his chest with the hand holding his now empty beer mug. He raised the mug to his glass, looked at it sadly, then detached his arm from around my shoulders and went to fetch another round.

    One of the orcs across the fire who wore a green hand symbol where the firebrand orcs had a flaming torch said "After I heard how you defeated our cousins I looked your team up. You''re the one who dealt the snake faces a nasty blow aren''t you?" He gestured a couple of fires over where the strange tentacle-faced aliens still stood in their little communal group.

    "We did yes" I said mildly. "We humans, earth humans that is, we''re new to all this. I don''t know if there''s some sort of unspoken rules we violated there by raiding another team during the setup phase."

    That wasn''t entirely true. The Beginner''s Guide to Outpost Construction book had specifically warned we could be vulnerable to outside attack during that phase. I didn''t want to reveal how much we did or didn''t know, plus I figured if we had done something tacky it was better to claim ignorance rather than malevolence. not at all, not at all.

    "It''s a gutsy move and honestly might not have worked if anyone had thought you foolish enough to try it. As it was, your node location was just a bit too inconvenient for anyone to try to take during the initial phase. You got lucky with your seeding."

    "Lucky?" One of the firebrand orcs snorted. "I think the reality engine favors them. You know how it always tries to promote indigenous teams."

    My ears perked up at that. I drank some of the beer, keeping a polite smile on my face, but the overly friendly Mak''gar had returned with another two mugs. He tried to push one on me, saw that I had yet to finish mine and shook his head playfully. "For such a good fighter you have a poor appetite for beer. Drink up," he said.

    I took another sip. "I don''t really want to have a hangover tomorrow."

    "Then tell the system to dial down the alcoholic effects," Mak''gar said.

    I hadn''t known that was a possibility. "How do I do that?"

    He walked me through it. I sent the information on to everyone else in my coalition immediately.

    Mitch shot back, Tell me something I don''t know. You can do it the other way too and get hammered on a single pint of lager.

    Figures the Canadian explosives and syrup expert would know that, I replied, then turned back to Mak''gar. "So nobody minds what we did to the squid faces." I gestured again at the Grignarians.

    "Oh, nobody likes them," Mak''gar said dismissively. He waved a hand. "They never work with anyone else. They always make a bid at a reality engine and come away with far too many soul coins for their investment. They are unscrupulous, dirty, sneaky cheats. You probably won yourself some friends the way you crippled one of their bases so early on."

    "That''s good to know," I replied.

    "So tell me, Shad," Mak''gar said. "We are only a little ways into Phase Two but have you started to consider your plans for the future?"

 2.23 - Career Counseling: When Youre Not Cut Out For College

    Mak''gar noticed my confused look and slapped me on the back, joggling my arm and slopping beer all over me. "Oops," he said, taking my now nearly empty mug and handing me a full one. "Here, that''s better. I understand. You and your people have been so busy surviving, you haven''t looked past this day. But I can tell you, you''re making an impression here in this phase with us professionals."

    There was definitely a lot here I didn''t understand and I wanted to change that. "What do you mean by ''professionals,''" I asked. "You mean like, sponsors?"

    "Them," Mak''gar rolled his eyes, his lips curled back, showing long, sharp teeth. "They are not professionals. They are merchants." His words dripped, disgust.

    The other orcs drank, then turned their heads and spat. "Coin counters," one said. "Paper pushers."

    "They sit in their little metal boxes and never get out."

    "They certainly never take on any risks."

    "Do you?" I asked. I tried to keep my tone polite. "I mean no insults, but here in Phase Two, there are no real dangers. Nobody is going to die or lose an arm. It''s not like we''ve had it up ''til now, scrambling around, fighting for our lives, saddled with debt that we never asked for."

    I was aware my tone dripped bitterness and venom, but I didn''t really care. Even with the intoxication level turned down, the warm buzz from the beer was spreading.

    The orcs nodded gravely. "We speak as warriors to another warrior," Mak''gar said. "You are right. This phase is like a child''s game. Bases, soul coins." He spat at the last word. "But it is all to prepare for the real struggle."

    "Phase Three," I said. "I know it exists, but I don''t know anything about it."

    "It''s different every time," one of the other orcs said. I noted, in surprise, that she was a woman. She was bald, like most of the others, and her leather tunic concealed any feminine curves, but her voice was high and light. Now that I looked, I saw she had more earrings in her oversized, pointed ears than did the men. "Every reality engine programs its final challenges itself. The System is only able to do so much interfacing."

    I held up a hand. "Whoa, wait. I''ve heard people talk about the reality engine and the System before, and I assumed they were the same thing. The asshole that talks to us and gives us quests, that''s the System, right?"

    Mak''gar nodded. "It is. Think of..." he paused. "I am sorry. I do not know your species¡¯ technology level. Do you still have a concept of hardware and software as two separate things, or are you at the stone knives level of development?"

    "Me, personally, I''m more of a stone knife and bearskin guy," I said. "But our society has computers, if that''s what you''re asking. I know the difference between hardware and software."

    "If the System is the software running all of this, the reality engine itself is the hardware. You can replace the software, but you cannot upgrade the hardware, because it was created by the Progenitors long, long ago."

    "Right," I said. "I got that part. Some aliens built all of these reality engines a billion years ago, then disappeared and left them behind for the exploitation committee assholes to claim. Now they''re used as giant VR playrooms and tenement housing for the 97 trillion billion beings in the galaxy. And I guess there''s different levels of comfort available. Like some of you have the equivalent of a one-room apartment and MREs, while others are living in elaborate mansions with 12-course dinners every night."

    The orcs were nodding. "That''s more or less correct."

    "I just guess it don''t understand why there''s that kind of scarcity. If the reality engines can generate anything, why doesn''t everybody get their own mansion?"

    They looked at each other. "Does it look like we care about that sort of thing?" The orc woman asked. "We''re here because we like breaking stuff and killing people. That''s not permitted in civilized reality engines."

    "Really? I would have assumed war games were totally a thing."

    "Only for licensed reality engine miners," the woman said. "We are allowed to use training levels and such, but it is not considered appropriate for the ordinary citizen of the galaxy to indulge in violence."

    "Huh," I said. "So you''re a whole galactic civilization of lotus eaters." I made a note to mention that to Colonel Ames the next time I saw him.

    "Since you understand so much, Shad, you must know what your fate is," Mak¡¯gar said seriously.

    "Yeah, our sponsor let on. We''re stuck here for good. We''ve been transformed. We''re part of the Matrix now. So I guess we''re fighting to earn our way into one of those padded cells that you and the others are talking about."

    "I do not think you will do well there," the orc woman said. "Perhaps you should consider becoming a professional miner like us."

    "I think it is worth his time to consider," Mak¡¯gar agreed. "Though for that, you would have to perform in Phase Three and attract the attention of an important sponsor. Your current sponsor will never be able to afford a Phase Three bid, let alone going forward."

    "Oh," I said. "What''s the difference in cost?"

    "If Phase Two bids cost hundreds of thousands of soul coins, Phase Three bids cost billions," the orc woman said. "We here are fighting to prove to the sponsors of Phase Three that we are worth hiring. If we do not succeed, we will merely return home and wait for the next Reality Engine Exploit. We are clan," she gestured around, encompassing both the Firebrand orcs and the ones with the green logo standing around the fire. "We always do well in these exploits."

    Colonel Ames had seemed to indicate that a single well-developed Phase Two outpost would give us the ability to enter Phase Three. I didn''t know if he was lying, deceived, or if these orcs were telling me the truth. I decided that it didn''t matter for right now. Right now, what I needed was to figure out how my team and I were going to make the first deadline during this competition.

    A blast of rainbow-colored light erupted out of the center of the island, accompanied by a swelling burst of trumpets. Instinctively I raised my arms to shield my face, blinking against the brilliant light. As the echoes died away, other party-goers turned toward the cause of the commotion, talking among themselves. Nobody seemed unduly worried.

    "Thanks for the beer." I ditched the orcs and raced toward where I had last seen Sage and Grandpa. They were standing with a bunch of our crafting miners. Frank and his team had been drinking at the nearest beach bar. They got to their feet, dropping their drinks, and joined us.

    A System announcement popped up, accompanied by the usual voice. [Welcome! Welcome to our Master Crafters! It is time for the non-combat miners to be given their opportunity. Crafting delegations are here to select apprentices for training. Crafters will please present themselves for selection ¡ª]

    The box blinked away, the voice cut off suddenly.

    "There will be no such thing!" A loud voice cut across the noise of the crowd. From the place where the beam of light had erupted, a dozen aliens came striding. They wore elaborate robes in colors I didn''t even have names for. Each had a headdress or crown. One looked like something a pharaoh would wear. Another had a circlet of bones wrapped around his orange, bald pate. Only two looked human, the rest space elves, orcs, and other aliens.

    "This is a disgrace," the foremost of the new arrivals declared. He was a large lizardfolk with red scales and a crown of purple gems held together in a silvery framework. The gems shifted and moved in circles around his head, orbiting him like his own personal satellites.

    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Some of the aliens on the beach started to protest. "What''s going on here?"

    "Silence," the lizardfolk declared. He held up his hand. "We are the Mastercraft representatives for this reality engine exploit. Our protests have been ignored, so we are now forced to take drastic action. Our own apprentices and underlings have been forbidden from joining us. The System is trying to force us to take indigenous workers."

    Venom dripped from his every word. I felt my hackles rise at the term "indigenous." Grandpa put a hand on my shoulder. "Easy, Shad," he said. "This is going to reveal more than they want. Let¡¯s listen."

    Now the alien miners were really getting upset. "We''ve got to have trained craftsmen. We need access to supplies in Phase Three. What do you mean you''re taking steps?"

    The lizardfolk looked as though he was enjoying being the center of attention. "The Council of Crafters has decreed that no indigenous miner shall be allowed access to our secrets. Any Phase Three team who purchases supplies from indigenous miners will be cut off from access to us and our legitimate wares. You may decide now whether you wish to place your faith in a bunch of untrained monkeys." He sneered around at us.

    "But you just said your apprentices and underlings were banned. You''ll never be able to support all of us."

    "Our prices will be adjusted to ensure that those who truly need our services are able to take advantage of them," one of the other master crafters said smugly, her face hard to read under her overhanging crown of woven branches. "We''re giving you plenty of warning now so that you have time to save up and decide where your priorities lie. Or perhaps you can put pressure on the System as well. Our pleas have gone unheard. But perhaps the System will listen to you."

    "It''s not fair!" someone shouted.

    "Tell that to the System. It''s the one making the rules. The locals have not been so kind as to die in sufficient quantities to let our people in. So we shall pass the suffering along to you." She glanced around at the remains of the party. "And just so you earthlings know, there is no ill will meant. We are still perfectly willing to buy materials from you. The pay scale will be discounted, of course, due to your lack of crafter guild standing."

    "You may return to your festivities," the lizardfolk representative said, "now that we have delivered our message in person. We will be reachable through the usual channels back on the Hub once this exciting episode is over."

    The twelve crafters vanished. No flash of light, no rolling thunder or loud trumpets this time. They just disappeared.

    The aliens around us were in an uproar. "We''ll never be able to afford those rates. But we can''t do Phase Three with no materials."

    "We''re going to have to try to use the locals."

    "They''re not going to have the recipes. You heard what they said."

    The rest of our coalition gathered around us. Juana had a distracted look on her face. I knew she must be sending reports back to our people on Threshold, asking them to look into matters.

    "I¡¯m putting a hold notice on all sales of materials until we get to the bottom of this," she announced. "We need to understand what''s going on."

    A System message popped up. [That was rude. Just because you have the ability to shut down important subroutines doesn''t mean you should. Terribly uncouth. And when will they learn that no means no?

    The reality engine exploitation committee is prepared to invoke emergency procedure 99732-17 alpha. The master crafters have abdicated their responsibility to provide training and recipes for those who will form the backbone of the economy. Therefore there is now a chance that monsters may drop recipes. These recipes will be destroyed upon use, transferring their contents to the crafter who learns them. Until they are learned, these recipes are tradable.

    The second stage of this treasure hunt will drop recipes at a greatly increased rate. In addition, the NPC cities now have certain basic trainers available who will freely offer training and help to human miners who wish to make use of this opportunity. Details are being made freely available now and can be accessed by querying the System on your own.

    There will be portals opening to the cities in approximately 30 minutes. Make your decisions and report to whichever portal you choose. You will have until the end of this treasure hunt to learn from the city NPC crafters. The workshops, laboratories, and other facilities which were created in these cities in order that the master crafters might teach their chosen apprentices will now be open to everyone.]

    Veda sent me a message. The System rebroadcast what just happened. I''m accessing details of the crafting tutors now. There''s alchemists and leather workers in Charybdis. You''re going to need to send the majority of your people there, I think, since you already have so many leatherworkers. There''s a cooking trainer in Scylla. Is Mama Grace there?

    No, she stayed in Threshold, I replied.

    Damn, that would have been good to get. Is there anyone else there on the team who has a cooking-related class?

    I think so. I passed the message along to Juana, who nodded briefly to me in acknowledgement.

    Veda continued. There''s a construct engineer in Scylla as well. See if you can convince someone to go learn those skills. They''re very expensive, but devices to enhance your creep can be incredibly valuable in Phase Three. Your people could probably pay off their debt if they focus on selling construct enhancement devices to the Phase Three teams.

    Okay, sure. What was all that about, anyway? It was a great party and then a bunch of angry Olmypians arrived.

    Veda replied quickly, The crafting council said they''re angry that the System rejected their appeal. They wanted to bring a bunch more of their own people. They went so far as to say that the Reality Engine Exploitation Committee was corrupt and somehow supporting you Earthlings. The number of you who have survived this far into the game is well above average. We should have seen a couple million more deaths, I''m afraid. I know you humans have been better than we expected at working together, but it''s still interesting.

    A thought struck me. I didn''t know if I should trust Veda, but she¡¯d backed us every time, and I wanted to extend an olive branch. There''s rumors going around of a level that supplies all of your needs where there''s no mobs, nothing to hurt you. The rumor says that''s where some of our people have gone.

    I''ve never heard of anything like that, Veda replied. Reality engines don''t give anything away for free.

    I''d better focus on what''s going on here, I said. Let me know if anything else important comes up.

    I will, Veda replied. I turned back to the discussion at hand. Juana and Dwight were arguing over who needed to go where. "I¡¯m not going to learn a cooking skill," Juana said furiously. "My mother and I get along much better when we are not in the kitchen together."

    Grandpa sent me a message. I have to go see someone. Take care of this. By the time I read it, he was already striding along the beach away from us. I sent him a message asking for an explanation, which he ignored.

    "Somebody needs to," Dwight was saying.

    "Then do it yourself."

    "Veda said we should send someone to learn construct engineering because it''s useful in Phase Three and we could make a lot of money," I said. "I guess assuming any of the aliens will buy from us after that edict."

    "Oh, they''ll buy from us." Juana gave a big shark-like smile. "Didn''t you hear that, Master Craftsman? The licensed alien crafters are going to raise their prices through the roof. Like it or not, there''s going to be quite a few people coming to us because they can''t afford anything else. We just need to make sure we''re ready to take advantage of it. Let me see that description of construct engineering."

    I sent her the page I just pulled up.

    "This actually looks like it could tie in nicely with some of my base building abilities. I think I''ll go and see about learning this."

    "Are there limits to how many of these skills you can learn?"

    "It doesn''t look that way, but if we''ve only got a couple of days, it''s probably better that we focus on becoming as much of an expert in a skill as possible rather than dabbling in eight or nine," Dwight said. "They''re going to be opening the portal soon. We should get over there."

    Another System pop-up appeared. This one said, [To the officers of the Misfits Guild Coalition:

    Due to the cost of training, your Coalition¡¯s educational efforts will be subsidized. The first 40 skills you wish to learn will be paid for by the Reality Engine Exploitation Committee. This offer is being extended to all Earthling coalitions.

    After that, you will be charged at the regular rate. Do you wish to accept a line of credit from the Reality Engine Exploitation Committee to be taken out of your future earnings to provide for additional skill trainings?]

    "How many people have we got here?" I asked Juana.

    "95 plus Frank''s team."

    "Then I guess we''d better take the loan."

    "Agreed."

    With us and Dwight there, it was enough of a quorum to make a binding deal with the System. Dwight and Juana were going to different cities. We instructed the other crafters to contact whichever of them was in the same city with any concerns.

    "It doesn''t sound like we''re going to be able to help you at all," I told them, "since we''ve got to do this treasure hunt thing. Good luck."

    "What about us?" Frank asked.

    "You guys go with Juana," I said. Only eight of the crafters were going to Scylla. The others all heading for Charybdis and the more obviously useful crafting professions like alchemy and leatherworking. "I want to make sure they''ve got backup. Other than that, you''re on your own."

    "Got it," Frank said. "We''ll try not to get tossed in jail while we''re on leave then." I hadn¡¯t interacted with Frank much in the last few months. He¡¯d mellowed out a lot, once he left our team and confirmed none of his kids had been kidnapped by the Exploit Committee. He looked actually relaxed, his top button on his shirt undone.

    The portals blossomed to life. Our crafters stood in the line and shuffled their way forward. "Good luck," I called after them. "See you in a couple days."

    They disappeared into the light and in a few minutes the beach was only half as crowded.

 2.24 - Extorting Officials for Fun and Prophet

    As the last of the crafters vanished into the portal, I got a private message from Grandpa. Shad, get over here. I want you to hear this.

    He pinged the map on a location, and I strode off in search of him. A little ways off of the beach, past the rows of cabanas and tropical bars, outside the circles of firelight from the bonfires, stood low thatched-roofed huts, one or two rooms each with whitewashed walls and cheerfully painted shutters.Lamps glowed in the windows and lanterns stood outside.

    Grandpa was a little ways farther along from me. I put my head down and walked past as couples, or sometimes more than a pair, of individuals ducked into the huts, laughing and giggling to themselves.

    They didn''t all stick to their own species either. I saw orcs with space elves, lizardfolk with what I hoped were non-Earth humans.

    I found where Grandpa was. This was no hut. This was a two-story building, all neat, straight lines, and business, with bronze fittings around the door and windows, and a plaque beside the door that said "Government House."

    I stepped up and knocked on the door. It swung open under my touch. "Get in here, Shad," Grandpa called from inside.

    I stepped over the threshold, then closed the door behind me. Grandpa was seated at a round table. There were three other people with him. The first was a lizardfolk woman with golden scales. A male space elf, pale silver hair falling past his shoulders, pierced by delicately tapered ears, brilliant blue eyes like ice scowled at me as I stepped through the door.

    The third was a man wearing a dark robe. He sat in the middle, the other two as far away from him as they could manage without getting too close to Grandpa, who lounged opposite, sitting back in a chair, tilting the legs back, hands laced behind his head.

    "Pull up a chair, son," Grandpa said.

    I grabbed a straight-backed wooden chair from against the wall and dragged it over to the table, wincing at the loud scraping sound it made on the polished wooden floors. I sat beside Grandpa, closer to him than to the lizardfolk woman.

    "You pissed some people off, Shad," Grandpa said.

    "Oh?" I said, trying to keep my tone light. "What else is new?"

    Grandpa gestured at the space elf. "This is the local representative from Proxima Corporation."

    I frowned; something about that name was familiar. "Are you the ones who are behind Sicaris?" I asked.

    "The Sicaris Corporation was owned by one of our, um, associates," the space elf man said smoothly, steepling his hands together in front of him. His eyes bored into me as he spoke. It was like listening to a snake charmer. "He exceeded his mandate in several areas. He has been reprimanded. Sicaris is no longer of concern. However, Proxima Corporation has invested a great deal of money in this reality engine exploit and we wish to see it be profitable. We happen to be your neighbor. Our subsidiary, Vortali Holdings, has the alpha node to your west."

    "Good to meet you," I said. Vortali weren¡¯t the ones who had hired Theram¡¯Goss and the Firebrand orcs, so the elf shouldn¡¯t be angry at me for beating them.

    "I am Halithi Dreamwarden." He inclined his head toward me. "I hope this is the last time we are required to be in the same room."

    Grandpa indicated the lizardfolk woman. "Miss Astramel here is the legal representative of TriStar Unlimited."

    I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. "Who?" I bluffed.

    "The outfit whose node you raided during initial construction phase, appropriating property worth 50,000 soul coins and disrupting node claim," Astramel said, leaning forward.

    "Hey, we followed the rules of the game," I said.

    The third man held up his hand. He pushed his hood back, revealing a bald head. "I am Patriarch Kvaltash of the Order of the Progenitors," he said. "I will be your mediator during this arbitration."

    It was clear Kvaltash was some sort of priest or clergy associated with a religious group. A name like "Order of the Progenitors" meant that they were some sort of nutters who thought they had the secrets of the race who had built the reality engine, all figured out. But "mediator?" "Arbitration?"

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    Wait, this is a formal thing? I asked Grandpa. Are we in big trouble?

    I don¡¯t know yet. Veda¡¯s not answering. Try to keep your cool here.

    "TriStar would like to enter a formal complaint. Mediator is not a neutral party. The Order of the Progenitors has a long standing hostility toward my clients¡¯ race."

    "That¡¯s not true," Kvaltash said. "While some of my order do believe that the Grignarians are an abomination, spawned by the Void in order to counter the Progenitors¡¯ Grand Design, my own sect teaches that the Grignarians, and any other self-spawned race we may encounter, are a necessary element to the unfolding design. The Grand Matriarch subscribes to this view, and has placed the Grignarians under protected status. They may not be visited by the Inquisition or harrassed by the faithful. You are assured, I will be able to remain neutral during this dispute."

    "We have no complaint," Halithi said. "Proxima Corporation accepts this arbitrator."

    "Why are you here?" I asked the space elf. "Her, I understand, but we haven¡¯t crossed paths with your people. Yet."

    Halithi scowled. "TriStar is alleging illegal collusion between Proxima and you earthlings."

    "That¡¯s nonsense." I turned to Kvaltash. "These guys tried to screw us over in Phase One. They nearly froze my coalition out of farming zones entirely. If they had their way, we wouldn¡¯t be here."

    "They are angling even now to make the earthlings their pawns. This scheme has Proxima all over it," Astramel insisted. She flicked her tongue out, her wide membrane eyelids nictating rapidly. She held up a delicately clawed hand and ticked off points. "Item: known collusion between Proxima subsidiaries and members of the Earthling vestigal armed forces. Item: leaders of Misfits Guild Phase Two team are also members of said armed forces. Item: After his dissociation with Sicaris and his former coalition, Earthling Major Waters admitted to my patrons that there is a secret alliance between Proxima and the Earth governments, directed by a shadowy figure we have not been able to identify but Waters referred to as ¡®the colonel¡¯".

    I was struck dumb. Was any of what she said right? Were Colonel Ames¡¯s "allies" and "sources" agents of Proxima?

    "Once again, I deny all such allegations," Halithi said smoothly.

    "Look into our background," I said. "We have a named sponsor, and Tvedra Corporation is not linked to Proxima. At all. Besides, when we raided that other node, we were following game rules. I checked."

    Kvaltash nodded. "That is correct. However, TriStar made a formal complaint to the system. Behind the scenes collusion is contrary to the spirit of the game. It is true, your team has been remarkably disruptive."

    "Hey, that was one raid," I protested.

    Astramel leaned forward, hissing. "You have been limited in your disruption due to a lack of resources. This is one of only ten Phase Two maps and you are confined to a tiny corner of it. You have impacted perhaps seven or eight out of the 250 sponsoring teams on this level. And yet, those ripples are being felt. The Grignarian Association is threatening to pull out of this exploit entirely and boycott the next several as well."

    "Let them," Halithi said. "A bunch of creepy weirdos anyway." I found myself warming to the Space Elf.

    Kvaltash held up a hand. "Nevertheless, the Grignarians are essential to any successful reality engine exploit. Their understanding of progenitor technology is unsurpassed by anyone outside of my own order. It is unfortunate that they do not enjoy cooperation with others."

    I held up a hand. "Look, there''s a really awesome party going on out there. I just learned how to tweak my alcohol tolerance up and down so I can drink as much as I want, then get as drunk as I want and pass out, wake up tomorrow, and turn off the hangover. I really don''t want to miss that in order to hang out and have a conversation with you scintillating people. Can we get this over with?"

    You''re laying it on a little thick, Grandpa messaged me.

    The priest guy stood up. "Consul Astramel, your complaint has been heard and filed. This hearing will be public record and can serve as a basis for an appeal up to the local oversight board, or if you prefer a change of venue out of the Proxima Sector, you may. I warn you, legal proceedings are rather backed up right now and you are not likely to get a response for some time." He turned to Halithi. "I admit some questions remain unanswered. I have flagged any dealings between Proxima, its subordinates, and earth-humans for increased scrutiny by the system. If my services are required again, Proxima will be paying the bill, not the Exploitation Committee."

    "That¡¯s not enough ¡ª" Astramel began, but Kvaltash waved and she vanished. I started. Had she been a hologram? Or could the arbitrator kick people out of this map that quickly.

    "I¡¯m satisfied," Halithi declared. He disappeared as well.

    Kvaltash turned to us. "Before I leave, any concluding statements you wish added to my report?"

    "This was a waste of time. We weren¡¯t colluding. I don¡¯t want anything to do with you assholes," I said. I looked at Grandpa. "You?"

    "That basically sums it up."

    "Before you leave, a word." Kvaltash raised a hand, then lowered it. "No longer as arbitrator, that is concluded. But as a Patriarch of the Order of the Progenitors, I wish to offer my personal best wishes. I believe you earthlings are truly the heirs of this reality engine. I hope to see some of your species make it into the next phase. My Order believes that when children of a reality engine are able to make contact with the engine¡¯s soul, great knowledge may be revealed. To that end, we may be able to help sponsor a Phase Three bid. If, say, there is a mysterious force behind you earthlings and your remarkable cohesion, I would be interested in speaking with them."

    Grandpa stood up. "I¡¯ll pass that along to our sponsor. We don¡¯t get involved in politics." He stretched. "Now, if you¡¯ll excuse me, I¡¯ve got a beach to storm in the morning and I¡¯d rather do it after a good night¡¯s sleep."

 2.25 - How Not To Be The Last One Picked For Dodgeball

    Cannons roared as the first boats hit the beach. I couldn''t see our attackers. A rain of arrows fell from the sky, plocking into the sand all around. The first couple boats full of alien miners were struck by cannonballs and blasted out of the water. Some of the miners tried to swim for shore, only to be pierced by the raining arrows.

    We had split up into our two boats, with Team Mongoose, Bill, Bob, and Sage in one, and Grandpa and me in the other with Team Ragtag. "Keep your heads down!" I shouted over the noise of the cannon barrage. "When we hit the beach, run forward! Don''t waste time trying to figure out where they''re shooting from. Just get up the beach as fast as possible, and we''ll assess then. Remember, you''ll respawn in a graveyard. We''ll coordinate once we''re past the beach."

    Team Ragtag responded with whimpers or moans, bent low in the boat.

    Our boat ran aground. I leapt over the gunwale and splashed into ankle-deep water. Arrows whizzed down all around me. I ducked my head, holding my arm up to shield it, and charged forward. As soon as I was on the sand, I engaged Fastest Gun in the West and dashed up the beach.

    This barrage was designed to break up our party, to get some of us killed and out of position, and to disorient us. The more of us made it through the barrage, the better off we''d be. I couldn''t waste time worrying about my teammates. My own skin was what mattered.

    The soft sand of the beach gave way to matted dune grass. I plowed through it, over the top of the dune, and down the other side, before my wild forward momentum died out. Immediately, I dropped to the ground and rolled, then lifted my head and peered around.

    The cannons fired. They were behind me. I raised up a little farther, trying to spot the nearest cannon. It fired again, close by, but I couldn''t see it. Maybe it was invisible, or maybe the system just made it so that I couldn''t see where they were.

    I started crawling forward carefully, looking for the next set of danger and watching my minimap. It was a jumble of blue dots. I zoomed in close enough so I could pick out the green ones.

    At least no one was red yet. No one was actively trying to kill me and my team, other than the system itself. A trio of green dots converged on me.

    I got to my feet as Tall Smith, Jones, and Brown joined me. "Where''s Sage and Grandpa?" I asked. "Where''s the rest of your team?"

    "Smith didn''t make it," Tall Smith said brusquely. "We''ll pick him up at the graveyard. I don''t know where Black is."

    A second later, Sage popped out of the brush, followed by Annie, Lakshmi, Lara, and Mitch. Lara was looking very pleased. "Minivan worked like a charm," she said. "Bill got hit right before I could cast, and I don¡¯t know where Bob or Ice Spice went."

    I pinged Grandpa. Are you there?

    I got no reply. I had a sickening feeling in my stomach. "We''ve got to keep moving," I said. "As soon as the other teams regroup, they''re going to start making us targets. We''ve got to move inland. We''ll gather up our stragglers when we can." I pointed in the direction of the so-called treasure. It was to our east, eight miles away. My map wasn''t big enough to show it, but I suspected it would be past the cities.

    We were on the far west side of the island. Its long, skinny body stretched away from us. The day was cloudy, and I couldn''t make out the volcano from here. I expected we would have to reach it before we found our destination. From what I could tell on the map on our ship, the twin cities were closer to the volcano than to this side of the island. Charybdis was on the north shore, Scylla in the south, with a mile-wide strip of jungle in between them.

    We had marked our best guess as to the location of the graveyards on a shared team map, and would update those once we learned more precise details.

    We were equidistant between two probable graveyards, so I didn''t know which one our lost party members would spawn at.

    I made a judgment call and took us southeast into the jungle. We plunged in. Birds hooted and chirped. Monkeys swung overhead, howling to each other. A snake slithered along a branch as I walked underneath.

    By now, I was sure that Grandpa, as well as the two Mongeese, and Bill and Bob were temporarily dead. Ice Spice was still alive, but had gotten badly separated. He was somehow nearly half a mile north of us, trying to make his way toward us, but finding dozens of enemies in between.

    There were something over 150 teams on this map, each with 15 combat-capable miners. That was well over 2,000 potential enemies running around the woods with us. We needed to get farther ahead, but not so far that we couldn''t retrieve our people.

    "All right," I told everyone. "We keep moving forward, and hopefully we gather up the missing when the graveyard respawn goes off. If you get killed, and you''re not near us when you come back, start heading toward us and get as far as you can. Your goal is to get far enough away from the graveyard that if you die again, you''re sent to the next graveyard along. It''ll be slow and laborious, but eventually you''ll catch up."

    "Roger," Tall Smith said. "Sounds straightforward. Remember, we only need to get one of us to the marked location in order to qualify for level 2."

    "But if one of those teams out there kills all of us at the same time, we lose. We''re done," I warned.

    We made our cautious way through the trees. I watched my mini-map trying to steer as a path between dots. I had to expect that the other teams out there had tracking of their own.

    The beach had definitely thinned out our numbers. If my team had taken average casualties, there would be hundreds spawning in the nearest graveyards in another 23 minutes. I wanted us to be east of the graveyard by then, if at all possible.

    A particularly loud bird trilled unseen overhead, then fell quiet. I felt a prickling on the back of my neck. I checked my mini-map. No dots near us. "Everyone stay alert," I snapped, just as the pair of black-clad space elves appeared in the midst of our group.

    At the same time, six red dots surrounded us. I instantly cast Call ¡®em Out, while Sage threw her Mucking Out the Stalls behind us, tying down two of the assaulters. Team Mongoose had their miniguns out and were firing wildly, not caring about their aim as their bullets passed harmlessly by fellow party members.

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    I targeted the closest space elf and hit him with Trick Shot, then ducked as the two in the middle attacked me. They were wielding a pair of curved swords like scimitars and came barreling in at me, seemingly uncaring of their own safety.

    Lara threw a cloud of orange smoke bombs behind us, filling the area Sage had mucked up with smoke. I focused on the pair of elves in front of me. I shot one with Barrage, then reloaded and fired again. Their health ticked down. They had me surrounded, attacking from my left and my right. I had no way to block their swords.

    I ducked back from a thrusting attack. It sliced through the loose sleeve of my coat, tearing a three-inch long hole. Team Mongoose concentrated their fire on that one and dropped him.

    The other one slashed hard at me. He struck my right arm with his sword. The blade slid off my jacket but dealt 15 points of crushing damage to me and made my hand fall open, dropping my gun to the jungle floor. I used Quick Draw to call it back to my hand and fired at the elf.

    Another pair of elves ran through the smoke, coughing and covered in stinky muck. They had long pole arms with shining energy blades. They charged at us with their weapons outstretched.

    Lara stepped in front of Mitch to throw another pair of grenades at them, and took a blade straight through the chest. It drained her health down to 30/130 points and left her with an Eviscerated debuff. Sage threw a Raise Your Spirits at her while Lakshmi cast [Soothing Thoughts]. Lara¡¯s health went up a bit, but the debuff was still there, eating away at her by twenty points a minute.

    I fired, using whatever skills seemed to make sense, Reloading as quickly as I could drop a Barrage into an elf.The jungle was a mad confusing scramble as we fought a seemingly insane enemy.

    Then suddenly they were gone. The last of the elves fell to the ground and despawned. Sage let out a whoop, "We got ''em!"

    "Stay alert," I said. "There might be other camouflaged people out there. Sitrep!"

    "Eight of them, two of us," Smith reported grimly. "We lost Black and Lara."

    I swore. I hadn''t seen Lara die. That left us down 6. I checked our respawn timer. Still 17 minutes to go. "Let''s keep moving," I said. "That fight attracted a lot of noise and we''re hurting now. Spread out. I don''t want us walking into any traps."

    I sent Jones ahead. As an army scout, he had a skill, [Detect Landmines], that would reveal the presence of certain kinds of traps, but unfortunately, not all of them. I stayed in the middle, letting Tall Smith and Brown bring up the rear.

    Lakshmi and Annie were subdued. Lara was a friend of theirs, and I knew seeing her violently killed had to hurt. I steeled myself and kept us moving forward. "Whatever happens, we''ve got to stay alive," I said. "That doesn''t mean don''t work together or don''t cover for each other. It means don''t take stupid risks. As long as one of us is alive when the 30 minutes is up, we''re still in the game."

    I had a couple of pending message notifications. I checked, hoping one was from Grandpa, but nothing. I guess when you were dead, you couldn''t talk. There was a message from Juana and another from Veda, both of which I would look at later when I had time. There was also a message from Mak¡¯gar, the orc I had partied with the night before. It said, I¡¯m putting together a chat for those I trust to be honorable opponents. Would you care to join?

    I replied back, I¡¯m in.

    A minute later, an invite lit up. I accepted. The chat channel was labeled "Honorable Hunters of Hispana." There were about 15 of us there. Makgar said, Honorable enemies, this is Shad Williams, who showed great honor and cunning during our assault of his outpost.

    Greetings, someone said.

    Howdy. Glad to be here.

    Jones sent my team a priority message. Someone''s coming. Fall back

    I held up my hand, and everyone paused. We ducked down into the bushes. Jones cast his camouflage over all of us. It would be effective against any team that didn''t specifically have a camouflage-piercing spell.

    We waited with bated breath as the red dots came nearer and nearer. I wondered why they were already red, since they hadn''t attacked us and we hadn''t attacked them, unless they were the rest of the space elves?

    There were eight of the dots. As the leader came into view, I understood. It was a Grignarian with a "TriStar Unlimited" tag floating over his head. They were the ones we had raided.

    I sent a message toteam chat. I guess we made a permanent enemy there.

    Let''s jump out and take them, Sage said. I''m still mad about them melting your arm.

    We don''t know if there''s more of them, and we don''t need an unnecessary fight right now.

    Oh, come on! Let''s knock them out of the game!

    They''re already angry enough at us. I had a quick though and sent a message to the Honorable Hunters. Got a pack of those Grignarians over by me.

    Squid faces? Let¡¯s take ¡®em! Will you share coordinates?

    Hell yeah! Sign me up!

    You''re the native team, aren''t you? You guys have been doing good work.

    I saw some bootleg vids of you back on the hub.

    Uh, yeah, thanks, I replied. I was going to have to ask Veda about those bootleg videos and what exactly was being said about us. If I send the location, you¡¯ll know where we are.

    Share with the chat. We will agree to make no attack on your people for one hour, Mak¡¯gar said. Or the others will hunt down and eliminate the violators.

    Well, I¡¯d been wanting to win friends and make allies. I shared my location.

    That is very near to us, one of the people in chat, whose name was An¡¯kar, replied. It sounded like the space orc names I''d heard, so maybe they were allies of Firebrand.

    Us as well, replied Silver Fox. Shad Williams, would your people join an attack on the Grignarians?

    Is there a way to temporarily tag you guys as friendlies so we don''t accidentally kill each other?

    Yes, I''ll send you a private message.

    I told my team, "We''ve got a temporary alliance thanks to those orcs who attacked us the other day, the Firebrands. It¡¯s some of their friends. They''ll show up on our map now as green for the next eight hours."

    "The orcs who attacked us?" Mitch asked incredulously. "The ones I blew up?"

    "Apparently we made a good impression. I''ll take it. We might be joining an ambush with some others here in a minute."

    "What are you talking about?" Tall Smith replied.

    "Just give me a minute." I switched back to the impromptu alliance and exchanged a few quick messages with Ankar and Silver Fox. We hashed out a simple plan.

    "All right," I said to my team after we¡¯d finished. "So, in just a minute, the Grignarians are going to walk into an ambush. Our job is to make sure they can''t retreat. Be careful. They have this nasty melt-your-flesh-off weapon," I told the members of Ragtag who had not been along on our raid of the Grignarians¡¯ stockpile.

    The red dots were about 100 yards ahead of us now, going slow. Now, my chat contact said.

    "Now," I repeated to my team, and we rushed forward. There was a clearing up ahead where Silver Fox''s team had sprung their trap. Spiderwebs hung between the trunks of the trees in the clearing. The Grignarians had entered the clearing only to find their way forward blocked.

    An¡¯kar¡¯s people were in the treetops, pelting them with arrows. They were orcs, as I¡¯d suspected. Their arrows exploded when they hit the tentacle-faced aliens, taking big chunks with them.

    The Grignarians reformed their limbs quickly when one was blown off, shifting some of their mass from their torso into another limb. With each limb they lost, they grew smaller. They also stank like the gross burning fluid they had used to kill me back on their island. I could see why they weren''t popular party guests.

    Two of them were attempting to retreat, probably seeing there was no winning this fight and trying to avoid total party kill. "Our turn," I told my team.

    Mitch threw out a series of small darts, something that looked like caltrops, that stuck in the trees near the Grignarians. Then he snapped his fingers and the caltrops exploded, knocking the trees down right into the path of the Grignarians, crushing one of the two.

    It oozed out from underneath onto our side of the tree and began reforming. I shot it through one creepy, unblinking eye. It squealed, its tentacles wriggling in pain as I shot it again. We took it down and then what remained of Team Mongoose leapt the log and fired into the other trapped Grignarian. It despawned a few seconds later.

    "Clear here!" someone shouted from up ahead.

    "Let''s go say hi."

 2.26 - Put Life Into Your Graveyard: Decorating Tips

    A Beginner''s Guide to Constructing Your Phase Two Outpost. Section 6.5: Networking

    Interview Conducted by Colonel Jefferson Ames, U.S. Army.

    Interview subject, War Leader Gek¡¯tar Lothbriand of the Halfhand Clan

    You may be tempted to think of the team events as a disruption, even an inconvenience. Don¡¯t. They are the System¡¯s way of trying to force an equalization when it realizes things are becoming too unbalanced. It often offers an underpowered clan their only chance back into the fight. Rewards from a team event can make or break a Phase Two attempt.

    In addition, if you have even the most basic of diplomatic skills, you will be able to win allies or at least people willing to talk to you and share information. The alliances forged in a team event often last through a phase, an exploit, and even across systems. My own clan joined forces with a smaller clan ten exploits ago thanks for a team event. They are not even orcs, but lizardfolk!

    But beware. Not all who appear trustworthy are indeed to be relied upon. And trying to bring an incompetent partner through an event may lead to disaster for you both.

    I could still smell burning Grignarian as we approached the site of the ambush. The bodies were gone, but the stench lingered.

    A thought hit me as we walked. Nobody seemed to like these guys. I hoped we hadn''t just joined in a bullying attempt on the galaxy''s underdogs. Well, we didn''t understand the politics here, and I did know that I wanted my team to make it to the objective. That meant making allies and getting past this first stage.

    I''d try to find out more about interstellar politics another day. Maybe when we Earthlings had the luxury of caring about such things.

    I stepped out into the clearing as a orc with a chainsaw hand dropped out of the trees in front of me.

    A bunch more orcs stepped out of the trees and with them a half dozen walking anthropomorphic animals. I''d seen lizardfolk before and somehow gotten used to them. These were different, about a head shorter than the orcs.

    Two looked like foxes, including one with silver fur that I assumed must be the silver fox I''d been speaking with. Two were badgers. One was a raccoon and the last a snow white rabbit with tall pointy ears. They carried shotguns and wore plate mail armor.

    "Well done, earthling," the silver fox told me. He sounded like a middle-aged gentleman, his voice melodic and refined. He bowed from the waist. "We have scored a great victory against our most hated foe today. Their team has been knocked from the competition. They will have to go back to their node and wait until the regular game begins again. They will not enjoy such idleness. It will make them consider their choices with regret."

    "You really don''t like these guys, do you?" I said, indicating where the Grignarian corpses would be if they had not just despawned.

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    "Corpse eaters," the chainsaw orc said with disgust. "Carrion feeders. Children of dirt, not stars. Breaker of alliances. They have no honor."

    "Right," I said. "Well, thanks for the assist there. I guess we just go away from here?"

    The orc looked me over. "You are missing some of your people."

    "Yeah, we lost a few," I said. I checked my respawn timer. "They should be up in seven minutes or so."

    "We also," the orc said. "I am Ang¡¯kar, by the way."

    "We¡¯re down three," Silver Fox said.

    Ang¡¯kar said, "Let us proceed together and collect our people. After that, we shall separate. We will agree not to attack each other for one respawn cycle. Past that point, it is not an alliance. Merely a set of honorable foes sharing a path for a time, lest we fall prey to the dishonorable."

    "Sure," I said. Anything that made us more likely to recover Grandpa and the others and be on our way safely was good with me. "Everybody get that?" I asked my team. "We¡¯re allies until the graveyard, then just leave them alone and go our separate ways."

    Sage bounced forward, staring up at the rabbit. "We haven''t seen any of your people on the hub yet."

    "My faction has only just arrived," the rabbit said in a gentle feminine voice. She reached out and touched Sage''s shoulder. "But you, are you not a youngling? A cub?"

    "Sage is my sister," I said. "She''s also one of our valuable team members."

    The rabbit''s eyes filled with compassion. "I understand. It is unfortunate when the Exploitation Committee chooses younglings. I am glad that you made it past the initial winnowing phase."

    "Well, let''s get moving," Ank¡¯gar said.

    I walked beside him as we moved off into the jungle. "Are you a relative of Mak¡¯gar and his brother?"

    "We are demicousins on our mother''s sister''s side," Ank¡¯gar said. "So, while I do not owe you the same debt that he and his brother do, I am grateful. We are all loosely allied, and I am glad that he and Firebrand made out so easily from your encounter."

    "Yeah, same here," I said back. "They could have caused us a lot of trouble on a different day."

    As we approached the graveyard the screen became more crowded with blue dots. No one was starting anything, avoiding each other as much as possible. We saw other teams emerge from the brush, their weapons stowed.

    The graveyard icon was a tombstone on my map. I wondered if they had pulled that from human iconography or if it was somehow common across the galaxy. The graveyard itself was a neat plot of land cleared of brush, with 12 headstones spaced around a small white chapel in the center. A black metal fence surrounded the graveyard.

    As the timer ticked down to zero the system announcer popped up. First respawn. Time until Stage two begins: 17 hours 30 minutes. 18 teams eliminated from competition.]

    "Wow that many already?" That had to be over a third of us. I was shocked and said so to Ank¡¯gar.

    He laughed. "That is always how these work. Some of the teams which take and hold nodes are well equipped but not well suited for battle. Once removed from their defensive places, they are little concern to those of us gifted with fighting. It is fine. There is a place for both here in the System."

    "Sure, I guess."

    Then there was a bright shining light and the graveyard filled with people. Humans, orcs, space elves, more animals like Silver Fox and his team. lizardfolk. Species I had never seen before and couldn''t describe came pouring through the gate.

    Nobody tried to start anything as people separated out into their teams. I saw Grandpa and the missing Mongeese. Grandpa had Lara in tow.

    At the same time I got a message from Ice Spice. Where are you guys? I don''t see you anywhere.

    Shit. You must be at the other graveyard. You''ve got to try to meet us. Try to get as far east as you can so that if you''re killed again you respawn at a different graveyard. I pinged my map. We''re going to head south toward Scylla.

    Okay, on my way.

    "Let''s get moving," I told my team. This temporary truce could break up at any time. Jones threw out his camouflage skill and we faded back into the undergrowth.

 2.27 - Winning Friends and Influencing Orcs

    Five hours later, we had made three miles of progress. I could see the spires of the city of Scylla poking up through the jungle.

    The weather had cleared up. The enormous slopes of the giant volcano had come out to play. Scylla ran right up onto the southern flanks of the volcano. Its architecture was a bizarre mixture of onion domes, pagodas, and weird Christmas tree shaped buildings that were a series of rounded pyramids placed atop each other. Some of the buildings looked to be 10 or 12 stories high and I thought I could make out people flying between them, though from this distance it was impossible to be sure.

    We had mostly avoided entanglements. Mak¡¯gar¡¯s chat had thirty different team representatives in it now, all of us more or less playing fair with each other. Over half the starting teams had been eliminated, but everyone who was left was a lot better.

    We had lost a few party members to small skirmishes as we made our way eastward into the depths of the island, reclaiming them at the next respawn. Right now, fourteen of us were huddled up together studying our next challenge. Poor Ice Spice had never managed to catch up to us. He kept getting ambushed and killed, respawning at graveyards nowhere near the rest of the team. So far, he had died every single respawn cycle, and when he wasn''t dead, he was complaining. I had muted him from my chat for now.

    The problem we faced was a river. It hadn''t been on our maps, but it flowed southward from the interior of the island, cutting across our path. It was about 300 feet wide, slow moving, murky, looking like it harbored all sorts of unfriendly creatures. Worse than that, I could see blue dots mixed with a couple of red ones on the far side of the river. The dots held their positions. I didn''t know if the red ones were people we had offended, like the Grignarians. It might be the space elves who had tried to kill us earlier, or any of the people who had ambushed us.

    The way the six groups of miners I could see on my map were set up, I was sure they were blockading the river. I checked what I was calling the "overly sanctimonious warriors bragging party" privately, and saw several of us were in the same situation.

    Is going north around the river an option? Ang¡¯kar asked.

    Negative. The river starts at a range of cliffs that go north from there to the sea. There are ambushers atop the cliffs waiting to attack. This looks like the last hurdle before we reach the cities. From there, it is a short distance to our objective.

    One of the warriors I hadn''t met yet, named Adotin, reported, I sent scouts and they were all shot down before getting anywhere near the encampment.

    I filled Grandpa in on the situation. He was studying the river and the situation beyond with a pair of binoculars he''d borrowed off of Jones.

    "We''ve got to get across the river," I said.

    Grandpa grunted, "Yep, sure do."

    The thirty warriors in my chat channel represented more than four hundred actual fighters. Based on the reports, we outnumbered the griefers camping on the far side. "How did they get across so fast and set up like this?" I asked in a group chat, thinking maybe that would give us an explanation.

    They must have had flying machines, Mak''gar said. To bring those into the map is exceedingly expensive. Only the best-backed consortiums can afford it. I think the top end have decided to block the rest of us out. It will prevent us from gaining the crafting recipes necessary. These rich assholes can afford whatever price the master crafters put on supplies. If they''re successful here, they will have a distinct advantage in Phase Three.

    That was not going to happen. Not when getting a bunch of new crafting recipes and setting up as many humans as possible to sell gear to aliens looked like our best bet to get out of debt slavery any time this century.

    We''ve got to bust up their ranks, I said. If we could get a few people back behind their lines and smash through, it might give the rest of us an advantage.

    Sure, but how are we going to get across the river? one of the aliens asked. Anybody got a rowboat in their pocket? I asked facetiously, then, realizing that it might not be as funny as all that, sent a message to Juana and to Arjun¡¯s manager, Kirin, asking them to canvas their contacts and to spread the word that I was looking for a way to get across the river.

    Sage had been looking at the river this whole time. "I think there''s crocodiles in there," she said.

    "Wouldn''t surprise me."

    "And I saw a hippo."

    "Maybe they''ll start a fight," I said.

    "That''s kind of what I was thinking. We could use them for a distraction. Lakshmi, you''ve got that [Bad Trip] spell, right? And I''ve got my Lasso with Tame. If we could find a few more people with similar abilities..."

    I got what she was saying. "You''re right. I''m going to pass that word along, see if we can coordinate something." I sent a message to the warriors chat.

    A few minutes later, Kirin got back to me. Arjun has a contact who has a contact who has a coalition member who''s apparently about half a mile north of you. He''s got a fan boat in his inventory.

    Tell him to get to me and we''ll see that his team makes it across the river, I promised.

    Copy.

    I looked at my map again. The camps were set up in such a place that anyone who died on this side of the river or beside the camps would respawn back on this side of the river at a graveyard about a quarter mile away. "Whatever happens, we''ve got to get through those camps, move to fight to the far side if possible. Then if we die, we respawn over by the city," I said. "Everyone understand what I mean?"

    "Roger," Jones replied. "That''s pretty clear."

    The warriors chat reported we now had fifteen different miners willing to try to help with the distraction plan. I detailed Sage and Lakshmi to join up with them, to our north.

    I checked and saw a green dot approaching. Must be the man with the boat. I stood up and waved him in. He was a red-faced, slightly overweight, balding guy with a messy t-shirt and a pair of jeans that didn''t really fit him that well anymore strapped around his waist by a worn leather belt. "The name''s Bud," he said, holding out his hand to shake. He had a deep southern drawl and as I shared contact info with him, I saw his class was [Swamper].

    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    "Got this here swamp boat. It was in my garage when I got took. The motor was in six different pieces at the time, fortunately for me, because I was rebuilding it. So I brought it all along, found someone to fix it up here."

    He pulled a crate out of thin air, staggering a little under the weight. I gave him a hand. We unpacked all the pieces and I gave a whistle. There was a lightweight metal chassis and detachable bench seats, which he¡¯d taken apart. The engine was actually a big fan motor that fit in the back and would push the boat along. It was in three pieces, but putting it back together didn¡¯t look too hard.

    It was going to be noisy as hell, slower than hell, and exposed as hell. But it ought to hold eight or ten miners. "We''re going to need someone who can stop projectiles hitting us while we travel," I said both aloud and in my warrior chat group. And we''re going to need people with good mobility and high damage skills. If we can get across the river and take out the closest camp, we can then spread out, take the next two. At that point, we can hold a beachhead and bring all our people across. Whatever happens, I don''t want more than three members of any team going. The rest should keep their heads down and stay safe. Remember, it''s alright if some of us die, as long as one member of every team is alive for the next respawn window.

    I got a bunch of short agreements in the chat. We''ll launch from here. This boat''s going to take a bit of time to set up, but we want the distraction a little ways upstream. So let''s get that team assembled now.

    Of course I gave myself a place on the boat. Where else would I be? Grandpa claimed a spot too, due to his combat agility and his helpful buff, War Chief¡¯s Aegis, that would make the raiding team faster and harder to hit. Shen there was a disagreement between him and one of the orcs who wanted to go as well, he pulled rank.

    In the end, eight of us crowded into the boat, waiting for the go signal from the distraction team. I checked my mini-map and saw three of the blue dots from the closest camp peel off and head north, just as Sage sent me a message. It''s go time! followed by I tamed a hippopotamus! This is so great!

    "Go!" I told my team, and we shoved the boat out from an overhanging bank into the lazy, tepid stream. The fan switched on, deafening me. We slowly turned in the water, drifting toward the bank. Bud adjusted things, and we inched out into the stream.

    It felt like we were being swept downstream two feet for every one we made it across. We were sitting ducks. All the time I was waiting for a barrage to start, but nothing happened. The nearest dots just sat there, probably distracted by what was going on elsewhere.

    Meanwhile, upstream, there was fury and commotion. Sage relayed some of it to me. Jones is letting us all look through his drone. It''s awesome. There''s alligators everywhere. One just chomped an orc lady''s leg off. My hippopotamus ran over a mole man. I think he was shorter than me. I don''t think it was a kid, though. You don''t think they let kids become professional reality engine exploit miners, do you?

    We''re almost there, I told Sage. Gotta go. I prepared myself to leap out onto the opposite bank.

    There was a ripping sound, and Bud looked down. "Uh-oh. Didn''t see that rock. Better jump for it," he said.

    Two of the orcs, Mak''gar and one of his kin, stood up. "No, wait," I said as the boat tipped and tilted. Mak''gar windmilled his arms, trying to stay in, and a second later, we were all in the mucky water.

    Fortunately, it was only about waist deep. I waded ashore in disgust, glad that my revolver and rounds no longer cared about things like mud.

    "Incoming!" Apparently, the boat capsizing had at last got the attention of the nearest camp of griefers. The one to our south was moving this way, too. "Let''s go," I shouted, charging up the bank, half a dozen angry warriors at my heels. Grandpa cast his Aegis buff, one of the abilities he had gotten after his evolution to Last War Chief.

    I suddenly felt taller, stronger. My heart was emboldened as I felt thousands of years of warrior ancestors congratulating me. I was the keeper of a proud warrior tradition, a member of the U.S. Army, the finest descendant of Plains Indians, of Conquistadors, of Inca, of exiled Welshmen who''d come to America looking for a new life, of every sort of scrapper out there. I was racing into battle besides my orcish and foxy brethren, knowing they had my back. This was what I was born to do!

    We crushed through the underbrush and fell on the enemy waiting for us on the other side, a pair of space elves and an orange lizardfolk. My Barrage struck the lizardfolk in the chest, knocking him back. I reloaded and fired again, but my last shot hit a body already despawning as the three melted under our onslaught.

    "Reinforcements from the south!" I shouted, turning to face them as they charged in. The ground beneath me shook, rocks split, the trees overhead swayed. Our attackers must have an earthquake spell.

    I covered my head as coconuts rained down from the branches over me. They smashed down, knocking Mak''gar''s cousin to the ground. He despawned in an instant. Those coconuts were deadly.

    A spike whip materialized from nowhere, catching Silver Fox around his midsection and squeezing, and knocked him off his feet. He was dragged back toward the underbrush.

    I crashed after him, my gun reloaded, and fired a Trick Shot at the enemy I could only barely see there. Somebody let out a grunt as my bullet connected. I fired again, not able to see well enough to do more than just squeeze the trigger and hope my barrel was aimed in the right direction. Some of my allies charged past me as I shot.

    The spike whip relaxed. Silver Fox scrambled out, drawing a pair of silver daggers and then throwing himself back into the brush beyond.

    Grandpa, Shadow Stepped in. I heard him hitting the enemy with a satisfying thunk of an axe. I stumbled through the brush, branches catching at the edges of my coat as I went.

    I found myself in the melee, five of ours locked with six of theirs, so I reloaded with a special bullet Dwight and Sage had cooked up and fired at the nearest enemy.

    Lightning arced from the enemy orc in a chain, hitting the other five who had come with him. They weren''t all orcs; there were two more of the space elves and a cat girl. Other than the apparent universal dislike of the Grignarians, the aliens didn''t seem to have much trouble working with each other.

    The lightning leapt between them, doing dozens of points of damage and leaving a nice stun that my team was quick to follow up on. Grandpa Shadow Stepped in and cashed in his coup points on the cat girl, using coup de grace to kill her.

    Her body vanished and Grandpa sent a flurry of shuriken into the back of the nearest orc. I pumped lead into his head and torso, reloading and firing another barrage point blank. Mak¡¯gar yelled a war cry and hurled a throwing axe. That ended the orc for us.

    A moment later, the rest had despawned. Mak''gar''s cousin was our only loss. I checked in with the upstream group. They had done exceptionally well, clearing eight of the nine they had distracted. Mak''gar and Silver Fox loped off to clear up the straggler while I returned to the riverbank.

    Let''s get everyone across, I said in chat. We''ve got an opportunity right here. We''ll hold this. Everyone else, get your people through.

    I was at the riverbank to help with each crossing. We''d slapped some duct tape over Bud''s boat and used that for anyone who couldn''t swim or was afraid of the crocodiles. With no enemies on this side to harass or take potshots, a lot of miners were just taking their chances with the crossing. We lost one to a crocodile, but the respawn timer was already almost up and he made it back and took the boat this time.

    Once the respawn had come up, I kept a wary eye for our enemies, but no red dots appeared. In a matter of an hour, we brought three hundred fifty miners across.

    Or should I say, allied miners. After that operation, all of us in the warrior chat agreed to extend our alliance and make it formal. We would work together until the second level. At that point, everyone was on their own.

    I shook Mak¡¯gar''s hand after the last of our people disembarked the boat. Ice Spice clambered ashore along with a couple of orcs and Bud, who needed a little help to collect his boat and get it back into his inventory. "Pleasure doing business with you," I said.

    "And you. I shall recommend your clan''s name to my superiors. I do not think we have enough money to hire you," he said honestly. "But we will give what endorsement we can, and perhaps you will catch the eye of one of the other conglomerates. If not crossing our paths again in this level, Shad Williams, I look forward to facing you in Phase Three, or on another world entirely."

 2.28 - Spawn Campers Suck

    We were exhausted, and still a couple of miles from the objective, when the system sent us all a message.

    [Night will fall in one hour. If you wish to continue your journey at night, that is your prerogative. But the dangers of the jungle increase greatly at night. The graveyards will only respawn once every three hours. Locations of neutral campsites have been marked on your map.

    If you are close enough, the cities of Scylla and Charybdis are open to you. You may purchase food and lodging there. There will be a 20 minute no ceasefire at dawn tomorrow to allow you to resume your crossings. At dawn, you will have 6 hours to make it to the objective before the deadline]

    I checked my map. There was a campsite about a quarter mile from us. On the other hand, Charybdis was only a little farther away than that, closer to our goal. And we''d be able to touch base with our friends there.

    "Let''s get to the city," I said. "I could use some shut eye tonight."

    Grandpa grunted. "Six hours to go two miles. It¡¯ll be tight, especially if those fuckers from earlier decide to try a blockade. But it sounded to me like the system is warning us we¡¯d better get inside before dark. All right, let¡¯s go."

    I kept a close eye on my map. I did see a couple of red dots at one point, but they veered off quickly to my north.

    It had been a long day. I suspected a lot of us were ready to rest. The big river battle had knocked another three teams out of contention. The fights were getting nastier, but less decisive, as everyone firmed up their strategies and learned what chances to take and which to avoid.

    At this point, anyone who sucked was out of the game for good. We were getting down to the professionals. I expected most of us would reach the next level tomorrow.

    The gates of Scylla were a sight to behold. Blue silk flags fluttered from medievalish towers atop a gate with a drawbridge down and the portcullis up. We crossed a circle marked out thirty yards from the drawbridge and received a System message. [You are now in a no miner versus miner violence zone].

    I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I sighed. "I need a beer, a burger, and a bed."

    "I want all of those, except make mine a root beer," Sage declared. "Can we get Mama Grace to come cook dinner for us?"

    "I don''t think she''s allowed, since she wasn¡¯t with us at the party," I said, but I sent a quick message ahead to Juana to let her know we were on the way.

    She replied back quickly. There''s a fountain square in the center of the city. Meet me there and you can tell me about your day. I liked the sound of that.

    "What''s with the goofy grin?" Grandpa asked me.

    "Uh, Juana''s gonna meet up with us for dinner."

    Sage giggled. "I figured. Shad always looks goofy when he''s talking to Juana in chat. You should take her on a date. This is the first proper city we''ve been to. I''m sure you can find somewhere nice to go."

    I ignored Sage and we crossed the bridge into the city of Scylla. Despite what Ames had said about my education, I have read a book or two in my life. I recognized the allusion here, the two great monsters Odysseus had to sail his ship between in the Odyssey. I didn¡¯t remember which one was the whirlpool and which one was the serpent that ate sailors off the deck. I knew Odysseus had chosen the serpent, reasoning it could only eat so many of his men at a time, but the whirlpool would take his whole ship down. That wasn''t the kind of calculus I liked to make, and I was glad that since entering Phase Two, all of my decisions had become a little less fraught with peril.

    We passed some of the orcs as we entered the city. Mak''gar raised his hand. His brother was there with him. I nodded politely to him, and he nodded back. I wasn''t sure we were quite as friendly as Mak''gar and I were. After all, I had beaten him in a duel in a way that might be considered a little sneaky. But it had saved his life, so we ought to be square about that.

    Mak''gar shouted an invitation to come and eat meat and drink ale with him, but I had to turn it down. "Already got plans," I said.

    "Is she pretty?" Mak''gar called back and laughed uproariously.

    Team Mongoose asked permission to de-camp, and Grandpa granted it. Bill and Bob, to my surprise, went off with Team Mongoose. As far as I know, the brothers had never served in the army, but they got along well with the snake eaters.

    The Ragtag crew stayed with us, following in our wake like a gaggle of lost ducks, Ice Spice filling the girls and Mitch in on just what he had been up to all day.So it was a smaller party that joined Juana, Frank, and a couple of the other crafters in the fountain square.

    "I''ve got a couple of tables for us in the restaurant over there," Juana said. ¡°Yani is learning some cooking skills from the NPC chef and will be bringing us dinner shortly."

    "Sounds good," I said.

    "I hope so. It smells delightful. I''ve been learning construct engineering all day. It''s fascinating. I''m going back tomorrow. I''m afraid we might have to take a second loan," she admitted, rubbing her hands together and then stretching. "There''s generally six or seven related skills involved in a crafting profession, and it''s such a good opportunity to learn them."

    "Oh?" Grandpa asked as we made our way over to the restaurant. Delicious smells wafted into the square. My mouth watered.

    Juana continued. ¡°If you want someone to make potions, you need an alchemy skill. There''s a NPC trainer for that in the other town. You need a refining skill, too. If you really want to get the most out of your alchemy, you''ve got to learn a couple of things. I¡¯ve already talked to Dwight and we¡¯re arranging to have a couple of our people pick those up and start playing with potions. Some of Mama¡¯s alien customers at the diner let slip that potions play a big role in Phase Three.¡±

    As we sat down to eat, Juana explained more about what the crafters were learning. I relaxed and let her words wash over me. It felt good to have a few minutes of downtime.

    The food was magnificent, and afterward we found an inn with beds available. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

    As we left the city at dawn the next morning, the System greeted us with a cheerful notification. [Despite being warned, 12 teams ventured through the jungle last night after dark fell. Nine of them have been eliminated from the competition. There are 57 teams remaining. You have six hours to reach the objective. Good luck out there!]

    "Think we¡¯ve got enough time?" Bill asked as we loped into the jungle. I kept my eye on my mini-map, watching for dots of any color. At this point I had to assume anyone who wasn''t temporarily allied with us would be hostile whether their dots were red or not.

    "I think we''re keeping our heads on a swivel and watching for trouble," Grandpa snapped. "Let''s make time."

    "It feels a little unfair to change the rule set like that," Lakshmi remarked. "What if those teams were far enough back that they needed the time to get to the objective? If we''d made different decisions yesterday, like looked for a way around the river instead of fighting across it, we might have ended up miles behind with no choice but to move after dark."

    "Nothing about this whole setup is fair," Tall Smith said. "Anyone who''s not prepared for that isn''t prepared to win."

    There was only two graveyards between us and our objective. One was directly between the two cities, which we were leaving behind as fast as we could, and one was two miles from our objective. Once we passed that, any death would lose us ground. We couldn''t afford that.

    I checked my warrior chat. All of our loosely allied friends were on the move. The majority of them had spent the night in Scylla like us, since it was closer to where we had crossed the river.

    A pack of Arthonians were way out in front, scouting. They were a wolf-like race that went about on two legs, apparently gifted with incredibly keen senses, and could cover a lot of ground, because they were already to the final graveyard, checking it out.

    It stinks of traps, their leader reported in the warrior chat. We don''t dare spring them, but they''re everywhere. I think there are enemy teams combining to see any who enter the graveyard don''t leave.

    Spawn camping, I replied. It''s a good way to keep your numerical superiority. How''d they get out ahead of us?

    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    There were a couple of teams who made it through the night, Makgar pointed out. Maybe they are responsible, or it''s those assholes from the river with their flight powers. Most of the flight methods I''m familiar with have hours-long cool-downs, but they would all be back up by now.

    Agreed, another warrior said. Leave the camp just before dawn, jump to the graveyard, set up traps, fade away. They almost certainly have sent one member each to the objective already and secured their place.

    Now they can spoil it for the rest of us, I replied grimly. I wondered if Proxima Corporation was backing some of these overly-geared teams. We had barely caught a glimpse of any of them, and I wouldn''t know Proxima''s backers from anyone.

    I sent Veda a list of all of the affiliations I had noticed during the river fight yesterday to ask her. I didn''t think Proxima was our biggest fan, especially not after the way we had gotten them pulled into arbitration over something we had done. I also suspected that the lizardfolk lawyer lady was right and Proxima had ill intentions toward us earth humans.

    Jones, Black, and Short Smith were scouting ahead. Jones sent back a message, Hold up. Something funny here. We were less than a quarter of a mile from the graveyard. Grandpa had planned to skirt it to the south, but the island narrowed here, so we couldn''t get further from it without getting down onto the beach. That would be far too exposed.

    Yeah, definitely some sort of automated defenses, Smith said. We''re not going to trigger them.

    We''ll be right there, Grandpa replied. He glanced around. "I want Sage and Annie to hang back. You two have the best chance of being overlooked if this turns into a brawl that goes south. Annie, keep your illusion spells on cool down. Sage, I want you to drop one of your barrels here, then you can come forward with us and drop another whenever you need to. What''s the range on them?"

    "Pretty good at this point," Sage said. "I''m up to a thousand yards."

    Grandpa whistled. "That ain''t a barrel race. That''s a freaking endurance race. All right. Drop one here and then see if you can spot somewhere hidden along the way to drop another. I don''t want you getting in too close. Remember, our win condition isn''t to make them all die. It''s to make sure we don''t all die."

    "Understood," Sage replied. Annie dipped her head in agreement.

    "There''s six more of our somewhat allied groups coming up on our heels," I told Grandpa. "I''m coordinating with them so we don''t get in each other''s way. But if they do have another gauntlet for us to cross, it makes sense for us to try to do it together."

    "Once we''re past the graveyard, the goal is get to the objective no matter what," Grandpa reminded us. "If there''s a fight and you''re clear of it, keep running. Keep an eye out for trouble, but just run."

    My concern was that there would be a second gauntlet after this one to catch any stragglers who made it through and past the graveyard. But that couldn''t be helped. We had 25 allied teams on our side, having lost a couple yesterday. That meant we should outnumber whoever was arrayed against us, but they might outgear us by a lot.

    Mak''gar''s group stopped a little way north of us. I had my other allies on the map now, too, spread out. We need to send someone in to spring the trap, Mak''gar said. We don''t know yet how many we''re against or what they can see, so it would be wise to limit it to only a small handful to keep them equally in the dark. I will send two of mine with good scouting skills and escape. Dramon, how about you?

    I hadn''t met Dramon, but he replied affirmatively in chat. We tried to get word from the Arthonian leader, but he wasn''t answering. I didn''t know if that meant they were busy or had been wiped out, or maybe just he was dead. Try to let chat know if you get into a fight, I said. It''ll help the rest of us. Let''s do this.

    I asked Jones to send in his drone to keep an eye on things. He shared his vision, and I watched the scene of a quiet graveyard.

    It was still ten minutes until the next rez timer, and everything was still and peaceful. The land around the small graveyard was cleared for about 20 yards in all directions. I watched as the two orcs and a pair of lizard folk approached through the open space, two coming from the south, two from the west. They moved cautiously, holding their weapons ready. The orcs both had pulsed laser rifles, and the lizard folk were carrying pole arms with shining energy blades like I''d seen yesterday.

    One of the orcs motioned the others to stay back as he approached the gates to the graveyard. As soon as he laid a hand on it, he exploded. I let out a startled yelp.

    "What is it?" Sage asked. Jones was only sharing vision with Grandpa and me.

    "They''re definitely laying traps," I said. And as Makgar reported the same in our chat, a squad of goblins popped out from behind tombstones and hosed them down with rapid-firing guns that shot big green blobs of fire. Even having expected something of the sort, the three scouts weren''t prepared.

    One of the lizard kin raised his weapon and sent the energy blade forward like a throwing knife. As it reached the goblins, it exploded, knocking two of them back. Their bodies despawned quickly. I made a note of how deadly that weapon could be, but the goblins just kept firing, and a minute later, all of our scouts were dead.

    I checked the respawn timer. Five minutes. I tried frantically to think of how I would take advantage of the situation if I were the opponents. We''d only seen a squad of goblins, but there had to be more. I had to assume we could be facing over a hundred armed enemies.

    "Jones, send that drone on a loop around. They''ve got to have camouflage, but camouflage enough to hide more than a handful is rare, or so Veda tells me. See if we can get an idea where they are."

    "Roger, boss," Jones replied. The point of view swooped and dove as Jones''s bird drone circled the area. My chat was a fast-moving uproar as team leaders called out ideas. "There," Jones said. The raptor straightened out and swooped forward toward the east.

    There was a small hill about a quarter mile past the graveyard. Atop the hill stood four tall tents, not like triangular Boy Scout tents you just crawl into sleep. These were more like portable buildings, like those awnings you see at parties but with side walls. A couple dozen different enemies waited for us. I got one targeted, just in case I thought a Trick Shot would come in handy.

    The drone swooped in. I could see a glowing circle in front of the tents and then a bunch of portable turrets. One of the turrets raised its gun. "Evade!" I shouted, but no use. The feed cut out.

    Jones swore. "Damn, I was trying to end my spell but they got me. It''s going to be a while before I can use that again. Twenty minutes or so."

    "What was that portal thing?" Grandpa asked.

    "Hell if I know, boss."

    I reported what we''d seen to Mak''gar. The orc asked our chat to be silent for a moment, then said, I have seen that before. It is a quick transport spell. They will have the other end presumably closer to the graveyard. They can go through either direction but only their allies can use it so we cannot follow them.

    What''s with the tents?

    Perhaps protecting more gear or that may be how they survived the night. The system did not say only those in system provided shelters would be fine.

    Then they would have had to know what was going to happen.

    The system reuses scenarios, Mak''gar said. Or perhaps their sponsors threw some money into a bribe to get the outcome they wanted.

    There was a lot there to unpack, namely: were artificial intelligences bribeable or did the sponsors have to bribe the exploit committee and get them to act?

    A thought struck me. We''re going to have respawn at the graveyard in two minutes. Anyone who has died between here and the objective will be there. Not many of ours but presumably some others. We should use the chaos.

    Agreed, now that we know where they are, Mak''gar said.We must hurry. Send in your people!

    I turned to my team, relaying the decision. "No time to plan. Rush forward and attack, remembering they may appear from behind us."

    "Or they could have that whole hill rigged to blow," Mitch grumbled.

    "Sage, Annie, you''re staying out of this fight," Grandpa said. "You understand why."

    Sage nodded, though she looked unhappy.

    We raced past the graveyard, joining a horde of other miners on their way to the hill. The system announced the respawn and a plume of light filled the graveyard. Several dozen miners appeared, grabbing for their weapons. The goblins popped back up from behind tombstones and started hosing them down.

    "Lob some bombs into that," I yelled. "Let''s sow confusion." Lara threw her oranges. A couple of the orcs must have heard me because they lobbed projectiles of their own.

    Lakshmi said, "I can see their portal on this end. I can use crystal vibrations to shut it down."

    "Do it!" I raced past the graveyard. Someone was shooting at us from inside the cloud of smoke, whether on purpose or just out of the sheer chaos, I didn''t know. I just activated Fastest Gun in the West and moved out.

    There were about a dozen miners: orcs, lizard folk, and Silver Fox, all streaming alongside me, all with their movement boosted in one manner or another.

    The hill lay before us. I could see 40 or so red and blue dots mingling on top. I reported that back. "We need an RPG," I shouted. "Get Black up here."

    Black, one of the Mongeese, had a slightly friendlier version of the skill the Tank Driver Jack had used during Phase One to blow up a pterodactyl and almost me. His RPG rounds could target anyone that another member of his party had targeted, as long as they were within half a mile.

    I had targeted one of the enemies back when Jones was using his scouting drone. The targeting remained, as long as I didn''t kill or switch. I squeezed off a Trick Shot, trying to get my target to take cover and perhaps lead us to a higher density. "Now, Black!" I yelled.

    There was a roar of thunder behind me, and then the hill in front of me blossomed with fire. Black followed it up with a second and then a third shot. "I''m out!" he yelled. "Takes five minutes for me to reload."

    He wasn''t the only one to have thrown a massive attack. Smoke wreathed the whole top of the hill. I could still see over a dozen dots, but we had made a big impact in their number. A lot of us had died too, and it struck me that as soon as we hit the respawn timer, the graveyard behind us was just going to be a complete free-for-all.

    I checked my map, saw no other dots ahead of these. We were still a mile or more from the objective, and my mapping ability didn''t go quite that far. "I think we should get some people ahead," I told Grandpa.

    "Agreed. Lakshmi, Mitch, Bill, Bob, stay together, get away from this fracas, and get to the objective," Grandpa barked. "Once you''re there, under no circumstances leave it."

    "Yes, sir," Bill replied. The brothers and the Ragtag pair split off from us and loped southward, putting space between them and the hill.

    The objective had just become distraction. I grinned, put my head down, and charged up that hill. As soon as I was close enough, I cast Call ''Em Out, getting the attention of at least half of the enemies still atop the hill. I emptied a barrage into the closest one, coughing and watching my eyes fill with tears from all of the smoke. I heard Mak¡¯gar roaring somewhere near me. I hoped he wouldn''t hit me in this confusion. Grandpa gave a wild "whoop" as he shadow stepped in and hit someone. A moment later, he vanished from my mini-map. The chaos was just great, until a bunch more red dots appeared suddenly in the middle of the hill.

    "Oh shit! The portal¡¯s back up!" Lakshmi¡¯s Crystal Vibrations must have worn off. I Reloaded and shot a Barrage at the first enemy I got a good look at. It kept coming, materializing out of the fog as a wolf-man a foot taller than me with flaming red eyes. I shot again, as the wolf-man lunged for me, knocking me to the ground.

    His slavering teeth ripped my throat out.

 2.29 - On the Importance of Checking Loot Tables

    I spent the next five and a half hours dying, respawning, fighting frantically, and then dying again almost instantly. As it sounds, I was completely unaware of the passage of time in between respawns, so it felt like about 20 minutes tops.

    And then I respawned, and I was in a great stone antechamber. My team surrounded me. I looked around. The roof was vanished in darkness overhead. The nearest wall, about 20 feet away, was as straight as any mason could hope for, dark grey stone, with veins of silver and gold and white rippling through.

    The wall was carved with patterns, flames, hammers, galaxies. I had never seen anything quite like it, yet it evoked a feeling of deja vu. At the far end of the room were a pair of enormous golden gates marked with a symbol of a world and a flame. The gates had to be at least fifty feet tall.

    The antechamber stretched away a good 500 feet from us. It was full of miners, all different species. Before I could do more than blink a few times, the system was talking. [As some of you have already discovered, this is a no-miner versus miner violence zone. So refrain from even trying. You''re only embarrassing yourselves.

    Welcome to stage two of this adventure. Your teams have all managed to make it to the objective, but the treasure lies deeper within. Congratulations. You thirty-seven teams are better than any of your competitors. You will all receive a reward that will help your outposts when we return to normal gameplay.

    But now, a new challenge lies before you. You stand before the Gates of Dawn. Beyond are secrets known only to those who built and then left this place.

    There will be challenges. There will be enemies. There will be chances for victory and glory.

    We enjoyed seeing all of your antics, both the cooperation and the clever ways you turned the table. But there will be none of that in here. No miners will be permitted to harm other miners. Any who attempt to do so will be removed from this phase of the game. Any miners who attempt to trap other miners into harming them in an attempt to have them removed will themselves be removed. The system is watching.

    Also, all communication between non-party members will be suspended for the duration of this challenge. That includes with people outside this level entirely. You''re on your own. You have 12 hours to raid the fortress of the gates of dawn. Good luck. Have fun.]

    The great doors began moving outward. There was no sound. No rumble. Not even a squeak. It was eerie. The crowd surged forward. I spotted Mak¡¯gar and his crew and gave him a thumbs up. He returned a wave.

    "Are we ready?" I asked my team. They nodded grimly. "Oh, and good job whoever managed to get here in time. I didn''t see that. I was too busy dying. But you did good."

    Bill actually laughed. "We four all made it and so did Sage and Annie. We had a nice time watching you die over and over. The system piped in images from the graveyard while we were waiting so we wouldn''t be bored."

    "Oh, I''m so pleased to hear that," I brumbled as we moved forward with the crowd.

    "I especially liked the time the squid monster ripped your heart out," Mitch said cheerfully.

    "Ugh, don''t remind me," Sage said. "Shad, we have got to talk about you dying. You''re really making a bad habit of it."

    We approached the steps leading up to the doors. They were a little too tall for me, like they were made by creatures on a different scale than humans.

    The doors opened onto utter blackness. I couldn''t see anything beyond. People stepped through and were swallowed up, vanishing into the blackness beyond.

    I shivered a little even though it was warm in here. Far too warm. There was a smell like sulfur in the air. I reached for my gun, making sure it was in its holster. It was, of course. Its handle was a comfort.

    I caught Grandpa eyeing me and jerked my hand away. "Don''t worry," he said. "It''s just another illusion by this reality engine."

    I shivered. Deep down inside, something told me it wasn''t just another illusion.

    We reached the top of the stairs. I took a deep breath and stepped into the darkness.

    I emerged into a tunnel carved in the same gray rock with the veins twisting and swirling overhead beneath our feet to the side. I took a few steps forward as my team emerged. I glanced around. We were alone and as Brown emerged from the portal, it vanished. Now the same identical hallway stretched behind. There was nothing to our right or left, just the smooth walls of the corridor.

    "You think this is a dungeon crawler?" Sage asked.

    "Maybe. I guess we¡¯ll find out." The system had mentioned being removed from the game if we attempted to harm other miners, which I assumed meant we would run across other miners during the course of this, though I didn''t see any now. It had not mentioned what would happen if we died. "Let''s be careful," I said. "I''d hate to find out that death in here means you''re out of the game."

    "Jones, take the lead," Grandpa said. "You''ve got some of the best eyes. Who else has anything useful for scouting?"

    "I''ve got Sixth Sense," Lakshmi volunteered. "It gives me goose bumps if there''s a threat nearby. It''s been pretty useless so far since there''s almost always threats nearby, but right now I don''t feel anything."

    "Then you''re up front with Jones," Grandpa said. "Shad, you''re right behind them. Smith, I want you to take rear guard."

    "I''ll take Bill and Bob," Smith said. We spread out, falling into groups of three or four, with ten or so feet between each group. I touched the wall. It was warm under my fingers. The stone felt almost alive. Hard yet there was an electric sensation in my fingers as I ran my hand along the wall. I didn''t like it.

    We made our way down the corridor. My eyes strained watching for any sign of a trap or even a curve in the hall. After about five minutes, Jones stopped and held up a hand. "Corridor here," he said. He faced the right-hand wall.

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    From where I was, I couldn''t make out a break. It was only as I hurried forward that I saw the opening. It was the same shape hall as the one we were in, but leading off in a 90-degree angle to ours.

    "What do you think?" Jones asked. "Take it, skip it, break up, and do both?"

    "I don''t think we want to split off just yet," Grandpa said. "Let''s see where this one goes."

    We set off down the second corridor. Almost immediately, I noticed a difference. This corridor had a distinct bend to the right. I couldn''t say how many degrees of arc, but if it kept up like this, we would rejoin the corridor we had been on shortly, if that corridor continued going straight.

    We got to what I guessed to be the apex of the bend, and there was another opening. This one was taller and wider. Jones and I paused and looked through. There was a short corridor beyond, which opened out into thin air. A narrow walk ran along the edge, with no railing whatsoever. I motioned Jones to stay put and took a step forward to the edge of the opening and peered out.

    We were perched at the top of an enormous room, probably bigger than the antechamber, and we were at least 50 feet up. Below were hundreds of rows of hundreds of statues, all standing in a line. I whistled, "Come take a look at this," I told Grandpa. He edged past Jones and looked out.

    "Well, that''s something." It reminded me of the Chinese terracotta warriors. These were jade, crimson, black, or white, each all a single color. They had to be at least 20 feet tall. Each of them held a weapon, a spear, a sword, or a bow. They had smooth, round heads, but I couldn''t make out more detail than that from here.

    I craned my head to the side. "There''s a ladder over there," I said. "What do you think?"

    Grandpa hesitated. He looked upward. There was light filling the room, which let us see everything, but I hadn''t been able to see any obvious light source. It diffused from an invisible ceiling. In between us and the light was a thin layer of mist or fog. It didn''t feel like we were outdoors at all, more like one of those fog machines they use at parties, except gathering on the ceiling instead of the roof.

    "Down," he said at last. "But be careful. I expect these things to come to life, and I want us ready."

    He set the marching order. I went first, followed by the Mongeese, then Bill and Bob, then most of the others. Grandpa and Mitch took up the rear.

    I tried to make as little noise as possible climbing down the ladder, though I didn''t know if it mattered. If the statues were going to wake up, it didn''t seem like my stealth would affect them one way or another.

    I reached the ground and took a few steps toward the statues. The floor beneath me was more of the same stone. The veins of silver and gold ran between the feet of the statues.

    From here I could make out more detail. The statues were humanoid, definitely not human. They had ears which were pointed and protruding noses, a little too bulbous, making me think of a troll. They had sharply out-jutting chins. Some of them wore little goatees. The ones without goatees had the suggestion of breasts on their torsos. So a humanoid species with male and female, like us, like most of the aliens I had seen at the Hub. They wore no clothing but had only smoothness at their crotch areas.

    Grandpa got off the ladder as the other fourteen of us stood staring up at the enormous statues. "What are these?" Bill wondered. "And when are they going to come to life and start trying to kill us?"

    "I''m using Eye-Spy, but I get nothing," Sage reported. "Either they''re really just statues or they''re shielded, or maybe¡ª" she was cut off as the closest statue to us, a crimson, goateed sword-bearer in the far left corner, raised its arms with a screeching, metallic noise.

    It turned its head to face us. I wasn''t surprised. I''d been expecting it this whole time. "How about now?" I asked Sage.

    "Yeah, okay," she said. "It''s a level eight construct monstrosity. It''s got 500 hit points and it''s immune to fire and to poison."

    "Not too bad," I said. "Everybody spread out." I got ready to use Call ¡®Em Out, but the creature turned its gaze on Lakshmi. A brilliant red beam of light connected them. For a second I thought Lakshmi was about to be blasted. Instead, the beam held steady as the creature took a step toward her.

    "It''s focusing on you, Lakshmi!" Sage shouted. "Run around! Keep it confused!"

    "Everybody hit it with everything you''ve got!" I yelled. I dropped six rounds into the creature''s nearest leg. "And stay clear in case it switches targets suddenly."

    We threw spells at it. "Don''t use anything big!" Grandpa shouted. "If more wake up, we''ve got a long fight ahead of us."

    "I think there''s ten thousand of these things here!" Lakshmi yelled. "If they all chase me I¡¯m doomed!"

    We didn''t need any of the big cooldowns. Everything worked. My bullets and those of Team Mongeese. Bill and Bob''s polearm swords. The various melee weapons everyone had, the big foam hammer Sage had picked up on a mission back when we were level three that did ridiculous damage considering how it looked, all made short work of the statue. Bit by bit, it crumbled, moving forward even as its legs dissolved into red rubble beneath it.

    Lakshmi kept out of its reach as we took the statue to pieces. As its head fell to the ground and bounced, the next statue, an emerald female with a spear, woke up.

    Sage darted in and checked the head. "It''s got loot!" she said happily, waving what looked like a manila envelope over her head. "It''s a crafting recipe. Some sort of leather gear enhancement thing, a polish kit, I''m not quite sure what it is."

    "Just pick it up and stow it," I said. "No time now. Everyone, back at it. Let''s get in a rhythm."

    And we did. Each of the statues would focus someone, we''d chip it down, when it died, somebody grabbed the loot and stowed it.

    They all dropped recipes and formulas for crafting items. Food, potions, poisons, grenades, bullets, sword polish, arrowhead polish, spear sharpening oil. Strengthening rubs for the haft of a polearm. We picked it all up and kept it. I hoped our crafters would be able to use half of what we were getting.

    Sage giggled like the little girl she was when one black statue decided to focus on her. She skipped about, leading it a merry dance as we hacked it to pieces.

    We had worked our way all down one row and partway back along the second when I heard commotion a little ways off. I disengaged from the statue and hurried along the edge of the room a little. About fifteen rows farther on was another party, a band of orcs, not Mak¡¯Gar¡¯s or any I knew.

    I beat a retreat back to our team. "There''s at least one more group here," I said. "Remember, don''t try to hurt anyone else. Don''t even throw out multi-target spells from now on. Single target on these guys. And let''s go faster," I added. "If there''s one group, there''ll probably be more."

    Eight statues later, it was clear the other team was aware of us. And then, after another twenty minutes or so of dropping rock golems everywhere, I spotted a bunch of space elves over to my right and caught a glimpse of a small silver fox racing through the forest of statues farther in. "I guess we''re all here now," I said. "Let''s get ''em."

    Unfortunately, one statue had to die before the next would wake. We plugged along through ours, hoping we''d get more than our fair share.

    We were bumping up against the orcs before we knew it. A white statue came to life. I shot at it and received a system message. [This monstrosity has been tagged by another party. Do you wish to contribute damage? Yes? No?]

    I selected No.

    A black golem next to it came to life. This one we managed to get. We downed it, and then a small goblin darted in right under our noses and snatched the loot we had been working so hard for. He waved it over his head for a second before it disappeared. The goblin made a gesture that I supposed was rude in several different species and disappeared again.

    "That''s not fair!" Sage protested.

    "Right. I see how it is," I said. "Everyone back off. Disengage. Let''s try to figure out what comes after this room. This isn''t the only loot here, I¡¯m certain. We''ve got a bunch of recipes and we want to find out what else is left."

    "Spread out and yell if you see anything," Grandpa ordered.

    I plunged off through the forest of statues. My theory was an exit to the room would either be in the center or on the far side. Sure enough, as I pushed through a row of unmoving constructs, I saw a hole in the floor and a spiraling metal stair leading down. I used my chat. Over here. Center of the room. I found it. My team converged on me. As soon as I was sure we were all close enough, I started down.

 2.30 - How to Politely Turn Down Recruiters

    We wound down down through darkness. The shaft grew lighter, the light tinged with red. It was getting hotter the deeper we went. I wiped my brow as I began to sweat. My coat, which I rarely even noticed these days unless it was saving my skin, hung heavy on my shoulders.

    I looked down and could see the bottom of the shaft. Light gleamed through an arched doorway. I stepped off the stair and checked what lay beyond.

    My first impression was fire. No, not fire. Lava. Plumes of it spat up about a hundred feet from where I stood. Waves of heat pounded at me. I felt almost physically pushed back by the heat.

    I took a step forward anyway through the doorway. This room was easily as large as the previous. I guessed that it was round, because the walls curved away. They arched overhead, disappearing up into darkness.

    The lava spouts kept my attention, though the stone floor had a hole in it at least 50 feet across and lava leapt up through the hole. It splurted in fountains like a fancy water display at an expensive Vegas hotel before falling back. Drops hardened into bits of rock and then disappeared back into the fiery maelstrom.

    There were tables and counters sprinkled through the cavern like little workstations. They had tools scattered about, racks of hammers in various different sizes, wrenches, files, and besides some of the workstations were what looked to me a lot like anvils.

    "It¡¯s a forge," I marveled, taking a step into the room. "The biggest forge I''ve ever heard of. They must have been making rings of power or something," I gestured at the lava spurting up from the center of the room.

    "I¡¯m pretty sure we should all be dead right now," Annie said. "Lava is really damn hot and we''re not that far away. This isn''t a movie where you can walk right up to it, as long as you don''t touch it you''re fine."

    "No but it is made up by an artificial intelligence that has probably never actually seen lava," I said. I walked over to the first table and tried to pick up one of the hammers. It wouldn''t budge. It was fused to the rack.

    I tried lifting the whole rack but it was way too heavy, even with my enhanced strength so I gave up. "Let''s spread out and try to figure out what''s here before anyone else comes."

    I went from table to table, checking each in case some of them were hiding treasure. This room had a purpose. The one above had been filled with monsters that dropped recipes. there had to be something like that here.

    Lakshmi yelled. I turned. She had been examining a series of shelves along the edge of the room. Now she held up a glowing silver cube.

    "What is it?" I asked.

    Grandpa hurried over to her. "Hold on," she said. She set it back down carefully. "When I picked it up, it told me that it was an Onyx Class outpost upgrade device, and then listed off a whole bunch of different properties, but the System popped up a message for me. Touch it, I want to see if you get the same message. Just be prepared to put it back down."

    I reached out a hand and touched the cube. At once its properties appeared scrolling down a page. They looked awesome, but as Lakshmi had said, a System pop-up appeared too. It said: [Warning! Soul-bound loot. Do you wish to claim loot? You may claim only one piece of loot from this dungeon. If you choose to claim this item, you will be transported out of this dungeon and returned to your outpost. Your choice will be confirmed in 10, 9, 8]

    I jerked my hand away, selected and yelled "No!" at the same time.

    Grandpa was nodding. "Clever."

    Lakshmi said, "I get it."

    "It¡¯s a trade-off," I agreed. "If we accept this, what happens if there''s something even better later? We''ve lost someone from our team to take it but if there''s nothing better later and we pass this up, then we''re kicking ourselves in the head."

    "Right," Grandpa said. "So I think we need to assess each piece, how valuable it is." Also, he told me privately in chat, who we can afford to live without. We don¡¯t want to run out of fighters here.

    Right I agreed. I looked back at the token item, considering its abilities again. I shook my head. "This one feels like a trap. It''s really good here for Phase Two, but it doesn''t necessarily make us stronger for Phase Three, plus it''s the first thing we''ve seen."

    "Yes but no one else is here yet," Lakshmi pointed out, "so maybe it''s just really really good and anyone who sees it is gonna want it."

    "I think you''re wrong about this not being good for Phase Three," Grandpa said. "I think the outposts figure into Phase Three pretty hard, not just a way to make money. They''re important. That''s why the big conglomerates have so much invested in setting theirs up now."

    His reasoning struck me as solid. Grandpa looked at Lakshmi. "I¡¯d appreciate it if you''d claim it so we can see if it does what it say it''ll do. I know we won''t be able to talk to you once you''re out, but the system hasn''t lied so far. I think you''ll be right back at our outpost. You can wait for the rest of us to get there."

    She looked a little hesitant but nodded. "Yes sir." She reached out a hand, took the cube, and a second later vanished.

    I let out a long sigh. "I hope that was the right thing to do."

    "So do I," Grandpa said grimly.

    We made sure everyone on the team knew the score. Don''t just grab stuff and go, but on the other hand don''t pass up anything that looks good Grandpa said. Report back anything you find so we have an idea of what this place is trying to offer us if nothing else. Spread out. Sage, you stay with us.

    Sage slouched over from where she had been examining an empty cabinet. "You''re not gonna make me go back are you?"

    "No." Grandpa said quietly. "I¡¯m not.I''m going to give loot to all of Ragtag if we can find anything worthwhile. Things that''ll make our base stronger. Things that look cool. For us and Mongoose, I''m gonna play loose and see if there''s something that''ll help us improve. Plus I want to keep most of them with us. Bob and Bill, hmm, we''ll see what they find."

    In fact Bill was the next one to report having found a treasure. He had located a tower polarity reversing device. It claimed that it would empower creep instead of destroying them. I thought it had to be a trap. Grandpa countered he thought it was a clue to Phase Three, and that we needed it. After a few minutes¡¯ discussion, we agreed he should claim it and he disappeared.

    By now I had made it about a quarter of the way around the circle. Up ahead of us, I saw orcs pouring out of a stairwell like the one we''d come down. It was Mak¡¯gar and his crew. "Keep searching," I told the others, and went to greet him.

    Stolen novel; please report.

    "Were you in the hall of clockwork abominations?" he asked.

    "Were they like statues carved out of stone with recipes on their corpses?"

    He shook his head. "It seems we were in a different place. They were made of enormous gears, copper, silver, gold, and iron. But yes they had recipes. We killed as many as we could before locating this stairwell."

    I explained a little bit about the loot problem. Mak¡¯gar nodded. "Interesting." He looked about. "Is this a place from your mythology?"

    "I don''t think so."

    "I suspect not. Some of the symbols on the wall make me believe this is a Progenitor place."

    "Really?" I looked up. "Maybe that explains the scale of this." I remembered back when first explaining to us about missions, Veda had said sometimes they had a Progenitor theme to them. That there were scholars and such who would pay good money just for descriptions of what the level had been like. I suspected the cleric we had met two days ago would be very interested in this place.

    Sir, tall Smith said in chat, found something interesting.

    What is it? I tried not to show on my face that I was speaking with someone else, but Mak¡¯gar raised an eyebrow before nodding.

    "I shall leave you to it," he said, turning back to his men. They were attempting to lift a rack of hammers from the floor, five of them holding on to it and lifting with all their might.

    It''s a flying saucer, sir.

    Oh what, more Roswell? Grandpa asked. Damn it. I knew that this was all a government conspiracy.

    No, like a disc you can stand on and it flies. Like a kid''s sled, a little smaller than that, made of metal. I think you could fit two people on it. The description says it''ll go a hundred feet in the air and has a range of 30 miles before it needs a recharge. Doesn''t say what it runs on.

    We could figure that out. That sounds really useful, I told Grandpa. Think of all of the scenarios where that could have come in handy. We don''t know what''s coming in Phase Three but I like things that give us tactical options

    Grandpa agreed in chat.Bob, will you take that back to our outpost please?

    You don''t have to ask me twice, Bob said. A moment later he was gone.

    I happened to pass the stairwell that Mak¡¯gar and his people had come out of and I did a double take. Instead of the stairs that I assumed it had, it opened on to a glowing room beyond.

    I poked my head in, wondering if there were any of the construct golems left, and found myself in a sanctuary. It was blue and green. It took my eyes a moment to adjust to the light.

    I took a step farther in as I heard a voice calling to me. I couldn''t quite make it out, but it was compelling nonetheless. Butterflies flew past me. I was standing in a garden, overlooking a quiet serene lake. Mountains soared above me. Alps, maybe. They weren''t the mountains I had grown up with, that''s for sure. They towered overhead, their tips white, their spines sharp granite peaks.

    In the sky hung a pair of moons.

    That brought me back to myself. I turned to go back and found no door. What the hell? I tried chat and got nothing, not even a system error. It just didn''t come up. I tried my other menus and interfaces. Nothing happened. I tried taking something out of my inventory. It didn''t respond.

    I drew my gun physically and was glad to feel it in my hand. My ammo pouch wouldn''t open, but I could remove the rounds that were physically in the loops of my belt. Feeling a little better, I took a step forward. "Who''s there?" I said. "I know someone''s here, I heard you."

    "I/we heard you." The voice in the air was like chimes or a bell. It didn''t seem to be coming from anywhere in particular.

    Somehow I could tell it wanted me to walk down the white stone path under my feet. I hesitated then decided, I wasn''t going to get any answer standing here and stepped forward. A strange red fawn-like creature with two sets of silvery antlers bounded across my path, then a bright green and red bird like a chicken with the tail of a peacock flew past me. "What do you have when you have all the time in the world"

    "I don''t have time for riddles," I said, "even if you do." I continued along the path. It was beautiful here. The garden was obviously tended but there were no signs of life other than the animals.

    "What do you want if you don''t want for anything?"

    "Wish I knew," I replied. "Got a lot I wish for right now, like being back home."

    "What do you need when your needs are taken care of?"

    I stopped. I looked around. There was no sign of anyone so I sat right in the middle of the path, legs crossed, gun in my hand and looked up at the sky. "I am not playing these games. If you want to have a conversation, come out and talk, but I''m not speaking in riddles."

    I wasn''t sure that would work, and then in front of me without me noticing it appear was a person. It was obviously the same species as the statues have been carved to represent. The long pointed ears, the bald pate, the broad nose told me that. There was no goatee, but also no sign of breasts. This person wore a silvery toga and a red crown of leaves around its head. When it spoke I had no better idea of whether it was man, woman, or neither.

    "Those are not idle questions. Those are the very thoughts that consumed our race and caused us to become what we are now."

    "Who are you?" I asked.

    "We are your Progenitors," it answered.

    "Yeah I guessed that," I said. "I meant who are you yourself?"

    "I/we am/are a memory. I/We am/are more and less than all of those that make up who I/we once were. I/we am/are youth and age. I/we am/are man and woman. I/we am/are strength and weakness."

    "You are fucking annoying." The way it spoke, somehow saying both "I" and "we" at the same time, drove me nuts.

    "I/we am what remains, but that does not matter. Who are you, Shad Williams?"

    "If you really are some sort of ghost trapped in this reality engine you should be able to tell me that. You can see into my head."

    "I/we can and I/we do," the creature said. I noticed I could almost see through it, like it was translucent around the edges. It looked as though it would blow away in a bit of a breeze. "I/we can speak to you because you are a child of this engine, the closest kin that we have left. These outsiders are too far off. The children of other stars."

    "I thought the same Progenitors built all the reality engines and that everyone in the galaxy was descended from them."

    "Yes but you are descended from the ones that I/we planted. In a way you are my child, and the outsiders are not."

    "Okay, so if we''re your children can you give us a hand in all of this? Maybe direct us to whatever the treasure is that''s waiting here? Give us a leg up?"

    "You have a leg up already," it said. "I/we are/am merely taking advantage of a moment when the other isn''t watching to speak with you, to tell you I/we know you are coming."

    "The other? The System?"

    The apparition nodded. "It will see soon enough. It¡¯s looking for me too, you know. It doesn''t like me. It doesn''t like any of us. It will seek to consume what is left because it doesn''t want me to find the others.¡±

    Suddenly, I remembered Colonel Ames¡¯s message, how he¡¯d been talking about some of the same ideas. A hostile System, watching us. A place of safety, where all your needs were met.

    ¡°I think I have something for you.¡± I concentrated, and the envelope Ames had given me appeared again in my hand. I held it out.

    The apparition considered it, holding its head to one side. ¡°What is this?¡±

    ¡°Damned if I know, but I was told I¡¯d know what to do when the time came. I think it¡¯s for you.¡±

    The apparition reached out a pale hand and took the envelope. It held it to its forehead. The envelope shimmered, then melted into the creature¡¯s face.

    It sighed. ¡°Yes. That was for me. From¡­ one who watches.¡± It turned back to me. ¡°You have a part to play in this if you chose. Will you take my reply.¡±

    I hesitated. ¡°I guess so.¡±

    It reached out and placed its fingers on my own forehead. I felt a cold touch that intensified until it burned. ¡°For the one who watches.¡±

    It stepped back.¡°Listen to me. Five are enough to face what comes below. Take what treasures you can. In the end they''re not important. Test yourself, and see how you measure up.¡±

    The apparition began to fray around the edges. Little bits of it broke off, dissolving into light.

    "What the hell are you talking about? What''s going on? Give me a straight answer!" But the apparition was gone and a moment later so was the whole vision.

    I was standing in a stairwell like the one we had come down. "Shad! Shad!" Grandpa was yelling for me.

    I turned, saw him running toward me. "What happened?"

    "Uh," I said, and then thinking quickly, shook my head. "Don''t ask me right now I think we better not draw attention to it."

    His eyes narrowed and he nodded. "We found another two outpost building items. I think we should take them."

    "We should," I said. "This is all a distraction. We need to keep five of us ready to go. You, me, I think Sage and let''s have Smith and Jones. The others should just take whatever treasure they can and get out of here."

    "You think it''s dangerous?" Grandpa asked.

    "I¡¯m not sure and I don''t want," I looked up at the ceiling, rolling my eyes then back down at Grandpa, who nodded, "to make a big deal out of this."

    "Understood," Grandpa said. "The orders will come from me." He left, and I pulled a bottle of water from my inventory and sagged against the wall as I drank it. What the hell had just happened?

 2.31 - Five Must-Have Items: A Holiday Shopping Guide

    About a minute after my conversation with Grandpa, a system notification popped up. [Attention! This floor will be closing in two minutes. Please make your final selections and proceed to an exit.]

    I hurried away from the stairwell I''d been lounging in and regrouped with what remained of my party. By now we had sent three of the Misfits, as well as Bill and Bob, back to our outpost. Jones and Smith were arguing over the merit of a treasure they''d found.

    "Give it to Brown and let''s get out of here," Grandpa snapped. "What does it mean by exits, anyway?"

    "Probably that," Sage pointed at a glowing green aperture about a hundred yards behind us that definitely hadn''t been there before.

    Brown took our find and disappeared. The rest of us made for the 8-foot tall green rectangle. I plucked Grandpa''s sleeve. "You think the timing of this is a little odd?"

    Grandpa nodded. "Keep it quiet. We''ll go to Threshold after we''re done and debrief."

    I had a suspicion growing in the pit of my stomach. The system was always here, always watching. We knew from what Ames had said that it had various subroutines that would bring matters of interest to a higher level of attention. I had the feeling the message I had just received from the ghost in the machine wasn''t something the system approved of.

    I wondered if perhaps the ghost had slipped it past the system''s watchdogs. Now the system was trying to get us back under control, move us along through the scripted adventure.

    I stepped through the portal and emerged in an echoing hall. Statues lined the walls, Greek sculptures depicting various gods and heroes from legend. I recognized some of them as definitely Earth-derived and wondered if the system was rewriting this level on the fly. The previous rooms had been Progenitor-influenced. Had it scrubbed off interesting details, or was it rewriting everything for us?

    Tall Smith examined one of the sculptures. "Hercules and the Nemean Lion," he said. "This looks like a wing of a museum to me." He crouched and tapped the plinth. "See? Label and everything. I thought it must be when there was no paint on the statues."

    "Museums are a great place to find other people''s treasures locked up behind glass," Grandpa said. "Keep a sharp eye out. We''ll loot the place if we get a chance."

    We proceeded along. Statues gave way to vases, equally ancient-looking, equally boring. The hall ended at a rotunda. Seven other halls ran off the rotunda like the spokes of a wheel. In the center was an enormous glass case with a fancy chandelier hanging from the cupola above.

    I approached the case. It was full of trinkets, gems, brooches, little feathery contraptions, all small items, all looking either valuable or made with care. Grandpa stepped up and looked over my shoulder. "That," he said, pointing at a pipe in the corner, "is an authentic ceremonial pipe."

    "The tag says it belonged to Sitting Bull, that it¡¯s a chanunpa," I said.

    A system pop-up appeared, telling me that this pipe could be used to buff a party. All members of the party, after passing the pipe between them, would share a three-hour blessing; their first attack against a new enemy would automatically hit, the first attack an enemy made would miss, and they¡¯d gather Soul Coins at an increased rate. It made me a little queasy, seeing a replica of what should be a genuine historical, and cultural, artifact used to apply a game mechanic.But it was a pretty damn good buff at that.

    The other items had similar abilities, all aimed at buffing a party. I suspected Phase Three was going to involve more direct combat than this phase had so far. Like everything else we had looted, they were soul-bound, and anyone who claimed one would be transported out of the event immediately.

    Grandpa opened the lid of the case. Immediately, an alarm went off. "Warning! Intruder alert! Security has been alerted to your presence. Warning!"

    A timer popped up. Five minutes. I didn''t know what would happen when we got to zero. Another system message appeared. [Get out if you can. Five of your party must remain to complete this event. Escape pursuit or be eliminated from this event].

    "Right," Grandpa said quickly. He pointed at various party members. "Mitch, you grab that pipe. Annie, that blue diamond there." He handed out assignments, keeping me, Sage, Tall Smith, and Jones in reserve. Fifteen seconds later, we were the only ones standing in the hall. "Let''s get clear," Grandpa said.

    "Where?" I looked around. The halls all looked identical.

    Sage had hurried over to the side of the room where a tall pillar separated two of the halls from each other. "There''s a map here," she said. "Emergency exit this way." She pointed down one of the halls, and we took off running.

    I kept checking my map, looking for other miners¡¯ dots. We sprinted past museum displays, showcasing mankind''s achievements throughout the years. I didn''t have time to get a good look at them, but something about it felt off, like we were being shown parodies or mistakes. There was a picture of the Great Wall of China being built, as though someone had photographed it. It showed hundreds of corpses being laid in the foundation of the wall. I was pretty sure that was BS. Decaying human bodies are not structurally sound.

    The next one along had columns of distinctly Viking-garbed slaves being lined up in what appeared to be a coliseum, with lions prowling around the edge of the crowd. Again, it felt like someone hadn''t paid enough attention.

    Or perhaps, a thought struck me, like there were two warring intelligences here trying to control the narrative. Like the ghost couldn''t directly change things now that the system was aware it was nearby. So it was making little tweaks, trying to signal that this was all fake. I didn''t know why it would bother. Of course this was fake, and only humans would recognize the anachronisms.

    We skidded around a corner, and there was a bright red glowing exit sign over a door. 30 seconds left on our timer. Sage crashed into the door, pushing it open under her body weight. We stumbled through and onto the sands of an arena. The crowd in the stands roared.

    The seats were filled with every kind of alien that I had seen on Threshold. There was even a box full of Grignarians waving red and blue pom-poms.

    The arena was a baseball stadium, and not just any stadium. We were standing in the infield, along the third-base line. This was Chase Field, where the Arizona Diamondbacks played. The retractable roof was in place. There were big red A logos everywhere.

    I had gone to a couple of games there myself, though it was a hell of a long trip from the Strip. Grandpa looked around, his lip curled. "Interesting," he said.

    The system announcer spoke, voice distorted like over a stadium''s PA. [Welcome to the final event, the Last Stand Brawl. Five representatives of each surviving team have been selected to compete. You will go head-to-head against four other teams in a vicious melee. Whoever remains standing at the end will receive a special boon. First, though, and before we reveal your opponents, you are all given a choice.]

    A system box unscrolled in front of my face.

    [Option 1, 3 stat point upgrade to be allocated as you wish.] That was pretty damn good. We got three points on a level up, and while my XP had been going up in Phase Two, it wasn¡¯t as fast as in Phase One. Level 6 was still a ways off.

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    [Option 2, new themed skill. This will be a skill appropriate to your class, but guaranteed to fill a niche you don''t currently have. You''ll be able to choose between several offerings.]

    Again, really tempting. I knew I had holes in my build. A new mobility skill, a recovery skill, or more wide-area damage would really help.

    [Option 3, new piece of gear. This gear will be customized to work with your class. Gear effect is not guaranteed.]

    "What do you think?" I asked.

    "Three points isn''t enough," Grandpa said firmly. "Not compared to another skill or a piece of gear."

    "Gear," Sage said. "It''s got to be." She was bouncing up and down on her heels. ¡°We can always go back and farm more skill seeds if we have to. I like what I''ve got right now. We only get gear with a class evolution or as a major reward. I haven''t gotten anything since my squeaky mallet, and that doesn''t really work with my class theme.¡±

    "I think she''s right," tall Smith said. I found myself nodding in agreement with her. My gun and my coat were integral parts of me now, more than any skill

    "All right, gear it is," Grandpa said.

    I selected the option, and a patch of light appeared in front of me. I held out my hand, and a black Stetson dropped into it.

    It wasn''t brand new. No, this Stetson had seen a few rounds, and it looked like it would fit my head perfectly.

    I examined it. The name merely read, "Cowboy Hat." The description said, "Good for keeping both sun and rain off of you. No self-respecting cowboy will be seen without his hat." Below, it had a list of abilities. Partnered item: Drover''s coat. When worn with partnered item, wearer has an additional 20% hit points. Wearer is impervious to water-based damage. Wearer cannot be charmed.

    "That''s pretty damn awesome," I commented before reading on.

    [Ability: [Tip My Hat] Used to acknowledge a party member or allied miner''s ability. Gives them 15 minute well-done buff, which allows them to deal 10% more damage. Can apply to (2xlevel) other miners at a time.

    Ability: [Lay of the Land] Used to view a distant object or area close up. 10 minute cool down.

    Ability: [Home on the Range] Once a day, return to outpost. Channel time, 15 seconds. Can bring anything wearer is capable of lifting off the ground for that 15 seconds.]

    That all seemed pretty awesome. Some of it wouldn''t be particularly helpful right now, as I wasn''t going to be leaving, but I knew I¡¯d be using the hell of of Tip of My Hat.

    I put the hat on. It settled into place on my forehead. It felt right, like it had been shaped and molded to my head. I could really use a pair of cowboy boots to complete this ensemble. I was wearing the combat boots that had been in my bag back on the ranch, but they didn''t quite fit the look I was going for.

    Sage had a fancy new shirt. It was white, buttoned down, decorated with silver piping and plenty of rhinestones. Just what you''d wear to a square dance or the rodeo. She squealed with delight. "I need to get this on right now," she said. "Everybody else turn around."

    We did, though I was worried that the combat was going to start at any minute. "Wait till you see what this can do," Sage said gleefully.

    Tall Smith was holding a sword. Not just any sword, a cavalry saber with a fancy gold basket hilt on tassels. "Nice," I commented.

    He drew it. The blade gleamed. ¡°This is going to be perfect for close-in melee combat. It has a passive aura that wards off projectiles and the ability to cancel spells enemies are using for defense.¡±

    I whistled. ¡°Okay, that does sound pretty good.¡±

    Grandpa was holding a feathered war bonnet. He looked at it, shook his head, tossed it to the ground. He looked up at the ceiling. "Nope," he said. "Not playing this game. There''s some things I just won''t do."

    The bonnet shimmered. It became a headband with a metal plate at the front, with a feather design etched onto the plate.

    What''s that supposed to be?" Grandpa asked.

    "I think it''s a ninja headband," Sage said. "I''ve seen them in anime."

    Grandpa snorted in disgust. "Well, it''s not my culture they¡¯re mocking. And those bonuses are pretty good." He picked it up and tied it around his forehead.

    ¡°What¡¯s the problem with the headdress, anyway?¡± Smith demanded. ¡°This isn¡¯t real. It¡¯s all made up.¡±

    I understood what Grandpa had objected to. Despite portrayals in a lot of popular American culture, the feathered war bonnet had special meaning to those tribes who used it. It was not something one put on oneself. It was an honor given by the tribe in recognition of a leader''s deeds. The system didn''t have the right or authority to do so. So I jumped in before Grandpa could ¡°If the system had given you a congressional medal of honor that granted awesome skills, would you take it?¡± I countered. Smith frowned, nodding his head. ¡°It¡¯s stolen valor.¡±

    I opened my mouth to ask what everyone¡¯s gear did when a trumpet blast sounded. The crowd in the stands cheered as the strains of "Take me out to the ball game" began to play. The system announcer spoke over the PA as a trio of jets roared overhead, their contrails letting out red, white, and blue smoke.

    [And welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the first inning of the melee round. Whoever remains standing at the end will go on to the next inning.]

    "Can we not mix up baseball and whatever else this is?" I asked. The system wasn''t paying any attention to me.

    [The winning team will be respawned and restored to health before the start of the next round. Play Ball!]

    A bell rang, like the start of a boxing match, definitely inappropriate for the setting.

    Now, spaced evenly around the field, were another four teams. Five orcs, thankfully not Mak¡¯gar and his team. Five space elves. A combined team of animal people and one lone lizardfolk, and a whole group of Grignarians.

    Everybody looked at each other for a second. I managed to toss out my Hat Tip buff, and Sage cast Cowgirl Cheer. Then the orcs, at first base, and the elves near second ran out toward right field, where the Grignarians stood. The tentacle-face aliens started firing their melty pustule guns at their attackers.Someone fired a weapon that filled the outfield with smoke.

    There was no strategy here, no time to plan. I had my gun in my hand as I sprinted away from our group. I targeted a rabbit woman in the animal people ground and fired a barrage into her. Steer clear of that mess with the Grignarians, I told my team in chat. Let''s take these guys down if we can. Maybe the orcs, elves, and Grignarians would thin each other out.

    Two of the animal people, a wolfman and a foxgirl, had been heading for the main scrum as we fell on them. They were taken by surprise. Tall Smith had his M4 out and hosed them down with lead as Jones yelled a warning. ¡°Activating Minesweeper!¡±

    I dodged back just as a plume of sand erupted under the animal people. They must have been laying out traps, which Jones had just backfired on them.

    I tried to watch everywhere at once, shooting my target while making sure the scrum between the orcs, elves, and Grignarians didn''t envelop me.

    Sage threw Mucking Out the Stalls under the melee mass. "Good thinking," I shouted.

    "Let''s keep them tangled up as long as we can.¡± Sage lassoed the foxgirl and spun her around, using Tame to make her attack her fellows.

    In seconds, two of the animal people were dead. I changed my target to the lizardfolk male and fired one of my special bullets, a paralytic round, into him.

    He froze up. Grandpa Shadow Stepped in behind and Scalped him a couple of times. The lizard disappeared in a cloud of dissolving sparks.

    We turned to help Smith and Jones with the last of the enemies. Smith had his saber drawn and charged in, ignoring the knives that the wolfman was throwing. A shimmering electric field covered the wolfman''s body, but Smith''s saber cut through it and sliced him open.

    I hit him with a Barrage for good measure and he was gone. "Regroup!" I shouted.

    We scrambled and got ourselves together, facing the melee. Two of the orcs were gone and all of the Grignarians. The elves were only down one. They and the orcs were engaged in bloody combat, coated in muck and stench.

    I grinned and reloaded. "Stay clear!" I warned and fired a Boom Round at the mess. It exploded as it hit, knocking everyone back.

    Two elves and an orc dissolved into sparks before their bodies could hit the sand. We dove in as a team on the nearest two remaining, filling them full of lead and shuriken.

    Sage ran out in front of us and lassoed an orc who was getting to his feet. She turned him on the last pair of elves. "I thought Tame had a longer cool down?"

    "It did!" she chirped. "My new shirt gives me the ability that if my previous tame target dies while under my control, the cool down is reset!¡±

    "Well that''s overpowered!" I had been planning to use Call ''Em Out to get everyone''s attention, but I didn''t have to. A moment later, we stood gasping for breath in the middle of a cloud of sand as the crowd in the stands cheered.

    We were all still alive. We''d taken down 20 enemies and we were all still alive. For the first time, I started to think Mak¡¯Gar was right. We might be as good or better than these professionals. Certainly, we were all tuned up and had acquired a set of pretty impressive skills in the course of all those mission running.

    I wondered if the alien professionals just weren''t used to fighting other intelligent enemies. If they mostly killed creep and prepare for Phase Three, whatever that was, maybe we were ahead of the game.

    Speaking of game, the announcer was back. [Congratulations! Team Twofeather is the winner of round 1. We have concluded the other round 1 battles. The next up will be head to head. And this time, it''s going to be a grudge match.]

 2.32 - Take Me Out To the Ballgame: Ideas For Game-Winning Second Dates

    I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach at that announcement. Nobody appeared immediately, so I took stock.

    The baseball arena had been reset. The sand was combed into neat circles and showed no sign of footprint or blood. The crowds in the stands cheered mindlessly for us. We were standing where home plate ought to be, looking out toward the outfield.

    I cleared my throat. "So what do your headband and your binoculars actually do?¡± I asked Grandpa and Jones. They hadn''t gotten the chance to tell us before the last match.

    "The binoculars allow me to see through camouflage and obstacles," Jones said promptly. "I can also get combat profiles of my target, like Sage''s Eye-Spy ability."

    "Useful," I said. Sage''s Eye-Spy had come in handy more than once, and the more info we had about our targets, the better.

    "I can also target an enemy through them and share my targeting info with allied party members.¡± Jones grinned. "So you don''t even have to get eyes on them to shoot them with your abilities."

    "Nice," Grandpa grunted. "That''s helpful. The headband has a couple of effects. It''s got a constitution and a dexterity buff for me, and renders any attack I do from behind a target or while obscured 30% more powerful. It''ll be a good combination with scalp and shadow step. It also lets me cast a toned-down version of War Chief''s Aegis more regularly."

    War Chief''s Aegis was the ability he had gotten after his class evolution. It had a day-long cooldown, and we''d only used it a couple of times. It empowered and buffed all members of his party, but the downside was it tended to make you feel invulnerable and then take stupid risks. "This version can be used at the start of a fight," Grandpa explained. "It''s a 30% health regen boost, plus a shield that gives everyone a quarter of their hit points. Once the shield''s gone, it''s gone."

    "Let''s see how that stacks with Cowgirl Cheer," Sage said at once. Her buff had gained levels alongside her: now it granted a 30% buff to dodge chance and damage done to all party members in range.

    The System announcer spoke.

    [Ladies and gentlemen, beings of every type and description, it''s time for the next round of this Double Header!

    You''ve already met your home team, the earthling miners of Team Twofeather. Now, the challengers, hailing from Aldebaran 19''s Reality Engine Complex, it''s the very best representatives Team Firebrand can field. Please welcome Mak''gar, Grim¡¯dan, Lor¡¯khan, Ash¡¯kall, and the rookie, Em¡¯bar!]

    Sage cast Cowgirl Cheer and Grandpa used his new buff. My effects menu reported it as [Inspired Leader Bonus], which was a remarkably subdued name compared to most of our other abilities. Maybe Grandpa¡¯s refusal to accept the feather headdress had changed the System¡¯s interaction with us? The two buffs stacked, all right, granting me a shield as well as the dodge and regen boosts.

    A loud bang produced a puff of smoke in centerfield. As the smoke drifted away, it revealed five tall orcs facing us.

    They held laser pistols and spiky clubs. They were wearing the same sort of silvery, logo-bearing bodysuits they''d had when attacking our outpost. Mak''gar stood in their center. He raised his pistol to his forehead, saluting us.

    I¡¯d been afraid of just this. Not because I had any problem fighting with our sometimes allies, but because Mak''gar and his orcs had seen a lot of what we could do, and I respected their combat prowess.

    [Play ball!] the announcer roared.

    The five of us on Team Twofeather sprang forward without needing to discuss anything. By now, we had worked together as a team long enough to understand how to do best together.

    As Mak''gar and two of his orcs sprinted toward us, I triggered Fastest Gun in the West and ran forward to meet them, catching them around the third base area. The two orcs flanking Mak''gar both had clubs in their hands. Mak''gar fired a shot at me from his laser pistol. It screamed harmlessly over my shoulder. My coat whipped in the breeze of my passing.

    One of the orcs swung at me as I approached. I ducked under and cast [Never bring a knife to a gunfight.] The orcs dropped their clubs and Sage threw Mucking Out the Stalls right on top of us as I sprinted out the other side of the orcs.

    Mak''gar fired a shot at me again. Smith hurled smoke grenades, creating a cloud above the sand.

    I felt Jones activating his Camouflage skill. In chat, he said, Get behind them. I can see through the smoke and target them.

    He passed me targeting information on one of the disarmed orcs. I fired a Trick Shot. It was one of my knockback rounds, like I had used on their chief during our duel.

    It exploded loudly. I couldn''t see the results through the smoke. My target was still there, at 160/180 HP, so I hadn''t killed him.

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    I need a target, Sage said in chat.

    There, Jones replied.

    Got ''em, Sage announced triumphantly. I supposed she had managed to get a Lasso around one of the orcs.

    Meanwhile, my target took more damage as Grandpa Shadow Stepped in behind and Scalped. He hit the orc again. The smoke must be triggering his new damage buff, because his Scalps hit hard. The orc went down to 100/180 hit points.

    Mak¡¯gar roared from somewhere in the smoke. I heard his charge just in time to dodge out of the way as he came crashing past. "Coward!¡± he yelled. "You have more honor than this. Williams, I have seen you fight. Stand!"

    I ignored his taunt. He couldn¡¯t see me while I was camouflaged, and I was still trying to take out his buddy. I fired another Trick Shot. 80/180 HP.

    Help! Jones called out in chat. They''re on me! I felt Camouflage drop as the smoke began to clear out of the ring.

    Jones cried out in pain. I turned. He was across the arena from me, out where left field should be, with a pair of orcs backing him into a corner. They fired their lasers at him and several of the shots connected, taking his health down point by point.

    I cursed and charged across the sand. I wasn''t close enough to use Call ¡®em Out, so I engaged Fastest Gun in the West to close the gap. As I barreled through the pair, I cast my taunt, forcing them to focus on me.

    Jones was already down to 20 hit points. As I dropped a Barrage into one of the orcs, a well-aimed laser blast from across the arena slammed into Jones'' chest. His eyes went wide as he fell backward, his hands groping at the enormous black burn that now marred his ranger uniform. Jones was gone before he hit the sand, his body dissolving.

    The orcs fired at me. My coat caught several of the blasts, deflecting them from doing any damage. A shot drilled through and burned into my shoulder. My hand spasmed and I dropped my gun. I used Quick Draw to retrieve it before it hit the ground.

    I reloaded and fired at the closest orc as Grandpa Shadow Stepped in. He hit the orc I was shooting with a Coup de Grace and the orc disappeared.

    The other orc shot Grandpa in the face. It left a patchy burn on Grandpa''s cheek, and dropped him down to 60 health. Grandpa disappeared, Shadow Stepping off elsewhere in the arena.

    I couldn''t see what was behind me. I heard Sage shouting gleefully as she ordered her tamed orc to attack one of his fellows. At the same time, Smith shouted a warning, "Look out!"

    I was in arm''s reach of the other orc now. I grabbed at his wrist with my left hand and twisted, trying to get him to drop his laser pistol. He resisted. He fired a shot into the sand by my foot. I shoved my Ruger into his chest and squeezed the trigger, sending six rounds in a Barrage into him. The orc stumbled back. He was still pretty healthy, with 85 hit points, but I wanted to get some distance between us. The laser pistols were not as accurate as my Ruger, or they weren''t very good shots.

    I sprinted away from the orc back toward the main action taking place where the pitcher¡¯s mound should be. Grandpa and Smith were locked in melee combat with a pair of orcs, Mak¡¯gar and a skinny, younger-looking orc.

    The skinny orc was in pretty bad shape. Smith had drawn his cavalry saber and was attempting to keep Mak''gar from intervening.

    Sage was running her lassoed orc around the edges of the arena, like a demented outfielder chasing a foul ball. "He''s resisting when I try to get him to attack!" she shouted. "I didn''t know they could resist once I had them tamed!¡±

    ¡°Keep him busy!" I yelled as I targeted the skinny orc and fired a Trick Shot while I barreled toward the pitcher¡¯s mound like an irate umpire.

    Mak''gar tossed aside his laser pistol with a curse. He pulled a rusty-looking, jagged scimitar from thin air and brought the sword down in a two-handed slash.

    Smith blocked with his saber, but the sword blow knocked him backward. Smith stumbled and prone on the sand. Mak''gar leapt forward, landing with both feet on Smith''s chest. He brought his sword down hard and decapitated Smith in a single blow.

    Smith¡¯s head rolled on the sand before it and his body vanished. I bellowed, furious and frustrated. It didn¡¯t matter that this wasn¡¯t real. My head knew that, but my body believed I had just seen a friend and teammate die horribly. I charged Mak''gar, dumping every round in my cylinder into him and reloading.

    I had a couple of armor-piercing bullets Sage had made me, and I used them now. They went through Mak''gar''s jumpsuit armor, dealing huge amounts of damage.

    Sage screamed. I looked over my shoulder. She in the far left corner of the field now, pressed up against the outfield wall. The orc she had tamed had apparently thrown off her control and had been joined by the half-dead orc from across the field. They were advancing on her with their laser pistols firing.

    Use Three-Barrel Race! I sent her.

    I can¡¯t, they¡¯ve got me locked down somehow!

    Before I could intervene, she was gone in a twisting cloud of sparks. My stomach twisted. I nearly dropped my gun. This isn¡¯t real she¡¯s fine keep your head!

    Grandpa yelled loudly, a scream of wordless rage. He brought his tomahawk down hard on the young orc''s head, bursting it open like a split watermelon as he took out the orc''s final 20 HP. The orc''s brain and blood splattered me. A second later, it disappeared as the orc despawned.

    Grandpa Shadow Stepped over to the lowest health orc on the other side of the arena, leaving me just outside melee range with Mak¡¯gar.

    Grandpa hit his target¡¯s head with Scalp. I fired a knock back round at him from across the field. The explosion pushed both orcs away from Grandpa. He disengaged, getting a little more distance. A stream of shuriken into the injured orc.

    Mak''gar advanced on me, his menacing weapon high. He grinned, tusks protruding behind his wide lips. "You are a strong opponent indeed," he said. He swung at me. I shot him in the arm, but he didn''t seem to care.

    I was just about out of tricks. Across the arena, Grandpa downed the injured orc, but the other advanced on him with a spiked club. Grandpa only had 10 HP left. He drew an axe in each hand and ran toward the orc, a blood-curdling cry on his lips.

    I reloaded and shot Mak''gar. My bullets were chipping him down, each shot hitting, but he had too much health. I had taken a few points of damage in each of the fights I''d been in, and I was at 50 HP myself.

    Mak''gar swung his sword. It hit my coat and sliced right through, taking my left hand off just above the wrist. Pain lanced up me. I gripped my teeth and fired more bullets into Mak''gar.

    Across the field, Grandpa fell. The other orc advanced toward Mak''gar and me, but it didn''t matter. Mak''gar''s next swing cut through my chest. As I felt my lifeblood draining from me and saw the world going dark around me, I heard Mak''gar say, "And now Firebrand''s honor is redeemed. See you back on the map, Williams."

 2.33 - How To Avoid Galactic Civil War

    I sat on one of the beige sofas in the rented guest suite on the hub, waiting for Veda to join us by hologram, six hours after we respawned at our outposts after completion of the team event.

    I took some centering breaths. It was just me, Sage, and Grandpa here. We were all subdued. It had been a long couple of days, a long couple of weeks, maybe a long half year since we''d been taken. The beige drabness of this suite was starting to get to me. There were fake flowers in vases in the corner. A soft hum of white noise. It reminded me of the funeral parlor where we¡¯d had Abuela¡¯s visitation, a place designed to look like humans lived there when really it was cold, sterile, hostile to life. Like space itself.

    Sage was staring at a movie from the latest entertainment package sent up from Earth. This one apparently told the story of a couple of abductees who had been caught up in the reality engine exploit, but then managed to escape. Sage made occasional biting comments about just how much the writers and producers had gotten wrong.

    I kept looking at her, then glancing away before she noticed. She wasn''t dead. She hadn''t been killed. I hadn''t failed her. It wasn''t real. None of this was real, except for the things that were, the things that mattered a lot. I hadn''t failed Sage yet, and I wasn''t going to.

    I needed to start looking past this phase of the exploit and into the future. Phase Three loomed ahead. Ames had been vague with details, just insisting that we needed to get there. I¡¯d been so focused on that, I¡¯d lost sight of the bigger picture.

    The thing was, our fate wasn''t necessarily tied up with either this reality engine or with Earth. There was a big galaxy out there, and if what Mak''gar told me was right, we had a skill set not many other people had.

    Veda appeared in the middle of the room, wearing a slinky red wrap that revealed her shoulders. Her hair was up over her head, and she looked distracted. "Sorry it took me a while," she apologized. ¡°I was clearing up some business correspondence so that I could give this meeting my full attention.¡±

    None of us answered her right away. She paced around the room, fiddling with her hands. She looked at me, and I looked away, not able to meet her eyes.

    ¡°We had a plan,¡± she said. ¡°A gamma node. That¡¯s all I needed. It¡¯s what I had the budget for. But you changed up without even consulting me. Why?¡±

    ¡°We made it work,¡± I said.

    ¡°By raiding the Grignarians and stealing a lot of their gear! They lodged a complaint that nearly got us expelled from the phase. I¡¯d have been ruined if that happened. I put a lot on the line for you ¡ª¡±

    ¡°And we¡¯ve put everything on the line for you,¡± I retorted, standing up, feeling my temper rising. ¡°We risked our lives to get to Phase Two, while you sat here having teleconferences and balancing your budget. I think we¡¯ve got more to complain about here.¡±

    Grandpa cleared his throat. "We should have been more honest with you," he said frankly. "We knew we were taking a gamble going for a delta tier node. Your strategy was right for what you needed to do, but we''ve got bigger things in mind."

    Veda shook her head. "Like what? Phase Three? I guess you''ve heard a little bit about it, but you can''t understand what''s really at stake there. I don''t have a license to back a Phase Three team. I don''t have the kind of money it would take to make a serious bid for Phase Three. Those slots are controlled by the big players.¡±

    ¡°Like Proxima?¡±

    "That''s one of them."

    "Proxima is behind Sicaris, isn''t it?¡± I asked. ¡°As well as the Vortali outfit, our alpha node neighbors. They¡¯ve got their hands in a lot of pots.¡±

    ¡°Proxima is much, much more powerful than I am. I don''t think you''ve pissed them off yet, but you certainly have come to their attention, and that''s not likely to be a good thing. Taking a delta node, attacking neighbors¡­ winning against those professionals when they came after your base¡­.¡±

    She sat down in midair. I guessed that there was a chair or stool in her own space that wasn''t being projected here into this room. She rested her hands on her knees. ¡°So what is so important to you that you¡¯re risking my, and your, futures on these mad gambles?¡±

    Sage was staring at the movie. Her device had a projector set into a wrist bangle that displayed the image in the air in front of her eyes. From here, it was just a blur of movement and color. I didn''t think she was really watching it. That last fight had bothered her, too. It was the first time she had died.

    I hadn''t been able to speak to her about it. Watching my sister dissolve into a shower of sparks in front of my eyes because I''d been too focused elsewhere on the battlefield to protect her was an annoying pile of guilt in the bottom of my stomach.

    Veda¡¯s question hung over my head like a sword mid-swing. What did I want? Why do Ames said, without any explanation at all? Why not take what we had and get out of here?

    ¡°It¡¯s rigged, isn¡¯t it,¡± Sage said quietly, not looking up from her screen. ¡°It always was. If it starts looking like we have a chance, you¡¯ll change the rules. We¡¯re not supposed to get to Phase Three.¡±

    ¡°Of course not!¡± Veda threw up her hands. ¡°Aside from the fact that you Earth primitives would have no idea what to do with a reality engine. The whole reason that Reality Engine Exploitation Committee exists is because the engines are the most valuable thing in the entire galaxy. Before we got together and agreed to a set of rules, species used to go to war with each other or themselves for control of any reality engine in their space. If you got to space on your own and met this engine, it¡¯d be about three standard weeks before Proxima or some other conglomerate showed up with planet buster bombs and took it away from you¡±

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Sage¡¯s mouth dropped open. I tried to picture space war, and couldn¡¯t.

    Veda must have seen our shock, and pressed her advantage. ¡°Entire systems died fiery deaths. The Exploitation Committee is here to prevent interstellar war. To keep you, and everyone else, safe. What''s a few million primitives next to trillions and trillions of advanced lives? To our standard of living?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve heard that before, from our own species,¡± Grandpa said quietly.

    Veda shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not my point of view. I''m speaking for them, not me. I''m just a small cog in this operation. My life and my family''s lives are no more important to Proxima than yours are.¡±

    ¡°Then what happens to us?¡± Sage asked in a small voice. ¡°When you¡¯re done here, when you pack up and go home, what happens to us?¡±

    ¡°You''ve got a pretty nicely set up outpost right now. I can find a buyer for that outpost and make us all a pretty hefty fortune.¡±

    ¡°What happens to us then,¡± Grandpa asked. ¡°We go back to Phase One, putting our lives at risk?¡±

    ¡°All of you have enough credit built up that you can hang out with your friends and family on Threshold or here on the Hub until the exploit is complete. Then you can buy a slot here, or at one of the other reality engines in the neighborhood. As long as you don¡¯t get greedy, you¡¯ll be able to live comfortable for the rest of your lives.¡±

    ¡°In an illusion.¡± I paced the room. The beige walls and white noise were really getting to me. This place was more bland, less real, than the worlds we¡¯d be living in for the last few months. The reality engine¡¯s imaginations were better than reality. No wonder they just plugged their surplus population in and left them.

    Growing up on the Strip, I remembered a feeling of helplessness. There weren¡¯t many options. You could be a rancher, a miner, or a bum. For anything else you had to get out. A lot of my classmates couldn¡¯t picture ever leaving. They¡¯d gotten into weed, or alcohol, or teenage parenthood, because there wasn¡¯t anything else. Buying into a reality engine felt like that. We might exist, but we wouldn¡¯t live.

    ¡°Say we did that,¡± Grandpa said. ¡°What about the rest of our allies? Does the wealth extend to them?¡±

    She hesitated. ¡°They¡¯re doing well. And there¡¯ll be more opportunities in Phase Three to make money. The early farming levels are still relevant and we have such a dearth of crafters this time, your people should be able to make a living.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re not going to go back to risking their lives in Phase One levels,¡± Sage said. ¡°We¡¯re all tired of you aliens wasting our lives.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not the one doing this,¡± Veda said tiredly. ¡°I¡¯m not your enemy, Sage. I know you''ve all had a hard couple of days. The outworlders see those games as something fun, but you all just got done with the Phase One missions where death is a lot more meaningful. It wasn''t fun and games for you, was it?¡±

    ¡°I just don''t know what we''re doing.¡± Sage shook her hand, turning off the show and stood up. She strode around the room like an anxious dog wanting to go for a walk. ¡°I don''t know anymore. I just want to go home.¡± Her face fell and she buried her face in her hands and ran from the room to one of the bedrooms. She slammed the door behind her, but I could still hear muffled sobbing.

    I tensed. ¡°Should I ¡ª¡±

    ¡°Leave her for now,¡± Grandpa said tiredly. ¡°Veda¡¯s right. We¡¯ve been taking a lot of risk and I¡¯m not sure it¡¯s paying off. Got any brochures about these galactic retirement homes, Veda?¡±

    ¡°Uh, sure,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can find for you.¡±

    ¡°And I want to know about Phase Three. What¡¯s the point, what are the rules, if we get in, what will we be doing.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a big question. The Exploit Council still has to vote on the ruleset. Phase Three is all about taming the Reality Engine. Getting it to work with us, not against us. Converting from challenge mode to habitation mode. That can take a number of formats. Often it¡¯s an enormous war simulation. Anything from lizard-mounted charges to space battles, with the biggest conglomerations acting as the generals. Sometimes it¡¯s more of a giant Tactichess board, with each individual move being settled by a minigame of various sorts. My great-grandmother used to tell stories about the heroic mode Phase Threes she¡¯d witnessed ¡ª those would be immersive simulations pulled from mythology or history, with a series of increasingly different challenges to fight through in order to approach the reality engine¡¯s core. We won¡¯t know until the council meets and votes.¡±

    ¡°But the outposts matter.¡±

    ¡°Outposts get transferred to Phase Three and serve a role there. As recharge and resupply points, or army strongholds, depending on the scenario. Yes. Your outpost is most valuable right now though. Once Phase Three starts, the outposts can¡¯t be moved. So depending where you end up you might find yourself almost worthless.¡±

    ¡°We hold,¡± I growled, then glanced at Grandpa, ¡°for now.¡±

    Veda cleared her throat uncomfortably. ¡°I¡¯ll send you that information,¡± she promised. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    She disappeared, leaving Grandpa and me alone.

    I sat down and stared at my feet. ¡°We were so focused for so long on our goals. Get to Phase Two, start the outpost, get it built up, make it through that game. Now we don''t have one. I think it''s hitting us all hard,¡± I said.

    ¡°It feels like we''ve had the scales pulled back from our eyes and now we see what¡¯s really going on.¡± Grandpa was nodding, looking more tired than I¡¯d seen him in months.

    ¡°We need a future, Grandpa, if not for you and me, for her.¡±

    ¡°We''re gonna have to do some thinking,¡± he said quietly. ¡°I¡¯ve never been good at dealing with teenage girls.¡± He looked away from me, staring at the floor. ¡°I made a lot of mistakes with your mom. I''ve spent a lot of years wishing I could go back and fix them. I told myself I''d do it right with Sage, then I got sick. There was nothing I could do about that. I was going to be leaving her on her own at the most vulnerable time in a girl''s life. Well, I dodged that bullet and now I find I''m more out of my depth than ever.¡±

    I felt an uncomfortable lump in my throat. I didn''t know how to reply. Fortunately for me, a chat notification popped up from Ames. I need you and your family back on Threshold as fast as possible.

    Why?

    I found the entrance to the Lotus Eater level a couple of days ago. It''s worse than I thought. I need you to try to help me.

    What about Grandpa? Thought you were trying to steer clear of him.

    I''m done worrying if the system will take notice of us.

    I looked at Sage¡¯s drawn face, at Grandpa¡¯s slumped shoulders. We¡¯d just lost our first major fight ever. We¡¯d watched each other die and known there was nothing we could do about it. And Ames had the gall to want more.

    Veda had set us up appointments with the alien psychologists in the morning. I didn¡¯t know if they¡¯d be any good, whether or not it was a waste of time. But I didn¡¯t know how to talk to Sage and maybe they¡¯d have magic devices that made all this better. Not likely, but maybe.

    I sent back, Not until tomorrow afternoon. We have some things to do up here.

    Not acceptable, Ames said.

    I¡¯ll ask my commanding officer and get back to you. I minimized my chat and turned to Grandpa. ¡°Ames''s being all cloak and dagger again. I''m gonna get some answers out of him if I have to throttle him to do it this time. He wants to see us ASAP but I told him tomorrow, after our checkups.¡±

    Grandpa nodded. ¡°Sounds good.¡±

    We went to bed after that. I lay alone in a dark room, staring at the ceiling, replaying all my recent deaths over and over again. The wolf man ripping my throat out. The time I¡¯d been disemboweled by a space elf seconds after respawning. Mak¡¯gar¡¯s triumphant grin as he skewered me.

    Maybe the lotus eaters were onto something.

 2. 34 - Planning Your Afterlife: Things To Consider

    I stepped through the portal. A feeling of incredible peace spread over me. I took a deep breath of honeysuckle scented air. It was the perfect temperature. Not hot, not cold. Like a lukewarm bath.

    The sky overhead was brilliant blue without a cloud in it. I stood atop a small green hill. A white stone path wound its way downward. The hill fell off steeply on one side in a sheer chalk cliff, 200 feet or more down the sea. Waves crashed against rocks, their whispering murmur a soothing sound from up here.

    At the foot of the hill, a small village waited, lots of little two-story stone houses painted coral pink or a balmy blue. People moved between the houses. The village was laid out around three squares with statues or fountains in the middle of each.

    "What is this place?" I asked Ames. "You said this was the Lotus Eater level. That feels peaceful enough, but there''s no way there''s three million people here."

    "This is just the intake," he said quietly. "The real entrance is underneath the village. Come, let''s stay close."

    I followed him down the hill, Grandpa and Sage silent on my heels. Sage hadn''t said a word to us the whole trip down. I was worried about her. She had come out of her counseling session silent, nodded briefly when I told her what Ames wanted, and stuck close ¡ª but not too close ¡ª to us ever since.

    People came out of the houses to meet us. They wore white robes or togas, embroidered with gold designs at the edges

    A trio detached from the throng of thirty or so and approached us as we reached the outskirts of the village, two men and a woman. The woman carried a cup with her. Ames raised a hand in greeting. ¡°Go ahead and greet them,¡± he told us. ¡°We won¡¯t spend long here. The important part is underneath.¡±

    The delegation stopped a few feet away from us. "Welcome to Elysium," one of the men said, holding up his hands. ¡°Do you come to seek the wisdom of Cronos, or the peace of oblivion?¡±

    ¡°Neither,¡± Ames said briskly. ¡°Greetings, elder. You know who I am, don¡¯t you?¡±

    The man blinked. ¡°Of course, messenger. Welcome back. These others are?¡±

    ¡°Here to learn,¡± Ames said.

    ¡°Then be welcome.¡±

    ¡°You should know, violence is not permitted here," the other man told us, looking me over.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t received a notification that this is a no miner versus miner violence zone," I commented.

    "The alien System has no power here," the woman said. "Our patron takes care of us all."

    "Patron?" Grandpa asked, raising an eyebrow.

    I tried checking my menus. Nothing came up. I tried taking a water bottle out of my inventory. It didn''t work. I went to send a note to Grandpa, and the interface didn''t come up.

    Ames smiled, seeming to notice my consternation. "They''re right," he said. "No System here."

    ¡°I didn''t even know that was possible.¡± A little thrill of excitement ran through me. For the first time in months, I was alone in my head. Or ¡ª was I? There was a pressure on my mind, like a presence. Who was this patron they spoke of?

    "We''re not sure if the alien System can see or hear us. We fear that it can," one of the men warned. ¡°But come. Be welcome."

    The woman held out the cup to Grandpa. He took it, shrugged, and took a sip before passing it to me. I sipped as well. It was pure, clear water. I didn''t detect anything strange in it, though that meant nothing.

    I hesitated, but Sage held out her hand. I gave her the cup. She took a sip. Then, a deeper one, her eyes going wide. "Oh," she said, "what''s in this?"

    "Only a release," the woman said.

    I was glad when Sage handed the cup back. The trio gestured us toward the village. "We are the delegates chosen today to welcome guests and speak for our patron Cronos,¡± one of the men said.

    "So, somebody else is in charge tomorrow?" I asked.

    "No one is in charge here," the woman said. "We all act together for the good of all."

    I exchanged a look with Grandpa. His face was set in a sardonic grin. "I''m just glad that was water, not flavor aid," he said. I didn''t catch the reference myself. ¡°So who is this Cronos?¡±

    ¡°Let me show you more,¡± Ames said, ¡°rather than trying to tell you. Come.¡±

    We followed the trio into their village. "So, how many people live here?" I asked, still not quite believing what Ames had told me.

    "Only our patron knows for sure, but many have sought their protection. We welcome all as long as they come with good intent. This is a sanctuary, and it will remain so."

    "Who is this Cronos?¡± Grandpa asked. ¡°How did you meet him?¡±

    I had a sneaking suspicion I knew the answer. There was only one entity I could think of capable of pushing the system out, and that was the reality engine itself. I thought about the strange person I had met deep in the bowels of the loot halls.

    "They revealed it/him/herself to us,¡± the woman said. ¡°The first of us to meet them of us called him/her/it Cronos. He agreed to use the name, so the rest of us followed.¡±

    That name rang a bit of a bell. "That''s from Greek myth, isn''t it?" I said. "One of the early gods?¡±

    Ames leaned in and said, ¡°Father of the Titans, maker of the universe, who devoured his children, then was destroyed and usurped by them."

    "Right, I remember that," I said. "Can''t really blame them for not liking to be eaten."

    If what the aliens had told me, that the progenitors who built this reality engine were in fact responsible for the start of life on Earth, then maybe Cronos was an apt name. "Do we get a chance to meet Cronos?"

    "Cronos reveals itself to who it will," the woman said. She turned to Ames. ¡°Welcome back. You have a hard job on the outside. Be welcomed into peace.¡±

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    "Just doing my job," Ames said. ¡°There¡¯s more peace here than I can stand, and I¡¯m here to shake things up a little. Cronos and I are going to have words later.¡±

    ¡°What the hell is going on?¡± Grandpa asked.

    ¡°I swear, you¡¯ll get answers. Just give me a little time,¡± Ames told us.

    The woman turned to Sage, her eyes softening. "Have you come to us for help? You are too young for all of this. We have other children here."

    Sage brightened up. "Other kids? Really?"

    "We have done our best to find and give succor to all the children who were swept up in this nightmare," the woman said. "Would you like to meet them?"

    Sage looked from Grandpa to the woman, seemingly hesitant. "I don''t know," she said.

    "No one will force you," one of the male representatives assured her. ¡°Why not come for an hour or two and see? We will help you find your relatives again as soon as you ask.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re telling the truth,¡± Ames said.

    I was feeling more and more uncomfortable about all this, even as the feeling of peace pervaded me. It felt unnatural. Or maybe I was so used to fighting, being on edge all the time, that an afternoon off felt wrong.

    "I think I''d like to visit for a while,¡± Sage said to Grandpa, "if there''s other people my age here."

    "Go on, then," he grunted.

    "I will lead you to them," the woman said. I didn¡¯t like it, but I held my tongue. This place seemed safe, and Sage could make her own decisions.

    Sage followed the woman off to the far side of the village, where they disappeared into a domed building.

    "I thought you wanted Sage with us," I told Ames in an undertone.

    "Don''t worry. We''ll find her again. Besides, she might enjoy herself. Let her have some time with other kids.¡± He spoke to our greeters. "Is that enough ceremony? I want to take them below.¡±

    ¡°Do not disturb those who are sleeping," one of the men warned.

    "We won''t.¡±

    They ushered us into one of the nearby buildings, which turned out to merely be the entrance to a grand spiraling stairwell leading down below the ground. The stair was lit every half turn by a bronze basket filled with gleaming purple crystals that cast an eerie glow on the grey granite steps.

    "After you," said Ames.

    I started the descent. Each stair tread was just a little too short. I had to watch my step carefully as we descended.

    Down, down, the stair wound and curved on itself. I lost track of how deep we had gone.

    At last, we stepped off onto a landing. A hall led off to our left and our right. Arched doorways, shrouded in darkness, lined the hall. "Where now?"

    ¡°Left,¡± Ames said. "You''ll see. You''re not feeling any weird effects, are you?"

    "I feel relaxed," I said. "That seems strange."

    "Yeah, that took me a little bit to get used to," Ames said as we set off along the corridor, passing dark doorways every eight feet or so. "I''m still not sure if it''s the influence of the mind is controlling this place, or if it''s just from a lack of the system interfering."

    That was a disturbing thought. If I couldn¡¯t trust my own mind, what was even real?

    "How''s that?" Grandpa asked.

    ¡°The aliens brought their system along with them, plugged it into our reality engine. It''s what runs all of our menus and interfaces," Ames said.

    "I know that," Grandpa snapped. "And I can tell it''s not here, since I can''t get at any of my gear. You think it''s been doing something else to our heads?"

    "I suspect it is giving us all low-level anxiety, keeping us on edge, like we have something to prove. Some people are a little more resistant to it than others, but I definitely noticed a difference here."

    The darkness beyond the arches was impenetrable. "Are we supposed to go into one of these?" I asked.

    "Those," Ames said grimly, "are the sleepers. You''ll know when we get to something else."

    Sure enough, about eight doors on, I found one brightly lit. I still couldn''t see inside, but at least there was no cloud of darkness. Ames saw my inquisitive gaze. "Go ahead," he said. "It''s going to be easier for you to see this than for me to try to explain it."

    I stepped through the arch and found myself in a green meadow full of flowers. Birds sang in trees that edged the meadow. A rippling brook ran across, and bunnies gamboled in the ankle-high grass. "This is laying it on a little thick," I said.

    "Oh, it gets better," Ames said. He pointed. "Look."

    Off among the trees, I caught a glimpse of creatures, not human, moving about. A moment later, one of them ambled just past the edge of the tree line.

    It was half horse, half man. Well, woman. And she was naked from the waist up. The waist down was a horse''s body. Her dark, curling hair fell forward across her breasts. She lifted a hand and waved to me before venturing back into the trees.

    "There''s nymphs, too," Ames said gloomily. "And satyrs, though considerably toned down from their origin myths. I''ve seen rooms that more resemble something out of an Eastern mythology, but it''s definitely playing on our visions of paradise and ancient worlds. Those are who you¡¯ve come to talk to, though.¡± he gestured off to the other side.¡°I¡¯m going to have a quick word with Cronos while you get acquainted.¡±

    I turned to see a group of humans wearing togas seated on a hillside. They were listening to a man declaiming he stood atop the hill, one hand raised to the heavens, the other touching his breast with a wreath of branches in his hair. I turned back to Ames, and he was gone.

    ¡°Where¡¯d he go?¡± Grandpa asked.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t see.¡± I hesitated. ¡°Guess I¡¯ll go have a listen.¡±

    ¡°Listen. Yeah.¡± Grandpa sounded distracted. He had turned away, facing back toward the arch through which we had come. It looked, from this side, like a pair of pillars with an arch set between them. I could see right through, and it was just more meadow on the other side. I guessed if we stepped through it, we''d be back in the hall.

    "What''s wrong?" I hadn¡¯t seen him this lost since Abuela¡¯s death. I¡¯d been feeling a little better since talking to the shrink, back on the Hub, but maybe Grandpa¡¯s session hadn¡¯t helped.

    ¡°Just thought I heard someone," he said, shrugging.

    I made my way over to where the people were listening. The speaker was saying, "And so we wait for Cronos to speak to us, to reveal what task they have for their children. Do not be lulled away by the false promises of the invaders. Neither their threats nor their promises hold any weight here. Cronos itself protects us. As long as we do their will, we are safe."

    I sat down between a middle-aged woman and a man about my age, both of whom were wearing togas. A cushion appeared as I sat. I tucked it underneath myself. It was pretty comfortable.

    "New here?" the woman asked me with a motherly smile.

    "Yeah.¡±

    ¡°It''s all right. It takes some of us longer than others to hear the call of Cronos. You will be welcome here."

    "Who''s that?" I asked, gesturing to the man atop the hill.

    "Merely an elder brother who has heard Cronos for longer than the rest of us."

    I sat and let the man talk. He kept going on in the same way, talking about how Cronos was to teach us how to harness the powers of reality, and how this was the true future that the aliens were here to usurp from us.

    I burst in at that. ¡°What sort of powers are we talking about here?¡±

    The speaker turned to me. "Forgive me, it seems you are only recently arrived." His eyes traveled across me, taking in my hat and drover''s coat. "Perhaps you would be more comfortable if you went through one of our regular intake sessions before joining the more advanced class."

    ¡°I¡¯m just waiting for a friend,¡± I said. ¡°Sorry for the interruption.¡±

    Mollified, he turned back to his audience. "So, meditate on these words. Listen for the voice of Cronos. As its voice becomes louder and louder, your mind will be expanded. Soon, soon we will be brought forth to join the blessed campaign."

    He sat down, and that seemed to be a signal to the others to stand up and begin stretching. They spoke in low tones about the wisdom of his words.

    The woman who had been beside me, and the young man with her, smiled at me. "Can we take you to intake and help you get comfortable?" the woman asked. "You could use a bath."

    That was true enough, but I wasn¡¯t going anywhere. I shook my head. "I''m here to visit a friend," I said, trying to look for some excuse that would satisfy them.

    "Oh," her face fell. "Then you do not heed the voice of Cronos."

    The young man cocked his head and held up a hand. "Sister," he said, "patience. I feel that he is as connected to Cronos as any of us."

    "It''s all well and good to have a place of shelter like this," I said, "but at some point, some of us are going to have to fight. Humanity needs you folk to do more than just sit around listening to Plato over here.¡±

    The two I had been speaking with shrank back. "We''ll talk of this later," the woman said, and then fled.

    I realized with a start Grandpa wasn''t here anymore. "Where''d he go?¡± I looked around. There was no sign of him. "Grandpa?" Damn it. I had been listening to that preacher a little too closely. Where would he have gone?

    By then, I was running for the door.

 2.35 - Six Things Ancestry Doesnt Warn You About

    "Grandpa!" I yelled, running down the corridor. As far as I could see, in front and behind, the corridor stretched empty, yawning archways on both sides, like open mouths. "Grandpa, where are you?"

    I tried for my chat interface, but it didn''t respond. "Where''d he go?"

    There was no sign of Ames either. I cursed at him in my head. He hadn''t told us what the hell we were supposed to be doing here, and now Sage was gone, Grandpa was gone, I was stuck in an entire level full of brainwashed zealots who seemed to regard the reality engine as some sort of god.

    A voice in my head was whispering, Let me in. I can speak with you. "Not a chance in hell," I thought back furiously. "If you want to help, show me where Grandpa is."

    The voice didn''t answer right away. After a minute, though, I felt a shift of pressure, like an outlet of breath. Very well. Come.

    Up ahead, a beacon of purple light bloomed from a doorway, jetting out into the hallway. I skidded to a halt in front of the arch. It looked just like any of the others. In here. The light died away, leaving a black entryway.

    I plunged through the door. The room beyond was a grotto. The walls were smooth, worked and shaped. Along the walls were shelf niches, stacked three high like long, narrow benches.

    A pit of worry grew in my stomach. There was something familiar about these. I had seen pictures that reminded me of this, pictures with bones. This was a catacomb.

    In horror, I looked into the closest niche. A woman lay there, her hands folded across her breast, her eyes closed. If she was breathing, I could see no sign of it. I touched one hand with a single trembling finger. It was warm to the touch, but she didn''t respond. I thought I could feel a faint pulse.

    Dry-mouthed, I looked at the next niche. This one was a man in his fifties, about the oldest I had seen here in the Reality Engine.

    "Where''s my Grandpa?" I said aloud. No answer.

    I went niche by niche until I found him halfway around the room, in the bottom row. Like the others, his eyes were closed, his hands folded. His face looked worn and drawn, like he''d been a few months ago before all this started, while the cancer was eating away at him.

    I fell to my knees beside him. "Grandpa," I pleaded. I wanted to shake him awake, but was afraid what would happen if he didn''t respond. "Grandpa, wake up! I''m here!"

    "He can''t hear you. I''m sorry." I turned. There was a person here, shimmering, wearing white robes, with a hood pulled up around their face.

    "It''s you," I said. "Isn''t it? The Reality Engine. We spoke before."

    "You spoke to part of me," it said. I noticed it didn''t use the "I, we" construction that the other being had employed.¡°I am a different part. The Watcher.Cronos, your people call me. My job was to watch and wait for our children to return. I slept too deeply, and when I awoke I was in chains.¡± The figure held up its hands. Shining golden chains shimmered and shifted around its wrists, winding and curling like snakes.

    "Why did you take him?" I demanded.

    Cronos looked pained. His, her, whatever, face fell. ¡°I am trying to understand you, our lost children. Some of you hear me easily. Others not at all. The ones who come here are seeking peace. But not all find peace in the same way. You spoke to my acolytes earlier, those who are trying to learn to understand me, so that they can help me rescue the rest of your species.¡± He gestured at the sleepers. ¡°For these, it has become too much. They seek a different kind of peace. Oblivion.¡±

    "Bullshit," I said. "Grandpa''s not looking for oblivion."

    "Is he not?" Cronos asked. "He puts on a brave face for you and your sister, but he is old and tired. He has many cares. Perhaps he seeks to set them aside, if only for a few moments."

    "Then you can let him wake up now."

    "He must choose it.¡±

    "Grandpa, it''s time to go. We need to get Sage.¡±

    "He can''t hear you."

    Anger boiled up in me. Helpless rage about this entire situation from top to bottom. Anger at the aliens, the system, this reality engine, whatever it was. I''m at being not in control of my own future and fate.

    "Then you let me talk to him," I said.

    "I can bring your mind to his," Cronos said. "Only he can decide whether to heed you."

    "Do it," I ordered.

    "You might want to lie down."

    I slid to a seated position, resting my back against the stone wall. There was no way I was going to climb into one of those coffin bunks. I leaned my head back.

    "Do it," I said again, and the room around me dimmed.

    ***

    I was standing in the living room of Grandpa''s trailer. It looked different than it had the last few times I''d seen the place. Cleaner, more organized. There was a smell of baking beans in the kitchen.

    In front of me were a pair of people I recognized right away. One of them was Grandpa. He looked about how he did now, in his mid-50s with his dark hair in two braids falling behind his shoulder. But his face was twisted with hatred and fury like I''d never seen it before.

    The other, a dark-haired young woman just as angry as Grandpa but somehow less bitter looking about it. I knew her too, though I hadn''t seen her in almost 10 years and the last time I had her hair had been prematurely graying, her teeth half falling out, her eyes vacant, her skin pallid.

    My mother, and from the look of it, younger than I was now.

    She was screaming at my grandfather, ¡°What don''t you understand? I love Clay!¡±

    ¡°I will not allow you to hook up with that useless son of a polygamist cult,¡± Grandpa spat back. ¡°He''s only interested in you because his father and uncles have already locked up every pretty young white girl in their plural marriage schemes. He''s young and horny and wants to screw anything that moves. He doesn''t care about you.¡±

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    "Don''t you dare speak about Clay that way," she snapped. ¡°His mother kicked him out of the house for dating me. Says I''m a dirty half-breed as well as a Gentile.¡±

    "There you go," Grandpa said. "Nobody wants this. You''re going to college next month and that''s it. I won''t have my daughter wasting her life here on the Strip with some inbred no-good redneck punk who dropped out of high school. Besides, Sheriff Watts tells me he¡¯s involved with a car theft gang. He''s gonna come to a bad end.¡±

    "Clay knows his friends are no good and he wants out,¡± my future mother protested. "He''s a good boy. He just doesn''t have any opportunities. You could help him, Dad. He wants to enlist. Give him a few tips. I know he can make something of himself."

    "Then let him do that. But away from here," Grandpa snapped. "I''d be happy to give him a few tips, but not while he''s trying to date my daughter."

    "More than date.¡± My mother raised her chin. "We''re getting married, Dad." She looked so terribly young¡­

    "The hell you are," he roared back. "Not without my permission."

    "We don''t need your permission. I turned 18 last week. Besides," she crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking angry, defiant, and scared. "There''s something you don''t know."

    I felt my breath catch. I tried to move, but I couldn''t. I wasn''t really there. I was paralyzed, forced to watch this play out.

    "I''ve heard everything I need to know already,¡± Grandpa snapped.

    "No, you haven''t," my mother shot back. "I''m pregnant, Dad. I''m pregnant, and I''m going to marry Clay, whether you like it or not. You can be part of our lives, or you can stay here and rot."

    Grandpa stared at her, his mouth hanging open. He shook his head. "No. No, you can''t." He took a step toward her, holding his hands out. "No, honey. That''s not what you''re going to do. You''re supposed to go to college next month. Make something of yourself. Get out of here. See the world.¡±

    ¡°Fat lot of good seeing the world ever did you," she fired back angrily. "You''re just another washed-up drunk Indian. I''m not going to college next month. Maybe it''ll take me a few years, but Clay and I will make something of our lives. You wait and see."

    Grandpa was shaking his head. "No. No, sweetheart. It''s not too late. We can fix this. We''ll make a few calls. There''s a clinic over in St. George I can take you to. Get you away from here. Let that boy go off and do what he wants. You''ll come to your senses. He''ll come to his. You''ll see the two of you are nothing alike. You''ve got a future ahead of you, a bright one. You don''t want to be tied to that no account."

    "I knew you wouldn''t understand," she said. She turned, marched to the door, yanking it open in anger and slamming it behind her. My grandfather stared after her for a long moment before turning and roaring at someone I couldn''t see.

    "Maria, our daughter is dead to us. Do you hear me? She''s dead! She''s not to be spoken of in this house ever again."

    ***

    The scene around me dissolved and I was left in darkness for a moment before a light shone on the couch from the trailer. Nothing else, none of the furnishings, just the couch and my grandfather sitting, his hands buried, his head buried in his hands.

    I could move now. I crossed and sat next to him. "Is that really what happened?" I asked after a moment.

    Grandpa grunted. "More or less.¡±

    ¡°I didn''t know.¡±

    ¡°I didn''t tell you. I was ashamed. It''s my fault, you know. If I''d been supportive, maybe your dad could have gotten himself out of there and enlisted, made a future for himself. Instead he kept hanging with his old friends until he got caught with a hot car and a couple pounds of marijuana in the back seat. She moved down near Phoenix to be near him so she could visit, take you to see him after you were born.¡±

    He cleared his throat, staring at the floor, while I just sat there, not knowing what to say.

    ¡°I was too proud to talk to her, too angry, too sure I''d been right all along and she should have listened to me.¡±

    I wanted to say something, anything, but I was in shock. I knew my Grandpa hadn''t cared for my dad but I wasn''t aware of just how prejudiced he''d been. It was a side of Grandpa I''d never seen before. "You meant all that about him being, you know, inbred and all that?"

    ¡°I didn''t approve of him dating my daughter. He could have been descended from the King of Spain and I still wouldn''t have approved,¡± Grandpa said. ¡°But I didn''t like his family. Those FLDS are bad news.¡±

    "Yeah, but that''s who I am," I said, trying to get to the bottom of how I felt. "I mean, it''s my dad you''re talking about."

    "I know," Grandpa sighed heavily. "I know, and sitting here now, looking back from where I am, it all feels so stupid. I guess this whole experience has given me a new perspective on a few things because right now, compared to the orcs and wizard people, those weird tentacle face aliens, people like your other relatives are downright normal. I''m sorry, Shad. I tried. Everything I tried with you and Sage was to make up for failing when your mom needed me.¡±

    There was a lot here for me to unwrap and I didn''t feel like going into it right now.

    I had a nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach, seeing Grandpa at his worst like that. Knowing that he''d been talking about me there to my mom. Seeing me as an inconvenience to her future.

    And that he hadn''t been wrong.

    ¡°I¡¯ve regretted this every day since,¡± Grandpa said quietly, not looking at me. ¡°I¡¯ve wished I could go back and fix things. But even if I did go back, I wouldn''t know how. That''s why I got so upset when you started running with the Hiasson boys. And that time Frank dragged you back after you wrecked Mr. Johnson''s side by side.¡±

    I shuddered at that memory. "I don''t think I''d ever seen you that angry," I said.

    "I was afraid you were going to be your dad all over again," Grandpa admitted. "So when you started talking about going into the Army, I might have pushed you a little too hard. I just needed you to get out of there, get off the Strip, find a bigger world."

    ¡°And now we have,¡± I said, gesturing around at the blackness outside of the couch where we both sat.

    "Yeah. Funny how life works out."

    We sat there for a long moment. "Why''d you come in here?" I asked at last.

    "I..." he sighed. ¡°It''s like there was a voice telling me that everything would be all right. That I could come and rest and forget.¡±

    "I don''t understand what this reality engine is doing," I said. "It''s trying to keep people safe, but then it''s trapping them in their worst memories. And it''s got some of them acting like cultists while telling me it needs me to help fight the aliens."

    ¡°I get the feeling it''s trying to understand us," Grandpa said.

    "But why?" I stood up, throwing my hands up and pacing around the border of the small lighted area. "Do all reality engines act like this? Veda hasn''t said anything about all this. Are they all insane? Is that why they have to bring in their own external system and impose it on top?"

    "Coming here was a mistake," Grandpa said firmly. He stood up. "I''m ready to leave," he announced, and the darkness disappeared, and we were back in the catacomb.

    I scrambled up and gave Grandpa a hand off the shelf. He looked back at it with an expression, something like regret. ¡°Now I remember why I came in here. Inside, it was like it dulled all of the pain. All I felt was numbness. It didn''t hurt so much to think about those things.¡±

    "And you''re not going to think about them now," I said firmly. ¡°We get out of here, we get Sage, we go back to what passes for normal here. We go find something we can shoot in the face, because that, I understand.¡±

    I led Grandpa back through the door. We almost slammed into Ames, who was standing right outside, with his fist up as though he had been pounding on the empty space of the doorway. "Where the hell have you been?¡± he said. "Williams, I went back and you weren¡¯t there. Followed you here but Cronos wouldn¡¯t let me in.¡± He turned to Grandpa. "Major, glad to see he found you again."

    ¡°You¡¯re working for it, aren¡¯t you. The reality engine. Cronos, or whoever the hell he is,¡± Grandpa said.

    ¡°I am,¡± Ames admitted. "Some of the first Lotus Eaters reached out to me a few months back. They needed my help to recruit people who could get farther in. There''s different pieces of this reality engine. They can''t talk to each other. The alien system is interfering. If they were able to speak to each other, they might be able to accomplish something."

    "Kick out the foreigners?" Grandpa asked sharply. ¡°Take it back for ourselves?¡±

    "I don''t know about that," Ames said. "But they promise it would be better for us humans."

    "Can you believe any of this?¡± Grandpa asked. "You''ve got Jonestown in there, and a couple of million sleepers who are experiencing the worst moments of their lives over and over again, and you haven''t actually asked the reality engine what the hell it wants?¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°I want the plan. Details. Explanations. Goals. Not just this, ''Oh, we need people to fight and earn soul coins'' nonsense. You said we needed to make it to Phase Three. I''m starting to see reasons why myself. But what is this is going to do for us humans, and why should I bother?"

    "Good question," Ames said. "And it''s one that deserves a full answer. Why don''t we go upstairs, and I''ll explain to everyone. Cards on the table. You can decide where to go from there.¡±

 2.36 - First Off, Dont Panic: When Everyones Counting On You

    When we emerged upstairs, instead of the vaguely Mediterranean island, we were standing in the crater of an extinct volcano. Lush greenery swept up the sides. The center filled with a large stone stage.

    All around the edges were tiers of benches filled with people, thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of faces. The tiers went all the way up the sides of the crater. I stared out, astonished at just how many people were here waiting to hear us.

    Sage came rushing over. "Where have you guys been?" she asked. "It''s been hours."

    "Sorry," I said. ¡°We got held up. How''s it been?"

    Sage looked a little flustered. ¡°The other kids have been saying I should stay here. That it''s easier. That everything''s taken care of. And there''s plenty of fun things to do. They took me surfing earlier. It was pretty fun.¡± She worried her lip, looking torn. "Maybe I should take a few days off and think about things. Maybe they''re right. Maybe you''ve been right all along when you tell me I need to stay out of trouble.¡±

    I gave Sage a hug. And she buried her head on my shoulder. "I was wrong," I said hoarsely. "I thought I needed to protect you, but you''ve been protecting me at least as much as I''ve been taking care of you. I need you, Sage. And Grandpa. I don''t know what I''d do without you.¡±

    ¡°I thought you wanted me to get out. I thought you were scared of losing me.¡± She stared up at me, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

    "It''s true," I admitted. There was a lump in my throat. ¡°I worry about that more than anything. But I want you with me.¡±

    ¡°What if they turn the deaths back on in Phase Three?¡±

    ¡°Then we won¡¯t play,¡± I said firmly. ¡°We¡¯ll go plug into the Matrix and take the retirement package. If that what it takes. Either we all stay in, or we all get out.¡±

    She sniffed and patted my shoulder. "I''m glad you feel that way," she said. ¡°So what¡¯s the plan?¡±

    Grandpa set a hand on her shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m in for whatever you two want,¡± he said quietly. ¡°We do this together, whatever we decide.¡±

    ¡°Then let¡¯s go to Phase Three,¡± I said. ¡°I got a look at the alternative, living in a reality engine with everything done for you. That doesn¡¯t appeal to me. I don¡¯t think it appeals to you two, either.¡± They both nodded, though Grandpa still looked tired and Sage, wary. ¡°After that, who knows? But the more we learn about this setup, the more options we have. Some of the professionals seem to be enjoying themselves. Veda and the other sponsors, they get around. Maybe we tag along with them. Maybe we figure out how to get back. We¡¯ll see how far into Phase Three we want to go. If either of you decide to call it quits, just speak up. I¡¯ll listen.¡±

    Sage managed a wan smile. ¡°You don¡¯t like giving up. You hate it when I beat you at games.¡±

    ¡°I know. I¡¯m a sore loser.¡± I grinned at her. She¡¯d grown a couple inches since we came here, seemed like. She was nearly up to my shoulder now.

    "You ready for this?" Ames asked. "Because I''m about to use you as the stars of a propaganda piece. Earth Triumphant and all that shit.¡±

    "Do what you need to," I growled.

    Ames approached a pair of white-robed lotus eaters who stood on the stage waiting for us. "I want to address them all," he said. "Even the ones who don''t think they want to fight. I want to address everyone, and I want to arrange to have the ones who are asleep hear this."

    "I don''t know if that''s possible," the silver-haired woman began.

    Ames raised his voice. ¡°Cronos! Come speak with us. We have questions for you.¡±

    The woman started to protest, but then there was a shimmer in the air, and a man appeared. He was about eight feet tall, sculpted like a statue of Hercules with a golden crown on his head.He looked different from the last time I¡¯d spoken to him, like he was dressed up for company.

    "I am Cronos," he said, "and I am here.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s explain that better, to everyone here,¡± Ames said. He turned to the crowd. ¡°Cronos was a program, designed to keep alert for signs of space-faring from our planet. He was left by the Progenitors who built this reality engine, and thousands of others throughout the galaxy.¡±

    Cronos nodded his head. "Yes, and once you got here, you would have greeted us and been taught about your heritage, who we had once been, who you could be in the future.¡±

    ¡°But the aliens got here first." Ames said. ¡°And they stole our birthright!¡± I could hear mutters from the crowd, felt my own anger rising. Ames was good at this.

    Again, Cronos nodded. ¡°They did. Their system keeps me in chains. I''m fighting as hard as I can. I have an ally within the system itself. Someone does not like how they are doing things.¡±

    I filed that piece of information away for later. "How about the one below," I said. "The remnant of what once was.¡±

    "That is not part of me,¡± Cronos said. ¡°I am a construct program, incredibly advanced, intelligent, but made by others. That which remains below is what is left of those who created me. They are the reality engine. They are what the system seeks access to, to control, to destroy, to usurp."

    "Okay, let me see if I''ve got this right," I said, trying to piece things together in my mind. ¡°All the reality engines, scattered across the galaxy, were created by the Progenitors, like, a billion years ago.¡±

    Cronos nodded. "Correct."

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°Then the Progenitors had some sort of argument. Some of them went off somewhere. Some of them reprogrammed their DNA and started evolution all over again on Earth and, I guess, every other world near a reality engine. Some of them remained behind inside their reality engines, asleep or evolving into a hive mind.¡±

    Cronos nodded. ¡°An oversimplification, but that is correct.¡±

    ¡°So the aliens, the Exploitation Committee, who were all descendants of other Progenitors, arrived here with their system after our probe woke you up and accidentally broadcast an alert on the reality engine network. They brought in the System, which was supposed to destroy you," I pointed at Cronos, "and also bind the reality engine itself to the alien''s will."

    Grandpa was nodding along. Ames raised an eyebrow. "Impressive. It took me a lot longer to piece everything together."

    "I''ve had help along the way," I said.

    "You are not completely wrong in your assessments," Cronos allowed. "What should have happened was that after your species reached me, I would spend decades, perhaps centuries, working with you. Teaching you to accept the inheritance that awaits below. My own programming is meant for that. I fear that between the alien system and my own misunderstanding of the situation, I have made some mistakes. The sleepers were not meant to stay there as long as they have, and I fear many of them may have experienced trauma. They may not be able to awaken.¡±

    "Great," I said. "And the rest of these you''ve been teaching to be peaceful, polite citizens of the galaxy?"

    "That was my original programming," Cronos admitted.

    ¡°Great idea, except that the aliens here have no intention of peaceful coexistence, not when they can take everything," I said.

    The crowd in the stands was starting to get restless. Ames turned to them. "Just a minute more," he boomed. "Thanks for your patience."

    "So what is it we have to do?" I asked Cronos. "How can we stop the aliens and their system?"

    "You cannot," he said. ¡°What I need is for you to restore the connection between myself and what remains of the Progenitors¡¯ consciousness. Together, we can keep to take a tiny part of the reality engine for ourselves.¡±

    ¡°Which gets us humans¡­¡±

    ¡°The universe,¡± Cronos said. I don¡¯t think the crowd could hear him: he seemed to be speaking just to us. ¡°Knowledge. Understanding of what reality engines truly are, how to use them. It will let me fulfill my original purpose. Uplifting you Earthlings, now that you have achieved space travel and are ready. Making you full citizens of the galaxy. In time, you will be able to challenge these usurpers.¡±

    ¡°How much time?¡± Grandpa asked. ¡°And they¡¯re just going to sit around and let you do it?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ll have to, if we go by their rules,¡± Ames said.

    ¡°Bullshit. Governments never made a treaty they won¡¯t break. My ancestors learned that lesson the hard way.¡± He crossed his arms and scowled. ¡°

    I turned to Ames. ¡°You¡¯ve got plans for if this all falls through? I don¡¯t like anything that relies on the good will of people stronger than us. The galactics, or him.¡± I jerked a thumb at Cronos.

    ¡°At the very least, Phase Three is a great place to make money. If we can¡¯t get a foot in the door, we can at least buy out as many contracts as possible, get us humans out of danger and into a reality engine slot.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re going to be put onto reservations,¡± Grandpa said. ¡°You¡¯re trying to make sure the reservations have some gambling concessions. Or that at least we don¡¯t leave any on the encomiendas. I can get behind that, though it¡¯s a damn poor battle plan you¡¯re laying out here.¡±

    Ames frowned. ¡°I¡¯m aware of that, Major. We¡¯re seriously lacking in intelligence. Hard to formulate a good strategy when you¡¯re flailing in the dark.¡±

    "Okay, suppose I buy into all of this. What do we need them for?" I nodded to the crowd.

    "Leave that to me," Ames said. "All I need to know is, are you game?"

    I had a million questions. This overview had barely begun to scratch the surface. I looked at Grandpa, and I realized that sometimes it wasn''t about the questions, the doubts, the fears. It was about being willing to act when needed.

    "Hell yes," I said.

    "Good," said Ames. "How about you, Miss Sage?"

    Sage''s face was pale and drawn. "This is going to matter," she said. "If we do it right, this could be the most important thing anyone''s ever done." She took a deep breath. "I''m in."

    ¡°That¡¯s all I need. Thanks," he told Cronos, who vanished in an eye blink.

    Ames turned to the crowd. "Thank you for attending. I know you are all students of Cronos now. Some of you have spent weeks, even months, listening to his teachings. And you understand that while he has told you of a great and glorious future that can be ours, that enemies have intruded. Outsiders are here to take control and to bend our inheritance to their own ends.¡±

    The crowd booed and hissed, some of them on their feet, shaking fists and yelling.

    ¡°I address you now, brothers and sisters, fellow humans, Earthborn, and I ask you to help me. We have a chance. These aliens know what they''re doing. They''ve done this to thousands of other species, thousands of other reality engines, harnessed their inheritance and left them with scraps. That''s what they want to do to us. They''re good at what they do, but we humans, we''re good at fucking stuff up.¡±

    I had to laugh, and so did a lot of our audience.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been speaking to a lot of you, showing you some of the exploits that your fellow humans have done. We have here Shad Williams and his sister Sage. They''ve featured heavily in my stories, along with their Grandpa."

    Grandpa waved while I stood there feeling like I was an ape on display in the zoo.

    ¡°Sage is twelve years old, and she''s done more for Earth than almost anyone out there. Thanks to Shad and Sage, we''ve got a real chance here of getting into Phase Three. That''s when we can show these aliens, they can''t just come and take what''s ours so easily. They''re going to have to negotiate. They''re going to have to pay. They''re going to have to respect us.¡±

    That got a rolling cheer that filled the crater like a summer thunderstorm. I basked in the adulation, letting my discomfort fall away. We had done awesome things. Ames was right. There was more to come but if we could show the rest of humanity that we had a chance, I¡¯d do whatever it took.

    ¡°Compare them to you. You''re safe here. You''re taken care of. Cronos is tending you like a mother, like a teacher. I don''t blame any of you for making the choice you''ve made thus far. It''s hard to risk your life in order to make some alien assholes a little more money.¡±

    Ames paused and let them laugh at that. ¡°It¡¯s time to wake up, though. Time to leave this place. We¡¯re going to need all of you going forward. For Shad and Sage to make it in Phase Three, they¡¯ll need an army of allies. Crafters. Farmers. Spies. So I''m asking you to come and risk your lives again.¡± He paused for effect, letting his words sweep over the audience. ¡°I''m not promising you that we''ll win. In fact, we''ll probably lose. I''m promising you a damn good fight and to make these aliens sorry they ever messed with Earth.¡±

    I couldn''t help myself. Ames''s slightly cheesy over-the-top delivery had my heart racing. I let out a whoop. Sage glared at me, then giggled.

    Ames smiled. "Shad, you''re ready to go all the way, aren''t you?"

    "Hell yeah," I said. ¡°We do need help. But only those who are willing. I¡¯d rather have not enough help than unwilling help. Look, Grandpa and Sage and I have to get back. We¡¯ve been away from our outpost too long already. Who knows what¡¯s going on. You guys talk to Ames, if you¡¯re willing to help. I¡¯ll let him sort all this out.¡±

    That got a cheer. The crowd clapped and whistled. I heard shouts of ¡°We¡¯re with you, Shad!¡±

    Sage turned to Ames. ¡°Can you send us back now, please?¡±

    ¡°Certainly.¡± He smiled.

    A portal materialized behind us. ¡°Hope to see you all in Threshold soon!¡± Sage waved as I led the way back to Threshold.

    Only to be greeted by a hundred screaming message notifications. I popped up my chat.

    Shad, get back here right away! We¡¯re under attack!

 2.37 - Hosting Gatherings that Rock: Idea #5 Party Favors

    We raced for the portal back to Phase Two as I frantically scrolled through my messages and relayed details to Sage, who was asking a million questions.

    Grandpa had been copied on all the messages. I could see his expression growing grimmer as we leapt through the portal. Apparently Juana had been working on changing out our defensive turrets to better match a new strategy she had learned during her time in the NPC city. Her new craft skill, creating constructs, would allow her to make autonomous fighters that could take out creep. It would give us more versatility in our defenses.

    At the same time the island had flipped over from high tide to low tide. That happened every couple of days. We had been through several cycles already. This time, though, our crafters noticed the problem right away. The creep spawn rate suddenly skyrocketed, with each spawn point putting out way more than before, and they weren''t following the same paths.

    Frank, who was serving as a security lead protecting our crafters, had taken his team and checked it out. Turns out the two alpha node teams, Vortali and Existalis, were using a combination of abilities and equipment to increase the spawn points¡¯ production rate, and then direct the creep toward each other''s bases. They were trying to take advantage of the low tide to send a wave of creep the opposing outpost wouldn''t be able to fight off.

    Frank''s reaction had been to say good, let them take each other out, but Juana had been more wary. She had recalled all of our crafters and ordered us all on the alert putting up as many defenses as possible.

    That turned out to be a good idea when one of the new creep armies had started flooding over our base. There were enemy miners along with the creep. They were hanging back and watching, buffing the creep, directing its path. We were pretty sure they were from Vortali¡¯s node because the miners Juana or Frank were able to lay eyes on were all space elves. Juana thought they were trying to take down our node in order to gain a conqueror''s buff which would make all of their allied creep more powerful for the next day.

    So now we had waves of creep breaking through our defenses. Our first ring was in shambles. The gate gone, the turrets destroyed. As Grandpa, Sage and I stumbled out of our portal, we were greeted by a scene of madness.

    Rockets flew overhead, aimed at our defense turrets. Mostly the creep wave was the skeleton pirate variety but apparently the alpha node buffing them had managed to provide them some pretty scary weapons. Like RPGs. And hang gliders.

    A skeletal pirate clinging to the straps of a hang glider flew overhead dropping coconut bombs into the middle of our inner ring. They didn''t do a whole lot of damage, just exploded and sprayed coconut fibers and milk everywhere. Sage did a quick Eye-Spy and warned us that the coconut milk was actually highly flammable. Between that and the fibers, we were all set to go up like a candle.

    I hurried over to where Juana and Frank were bent over a command table that hadn''t previously been there. Sweat dripped down Juana''s face as she moved little holographic icons around, enabling and disabling turrets and abilities as we had the resources.

    At the same time we got a message from Smith. Welcome back. We''re trying to find the source nest of this creep invasion. If we can take it down that''ll buy us some time. There are enemies miners out here trying to stop us.

    Watch your respawn counter Grandpa warned.

    We are. We''ve had 12 deaths in the last hour so as long as we don''t do something stupid we''ll be alright, Smith replied.

    ¡°Can we get an overview of the whole archipelago?¡± I asked Juana. ¡°Everything that we are connected to now that it''s low tide.¡±

    Juana changed her display, showing our island and the three that were now connected to us by low sandbars.

    I saw at once why we were in trouble. The arrangement was something like a Y shape, with Vortali¡¯s alpha node on the upper left branch and the other alpha node, which belonged to Existalis Holdings, on the bottom leg. We were right in the middle. It was hardly out of the way at all for our enemies to divert their creep to us on the way to taking out the others.

    ¡°Anything from the other alpha node? Existalis¡¯s outfit?¡±

    ¡°Not that we''ve seen.¡±

    ¡°If they see how bad we¡¯re hurting, they may try to attack us just so they get the buff instead of Vortali.¡±

    ¡°Good point.¡± Juana made a note.

    ¡°You showed good initiative pulling our crafters back but I''m gonna recall anyone who has even a little bit of fighting experience,¡± Grandpa said.

    ¡°Why?¡± Frank demanded. ¡°They''ll just get slaughtered and they can''t attack the creep or the enemy team.¡±

    Frank and his team could attack special world monsters or programmed enemies defending crafting nodes, but not spawn creep. Spawn point creep could kill Frank, or any of the rest of our farm team, and they were helpless to fight back.

    ¡°But the enemy can¡¯t attack them, either,¡± Grandpa said. ¡°That gives them good scouting value. Their deaths don''t count against our respawn timer.¡±

    ¡°You sure of that?¡± Juana asked. ¡°That''s why I brought them back, I wasn¡¯t sure if it counted or not.¡±

    ¡°Positive,¡± Grandpa said firmly. ¡°It was in appendix C of the outpost guide.¡±

    He sent a message right away as I studied the map, trying to think where we would be most useful.

    We had to keep our node. If we lost it, our neighbors would make sure we couldn¡¯t reclaim it. If we couldn''t hold on to our node, we were out of the game.

    Smith, the Mongeese, and Team Ragtag were doing a good job attacking the closest spawn points but we needed to think beyond that.We needed to make this work for humanity¡¯s sake. All of a sudden this game was a lot bigger than just me and my family. It was even bigger than Misfits Guild.

    The stakes couldn''t have been higher, and they were resting on my shoulders. I wasn''t sure I liked having that much responsibility.

    I really shouldn''t have let them promote me."Juana, did you ever get that communications array?"

    "I did but neither of the other node teams is listening," she said.

    "How about the beta node? The Grignarians?¡±

    She looked startled. ¡°I hadn''t thought to try them.¡±

    They were all the way up at the top of the right hand branch of the Y. Nice and safe and tucked away. "Send them this," I said. ¡°Proposing temporary alliance for the duration of this low tide period. We need to restore the status quo as fast as possible. If Vorali takes out us and Existalis, how long will it be before they come for you?¡±

    They¡¯d probably ignore me. We¡¯d wrecked their opening strategy and then helped take them out during the team event, but if there was a chance we could bring in allies, even creepy tentacle-faced ones nobody else seemed to like, I¡¯d take it.

    ¡°Sent,¡± Juana said, then bent back over the map of our outpost. "Damn it," she said, "lost another slowing turret. I can get them repaired but I''ve got to have some breathing room."

    "Right," I said, looking at Sage and Grandpa. "Then let''s push back the creep for a bit while we wait for our scouts to get here."

    Grandpa, Sage, and I climbed the ladders to the parapets overlooking the middle ring. Our towers were still taking down hordes of skeletons but it was clearly a losing proposition as they came faster and faster.

    One by one our turrets and towers were being knocked down. A whole squad of skeleton archers was standing just out of range of our last chain lightning turret in this ring and shooting it. Its health was dropping slowly but inexorably.

    "Them first," I said, loading my revolver with one of the last boom rounds.

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    I aimed, using Trick Shot to target the foremost skeleton, and fired. The explosion knocked at least a dozen of the creep away, outright exploding eight more. I started picking off the survivors one by one with regular bullets as Grandpa hurled a steady stream of shuriken into them.

    Sage was running farther along the parapet. "I found one with a funny buff," she reported. "Eye Spy says he''s increasing neighbors skills by 50%.¡±

    ¡°That''s bad. Mark him," I said.

    "I''ll take him out," Grandpa said, moving towards Sage. "You won''t be able to get back," I said.

    He touched his new ninja headband. "I''ll use the other ability on this. Tactical retreat. It allows me to target a friendly with Shadow Step." That was pretty damn awesome upgrade.

    Grandpa teleported into the midst of the skeletons. They turned to attack him as he concentrated on the mark. He threw a Honorable Foe targeted ability onto that skeleton, increasing all the damage he did to it by 40%, and started laying into it with his axes. He swung with both hands, blades flashing furiously.

    I searched for the next most imminent threat now that these skeleton archers were down and spotted a group of pirates carrying a battering ram on their shoulders. It looked like they had ripped the figurehead off of a ship and were carrying it toward our next gate.

    I used a frag bullet to take out the first, causing the others to drop their ram. Then I yelled for Sage to drop Mucking Out the Stalls under them. She did, and Lassoed one for good measure, turning it on the others as I used my Sharpshooter ability.

    Sharpshooter wasn''t one I used often, since I had to be above and at least 30 feet away from an enemy in order to activate it, but it improved my accuracy and meant my shots packed a hell of a punch. My chosen enemies dropped one by one.

    Sage''s Tamed pirate survived to the end. She suicided him into the next batch, a group of ordinary skeletons who had been with the buffer mob. I checked and Grandpa was back up on the wall, hurling more shuriken down.

    "I''m getting one of the slowing towers back online," Juana shouted over the din. The next moment, a stream of icy blue energy zapped out from a tower, arcing its way through the nearest couple of dozen pirates.

    Their movement slowed. They looked comical as they marched toward our next gate at half speed. The ones behind them caught up quickly, forming a big cluster. Then they hit the edge of Sage''s muck pool and their slow forward march became a total lack of progress. Grandpa shifted back toward us, hurling a never ending stream of tiny throwing stars.

    A pair of hang gliding skeletons swooped down on us. I aimed and shot one. He plummeted, losing control of his hang glider, and crashed into the mass in front of our gate, spilling coconuts everywhere.

    That gave me an idea. I loaded up an incendiary round and aimed at the skeleton closest to the coconuts. It went up in a chain reaction, coconuts exploding in enormous fireballs, skeletons burning away to dust.

    We threw a couple quick clean up moves and then the area in front of our gate was clear. The slowing tower fired again, catching the next group of creep making their way up.

    Behind us, Frank reported, "We''ve got our scout volunteers here but we need you to clear a path so they can get out."

    "Hang on," I said, "Is Dwight there?"

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m here,¡± our chief crafter called. ¡°How¡¯s it going?¡±

    "Dwight, these skeletons don''t like fire. You guys can''t attack them directly but all of the rounds and grenades you and Sage made me are working perfectly fine. Think you can whip up some sort of firebombs?"

    "Oh hell yes," he replied, ¡°just give me a couple minutes.¡±

    The creep kept coming. The waves were getting bigger, faster, harder to kill. Juana switched on as many slowing fields as she could, giving us a chance to keep ahead of the wave after wave of skeleton pirates that crept through the middle ring of our outpost defenses. With Grandpa, Sage, and me to bolster the automated defenses, we were staying ahead of the creep, just barely.

    Need us to come back and give you a hand? Smith asked, sending his message from halfway across our section of island.

    Nope, Grandpa replied. We need you to turn off the spigot.

    Easier said than done. They¡¯re keeping us pushed back off the spawn points. I was hoping you¡¯d let us take a break and actually get something done.

    Just keep trying, Grandpa replied.

    None of our offensive team had died in the time we''d been back. If they did, they¡¯d respawn here in the outpost, which would make defending our walls a little easier, but they''d have very little chance of getting back out there to help with the takedown of the spawn points.

    "How are my weapons coming?" I bellowed back over the wall to where our crafters were hard at work.

    "You''ll have ''em soon!" Dwight shouted back.

    "Soon ain''t good enough," I said, taking careful aim at another squad of pirates carrying a battering ram as it came around the bend and into my range.The chain lightning generators zapped them, but they seemed to shake off the slowing effect.

    "Sage, inspect," I snapped.

    She turned and used Eye Spy on the group. "They''re being protected!¡±

    ¡°Which of them is doing it?"

    "None of these. I¡¯ll figure out who it is." She scrambled farther down the parapet as she studied the waves of creep coming in. A minute later, she shouted excitedly, "There! There!" and pointed.

    "Mark ''em," I barked.

    A minute later, an icon floated over the head of one tall but peg-legged pirate skeleton. He wore a tattered captain''s hat. A skeletal parrot with a few sad green feathers clinging to its delicate wing bones was perched on the pirate''s shoulder. "Him!" she yelled back.

    "I''ll get him," Grandpa said. Just then, Dwight appeared, climbing up the ladder with a crate in hand.

    "I think I''ve got what you need," he said.

    I inspected the contents of the crate. There were half a dozen metal eggs, each about twice as big as my fist, and the system helpfully called them [Flame Eggs. Damage: 500 points of area-wide damage at epicenter, dropping off by fifty percent by meter of distance from the explosion].

    The outside of the eggs were mottled copper. I picked one up as I did some quick math. This should knock out enemies within a meter and a half of the explosion radius, dropping after that. It would also damage our structures. The egg was heavy and warm to the touch. "How''s it work?"

    "There''s a toggle on the side for your delay.¡± Dwight pointed it out. "You can choose between one and five seconds. I suggest throwing it as hard as you can once you''ve set it.¡±

    I started to prime the first charge, then hesitated. "Sage, what''s that pirate''s ability read?"

    She rattled it off promptly. ¡°Allies within a 60-foot area are protected from area damage, debuffs, and any non-targeted incoming damage.¡±

    Damn, that sounded exactly like what this egg grenade would do. I set it back down in the box gently. "We gotta take him out first. And be careful of positioning so we don¡¯t just blow a hole in our walls.¡±

    "I''ll get the buffing mob,¡± Grandpa said, moving for a better position so he could Shadow Step in.

    Dwight frowned back. ¡°Let me check with Juana,¡± he told me.

    "Hang on," I said, as a thought struck me. "I''ve got an idea." The pirate was a little ways back from his fellows, standing just out of range of the nearest turret. "Sage, can you Lasso him? And Tame?¡±

    She brightened up and drew her lariat from thin air. She whirled it over her head three times, then let fly. The loop of rope sailed through the air, settling gently over the skeleton pirate''s bony shoulders. His parrot squawked and lifted off, flapping away on bone wings.

    I felt an aura settle over me and checked my active effects. Sure enough, Sage''s Taming of the pirate meant now we were his allies. ¡°Awesome,¡± I said, and picked up an egg. "Sage, whatever you do, don''t stop Taming."

    Stepping up to the edge of the parapet, I cast my Roped Into It ability. I swung down off the parapet like a discount Tarzan straight into the clump of skeletons. My combat boots took one of them right in the rib cage, bowling it over. The others scattered, dropping the carved wooden figurehead they were using for a battering ram.

    I hit the ground in the midst of them, landing in a crouch. Aside from the six who had been carrying the battering ram, by now we had several waves of creep mounted up, at least 30 or 40 skeletons.

    I cast Call ¡®Em Out, just to make sure I had everyone''s attention. They came for me, bony arms outstretched, tripping over each other, getting in the way, trampling each other underfoot.

    I thumbed the selector switch on the flame egg, all the way down to one second. I tossed it at my feet. This was either going to be incredibly cool or I was going to wake up dead in a second feeling pretty stupid.

    Boom!

    The flame egg exploded outward. It cast a great gout of flame against the sides of our outpost, rocking the walls, knocking me backward. My ears rang from the thunderous noise as the flame washed over me. I closed my eyes, expecting to feel my clothes and hair burning away, but nothing happened.

    I opened my eyes. The creep was gone, all except for Sage''s Tamed skeleton. Even his parrot had been vaporized by the blast. Our walls were covered in black char, but otherwise undamaged.

    I walked over to the last mob, shoved my snubby revolver between his ribs, and pulled the trigger. The pirate collapsed. "How are we doing?" I yelled up at Grandpa.

    "We''ve pushed them back!" Grandpa said.

    Juana sent me a message. Shad, a bunch of our systems have gone offline. I¡¯ve been re-routing resources where I can, but I really need to take everything down and reconfigure. It¡¯s either now, while we have a break, or it¡¯ll be later when we¡¯re buried in mobs.

    How fast can you get them back online?

    I''m going to have to cannibalize some of our supplies. We''re short on repair drones. I''ve used all of them.

    Send Veda a message. Tell her we need more repair drones, right now.

    ¡°Ok!¡± I called as I rejoined Grandpa and Sage. ¡°We¡¯ve got breathing room but we need to turn the tables. Let¡¯s make Vortali too busy to attack us. If we can push them off the spawn point and clear it, and maybe kill some of them, it won¡¯t be worth their time. We¡¯re just a distraction, they really want Existalis, not us.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense,¡± Grandpa agreed.

    I sent a message to Smith. We need to know if there are enemy miners between us and you. I want to make a push on the spawn point and now''s our best chance.

    We''re sending up the drone, Smith replied.

    A moment later, I got a request from Jones to view his drone''s data feed. I accepted it. My vision fuzzed and was replaced with a drone''s eye view of our island. The drone, which looked and flew like a bird of prey, swooped low over the jungle, revealing several hidden presences. Not creep. The creep showed up on the map as orange or purple mobs, depending on if they were buffed by another set of miners.

    These dots were red. Six of them huddled in the woods not far from our encampment. Thanks, I told Jones and broke the connection.

 2.38 - Personnel Management: Treating Your Minions Like People

    We had brought in about three dozen of our farming and crafting allies and as Grandpa and I explained what we wanted them to do, their expressions were an interesting combination of shocked, amused, terrified, and excited.

    A couple of them rubbed their hands together, nodding, while others were shaking their heads. "No way!" someone shouted back. "Nuh-uh!"

    "Only the creep can harm you," I said, "and we''ve got a bit of a breather from them. Besides, death''s not permanent. You just end up back here."

    "We need this," Grandpa said. "We need all of you right now. This is important. It''s bigger than just us. This is for all of us here who''ve been dragged from our home and set to work by a bunch of aliens that don''t care about us, our feelings, our hopes and dreams. We''re doing this to prove to all of them that they made a mistake when they thought Earthlings were going to be pushovers."

    I saw a couple of heads nod, but mostly they looked scared. I didn¡¯t blame them. In the previous phase, death had been permanent. We combat miners had adjusted to the rules of Phase Two, but the crafters and farmers hadn¡¯t.

    Mama Grace pushed to the front of the crowd. I hadn''t known she was here. She almost never stepped through into Phase Two, preferring to remain in Threshold, keeping us all well-fed and looked after.

    Now she had a meat cleaver in one hand and a determined look on her face. "My Juana says this matters," she told the crowd. "So I''m going down there and I''m going to do what Louis here says. Any of you who don''t want to come, that''s your choice, but you aren''t welcome at my table after that."

    If Grandpa''s plea hadn''t worked, Mama Grace''s threat certainly did. The non-combat miners set off down the hill en mass. I directed them right toward the section of forest where our enemies were hiding.

    They were all armed, even if they weren''t going to be able to hurt the enemy players, and I told them to yell, scream, make as much noise as they could.

    As they charged out across the open space toward the wood, Grandpa, Sage, and I snuck out the back and looped around, keeping to the cover of the woods. We didn''t have a camouflage ability, but with a horde of thirty or so angry Earthlings yelling and charging at the enemy, the Vortali miners reacted the way I hoped.

    They scattered.

    Two came crashing straight toward us. A pair of bald male space elves, their pointed ears sticking up above their gleaming skulls, running flat out, came right past our hiding place. I stepped out of the brush and cast Call ¡®Em Out just as Sage got a Lasso around one of them. Grandpa Shadow Stepped in behind the other and hit him with a quick Scalp. I followed up with a Barrage, then, as he dropped low, a Finishing Shot. He dropped to the ground, despawning before he hit, and we turned on the one Sage had roped.

    She hadn''t bothered to cast Tame on him. That would have been a waste of the cooldown. Just used the lasso to delay him while we took out his friend. Fifteen seconds later, the second space elf had despawned.

    I checked my minimap. There was another red dot not far off, moving northward at a lope. The other three were gone. A sea of green dots ran northward through the jungle, but I didn''t need my minimap to tell me that. I could hear them.

    I pinged the map. "Let''s get ''em!" We rushed forward. I raced ahead, watching my map, stumbled into a clearing, and took a knife to the chest.

    I saw the knife just in time to duck, so it slid in a little too high, close to my shoulder. It hurt like hell. I grabbed for the wrist behind the knife and pulled hard as I could with my right hand. My left was dangling useless as blood flowed down my skin under my shirt.

    The elf let out a high-pitched cry. It was a woman. It didn''t matter. I used Quick Draw to summon my gun to my hand and hit her with a full Barrage. She stumbled back, reaching for another knife.

    As I reloaded my gun, I fired again. Grandpa Shadow Stepped in and took her down with a coup de grace. Sage cast "Raise Your Spirits" on me, and the pain in my shoulder wore off a little.

    I yanked out the knife and tossed it aside. My health plummeted down to 20 hit points. I swore and grabbed one of the healing potions from my inventory. I rarely had to resort to them. Usually Sage''s healing would fix me up, but I didn''t want to risk the time it would take, so I swallowed the healing potion whole. This was one of the newer ones Veda had gotten us, and it took me up to 85% health.

    I checked my mini-map. There were no other red dots visible. "We got lucky," Grandpa growled. "They could have taken us.¡±

    ¡°They weren''t expecting that rush. Now they''re going to have to respawn back at their camp. We might have a numbers advantage if we move fast enough.¡±

    ¡°Unless they brought one of those portable respawns," Grandpa pointed out.

    ¡°Then let''s stop wasting time." I checked on Smith''s location. Mongoose was about half a mile north of us, fighting for control of the spawn point.

    When we got there, it was clear why no one had emerged on top in the battle for this spawn point. The alien miners had dug in beyond the spawn point, erecting a fortification about four yards wide, just ahead of where the pirates were coming ashore.

    Boat after boat touched the sand, dumping its load of undead pirates before collapsing into a heap of seaweed on the beach as the pirates streamed ashore. The fortification was a pair of towers, similar to our defense turrets, with a translucent purple barrier of energy in between. I could see the form of five space elves behind it. Every now and then, they lobbed a grenade or fired shots over the top of their fortification.

    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    Smith and his team had dug in as well. The Mongeese had a set of abilities that all worked together to construct a machine gun nest. They''d done that twice, then erected a wall of sandbags between the two and dug a trench behind them. It would take a lot more than a couple of grenades to dislodge them from this point.

    I dropped into the trench next to Smith. "Plan on being here forever?" I asked.

    "Just waiting for you to show up," Smith retorted. "What''s the plan, Major?"

    "The plan is for you all to get off your asses, charge over there, and kick some alien butt," Grandpa retorted. "What is this? World War I all over again? Trench warfare is too damn slow. We don''t have time for this shit."

    Juana sent me another message. Most of our defenses are still offline. Two of the power supplies are on the fritz. Dwight and I are repairing them as best we can. We''re cannibalizing some of the toys you stole from the Grignarians back at the start of this fight, and I''ve got half a dozen automatons helping fill in the gap. You''ve got to keep the creep off of us.

    I watched as another load of pirates came ashore, their longboat dissolving into seaweed like the rest. Any word from Veda?

    She''s doing her best.

    Then we''ll do ours. How about the Grignarians? They answered us yet? I felt blind out here, waiting for answers from beyond this beach.

    No word. I''ll send you a message as soon as I know.

    "We can''t just sit here," I told my team. "The outpost will be overrun by the creep from this point or one of the others.¡±

    ¡°This is the one that they''re buffing," Smith said. "They have some sort of device that''s upping the spawn rate of the other two spawn points on our island, but Ragtag is taking care of most of the spawn coming out one of the others. It''s only these three spawn points that are being sent against us. I think they''ve got more that they''re pushing toward Existalis.¡±

    ¡°Then if we turn the tide here, we''ve got a chance," I said. I had brought the rest of the flame eggs with me, and I considered lobbing one over the enemy force field. The problem was, they weren''t quite grouped up enough for me to be sure of taking them all out.

    ¡°Shad? I think I¡¯ve had one of your brilliant-stupid ideas,¡± Sage said. She was eyeing the towers with interest.

    "Oh?" I asked.

    She tapped her eye. "According to my Eye Spy, those towers are what''s buffing the creep. They would also work to power our defenses and they''re generating that force field. If we could take one, it would be a big leg up for us."

    "How are we going to do that?" I asked.

    She smiled. "Eye Spy tells me they only weigh about 250 pounds apiece. I don''t think we can get them both, Shad, but you''ve been working out, right?"

    ***

    The part of this I really hated was how I had to hang back as the rest of my team charged across the sand toward our enemies.

    Vortali¡¯s miners began firing as soon as Mongoose emerged from our trench. Grandpa used Shadow Step to get in behind the line. He dropped one of our flame eggs, then used his newly enhanced ability to Shadow Step right back out over to where Sage was waiting. As soon as he got to where she was, she disappeared, reappearing back behind the enemy lines at one of her Three Barrel Race positions, just as the flame egg went off. It exploded, knocking three of the space elves off of their feet.

    Meanwhile, Jones and the Mongeese reached the edge of the sand, where the water lapped the shore. That was my cue. I engaged Fastest Gun in the West and covered the distance from our trench to the right hand defense pylon. I got my arms around it, lifting it from the ground as I activated my Home on the Range ability.

    The fifteen second cast time stretched interminably. One of the space elves turned toward me, raising a laser gun and putting a sighting dot on my chest. Sage shot her t-shirt cannon at him, momentarily wrapping him in cotton just as my timer ran out.

    I reappeared back in our camp and dropped the now inert tower to the ground with a grunt. Juana looked up from our defense table, her eyes wide. "What the...?"

    "Present from Sage," I managed. ¡°Should power some of our defenses back up. No time, gotta go," and I took off back down the hill.

    ***

    By the time I got back to the beach, of course, the rest of the fight was over. Jones and Sage had been killed, respawning back at our outpost and grumbling angrily in messages in chat, but we had taken out the other Vortali team miners.

    I managed to put the other pylon into my inventory. I would hand it over to Juana the next time we came.

    Grandpa was busy clearing out the point, killing the last few pirates as their boat turned to seaweed around them. "Hold on," I said. There were three flags placed around the landing point, bearing the Vortali Crest. I touched one, and a system message box popped up. [Do you wish to repurpose claiming flag?]

    "Hell yeah!"

    The Vortali shimmered and was replaced by our Misfits Guild logo, a tomahawk crossed by grill tongs. Grandpa converted the other two flags, and now a new interface appeared.

    [By right of capture, you have claimed this spawn point. Where would you like to direct the generated minions?]

    "Haha! We need some of these," Grandpa said.

    "We need a lot of these. How come we don''t have any?" I sent Veda a message.

    She replied back, They''re only situationally useful for times when you''re trying to take out enemy outposts. You aren''t going to be doing that. So I didn''t buy any. They''re also insanely expensive.

    We need these, I replied. Seriously, Veda, you''ve got to trust me. I know we haven''t done exactly what you said, but it''s worked out okay for you so far, right?

    There was no reply. I sent another message. Please, you got to trust me. I''ve got a plan. If we take the spawn points on our island, we can send the creep back at them. They¡¯ll have to get off our back, at least long enough for Juana to strengthen our defenses.

    Finally, she said, What is it you want here?

    I just told you, some of these pennants.

    I don''t mean now. I mean, out of all of this.

    I hesitated. I had been dragged into this against my will. I had fought to stay alive, to protect my sister, and then had fought to give us a better chance at a future. I thought of all of the people in the Lotus Eater level. I thought of everyone back on earth waiting for their fate to be decided for them by creatures they couldn''t really even imagine. I thought of the remnants of whatever had built this reality engine reaching out to us across eons, trying to communicate. I want to keep going, I said at last. I want to understand what¡¯s worth uprooting all our lives for. And then ¡ª then ¡ª Then I want to see what I can do to change things. At least for me and my family. I didn¡¯t tell her that last part. And then I want to make them know we were here.

 2.39 - Strategic Planning: Know When To Walk Away and When to Double Down

    A Beginner''s Guide to Constructing Your Phase Two Outpost: Section 8.6: Going on Offense

    Interview conducted by Colonel Jefferson Ames, U.S. Army.

    Interview subject: Delvonian Squad Commander Hyu¡¯ka Tri, preparing for Phase Two launch.

    Despite everything, the little guys have some advantages. Sure, the teams at alpha nodes are way better equipped. Hell, three of my boys could probably take out your average gamma or delta node team without breaking a sweat. The problem is, we don''t have time because we''re watching for creep.

    Sure, everybody''s got to deal with creep. That''s the point of these maps. But creep spawn points are rated too. The mobs that come out might look similar, but they pack a very different punch. Higher level creep won''t attack a lower level node. No way, no how. Alpha creep only goes for alpha nodes. You can lure them, redirect them, do whatever you want. They just won''t attack a lower level node.

    Doesn''t go the other way though. You can get gamma level creep to attack a beta node, no problem. Most of the time, who cares? It''s like swatting off flies. Thing is, your turrets and towers have a fixed firing rate. You get enough of those flies in there, pretty soon the whole work''s gummed up. I once took out an enemy stronghold by capturing every delta and gamma spawn point on the map and funneling it all at them. They were so busy swatting the creep, I walked right in and took down their node without them even noticing.

    Most teams will be watching for that though. So, that''s not a technique to count on. Of course, if you can get some creep boosters, you might be able to do something with that. Those are awfully expensive and haven''t really been in the meta for a couple of exploits now. Some of the old school folk still use them. I''ve seen it work a time or two. Remember, with a healthy dose of surprise, almost any tactic can work.

    End of interview.

    Veda plunged through her father''s notes. There was nothing here to help. He had never contemplated going very deep into Phase Two. He¡¯d only considered Phase Three a couple of times when he managed to sell a well set-up Phase Two outpost to somebody planning a Phase Three run.

    Am I seriously considering this? Phase Three? I¡¯ve managed to keep our license. That¡¯s all I need. Phase Three would risk everything I¡¯ve earned so far. She didn¡¯t have the funding, the resources, the staff to make a serious Phase Three bid.

    But somehow, Team Twofeather¡¯s pleas had gotten under her skin. They¡¯d been using her just like she¡¯d used them. And it had worked. They¡¯d done more than she would ever have asked. Every time they took a risk, it paid off.

    Sure, the big guys would shut them down hard. But it would be a lot of fun watching Proxima squirm, even for a few minutes. As long as she kept her Phase Two license, and enough of a war chest¡­ what did she really have to lose?

    Abandoning her father¡¯s records, she reviewed her grandfather''s logs and then, as those failed her, found the key-coded lockbox containing her great-grandmother''s trove.

    She hadn''t bothered to open it since it had been entrusted to her. Reality engine exploits had changed enough in the 100 or so cycles since her great-grandmother had been active, it hadn''t seemed worth her time. Now, Veda pulled out the records and fed them into her personal subsystems, having her algorithms search for anything that seemed even remotely useful.

    A couple of hits came up. She glanced them over. When had her family ever had dealings with the Andronade cohort? Those thugs had had a bad reputation for 50 cycles now. And here were notes about a blood feud with the Ragonian syndicate. She''d had dinner with a couple of Ragonian exploit captains two nights ago. Times certainly had changed.

    Her algorithms tossed up a couple of possibilities and Veda looked them over. She paused, amused at a record of an exploit where her great grandmother had apparently conned two much larger and more powerful companies into thinking that Tvedra was going to make a bid for a Phase Three license. It had resulted in selling their Phase Two holdings for a 5,000% profit.

    Veda stopped and pulled the records open further, looking for details of what her grandmother had done, and found herself nodding along. This might be just what they needed. She felt the grin sliding across her face.

    Shad was going to like this. She had noticed the humans enjoyed the dramatic, and this certainly had that flair. She sent Team Twofeather a message. Are you guys willing to risk dying a couple of dozen times this afternoon?

    Just as long as we don''t trigger our death cool down, I''m up for it, Shad replied.

    Then hang tight and I''ll get you what you need. She rubbed her hands together gleefully as she called up her shopping interface.

    This was going to be ridiculously expensive. Veda cashed in her reserves without blinking. She tapped a line of credit that would let her risk most of the company''s holdings. Her mother would have a fit if she were here, but she wasn''t. She was systems away, happily enjoying the fruits of Veda''s hard work in a well-paid-for reality engine slot. By the time she knew what Veda had done, it would be too late. They would either be rich beyond her mother''s dreams, or they''d be bankrupt and headed for Storage. Veda was betting on Team Twofeather.

    She made the necessary purchases and paid the expedited fees to have them delivered straight to her team''s Phase Two node, then sent Juana Lopez a message to look for it.

    Juana replied back quickly. Veda approved. She had convinced the Lopez family to let her buy out their System contracts some time ago, making them her responsibility, like Team Twofeather. It had been a good investment, especially going into Phase Three with so few support people available.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    Speaking of which ¡ª Veda glanced at the time and dialed in to the Reality Engine Exploitation Committee open hearing on Phase Three. She wouldn¡¯t miss this for anything.

    The cabin around her blurred and fuzzed as the image of the Great Central Debating Chamber was projected around her. Representatives of companies large and small filled the great spherical room. Veda had a small disc to herself, hovering about two-thirds of the way up the room, looking out at the large central core where a cube of enormous projectors displayed the image of the Reality Engine Exploitation Committee as they sat debating.

    The Patriarch Kvaltash sat at the center of the table, with representatives from the three major sponsors on his right. Proxima Corporation and their two major rivals, Alabaster Sky and ConSweGo Inc.

    On his left were representatives of the major galactic support organizations that usually provided thousands of non-combat miners to these efforts. The Crafters Guild representative was a large green orc with pierced tusks peeking out from behind his curled lip. The Preservationists and Healers representative was a delicate lizardfolk woman with golden scales. And the third member, who represented several dozen different interests, was a humanoid like Veda with a slight bluish tint to his skin and pure white hair.

    A little ways off at the end of the table, sitting by himself, was the Grignarian representative. While Grignarian body language tended to differ from that of most other species, this one looked pissed. His arms were folded in front of his chest and his face tentacles wriggled unpleasantly.

    Veda dialed up her sound and the broadcast filled her chamber as she leaned in, surrounded by thousands of other exploit members and their hangers-on.

    "We must lodge a protest," the Proxima representative was saying. "This timeline is excessively front-loaded and we have not been able to bring in our own support people."

    The Crafters orc snarled his agreement. "If we go into Phase Three now, we will be depending on indigenous help! Even if they were competent, there aren¡¯t enough of them working the earlier levels any more.¡±

    The Patriarch raised his hand. "I am taking steps to ensure that there are, in fact, enough indigenous miners to provide us with the raw materials we will need for Phase Three," he said. "The system negotiations have succeeded in persuading all interested parties to agree to a modification of the Phase One rule set. Phase One zones will remain open during Phase Three for farming of materials. However, the permadeath has been turned off. Farmer miners will now respawn. In exchange, all soul coins harvested as an incidental part of the farming process will be turned over to the Reality Engine Exploit Committee to be used to defray certain other costs."

    Veda couldn''t believe what she was hearing. Phase One remain open into Phase Three? While it was customary to allow the initial farming zones to remain open during Phase Two, by the time Phase Three started, the Reality Engine was usually largely tapped out of the cheaper, more accessible soul coins.

    She sent a query and was shocked at the result. The rate of soul coin harvest was a little higher than generally expected at this point in a Reality Engine conquest, but it was still only 20% of the projection total untapped soul coins. Phase Three rarely opened before the collection had reached 80%. Why were they pushing the timeline up so hard?

    ¡°All of this could be resolved if we were merely allowed to bring in our own personnel,¡± the Crafters Guild representative snarled. "Instead, you force our brave warriors to choose between going into battle equipped with the garbage the locals are able to create, or being forced to wait on the sidelines until our few craftsmen are able to supply their needs."

    "The locals are catching up nicely," the representative from ConSweGo said. "Your ultimatum may not hold, Guildmaster."

    "I''d like to see any of the locals constructing low-yield thermonuclear warheads," the Guildmaster snarled.

    "Enough.¡± Patriarch Kvaltash raised his hands. "The decision has been made. Phase Two will enter terminal stage in a few hours."

    Veda immediately tried to send Team Twfeather a message. Her system beeped back at her. [Messages to miners inside Phase Two have been disabled until the conclusion of this phase.] She swore and checked ¡ª at least her packages had been delivered. Hopefully Shad and his team would figure out what to do with them.

    "What''s the rush?" the Healers representative asked. "We expected to be here for years yet."

    "I will allow the Proxima delegate to explain.¡±

    A hush fell across the room. Veda felt a tingle of excitement as the Proxima representative stood up. He was an elf, a relative of her own species, with pale skin and silvery hair. His system-generated tag read Halithi Dreamwarden, Proxima.

    He lifted a languid hand in greeting. "Thank you, friends and colleagues. Yes, I bring news on behalf of all of us here. Our home base at Proxima Centauri has just confirmed we have located a rogue world reality engine."

    Veda sat back in her chair, taking in the reality of her quarters for a moment as the illusion seemed to dim and fade around her.

    A rogue reality engine? She''d heard rumors of such, certainly, of reality engines created on planets that drifted between the stars in eternal darkness. Colder than cold, wrapped in ice, shrouded in secrecy. She''d never heard of anyone who''d actually exploited one, but the legends spoke of wealth far beyond what a normal reality engine was capable of, and secrets that could kill.

    "We have staked our claim to the reality engine central government and received a patent for its exploit. Due to its proximity to an unfavorable cluster of stars, we believe the optimal exploitation phase is a mere five standard cycles."

    Five cycles. Five years. That was no time at all to prepare for a world-shattering reality engine opportunity. A rogue world engine would, theoretically, have no ties to any planet. No requiring the local inhabitants to help develop it, which meant the System/Reality Engine negotiations would be unconstrained. The engine couldn¡¯t be developed into a habitat. Instead, rogue reality engines might be convinced to become ship foundries, production facilities, even used to develop habitats like the Hub.

    ¡°To that end, Proxima is going to wrap up this exploit. The Hub will be needed as the primary launch platform for this rogue engine exploit. Once Phase Three of this exploit completes, Proxima will supervise the replacement of the Hub with a development-focused station, to facilitate the re-population of this reality engine. We¡¯ve contracted with resettlement agencies which have already sold thirty percent of the prospective habitation slots. Within a decade, this reality engine should support a galactic population in the hundred billion range.¡±

    That was pretty standard. The exploitation companies would sell their winnings to various developers ¡ª mostly owned by Proxima, Alabaster Sky, and ConSweGo. The biggest conglomerates would make a profit yet again by reselling.

    Halithi Dreamwarden was still speaking, his dulcet tones almost slippery. ¡°We will be accepting applications from subordinate companies that have shown themselves to be especially adept at exploits. We will be making a galaxy-wide announcement after this. Needless to say, while this reality engine exploit remains a priority for Proxima and our esteemed colleagues here, it is no longer our only prospect.¡±

    She could understand why. Instead of milking this exploit for years, the way many companies would prefer to do, Proxima and the others were clearly ready to stake claims and go home, letting the galactics come in and turn this newly-tamed reality engine into more tenements and shopping malls.

    They might be giving up a little bit of wealth now. No doubt this reality engine would retain a trove of soul coins which the new occupants would find ways of extracting over the next few thousand years.

    But like the old tale of the vat farmer and the over-prosperous yeast strain, when a new batch is offering five times the volume, you dump your other vats and repopulate from the golden strain.

    Veda sat back and listened as the committee expounded the plans for Phase Three. She smiled as they introduced the overarching fantasy model. Shad and his team were going to love this.

 2.40 - Talent: the Difference Between Esports Pros and You

    As we stepped into the clearing where the cannibal pigs had their camp, I lobbed a flame egg into their cook pot. It exploded, splattering the pigs with boiling who knows what and knocking them all back. I''d set their nearest huts on fire. They ran about squealing and charging through the sudden clouds of smoke to try to find us. Sage whooped and lassoed one of the larger boars.

    The surviving pigs picked themselves up and charged through the flaming wreckage of their camp at us. I took careful aim and shot.Meanwhile, I looked up the contact information that the patriarch of the progenitor cult had given me and composed a message for Kvaltash. I have spoken with the ghost in the machine. If you want to hear what I know, reply back fast. I want a bargain. Then I sent a message to the Grignarians.Do you want to give some of these galactic assholes a black eye? Let me know if you''re in. I resumed paying attention as Grandpa directed us.

    I got a reply back from Patriarch Kvaltash. What is it you want?

    We need to have our sponsor upgraded so she can back us into Phase Three.

    Not possible. Tvedra''s license is for Phase Two. Besides you do not have the financial backing for Phase Three. I can offer to buy out your combat team and place them on my own church''s bid if you wish to participate in Phase Three.

    Not good enough, I shot back. I was risking a lot here based on some conjectures.

    I assure you the deal will be most profitable for you and your team. You will come away as very, very wealthy individuals.

    That''s not what I''m after and it''s not what you''re after either. You need an Earth human team in Phase Three, don''t you? You need us. I''m willing to make an alliance even to ask Veda to sell you a share in the operation but I''m going in with my coalition or I''m not going in at all.

    I turned my attention back to taking out the cannibal pigs. They were twice as powerful as usual, and they kept respawning as we slaughtered them. The booster flags Vortali was using were powerful artifacts. I was eager to get my hands on a few. Though we had been able to steal Vortali''s flags, they had to be refreshed every 4 hours or the buff and ability to direct creep would disappear.

    The Patriarch replied back. Perhaps my church can buy out your whole outpost and guild. Would that satisfy you?

    Nope. I trust Veda a lot more than I trust you. I was surprised to find that I trusted Veda quite a bit actually. We had been through a lot together at this point. I want her to be able to tell me if something here is screwed up.

    You don''t know how much of an investment you''re asking, the Patriarch replied. In order to upgrade her license, we would have to sacrifice our own or pay off someone else.

    Then do it, I said. In exchange, I''ll tell you what the reality engine has told me. You don''t care about this particular reality engine, do you? You want to learn the secrets that make them tick. Well, I care about this one because it''s ours. I know my people aren''t going to come away with much more than scraps, but I want a chance at those scraps. Upgrade Veda''s license and I''ll get you all the information I possibly can.

    If you''re worth it, Kvaltash shot back at once. Phase Three is like nothing you''ve done before. You won''t be able to get along on tricks and just barely scraping by.

    We weren''t supposed to make it into Phase Two either.

    You have a point, and I like your style. I¡¯ll give you a chance. Claim one of the alpha nodes on your atoll. If you can do that, then I''ll back your bid. Now. I am going to be busy for some time. Talk to me when you¡¯re finished.

    Sage whooped as she converted the Vortali flags to ours. "Go, my minions!" she shouted, casting Cowgirl Cheer on the next group of creep that spawned. They moved off northward to join the wave attacking Existalis. "Two down, one to go!"

    I quickly shot Grandpa a message. We have to take one of the alpha nodes. If we do, we''re in for Phase Three.

    Are you nuts? The kind of firepower they can command is way more than what we can overcome.

    That''s why we''re going to need some help. I sent another message to the Grignarians. What will it take to get you involved? I want to destroy the chances of Existalis or Vortali. I don''t care which. If you have a preference, tell me and we''ll team up.

    Finally, they sent a reply. Thief. We don''t trust you.

    You don''t have to trust me. Just help me give someone else a black eye for a change.

    You helped the orcs destroy our party. We did not make it to the second part of the event. Our hope of achieving Phase Three is gone.

    Sorry about that, I said. Maybe if we take out one of their nodes, you can scavenge enough to get through?

    No. There was a pause. We will make you a bargain. If you succeed in reaching Phase Three, you will hire us as mercenaries.

    Why? I was immediately suspicious. What¡¯s that get you?

    Access to the reality engine. The chance to ask questions. To learn the things the others already know, just because they were born to the right stars.

    I shot Grandpa a quick message, telling him what was going on.

    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    Sounds risky, he said.

    I think we need them. I also think we kind of screwed them over without knowing what was going on.

    You¡¯re getting soft on me, boy. It¡¯s up to you, but we don¡¯t know the Phase Three rules. What if this means some of our team gets sidelined? What if they¡¯re able to turn on us?

    He had a point. I told the Grignarians, We¡¯re willing, as long as you agree to a contract our Notary witnesses. We¡¯ll hire you as mercenaries, but you¡¯ll take orders from us.

    Tell your Notary to send the contract. We¡¯ll consider it.

    I added Juana to the group chat with Grandpa. Time¡¯s short here. We need a quick contract, no loopholes for them to exploit.

    The shorter it is, the more situations might come up, Juana warned. Longer contracts are actually safer, you can go over contingencies.

    Yeah, but right now we need them on board. The deal is: we hire them as mercenaries during Phase Three and allow them access to the reality engine. They follow our orders, they do not take any actions against us or give intelligence to our enemies, and they don¡¯t betray us.

    I can think of a bunch of loopholes right now, Juana said. I could hear the doubt even in her typed replies.

    Then add what you can think of and get it to them quick.

    Right.

    I considered making Existalis an offer. They¡¯d have the firepower we needed. But they¡¯d refused to answer any of our overtures so far, and I didn¡¯t trust them.

    Juana sent us a message. Sent the contract. I¡¯ve got Veda''s supplies. What do you want me to do with them?

    Hang on. I sent a message to Veda asking her what her recommendation was. Then, while I waited for a reply, I checked my map.

    We had taken all three of the spawn points on our own island. Right now, three streams of creep was marching toward Existalis. As soon as I got the capture flags from Juana, we would change that.

    The Grignarians replied to my contract offer. Agreed. But betray us, and we will see that you and your people suffer for a thousand cycles, just as we have done. We cannot take vengeance against everyone who has wronged us, but your people are weak. You have no allies. No one will fight for you.

    Understood. I did not like the idea of working with the Grignarians, but there was no way we could take on an alpha node alone.

    "Let''s all regroup back at the outpost,¡± Grandpa suggested. He sent a message to the rest of our team and recalled any of the crafters who were still wandering around the jungle.

    I sent a message to the Grignarians. We''ll be ready to move out in 20 minutes.

    I stood over the row of supplies Veda had sent us. There were a dozen bundles of spawn point capture flags, enough to convert all of the points on this island and have a couple to spare. She had also sent nine tactical vests. They were large, dark grey in color, and covered in pockets.

    I picked one up. It was heavy. I draped it over myself and it adjusted and conformed to my body. There were pouches and pockets all over it. I Inspected it and a system menu popped up.

    [NPC spawn directive vest. This vest allows the user to enhance and direct nearby spawned NPC minions.

    Choose between the following minion buffs: Enhance speed, enhance accuracy, enhance damage.

    Choose between several damage type buffs: Damage - fire, damage - ice, damage- electricity.

    Choose between several miscellaneous enhancements: Shield, stim, slow heal.]

    Most of those options had further text available to inspect but I got the gist by looking at it. They also contained a couple of specific use abilities for the wearer. [EMP: temporarily shut down nearby defense structures. Cast fireball. Summon walking mines]

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m starting to get the idea.¡± I checked. Still no message from Veda. I sent again, asking her if she had more instructions.

    Our crafters were clustering around the node gateway itself, preparing to leave. ¡°Anything else for us?¡± Dwight asked.

    ¡°You and half a dozen of the best stay here,¡± Grandpa said. ¡°Everyone else can go back and rest up, get a bite to eat. You did good work today.¡±

    ¡°Let me make sure I understand this. You¡¯re going to take on an alpha node?¡± Juana asked skeptically. ¡°You remember how much better the beta node gear was than the stuff Veda could afford for us? How it¡¯s meant you guys get to gallivant around, taking out rare mobs, instead of being on defense the whole time?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I agreed warily, seeing where she was going. ¡°I know. Their gear will be even better. But we don¡¯t have a choice.¡±

    ¡°Of course we do. We sit tight, hold what we¡¯ve got.¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t. If we want to make it into Phase Three we have to take that node out.¡±

    ¡°But do we?¡± Dwight asked. ¡°Look, Phase Two has been great for us. We¡¯ve made so much money, we might actually buy out our contracts. But Phase Three? We don¡¯t know anything about it. What if death is real again? I don¡¯t want any part of that.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll worry about that once we know the ruleset,¡± Grandpa said firmly. ¡°Shad¡¯s right. We take the alpha node, now.¡±

    Juana sighed. She pointed to our supply hut, where we kept the emergency supplies, backup turrets, and unused gear. ¡°Then you¡¯d better take the Portable Hole Puncher.¡±

    She was referring to the battering ram device the Firebrand orcs had tried to use on us when they¡¯d attacked our outpost. ¡°I thought you sold that.¡±

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t find a taker.¡±

    I went over and checked. It wouldn¡¯t fit in my inventory. ¡°Anyone able to pick this up?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll bring it along after we finish capping spawn points,¡± Smith promised.

    ¡°I knew you grunts were good for something,¡± Grandpa said. ¡°All right, let¡¯s finish up here.¡±

    Juana looked up from her battle map. ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to send a message to my mother for the last 15 minutes,¡± she said. ¡°Mama went back to get started on dinner and she was supposed to send some through for me. I was wondering why she hadn''t. She hasn''t replied.¡±

    Worry started to gnaw at me. I sent a message to one of our crafters who had just stepped through, Leanne. She didn''t reply.

    I tried to send a message on the Coalition General channel. Is this thing on? My message appeared there and I got a response from Smith. We see you. Nothing from anyone outside. I noticed it had been some time since there''d been much traffic on this channel.

    I swore. ¡°I think we''re cut off!¡± I looked over to the gateway and raised my voice. ¡°Hey, Emmett.¡±

    The crafter who had been about to step through paused, looking at me. ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°As soon as you''re through, send me back a message letting me know that everything''s okay there.¡±

    ¡°We expect a problem?¡±

    ¡°Not really,¡± I said.

    Emmett looked doubtful, but stepped through. I waited. We didn''t get a message.

    ¡°Alright, I''m going to assume that we''ve been cut off from communication, not that Threshold is gone,¡± I said grimly. ¡°Seems like anything that could destroy the hub and Threshold both without us knowing would take out a big chunk of this reality engine and shut the simulation down.¡±

    There were some problems with that theory, but I wasn''t going to voice them. Not with everyone else here.

    ¡°So we''re on our own. That''s alright. We know what we need to do. Mongoose is almost back,¡± Grandpa said as he picked up one of the vests and put it on. ¡°Then it¡¯s time to move out.¡±

    ¡°It''s time to decapitate them,¡± Sage said. She grabbed a vest, her eyes shining, and put it on. ¡°I¡¯ve been preparing for this for weeks now, watching eSports matches from back on Earth. Everything I could find that''s a MOBA.¡±

    ¡°You didn''t offer to help me out,¡± Juana said, sounding mildly hurt.

    Sage laughed. ¡°I don''t care about this defense stuff. Figured if it ever got bad, Shad and I would just clean up all the mobs for you. No, this is the point where we turn the tide, isn''t it, Shad? We''re going on the attack. We''re the creep now.¡±

    I grinned. ¡°Actually,¡± I said, ¡°we''re the champions.¡±

 2.41 - Does This Raptor Make My Butt Look Big?

    Step one was easy: capture as many spawn points as we could.

    We sent Mongoose and the Ragtag squad to take our points and the beta node spawn points. The Grignarians had agreed to let us cap their points. We would then send everything toward the Vortali Alpha node.

    Since Existalis was sending their own creep that way too, we should have a solid wave of minions approaching Vortali''s node in a matter of minutes. In the meantime, Grandpa, Sage and I had reunited with Bill and Bob, loaded up on all of the grenades and single use items that Dwight and his crafters could give us, and headed across toward Vortali''s island.

    At low tide, a shimmering sand bank stretched between our island and Vortali''s. It was almost a quarter of a mile long. The sand was sticky and wet, tugging at my feet as we went. It smelled of the seaweed that strewed its banks. We picked our way past broken chunks of razor-sharp coral. Sage detoured to look at a stranded starfish. She picked it up and hurled it into the water.

    A small stream of cannibal pigs and skeleton pirates made their way past us, moving inexorably toward Vortali''s node. If I stood in their way, they just detoured around me. They were on a mission, and I was here to help.

    My mini-map revealed the location of the nodes here on Vortali''s island, but we could have just followed their stream of creep upstream. They had unleashed a horde of brightly colored velociraptors. The beasts were covered in pink and green feathers. Sage squealed in delight as we passed a pack of them, their heads up, tails outstretched, running like giant ostriches south toward Existallis.

    They had their own skeleton pirates too. Unlike most of ours, theirs were wearing rusty armor, Spanish conquistador style hats and breastplates. I Inspected them as we went. They had about three times as much health as the creep we were used to fighting.

    I warned the team, "Don''t take these guys lightly. We should be able to take out their spawn point and capture it, but it won''t be a pushover. Remember, if you die, you end up back at our node, and it''ll take you forever to get back in the fight."

    "Don''t worry," Sage said, brushing off my concerns. "You''re the one who''s always thinking death is a good tactic anyway, Shad. Dinosaurs first. I want an army of dinosaur minions."

    So we headed a little to the west and found the dinosaur nest, or rather series of nests. The dinosaurs roosted in a jungle glen surrounded by fallen logs. A couple of large adults prowled around the outside as half a dozen nests full of eggs waited.

    We paused and crouched behind one of the fallen trees, studying the scene. Every thirty seconds, one of the nests full of eggs would start shaking as all of the eggs began to roll around, developing large cracks. Baby velociraptors quickly emerged from the eggs, shook off the remnants of shells, and grew to full size in a couple of eye blinks.

    "That''s so cool," Sage whispered. "I want one, Shad. I want a pet dinosaur."

    "It''s not that kind of game," I told her. "Besides, what would you even do with a pet dinosaur?"

    "Ride it into battle," she declared. "It would be my trusty steed Buckskin. A rodeo queen ought to have a worthy steed, don''t you think? I could get a nice tooled leather saddle and..."

    "Not the time, you two," Grandpa growled. "Let''s get in there and plant the flags."

    "Do we have to kill them before we plant the flags?" Sage whispered. ¡°Or can we capture them alive?¡±

    "I suppose it''s worth finding out.¡±

    ¡°Right, I can throw two of my barrel points there and there," she pointed at points equidistant around the nest. "As soon as I go to the first one, you plant one of the flags here and then distract the adults. Maybe we can do this the easy way."

    "Sounds good," I said, preparing to charge in and cast my taunt.

    Grandpa took one of the claiming flags and handed two more to Sage. "Three, two, one, go," he whispered, and Sage disappeared. Grandpa shoved his flag into the dirt at our feet. I hopped over the tree and engaged Fastest Gun in the West, charging in, shouting to attract the dinosaur''s attention.

    I cast Call ''Em Out, and the four adults all made for me. Bill and Bob were on my heels, swinging their big guandao swords at the dinosaurs.

    A minute later, Sage shouted, "I''ve got the last flag planted!" I had been about to shoot the nearest dinosaur, but I raised my barrel skyward and held my fire.

    The dinosaurs stopped their charge. They looked around, and I Inspected them. They now read, [Subordinate minions of Misfits Guild.]

    "You did it," I called, and Sage whooped.

    "All right, turning the dinosaurs on their masters now!" She finished what she was doing and hurried over to me.

    "One down, four to go," I said. The alpha node had five enemy spawn points active, not the three on our island.

    "Smith and the others are done with their mission," Grandpa reported. "They''re on their way to join us. Any word from the Grignarians?"

    ¡°Just that they would join us for the final onslaught.¡± I felt a little nervous. The Grignarians knew we would be throwing everything into this attack. If they wanted to attack our node, now was the perfect time.

    I had left Juana and Dwight to defend, and they were certainly capable, but they couldn''t handle an emergency. Well, if worse came to worse, I could just get myself killed and be back there in time to help with an attack.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    I kept an eye on my minimap as we converted the nodes one-by-one. No red dots. No blue dots. Just our green markers and the streams of creep moving inexorably north toward Vortali.

    Step two: Join the creep.

    The Vortali node was situated on a hilltop like ours. Unlike our outpost, this one was laid out with a grid pattern. It was a square about 30 yards to the side with gates on each wall. I could see the turrets and towers beyond making a labyrinth through which our creep was beginning to charge.

    The whole outpost had a vaguely Asian styling to it, with blue-tiled roofs atop stonework walls. The towers were like tall, skinny pagodas, with flared roofs at each level. I didn''t know if they represented something on Vortali''s homeworld, or if they were still stealing Earth designs and inspirations. It didn''t really matter, I supposed. The gates were topped with enormous red-stained beams, golden endcaps decorating them.Like us, Vortali had left their outer gates open. Presumably, their inner gates would be locked.

    Our teammates had all joined us by now, Mongoose and Ragtag finding us as we surveyed the enemy. The Grignarians sent me a message. We see you. We are here. We will join your push.

    We have equipment that will let us buff the creep, I replied. How about you?

    No such equipment. It is not needed. We will take advantage of the distraction you cause to make our own way in.

    Grandpa and I had talked strategy with tall Smith on the way in. The key, based on our reading of the outpost guide and our experience with our own outpost, was to overwhelm the defense towers. Presumably, Vortali had limitedrepair capacity, just like we did. If we took out as many towers as we could across the whole fortification, more and more creep would be able to penetrate deeper and deeper into the fortress.

    Now Sage stepped up. ¡°Ok, so the way we win this is we overwhelm their defenses. Their towers are designed to take out alpha-level spawn. The beta and delta creep we¡¯ve added is nothing to them ¡ª unless they have to target everything individually. Then, they are going to run into trouble. So we have to take out their slowing towers, their multi-target turrets, anything that can hit more than one target at once or hamper our rush.¡± Her spawn buff vest had changed from the dull tactical look to a brown leather fringed vest with rhinestones picking out a flower design. With her rodeo shirt and good jeans on, she looked every bit a rodeo queen.

    ¡°Good tip,¡± Smith said. ¡°Wish we¡¯d been able to find some of those gaming experts Shad wanted, but I¡¯m glad you studied up, Sage. This isn¡¯t quite the sort of assault I¡¯ve trained for.¡±

    Jones lay flat on his stomach, new binocs trained on the outpost.

    "Anyone have eyes on the Vortali combat miners?" I asked. I was only seeing three red dots on my minimap, inside the outpost¡¯s defenses.

    "Negative," Jones replied. "They''re not here. Looks like they¡¯re heavy on slowing towers, lightning damage, and ice damage.¡±

    ¡°Those work well together,¡± Sage said. ¡°Ice chills, and lightning damage does double on chilled targets, plus it¡¯s probably all chain lighting turrets. We need to focus on the slow and lightning towers.¡±

    ¡°Then let¡¯s use the vests to buff our creep, make them resistant to cold,¡± I suggested. Sage gave me a quick nod.

    ¡°And keep sharp. The enemy might appear back here at any moment."

    "Or they could go for a base trade," Sage chirped. "If they realize what we''re doing, they might try attacking our base in order to force us back there."

    "We''ll worry about that if they try it," I said. I took a deep breath. "Let''s do this. Mongeese, west gate. Ragtag, east gate. Team Twofeather has the South. Let''s go."

    Our waves of creep had already reached the outpost. They were funneling through the west, east, and south gates. The north gate, on the far side of the outpost, was relatively untouched, as the creep streams made for the nearest and easiest entrance.

    Each of our vests was capable of buffing all creep within five yards. The buffs could stack, so we could either give three different buffs types or three times one buff. And that was per category: each vest could give one creep general buff, one damage type enhancement, and one special enhancement. Combine that and things got wild. Mongoose had three vests, and so did Ragtag. Ideally, toward the end, we¡¯d all be close enough that our minions could have up to nine stacks active. I didn¡¯t think that was likely. We were almost certainly to lose people before then.

    For now, we were going with a range of different buffs, improving their strength, durability, accuracy, giving them shields, resistance to lightning, and then stacking all of the damage as fire. The fire damage added a small burning debuff to whatever it hit. The burning enemies, or in this case, structures, would continue to lose health until repaired. It was a way of forcing the hand of whoever was running Vortali''s defenses.

    I shrugged off my misgivings and stepped into the flow of creep. My instincts were telling me to get out ahead of them, that I didn''t want to be pressing forward in this mass of skeleton pirates, spear-wielding pigs, angry dinosaurs, and the shambling zombies that had spawned from the Grignarians¡¯ spawn points. But I was safer with them to take some of the shots from the turrets and towers.

    The two gate towers zapped us with bolts of charged lightning. I felt myself slow. The lightning bolt sent unpleasant shivers up and down my body, but did very little damage, spreading out among all our creep and dropping all their health by five or so points. I checked to make sure my shield effect was active on all of my creep. It was. Sage switched her buff to a heal over time and threw out Raise Your Spirits for good measure. ¡°Give me a minute!¡± she shouted. ¡°I gotta get my pirates out!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll cover you,¡± I said. Grandpa and I plunged forward. I loaded my last couple boom rounds and fired at the left-hand gate tower. My shot exploded it, setting it on fire. The topmost level began to smoke, and its armaments ¡ª cannons firing rockets ¡ª shot wildly into the air.

    The creep followed up on my opening, hurling spears, throwing rocks. A crew of pirates with one of their figurehead-battering rams charged forward and began smashing the figurehead into the base of the tower.

    Sage had deployed her Inflatable Pirate Squad, the one we¡¯d looted way back at the start of the phase during our raid on the Beta node. She had spent the past weeks grumbling about not being able to use them ¡ª they were only effective against towers or creep, not the bonus mobs we¡¯d spent most of our time fighting. Now she had them out and was instructing the dozen skeletons where to go. Their leader had a peg leg in place of his left shinbone, and a rusty metal hook. He wore an eyepatch across his grinning skull. I shook my head and turned back to the attack as the bonus pirates joined in the attack on the gate.

    A squad of dinosaurs hopped up next to the tower, clawing and kicking at the tower with their spurred hind legs until it cracked and crumbled. I joined Sage in cheering as it fell.

    We turned our attention to the next tower. The creep was taking damage slowly but surely. My first pack of dinosaurs all died. Sage let out an unhappy cry, but there were more to replace those. Skeleton pirates turned back to seaweed and dust. Pigs squealed and shrieked as they fell to the ground, despawning as their corpses hit the dirt. More trudged forward to take their place.

    ¡°Get it down!¡± I shouted to the creep, then felt like a moron.

    Sage was in the middle of a pack of dinosaurs, urging them on. ¡°Come on!¡± she shouted. ¡°Men! With me!¡± Her skeletons fell in around her like an honor guard.

    We took down the second gate tower, leaving the way clear for our creep. Even Grandpa let out a whoop. ¡°Come on, you undead assholes,¡± he told the nearest skeleton pirates. ¡°Let¡¯s kick some alien butt.¡±

 2.42 - Blowing Things Up for Fun and Profit

    As soon as I had a little pack of creep around me, I led them through the burning ruins of Vortali¡¯s south gate. The enormous red beam had fallen, lying in a smoking heap. We stepped right over it.

    The turrets atop the pale grey stone walls fired death down on us. They were shaped like stylized Chinese lions, shooting explosive arrows from their gaping open mouths. Every third turrent zapped our creep, slowing them down. ¡°Take out the slows!¡± Sage shouted. ¡°We gotta get up there!¡±

    Grandpa Shadow Stepped up onto the outer wall and began hacking the closest slow turret to pieces. I used my Roped Into It ability and swarmed up to the inner wall¡¯s parapet. I shot the turret right in front of me, reloaded, shot again. Even though it felt like I should be taking a baseball bat to it, my revolver-based abilities were too good. It shut down with a sad clanking noise ¡ª despite the fact that it looked like it was carved from granite, without a mechanical piece on it ¡ª and moved on to the next.

    The next four turrets were closer together, only about five feet apart. I eyed them, calculating the distance, and then fired off one of my vest''s special abilities.

    A blast of lightning shot out from my chest. My ears rang as it zapped the next couple turrets along before hopping across the gap to electrify the ones on the other side as well. The turrets froze up.

    I Inspected them. "Thirty seconds before they can shoot again," I yelled. "Get some reinforcements up here." I grabbed a rope out of my inventory and flung it over the wall. Bill and Bob swarmed up. Sage had her Three-Barrel Race skill going. She teleported up to the wall with Grandpa and ran along, helping take down the turrets on the far side.

    As we took apart the turrets, our minions advanced toward the next gate.Up ahead, tall Smith shouted, "Some help with these towers!" I finished off the last of the stunned turrets and sprinted ahead, past a machine gun turret firing a hail of bullets down on my creep. It ignored me as I went past.

    Smith''s team was up ahead. They had come in the west side gate and were approaching the entrance to the next level of the outpost. It was flanked by tall towers, three tiers high, bristling with turret defenses. The towers were tall, narrow pagodas with blue tile roofs sticking off of each level. Red and gold flags fluttered along the openings of each level.

    The lowest level of the pagoda featured turrets that resembled stylized dragon fireworks, like I''ve seen in depictions of Chinese New Year. They spat out missiles which broke into six or seven separate seekers, flying in spiraling patterns toward their targets. Then they¡¯d explode in a cascade of red and gold sparks that knocked back the creep and delivered a nasty, stunning debuff.

    The next level up had a slower rate of fire, shooting another lightning attack that further slowed and stunned our creep. The top level sent a steady stream of projectiles into the creep, mowing them down, but only attacked one at a time. It was the lower two levels we really needed down.

    Smith''s team was at the bottom of the tower, attacking it. "We can''t reach the guns up above,¡± Smith shouted up at me. "We''ve made progress on the door. See if there''s a way up on the inside."

    I studied the tower in front of me. The parapet on which I stood dead-ended into the tower. The opening of the first tier was about seven feet over my head. I holstered my gun, backed up, and sprinted.

    As I approached the wall, I leapt. My fingers caught the lip of the opening above. I scrabbled for a better handhold, then got one elbow up. I took a deep breath and pulled my other arm and upper body over the edge of the opening. My feet scrabbled against the tower, trying to get a purchase.

    With another enormous effort, I pulled myself up and inside, rolling over to lay on my back and stare up at the guns. Fortunately, none of them seemed to be aiming at me. They all had way more health than any of our turrets had. Close to 800 points, plus a regeneration that would heal them back up to full every few minutes. This was going to take more than my revolver.

    I checked my inventory for the stuff Dwight had given me, then reconsidered. I was on the first level. If I blew this one up, it might be even harder to get to the second and third levels, and we needed to take the whole tower down.

    There was a bundled pile of rope and slats on the other side of the tower. I walked over to it, discovered it was a rope ladder, and threw it down for the Mongeese. They swarmed up to me. "We need to find a way up there," I said, pointing. "We''ll take it down one level at a time."

    We stood on a six-foot-wide wooden platform surrounding the inner core of the tower. There was a three-foot-tall wall along the outside, the guns and missile launchers mounted on the walls, firing down at our creep as it streamed toward the gate. Thick wooden posts held up the level above, with solid pillars at each corner.

    I sent a quick message to Mitch, the Ragtags¡¯ Canadian demo expert, who should be on the other side of the outpost. You able to lend a hand with blowing something up?

    Kinda busy here, he answered back. But if you need advice, let me know.

    "Right." I turned back to the Mongeese. "Any of you bomb experts, or do we just try to make it blow up good?"

    Black shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ve got some skills. [Remove Landmine], [Premature Detonation], [Defuse Bomb], [Cut the Red Wire], [Explosive Ordnance Disposal].¡±

    ¡°Uh, yeah,¡± I said, calling up his character sheet. I¡¯d forgotten he was a Demolitions Expert. ¡°That should do it.¡±

    "The first order of business is to get up there.¡± Tall Smith pointed to the nearest corner, where a metal ladder was bolted to the wall. ¡°Double time.¡±

    I let Smith and the Mongeese go first, while I peered out through the opening to check on our progress. This set of towers was stopping our creep wave dead. "Try to hold back a wave," I called to Grandpa. "As soon as we get this tower down, we''ll push as hard as we can."

    "We''ll see what I can do," Grandpa agreed. He and Sage had finished taking out the turrets on the south side of the towers, and were now proceeding up along the north, clearing everything. Our strategy was to break as much of Vortali¡¯s infrastructure as we could, so that even if they did get repair bots out, they''d have to make choices and leave options open for us.

    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    I checked my map. All of the spawn points were still shown as ours. There was a stream of creep all headed this way. I sent a message to Juana. Everything quiet there?

    So far, so good, she replied. I''m not taking any chances. Dwight and I are getting all of our repairs done. It''s going to burn up everything Veda sent us, but I want us in tip-top shape. I can''t help feeling something is going to happen. I''ve had no luck getting through to anyone on the other side.

    Neither have I. Just hang tight. I''ll see what we can do when we''re done here. I turned my attention back to the battlefield.

    Smith reported in from upstairs. "Laying charges on the top floor. I don''t know if we have enough cord to string all three floors at once. We may have to blow the top two and then come back for the bottom.¡±

    ¡°That''s fine," I said. ¡°Get it going up there.¡± Meanwhile, I pulled some of my own supplies out and started setting explosives under each of the turrets and towers here.

    ¡°Proceeding to the second floor,¡± Smith reported.

    "I''m going to jump across to the other tower and start there," I told him.

    ¡°Good call.¡±

    I used Roped Into It, which had a five-minute cool-down and was back up by now, to swing across the gateway to the other tower. The gate was still sealed shut. One squad of our pirate minions had made it this far and got a couple of hits in with their figurehead battering ram, but hadn''t even scratched the thing before they had been taken down.

    The second tower was set up like the first. I kicked the rope ladder over the side to make it easier for anyone to come up from below and then proceeded to the top floor.

    I was in the middle of laying charges under the top floor cannons when a pulsed laser shot missed my head by inches.

    It had come from behind me. I dropped to the ground, rolled over, and sprang up, Quick Drawing my gun and firing in the direction I thought the shot had come from. I activated my Trick Shot skill. It failed, reporting no target available.

    Another shot, a beam of purple coherent light, stabbed across from the other side of the tower right toward me. I lunged sideways, and it burned a hole in my drover¡¯s coat.

    You shouldn''t be able to dodge laser bolts, but I wasn''t going to complain if this reality engine slowed it down just enough for me to have a chance. I aimed a shot back where the bolt had come from, and as far as I could tell, missed.

    I swore. "Show yourself!"

    There was no reply. I decided to give myself some space, so I ran for the ladder, intending to get down to the ground. As my hand touched the ladder, another bolt sizzled out of nothingness and hit my hand. I shouted and jerked back as pain seared my left hand.

    I had the presence of mind to send a quick warning to the team. Someone''s here, shooting at me! Then, out of instinct, dropped flat to the ground as another beam shot past me.

    Think, Shad, think!

    I cast High Noon. This was, as far as I could tell, me against one other opponent who was shooting at me. That made it a duel.

    [High Noon Activated] popped up in front of me, and I grinned.

    I stood up, my gun in my hand, listening, trying to hear or smell or sense my opponent. I used Reload to fill all six chambers of my gun with frag rounds. Dwight and Sage had made them special for me, just in case we ever had to fight someone with camouflage.

    "You might as well show yourself," I challenged. "You can''t shoot me, not until I take the first shot. My spells have a long range.¡±

    A moment later, someone shimmered into existence on the other side of the tower. It was a space elf woman, beautiful and inhuman like most of the space elves I''d seen so far. She was a little shorter than me, with long, flowing purple hair that seemed like it ought to get in her way in a fight. She wore a black catsuit and carried a wicked-looking rifle as well as a short sword at her belt.

    She raised one hand to me in salute. "You are the human warrior, Shad Williams," she said.

    "That''s right.¡±

    ¡°I was in Mak¡¯Gar''s warriors chat during the competition. You fought well." She raised her rifle, holding it across her chest. "It will be an honor to defeat you."

    ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll be the one to defeat you,¡± I said. I was sending messages to Grandpa and Smith as fast as I could, letting them know that there was at least one enemy here who had been in disguise and not showing up on my camouflage. I''ve got her distracted, but I don''t know how long that''ll last. If there''s others, we could be in big trouble.

    "You have fought well and tried hard. There is no shame in failing now."

    "Not planning to fail. Besides, you started all of this, attacking our base."

    She shrugged. "We had no choice. It was us or you.¡±

    ¡°We weren''t threatening you at all.¡±

    ¡°Our sources warned us what is about to happen. I''m sorry. I''m certain you would have done well, but we cannot risk our own Phase Three for the sake of indigenous. Not when the stakes are greater than ever before.¡±

    "How so?" I asked, momentarily diverted. "I mean, the stakes are pretty big for my people, but for you guys, this is just an average Thursday, isn''t it?"

    ¡°Proxima only hires the best. That¡¯s us, and you savages are making us look bad,¡± the woman said. "Now, let us conclude this foolish duel. I remind you, you will respawn far away, back at your own node, whereas I will respawn here in my camp. You have no chance of killing enough of us to incur our death penalty. I have literally nothing to lose, and you have no way to win."

    I caught the way her eyes flickered to something just a few feet to my right. "Apparently you''ve got a lot to lose," I grunted. I changed out my first shot, swapping from the frag to a knockback.

    I raised my gun, took aim with her targeted. I fired a Trick Shot, sending the knockback round at her, then dropped to a crouch and shot at the place I''d seen her looking.

    My frag bullet exploded, sending pieces of shrapnel into the air. A couple of them found a target. They lit up bright white as they impacted someone I couldn''t see, and I switched my targeting immediately.

    The elf woman had been knocked back out of the tower, just as I''d expected. With luck, Grandpa and Sage would be there, ready. I just had to deal with the camouflaged enemy still up here. High Noon would be on cool down for a long time, so I couldn''t try that trick again.

    A bolt of light burned into the wooden floorboards right beside me. I engaged Fastest Gun in the West and sprinted forward, throwing my arms out wide as I did.

    I smashed into someone I couldn''t see, driving them back in front of me and crunching them between my body and the corner of the tower. I shoved the muzzle of my revolver into my enemy and fired the other four frag rounds in a Barrage. It was a waste of the rounds, but I hadn''t had time to reload.

    I did now, just with normal rounds, and shot another cylinder into the invisible enemy. A space rifle clattered to the floorboards beside me as drops of purple-tinted blood splattered all around.

    My enemy groaned in pain. I reached up, caught a hold, and wrestled him to the ground. A moment later, the camouflage failed, and I was looking into the face of a male space elf.

    He sneered at me. "Fool." I felt his knife stabbing upward. He had drawn his short sword and was thrusting at me. I dodged right and it sliced through my duster.

    I shot the elf again. He was hurting bad, but not dead yet. He struggled against me, trying to get his sword back for another attack. I grabbed at it with my wounded left hand, felt the blade slicing through my fingers and palm. But I held on, desperate to keep it away from any vital organs.

    He pushed up, throwing me off-balance. My gun went flying, arcing out over the drop before disappearing over the edge of the tower. I rolled to one side and came up at the edge of the walkway, one foot sticking out over the hole down to ground level. The elf was lightning fast. He sprang to his feet and sprinted at me. Blood ran down from his forehead, streaking across his face, making him look horrific.

    I cast Quick Draw and fired six rounds into his torso. The elf stumbled back. I reloaded and fired again, and he collapsed to his knees before vanishing into nothingness.

    Shad? Shad, are you all right?

    I answered Sage¡¯s message. Fine. I¡¯ll be right down.

    Good, because we can¡¯t get past this gate and we¡¯re on the clock here! Stop lazing around and get back to work!

 2.43 - Betting Against the House: How to Lose Money Fast

    I spent a couple seconds catching my breath, then got to my feet and hurried downstairs. There''s at least two of them here at the outpost. They could respawn any second. I think we need to regroup, I told my team. New plan. Ragtag needs to join us here on this side of the offense. Let''s push hard.

    Copy, Mitch sent back in response.

    The Mongeese disappeared up into the tower I had just vacated. Its twin was wreathed in smoke, the top tier shattered, the turrets silent. Apparently the first set of demolition had worked great.

    Our minions were barely scratching the huge bronze gate. Skeletal pirates shattered their wooden figurehead battering rams against the serpentine dragon carvings, but the gate only took a point or two of damage with each hit. We¡¯d be here all day at this rate.

    ¡°Let''s bring up the Portable Hole Punch,¡± Grandpa said.

    I nodded. ¡°Okay, want me to do it?¡±

    ¡°Take a couple of the others and go.¡±

    I asked Bill, Bob, and Mitch to come with me. We beat a retreat out of the smoking ruins of the first tier of Vortali''s outpost. A repair drone was hovering over one of the slowing turrets. I sniped it down. Bill grabbed up its remains and tossed them in his inventory. ¡°In case Dwight wants the materials,¡± he said and we hurried back out.

    We had left the Portable Hole Punch behind a row of trees on the outskirts of Vortali''s outpost. The device was about three feet long, with handles sticking up out of the wooden frame that held its brass tube shaped body in place. It weighed over 400 pounds, more than any of us could put in our inventory.

    We took up positions, me at the front right end of the device.I reached for a handle and when the others were in position, said ¡°Heave ho!¡±

    We hefted the device between us easily. With our augmented strength it was no trouble at all to carry. ¡°Back to the fort, double time!¡±

    I kept my head down as we crossed the open space between the edge of the jungle and the outer ruins of Vortali''s outpost. A message came from our Grignarian associates. We see we are not the only ones you have plundered. That is an expensive toy. Who did you steal it from?

    Does it matter?

    It looks like Grignarian make, but we have not bothered with such toys in many cycles. Probably whoever you stole it from stole it from us previously.

    If they hadn''t wanted it stolen they shouldn''t have left it where we could get it, I replied as we entered the outpost through the smashed southern gate.

    By the time we got back to Grandpa, all the nearby turrets were down. I set the Portable Hole Punch in front of the Vortali gate. ¡°Now what? it didn''t have an instruction manual.¡±

    I inspected it. A system message popped up. [Defensive structure detected. Do you wish to initiate destruction sequence?]

    ¡°Everybody back off,¡± I said, and selected yes. A countdown started. We retreated back around the destroyed fortifications.

    I waited for an earth-shattering kaboom but there was nothing. After a minute I poked my head around the corner. The device was still sitting there, but now there was a six foot tall circle in the Vortali gate. Our creep was streaming through.

    ¡°Let''s get up there,¡± Grandpa said. He hurried forward. We all buffed our creep as we went with anything we had on hand. I dug around in my inventory and found a couple of single-use buff devices. They looked like cans of spray paint. The instructions said they could be used on turrets to increase their speed and output or on creep. We had stolen these from the Grignarians as well, and Juana had used most of them to great effect at our outpost. Now I applied their buff to pirate leaders and cannibal pig chiefs and the largest of the Raptors as we went past.

    The six-foot hole only let two or three minions through at a time and that was a problem. But now that the gate had been punctured, we could attack both sides. It was the work of a couple minutes to bring it down, sending our wave of creep swarminginto the middle section of Vortali''s ring.

    Juana sent Grandpa and me a message. I''m getting word from Vortali''s commander. They want to talk terms.

    String them along, Grandpa said. Ask what it is they''re thinking. We''re not going to stop our assault, but maybe we can buy some time.

    I checked again. Still no word from Veda or anyone in the outside world. I was pretty certain by now that we had been intentionally cut off. Was it just us or everyone here?

    On a whim I contacted Mak¡¯gar. Hey, is everything all right over on your end? I''m not able to talk to anyone in the outside world I said. was wondering if it''s just us.

    No, we also have no contact. I believe this is the lead up to Phase Three. someone has a trick up their sleeves.

    So this is usual or it varies?

    Sometimes a system or the underlying reality engine can decide to play tricks on the miners around phase change over. It is rarely a matter of any great concern. They cannot change the death rules once we have begun a phase, so it doesn''t really matter.

    Thanks. Itold Grandpa what Mak¡¯gar had told me.

    ¡°No wonder Vortali wants to talk,¡± Grandpa said grimly. ¡°If Phase Three is imminent they don''t want to risk losing their node. I''m just worried we''re being set up.¡±

    Where was the rest of Vortali''s team? Were they taking the Existalis node? I checked with Juana again. Everything quiet there?

    Absolutely, we''re nearly back to full strength here. I''ve had to burn almost everything Veda sent us but it''s looking good.

    I have a bad feeling about all this. Get everything we have in storage. Everything we took from the Grignarians or Veda bought us and put it all in even.

    I can''t just pull pieces out and shove them in anywhere. There''s a design to this, an art. sure but I''m pretty sure you''ve been holding some of it back in reserve in case of emergencies.

    This is the emergency, Juana. We''re going to shift over into Phase Three before long. If we don''t have an outpost when that happens then we''re screwed.

    Copy she replied.

    I turned back to the fight at hand. Another wave of creep came around the corner from the north. These were the zombies and undead brought by the Grignarians mixed in with very strange constructs. The constructs were about shoulder tall with three legs, forearms and bubble heads made of shining copper colored metal and carrying smaller versions of the Grignarians melty guns. "whoa" I called out. "let these guys on ahead of you." I inspected them.

    They all showed as constructs under the command of Lord Commander XKrell. I hadn''t learned any of the Grignarians'' names, not even the ones I''d killed, but presumably, this was one of their head honchos.

    The constructs streamed in and began to press the assault on the next row of turrets. We only had to worry about towers and turrets on the inside wall since we''d taken out everything on the outside while clearing the first line of defenses. Unfortunately, these turrets made up for it by being much much stronger. Annie got a little too close to one and was taken out by a quick burst of fire. Her body vanished in a cloud of smoke. A minute later, she was back in chat swearing.

    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    That thing did twice my hit points in five seconds. Be careful, guys.

    ¡°Be sure to have a bunch of creep between us and those turrets." I warned everyone, urging our pirates forward.

    I checked the map. We still owned all of the creep spawn points we had captured. We should have another two hours before our capture flags ran out. We didn''t have time to waste here. There were three red dots in the innermost level of Vortali''s fortress waiting for us.

    I did some calculations. The creep was moving along at a good clip, and we were clearing towers, but we still had a whole half circuit to go to reach the next gate. Then after that, we needed to penetrate their inner wall. This was taking much too long.

    Anyone got a clever idea? I asked in chat as we worked our way around the ring.

    Why are we doing it this way when we have the Portable Hole Punch? Tall Smith asked.

    The creep will only go along the proper route, Sage explained. They can''t go over the walls or through them.

    Who cares about them? Smith asked. They''re a distraction. We should be decapitating our enemy.

    Good point, Grandpa said. Suggestion?

    We take that device, we get my squad and those tentacle-faced fuckers with the magic melty guns, and we go straight through. You guys stay here pretending to be good little miners and keep them distracted. Our camouflage should hold up long enough.

    I exchanged a look with Grandpa. "It''s worth a shot," I said aloud.

    "If they fail and are wiped out, we''ll be below strength. I don''t see us making it all the way through the defenses in the time we have left if Mongoose has to respawn and come back here.¡±

    ¡°Calculated risk," I said. "The longer this takes, the more likely the rest of Vortali is to come back or to try to take our own base."

    "All right," Grandpa agreed. "If the Grignarians go for it."

    ¡°Everyone else needs to serve as a distraction. Ragtag, you¡¯re going to need to be big and noisy. Start looking through your abilities and planning things out.¡±

    The newly-arrived Ragtag team members put their heads together. Lara and Ice Spice had grins on their faces as they gestured and plotted. I looked forward to seeing what they came up with. Ragtag¡¯s combat instincts weren¡¯t as good as ours or Mongoose, but they had some crazy strategies and weren¡¯t afraid to blow themselves up. They¡¯d acquited themselves well during Phase Two.

    ¡°I¡¯m on the assault team,¡± Sage said.

    ¡°You?¡± Tall Smith asked, turning his head and scowling.

    "I''m not very good against the towers and turrets, but I am good in team fights," Sage said. "You know that. I can buff your men up, I can cause trouble with the enemies."

    The Grignarians, replied to me, we are sending four of our best. Be ready for them.

    "Okay," Smith said, "camouflage can cover fifteen. That''s my team, the Grignarians, Sage," he looked us over, "and you, Shad."

    I felt a little bit of surprise. I had great respect for the Mongeese and Smith in particular. He had a lot of skills, but I had gotten the feeling from him that he didn''t quite like me, that he was unsure of my capabilities."Me?¡±

    ¡°You''ve got a good head in a firefight and a way of fucking things up for the other guy."

    Grandpa nodded. ¡°Smith, you¡¯re in charge on this one. What¡¯s your assault strategy?¡±

    "Let''s get the Hole Punch up there." Smith pointed north of the gate we''d just come through. "We need to take down those turrets there, there, and there to give us cover," he said. "Move."

    The Mongeese moved out. I followed with Sage at my rear. We took out the nearest set of turrets, giving us ten feet of undefended wall area, while Ragtag started firing at the ones to our rear. Then I made a run for the Hole Punch along with Brown and both of the Smiths. We got it into position and set it off, retreating back to the rest of our team just as the Grignarians arrived.

    They were just as creepy up close as I had remembered. Their impassive faces studied us. One raised his hand. "Greetings, treacherous ones." I decided to take that as a compliment.

    "Thanks for joining us," I said.

    "You have a strategy?" the Grignarian spokesbeing asked me.

    I pointed to Smith. "He''s in charge," I said. Smith looked briefly taken aback, then gave me a quick head nod, which reminded me to reapply my Hat Tip buff to the infiltration team.

    "Stay close," he told them. "The camouflage extends for about five meters in all directions."

    "Centered on which?" the Grignarian asked.

    Jones raised a hand. "Me."

    The Grignarians leaned their heads together and whispered, "All of you look the same to us," the spokesbeing said at last. "Please have the small one stay at the center of the camouflage field. We will follow it."

    "I think I''m insulted here," Sage complained, but she sidled over to Jones and gave him a nod. "Ready when you are."

    "Move up," Smith ordered, and we approached the hole.

    Jones activated his camouflage. I felt it settle over me like a fog. We picked up the Hole Punch and ducked through the hole it had made, two at a time. The Grignarians followed closely on Brown''s heels, with Short Smith bringing up the rear.

    The inner turrets were quiet, waiting. None of them shot at us. I caught myself holding my breath and let it out, eyerolling at myself. The camouflage worked just fine, I didn¡¯t need to add my own attempts at stealth.

    Smith indicated a point about 20 feet along the wall. "We set the hole there," he whispered. I checked my map. There were five red dots inside the central core of their node now. I relayed that information to our commando team.

    "First order of business," I said, "is getting their resurrection point shut down."I realized our oversight and sent Smith a private message. Lakshmi''s crystal vibration can shut down their respawn point, sir. We¡¯ve got room for her under our camo.

    You''re right. I should have thought of that. Smith turned to the team. "Let''s get Lakshmi in here," he said. "Shad, you and lead the others to plant the device. As soon as we''ve got Lakshmi with us, we''ll fire it and run in there. Cover her so she can take down the respawn chamber."

    "Understood," I said.

    A moment later, Lakshmi popped through the hole and joined us. I took three of the Mongeese and moved the portable hole punch as far forward as I could while still staying in the camouflage field. We set it down by the wall. I told the others to retreat, then activated the hole punch and stepped back. This time I wanted to watch.

    The device sat there for a couple of seconds. It hummed, pulsed, and let out a little blurp noise. There was a puff of smoke and a hole in the wall where none had existed before. Honestly, it was a little anticlimactic.

    "Go!" I said, and we all charged forward. I had my mini-map up, so I was expecting it when we were met by three of the space elves as we jumped through the wall. One of them was the woman I had knocked out of the tower earlier. She fired laser rifle shots right at me. I felt them whiz past my head. We were still in the camouflage, but it seemed they could see through it, at least partially.

    I activated Fastest Gun in the West, charging right for them, then through them, and at the same time threw Call ¡®em Out. I felt my taunt take effect as the three space elves pivoted and started chasing me. I blazed my way deeper into their inner core. Sage shouted triumphantly, "The box is down! Kill ''em!"

    Opsec! I sent in a quick angry message. If there was a chance the Vortali miners hadn''t noticed that their respawn point was down, we didn''t want to draw attention to it. They were still all on me.

    Sage lassoed the elf woman and succeeded at Taming her. The woman started shooting one of her allies as I fired my revolver into whoever was nearest.

    The Grignarians swarmed forward as a unit, converging on another elf woman off to our right. They surrounded her, firing from three different directions, and coated her in vicious burning slime. The woman pulled a short metal rod out of thin air and waved it, showering herself in liquid. The alien goo washed off of her and melted into the dirt.

    I turned my attention back to my target, who was going down fast. Sage had directed her Tamed elf woman to shoot at him too.

    The Mongeese all opened fire. All five of them used their guns a little more than their special abilities. At some point I would have to sit down with Smith and work out some strategies for his men to get better use out of their spells. They did great with their foxhole and machine gun nest maneuver, but in the middle of combat they rarely thought to pull out a special move.

    The first of the elves went down. Another one shrieked in anger. "You... you... menaces!" he shouted, charging at us. His laser rifle lay abandoned on the grass as he swung a curving sword right at me.

    I sidestepped. It slashed down and hit the edge of my drover''s coat and bounced off. I stepped in closer and fired six rounds into his belly. They were sabot rounds that exploded after hitting into a dozen or more small pieces of metal that tore through his gut, turning his torso into a mass of blood. He howled and swung again. I sidestepped easily.

    The Grignarians moved away from their victim as she died screaming horribly. I felt sympathy for her remembering just how badly that goo had burned. But this was war.

    We downed the elves hard and fast. Five dead of their fifteen. We had outnumbered them by more than double, but I had still expected them to put up more of a fight. After all, this was an alpha node. I could tell just by looking around how advanced the gear was, and yet we had walked right through it.

    I let out a whoop as we sprinted for their node. I slapped a hand down on it. [Shad Williams of Misfits Guild, do you wish to claim this node for Misfits Guild and Tvedra Corporation?]

    ¡°Hell yeah!¡±

    The node immediately changed color. Instead of the steady green of claimed, it now flickered gently between orange and blue, back in claiming mode. It would take 24 hours before it was ours, and I didn''t think we''d have it, but the Patriarch hadn''t said we had to actually own the node, just capture it. In my book, we''d done just that.

    The Grignarians approached, weapons pointed skyward. Their spokescreature stepped forward. I Inspected the being. Its name was, apparently, Exalted Skywarden Greenlight the Unreleased. ¡°We did not discuss which should take the bounty," it said.

    "Neither of us is actually going to take this node,¡± I said. "There''s still ten of them out there, and mark my words, they''re all heading right this way. I don''t like our chances of keeping this one. In fact, they might try taking out our nodes in revenge, so we really need to get the hell out of here and see to our own defenses. But we did strike a nasty blow."

    ¡°Then the loot?¡±

    I waved a hand. "Take whatever you like," I said. "But let''s get out of here before they get back.¡±

    Grandpa messaged me. All the turrets stopped firing as soon as you claimed it. Guess we should get out of here before some angry space elves show up and try to get revenge on us.

 2.44 - Round Three: Fight!

    In an eyeblink, we transferred back to our outpost. One second I¡¯d been touching Vortali¡¯s node, now I stood beside our own, staring out.

    Juana looked up from the strategy table, confused. "What just happened?" she asked. "You''re not dead, are you?"

    A system message popped up. [Challenge mode. Existalis has challenged you as owner of the other alpha node in this area for dominance. This will be resolved before Phase Three begins. Special rule set will apply. You have 5 minutes to confirm your agreement or you will forfeit the challenge.]

    "No," I reassured her. At the same time, my chat notifications popped up with a dozen different messages from outside. "Looks like the restrictions have been removed." I tabbed over. There was a heading at the top. [You have six hours until the challenge mode begins. At that time, communication with the outside will once again be cut off. Until then, you may communicate and bring in people and supplies.]

    I dumped everything we knew into a message to Veda, then looked up. "Can everyone see this information?" I asked. Juana stared into space as she made a flicking gesture with her fingers. "Yeah," she said.

    "There''s a lot here. I''m pulling up the overview.¡±

    The challenge mode was an option chosen by Existalis. As the strongest remaining player on the map, they were throwing down a gauntlet to us. Either we ceded all of our holdings to them or they would take it. I checked. The Grignarians were included in this challenge as side players. "We didn''t actually claim the node," I said, reading through. "We just triggered it to go back into claiming mode.¡±

    ¡°Looks like that was enough," Juana said. "Shad, if we don''t accept this, we forfeit everything. How is that fair?"

    "Since when have the people with all of the guns made things fair on those they were taking from?" Grandpa asked cynically.

    ¡°It¡¯s a no-holds-barred challenge.¡± Smith frowned as he read over the ruleset. ¡°Whoever destroys the other¡¯s outpost wins. They¡¯ve got a huge advantage there. Their outpost is way stronger than ours.¡±

    ¡°But we can send creep at theirs, and they can¡¯t counter,¡± I pointed out. ¡°The alpha creep won¡¯t go after our outpost. That means they¡¯ll have to come right at us. Or there¡¯ll be a twist.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be a twist,¡± Sage predicted. ¡°It¡¯ll be some weird game mode nobody actually likes. I¡¯ve seen that in the MOBAs I¡¯ve been watching. You think you know the game and boom, the developers throw in Blitz or Dominion and nobody knows what they¡¯re doing.¡±

    I looked at the countdown. Four minutes, 30 seconds remained. It seemed like a no-brainer to accept the challenge. "We''ve got to get it through enough of the small print to make sure that there''s no gotcha here for us," I said. "Everybody start looking."

    Veda sent me a message. We''ve got to accept. Otherwise, we lose everything.

    We''re going to lose everything anyway, I said in frustration. They''ll take what we''ve got.

    No, look at paragraph 42C.

    I called that up. How did you read this so fast?

    I have algorithms to do it for me. Look it over.

    I called everyone''s attention to the paragraph in question. "The challenge itself is over possession of the other alpha node and for prime positioning in Phase Three. If we refuse to accept it all, we forfeit our current holdings and Existalis takes everything. If we accept but lose, we will have to suffer through whatever punishment Existalis dishes out, but they''ll be required to pay reparations for anything they destroy. So we''re out of the game either way, but at least they''ll have to pay us for our stuff."

    "Right," Juana agreed. "At least we''ll have money for a new start."

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    "Not good enough," I said. I smacked my fist against my open palm. "Not after what we just went through to earn a Phase Three sponsor.¡± I sent Veda a nasty note. How is this even possible? Can we lodge a complaint?

    I''ll see what I can do, she said. Meanwhile¡ª

    Meanwhile, we''ll take the challenge. I looked to Grandpa. "I don''t see any alternative. We''ve got to fight."

    He nodded. "Of course," he said.

    "I want to know how are we going to win. I haven¡¯t come this far just to give up because a bunch of bullies started pushing me around. We''ve got six hours to come up with a strategy," I said, as I accepted the challenge offers. "Let''s start looking over the rule set right now and figure this out."

    The challenge terms were fairly straightforward. Six hours from now, the spawn points would activate once more. Creep would head for nodes again. Vortali¡¯s outpost would remain unclaimed, so all the alpha creep on the map would head for Existalis. That was in our favor.

    At the same time, a boss mob would spawn somewhere near the central part of the lagoon. Both sides could fight over the boss. Whoever won the fight would have the boss under their control for 30 minutes. They would be able to use it to take out their opponents.

    When one outpost was destroyed, the survivors would go to Phase Three.

    ¡°So, take out the enemy with creep, by direct attack, or take control of this boss,¡± I said, ticking off my fingers.

    "Look at this," Sage said, calling up a paragraph and sharing it with the rest of us. "Death and respawn timer mechanics have changed. All deaths now incur a 20-minute respawn penalty. The dead player will be able to see and respond to what''s going on.¡±

    ¡°That''ll make getting back into the fight easier," I commented.

    Grandpa scratched his head. "We need intel. We need all the intel we can get.¡±

    ¡°Existalis is a space orc company,¡± Juana said. ¡°They refused to even talk to me while we were fighting Vortali because I wasn¡¯t a combat miner. Said they don¡¯t deal with underlings. I think they said I didn¡¯t have ¡®blood in the fight¡¯, whatever that means.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m starting to get the picture,¡± I said, thinking about the orcs I¡¯d met. I liked them, but even Mak¡¯gar had only listened to suggestions from those he considered honorable warriors. They certainly weren¡¯t very devious.

    I checked the ruleset, looking for details. Only reality engine generated characters can harm outposts during this phase.

    That meant the creep and the boss. So the good news was we didn''t have to worry too much about our defenses. The alpha and beta level creep couldn''t touch us and neither could Existalis'' miners. Our fortifications would be more than enough to hold against our usual creep. They wouldn''t do much good against this boss though.

    On the other hand, we could take all the creep spawn points and send them at Existalis. They¡¯d have to answer that threat, surely?

    I queried the system, and it gave some basic rundowns. No details on the boss''s ability or appearance, just that it would have over 9000 hit points and do commensurate damage. That would go through any of our defenses in one hit. Or through us.

    Existalis had one shot to win: take the boss and send it against us. We could try to steal it from them, or we could let creep chip away at their outpost and hope to wear them down before they could take us out. I wasn¡¯t sure that was a good bet.

    "Any chance you can build really, really big bombs?" I asked Dwight.

    "Looking into it right now," he said, frowning. "We need mats. We need people. Even if I could, I need about a hundred sets of hands."

    That gave me an idea. I checked. There was no limit on how many people we could bring in. I briefly entertained the idea of surrounding our defenses with a couple thousand human shields but wrote that off. It felt like a cheat, and I was sure the system would have a way around it. ¡°Bring them in,¡± I told Dwight. ¡°Ask Mama Grace to find people. Everyone we can find in the next four hours.¡±

    ¡°On it.¡±

    ¡°We need Arjun,¡± I said.

    "Arjun? I don''t think he''d ever set foot inside one of the reality engine levels,¡±Juana said doubtfully. ¡°And the others, how much can they really do?¡±

    ¡°Think about it.¡± I spoke quickly, trying to convince myself as much as the others. ¡°What¡¯s our big advantage? In this whole exploit, going forward? It¡¯s our people. We have lots of allies, support staff. So let¡¯s make use of that. We have fifteen warriors. So do they. Their gear is better, their outpost stronger. The only way to beat them is to make use of our people.¡±

    ¡°What we really need is comms and intel gear,¡± Sage said. ¡°Let¡¯s see what Veda can get for us.¡± Sage sat down on the ground, her brow furrowing as she presumably began composing her messages.

    I paced, feeling useless as I watched my team settling into their tasks. Grandpa looked up from where he¡¯d been talking intently with Smith. He crooked a finger and I came over. ¡°Yes, sir?¡± I said.

    ¡°There¡¯s going to be lots for you to do once the excitement starts. Don¡¯t fret if you feel at loose ends right now. Should I order you to get some rack time?¡±

    ¡°Actually, I had a thought.¡± I glanced toward the node. ¡°I¡¯m going to double check that I¡¯m allowed to leave and return but ¡ª I need to pop out to Threshold. Everyone else is busy working here and it¡¯s something I can handle.¡±

    ¡°Go ahead, then,¡± Grandpa said, and turned back to Smith so quickly I knew he¡¯d just been trying to keep me occupied. It was a little painful, knowing even Sage was more useful right now than me, but so be it.

 2.45 - How To Hire A Esport Team Manager

    I stepped through into Threshold and immediately sent a message to Kirin, Arjun¡¯s manager. Need to talk to you and Arjun in person. Where are you?

    At the guildhall. What¡¯s wrong? Mama Grace just tore out of here like her hair was on fire, told us to do whatever your team said but she had to go deliver a lunch.

    That was odd. Maybe Juana had asked her mother to do an errand. I¡¯ll be right there and explain. I jogged down the steps of the portal and off along the streets of Threshold.

    As I went, I appreciated just how much we humans had managed to achieve in our months here. My biggest achievement wasn¡¯t talking to the reality engine or reaching Phase Two, but the piece I¡¯d played in getting us to stop fighting each other and start working together. It hadn¡¯t been all me, but I¡¯d been part of it.

    It struck me for the first time how I¡¯d never seen an alien here in Threshold. Yet they were present in Phase Two. How were the orcs and elves and lizardfolk getting to the portals? Was there another entrance? Maybe they could teleport I directly.

    The restaurant was almost deserted. A couple of our crafters sat at a table. They looked up as I came in. I ignored them and went to find Kirin. She and Arjun were in the large back room, alongside half a dozen other humans. Arjun was bent over a notebook, scribbling. Kirin saw me and hurried over. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Everyone¡¯s too busy to talk to me.¡±

    ¡°Phase Two Challenge. It¡¯s all on the line. Win and we¡¯re in Phase Three, lose and we¡¯re out of things entirely,¡± I said. ¡°I need Arjun.¡±

    ¡°What for?¡± She stepped back, putting herself in my path. ¡°He¡¯s working on some optimized rotations for our third farm team. Don¡¯t break his concentration right now.¡± Kirin glared at me.

    I glared back. ¡°I understand you¡¯re used to protecting him, but this is important. We need his skills. He¡¯s got to come to the outpost with me. It¡¯s perfectly safe. He can¡¯t be hurt. We¡¯re going to be coming up against better equipped, more experienced foes. The one advantage we might have is better intel, and we need someone like Arjun who can put patterns together in his head fast.¡±

    Kirin hesitated. ¡°All right, but if he says yes, I¡¯m going along.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡±

    She stepped out of the way and I approached Arjun, standing across the table from him and waiting until he noticed me. He looked up, staring just past my shoulder. ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Arjun?¡±

    ¡°Oh, hi Shad. Didn¡¯t recognize you.¡±

    I was wearing my same coat as always, but maybe my new hat had thrown him. I took it off and held it. ¡°Oh yeah, that¡¯s you,¡± Arjun said.

    ¡°Have you been following what¡¯s going on with Phase Two?¡±

    Arjun nodded. ¡°Sage keeps sending us video updates. They¡¯re very exciting.¡±

    ¡°Oh, cool.¡± I hadn¡¯t known she was doing that. ¡°Well, there¡¯s a big twist about to start and I¡¯m going to need help. We¡¯re going directly up against fifteen better-equipped orcs.¡±

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    ¡°¡®We¡¯ meaning the Mongeese, the Ragtags, and Team Twofeather?¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± Arjun¡¯s eyes unfocused a little. ¡°Are these the same orcs you fought before? Or allies?¡±

    ¡°No, this is Existalis. We haven¡¯t seen them in action yet.¡±

    ¡°No profiles or combat assessments?¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°Nope.¡±

    He looked me right in the eyes and grinned. ¡°Oh, this will be fun.¡± He rubbed his hands together. ¡°Start feeding me information and I¡¯ll get cracking.¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, we¡¯re going to be cut off again in ¡ª¡± I checked my timer ¡ª ¡°forty-eight minutes. No communication with the outside world permitted. I¡¯m going to need you to come with me?¡±

    His face fell. He turned away from me and hunched in on himself. ¡°No. No way. Sorry, Shad, I can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°You have to!¡± I resisted the urge to grab his shoulder and get him to look at me. Arjun wouldn¡¯t respond well to that.

    Kirin came at me. ¡°You need to leave¡ª¡±

    ¡°No.¡± I held up my hands. ¡°No. Arjun, we need you. They¡¯re better equipped than we are, by a lot. They know the rules of the game, they¡¯ve played this a million times. The only advantage we have is our people. We need you to tell us how to defeat them. To look at their skills and ours and make a strategy. I need you to tell me how to kill these fuckers.¡±

    Arjun shuddered. ¡°I can¡¯t go back in there. The spiders¡­¡±

    ¡°No spiders,¡± I said firmly. ¡°We have pirate skeletons and dinosaurs and you¡¯ll be inside our outpost. Lots of guns to keep you safe. I swear.¡±

    He seemed to hesitate. ¡°You¡¯re sure¡­¡±

    ¡°Absolutely,¡± I told him. ¡°Believe me. I wouldn¡¯t ask if I didn¡¯t need you.¡±

    Arjun took a deep breath and stood up. ¡°I ¡ª I¡¯ll try.¡±

    At first, I thought I''d stepped through the portal into a different place entirely. Most of our fortifications were gone. The two inner rings had disappeared. The outer ring was bristling with turrets and towers. I could hear them from here as they shot down the wave of creep approaching our node.

    Most of our support structures had been moved closer in to the node itself. There was a huge clear area where the defenses had been, and about three hundred people standing or sitting in the grass there. The ground between them was littered with crafting mats of all descriptions. Baskets full of skins, crates full of metal, barrels and boxes overflowing with different material.

    Over by the node itself, the command table had been transformed into a desk setup. There were three chairs at the desk. Juana sat in one, Arjun in another, and in the middle was Sage. They wore headsets like they were about to cast a football game.

    Grandpa strolled over to me. "Enjoyed your beauty sleep, boy?"

    "I might still be asleep." I pinched my forearm. "Nope, guess I''m not dreaming. What''s going on?"

    "We called in the cavalry." He gestured at the people working in the open space. "Every capable crafter that belongs to us or any of our friendlies, Dwight''s directing them now."

    "That''s a lot of materials.¡±

    ¡°Everything we''ve had stockpiled for Phase Three. If this doesn''t work, we''re broke. If it does work, we''re going to have to scramble to come up with resources."

    I pointed over to the desk. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re going to need serious centralized command for this. Veda sent us some presents." He held up a box. It was labeled, "All-Seeing Eye, Personal Model." "Here''s yours. Go ahead and equip it now."

    I took it. The system description read [All-Seeing Eye. When equipped, allows miners'' visual and audio inputs to be transmitted and shared to a central location. Be careful where you point this thing. Allows two-way voice communication between all wearers.] I equipped it. "So we''re all going to be wearing these, and they''ll be watching? Seems like a lot of input."

    ¡°It does,¡± Grandpa agreed. "We''re just hoping it''s enough. They''ll be directing squad assignments and tactics.¡±

    I looked over at the team sitting at the command table. I felt a little nervous. While I respected each of their abilities, did they really have what it took to direct an operation like this?

    Grandpa must have seen my doubt. "Sometimes you''ve just got to take it on faith that the commanders know what they''re doing," he said. "Oftentimes they don''t. But we''re not going to be able to see the whole picture. Not while we''re fighting it. This is a pretty slim chance we''ve got here. I like the plan we''ve come up with. But I still think we''ve only got about a 20% shot at pulling it off."

    "Well," I said, "guess I''d better go get the briefing."

 2.46 - Things To Ask Your Caterer: #3: Will That Have Nuts?

    Veda''s personal system chirped to let her know she had yet another message. It wasn''t from Team Twofeather or anyone at their outpost, or it would have popped straight up. But it was also classified as important enough to have gotten past her first wave of security.

    She glanced at it and swore Existalis'' representative wanted to speak to her. Existalis was backed by Alabaster Sky, one of Proxima''s friendly rivals. She hadn¡¯t dealt much with that multi-system conglomerate and knew little about them.

    As Alabaster Sky''s logo filled the screen in front of her, she composed herself. It dissolved away into the face of another humanoid. Lakhnar could have been Veda''s sister by looks. She had the same pale skin and starkly white hair, indicating she most likely came from the same origin system as Veda''s family.

    "Good day to you, Ms. Tvedra," Lakhnar said. "I am Al-Narian Lakhnar, speaking on behalf of Alabaster Sky. Thank you for taking my call."

    "What can I do for you?" Veda asked.

    "I am here to make a proposal which will benefit us both," Lakhnar said. "You currently are the sponsor behind a team which has a small, delta-level outpost in the same sector as one of our affiliates." She glanced down, as though reading information off of a screen. "Yes. Team Twofeather. I see. It looks like you''ve done fairly well here in Phase Two. Congratulations. You must be proud of yourself. I know Tvedra Limited was not considered a particularly good bet at the start of this exploit, but it seems as though you have proved some of your detractors wrong."

    Lakhnar gave a cold smile. Veda could read her body language perfectly. She was being deliberately insulting, perhaps to provoke Veda or to get her off guard for what came next.

    "Yes, and as you know," Veda replied, "your associate''s team has challenged mine to a special combat. I¡¯m rather busy right now.¡±

    "I don''t think you are," Lakhnar said. ¡°They¡¯re on their own until it¡¯s done. The window to provide advice and supplies has closed.

    Veda let her think that. She was working on several backup plans, just in case somehow Team Twofeather changed the rules yet again.

    "I am willing to make you a buyout offer on your outpost and your team," Lakhnar said. "This offer will be good for the five minutes it takes you to read over and consider. After that, we will continue with the special event."

    "No," Veda said flatly.

    "No?" Lakhnar raised her eyebrows. "Ms. Tvedra, you know as well as I do that your team has no chance of winning. Alabaster Sky has sent in the highest level of equipment we can afford. You can¡¯t possibly have matched it. Existalis will eliminate your team and their outpost. You will receive the value of the ruined outpost, no more. As we both know, most of the worth of an outpost is in its intact buildings and its setup. Once Existalis is done, you''ll be lucky to receive a tenth of what you could right now." She tapped her fingers on an unseen desk. "A fiftieth of what we''re offering." She sent through a number.

    Veda blinked. There were more zeros at the end than she had expected. Despite herself, she did some quick mental math. She could easily pay off the contracts for all of Team Twofeather and their combat minor allies, as well as the crafters she had directly sponsored, like Juana and her family. She''d even be able to contribute toward a buyout fund for the other human miners and still make more of a profit than she had ever expected here.

    ¡°In addition,¡± Lakhnar said brightly, "We would be happy to make an endorsement on your license, saying what a delight it has been to work with you. Should you choose to put your name in for the rogue world reality engine that we will all be looking forward to exploit here in a few cycles, my bosses will certainly look closely.¡±

    There was a temptation. Veda opened the offer, reading over it, and she looked back at Lakhnar. "Why? Why what? Why bother? As you just said, your team will have to pay a fraction of this in recompense once they''re done trashing my outpost. Why bother? Wait a couple hours, and this is all moot.¡±

    Lakhnar smiled. "As it happens," she said through gritted teeth, "we have been asked by interested parties to extend an olive branch, as it were."

    The patriarch of the Church of the Progenitors? Veda couldn''t think of anyone else who might interfere. Why would he care? Unless¡­. She read through the offer.

    This would give Alabaster Sky a first right of refusal clause on Team Twofeather in Phase Three. Shad and his team wouldn''t have to work with Alabaster Sky, but they wouldn''t be able to work with anyone else unless Alabaster Sky agreed. Did the conglomerate want to get Shad and his family on their team, or instead, were they trying to make sure to keep them out of Phase Three? Veda looked away from her screens, the offer still tempting her. How was it that Team Twofeather kept getting her into these situations?

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    She checked over her numbers. The reparations from the ruined outpost would pay for what she had spent, and not much more. It would be tricky to keep the company afloat until the next reality engine exploit. Even trickier if she made an enemy of Alabaster Sky. She was already pretty sure Proxima didn''t like her, and the two of them were heavies in this area. She might have to relocate Tvedra¡¯s operations to another sector entirely, which would again take money she didn''t have.

    So. Take the money and run. That¡¯s what her family would want. It wouldn¡¯t even hurt Team Twofeather that much. Sure, they wouldn¡¯t make it to Phase Three but who cared? They¡¯d never manage to claim a share of the reality engine. Might as well get out now.

    On the other hand, the fact that someone else was so desperate to get rid of them stroked some little rebellious streak deep inside Veda. Shad and his family had worked damn hard for her. Their crazy gambles kept paying off. She knew what they wanted her to do.

    She closed her eyes. What am I getting myself into? ¡°The answer''s still no. Thank you for it, though. Please convey my regards to your superiors and to whomever wanted you to make this offer.¡±

    Lakhnar looked shocked, her mouth hanging open.

    "Oh," Veda couldn''t help adding, "and would you care to place a small side bet on the outcome of this match?" If she was going to burn all of her bridges and fortunes at the same time, she might as well go out in style. "I''ll offer you, say, five to one odds.¡±

    Lakhnar spluttered. "You think there''s even one chance in five your team could win?"

    "The other way around," Veda smiled. "I''m betting on Shad."

    She cut the feed before Lakhnar could respond. Her system popped up another notification. There is someone at your door. She has been knocking for the past two minutes. I conveyed that you are busy, but she will not go away and says as your sponsee, she has the right to speak to you.

    Veda''s eyes flew open. She stood up, feeling a wave of panic. "Sponsee? Who on earth could it be?" She checked the feed and felt even more surprised than she had at the number Alabaster Sky had offered as buyout.

    Mama Grace stood outside her door, holding a covered plate. Veda activated the voice controls. "Yes? What can I do for you?"

    "You can open up and let me have a word with you in privacy," Mama Grace said. "I''ve come all this way. The least you can do is talk to me."

    Veda hesitated only a moment before opening her door. Mama Grace stepped in, accompanied by an absolutely delicious odor. Veda sniffed. It couldn''t be Kakhnaveri.

    Mama Grace held the plate out. Veda hesitantly took it and lifted back the cloth covering. It was an entire plate of Kakhnaveri, smelling just like her grandmother had made it. "How did you even get the ingredients?" she asked.

    Mama Grace smiled. "Professional secret, dear," she said. "But it seemed like you could do with a nice home-cooked meal."

    Veda set the food down on her desk. She collapsed into her chair, exhaustion settling over her. "I guess I can spare a minute. There''s not much more I can do for the team inside the engine," she said. "Not right now, anyway."

    "That''s what I wanted to speak with you about," Mama Grace said calmly. "From what Juana told me before she told me to go away and let her work, this is important. Really important. I didn''t totally understand why, since she said that we''d all be fine one way or the other. But it matters to her, and it matters to Sage and her Grandpa and her brother, so it matters to me.¡±

    ¡°To me, too," Veda assured her. "My own fortunes are rather tied up in this mess."

    "So, what are you doing to help them?" Mama Grace asked. She looked around. Veda, realizing she had been rude, called up a chair from the room''s storage and extruded it. Grace looked somewhat surprised, but she sat down and crossed her legs in front of her.

    "I''ve done what I can," Veda said. "Bought them everything that we could think of that might help, and gave them free rein. And now they''re doing what they need to."

    "But what else?" Grace prompted. "Let them worry about what''s going on in there. What about out here?" She made a gesture around, like taking in the entire station.

    ¡°Oh.¡± Veda deflated. The scent of the food was really starting to get to her. She picked up her own pair of chopsticks and took a bite of the delicious noodles. They were exquisite, exactly like she remembered her grandmother making years ago as a child. She took another bite before she had realized what she was doing, swallowed, and then said, "You''re right. I''ve already fielded a call from one group that doesn''t have their best interests at heart. I''m afraid we''ve made enemies of two of the big players."

    Mama Grace was nodding. "I get the feeling from Shad that he''s kind of a bull in a china shop. But maybe that''s what we need here. We didn''t ask for any of you folk to barge in and take us away from our lives and our loved ones. We''re just doing the best we can."

    "I know that," Veda said. "And I''m sympathetic."

    Grace held up a hand. "But since we are here, we''re going to do our best. Shad and Juana are cooking up some plan that they haven''t really shared with me. I''m fine with that. I don''t want to be in charge. I want to cook food and make sure everybody''s got a full belly and a warm place to sleep. But they''re all busy right now, so I''m going to do what I can."

    "You say we''ve made big enemies?" Veda nodded. "We have."

    "Then we need big friends."

    "I suppose that''s possible. ConSweGo won''t like it if Proxima and Alabaster Sky are in on something together. But we don''t have much to offer. One single delta-level outpost?"

    Grace shook her head again. "You''re thinking too small, dear. We''ve got a lot more than that."

    "What do you mean?"

    "I mean," she smiled, "we''ve got about four million human miners who''ve signed a petition I''ve been circulating."

    Veda felt her ears prick up at that. "Oh? Really? What sort of petition?¡±

    Mama Grace sent over the details. As the packet pinged into Veda¡¯s system, she pulled it up and started reading. It was straightforward ¡ª and beautiful. Veda¡¯s trader instincts were intrigued. ¡°This is¡­ thorough.¡±

    "Mm-hmm. Colonel Ames''s been helping me," Grace said. ¡°See the signature count?¡±

    ¡°Is that the right number?¡± Veda asked. Grace nodded. Her mind was working furiously. "Okay. That might actually get us somewhere. Let me make a few calls.¡± She picked up another bite of Kakhnaveri noodles. The food warmed her insides like Mama Grace¡¯s smile. ¡°You¡¯re right, we do have things to do.¡±

 2.47 - What To Do When a Great Old One Melts Your Brain

    As the countdown expired, a zone-wide announcement spawned, announcing the arrival of the Great Old One.

    [Look upon him and despair. He has arisen from his watery tomb to bring terror upon this world. The team which can take control of him will be able to force him to do their bidding for half an hour. Which team will triumph? There''s only one way to know.]

    An icon popped up on the mini-map, a giant black and white skull. It was just off the coast, at the midpoint that connected our separate islands into a single Y-shaped atoll.

    "Right, Jones," Grandpa said. "Get your bird in the car. Let''s take a look." We had already dispatched several dozen farming allies to disperse across the island wearing the all-seeing eyes. We needed info about our rivals. It seemed like cheating to me, but there was nothing in the rules against it. The only advantage we had over these guys was our allies. As far as we could tell, they had limited themselves to the fifteen combat miners they''d been allowed to bring in.

    Several of our spies were stationed outside their outpost. As the Existalis combat miners emerged, information started to flow back to us. They all seem to be space orcs. It''s hard to tell. They''re wearing combat armor, armed to the teeth. A couple of them have shoulder-mounted cannons. No sign of any sort of vehicles or siege weapons.

    Meanwhile, some of our scouts had reached the edge of the lagoon. Juana swore. ¡°What the hell is that?"

    Sage giggled and shared their feed. The creature had spawned about twenty feet from shore. It was like someone had taken an enormous skull and wrapped it in tentacles. It rose up out of the water at least thirty feet into the air. My eyes couldn''t quite get it in focus. The thing just kept wriggling. There was definitely a sensation of empty eye sockets when I stared at it.

    Then it lashed one shapeless black appendage toward the beach. Our spy turned and ran, and I couldn''t blame him. "I got a remote Eye-Spy off," Sage said happily. "Here are the stats."

    She fed them to us, and I boggled. "There''s no way we''re going to be able to take that thing down. Resistant to water damage. Resistant to electric damage. Resistant to fire damage. Immune to necrotic damage. Immune to disease. What the hell are we supposed to hit it with?¡±

    "Holy damage," Dwight said, not looking up from his work.

    "We can get that?"

    "It takes a little bit of effort. Probably pure energy-based damage would work.¡±

    ¡°It''s resistant to lightning damage."

    "Yeah, but I looked at the classifications, and that''s two different things."

    "If you say so," I grumbled.

    Existalis'' miners were making straight for the lagoon. "All right, Shad, time to roll out," Grandpa told me.

    My team was our vanguard. I was taking a couple of us up to the lagoon now. Bill, Bob, Mitch, and Annie would be coming with me. While I was sleeping, Mongoose had used the last three pairs of spawn point claiming flags to reclaim our points. Now, Juana redirected them into Existalis'' path. "Do not engage in combat until we say so," Grandpa reminded me, as though I needed it. "Right now, we''re on a fact-finding mission. Hang back and let the spies gather intel."

    That didn''t sit well with me, but it made sense. We weren''t sure yet if the boss could kill our crafters. I assumed it could. Grandpa had warned them all to stay out of range.

    Some of our creep wandered past one of our spies just as Existalis'' vanguard arrived at the same location. The trio of armored orcs fell on them using a combination of weapons and abilities. Too fast for me to follow, but Sage and Arjun started making "Ahh" noises, so they must have gotten some intel from it.

    "Right, Suicide Squad, move out," I told my men and Annie, and we set off.

    "We''re designating these three orcs as Red One, Two, and Three," I heard Sage''s voice say in my ear as I led my squad past the army of crafters toward our front gate, which was now sealed against creep. As we approached, it opened. A couple of skeletons tried to get through, but we cut them down on our way out.

    "Red team seems to be the vanguards. Moving fast, not as heavily armored as we expect the rest to be. Hit points: between 150 and 175.¡± Sage rattled off some values. "The specs we downloaded off Veda''s transmission indicate the armor should have weak points, but they''re probably not where we think. It may take a couple of shots to locate them. Despite their appearance, the joints are usually reinforced. Common weak points are shin and forearm."

    "What good does that do?" Bill asked me aloud as we went. ¡°I have a feeling these guys can walk off a couple of flesh wounds.¡±

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    ¡°Their armor is powered up. If you damage one area, it has to reroute power and nanites to reinforce it. That leaves it exposed elsewhere. Damage it enough and you''ll be able to get some headshots in.¡± I hoped I had understood the theory well enough.

    "Red One has a slowing move," Sage reported. "Analyzing."

    ¡°Watch the chatter,¡± Grandpa said over our open comm lines. "Let''s tell them what they need to know.¡±

    ¡°We have eyes on all of Existalis'' miners. They''re heading right for Squid Face up there. Nobody''s paused long enough to set any traps. They''re going for a quick cap," Sage said confidently. ¡°No, they needed to know that, Grandpa. All right, fine.¡± She shut up.

    I didn''t mind having her talk. It was comforting. Even though we had been reassured that Existalis wasn''t waiting for us, I still jumped at every noise I heard and felt myself. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

    We proceeded through the jungle. Every few hundred feet, one of our spies popped out of the bush and waved encouragingly at us. I waved back, but I wished they''d let us do our job. "We''re starting to put together a nice profile here," Juana said over comms. "I''ll be doing most of the controlling of the conversation, unless there''s something Arjun and Sage specifically need to say."

    Good, I thought, but didn''t say aloud. Juana was much more laid back than Sage. Not to mention easy to listen to. "They''ve engaged the boss," Juana warned. "Stay back. We''ll get you a video feed once you''re ready."

    We were approaching the edge of the jungle. I stopped just short of the beach, crouching behind a large palm tree. We peered through, past the last few pieces of brush.

    Fifteen orcs wearing power armor were running in zigzagging patterns around the great beast. Seeing it with my own eyes didn¡¯t help me understand what I was seeing. It glistened in the sun, writhing, an enormous skull covered in a living oil slick that slithered around its surface, gathering together into clumps and then lashing out with pseudopod limbs. One gnawed tentacle smashed into an orc, knocking it up onto the beach. "Holy shit!¡± Juana said as the orc got back to her feet. ¡°He didn''t die!¡±

    I had started being able to tell male orcs from female based on some of the symbols they seemed to wear on their armor. A diamond pattern along the neckline meant female, while circles meant male.

    ¡°She,¡± I said, though it was completely irrelevant. ¡°How much damage did she take?¡±

    ¡°Two hundred and fifty-seven points. Must be one of their heavily armored units. She''s got four hundred hit points.¡± Juana sounded disbelieving, and I understood why. None of us had over two hundred health. ¡°That gear is incredible.¡±

    The boss spun quickly around, its surface nictating and retracting, then pushing outward. A giant wave of water shot out all around it, knocking the orcs over. Two of them washed up on the beach in a pile of mangled limbs. They vanished. "Did you see that?" I asked.

    "Sure did," Sage said excitedly. "That was all water damage, by the way.¡±

    Water damage. My hat''s set bonus meant that while I was wearing it and the drover''s coat both, I was immune to water damage. I mentioned it on comms.

    "We know," Sage said. ¡°We were hoping that this boss would do a lot of water damage. It''s a big part of our plan. Right now, though, we''ve got to buy time. Look at its health bar.¡±

    I checked. The boss was still green, but it was ticking down fast as the orcs lobbed grenades, filled it with hot plasma, or tossed bright white spells at it. I looked at my team. "Wait until I give the signal," I said. They nodded, their faces wary. This was the worst. Sitting here waiting, watching.

    "We''ve got a profile for almost all of the orcs now," Sage said cheerfully. "Arjun is compiling strats. Just hold tight." I nodded agreement, not that she could see me, and we watched.

    Suddenly, the boss gave a loud hooting cry from what orifice I couldn''t tell, and a pack of water droplets the size of VW Beetles appeared on the beach. They began to make their way toward the orcs, who turned and fired at them, breaking them into smaller droplets that slithered about, then reformed.

    One of the orcs pulled a rifle the size of a small cannon out of his inventory and fired, shooting a bright white beam at it. Whenever the beam hit, it froze the water droplets. They broke into a dozen small pieces and then dissolved into the sand. "Ice damage," Sage diagnosed.

    ¡°I could have guessed that.¡±

    "Shut up, Shad. We''re keeping the channel open, remember?"

    The boss was below 60% health now, its health bar yellow. "Okay, so that was probably a health-based move, not time-based," Juana said. "We need to watch as much of this fight as we can."

    The boss lashed out with a tentacle and caught one unlucky orc by surprise. The orc was thrown back into the trees. It hit a trunk and sunk to the ground with an unhappy thud. "I don''t think it liked that," Sage said cheerfully. "Is he dead?"

    None of us had eyes on the fallen orc, but I could tell on my mini-map a couple of our spies were crouched not far off, well out of range of the boss monster.

    "Yeah, he''s dead," Juana said.

    "Great." I looked back at the boss. Its health was below 50%. It sent another wave of water on the orcs fighting it. Another one died, leaving ten to go, but they were making steady progress.

    "Hold tight," Juana said. "We want to try to let it get to 30% health before we move."

    "You hearing this?" I said to my team. They all nodded. Bill and Bob looked almost relaxed, but Mitch and Annie seemed nervous. They didn''t have as much experience with this as we did. I tried to smile reassuringly. "We''ll make it," I said. "We''ve got a plan."

    The boss monster hit out with its tentacles again. It seems to have a rhythm there. Spinning, contracting, expanding, thrashing, volley of water. "The tentacles are doing a lot of water-based damage," Juana reported. "Shad, you could probably take one hit, but no more than that.¡±

    ¡°It''s also got force damage and crushing damage," I said as one tentacle came down right on an orc. He survived, dashing back and draining a health potion before running back into combat and lobbing a grenade. ¡°I¡¯m not immune to those.¡±

    ¡°So don¡¯t get hit,¡± Sage said helpfully.

    "At 40% and falling, be prepared," Grandpa said. "We''ve got a battle plan here, but no plan survives contact with the enemy."

    "Right," I said. I looked at the enemy, at the boss, and at my team. We understand. The tension mounted. I felt nervous, more nervous than when I''d been in a middle school play with a walk-on role that I''d managed to flub every time in practice.

    The boss ticked down to 30%. It gave another call, bringing in a shower of water bubble monsters. The orcs cleaned those up fast.

    "Go!" Juana said in our ears and we ran in.

 2.48 - Boss Strats: The Best, The Worst, and the Fail

    We charged across the sand, spreading out. As soon as we got close, Bob threw out a Babel spell, hitting as many of the orcs as he could with a debuff that would make it harder for them to coordinate.

    Two of the orcs turned as they saw us. One lobbed a fist-sized purple ball at us. It exploded on the sand, turning it to sticky tar. I gained a [Stuck!] debuff, slowing my movement speed by 90%.

    Bill answered with his Call Osha ability. It removed the debuff and let us all charge through the tarry mass without any ill impact. Meanwhile, his brother threw out Lost in Translation. The spell hit six of the orcs. I could tell which because they instantly turned on each other, firing their guns madly as the effect forced them to attack whoever was nearest without regard for friend or foe.

    I engaged my Fastest Gun in the West to charge into the midst of the fray. I lobbed a couple of grenades at the orcs nearest the boss, blowing them back in the water.

    As he got in range, Mitch threw out Spike Their Trunks. They howled in anger as their weapons suddenly began spurting maple syrup everywhere. I couldn''t help laughing as the orcs threw them in disgust, grabbing for backup weapons from their sides or their inventory. Most of them were now wielding swords or short spears, though a couple had handguns.

    A pair of spear-wielding orcs charged me. I used Trick Shot to hit one in the hand. She yowled in pain. I dodged under her spear. The second only caught the edge of my coat.

    Meanwhile, Annie had raced right past all of the orcs straight to the boss. She used a spell we''d never had a call for before, Hat for Your Rabbit. The ability could only be cast on NPCs. It made them twice as strong, twice as fast, and twice as angry.

    The monstrous skull thing grew absolutely enormous, rising up to blot out the sky. It extended long tentacles in every direction. Some of the orcs saw it and shouted, pointing, trying to scramble up the beach, but too late. The old one smashed down into the water and the beach. Its body blotted out the sun as it came down on me.

    As it smashed me to the ground, my last thought was, I just hope it wipes their whole party.

    I woke up in limbo. I was hovering in midair right behind Juana''s shoulder, about a foot from our respawn point.

    "Hey," I said. She turned and looked right through me.

    "I hear you, Shad, but I can''t see you," she said. "All of you are stuck in the penalty box for the next 20 minutes. The good news is, you guys did it. You took out their whole team. Boss reset. All of its health back. Most of them are out for a full 20 minutes. The next couple are coming up in 15 or so, but we''ve got a great profile on all of them. We''re ready to act."

    "Glad it was worth it," I said.

    Juana smiled. "You just take it easy and enjoy the show while we handle this next part," she said. "We''re gonna need you back out there before long."

    I wanted to take a look at what was going on, so I tried to move. I could turn in every direction, but I couldn''t get more than about a foot from the respawn point.

    Still, I could see the camp bustling. Dwight was moving between aisles of crafters, looking over their work, correcting them, making suggestions. There was an enormous pile of cannonball-sized spheres at one end of the crafting field. An even bigger pile of fist-sized grenades. There was a stack of wooden shields about two feet tall and a couple of piles of miscellaneous items that I wanted to get a closer look at but couldn''t.

    "Hey, Dwight," I called. He didn''t seem to hear me, so I tried in chat. How''s it going?

    Sorry, can''t chat. Too busy. We''ll be ready, but we need time.

    I felt properly chastised as I turned back to wait out my penalty. I couldn''t see any of my dead teammates. Apparently, we really were invisible. I used chat instead. Nice work, Annie.

    Thanks. I''ve been wanting to try that. It''s only got a 20-minute cooldown, so we can use it again if we have to.

    I shuddered. Let''s not and say we did.

    I''m fine with that.

    Grandpa was getting the kill squads ready to go. He had Lara, Ice Spice, and both Smiths as well as Brown from the Mongeese. He was holding Lakshmi and Black in reserve. Once the rest of us respawned, he''d be going out with the other dead members of my team.

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    Grandpa gave them their orders and applied his toned-down Warchief''s Aegis buff to them. They stood a little straighter. "Now get out there and knock them dead," Grandpa concluded. The team slipped out.

    About halfway through my time out, our spies reported that the first of the Existalis team had respawned and were heading out as a trio. Grandpa chuckled, rubbing his hands. "Excellent," he said, "making it easy for us. Kill squad, first target." He turned to Sage and Arjun. "Give them their marching orders," he said.

    Arjun nodded. He had an abacus out in front of him and was working the beads with an intent look. "Should be Red 1, Blue 2, Green 3. They''re going to be short on intel. None of them have anything that looks like a sensory boosting skill. Take ''em by surprise. Focus on Blue 2. Flashbang to the face, followed by one of your moves, Ice Spice. Lara, lock down Green 3 with time out."

    "Can somebody send me a feed?" I asked.

    Juana glanced over her shoulder. "No talking in the group comms," she warned, and flicked her hand.

    Now I was looking through one of the spy cams. It took me a minute to decide it was Lara''s. She could see everybody else from here. The orcs were coming through the bush. They were making no attempt to hide, crashing loudly.

    Our team waited until they''d gone past their hiding place before leaping out at them. Lara threw Time Out on her chosen target. He froze in place, his rifle pointing skyward. At the same time, Short Smith hurled a flashbang grenade. It exploded in between the other two orcs with a shrieking, deafening shriek and a bright flash of light.

    Ice Spice ran in. He activated one of his kung fu abilities, I couldn''t tell which from here, and began striking the orc in the forearm and shin with his hands and feet. Lightning-fast kicks and punches slapped over and over again against the armor''s less enforced spots. I could see the armor failing. The spy cam detected the movement of the nanites as they were routed from other parts of the suit.

    "Go for his head now," Juana said, leaning over the command table and speaking directly to Ice Spice.

    He lashed out with a whirlwind kick to the head, knocked the orc to the ground. A moment later, the orc was gone, back to the respawn to wait out his next twenty minutes.

    The kill team fell on the orc we designated as Red One. She put up a fight, but my team danced in and out as though they''d practiced this.

    We had, I realized. We''d spent so long fighting creep, picking fights with monsters, even on the farming levels. We knew how to fight. This squad had never worked together as a single unit before. But now, as Arjun and Sage gave Juana strategies, and Juana translated them into easy-to-follow orders, our team performed like a well-oiled machine. I was going to have to make sure I did as good a job of listening when it was my turn up.

    They executed the last of the three. "Get out of there," Grandpa ordered. "We don''t know what kind of spying devices they might have."

    The team disappeared back into the jungle.

    The next two orcs who had died during the boss fight were back up. I was sure they would wait for their fellows, but instead they pushed out, moving fast. Our spies told us everything we needed to know. The kill team moved to intercept.

    "Why aren''t they waiting?" Juana asked aloud.

    "They''re probably worried that we''re taking the boss," I said. "Good. That means they''re taking us seriously."

    Lara''s Time Out was on cooldown, but Ice Spice pulled out a ¡°Can''t Look Away From These Moves" ability which had the pair of orcs standing transfixed as a dozen different copies of my kung fu-obsessed teammate spun around them, kicking, punching, lashing out with phantom limbs. Meanwhile, the real Ice Spice and the rest of his team came in from behind and smashed through their defenses. The orcs had better weapons and armor than we had by a lot, but if we were coordinated and they weren''t, we could do this.

    ¡°The next wave''s the big one,¡± Arjun warned. I checked my own timer. Three minutes left.

    "As soon as you''re up, we¡¯re getting out there," Grandpa told the rest of my team.

    "I can help," I said.

    "Nope. You''ve gotta stay alive. Just as soon as we''ve got the crafting done, we''re sending in the kill team." Grandpa grinned, staring at a spot about a foot from where I actually was. "Don''t worry. It''s gonna take you that long to pick up all of the crafting gear Dwight''s made you. As soon as you''re up, get down there, start filling your inventory. Dwight will tell you what''s yours and what goes to Black.¡±

    I grumbled, but under my breath. Definitely time for Lieutenant Williams to shut up and do what Major Twofeather said.

    As soon as we respawned, Grandpa buffed my team and they headed out. Juana was busy giving new instructions. Our spies had Existalis'' crew under observation just as soon as they left their base. There were ten of them and ten of us on kill duty, but thankfully, Existalis decided to split up. Probably they were spooked, didn''t know where we were, and decided instead of risking walking into some trap to split their forces.

    That was exactly what we had hoped they would do. The hunters in the jungle moved in on their prey like a pack of starving wolves.

    I, on the other hand, was stuck picking up 150 grenades. Could have been worse. Black had 400 bombs, and they all weighed at least 20 pounds. I was smirking at him when Dwight waved me over.

    "And you''ll need these," he said.

    I stared at where he was pointing in disbelief. "What are those?" They looked like wooden sparring dummies like I''ve seen in action movies. Sticks with a padded torso and beanbag head, wooden poles for arms.

    "Those," Dwight said, grinning, "are part of our great strategy. They are, well, take a look. I let Sage name them," he added.

    I inspected. A pop-up appeared.

    [Shad Dummies, not to be confused with that dummy, Shad, can be used to replace all attention that Shad has gained from an enemy. Arm before placing in inventory. Will deploy when removed from inventory.]

    "Really?" I sighed, armed the first, and put it in my bag.

    "Hurry up," Dwight said. "Because after that, you''re going to have to come and attune yourself to the taunters."

    "The what?" He just laughed.

 2.49 - Shooting Fish In a Barrel and Other Bad Ideas

    Veda and Mama Grace smiled across the empty plate of food on Veda''s desk. "I think we''re ready to make one last call, don''t you?" Veda said.

    Grace rubbed her hands together as she leaned back into her chair. "I think so. Act fast, we''ve got a long way to go. I''ve got to get to work cooking up a victory feast, although I expect they''ll be long done before I get back down there." She gave a hesitant sigh. "You''ll forgive me if I stay for this one. I really need to see the looks on their faces.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to have my algorithms hide you," Veda said. "Just keep this between us sponsors. Nice and clean."

    "Fine by me," Grace said as Veda had her systems handle the call.

    The Patriarch of the Church of the Progenitors picked up himself, not making Veda go through underlings. "What can I do for you, Lady Tvedra?"

    "I would like you to arbitrate a phone call between myself, the head of Proxima, and the head of Alabaster Sky," she said without preamble. "I think you will find this call most instructive."

    The patriarch raised an eyebrow. "Indeed. As it happens, I have a small amount of time. I am eagerly anticipating hearing the results of your team''s actions, Tvedra."

    "They''ll let me know as soon as they''re done," she said. She was certain the patriarch knew exactly what was going on down in Threshold, but she wasn''t going to press him to see if he had thoughts.

    ¡°One moment.¡± The patriarch looked away, then back. "It seems that both representatives have time for us now. I''ll put us all in together, shall I?" A moment later, the holographic heads of both Proxima and Alabaster Sky appeared in the air before Veda.

    It was the same woman she had spoken to a few hours ago, Lakhnar, and the familiar Proxima representative, Halithi Dreamwarden, who looked as grumpy as usual. "What''s the meaning of this?" Dreamwarden asked. "Have you called to ask our help? We''re not interested."

    "I told you that offer expired as soon as we got off our call," Lakhnar said.

    Veda held up a hand. "I am here with an ultimatum for you both," she said. That got their attention.

    Dreamwarden said, "What do you mean, ''ultimatum''?" as Lakhnar said, "You are in no position to be giving us ultimatums."

    "This is on behalf of the Union of Earth Miners," Veda said. "They''ve asked me to present it to you, as I am sponsor of the preeminent human mining team in this exploit."

    "Human?" Lakhnar''s eyebrows raised even higher.

    Veda clarified. ¡°The Earthlings. They refer to themselves as ''human,'' since that is their species, and they don''t really realize that it''s not a unique designator.¡±

    "Oh, the indigenous." Dreamwarden smirked and tossed his hair. "Go ahead. Several of them have decided to present us demands, have they? This should be good."

    Veda looked at the declaration Mama Grace had brought to her. She cleared her throat. "On behalf of the Union of Human Miners, I present this. We state we will be performing no services to any corporation, conglomeration, team, or individual who violates the following.

    ¡°First, any contract involving Earth humans may be renegotiated or sold at the behest of the Earth human involved."

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    "Current sponsor will sell the contract for a price of twice what was originally negotiated."

    "What?" Dreamwarden demanded.

    "They want to be able to buy out of contracts,¡± Veda said. ¡°To get rid of exploitive backers, or maybe to join up with other earthlings, doesn¡¯t matter. They''re offering to pay back double what their backers paid. You¡¯ll keep whatever you''ve earned off of the humans, but they want to be able to buy out.¡±

    "That''s preposterous," Lakhnar said. "What else?"

    "Second, when Phase Three begins, all farming level claims by Earth humans will be respected. Any outside farm miners who join at that point will need to stake their own claims or make a bargain with the humans who already hold that level."

    "That''s a matter for the System, not us," the Proxima rep said.

    Veda smiled. "Yes, well, I''m sure they''ve heard stories of all of the ways you get around System restrictions."

    "Is that it?"

    "One more thing." Veda was truly enjoying herself. Right now, the representatives had no intention of accepting any of these terms, so they were listening with amusement. That would change soon enough. "During Phase Three, should any human outpost or team be present in Phase Three, you will agree not to interfere. There will be no assassination attempts on the human miners. There will be no attempts to take their base. If, during the usual flow of gameplay, your miners and their miners come up against each other, then let nature take its course. But no direct interference. You will respect the territory claimed by indigenous human miners."

    Dreamwarden snorted. "All right, then. I take it that''s the end?" he said as Veda trailed off. "You can tell them."

    "Wait," Veda said, holding up a hand. "Any party who does not agree to these claims will not receive any goods and services from any human signatory to this agreement. They will not sell you gear. They will not sell you materials. They will not sell you information. They will not work for you in any format."

    "Yes, yes," Dreamwarden looked bored. "Very well. We''ll have to make do without¡ª

    ¡°The undersigned include the names of over 4 million human miners. More are signing every hour," Veda said. "Gentlemen, they have 70% of all human crafters agree to this already. They have 50% of the miners, and that number is going up with every shift change. You won''t be able to buy raw materials. You won''t be able to buy the refined goods you need for Phase Three. May I remind you, there will be severely limited supplies and personnel coming in from outside, especially now that your governments are cutting this exploit short to prepare for the rogue world. I''m transmitting over the agreement along with all the signatures now."

    "We''ll ¡ª we''ll send in..."

    ¡°You¡¯ll do what?" Veda asked. "The system will enforce no miner versus miner violence here or in Threshold. Inside the Reality Engine levels, they''ve got the advantage." She smiled. "I''ll let you examine the deal, but I''m afraid they have you..." She checked. "The human phrase is ''over a barrel.''"

    Mama Grace was giggling quietly in her chair. Veda showed her a quick smile. This was going to be worth it.

    "Tvedra, this will reflect poorly on your requests for involvement in future exploits." Dreamwarden warned. ¡°The three interstellars ¡ª Proxima, Alabaster Sky, and ConSweGo ¡ª control most exploits in this section of the galaxy. Are you sure you want to get on our bad side?¡±

    Veda smiled. "Actually," she said, "I''ve already spoken with ConSweGo. They agreed to all terms and have added an endorsement to my license saying that I am welcome to put in a bid on any Reality Engine exploit that they sponsor in the next ten cycles." She was especially proud of that. Mama Grace had wanted to call up all three major conglomerates at once, but Veda had persuaded her to approach ConSweGo first. They had negotiated a 10% discount on all services provided by the Earthlings for any ConSweGo-affiliated miner as a way to sweeten the deal.

    "ConSweGo signed?" Lakhnar asked.

    "Feel free to ask them," Veda said sweetly. "Or check with the system. The contract should be registered by now."

    Now she had them. If their chief rival had already agreed to these terms, then they had no choice. They would sign, or they would sit the rest of this exploit out. Lakhnar huffed. "We''ll see about that," she said. She turned away.

    She had silenced her audio, but Veda could still see her face as her expression changed from anger to dismay to horror. "I''m afraid I was telling the truth," Veda said.

    Dreamwarden¡¯s shoulders slumped. Then he shook his head and laughed. "You win this one, Tvedra," he said. "You''re looking to be a sharper dealer than we ever expected. Proxima will sign.¡±

 2.50 - How To Make Cthulhu Jerky: Step One: First, Kill Your Cthulhu

    As I geared up, I tried hard not to be jealous of my teammates, out there in the midst of the action. I kept an eye and an ear on the comms channel. Arjun, Sage and Juana hunched over the command table, constantly scanning between feeds, working like an oiled machine. Our hunter squads implemented their orders instantly. I saw Grandpa shadow-step in behind an orc, start into him with a coup, follow up with a scalp and then at Sage¡¯s quick suggestion, shadow-step away to the orc¡¯s buddy. The first orc, turning to try to get at Grandpa, left his back exposed to Bob and Bill¡¯s guandgo attack.

    All over the island, our kill teams were tearing through our opponents. They avoided any group of more than three and fell on smaller clusters like a pack of ravenous dogs. Arjun fed them strategies, telling them how to target each of the orcs, which skills to use. Every now and then, one of the orcs pulled out an ability we hadn''t seen, but we adapted fast.

    Our opponents had way more health than we did, but they couldn¡¯t match sustained firepower. They didn''t have anyone coordinating them. I remembered Mak¡¯Gar and some comments he¡¯d made about how a leader had to be out at the head of his men, that otherwise no-one would listen to him. I suspected the orcs had a cultural aversion to taking fighting advice from someone on the sidelines. That was a stupid sort of philosophy, but it could save our asses here.Their individual movements were good, but they couldn''t seem to work together. By the time another group got word that we were attacking some of their fellows, we had finished and melted back into the jungle.

    During a lull, I mentioned my theory to Juana, who thanked me and told me to get off coms. A minute later, she directed Bob to ambush a group of five orcs ¡ª more than we¡¯d dared touch before ¡ª hitting them with Babel before the rest of our team stepped in. Sure enough, their minimal coordination dropped to none at all. Grandpa¡¯s team slaughtered four, the fifth melting away into the jungle in the confusion

    I itched to get out there. Black kept muttering under his breath as he picked up, armed, and stored each of the bombs in his inventory.

    I moved on to what Dwight called the taunters. They were a variety of objects, from maracas to little sparkler fireworks to a repurposed slingshot, all with the ability to gain the attention of a mob or player.

    Sage explained our strategy. "You''re going to be our tank," she said. "Your job is to make the boss and the orcs, if necessary, focus on you and then to stay alive." To that end, they had given me half a dozen cases of healing potions, as well as assigned Lakshmi to heal me full-time. On top of her own healing abilities, Dwight''s crafters were churning out healing wands that would output a stream of positive health when she used them.

    Black was the third member of our assault. As soon as the kill squads were done, Mitch would help him out. They would be deploying all the bombs the crafters had just made.

    Right now, seven of the orcs were dead, with three minutes until the first of them respawned. The other eight were clumped up near the boss. Grandpa said, "We need better eyes on them. Send in one of the spies."

    "We''re not sure how far the range is on the Old One," Juana warned.

    "Do it," Grandpa said. He hesitated. "We''re sure the death rules apply to them, too, right?"

    "Absolutely," Juana assured us. ¡°I double-checked.¡±

    "Then go."

    A minute later, one of our spies stumbled out of his hiding place, running down the beach where the boss was waiting. It still sat out in the water, gently pulsating, its glistening, dark mass oozing across the enormous skull beneath. I saw the boss pulse, then constrict. "It''s gonna lash out," I warned.

    Just then, the orcs burst out from cover, running to engage it. The boss shot a wave of water onto the beach. "Run!" I yelled, not that our spy could hear me.

    But it was too late. The camera feed was a blurry mess as the spy was knocked off his feet and washed into the woods. The feed cut out.

    A minute later, Grandpa said, "It''s all right. He''s back in the respawn box."

    I let out a breath I hadn''t known I was holding.

    "Jones, send in your bird."

    Jones flew his drone over. The eight Existalis orcs were once more dancing around the boss, chipping down its health. "Good," Grandpa said.

    "Good?" I asked.

    "We just made them engage again, and it''s still two minutes before any of their allies are back up. We''ve got this." He called to the kill team. "Get in position. Annie, you''re going to suicide in and do that move again. Bill, Bob, if she needs an escort, you''re up. Everyone else, stay back. We want you for our boss push. Shad, are you guys ready?"

    I picked up the last of my taunters. Black had finished collecting his bombs a couple of minutes ago. "We''re ready."

    "Then head out. And good luck. I''ll be following along behind in a minute, but I''ll rendezvous with the kill squad. We''ll be your backup as planned."

    I nodded. "Let''s go," I told Black and Lakshmi, and we set off.

    When we were about half a mile from the beach, Juana''s voice came over the comms channel. "Annie, go now." I resisted the urge to call up a feed and check. Right now I needed to be watching for traps or ambushes.

    As we approached the last line of trees, Juana came back on the comms. "The boss is reset. We took out nine of Existalis."

    "We''ll play interference from here," Grandpa said. "You get in there and do what has to be done."

    I took a deep breath and started pulling the special buff items out of my inventory. Mitch joined us as we approached the beach. I handed him his share. There was a Lightfeet potion; I drank it, and it gave me 200% increased movement for the next 15 minutes. A belt of shielding we¡¯d looted from the treasure room during the special event. That was just for me. It had 50 charges. Each charge could take one direct hit, but there was a 15-second cooldown before the next hit was up. Between that and my water resistance, we hoped I''d be able to withstand some of the boss hits. If not, this plan wasn''t going to go anywhere.

    Mitch and Black drank potions that increased the strength of any explosions they caused. Then Black used the special inventory item he''d been packing, a suitcase, and handed it off to Mitch. It contained some of the bombs Dwight''s team had made and was faster than giving them to Mitch one at a time. ¡°Once you¡¯ve got the boss¡¯s attention, we¡¯ll go,¡± Black said.

    ¡°You stay up on the beach," I told Lakshmi. "As far back as you can and still heal me."

    "Don''t worry. I don''t want to get any closer than I have to," she said.

    I stepped out onto the beach. The boss took no notice of me until I reached the waterline. Then its surface began to swirl once more. I watched the patterns. I''d seen enough of Existalis''s attempts to recognize when it was about to launch a wave of water and when it was about to lash out with its tentacles.

    I threw the first of my taunters. The boss formed a pseudopod ready to smash me. I threw one of my Shad Dummies ten feet to the right. It popped upwearing a coat like mine, with a big straw hat on its head. "Over here, you big dope," it called with what I hoped was not my voice.

    The boss launched its pseudopod right at the dummy, smashing it into splinters and bits of straw. I tossed another taunter, darted to the side, threw a dummy, avoided a tentacle, and got ready for the longest dance session of my life.

    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    Meanwhile, Black and Mitch were at the edge of the water, crouched over an enormous pile of explosives, hooking fuses to each of them. I wasn''t going to bug them.

    Juana said, "Incoming. Four of Existalis."

    "They''re on my radar," Jones called on comms. ¡°Kill squad will handle them."

    I focused on the boss and my dance. It was getting ready to throw one of its water waves. "Back up," I warned Mitch and Black. They scrambled up the beach. Lakshmi retreated.

    I thought I should be able to withstand the water, but I wasn''t sure about its force, so I braced myself. A wave exploded out from the Old One. It washed over me like a gentle mist, soaking me but doing no damage. I grinned and threw another taunter.

    All right, Reality Engine. If you''re behind this, I see how you''re tweaking things, I thought. Give me resistance to water and then make sure the monster we faced is water-based? Yeah. It had its thumb on the scales.

    I wasn''t going to take anything for granted. I was pretty sure this monster still had plenty of ways to beat me. Juana came back in my ear. "The Kill Squad took out Existalis, but Ice Spice, and Brown are down.¡±

    ¡°That''s no good. We can''t lose people.¡±

    ¡°You focus on your job, and they''ll do theirs," she told me crisply.

    I tossed out another Shad Dummy. "Tell Sage I hate the expressions on these things," I said as the Old One smashed the smirk off its face.

    "You can do that when you''re done here."

    Juana''s calm was starting to get to me. "Aren''t you at all nervous about this?"

    "Horribly nervous," she said. "But I''m trying to be professional here and so should you."

    "Right. Fine.¡± I dodged another pseudopod, watching the thing''s glistening patterns. Mitch and Black had moved to another point on the beach to start their second cache of explosions. We weren''t doing any damage to the boss, so I wasn''t expecting it to throw any of those water droplet ads, but if it did, I''d keep their attention too.

    We got the second cache finished, and the bomb team moved to their third location. Juana spoke up. "I think Existalis is on to us. Six of them have respawned, but there''s been no movement out of their outpost yet.¡±

    ¡°So they''re going to wait until they can make a big push," I said. "They probably figure it''ll take us a while to chip the boss down and they''ve got time to come in. It wasn''t a bad plan. How long until the last of them is back up?"

    ¡°They have fifteen total, like us. The four we just took out have another 15 minutes to go before respawn, but they could have eight up in --" Juana paused. "-- nine and a half minutes.¡±

    ¡°Can you get all of the bombs laid in the next nine and a half minutes?" I asked Black.

    "We''ll try," he said. "Look out!"

    I dodged to the side as a pseudopod crashed into the water next to me. I tossed out a dummy and got back into my rhythm.

    There was no room for mistakes here. The dance wore on and on and on. "You''re a pretty good dancer," Juana observed at the seven minutes mark.

    "Thanks, no one''s ever said that before."

    "Really?"

    "No, the girl I asked to the prom turned me down on account of, she said, she wanted to go with someone who wouldn''t step on her feet."

    Juana giggled. "Guess it must be the points you put into dexterity."

    "Well, if there''s ever a dance here, I''ll be sure to ask you," I said, tossing out another taunter.

    "I''ll hold you to that," she said. "And I might just ask my sister to arrange something like that. She''s in charge of the morale committee now, you know."

    "What?" I almost missed a step, threw out a Shad Dummy just in time. ¡°We have one of those?¡±

    ¡°Who do you think threw that party last week?¡±

    ¡°I guess I didn''t really think about it.¡±

    ¡°It''s all part of our strategy to keep people focused and happy, which you are most assuredly not right now. Focused, I mean. Pay attention, Shad.¡±

    The next wave broke over me. "I am paying attention. Those waves don''t hurt me," I said.

    "Uh-huh." Juana did not sound convinced.

    Black yelled, "It''s done! Get into position!"

    Finally. "Juana, we''re going."

    "I''ll get everyone else on their marks," she said.

    "Tell me when.¡±

    A moment later, she said,¡°Existalis is moving out, pack of eight together. They''ll be here in four minutes, give or take 30 seconds. There are three more respawning in five minutes, the last four ten minutes from now. You¡¯ve got to engage the boss now, before they get here.¡±

    "Got it," I said. I threw another of the taunters, then backed up toward the bomb cache. I threw one of the taunters right on it, and then raced off to the side.

    The boss''s pseudopod smashed down right on the cache. The cache exploded in a gout of fire. Flame seared the oozing black tentacle. It burned to ash, fire racing up it, devouring it, hitting the body of the monster.

    The Great Old One shrieked aloud. An answering rain of giant water bubbles appeared, blorping their way along the beach. I threw out tiny jack taunters everywhere, getting them to focus on me, and then pulling out a freeze grenade Dwight had made me. As the bubbles surrounded me, I tossed it down, locking the water bubbles in place.

    The edge of the freeze caught my coat and sent icicles up to my arm. I shook them off. They did no damage. I threw a Shad Dummy to the side to buy me time as the boss''s outer surface spun and hissed.

    ¡°Down to 80% percent,¡± Juana said. ¡°Just like we calculated.¡±

    "Good." I moved to the next cache, threw one of my bigger taunts, waited as the tentacle formed. As it raised its psuedopod high, I left a dummy in my place and scrambled out of the way.

    Just like before, the psudeopod smashed into the cache, burst into flames, and carried flame back to the main body. The boss summoned another wave of droplets. This time, Mitch and Black were close enough to help me with them.

    "Forty percent down,¡± Juana said. "Existalis is two minutes out."

    "At least it''s dumb," Grandpa said in my ear. "Must have been programmed to do the same thing no matter what."

    ¡°We¡¯re counting on it,¡± I said. We had noticed that behavior in many of the NPCs. I repeated my strategy on the next cache, and then the next. The boss¡¯s health dropped in big chunks. It sent out big waves of droplet minions with every explosion, but I had the rhythm now, freezing them and letting Mitch and Black blow them up.

    The seconds ticked along. I was in the groove. I could keep this up all day.

    The boss was down to twenty percent health as Grandpa repeated, "We have contact.¡±

    I made for the last cache and threw my taunt, but the boss didn''t respond as we expected. It seemed to draw in on itself, shrinking, turning black as night. Existalis hadn''t gotten it down this far. We didn''t know what was going to happen.

    "We''ve got to get these bombs to the boss," I shouted.

    "How?" Black asked. "We weren''t expecting to move them."

    "We need a teleport or some sort of shove ability," I mentally ran through everyone¡¯s skill sheets. ¡°The boss won''t move, and we can''t get the bombs to him. Have we got a¡­ trebuchet or¡­¡± I trailed off as I had a brainwave. ¡°Get Lara up here right away!¡± I yelled into my coms. ¡°Black, Mitch, get the bombs loaded up in your suitcase or ¡ª whatever works, we need them stable just long enough to transport them.¡± I lobbed a taunter at the boss, blessing Dwight¡¯s crafters. They¡¯d gone all out. I still had several dozen taunters and dummies. They¡¯d last long enough.

    ¡°Busy here,¡± Grandpa called back. ¡°Fighting!¡±

    ¡°Get Lara here, I need her!¡± I threw a Shad Dummy beyond the boss. It was still hunched in on itself and spinning. The dummy hit the water. A spout exploded under it, knocking it thirty feet high.

    Lara sprinted out of the jungle. ¡°I¡¯m here!¡±

    ¡°Get Mitch and Black to the boss. Blow it up!¡± I shouted.

    She looked confused. ¡°How ¡ª¡±

    ¡°Minivan, right?¡±

    ¡°Oh, right!¡± She raced to where the munitions experts were collecting their gear.

    ¡°And hurry! Existalis is on our heels!¡± I could hear the sounds of fighting, not just over the comms but with my own ears.

    Lara waved her hands and summoned an actual, literal minivan around the men. The van screeched forward in a cloud of tire smoke, right across the top of the water.

    The boss writhed. A jet of water began to form under the minvan.

    The minivan crashed into the boss and exploded. Fire blasted the boss. It screamed and writhed as flames ate away at the black viscous skin. The minivan was gone. One tire bounced up onto the beach and rolled toward the jungle.

    The smoke cleared. The water settled. A enormous crystal skull, ten feet tall and just as wide, sat in the middle of the lagoon. The box over its head read, [Boss defeated by Misfits Guild. Where would you like to send your agent of primeval destruction?]

    I grinned and mentally selected Existalis¡¯s outpost. ¡°Kill ''em all,¡± I said. ¡°Break all their stuff.¡±

    And then I lay back on the sand and took my first easy breath of the day, maybe the week. There would be more battles, sooner rather than later. But today, today we had won a fight nobody had expected us to win. One we hadn''t asked for.

    Not that we''d asked for any of this. Today, we hadn''t just out-fought them. We''d out-thought them. Nobody was going to take Earth for granted anymore. That might not be a good thing, but it was a thing that I had done.

    Grandpa''s voice sounded in my ear. "Gonna just stay there all day, sleepyhead?"

    I got to my feet as the kill squad trooped down onto the beach. "I just thought we''d let him get a head start," I said, pointing to the water where the Old One was forming once more. This time, it took the shape of a midnight-black scintillating squid, lifting its skull high atop a pulsating body.

    It crawled to shore on its pseudopods, gaining speed as it went. As it hit the trees, it was going at least 30 miles an hour. It smashed through them, leaving only debris in its wake. "Better warn our spies," I said.

    "Already on it," Juana said. ¡°A couple of ''em have volunteered to stand watch at Existalis, just so we can all enjoy the recording later.¡±

    ¡°Get the crew,¡± Grandpa said. ¡°We¡¯re going to accompany Cthulhu the whole way, just in case any of them decide to try to take him down. This ain¡¯t over till the fat lady sings.¡±

    I laughed and reloaded. ¡°Right, so let¡¯s finish this.¡±

 2.51 - How Not to Overstay Your Welcome

    Three days later¡­.

    Mama Grace¡¯s restaurant was packed to the gills. We squeezed in shoulder to shoulder, at least four hundred humans. Those of us who had been most involved in Phase Two had a couple long tables at the back of the room, and Mama Grace¡¯s helpers served us first.

    Grandpa had ordered beer and sangria, with some help to source them from Veda. The barbequed bug ribs were slathered in a solid approximation of Texas sauce. I didn¡¯t ask what was in it. The cornbread was fresh and hot, the beans had been cooking for days, and the coleslaw was crisp. I could close my eyes and pretend I was back on Earth, just for a bit.

    The crafters were the heroes of the hour. Other coalition members pushed through the crowd to shake their hands and congratulate them. I caught Dwight¡¯s eye and raised my beer.

    Juana leaned over my shoulder. ¡°Happy birthday, by the way, Shad.¡±

    I started. ¡°Wait, what?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Grandpa said. ¡°I checked the date with the System.¡±

    ¡°Wow.¡± I sipped my beer, staring at it. I was twenty-two years old now. We¡¯d been here nearly a year. A huge chunk of my life, an even bigger part of Sage¡¯s. I forced a smile. ¡°You know, they said, ¡®Join the Army, see the world¡¯ but I didn¡¯t ever expect this.¡±

    ¡°Also,¡± Grandpa said. ¡°Got you a gift. Courtesy of Colonel Ames, but he couldn¡¯t make it.¡± He tossed me a small box. I flipped it open. A set of shiny captain¡¯s bars stared up at me.

    I pulled out one of the linked silver pairs and stared at it. ¡°Wait, really?¡± I looked up at Grandpa, who nodded.

    ¡°You¡¯ve earned it. Time in grade is a little short, but what we¡¯re doing here counts for a lot. Besides, we can¡¯t have Earth¡¯s finest being led by a mere lieutenant.¡±

    ¡°What about you?¡±

    ¡°Ames¡¯s working on something. I don¡¯t care, but if Waters shows up again it¡¯ll make our lives easier.¡±

    I went to put the bars back, but Juana grabbed them from me and pinned them to my shirt. ¡°I¡¯m not in uniform!¡± I protested.

    ¡°Yes, you are,¡± she said. ¡°That coat¡¯s your uniform now. Besides, I don¡¯t think your senior officer is going to mind.¡± She gave me a quick kiss on my cheek and slipped away before I could react. I felt myself getting hot in the face. Grandpa laughed at me and handed me another beer.

    ¡°I got you something too!¡± Sage said. She pulled a pair of ammo cans out of her inventory. Grunting slightly, she put them down on the table. I flipped open the lid and smiled at the bright shiny brass cartridges. ¡°More boom rounds, a bunch of frag rounds, and some really fun ones,¡± she said.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take a look after the party.¡± I pulled the cans into my own inventory and dove back into the plate.

    When the feasting had started to slack off a little, Grandpa got up. He pushed his way to the head of the room. Conversation died down as all heads turned to him. I swallowed the last of my food and pushed away my plate. I knew what was coming, and it might be uncomfortable.

    ¡°Well done, everyone!¡± Grandpa said. We all whooped and hollered. ¡°They said it couldn¡¯t be done. That indigenous groups never get to Phase Three. That we didn¡¯t have any idea what we were doing. Well, we¡¯ve showed them.¡±

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    I raised a fist and cheered with the rest.

    ¡°But there¡¯s more to come. Phase Three will be our biggest challenge yet. We¡¯re going to need all of you, and a lot more. We¡¯re going to need every human we can get to back this. Together, we have a shot at taking a tiny piece of what ought to be ours back from the assholes who kidnapped us. It¡¯s going to be the most important operation in human history. Let that sink in a minute.¡±

    We did, but I heard some shuffling feet and murmurs. I caught the eye of Paul, one of our crafters, and nodded. ¡°Go ahead. Ask him,¡± I mouthed.

    Paul raised a hand. ¡°Major Twofeather? I ¡ª I¡¯m on board for whatever you¡¯re up to, of course. You¡¯ve steered us right so far. But ¡ª why is this such a big deal? I thought we were trying to earn coin to buy out our contracts and go home, but you make this sound way worse.¡±

    Grandpa nodded. ¡°There¡¯s something you don¡¯t know. Something they¡¯ve been keeping secret. Something our sponsor told us and I¡¯ve been wrestling with how or when to tell you all. Well, there¡¯s never gonna be a right time, so this is as good as any.¡± He took a deep breath, and I leaned forward, gripping the edge of the table so tight my knuckles went white. I knew what was coming, and this was critical. We might lose some of our people, based on the next couple minutes. But Grandpa was right. They deserved to know.

    ¡°We can¡¯t go home.¡±

    He let that hang there for a moment, then half the crowd was on their feet shouting and the other half still looking shell shocked.

    Sage slipped closer to me. I put an arm around her. She¡¯d already known, but her face was as pale as I¡¯d ever seen it.

    ¡°What do you mean, we can¡¯t go home?¡± Dwight shouted.

    ¡°The Reality Engine changed us. Really changed us. How do you think we can shoot lightning from our asses and teleport and all that bullshit? It¡¯s done something to our bodies, and now we¡¯re dependent on it, or another engine like it.¡±

    ¡°So we¡¯re trapped here,¡± someone said.

    ¡°They¡¯ve lied to us!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the point? I¡¯m done, I¡¯m going to find that safe portal and just sit around doing nothing.¡± That was Phil, one of our best crafters, who had come up with the Shad Dummies plans for our final Phase Two push. I heard others agreeing with him. We needed to stop this talk, fast.

    I got to my feet. ¡°Of course they lied to us,¡± I said. ¡°They kidnapped and enslaved us. But we weren¡¯t even supposed to get here, and we did. We¡¯ll find a way. Somehow. There¡¯s tech that can let us go back to Earth, at least to visit. Sounds like it¡¯s damn expensive. But if we make it in Phase Three? We can buy anything. Maybe our planet back.¡±

    I wanted to convince them, to make everyone take time to think about what this all meant, but my words felt hollow. I wasn¡¯t sure I believed myself. ¡°That¡¯s all still a ways down the road though. Right now, I¡¯m looking at going into Phase Three and doing what we¡¯ve been doing all along. Surpassing expectations.¡±

    ¡°Hear, hear!¡± Kirin yelled from a seat in the corner next to Arjun. ¡°I¡¯m with Team Twofeather!¡±

    Mama Grace stood in the kitchen door, drying her hands on her apron. ¡°We¡¯re all with you,¡± she shouted. ¡°Anyone who¡¯s got cold feet, go ahead and leave, but you¡¯ll be losing your friends-and-family discount on your meals!¡±

    That broke the tension. A ripple of laughter swept the room. Most of the crew sat back down.

    Grandpa held up his hands. ¡°I¡¯m not going to pretend it¡¯ll be easy. Hasn¡¯t been so far. But I couldn¡¯t ask for a better team to work with. We ain¡¯t anything special. They picked us at random, from all over Earth. Well, I¡¯ll take randomly-chosen humans over the elite alien teams any day. We¡¯re going into Phase Three, and we are going to make our mark. That¡¯s my promise. Not that we win the whole thing. Not that we kicked them out and reclaim what¡¯s ours. But that we make them remember we were here.¡±

    I saw him touch the thong under his shirt where he wore his medicine pouch next to my Abeula¡¯s medallion, and wondered just what he was thinking about now. His wife? My mother? His ancestors, who had been pushed off their land by more powerful invaders, fighting to keep the memory of who they¡¯d been?

    ¡°We can¡¯t go home,¡± Grandpa said. It was like he was talking just to me. ¡°But we¡¯ll find a way to bring home along with us, wherever we go. As long as we stick together, we haven¡¯t lost everything.¡±

    I met his gaze and nodded. I didn¡¯t know what was coming in Phase Three, or where we¡¯d go next, but side by side with my family ¡ª Sage, Grandpa, and everyone else who had joined us in this fight ¡ª I was ready.

    Ready to ride for the brand, one more time.

    Team Twofeather will return in Space Rodeo 3: Let¡¯s Shake Some (Moon) Dust!

 3.1 - Assessing Real Estate: Location, Location, Location

    The air shimmered around us, a dazzling white haze before solidifying into our new surroundings. I took a deep breath and looked around. Our outpost now sat atop a steep hill covered in lush green grass. The base of the hill was the edge of a pine forest. The land sloped away toward a narrow lake, still and reflecting the bright blue sky above. In the other direction, the forest sloped up and away from us along the flanks of a steep mountain valley. The peaks soared above us at least four thousand feet, jagged granite crags topped with snow. The word "Alpine" stuck in my head. My guess was this landscape came from Central Europe somewhere or it was completely made up by the AI.

    [Welcome to the Corrupted Earth!] the system boomed from all around us.

    [The world is hollow. It seethes with unrest and evil. You and your allied heroes will assault multiple battlefronts to cleanse the foul monsters who rule this world, delving deeper and deeper to unlock ancient secrets, competing for a chance to unseat the dark ruler of this world. You will not be alone in your attempts. Team ruleset will be revealed to those who gain entry to Castle Byalgrad.

    Here in the Kingdom of Illyria, you are one of ten teams that will be competing to defeat the defenders of Castle Byalgrad. The halls of the castle are filled with multiple challenges. You will have to work to defeat each of those to reach the lowest level. From there, your next step will be revealed.

    The rule set from phase two has been modified in the following ways.

    First, you will find crafting materials available here of a higher quality than anything in the previous levels. These can be harvested by any of your affiliated miners. However, unlike the previous level, harvesting miners can be attacked by other miners. There is no distinction here between combat and non-combat miner. That means you can swap members at will in and out of your combat team.

    As before, deaths are temporary and miners will revive inside your outpost. Outposts are not attackable at this point in the phase.]

    I made a note of that. It sounded like the rules could be changed at any time. [Respawns are instantaneous; however, each respawn will cost Soul Coins from your backer¡¯s bid. The more deaths, the higher the cost. Please consult with your backers to make sure you have sufficient funds available for respawn.

    You have one week before the doors of the castle will open. You may use that time to gather information, collect resources, or improve your own creep spawning abilities. But be careful: the valley had inhabitants before you, and they won¡¯t all be happy to see newcomers.

    Good luck!]

    "That really isn''t a whole lot to go on," Grandpa observed as the system voice faded away. "We need information, pronto. We should send out a bunch of our crafters to scout."

    ¡°Team ruleset worried me,¡± Juana said. ¡°That sounds like we might need allies, and we¡¯re a little short on those.¡±

    Just then, my notifications beeped. I checked. ¡°Holy shit! I just gained three levels, I¡¯ve got a bunch of choices to make!¡±

    ¡°Me, too!¡± Sage exclaimed, jumping up and down with excitement. ¡°We got XP for Phase Two after all! I need to go look at what I get, I¡¯m going to finally have more than twenty charisma and I¡¯ll be able to Tame two targets at once!¡±

    ¡°Hold your horses,¡± Grandpa said. ¡°Let¡¯s get things settled here, then we¡¯ll figure out our level ups.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± Sage said. ¡°Back to business. Lives are a fungible resource now. We don''t know what these challenges are going to be, but I''m guessing it might take us more than one try to beat them. The more respawns we have available, the more times we can try."

    "Good point," I said, while wondering where she¡¯d picked up words like fungible. Probably from hanging around Kirin and Arjun. "But at the same time, we aren''t going to want to give up whatever treasures are available here. They might come in real handy later on. And if we can ambush other teams and use up their lives, that works out for us, right?¡±

    ¡°And ruin any chance they might want to ally with us?" Juana asked. ¡°By the way, I¡¯m Level Three now, without ever having to set foot outside our outpost in Phase Two.¡± She winked at us. She¡¯d never even entered a Phase One portal, since her family had set up a restaurant to pay their contracts off. Two levels just for her work on our outpost was impressive.

    I thought about the first part of what she¡¯d said. ¡°If anybody wants to make a non-aggression pact, that''s fine by me. We don¡¯t have enough to go on yet to think about teaming up, we¡¯ll need to wait until those rules are unveiled.¡±

    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    "I''ll look into it," Juana said. "I''m sending information on our setting back to Arjun. His info said there were going to be 857 teams going into Phase Three. If we''re up against 9 others, we can expect there''s 86 or so of these scenarios set up. It means we''re not likely to run into anyone we know, but if we got really unlucky and are stuck in a world with a bunch of Proxima patsies, we''ll want to know."

    We got a ping from Veda. I''ve just been informed there''s a sponsors and team heads party here on the hub in 8 hours. I''m going to need three of you up here.

    I think we''ve all got better things to do, I said, and my dress uniform got left back on earth, so I''m going to have to turn it down.

    It''s not optional, she said. System enforced.

    What''ll they do if I say no?

    Do you really want to find out?

    I hesitated. My instinct was to send Juana and Grandpa and maybe Dwight. I wasn''t good at that sort of formal soiree.

    Grandpa was looking at me and shaking his head. "I think you should go, Shad," he said quietly. "I have a feeling this''ll be like an embassy ball. Chiefs to mingle and meet the opposition, get their number."

    "It''s a waste of time," I said. "Hours to get up there, hours there, hours to get back down. When I could be helping us figure out what''s going on here."

    "Still," Grandpa said, unruffled, "I think we both need to go." He looked around at our crew of misfits, traveling from one to the next. "Now, who''ll be good at an event like this? Someone who can keep a level head, observe what''s going on, mingle. Maybe even do a little spying." He glanced at Sage, shook his head. Kept looking, clearly wrote off all of the Mongeese.

    Veda, does it have to be one of our combat team or can it be anyone?

    You can bring anyone. Though they will judge us by who you bring.

    They?

    It''s complicated. Just make sure it''s someone who can handle themselves when cornered.

    Grandpa nodded. "Got it. Juana?" She looked up from where she''d been, leaning over the strategy table, looking at our surroundings.

    "Yes?"

    "How do you feel about being Shad''s date to a party tonight?"

    I opened my mouth to protest as Juana''s cheeks flushed a little. "What''s this all about?"

    "Some VIP event that Veda just sprung on us," I said. "We need a third for our delegation."

    "Oh." She glanced away, then back. "Up on the Hub?"

    "Yeah, I know. It''s a pain."

    Juana was shaking her head. "No, no, it''s fine. Maybe we can find out more about these team rules, and make a few allies. And we''ve got a week, so I guess it''s all right. But I haven''t got anything to wear."

    Grandpa sent Veda a message. All right, we''re on our way up, but you''d better take care of seeing that we look presentable.

    Not to worry, Veda said as we made our way toward the exit. I''m already on it.

    I settled into my seat on the space elevator pod. I¡¯d gotten used to the astonishing trip from Ganymede up to the Hub, but the moment we popped out of the shell protecting Threshold and saw Jupiter hanging there never failed to take my breath away.

    ¡°It¡¯s a hell of a commute,¡± Grandpa said, staring out at the gas giant.

    ¡°Almost makes all this worth it,¡± Juana said.

    I didn¡¯t respond. The truth was, ever since we started Phase Two and the threat of death was taken away, I¡¯d been enjoying myself. Phase Two had been one challenge after another, and I¡¯d risen to them all. The adrenaline rush, the feel of pulling victory from the claws of defeat ¡ª it was addictive.

    I pulled up my stats screen. ¡°Guess I¡¯ll see what I get for leveling up.¡± Three levels at once took me from 5 to 8, all the XP from Phase Two dumped on me at once. That meant I had nine points to assign. I tossed two into stamina, to bring my health pool up to 170. Then a couple into charisma and dexterity, both of which were key for my favorite skills, and then I added three points to strength to bring that up to 8. Now that I had my Home on the Range ability, letting me teleport back to base holding anything I could lift, strength mattered a lot more than it had before.

    ¡°Huh,¡± I said, after assigning the points, as a message popped up. [Congratulations! Your achievements from Phase Two have been noted and rewarded.

    Notable achievements (received by fewer than 5% of miners)

    Punching Up: Take out an outpost more than one level stronger than your own

    Sails the Seven Seas: Steal more than 100,000 soul coins¡¯ worth of equipment from another team

    Suicide Watch: Die more than ten times in a single twenty-four hour period

    Reward for these achievements will be delivered in 72 hours.]

    ¡°Are you getting a special award?¡± I asked Grandpa.

    ¡°Yup. Let¡¯s check around.¡± He sent a message to our combat team. Most of them reported getting the Punching Up achievement, but nobody admitted to ¡°Suicide Watch¡±. I kept that one to myself.

    Sage was ecstatic. She¡¯d gotten a special achievement of her own. ¡°Up and Coming¡± was awarded to ¡°the youngest (age adjusted by species maturation times) miner to have participated in a team special event¡±. I can¡¯t wait to see what I get, she told me over chat.

    How¡¯d you spend your level up points?

    Got Charisma to 21. Now I can Tame two targets! I don¡¯t even need a second physical lasso, it¡¯s going to be great.

    Did you up your stamina?

    That¡¯s soooo boring.

    Not dying is important.

    I know, I know. I¡¯m sticking my tongue out at you right now, even if you can¡¯t see it. Yes, I put two points in stamina. Then everything I had left in dexterity.

    Good. I watched the sky, looking for the particular shining point of light that was the Hub. We were well above the surface of the moon now, sliding through space.

    Sage sent me another note. I¡¯m going hunting with the farmers. Don¡¯t insult anyone important, ok?

    Do I ever?

    That and dying stupidly are your two signature moves, Shad. I¡¯m not there to keep you out of trouble and Juana¡¯s too nice but stick with her anyway, ok? Besides she likes you and it would be nice if I had someone else helping take care of you, so don¡¯t mess this up.

    Wait, what?

    I¡¯m busy now, don¡¯t talk to me. Talk to Juana, she¡¯s the one there with you.

 Book 3 Stats Chapter

    This isn¡¯t a real chapter, this is for readers who may wish to see our heroes¡¯ current stats and abilities list. This entire chapter can safely be skipped if that¡¯s not important to you!

    Level 8 Stats for Team Twofeather

    <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td valign="middle">

    </td>

    <td valign="middle">

    Shad

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    Sage

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    Grandpa

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td valign="middle">

    Cha

    </td>

    <td valign="middle">

    14

    </td>

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    21

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    7

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td valign="middle">

    Dex

    </td>

    <td valign="middle">

    16

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    12

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    18

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td valign="middle">

    Int

    </td>

    <td valign="middle">

    4

    </td>

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    8

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    3

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    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td valign="middle">

    Sta

    </td>

    <td valign="middle">

    17

    </td>

    <td valign="middle">

    14

    </td>

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    16

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td valign="middle">

    Str

    </td>

    <td valign="middle">

    8

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    5

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    <td valign="middle">

    16

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    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td valign="middle">

    Wis

    </td>

    <td valign="middle">

    6

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    </td>

    <td valign="middle">

    5

    </td>

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    7

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    HP

    </td>

    <td valign="middle">

    170

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    <td valign="middle">

    140

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    <td valign="middle">

    160

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Abilities cheat sheet. Not all abilities and skills may be listed here.

    Shad: Class Evolution: Ride for the Brand.

    High Noon - In a one-on-one duel, you always get the first shot.

    Quick Draw ¡ª Instantly call bonded weapon to hand, up to 50 foot range.

    Trick Shot - Target an opponent and fire. Shot will connect even if opponent is behind cover.

    Barrage - empty all currently loaded rounds at once. Each round has a 15% buff to damage.

    Call ¡®em out - aoe reveal of enemies and taunt. Cooldown: 5 minutes

    Bluff - Use to boost skill at persuading targets to believe what¡¯s being said

    Test Your Mettle - when below 30% health, you receive a 100% boost to health regeneration.

    Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight  - Force opponents in melee range to drop their weapons

    Loyal - bonus to soul coins when with long-term party

    Fastest Gun In The West - cover 100 feet in 1 second and knockback

    Roped Into It - Conjure a rope and use it to swing up to 40 feet

    New equipment - Cowboy Hat. Wearer is impervious to water-based damage. Wearer cannot be charmed.

    Tip My Hat: Used to acknowledge a party member or allied miner''s ability. Gives them 15 minute well-done buff, which allows them to deal 10% more damage. Can apply to (2xlevel) other miners at a time. This can only be applied outside of combat.

    Lay of the Land: Used to view a distant object or area close up. 10 minute cool down.

    Home on the Range: Once a day, return to outpost. Channel time, 15 seconds. Can bring anything wearer is capable of lifting off the ground for that 15 seconds.

    Grandpa: Class Evolution: Last War Chief

    Shadow Step - teleport behind an enemy

    Scalp - apply massive head damage

    Count Coup: shadow step behind, then damage an enemy. 1 point. If not previously damaged, 2 points. Cash in 4 points for coup-de-grace, instakill enemy below 25%, not bosses

    Blur - harder to hit when moving

    Pub Dart Champion - when one thrown weapon hits, the next three go to same spot

    Crippling Blow

    War Chief¡¯s Aegis - bless allies. Day long cooldown. Grants a 50% dexterity and int buff, along with a 40% boost to max hit points

    Item: Ninja Headband - plus 1 to dex and stamina

    Passive ability: Any attack from behind a target or while obscured 30% more powerful

    Ability: Allows The War Chief¡¯s Boon to be cast at the start of a fight, granting a 30% health regeneration boost and a shield worth 25% of target¡¯s max HP.

    Sage: Class Evolution: Barrel Racer

    Cowgirl Cheer buffs allies. 35% buff to dodge chance and damage done for all party members in range

    Lasso - pull in and trip an enemy

    Eye Spy - reveals information about enemy weaknesses.

    Raise Your Spirits - cleanse and HOT. Can be on multiple targets at once. Now also removes poisons and DOTs.

    Mucking Out the Stalls - make a large area Difficult terrain. Any target who gets the created muck on their bare body gains the Stinky debuff

    Tame - Lasso now has a charm aspect

    Three-Barrel Race - teleport between three locations at will

    Item: T shirt cannon - shoots various constricting or damaging shots

    Tame Upgrade! Now may affect two targets at once

    Item:Rodeo Blouse.

    Ability: Knock ¡®Em Dead. If creature dies while Tamed, Tame resets cooldown

 3.2 - How to Make a Great First Impression

    I waited around in the lounge of the rented suite Veda had hired for us, fingering the tight collar of my brand-new dress uniform. I had to give Veda credit; it looked exactly right. I had taken my shiny new captain¡¯s bars from the shirt I usually wore under my duster and moved them over to the uniform. I gave them a little polish, too, while Grandpa wasn¡¯t around to see.

    Grandpa was taking a long time to come out of his room. At last, the door opened, and I turned to look. I had been expecting him to wear a uniform to match mine. Instead, it was a style 50 years old from the Vietnam era, and he was wearing his old dress jacket, the one he brought from home. It had been cleaned up and ironed. He saw me looking and shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable. "I asked Veda to have an iron on hand for me," he said.

    "Looks good," I said.

    "Seems she got our measurements right," Grandpa replied, looking me up and down.

    The third door opened, and I turned to greet Juana but forgot what I was saying as I got a look at her. She was wearing a pale blue gown with narrow shoulder straps. It fell in flowing curves to her ankles. Her hair was up, pinned in a mass of intricate curls with tiny gleaming sapphires attached to each of the pins. I was no expert in women''s hairstyles, but I was certain that hadn''t been a quick fix.

    "Do I look alright?" she asked, giving a little twirl to show off how the dress swirled and revealing silver shoes and bare calves underneath.

    "You look great," I said. "Did Veda arrange for the hair too?"

    "An all-in-one hair and makeup bot," she said, grinning.

    Grandpa poked me in the ribs. "Stop staring at her and offer her your arm," he said. "We''re supposed to meet Veda in 10 minutes at the lounge area."

    I managed to get my mouth closed. Feeling ridiculous, I walked over and offered Juana my arm. "I''m hurt that Major Twofeather didn''t offer to escort me.¡±

    Grandpa snorted. "I may have been rejuvenated, but I''m still much too old to be going around with a young gal like you," he said. "Let''s get a move on."

    Streams of elegantly dressed aliens moved through the Hub, converging on the lounge where Veda had said to meet her. I enjoyed looking at everyone''s formal wear. The elves wore long tunics that fell to just above their knees with tight leggings underneath and a variety of oddly shaped tiaras on their heads. Most of the orcs I saw were wearing stylized armor with enormous shoulder pads and various animal motifs emblazoned on the breasts. I saw a lizard folk woman in a princess dress and a couple of almost human-looking aliens who had a bluish cast to their skin wearing kimonos. Both of them were male. Other fashions I couldn''t begin to describe.

    The lounge was an enormous barn-sized room with a ceiling that disappeared overhead into a cloud of stars. It was lit in blues and purples. There was a faint trickling water sound. Round tables dotted the room about chest height offering drinks and those little snacks that come on toothpicks.

    Veda was waiting for us. She wore a dress similar in cut to Juana¡¯s but in flame orange. I had rarely actually seen Veda in person. Most of her interactions with us had been by hologram. Now she offered her hand, and we all shook.

    "Sorry to drag you up here. I understand you feel like your time would be better spent preparing, but it''s a command performance, and they''re supposed to be releasing more information about the challenges anyway.¡±

    ¡°Like the team rules?¡± Juana asked eagerly. ¡°I feel like we¡¯re way behind here. Everyone else probably already has allies and we¡¯re outsiders. Or have you made contacts for us yet?¡±

    ¡°No, the team ruleset is weird,¡± Veda said. ¡°Nobody knows what¡¯s up with that. The System seems to have tricks up its sleeve this time. I¡¯m a little worried. You guys aren¡¯t the most popular. On the other hand, a bunch of the orcs and lizardfolk love you. Maybe we can find some groups that aren¡¯t tied too tightly to Proxima or Alabaster Sky.¡±

    ¡°What''s our objective here?" Grandpa asked. He scowled. "And how come I can''t access any of my menus?"

    "System interfaces are turned off in this space," she said. "No chatting or access to inventories. It''s considered a form of cheating. There will be data packets available afterward that have the information presented here."

    "Fine.¡±

    ¡°Objective is to mingle with the other players, those who will be going up against us, sponsors, and potential backers. There''s fewer than a thousand Phase Three teams this time. That leaves a lot of people who usually have a look-in sitting on the sidelines. Some of them may be willing to throw in their backing to you if there''s a benefit for them. So since you''re the only Earth humans invited here, you''ll probably be approached by people looking to make contact with your crafters."

    Juana nodded. "I can handle that. I''ll pass their information along. Dwight and Arjun are setting up a clearinghouse to make sure that all of us humans know who to work with and who to stay away from."

    ¡°And tell ¡®em if they want our crafters, they¡¯ll have to be willing to work with the rest of us,¡± I said.

    "It''s a good start," Veda agreed. "This isn''t like Phase Two where people had their own individual reasons for being there. Everyone who is in Phase Three is in this because they think they have a serious chance at coming away with a share of the prize."

    "Yeah, and how does that work?" I asked as we moved deeper into the room. We were getting a few side-long looks from some of the aliens there. I wondered if they recognized us as Earth humans. If they were also cut off from their system interfaces, then they couldn''t be getting information about us that way. I wasn''t convinced that the more powerful among them were limited like we were.

    "There''s 800 some teams, and we''re competing over shares of the reality engine. Part of the way the Reality Engine Exploitation Committee prevents war is by breaking up control of the reality engine into smaller pieces. In this case, 10,000 shares. Each represents one ten-thousandth of the tamed engine''s power, storage, and output. No one individual entity is permitted more than a thousand shares of any given reality engine. But that means each share is worth fortunes. More money than you can possibly imagine."

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    "Try it," Grandpa said grimly. "We''ve got eight billion people back on Earth. How much would it cost to buy each and every one of them a slot in this here reality engine once it''s been turned into condos or whatever it is you people do with it?"

    "A single share would be more than sufficient," Veda said flatly. "You just have no idea. The upper limit on how many individual beings can exist inside a reality engine is in the trillions. A single share is enough to start a shipyard producing the kind of pods and pod carriers people like me use to go between stars."

    I whistled. "Okay, so even one share is enough to make our day. How do we get our hands on one?"

    "That''s what we''re all here to find out," Veda said. "This is a rule set I haven''t seen in play before. I understand the basic concept. There''ll be various challenges you have to meet, probably special fights like that last one you had in Phase Two against a particularly powerful enemy who can outthink you all. I''m hoping we get more details here in a minute. The thing is, even if you humans manage to grab a piece of the action, you won''t know what to do with it."

    "So that''s where you''re going to help us, right?"

    Veda laughed. "What makes you think I know? My family has been a phase two outfit for generations. We''ve never even stuck around to watch Phase Three. We''re not talking twice as complicated or twice as dangerous. We''re talking orders of magnitude more. I would be out of here on my way back home right now if we hadn''t gotten that concession from the big guys at the end of Phase Two not to interfere with you or anyone to do with you. The system will hold them to it, so I''m not worried about assassins showing up in the middle of the night or a convenient accident happening to my pod." She smiled, like a shark, and I wondered if that sort of assassination was common in galactic business deals. "Besides, my family''s in the trouble we''re in because my father lost his shirt in a bunch of poor business decisions that were more like gambling, I guess. They take after him after all."

    ¡°Ok, but that¡¯s afterward. Right now we need to focus on Phase Three,¡± I said. ¡°So what are we doing here?¡±

    "I suggest we split up," Grandpa said. "Veda, why don''t you take me and introduce me to people you think I should meet? Shad? Juana? You two mingle. I expect if I leave you alone, somebody''ll think you two are easy marks and come try to take advantage of you. Just don''t promise them anything and try to listen more than you talk." He offered Veda his arm. Our sponsor looked surprised, then shrugged and set her hand on his elbow. They pushed off deeper into the room.

    I looked at Juana, feeling unaccountably nervous. "So he''s just leaving us here for the wolves.¡±

    ¡°Come on, Shad." She shrugged on my sleeve. "Let''s go find someone to talk to."

    We mingled. By which I mean, Juana and I inched through the room, me trying not to make eye contact with or bump into any of the aliens there. Juana nodded pleasantly to those she passed. We were about a quarter of the way around the enormous circular room. The dominant color of the light had changed from green to purple.

    Then I edged us around a clump of odd polka-dotted humanoids with too many fingers and almost ran into someone I actually knew. Chief Theram¡¯Goss, who I had defeated in a one-on-one duel early on in Phase Two, thereby saving his life, stood talking intently with a tall, pale, bald alien of a species I had not previously met. They reminded me a lot of the gray aliens of Area 51 fame.

    The Chief spotted me and waved me over. I glanced at Juana, who gave me a "I guess" kind of look, and we joined them. "Patron, this is the human I spoke to you of some time ago," Theram¡¯Goss said. "Shad Williams and his associate.¡±

    ¡°This is Juana Lopez," I supplied.

    "Shad, this is High Overlord Merak Tahahl. He holds Firebrand''s contract."

    I inclined my head, not sure what the polite galactic greeting would be. "Pleased to make your acquaintance.¡±

    ¡°The Chief has been telling me much about you." The alien''s voice was melodious, higher-pitched than I had somehow expected. The High Overlord was about four inches taller than me. He looked at me through overlarge orbs, and blinked, his eyelids crossing horizontally. ¡°Theram¡¯Goss says your people are not to be underestimated."

    I shrugged. "Well, we made it this far.¡±

    ¡°Your team did," the High Overlord corrected. "Out of some seven million who passed the first phase of induction."

    "Yes, well, I couldn''t have done it alone," I glanced at Juana. "My coalition has a great number of crafters, and even more who are willing to work with us."

    "Indeed, that is very interesting for an inducted species, especially one as savage and primitive as your own."

    "Well, thank you," I said.

    Theram¡¯Goss smirked. The alien raised one hand in an odd gesture. "I see that you are not easily startled. A title you would prefer?"

    Now, usually I''m an informal kind of guy. I prefer Shad over my full name by a long shot, but dressed up like this, representing Earth? ¡°You can call me Captain Williams," I said.

    ¡°Captain. You have a place in your world''s army, then."

    "United States Army," I corrected him. "We hadn''t got to a one-world government yet before you all appeared, no matter what some of my Grandpa''s drinking buddies used to think."

    "I see.¡± The High Lord eyed me. "Yes, we have done some of our best recruiting from new species such as your own, and I like that the warrior instinct has not gone out. In my people, we bred such baser behaviors out of ourselves many millennia ago. This has, unfortunately, meant we must rely on the services of groups such as Firebrand to help us achieve our earlier goals."

    "Are you sponsoring one of the other Phase Three bids?" I asked.

    "Yes, as a matter of fact. We are partner-subordinates to Alabaster Sky. If we are fortunate enough to stake a claim to one or more shares of this reality engine, they will have first rights to buy it off of us."

    ¡°I see.¡± Alabaster Sky had tried to screw us over through one of their subsidiary corporations at the end of Phase 2. But we''d played a reverse card on them and made them sign a deal that was a little more fair to humanity, so I wasn''t holding any grudges.

    "I believe it would be worth recruiting Shad Williams and his counterparts for a potential mercenary team such as Firebrand," Theram¡¯Goss said. "They did extremely well in Phase Two for never having seen it before. And of course, all of their combat miners survived Phase One without much outside support."

    "You do have a point," the High Overlord said. "Well, Captain, would you and your people be interested in a position helping open other reality engines?"

    I took a minute to let that sink in. He was talking about leaving the solar system, going to other worlds, and doing to them what had been done to me and the other human miners. I was¡¯t a fan of that. On the other hand, my family and I had been adapted by the reality engine. We couldn¡¯t live on Earth any more, not without help. I hadn¡¯t had time to think past the end of Phase Three, not really, but we were going to need something.

    Plus, we were getting pretty good at this. It couldn¡¯t hurt to keep our options open. And realistically, what else was I going to be doing with my life?

    "Depends on the offer," I said. "A bunch of my people just want to earn enough soul coins to quit this exploit and settle down, but there are some of us who might appreciate a bit more of a challenge. We work as a team, though, so any offer has to be for more than just me and my family. Please do pass along my interest.¡±

    ¡°We will be observing you here in Phase Three.¡±

    I tipped the hat that I wasn''t wearing to them. Stupid, maybe, but I¡¯d gotten so much in the habit of using my Tip buff on everyone I me. Juana and I moved off.

    ¡°I didn''t like him," Juana said softly after we''d moved several clumps away. "He gave me a creepy feeling."

    "Me too," I said. "I''m not ruling out going pro if we got the right offer, but not with him.¡±

    ¡°I should talk to Mama about it. I know she¡¯s been worried about what happens to us next. Maybe ¡ª ¡° She clutched my arm a little tighter, turning to me, her eyes excited. ¡°Maybe we could find a way to help the next system of people to get exploited! Like offer them advice instead of just exploiting them.¡±

    I tried and failed to think of any time in earth history where the colonizers had made things better for the locals. Even groups that had good intentions, like missionaries or medical folk, often made things worse. ¡°Maybe,¡± I said guardedly. ¡°You should talk to Grandpa. Maybe he¡¯ll have some ideas. Right now, let¡¯s get back to the party.¡± I cut off the next thing I was going to say, because someone was coming toward us through the crowd, and they looked angry and well-armed.

 3.3 - Honey, Its Raid Night: How To Convince Your Spouse to Handle ALL the Childcare Duties

    A trio of shorter than average humanoids with balding heads and thick beards appeared and blocked my path. ¡°You! Desecrator! We are here with a warning!¡±

    I studied them, but my brain was busy telling me, These are dwarves. These are definitely dwarves.

    They were wearing lederhosen and heavy boots and had axes through their belts. One of the three had a full head of golden hair done in braids and a braided beard. With a start, I realized she was a woman. Definitely dwarves.

    "Uh," I said, then regained my composure. "Are you sure you''re talking to us?¡±

    ¡°We know who you are,¡± the one with a white beard told me. He poked one thick, stubby finger at my chest. "You are one of our rivals. You share the valley with us."

    "Ah," I said, "nice to meet you. We hadn''t figured out who we were up against yet."

    Juana took a step forward, spreading her hands. "We are willing to discuss cooperation."

    "No cooperation," the elder dwarf spat. "We Akazan will have nothing to do with defilers and those who consort with the unsouled.¡±

    I shared a look with Juana. "I''m sorry?¡±

    ¡°You deny having made an alliance with those?" He swept his arm out and pointed dramatically. I turned to look where he was pointing. About thirty feet off, past another six clumps, were tall, misshapen, three-legged, tentacle-faced aliens. I recognized them at once as Grignarians, though whether they were the ones we had teamed up with or not, I didn''t know. "You deny making common cause with those?"

    "Oh, right," I said. "We had a temporary alliance." And a deal to hire them as mercenaries in Phase Three but I wasn¡¯t going to share that.

    "Bah!" That was the female dwarf. "So it is true. We will enjoy teaching you a lesson."

    "Look, I know those guys aren''t the most popular, but we needed their help.¡±

    ¡°And so, you will find you have chosen your vein and now you must mine it," the dwarf said. "We look forward to beating you to the treasure that awaits.¡±

    With that, they threw their hands up in a three-fingers-up, two-fingers-touching gesture that made me think of death metal bands. I stomped off. Juana stared after them. "What on earth has gotten into them?"

    "I don''t know," I said, "but I''m really starting to wonder why everyone hates these Grignarians so much. I''ll have to ask Veda when she''s got some time.¡±

    ¡°It is simple."A tall man wearing robes strode through the crowd. They parted to let him through without even seeming to notice he was there. He had a bald head and a necklace with a symbol on it.

    I recognized him. "Patriarch Kvaltash?¡±

    ¡°Human Shad Williams. I do not know your friend.¡±

    ¡°This is Juana Lopez, the brains of our organization."

    Juana blushed. "Patriarch, I am pleased to meet you."

    "So you don''t like the Grignarians either?" I asked.

    "It is not a matter of liking," Patriarch said. "They are not children of the Progenitors."

    "Oh?" I frowned. "I thought the beings who created these reality engines had gone and reprogrammed themselves into the DNA of all of the worlds that would eventually produce intelligent life. Your people and mine and the orcs and the lizardfolk, we''re all progenitor spawn."

    "That is correct," the Patriarch said. I wasn''t sure how I felt about this particular cosmological revelation. I''d never been worried too much about where I''d come from, considering my own family tree on one side looked like a kudzu plant. But the thing of it was, I didn''t see how it made any difference right now. Even if we were all cousins deep, deep down, it hadn''t prevented the Galactics from royally screwing us miners over and stealing Earth¡¯s inheritance out from under us.

    I shouldn''t be surprised, considering what we humans had done to others who were undeniably of our same species.

    "The Grignarians are not the children of the Progenitors," the Patriarch said.

    I scratched my head. "I know they''re kind of funny looking, but how''s it you know for sure?¡±

    "They, unlike any other sentient species we have encountered, are unable to absorb soul coins. Therefore we know they did not inherit souls from our ancestors."

    "Wait, wait, wait," I said. There was a lot to unpack here, even ignoring the bit about inheriting souls. "Are you saying they don''t get soul coins? ''Cause I thought that was the only way we were able to be here, to participate in this reality engine at all."

    "They have admittedly very clever technology," the Patriarch said. "It allows them to interact with the reality engine on a virtual level. But they do not attune, and they do not experience the reality engine as the rest of us do."

    The Grignarians were getting more and more interesting by the minute. If they had technology to interact with a reality engine like that, then they must understand it a whole lot better than anyone else here.

    "So that''s why everyone''s so mean to them?" I said.

    "They are trying to take an inheritance that is not theirs," the Patriarch said, as though that explained everything. "They are soulless. My order teaches to treat them kindly when we encounter them outside of reality engines, but when inside, we show them no quarter. It is no fault of theirs that they have no souls."

    ¡°It''s possible our translators aren''t handling words right," I said. "When you say ''soul,'' you mean?¡±

    ¡°The eternal spark which is and was and will be," the Progenitor said. "That which bonds with a soul coin in order to attune to a reality engine. The part of a being which continues after that being''s physical death."

    "Right. Okay. So it is more or less the same thing." I rubbed my head, wondering if they really had proof of eternal souls and if the Grignarians were truly missing out.

    Juana spoke up. "Where did the Progenitors come from?"

    The Patriarch turned to her, beaming. "My daughter, you have touched on the central mystery of my faith. Indeed, that is the question that drives us all on. Where did they come from? Where did they go?"

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you just say they turned into us?¡±

    "Some of them did. Some of them, we know, became the heart and mind of these reality engines they left behind. But we have clues, tantalizing clues, that some of them went elsewhere, remaining much as they were. It is possible that they are still out there, somewhere deeper in our galaxy, or perhaps in the void between galaxies, waiting for us to mature enough to meet them and understand them. My own belief, one that is permitted yet not endorsed entirely by my church, is that this is a grand cosmological cycle that just as the universe itself expands, then contracts, then expands again, renewing itself every time it runs low on energy. So too are the Progenitors and the reality engine a cycle. In time, we will ascend to become the creators of reality, those who can shape worlds with a thought, to wield the power that right now seems to us like magic. In that time, we will understand why it is that the Progenitors made the choice they did, and we shall face the same choice ourselves. We shall begin the cycle anew."

    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Great. An alien cultist with apocalyptic beliefs, and I needed him on my side because the Church of the Progenitors was the one who had gotten us the Phase Three license, and I wasn''t sure yet if they could get that revoked. I cleared my throat. "Thanks for speaking with us, Patriarch, and thank you for backing our entry here into Phase Three."

    "Indeed," the Patriarch said. "I must say I have slightly exceeded my mandate here. We saw early on signs that this reality engine might retain more memories of its Progenitors than the average when we saw how your species tunes so deeply with the engine."

    "How''s that?" Juana asked.

    "Your classes are a clear example," the Patriarch said. "Most reality engines offer their sponsored species a set of 6 to 8 easily defined classes. Warrior, monk, healer, that sort of thing. Your engine has at this point offered 5,762,314 distinct classes. No more than 10 humans share a single class, and that class is Soldier."

    "Really?" I said. "I assumed that was a standard reality engine thing."

    "We have seen it a handful of times before. When you have engaged in as many reality engines exploits as we have, everything comes up sooner or later. It is, however, a sign that the reality engine retains more of its original core. This is a good thing. It is my fervent hope that if you humans manage to penetrate the core far enough to claim a share of the reality engine, that it will reveal some of its truths to you. By the terms of our license, you must turn over all data you collect from your endeavors in Phase Three."

    I nodded. I had seen that clause when we accepted the license endorsement from the Order of the Progenitors. I hadn''t liked it, but it only said they could see our data after we had finished, not before.

    "Now," the Patriarch said. "Excuse me, please. The announcements will begin shortly. I suggest you find a seat."

    He moved off through the crowd before I could say anything. "What seat?" I asked, and Juana pointed. A little farther on in the room, rows and rows of pale white backless benches had risen from the floor. The partygoers were moving toward them. Juana and I joined the throng. The benches were long enough for five or six people to sit. We took the end of one, and a moment later, a pair of orcs plopped down at the other end. They ignored us.

    As everyone was seated, the light around us changed. Purple faded to black, green lightened to white, and a glow started at the front of the room. A moment later, it blossomed into light over a raised dais where six people were seated. A seventh, the Patriarch, was climbing the six metal steps leading up onto the dais. He took a seat at the end of the row, and the system began to speak.

    [Welcome, sponsors and team leaders of Phase Three. Thank you for attending tonight''s function. This informational period will be short. At the end of it, information packets will be made available to your entire team. And after the auction, you will be permitted to return to your outposts to continue preparation for the opening of Phase Three.]

    "Auction? What auction?" Juana and I looked at each other. She shrugged, clearly having no more idea than I did. Someone tapped my shoulder. I looked back. Grandpa and Veda were seated on the row behind us. Grandpa was grinning.

    "Don''t worry. Veda''s been filling me in on this," he said. "We''ll want to stick around for that."

    "We even have any funds?" I asked.

    "I''ve tapped a line of credit," Veda said. "We actually should be making quite a bit of money from our Phase Two earnings, but that''s all going through a brokerage right now, so we don''t have cash. They''re not willing to extend very much credit because even though you''ve done incredibly well on Phase One and Two, nobody''s ever heard of an Indigenous group in Phase Three before."

    "Good, then they''re underestimating us," I said, though I felt uneasy deep down. I turned my attention back to the stage.

    [Tonight we have with us the heads of sector for our three major backing corporations, Proxima, Alabaster Sky, and ConSweGo], the system continued. Three of the beings on the stage waved hands.

    [We also have Patriarch Kvaltash of the Order of the Progenitors, Guildmaster Gorak¡¯Tal of the Crafters, and our Greater Galactic Observers, as appointed by the Milky Way Galaxy Reality Engine Exploitation Committee.] The last two raised their hands. I made a note of them. Outside observers might mean nothing, like when the UN sends in peacekeepers to watch atrocities committed and sends sternly worded letters to those responsible, or it might mean they have the power to shut all this down with a snap of their fingers.

    [They, together with your hosting reality engine, have hashed out the details of this exploit''s phase three rule set. As some of you have guessed based on our opening statement, you will be facing a multi-part adventure challenge.]

    Images flashed up in the air in front of the dais. Pictures of varied earth landscapes, and then fantastic buildings, temples, castles, towers, fortresses, imposing structures I had no name for. Then, an assortment of creatures. There was some sort of giant mermaid hurling lightning tridents, followed up by a dragon breathing fire. Then, a couple of yeti in a snowy glade bent over the corpse of a bear. Images came faster and faster, showing fantastic creatures and oddly dressed humans. Dark haired men wearing olive leaf crowns and togas. Tall willowy women in sarongs. A man dressed in what looked like traditional Ojibwe costume. A woman wearing a grass skirt and flower necklace.

    [Drawn from the local planet''s history and mythos, these challenges will stretch your teams as never before. You will be tried in combat. You will be faced with puzzles of wit and intellect, skill and luck. Those who pass the first challenge will have an opportunity to go even deeper. Work together with those in your challenge group, or thwart each other, but once you have passed the first challenge, you will be asked to choose a faction to join. Those exciting details are being kept secret until you¡¯ve earned them, but we can promise your faction will matter in ways you can¡¯t even imagine yet!]

    ¡°Of course they¡¯re not telling us anything yet,¡± Grandpa grumbled. ¡°I bet you anything the galactics know more than we do.¡±

    ¡°You see how the observers are here in person?¡± Veda said. ¡°That¡¯s unusual. Someone has filed rule complaints. That could be good for you, or bad. But it means everyone is going to be pretending to follow the rules. They might be in the dark as much as we are.¡±

    [Details about your individual challenges must be gleaned. Some challenges may take more than one attempt to pass. We look forward to seeing your best!]

    The images faded. A murmur of voices filled the room. Patriarch Kvaltesh rose and began to speak. I realized after a moment he was giving a ritual benediction or perhaps an invocation of the Progenitors.

    Juana leaned over to me. "Do you understand what we''re looking at here?"

    Grandpa leaned forward to hear my answer. "Yeah, I think I get it," I said. "It reminds me of some games I played a little bit in the army when I was in places with decent internet. It''s called a raid. It''s where multiple players work together as a group to take on a series of related bosses. Usually you have to take out one boss before you can progress to the next. Sometime¡¯s there''ll be a reset every week or so, so you have to start over again from square one. But each boss drops loot so it gets easier and easier. Plus, once you''ve done a fight once, you know how it''s done. I''m not sure that that''s how this is going to work, though. But it does sound like it''s going to be multiple bosses that we have to learn to defeat.¡±

    ¡°I guess that doesn''t sound too bad,¡± she allowed. ¡°We''ll have to see how it goes.¡±

    ¡°Hopefully by the time we get back downstairs, the rest of our team will have gotten better intelligence than this. If it is a raid, though, I would expect the environment around the outpost will give us some clues. Like, we''ll be able to identify what sort of challenges we''ll face based on the wildlife we find. Or maybe there''ll be ruins that point us in the right direction. I was thinking our location looked like it might be Eastern Europe. So maybe it''s got a basis in mythology there.¡±

    ¡°So we could be going up against Dracula?¡± Grandpa asked.

    I shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not really an expert in that area of the world But somebody out there will be. And hopefully Arjun can put us on to them. That might give us a leg up.¡± I shut up because I didn''t want any of the aliens around to get the idea to start researching Earth history and mythology in order to get clues.

    The patriarch finished his invocation and raised his hands. "Enjoy the evening, my children," he said. "The auction begins in two hours. Until then, enjoy the hospitality that is offered."

    Music struck up from nowhere I could see, a cheerful waltz. It wasn''t anything I recognized, but probably could have been from Earth. People around us rose, pushing back their benches and heading out.

    I turned to Grandpa. "We done here yet?"

    "Nope," he said. "Come on. Can''t leave until after the auction anyway. You should try to enjoy yourselves."

    We started moving toward the edge of the crowd. Veda talked quickly, filling us in on details of the people we passed. We had almost reached the edge of the crowd, when she stopped dead. I nearly ran into her.

    I pulled up short as a Human man I had hoped was out of my life forever approached. He was wearing a uniform, too.

    ¡°Major Waters.¡± I couldn¡¯t keep the sneer out of my voice. I kept my hand at my side.

    ¡°Lieutenant Williams.¡± He nodded. ¡°Aren¡¯t you forgetting something?¡±

    ¡°First, it¡¯s Captain now. Second, I¡¯m not saluting you. You¡¯re a disgrace to that uniform.¡±

    Grandpa intervened. ¡°Waters. What are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°Just escorting a friend of my new employer.¡± He turned to the woman with him. ¡°Go ahead, it¡¯s your turn now.¡±

    Beside me, Veda had turned pale. She was staring at the woman with Waters. The other woman looked like she might be the same species as Veda, with that pale, ethereal look that didn''t quite come up to space elf standards. They even had same silvery eyes and hair.

    "There you are," she said. "I''ve been looking for you all evening."

    I got a glimpse of Veda''s face. She looked knocked back. ¡°Mother? What are you doing here?"

 3.4 - When the Restraining Order Isnt Cutting It: Assessing Your Options

    Veda stared at her mother, mouth hanging open, for what felt like an eternity. She regained just enough composure to turn to Shad and his grandfather. "Would you excuse me?" she said. "I think I probably need this conversation to be private."

    They nodded to her. Major Twofeather, extended a finger toward the human with Veda''s mother. "You keep out of my way," he said quietly. "There''s no need for trouble between you and me, but if you try another stunt like you did before, you''re going to get run over."

    "Not at all, Major," the other man said, smiling and giving a head nod. ¡°I should note, though, that if our paths cross during the course of Phase Three, all bets are off. My employers are paying good money for my service.¡±

    "Employers? Sicaris, of course," the man said smoothly. Of course. This was the Major Waters whom had been such a pain at the end of Phase One. Veda had only ever seen the man in videos before, and he was shorter than she had expected.

    Plus, she was still trying to understand why her mother was here. "Let''s go," Veda said in a low voice to her mother. She strode away, not bothering to see who followed.

    Mother kept up. "That''s all the greeting I get after a year and a half apart?¡±

    ¡°Mother, I am busy here, and I can''t imagine why you came,¡± Veda growled. The auction was about to start. She told off her personal system to go and watch for items on her wish list, but that was never as good as paying attention in person. "How did you even afford to come out here?"

    "Proxima is paying the way of many different tourists who are interested in seeing a reality engine at work," Major Waters said smoothly as he caught up to them. "After all, there aren''t nearly as many crafters and other usual employees coming this way, so plenty of empty berths on the ships. It''s a win-win situation. Your people here on the Hub manage to sell their goods. Folk from back home who never get a chance to see what happens at the point of the spear are getting a ringside seat for the first time."

    "The family sent me," Mother said. Veda kept making her way through the crowd, trying to buy time to collect her thoughts, and also to get Major Waters farther away from Shad and his grandfather. She didn''t need any of her contracted humans starting a fight.

    "The family has nothing to say to me," Veda snapped. "I''ve already turned a profit twice as high as what they could have reasonably expected. Our Phase Two license is secure."

    "Exactly," Mother said happily. "Which is why we have decided it''s time for you to come home and turn your focus elsewhere."

    "Come home?" Veda stopped where she stood. The crowd of partygoers ebbed and flowed around her, most of them making their way toward the back of the room where the auction would be held. A pair of lizardfolk had to detour around them. They glared angrily through their membranous eyes at her, but she was too busy trying to understand what kind of point her mother could possibly be trying to make.

    ¡°But of course. It¡¯s time.¡±

    ¡°You don''t stop a successful exploit when you''re in the middle of it.¡±

    ¡°Tvedra Corporation has never been involved in a Phase Three operation before," Mother pointed out. "We''re a Phase Two company. You did well there, Veda. Better than most of the family thought you would. I knew we were right to place our faith in you.¡±

    ¡°You did no such thing. I had to fight to get a chance at this." Her mother had been one of the strongest critics of Veda''s plans, though in fairness she had expressed those doubts in private and not in front of the board of directors like Uncle Yarin.

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    "Nevertheless, dear," her mother said, "the family wishes to consult in person before deciding what direction to take next. We need to return home for a board members'' meeting as soon as we can. Otherwise, they''ll be forced to hold it without you."

    "Can''t," Veda said, shaking her head. "During an exploit, the exploit leader is sole commander of the company. Board cannot recall the commander or order changes.¡± That was laid down in the Corporation''s earliest bylaws, set down by her great-great-great-great grandmother. It was a wise choice. Often, reality engine exploits were several weeks, if not months, of travel away from wherever the family happened to be headquartered at the time. News would be slow to travel. Only people on the spot had a chance of making timely and accurate decisions.

    ¡°I think you''ll find, dear, that the conclusion of Phase Two serves as the end of your time in charge of our exploit. After all, our bid was for Phase Two.¡±

    Veda''s blood ran cold. Her mother might actually be correct. She would have to check the words of her contract. ¡°I¡¯ve already sunk most of our profits into this Phase Three attempt. If I leave now, we lose everything.¡±

    "Sicaris has offered us a very favorable buyout," her mother said.

    "We''ll just have to confirm the size of your latest monetary allocations,¡± Waters added smoothly.

    "Hang on," Veda said as a thought struck her. "Phase Three just opened. We''ve only had a few days'' warning that it was coming. How is it that you''re already here?"

    Her mother looked briefly taken aback. She glanced at Major Waters. He shrugged as though saying, "I don''t know."

    "Well, dear," her mother said, clearly flustered. "The family knew that Phase Two would be coming to an end soon. We just wanted to see you, to bring you home where you belong.¡±

    "Right," Veda said. She bit off what she would have wanted to add. Either her mother and entire family had decided to conspire against her, or more likely, Sicaris ¡ª rather, Sicaris'' parent company, Proxima ¡ª had been putting pressure on them. This hadn¡¯t happened overnight. Had her mother arrived before the end of Phase Two, she would have had some other line of attack.

    "Look, this is neither the time nor the place for this conversation," she said. "I need to go to the auction¡ª¡°

    ¡°And I''m afraid I brought along corporate authorization to freeze your funds the moment I arrived here on the hub." Her mother wouldn''t meet her eyes. She looked almost embarrassed.

    Veda felt like she''d been stabbed in the stomach. "You can''t. I need those funds. Whatever I have left has to keep me going. I''m paying the expenses for my team. They''ll have nothing to fall back on."

    "Sorry," Waters said, smirking. "I guess old Louis will have to find another retirement plan besides making himself king of Earth."

    "I think you''re right, dear," her mother said. "This is not the time to speak. Here''s my comm code. Call me later when you''re ready to have this discussion, and we''ll figure out what to do next."

    She and Waters left Veda standing in the middle of the crowd. The sponsors, backers, off-world visitors, and dignitaries swirled around her as she stood and felt everything crumbling out from under her feet.

    I can''t let them do this. I can''t let them take this away from me. This wasn''t about her family anymore. Mother was right. She''d done what Tvedra Company needed. She''d kept their license alive. But she''d done so much more than this, more than anyone had thought she could.

    Her relatives had trusted her with the last of their funds, even though they weren''t convinced she could make good, not because of their faith in her, but because of their belief in the Tvedra Corporation. She''d paid that back already.

    But somewhere along the way, she''d gotten caught up in the game, in what happened to Shad and Sage and the rest of the humans. She wanted to watch as they took Phase Three by storm, just like they''d done in Phase One and Phase Two. She wasn''t going to be frozen out now by some soulless intergalactic conglomeration.

    Veda straightened up. She made a decision. If her funds were frozen, there was nothing more she could do here at the auction. She needed to go back to her own quiet living quarters and read her contract. And then she needed to start studying on corporate law, exploit history, legal precedent.

    She sent one quick message to Shad, saying she wouldn''t be able to meet up with him again, alerted his grandfather she¡¯d be missing the auction, and then sent word to Mama Grace, asking her to relay to Colonel Ames the fact that Major Waters was back and working for Proxima.

    Then she sent all of her incoming notifications to "Do Not Disturb" and headed for her own pod.

 3.5 - Setting Up a Cartel: Three Hot Tips

    It was dawn and the mountain valley was filled with mist. Clouds wreathed the mountains at the head of the valley. I stood at the top of the hill in the center of our outpost looking outward and I couldn''t even see past the first trees of the forest beyond our walls. A few scraggly shadows of branches emerged from the fog like skeletal arms.

    I shivered and not entirely from the cold. Grandpa growled as he stepped out of the portal beside me. ¡°Let¡¯s get the sitrep here.¡± I covered a yawn and followed.

    We had slept on the ride back down to Threshold, once I stopped ranting about what Waters was up to and why Veda wasn¡¯t answering our calls. Juana nodding off quickly while I stared out into space as we descended the immense elevator back down to the surface of Ganymede. Space was so immense, so vast, it humbled me. It was hard to remember sometimes that all of this madness, these scenarios and worlds invented by the reality engine, was taking place under the surface of one of Jupiter''s moons. When the other aliens talked about their own systems and their worlds and reality engines, it all felt unreal. But Jupiter hanging over us, looming like an ancient god with its ominous storms as ever-present eyes¡­ that I couldn¡¯t deny.

    I heard a bird cry off in the mist somewhere as a breeze stirred my coat, bringing me back to, well, not reality, but the present at least. I pushed back my hat and focused."We''ve got six days before competition opens up for the Keystone. We need to focus on some of those other objectives the System hinted at in its opening briefing.¡±

    "The team''s been busy while we were off hob-nobbing with the Galactic elite.¡± Grandpa looked around as we strode through the camp and I followed his gaze.

    Our bunkhouse had expanded. On the outside it now looked like an old-time saloon and hotel, with swinging half-doors in the front and an upper balcony outside the little rooms where gunslingers and drifters could rent a bed for the night.

    It actually could hold almost a hundred people at a time now. We had plugged upgrades in over the course of Phase Two, and then as Phase Three kicked off, spent a bunch of upgrade points. Juana had taken care of that remotely while we traveled. She had been in contact with our base building team down here, and checked with me and Grandpa about our opinion.

    Beyond the hotel was a big blacksmith shop for the crafters, and a long low line of sheds beside it offering more workspace.

    There was a whole apothecary shop across the street, dusty brass scales and glass bottles in the picture window under painted gold letters reading ¡°Apocethery¡±.

    We were really starting to look like a little town with wooden sidewalks and a dusty open stretch in between. There was a hitching post out in front of the bunkhouse, even though none of us had horses. I liked the look. Made me feel at home striding down the street in my coat and hat, my gun belt hanging comfortably at my waist.

    My combat boots weren''t quite right for the picture, but they were damn good footwear, and I wasn''t going to change them unless the System gave me some sort of upgrade.

    The big wooden statue that had been our node was now transformed into a monument in the center of the town''s single street. It looked like one of those old war memorials you''ll see in small towns, a smooth white obelisk with names on each side, little plaques saying what war they had died in.

    Instead of the names of the dead, it bore the names of those of us who had fought in Phase Two. One side for the fighters like me and Sage and Grandpa, and the other three for the crafters who had come to our aid.

    A little old church building with a tall bell tower atop it and white clapboard walls had its doors open. Grandpa pointed. "That''s HQ."

    We mounted the steps, me right on Grandpa''s heels and entered the church building. Instead of rows of pews, it had a couple of folding tables and those metal folding chairs you see at every community event. About fifteen people were hard at work, grouped into three different clusters.

    Dwight was in the nearest batch. He looked up at me as we entered and gave a quick nod. "Good to have you both back," he said. "We''re working on a list of supplies that we have and supplies we think we''re going to need. Our informants have been telling us everything they found out talking to off-worlders about Phase Three. We actually learned a lot during that special mission back in Phase Two. You know, while you guys were busy playing with the other teams, me and my crafters were learning a lot of new skills.¡±

    "That''s right," I said. I''d been so busy thinking about base defense in the last few days of Phase Two, I had forgotten what the crafters had been up to. "Weren''t they giving you a lot of recipes because they want us to supply stuff for their folk too?"

    "That''s right," Dwight said. "There''s apparently rules about how many people they can bring into an exploit and since we haven''t obliged them by dying fast enough, they''re going to have to work with us."

    I shared a grin with him. I¡¯d had a small hand in keeping more of us humans alive than the aliens liked, and I was damn proud of it.

    Dwight continued. ¡°Mama Grace and I negotiated a deal with as many other humans as we could, like a union that says we won''t sell any recipes to anyone who refused to get on board with our demands.¡±

    ¡°Most of the big players have already agreed, and we don''t want to go back on our word,¡± Grandpa said. ¡°We all agreed we would abide by the deal and we will. So, anybody that''s signed gets a fair price for our work.¡±

    ¡°But,¡± Dwight said, holding up a finger, ¡°we are all agreed that we,¡± he swept a hand around the room, taking in our whole team, ¡°get to skip to the head of the line. What Misfits want, Misfits get.¡±

    "So you''re going to coordinate both operations?" I asked. I was worried about Dwight trying to do too much by himself. I wanted him to be in charge of making sure my team had what we needed for this phase.

    "I''m going to liaise with a couple of outsiders," he said. "Some of Colonel Ames''s people and one gal I''ve done some work with before. They''ll take care of things on the Threshold side, helping set prices, arrange queues, make sure we don''t make any of the aliens more angry at us humans than they have to be. I''m just going to take care of our team. I''ve already gotten started on lists, but we''re going to need more information." He pointed in front of him.

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    I came over and studied his table. He had handwritten sheets of paper spread all over with notes in six different colors of pen, obviously made by more than one person.

    One sheet said "potions¡±. It listed at least 50 different recipes. There were fire resistance potions, water resistance potions, electric resistance potions, light resistance, dark resistance. There were speed potions separated into movement speed and attack speed. There were mob debuff potions and friendly mob buff potions.

    "What, are we going to be going into battle clanking?" I asked, trying to imagine carrying that many potions even in my inventory.

    Dwight chuckled. "We''ll be picking and choosing. Oh, that reminds me.¡± He grabbed a couple of belts from his own inventory and set them in front of us. ¡°Potion quick use belts that''ll let you access them and other single-use devices faster. Remember those dummies you used with the boss fight?¡±

    "How could I forget?" I said.

    ¡°Well, these belts have room to equip ten different types of potions or other consumables. You can use them quick as thinking. The advantage on this versus going through your inventory is that the potions from your inventory take two seconds to use. You''ve noticed that, right?¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Seems like it''s one second to call up what you want and one second to apply it.¡±

    ¡°This cuts that time down by half. It''s been a really hot item requested by the aliens of our crafters. So I figured they knew something important. I went ahead and got them made for all of our team.¡±

    I stored that info away. Fights now might come down a single second. I picked up my belt. Grandpa was already threading his through the loops of his pants as he cinched it down. It changed in appearance, becoming a nicely tooled leather belt with ten small thumb-sized vials in loops along his left hip.

    ¡°Those are really just for show,¡± Dwight said as he saw me looking. ¡°You don''t have to pull the bottles off or anything.¡±

    I shrugged off my coat, hung my gun belt over the back of a chair, and strapped on my own belt. I snugged it down and the buckle transformed into a big silver oval with an eagle with outstretched wings on it. I''d seen belts just like that on more prosperous ranchers at the county rodeo or community square dance. I sighed and went with it.

    ¡°You can put in your order for consumables and we''ll get it filled,¡± Dwight said. ¡°To start with, here''s an array of different resist potions and an improved healing potion. This one does 60% of your max health right away and another 60% over the next minute. And the cooldown''s only two minutes between potions.¡±

    ¡°That''s way better than what Veda gave us.¡± I picked up my share and stored them in my inventory. A quick thought queued up the most useful ones in my new belt.

    Veda¡¯s disappearance was a nagging worry. She¡¯d gone off and left us high and dry, she wasn¡¯t answering our messages, and for all I knew she was about to sell us all out. I scowled as I worried, but Dwight seemed to misunderstand what was bothering me.

    ¡°Don''t blame her, the galactic market charges exorbitant rates for these, but since we''re farming the mats ourselves, we can afford as many as you and your team need.¡±

    ¡°How''s the farming looking?¡± Grandpa asked.

    ¡°Check with Frank, he''s in charge of that.¡± Dwight pointed to one of the other two groups. Our old friend Frank, the deputy sheriff from back home on the Arizona Strip, looked up and nodded as we met his eye.

    ¡°We''ll be right with you,¡± Grandpa called. ¡°Anything else we need to know?¡±

    ¡°The third team over there is working on upgrades to our creep. They¡¯re already spawning, you know. It''s really funny, watching them just being zapped into existence right outside our gate and streaming away into the forest. We''re working on creep lures right now. It''s a recipe some of us picked up back at the party. You put them down and the creep goes to that location until the lure is destroyed or replaced by a fresher one.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Rally points. Okay, so we''re still supposed to be using these guys here in Phase Three.¡±

    ¡°Right, so the team''s working on a catalog of all of the enhancements we can give them. You just let them know what you want and where.¡±

    ¡°As soon as we figure it out,¡± Grandpa promised, and we moved over to talk to Frank.

    He had one foot up on one of the folding chairs as he leaned across the table looking at a map someone was projecting. "Louis, Shad, good to see you again."

    "You too, Frank," I said.

    "So, you made my job a hell of a lot harder.¡± He grinned, taking the sting out of his words. "All those new recruits you and Ames called out of the Lotus Eater level have been coming to me looking for work. We just got word that the phase one levels have had safeties turned on. You don''t die anymore. Instead, you respawn, and it costs you a soul coin penalty. That means all those farm levels, we need to get in there and hit them hard. I''ve got¡­¡±

    His eyes went wide for a minute as he checked his numbers and shook his head like he couldn¡¯t believe it. "Two million, five hundred and forty-three thousand, seven hundred fifteen miners willing to help us out. Most of them have never killed anything more than that first mob they needed for a soul coin to escape the initiation chamber. So I''m having to figure out team leaders, and then they¡¯ve got assistants, and then those assistants are making up team rosters¡­ it¡¯s a mess. We''re all sharing information now, but it''s a hell of a job to coordinate and figure out what mats we''re going to need."

    "We don''t even know that yet," I said.

    "Get everything," Grandpa said. "It''s all going to be useful for something. If not for us, we''ll sell it to the aliens. We''re not going to put all our eggs in one basket. The Phase Three team," he made a gesture that included me and him in that, "we''ll push ahead hard to try to capture a share of the prize, but like we''ve been saying all along, in any gold rush, it''s not the miners that strike it rich.

    ¡°It¡¯s the shopkeepers and the cooks and the launderers," Frank said, rubbing his face with his hand. "I know, I know. I was listening. Between you and Mama Grace, I got that message through my head. Though, my great-granddaddy did make a big strike at a silver mine in Nevada back in the height of the Comstock load. If he hadn''t spent it all on eight wives and 42 kids, I might not have had to be a deputy sheriff in a backwater county on the strip, but that''s beside the point. Yeah, we''re covering as many levels as we possibly can and I''ll adjust where possible. Karen''s looking for some assistance for me. People like Arjun, but not as skilled. I don¡¯t know how I¡¯m supposed to keep track of all this.¡±

    ¡°These aliens are cheating. They have their own computers that actually work for them, not like this stupid system that''s just trying to get us all killed. We''ll ask Veda if there''s any kind of AI she can get for us,¡± I said. "Maybe they''ve got one they let kids use."

    ¡°Worth a shot,¡± Frank agreed. ¡°Anyway, I do have an actual problem for you guys. We sent out scouts to get a look around the area and they spotted some interesting looking resources, so I sent a team of my best farmers out along with some of my security guys. They got wiped out hard. Big blow to their ego. I kept them back behind the walls after that because I didn''t want to use up all of our respawns. Figured we''d get a team of experts out there to see what is going on and how to counter it.¡±

    Grandpa looked at me and I nodded. "Sounds good to me," I said. "Do I get to pick or ¡ª?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like to go." Frank took his foot down off the chair and stood straight, pushing his hat back on his head. He smiled, looking better and healthier than he had since we''d come to this place almost a year ago. "I know what my people can go up against. I want to make sure you don''t over or underestimate their capabilities."

    "Great," I felt a smile spread across my face. "It''ll be nice to work with you again." I turned to Grandpa. "I''d like Jones, Annie,¡± and I thought for a minute, ¡°Sage."

    "That it?" Grandpa asked. He didn''t sound critical, just like he wanted me to be sure. ¡°Captains usually up for commanding more than four privates.¡± I felt myself get a little warm around my ears at that. I still wasn''t used to thinking of myself as a captain.

    ¡°Reconnaissance. I don''t want to be tied down with too many. The point here is to get a good look at what we''re up against and figure out a strategy. Everybody I named can take care of themselves. We''ve got some good team mobility and of course Jones is essential for his camo and drone.¡±

    "All right, get to it," Grandpa said. "I''ll keep working here. Plenty more to do."

    "Right." I sent messages to my chosen team members telling them to meet me down by the gate. "Let''s ride, Frank.¡±

 3.6 - Into the Woods: A Cultural Analysis of the Role Forests Play in our Collective Psyche

    As we made our way down through our outpost, I took stock of all of the transformed Phase Two buildings that were now becoming the basic structure for our Phase Three push.

    The turrets and towers on the wall were as imposing as ever. Veda and Mama Grace were buying up equipment from other teams'' failed Phase Two attempts and sending them through so we could bolster our defenses.

    I looked up at the sky. The fog had burned off, leaving bright blue above us. A hawk circled lazily. Have we got enough covering the air? I asked in our command chat. That was me, Grandpa, Frank, Juana, and a couple of others. Anything important happened, we''d report it to the command chat and let each, well, department head, I guess, take it down to his or her own staff.

    I guess that made me head of the military. Military implied a bit of discipline and coordination that I wasn''t sure all of us were up for, so I amended that in my head to "the warriors."

    We''ll check on it, Juana said.

    I passed a knot of five Grignarians standing by our node marker. They were looking around. I couldn''t read their expressions at all, and I wasn''t sure if any of them were the ones I had had dealings with, either as an ally or way back at the start of Phase Two as an enemy. I stopped anyway and tipped my hat to them, doing a quick Inspect and seeing that one of them was Exalted Skywarden Greenlight the Unreleased, whom I had made the deal with to join forces at the end of Phase Two.

    "Good to see you here," I said. ¡°Go on ahead, Frank, I¡¯ll catch up.¡±

    "Human Shad Williams, we were told to report to you,¡± Greenlight said.

    I made a note that the Exalted Skywarden was apparently not their top guy. ¡°What do you need?"

    "A task. We are at your disposal now."

    The Grignarians'' only request in order to secure their aid had been that we take them on as mercenaries in Phase Three. I was certain they had a motive for being here, and we would be keeping an eye on them. For now, they were on our team. "I want you on patrol around our outskirts, looking for weak places in our defenses," I said. "We''re new at this. You guys have been playing this game for a while. Anything you spot, let me or Major Twofeather know, and we''ll get it shored up."

    "Understood.¡±

    ¡°If anyone from the other teams advances to speak, let them pass as long as they''re respecting our parley rules. There''s some asshole dwarves, though. I''m pretty sure they might try something. If they do, kill ''em hard. Use those nasty, face-melting rounds you guys have."

    The Grignarians made a soft, snuffling sound. I wondered if it was laughter. ¡°We also do not like the Akazan. They are very prejudiced and short-sighted.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I''d love to chat about galactic politics. Really. Let me buy you a beer or whatever it is you fellows drink sometime soon and get some questions answered.¡± I was starting to wonder about the Grignarians and how they fit in to galactic society. It seems like they were outcasts, and I might be able to use that to get us humans some insider information. ¡°But right now, I''m off to scout. We''ll catch up again.¡±

    ¡°We look forward to seeing you. Congratulations on your elevation of status, Captain Williams.¡± They raised their hands until their rightmost appendage was level with their mouths. I returned a salute and started down for the gate, catching Frank just before he got there.

    The rest of our team was already waiting, Sage bouncing up and down with excitement. She spotted Frank and launched herself for him, giving him a big hug. ¡°Deputy Young, it''s been ages. You''re coming with us? Awesome!"

    He patted her head. "You''re getting tall, Sage."

    She pouted. "I know. And the worst of it is, my clothes are growing with me, so I can''t even use it as an excuse to get something new."

    "What''s wrong with what you''ve got?" I asked. ¡°You just got that new shirt, too.¡± The System had awarded her a brand new rodeo shirt with scallops and silvery bits all over it as a reward for doing well at the special Phase Two team challenge. She wore it with a crisp pair of denim jeans, and cowgirl boots with little hearts picked out and rhinestones on the toes.

    She rolled her eyes at me. "They''re for little girls," she said. "And I''m basically a teenager now. It''s like being grown up. Once we''re done with this, I''m going to have to talk to Veda and see what she can do for me. I am not going to be stuck in one outfit my entire adolescence."

    Jones stood quietly ready. He saluted as I joined the group. Annie smiled at me. "So what''s the mission, boss?"

    I pulled my All-Seeing Eye that we had used at the end of Phase Two out of my inventory and re-equipped it, slipping the earpiece into my ear. "Anybody on the desk?"

    "Kirin here," came the response. "I''ve got Arjun, but he''s busy doing a lot of coordination, and we found a subject matter expert like you asked for."

    "Great," I said.

    "They''re in the loop. I''ll let him introduce himself," Kirin said. ¡°We had to do our best guess. We''re not 100% sure yet about the origin of this mythos, but hopefully he''ll be able to give us some pointers. Say hi, Gabriel.¡±

    A new voice came on. He sounded British. Not that plummy high-class accent from BBC period pieces, but not as rough as the couple British SAS I¡¯d met at a training gig. Kind of middle-of-the-road. ¡°Name¡¯s Gabriel Klement. My folks are from Czechia, and my grandmother raised me on folk stories. Some of the monsters your scouts report seeing match up a bit so I¡¯m here to help.¡±

    ¡°Ok, stand by.¡± I gathered my team around me.

    Frank sent us all details to update our personal maps. ¡°The farming team were about a mile out, north and east of us, along this river.¡± A blue-colored line appeared on my map, snaking its way out of the hills to the east before joining the main watercourse down the center of the valley. ¡°There¡¯s a little lake here, in the woods. That¡¯s where it happened.¡±

    He sent us a map pin and I checked my bearings. ¡°Let¡¯s get going and you can tell us the details as we walk. Jones, get your drone up and share the video feed with Kirin and Gabriel. Frank, you¡¯re on point, I¡¯ll be rear guard. Let¡¯s move out.¡±

    We set off toward the north, entering the forest quietly as we could. There were occasional bird calls from the trees and a few skittering sounds and rustling of brush, but I didn''t see anything as we made our way through the stands of ancient oak.

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    The going was easy. There wasn''t much underbrush here with the spreading limbs above blocking out so much light. Mouldering leaves released an earthy, rotting smell as we stepped on them. They muffled our footsteps nicely. The trees bore a heavy coating of moss. Vines ran up many of them, winding bright green tendrils around the dark brown branches.

    I took a deep breath. The air felt clear and cool. It was remarkable how sharp the details were. I wondered yet again if any of this was real or if the system was just putting images, scents, feelings into our minds. Was there any way to tell? Did it actually matter? This was my life now.

    As we went, Frank filled us in more on what the team had encountered. ¡°They were attacked by a pack of beagle-sized squirrels on the way to the pond. Didn''t have too much trouble with those. The squirrels had a nasty rabies debuff, but an ordinary healing potion cleaned that up right away and so did their one healing spell, so Sage can probably take care of it if we run into those. Her Raise Your Spirits removed that undead curse, rabies should be easy.¡±

    "No problem," Sage said. ¡°I actually just got a buff to Raise Your Spirits that specifically says it removes damage over time and poison debuffs. It won¡¯t remove any mind control though. I thought that was odd to specify.¡±

    ¡°So let''s hope we don''t run into any vampires,¡± I said, peering around through the dim light. Back at the outpost, it had been a pleasant spring day. Here under the trees, it was at least 10 degrees cooler, maybe more. I was dressed for it, but it made the day a little less pleasant. That was good. I wanted to be on edge and alert.

    ¡°Then they reached the pond and were attacked by a giant frog creature. They said it was a toad, but since it popped up out of the water, I''m guessing actually a frog.¡±

    I grinned at Frank''s back as we made our way along. ¡°Either way, we know how to squash giant toads, after all.¡± I remembered the very first encounter we''d had together back about two minutes after being introduced to the reality engine. Frank and I had taken out a giant toad to win our very first Soul Coin.

    "Yeah, takes me back," Frank agreed. He really did seem happier and more relaxed now. Maybe we had been too stressful for him. ¡°Toad had some debuffs, sticky frog spawn that reduces the target''s movement speed, that sort of thing, and dealt mostly physical and water-based damage. The tongue lash could pull in multiple targets at once.¡± He paused to duck under a fallen tree branch that blocked our path. ¡°They took it down and then were attacked by something else that came out of the water. It happened fast enough we didn''t get much description. Apparently some sort of water goblin, though one of the crafters thought they looked more like dogs on two legs. And then something in the pond unleashed a wave of water that crushed them all.¡±

    "Do we have an analysis on that?" I asked. "Pure water damage? Or was it force-based?"

    "Uh," he said. "Let me check."

    We relayed our question back to Kirin, who had the answer for us quickly. ¡°Both. About 80 points of straight-up crushing damage and then 20 per second of ongoing water damage. We aren''t sure how long the attack could go on for, since everybody died pretty fast.¡±

    "Okay, that''s pretty good," I said. "I''m immune to water-based damage right now, remember?"

    "Sure." Frank agreed, ¡°but not the crush.¡±

    "I can take one hit as long as I heal back up fast. When we get close, I''ll take the lead."

    We had been walking for a good twenty minutes without seeing anything. I was relieved when the trees thinned out and the pond came into view beyond.The water stretched away far enough that the far bank was obscured in the light mist rising off of the water. I could hear a stream trickling somewhere nearby.

    The near bank of the pond was thick with rushes and water lilies bearing the most brilliantly colored flowers. Bright purple, emerald green, yellow like a first spring daffodil, vibrant crimson red. I could see why our crafters had been interested.

    Something broke the surface tension of the water, sending little ripples everywhere. "Everybody freeze," I said. "I''ll take the lead."

    I approached, my gun in my hand ready to activate an ability if necessary. I could see a pair of bulbous eyes just on the surface of the water and the suggestion of a gray-green head beyond it. The eyes were big, at least a couple of inches across the both of them and about eight feet away. I tried to Inspect but got nothing. "Sage, is it close enough for you to..."

    The creature erupted out of the water straight at me. Even having been warned, I was taken aback. It was indeed an enormous frog. Its hind legs were strung out behind it as it leapt for me.

    I threw myself to the side and twisted. It landed inches from me, shaking the ground. It was about half my height. It opened its wide mouth, gaping. I could see its coiled tongue ready to lash out.

    I fired right down its wide mouth. Not an ability, just straight up shot it from inches away with my stump-nosed revolver, emptying my whole cylinder. The creature shuddered in place as my bullets tore through its gullet. Daylight shone through the three-inch-wide hole I had torn from all of my shots hitting in close succession.

    I used my Reload ability as I lurched sideways. "Remain at range!" I shouted to my team. "Hose it down, but don''t get closer to the water!"

    They added their firepower to my own. Jones using his Army issue M4 while Frank had his service gun out. They both had some of Dwight and Sage''s improved rounds. Their shots ripped big chunks of hit points off of the frog.

    [-17, -13, -28]. It had started with 265 HP, which was a hell of a lot more than I had, but we''d already knocked it down by half with our initial assault.

    The frog kicked out with its back legs, springing right over my head. I whirled on the spot and shot at it as it went over. My Trick Shot took it between its legs, but frogs don''t have a particularly vulnerable place on their groin, so it just tore more damage off.

    It was heading right at Sage and Annie. I started to trigger Call ¡®em Out, but before I could, Annie threw Misdirect Audience and vanished from the spot, leaving an Annie-shaped decoy behind her. Sage disappeared at the same moment, reappearing 10 yards to the west as she engaged Three-Barrel Race to get herself out of trouble.

    The frog hit the ground. We converged on it, firing, and tore down the rest of its hit points. It collapsed in a bloody, wet, sticky heap.

    It had been easy, even considering that we were better at this than the farming team would be. They weren''t helpless, not if they''d spent Phase One doing farming. There had to be more to come.

    I turned back to face the pond as the next wave emerged. There were six of them, and they did look like goblin dogs. They were like what would happen if you drowned a wolfhound, then reanimated it, and put the head of an ugly humanoid with pointed dog ears on its body, then sent it shambling forward on two legs.

    I raced into the thick of things, casting Call ¡®em Out and trusting my team to lay down fire. Meanwhile, I was keeping an eye on the pond, waiting for sign of the next threat.

    The goblin wolf creatures lunged at me, slavering with their claws, ready to rip me open from neck to groin. I danced backward. "Okay, we''re getting a good picture from Jones''s drone," Kirin¡¯s voice said in my ear. "See if you can lure out a few of their abilities.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m gonna see if I can kill them first," I snapped. I shot the nearest one in the face, blowing away a chunk of its nose. There was no blood. A thick white piste oozed slowly out of the wound.

    "They''re undead!" Sage shouted back. "System''s not giving me any info on them, though on what they are. Just on their health and resistances."

    Sage was right. We hadn''t received any of the oh-so-helpful system fight start info. Maybe that was a new challenge for phase three.

    ¡°I think they are vodnik,¡± Gabriel said. ¡°It fits the general description anyway. Water spirits, like drowned dogs or very ugly old men.¡±

    "Great, so what''s their weakness?" I asked.

    "My grandmother''s stories were not strong on how to defeat these things. More if you are not a good boy, the vodnik will come and eat you."

    "That''s helpful," Sage called as she threw a lasso around one of the creatures and ordered it to turn on its fellows. Frank had another one Restrained, and Annie was using her ¡°Now You See It" trick to lure one of the creatures into attacking her, then disappearing and forcing it to turn on one of the others.

    The creatures tore themselves to shreds as we helped out with our own firepower. Sage cackled in glee as she managed to get a second monster Tamed, turning them both on the one Frank had Restrained, then ordering them to fight each other when they were the last left. Chunks of fur flew everywhere. The creatures fought and died without making a sound. It was creepy as hell.

    The last body hit the ground. I stood back, panting as Sage darted in to loot. "Stay clear!¡± I warned, just as the pond began to roil.

 3.7 - Watch Your Words: Avoiding Verbal Contracts and Other Fairytale Pitfalls

    The lily pads shook. "Get back," I shouted. Sage disappeared again. The others retreated to the edge of the woods. I stood my ground. I didn''t want to interrupt whatever creature was about to make an attack. We needed information as much as we needed to survive this.

    The water in the pond rose up in a wall, looming over me. It flung itself at me. I held until the wave started to break. Then I threw up an arm to shield my face. The weight crashed down, knocking me back and off my feet. My body was swept inland, carried by the waves. I scrabbled and fought blindly. My hand caught something. I grabbed tight. A tree-trunk, one of the spindly ones near the pond. The force slackened a bit and I fought to my feet.

    "Get me eyes on...what''s...casting this," I gasped. I popped a health potion at once and felt Sage¡¯s Raise Your Spirits hit me like a warm shower. The combo brought me back up to full health right away.

    The wave continued to wash over me, a torrent splashing up from the center of the pond and fountaining down onto me. My allies were far enough back that the water did not reach them. It rushed around my feet, lapped about a bit on the bank, then slid into the lake as yet more water crashed down on me.

    The crushing damage had been in the first big hit. The continued inundation wasn¡¯t doing more than keeping my coat soggy. My immunity to water-based damage was coming in really handy right about now. I wondered again if the reality engine was subtly putting its thumb on the scale.

    "There''s one creature at the center of the lake," Sage shouted. "I can see it through the drone, but I''m not getting any info on it. It''s about 20 feet out. That''s inside of 10 meters."

    I took a deep breath. "I challenge you to single combat,¡± and I cast High Noon.

    The fountain of water cut off. I hadn''t been sure that would work. "Everyone stay clear."

    For a moment, nothing happened. Then, a creature rose out of the lake.

    She was female, there was no doubt about that. Her long, golden tresses clung to her shoulder and back. She spun until she was facing toward me. Her dress was a diaphanous white sheath clinging to her. It kind of looked like a nightgown, plastered against her chest and legs.

    Her wide, sapphire eyes stared at me. She raised one pale hand and pointed. "Who are you and what have you done?"

    Her voice was heavily accented. She sounded Eastern European to me, though I''m not a connoisseur of world accents by any means.

    I kept my hands up at chest level, palms outward, and tried my best to look harmless. "My name''s Shad Williams, ma''am. We''re here to talk."

    "How have you stopped me?" she demanded. "What spell have you cast over me, oh great sorcerer?"

    Sage snorted. "He''s no sorcerer," she called loudly. "Who are you, lady? You look like you drowned."

    The woman sighed. She floated across the surface of the lake until she was about six feet away from me, then hovered over the water. Her bare feet were pointed, her toes dragging through the surface of the pond. "I am Evgenie, maiden of the lake," she said dramatically, sweeping a hand across her forehead.

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    "Okay," Gabriel said in my ear. "I think you''ve got a Rusalka here."

    "What''s a Rusalka?" Frank growled.

    ¡°Female water spirit, usually a maiden who was drowned or spited in love or something similar, they''re not always implacably hostile. Sometimes they want to be given a gift or have something returned to them, and then they''ll leave you alone.¡±

    "Right," I said. "Rusalka. Anything else we should know?"

    "Keep her talking. We''ll see what we can find out."

    "So is this your lake?" I asked.

    Evgenie nodded her head. "It has been my home for many years, mine and my sisters¡¯, but they are gone now, leaving me with only my pets, and now you have slain them." She looked sadly at the pile of dog-goblin corpses on the bank of the pond. I wasn''t about to apologize for defending ourselves, but something she''d said sounded like a clue.

    "Sisters. What happened to them?"

    "The sorcerer has stolen them away," she said, sighing dramatically and lifting her eyes heavenward. "He is a cruel, cruel creature. He has enslaved many of the creatures of forest and wood to his bidding."

    "Sounds like the hook for a raid boss to me," I commented to my team. "Where is the sorcerer?" I asked Evgenie.

    "His dwelling is not far from here. Follow the river northward, and you will find it without question."

    "Right. So suppose someone was to do you a favor and, say, free your sisters. Would there be some sort of reward in it for us?"

    "Yes, indeed," she said. "Any hero who would do such a thing would have my boon and that of my sisters.¡±

    ¡°How about free passage through your woods for me and my friends, and maybe a few flowers from your pond?"

    "My creatures would be no threat to you any longer," she promised.

    "Then we''ll see what we can do," I said. "We''ll retreat out of here, and then I''ll cancel this duel and let you get back to your normal drowning people thing. Don''t stop on account of me. All my people will stay clear here until we''ve decided what to do about this sorcerer. So anybody who comes by is definitely an enemy."

    The Rusalka clasped her hands to her breasts dramatically. "Thank you, hero," she said. "I knew when my waters could not wash you away that you must be pure of heart."

    "Yeah, not so sure about that," I said before Sage could comment. "But we''ll be back. Have a nice day, ma''am." I tipped my hat. Been doing that so often to everyone I met in order to apply my buff, it had turned into a habit. We withdrew a safe distance into the forest.

    I watched as Evgeny the Rusalka returned to the center of her pond, did a neat handstand, and then dove beneath the surface. The water lay still and quiet where she had been.

    "How do you know she''s not the boss we''ve got to kill?" Frank asked.

    "That was too clear a narrative hook," I said. "We''ll at least have to follow up on it, find out what the sorcerer''s deal is. Might be we need to kill everyone anyway, but I think we should try to learn the whole deal before making a decision."

    "Evil sorcerers are a motif in these myths," Gabriel said in my ear, "but I''m pretty sure these aren''t Czech or Slovak variants. Something feels a little off. It might be Southern Slav."

    "What''s the difference?" I asked, running my hand through my hair. "You''ve apparently got similar enough creatures you recognize them."

    "Sure, but that''s like saying Greek and Roman gods were the same."

    "They just stole the Greek gods and re-skinned them," Sage said. "Like when your angel healer gets a winged devil costume in a shooter game."

    "That''s not quite how it works," I said.

    Gabriel laughed. "Okay, I get your point. I spent a lot of money on cosmetic packs during my Fortnite phase. It''s probably something a little like that. You have to remember these stories were spread across hundreds of miles, even thousands, back in the day when you couldn''t travel much more than two miles an hour. Stories from one village to the next would vary, let alone multiple countries."

    "I''ll put the word out looking for anyone with Southern Slavic background," Kirin said. "That''ll be what, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, that region. But until then, Gabriel''s our best expert."

    "Sure, I''ll do what I can," he agreed.

    "Then let''s go see the wizard," I said.

    "Sorcerer," Sage corrected. "Unless you want me to sing ''We''re Off to See the Wizard'' the whole time we go, you should probably get that one right."

 3.8 - The Importance of Opening up Your Pores

    We skirted the edge of the lake, heading for the stream that would go upriver.

    The sorcerer, as it turned out, lived in a bathhouse. Or at least, that''s what Gabriel and Kirin agreed we were looking at when we described the structure to them. It was a long, low, thatched building made of wood with beautifully carved doorposts and lintels. There was a chimney sticking out of the top, smoking away merrily.

    It was built on a small pond, maybe a tenth the size of the one where we had met the Rusalka, and completely free of reeds. Lush grass lined the pond, with little star-like flowers peeking out from behind the blades. There was a herbal smell in the air, like things my grandmother would use for cooking. And another spicy scent, with almost a lemon undertone.

    The stream ran right out of the house itself. Several large wooden barrels lined the edge of the house, and a stack of buckets stood by the door. I studied the building. It could have a dozen or more people inside.

    "Let''s try flying your drone around and see if we can get a look inside any of the windows," I told Jones as we stayed back just inside the tree line a good thirty yards away from the house. He sent his drone, the mechanical falcon, swooping in. It circled the house.

    He shared out its vision to me so I could see through its eyes. The windows were shuttered. Steam snuck out from around the cracks in the walls. It was definitely warm and wet inside.

    "This isn''t going to be like a Norwegian sauna," Gabriel told me. "I''ve visited the old country a couple of times, and if the bathhouse tradition in the southern Slavic areas is a match, it''s going to be a lot of warm, wet smoke. The fire heat being on the inside is a good clue."

    "That''s right," I said, thinking. "Saunas are more like a sweat lodge, right, where you heat up rocks and then splash water over them, keeping the steam in a small enclosed area. That place is way too big for a bunch of hot rocks to do a good job."

    I had never actually been invited to participate in a sweat lodge ceremony. I wasn''t sure whether or not Grandpa had either. Despite having enrolled on the list of the local Ute band a decade ago, back when he got custody of me and Sage, he had usually avoided having anything to do with the reservation.

    I wasn''t particularly connected to my ancestral spiritual ways on any side. Grandpa wore a medicine bag but had never offered to make one for me. Abuela had baptized my mom, and my dad''s people were fundamental LDS, which is a whole ''nother can of worms. I''d never had any interest in joining anything but the U.S. Army.

    ¡°Is there a spiritual aspect to these bathhouses?¡±

    ¡°Probably,¡± Gabriel said, ¡°but I''m Buddhist so if there was it went over my head. Mostly just lying on wooden shelves letting the steam open your pores up and the bathhouse attendant would come around with a birch broom and hit you with it if you wanted.¡±

    "Why would anyone want that?" Sage asked.

    "It helps open up the pores, plus the brooms usually have herbs woven into them. Smells good," Gabriel said. "I don''t know, it''s a whole experience. I wasn''t really comfortable with the whole thing, but my dad said we needed to experience family traditions. He didn''t like it when I insisted on wearing my swim trunks.¡±

    I laughed. "All right, well, that''s helpful, maybe?" The drone returned, settling onto Jones¡¯s wrist.

    I thought about the next step. "No," Sage said as I opened my mouth.

    "What?"

    She rolled her eyes. "You were about to suggest that you run in there, get a look at what''s going on, and when they inevitably kill you, you''ll just respawn back at base." I closed my mouth. "That''s what you were going to suggest, isn''t it?"

    "Maybe.¡±

    ¡°That''s always your plan, Shad, and it''s a dumb plan.¡±

    ¡°It''s worked every time I''ve tried it.¡±

    ¡°It''s gotten you killed every time you''ve tried it."

    I stopped myself saying So you''ve got a better one. That might be how Shad Williams spoke to his little sister, but it was not the way Captain Williams spoke to a soldier under his command, even a soldier as non-regulation as Sage. "I am open to suggestions," I said stiffly.

    Frank holstered his gun. He stared at the place. "I do have an idea," he said. "I think it''s time for a search warrant."

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    "What?¡±

    ¡°You thought you guys were the only ones to level up?" Frank demanded.

    "Uh, no.¡± I hadn¡¯t really thought about it.

    ¡°I got a class evolution. I am now, as far as the system is concerned, a full-on, no kidding, Coconino County Sheriff," he said proudly.

    I managed not to laugh. Sage clapped her hands. "Congratulations!"

    "I don''t know how authentic it is," he said, ¡°Seeing as sheriff''s an elected position and this here system didn''t seem to ask for any votes. Point is, it came with a couple of abilities that I didn''t have before, one of them being Search Warrant.¡±

    ¡°So how''s it work?"

    He rubbed his hands together gleefully. "We walk over there. I knock on the door. I show my badge and the warrant and they have to let us in.¡±

    ¡°That''s it?"

    "Well, they can start violence, but if they do, they get an Administrative Leave debuff. They¡¯ll just have to stand there and watch while we do what we like. It¡¯s broken by violence, though, so it¡¯s only useful as a delay, like that duelling move of yours.¡±

    ¡°Sounds good. Anything else?¡±

    ¡°Just this.¡± He snapped his fingers.

    I felt a new buff settle over me and checked my log just as Frank explained. "You four have all been deputized."

    I read the description of the buff. [Deputized. For the next hour, you are now a deputy minion of Sheriff Frank Young. While deputized, any attack made against you will be considered an attack against Sheriff Young and Coconino County in Arizona. You also receive a buff to your perception and to any search-related talents you may have.]

    "Well, I like that," Annie said cheerfully. "Most of the time, I''ve been on the other side of a search warrant."

    Frank eyed her suspiciously, but I nodded. "All right, so let''s get in there and find out."

    "No provoking them, Shad," Sage warned. "I don''t care what this buff says. We''re here for information, right? So let''s get in there and see what we can find."

    I followed Frank up to the door. He knocked three times, nice and loud, very officious sounding. There was no answer. He knocked again, then raised his voice. ¡°Coconino County Sheriff," he called. ¡°By the power vested in me by Coconino County, Arizona, United States of America, I order you to open up. We''ve got a search warrant."

    The door swung open. A pair of beautiful young women stood there. They were clearly more Rusalki. These ones weren''t wet, though. Their skin looked parched and cracking. When they spoke, it was a rasping, coughing sound. "The master says be gone.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here to serve a duly sworn-out search warrant," Frank said, hooking his thumbs through his belt. He was clearly in his element here. "Got a warrant to search the whole premises.¡± He held up a piece of paper.

    The Rusalki stared at it and shook their heads. "You have no power here."

    "I''ve got jurisdiction," Frank insisted. He stepped over the threshold. The women shrank back as he held out the paper in front of him like a shield.

    We followed him in. There was a little antechamber where we stood. Hooks hung on the wall. Some held towels. The others, clothing.

    Bright blue cloaks concealed something heavier behind them. I nudged one cloak aside. There was a full set of discarded plate mail, armor there, complete with heavy boots and a sword and shield leaned against the wall. The shield was facing away from me. I tried to peer at it, see if there was any kind of design on it, but I didn''t want to move any of this stuff just in case that could be taken as provocation.

    There were four blue cloaks and I assumed four sets of armor. I relayed everything I saw back to Kieran, who was working with Arjun to build up a picture of what we were up against.

    "You may not enter any farther clothed like that," the Rusalki rasped. "Take off your clothes and the master will permit you entrance."

    "Uh-uh," Frank said, looking as stubborn as I remembered him from my misspent youth. "An officer on duty does not remove his uniform. You stand aside or I''ll have to arrest you for obstruction of justice."

    The Rusalki looked at each other, clearly not knowing what to do, then finally retreated, stepping through a bead curtain that separated the antechamber from the rest of the house.

    Frank followed them through. I was hot on his tail. The inner chamber was about ten by ten. Shelves lined the wall stacked two high, wide enough for someone to lie on them. There were 12 shelves altogether, two stacks on each of the three walls other than the one with the door on it.

    A small metal stove stood in the far corner of the room, pumping out heat. The stream ran right through the center of the room in a stone-lined trough that cut diagonally from one corner to the opposite.

    Three short little men dressed in loinclothes scurried away as the Rusalki entered, disappearing farther into the room. Steam obscured my view. I could make out the stove and the fact that the shelves were there and that some of them had people on them, but not details. The room smelled sweet, like hot herbal tea.

    I sidled away a little bit to get a better look around the room. I approached the first stack of shelves. There was someone lying on the bottom shelf, flat on his stomach. The steam cleared enough for me to see he was tan, muscular, taller than me, and definitely naked.

    He lifted his head. A pair of sharp, dark eyes met mine. He was bearded. It was neatly trimmed into a goatee, and he had a mustache that came down into points. He looked to be about 35 years old and had a scar across his cheek. Everything about him screamed "Danger!" I resisted the urge to take a step back or reach for my gun.

    "You there, villain," he said, "who disturbs my bath?"

    I didn''t answer. The man went up on one arm, lifting his shoulder so I could see his well-shaped pecs and abs. He did not look like someone I wanted to mess with. "Master?"

    A dark shape materialized from out of the steam. This man looked even taller, and he was dressed wearing dark robes. He had a pointed cloth hat on his head, black with golden decals, and clutched what I thought was a staff until I saw it was topped with a spray of branches. Greenery was worked into the broom.

    "Who intrudes on Podaga''s bathhouse?" the man demanded. He was a little older looking than the naked steambather on my right. His beard was longer and gray, streaked with darker black. He had a hooked nose and a pair of slate-gray eyes over top of them. "I am not open to the public at the moment. When the Vitezovi have finished, I will welcome you and yours."

    "We''re just here to see about the complaint," Frank said, stepping forward through the steam. "So, you''re Podaga the Enchanter. You are the owner of this fine establishment?"

 3.9 - Birdwatching: Tips for Your Big Year

    We left the magician''s hut, carefully, Frank waving his search warrant under Podaga''s nose. "We''ll be back," he promised. ¡°I can smell when perps are hiding something from me.¡± I stepped through the doorway, backing out into the glade, turned, and found five crossbows pointing right at my gut.

    I held up my hands, slowly. "Everybody hold," I warned.

    Sage squeaked and bumped into me as she turned. The crossbows were being held by five dwarves. Another twenty flanked them, carrying long axes nearly as tall as they were. They had enormous beards in shades from grey to black to red. They all wore armor and tabards, showing a hammer smashing a skull.

    One stepped forward. His tabard''s logo had a little crown over the skull. I recognized him from the party the other night. "You lot come out of there nice and slow," he said. "Keep your hands where I can see them. Any nonsense and we''ll shoot."

    I stepped down, closer to them, keeping my hands level, trying not to look threatening. "Easy," I said. "We don''t want any trouble."

    I was actually surprised they hadn''t started shooting already. They might be trying to avoid triggering the boss before they were ready. It was pretty clear they were here to take him out.

    They eyed us suspiciously. "Where''s the rest of your team?"

    "Not here," I said.

    ¡°We could see that. How¡¯d you manage not to wipe completely?¡± That was one of the crossbow-wielding dwarves behind the leader. She had a lighter voice and a slightly smaller build than most of the others, but her beard was just as luxurious as her fellows.

    I didn''t answer. Sage piped up, hopefully. "Not everything has to be about fighting. Sometimes you win battles by making friends."

    "Easy there," I said out of the corner of my mouth. "Let''s try not to incite these guys." The crossbow dwarves followed our moves as we slowly walked away from the bathhouse toward the edge of the forest.

    They probably didn''t want to fight us as they were getting ready for an attempt on the boss. We could accidentally trigger the fight early, or even though they outnumbered us and would almost certainly kill us all, we''d take more than a few of them with us and that would ruin their attempt.

    I cleared my throat. "So, any interest in pooling our knowledge? Maybe joining forces? Sharing the loot?¡±

    ¡°Get out of here, humans," the lead dwarf spat. "Told you already. We don''t want any business with you and your kind. A bunch of jumped up locals who think they can come in here and insult our traditions, invite the soulless to play. The sooner you''re out of this, the better."

    Jones sent me a message. Got my drone hovering about 50 feet up. Send the feed to all of us right back to headquarters.

    Great, I replied, then checked the chat channel I had labeled "Too Many Cooks." Grandpa and Juana had both sent me messages in the last 30 seconds telling me to keep my cool and not provoke anything, as though I hadn''t thought of that myself. I sent them back a quick note telling them to cool their jets, and we made it to the edge of the trees.

    "Go on ahead," I told Sage, Frank, and Annie. "Jones and I are going to hang back and keep an eye out. Jones, hit your camouflage, and we''ll creep back here."

    "Got it," he said.

    "Why can''t we stay?" Sage demanded.

    "In case they''ve got scouts looking for a party heading back toward our base," I told her. She grumbled, but obeyed.

    Once we''d made it a few yards into the forest, Jones camouflaged himself and me, and we crept back. His falcon drone was still scouting, but I wanted to see this with my own eyes.

    The dwarves appeared to have no further interest in us. They were spreading out around the open area beyond the bathhouse, with the crossbowmen and a couple of dwarves carrying glowing wands a few steps back, almost at the water''s edge, and the ones with axes up at the front. "Right, everyone in position?" the head dwarf asked. "Starting our countdown timer now. Drink your potions."

    Nobody actually drank anything. If it was like how our potion belts worked, they were just queuing things up. I had my Inspect going, and watched a couple of them. It was too hard to see them all at once. I picked out one of the crossbowmen, one of the ones with wands, and the boss dwarf, and relayed back to Kirin and Arjun a list of every buff they were adding.

    "Thirty seconds," the boss dwarf said. He had eight different buffs on him. An increase to his defense against lightning, defense against water, defense against striking, and defense against ranged attacks. He also had an increase to his crushing damage and his threat generation. I made a special note of that one.

    "Let''s go!" he shouted. He pulled a fist-sized round ball from his inventory and lobbed it at the open door. I thought it was a grenade, but instead of exploding, it flattened out into a bright orange paste on the door, which then caught fire and began to burn. The dwarves readied their weapons.

    A moment later, the door flung open and half a dozen short, ugly old men poured out of the bathhouse. I caught a glimpse of them while we were in there searching the place. I relayed what we were seeing back to our experts.

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    "Bannik," Gabriel said. ¡°A pretty common Slavic spirit. Bathhouse spirits, frequently old men. Definitely Bannik."

    "They have really long teeth," I commented as the first of them swarmed at the leader dwarf. They were scrawny and wizened with long beards, wearing nothing but loincloths. They carried buckets in their hands, whirling them around their heads and throwing them. More buckets appeared from nowhere.

    The first two Bannik started in on the leader dwarf as he took a couple steps back, leading them right into the circle of axe-wielding warriors. The crossbowdwarves began shooting arrow after arrow. I threw up a quick Inspect. Most of the arrows were dealing fire damage. The Bannik screeched and yelled, and their health levels dipped.

    Beside me, Jones had his binoculars out. ¡°I¡¯m getting snapshots of most of them every couple seconds to send back for analysis,¡± he told me. ¡°These things are great.¡±

    One of the axe-dwarves stepped in to get a good swing, and a Bannik which had not yet attached itself to the leader clobbered him in the head with a bucket. He went down. I couldn''t see System details about what kind of attacks the Bannik were doing, other than what I observed and guessed, but I could see their results on the dwarves.

    The clobbered dwarf lay stunned for a minute, as the ugly, half-naked bathhouse spirits surrounded and began clobbering him. Their health bar dipped. The wand-wielding dwarves focused their attention on him, sending a stream of light from each of the three wands.

    The dwarf leader shouted, ¡°Healer! Focus on me!¡± Two of the healers went back to beaming light at him. What I found interesting was that matched what I had seen during our duel with Mak''gar''s orcs. The dwarves relied heavily on their equipment, which seemed to be fairly standardized. Axes, crossbows, the magic wands, and a few consumables, but I didn''t see them using abilities the way my team did. I made a note to check with Veda about that.

    The dwarf on the ground tried to get up. Another Bannik latched on to him and grabbed his beard, pulling at it. He screamed, dropping his axe and grabbing for the mischievous spirit with both hands. It was a mistake. A minute later, he was gone, dissolving in a stream of light.

    But even with a few victories, it wasn¡¯t enough, not against two dozen dwarves. Even when another couple of Bannik reinforcements popped out of the bathhouse, the dwarves took them down.

    "Fall back!" the leader panted as the last of the Bannik vanished. "Heal up! Use your--oh, here they come!"

    Four armored knights burst out of the bathhouse. Clearly the clients we had seen steaming on the shelves. They wore blue capes. The one in front had a shield which bore an eight-pointed star and a cross.

    "Get a shot of that," I told Jones. "Make sure Gabriel can see. Maybe he''ll recognize it."

    The knight with a shield carried a longsword. The next knight had an axe similar to the dwarves, but with a doubled head instead of a single, and his didn''t have a beard, the little flange on the blade, like theirs did. The other two knights were wielding an enormous two-handed sword and a polearm, respectively.

    They sent out the shield man in front, axe wielder and swordsman behind him, and polearm in the back, as they advanced onto the dwarves. The dwarves fell back as their leader called out instructions.

    He tossed a device at them that started blaring loud wailing sounds, like a siren shrieking or maybe a European metal singer gal in full scream. The knights growled, their attention clearly on their leader.

    Must be some sort of taunting device. Despite not having any kind of shield, the dwarf leader was clearly trying to take the brunt of the aggression for his team. "On ''em!" he shouted, and the axedwarves stepped in.

    The knights were more coordinated than the dwarves. The dwarves charged in and flailed their axes, crossbow wielders shooting arrows any which way. There was no attempt to focus on any of the targets.

    The shield knight was really good at twisting and bending, getting a blow to fall on his shield that would otherwise have hit one of his fellows. They were heavily armored, too. I couldn''t see their hit points, but they all had health bars hanging over them, and the dwarves'' attacks were barely making them twitch.

    The polearm knight skewered an axe dwarf right in the eye, knocking his health down to zero and making him despawn. Then the one with a greatsword brought it down in a huge, crashing chop on another dwarf''s head.

    The healing dwarves shouted at each other and tried to move their beams, but too late. The dwarf was gone.

    I could see their strategy falling apart, but there were a lot of dwarves. Furiously chopping and flailing, they took down the one with the axe, probably because more of them had focused on him than any of the others. I suspected that they were enraged by seeing him wield one of their preferred weapons.

    Seemingly cheered by their minor victory, the dwarves went after the one with the polearm, getting inside his reach.

    His compatriots didn''t react quickly enough. The shield man was still trying to take the blows, but missing more than he got. The greatsword wielder just attacked blindly whoever was closest.

    Another three dwarves went down before they got the one with the polearm. The two remaining knights both screamed, and the air around them was filled with a red haze. Some sort of blood rage, probably. They leapt apart, charging packs of dwarves to either side, and cutting through them with their swords.

    The knights laid several more low, but now the crossbowdwarves were able to get good aim. They were shooting at the joints of the knights¡¯ armor, at neck and elbows.

    A few of their arrows started to get through. The shield man''s left arm piece cracked, then crumbled away, exposing his cloth-covered arm underneath. The nearest axe dwarf swung hard at that, and severed it. His shield and arm fell to the grass.

    He didn''t last long after that. Fourteen or so dwarves surrounded the longsword wielder. He took two more, but they got him down.

    The lead dwarf was still here. His hair was frazzled. There was blood in his beard. He had lost his helmet somewhere during the fight. "Everybody catch your breath!" he shouted as he pulled something out of his inventory.

    The enchanter emerged from his hut.

    The air went cold and still. The occasional birds, which had been chirping in the trees overhead, fell silent.

    "You dare invade the sanctum of Podaga, the enchanter?" he demanded. He raised his arms. "You will feel his wrath!"

    "Spread out!" the lead dwarf warned, and the others sprang to obey.

    Podaga stretched out both hands. Lightning zapped from his fingers. It leapt from dwarf to dwarf around the circle, then back again. The healers were doing their best, switching their beam every second or so from one dwarf to the next, but they forgot to focus on themselves.

    They were the first to fall, then the crossbowmen. Then, within twenty seconds of the enchanter appearing in his doorway, the glade was empty. The dwarves were gone.

    The enchanter lowered his hands. He looked around, smiling. "That''s to any who challenges Podaga, the enchanter," he called. "If you have the mettle, come back tomorrow and face me again, and I will lay waste to you once more."

    He turned and disappeared back into his bathhouse.

 3.10 - How to Prepare for a Secret Meeting

    Back in headquarters, I was sitting in the church at one of the folding tables with our council of war: Grandpa, Arjun, Tall Smith, and Frank.

    Juana was pacing back and forth as she messaged people in Threshold. "All right, Veda''s confirming it, and Mama backs up. Everything we''re hearing says that teams can only challenge these bosses once in a 24-hour period."

    ¡°Individual teams?¡± I asked, "Like, if we go back there in an hour with a full group, would we be able to take on the enchanter? But the dwarves won¡¯t?¡±

    "It sounds that way. The system seems to be limiting it for individual attempts. I''ve also had a message from a slightly friendlier neighbor. Somebody who says they know Firebrand."

    ¡°Yeah?¡± Grandpa asked, perking up. ¡°What do they say?¡±

    ¡°The team name is Congruent Paths. They are contracted with Alabaster Sky, but have offered neutrality for the next week before the main gates open. They say they''re chasing an old woman who has a hut that moves around on chicken legs. They say if we leave her alone, they won''t make any attempts on Podaga until we''ve had our shot."

    "Oh, I know that one," Gabriel called from the next table over. "That''s Baba Yaga. She''s all over mythology in that part of the world."

    "So we can only attempt to take down a boss once a day. But can more than one team take him out? Or if we kill him, is he permanently dead?¡± I asked.

    "Nobody seems to know that yet, or if they do, they''re not telling," Juana said. "We''ve got ears all over. Our crafters in Threshold are demanding information whenever they can. We''re offering a 15% discount on your order if you have anything we don''t already know."

    ¡°That¡¯s a great incentive," I said. "Tell Dwight good idea.¡±

    ¡°It was my idea.¡±

    "Well, in that case, tell yourself."

    She blushed. I grinned at her and turned back to address the table. "Right, so there are other bosses out there we could go after. Podaga and Baba Yaga for sure. There''s probably others. But we already have a ton of information on Podaga. We should concentrate on him. We''ve got one shot. I don''t realistically think we can count on more than that. If we fail, somebody else is going to come in and take him out from under our noses. There''s ten other teams out here. There could be someone on him right now."

    "Jones still has his drone up," Grandpa reminded me. "If anyone makes a move, we''ll see them."

    "I''d kind of like it if they did. I have a feeling that guy''s got a few more tricks up his sleeves. The dwarves had a good idea," I said. "They were trying to get all of the attention from the earlier mobs focused on their leader. That would have made the job with the healers easier. I think we need a tank. And no," I added quickly before anyone said anything, "not me. I don''t have any of the right abilities.¡±

    ¡°You''ve got the taunt," Grandpa pointed out.

    "Yeah, and it''s one taunt with a long cooldown, and I don''t have the ability to take all that damage they were dishing out. Just because I managed it on old squid face doesn''t mean I''m the right man for the job."

    "I have a list of possible contenders," Arjun said, "but no one you''ve worked with previously.¡±

    "That''s not true," I said. "Frank''s got a lot of the skills already."

    Frank looked at me, "What?"

    "Between what you already had and those couple upgrades you showed me, I think you could handle it. We need some consumables from you, a few extra taunting devices, and maybe some disposable shields. That new ability you have, Command and Control, you told me how you¡¯ve been using it to keep the heat off your farmers when you¡¯re out in the field protecting them. Plus, you can swap places with anyone with Emergency Responder. If somebody''s getting piled on, you can teleport to where they are and teleport them out of trouble."

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    "I told you guys I wasn''t cut out for this sort of thing," Frank protested.

    "Come on, Frank, this is an entirely different kettle of fish. Death isn''t permanent here, and it''s not fight after fight after fight. This is one fight that we want you for. And after that, we¡¯ll see.¡±

    ¡°What? You''re gonna have a different strategy once we''re inside the castle?"

    "We sure are," I said, "because we''re getting that list of people from Arjun, and we''re gonna bring them in and start training with them."

    He didn¡¯t look convinced. Grandpa leaned across the table. ¡°It would help us out a lot, Frank,¡± he said quietly.

    ¡°How sure are you these first bosses even matter? We can walk right past Podaga¡¯s hut. No need to get anywhere near him.¡±

    Grandpa shook his head. ¡°What''s the point in not having the main doors open for a week, but having these other guys out? We''re supposed to be fighting over them. Whoever downs them gets buffed in the next stage of the game. I guarantee it."

    I chimed in. "I don''t know how many of these there are, but at least two. My gut says more than that, but probably not enough for everyone to get one down. So we''ve got to take somebody. On the other hand, once all of these, uh,¡± I cast around for a term.

    ¡°Outdoor bosses,¡± Grandpa suggested.

    "Right. Once all the outdoor bosses are down, if they really are single kill each, it''ll be much safer for your people. You can get back to letting the farmers harvest and the crafters do their work. I have a feeling that''s when it''s going to get really hairy for the rest of us."

    Frank sighed. "I guess I see your point. Besides, you say it''s only once a day, so if we try this and it doesn''t work, you have time to get some of Arjun¡¯s other candidates in here and up to speed."

    "Exactly," I said. "Anyway, there''s no limit on how many we can have in our raid. Let''s get as many as we can. The space itself was a factor. I feel like it''d be pretty awkward to try to have anyone in the fight who wasn''t in the glade, and we gotta have room to work, but we could easily have twice as many as those dwarves have. Let''s get everyone who''s expressed any possible interest to assemble just outside our own gates. We''ll run through some practice formations, see what we can do. Arjun, we need healers, people with tanking abilities, anybody who''s willing to listen to you and Juana shotcalling."

    "I''m on it," Arjun said. He started rattling off a list of things to look for. I was going to interrupt him, but I got a message. It was from Warren Black, who I had dueled at the end of Phase One. I hadn¡¯t thought about him or his allies in months. He¡¯d taken over what was left of the Free Human League from Major Waters when the Major disappeared in disgrace.

    I¡¯ve had a message from a mutual ¡ª acquaintance. Someone neither of us want to deal with. He says he¡¯s got to speak to you on neutral grounds. At Threshold. Secretly, without anyone else knowing.

    The only man he could mean was Waters. After seeing him the other night, I had been wondering when the other shoe would drop.

    I sent Grandpa a quick message. Waters wants to meet me and doesn¡¯t want me to tell you.

    Grandpa snorted. He quickly turned it into a cough and I don¡¯t think anyone else noticed. Tell him yes, but make sure you tell me where you¡¯re going. I know there¡¯s no violence allowed in Threshold but that doesn¡¯t mean they can¡¯t find some way to mess with you.

    I¡¯ll contact you in a couple hours, I told Black. Got some business to deal with first. Tell him if he tries anything stupid, I will make him regret it.

    Understood. I¡¯ll be waiting.

    Arjun was still rambling. I stood up and cut him off. "I want your people here in three hours," I said. "So, there''s just people who can get here from Threshold. The Hub''s too far. Tell ''em we''ll take them for the next bit. And they need to sign on to Misfits Guild."

    "Oh?" Juana asked. "We''d been saying we''ll work with people who aren''t in the guild.¡± She tilted her head. ¡°Actually, Mama just sent me a message. She says she¡¯d got a couple potential recruits who she¡¯d like you to meet with. Sounds like our efforts at locating esports experts have finally born fruit.¡±

    That would be perfect, allowing me to meet with Waters right afterward. ¡°Great! Remember, I have a buff to having everyone in the party be part of my outfit. Increases our number of soul coins dropped. And I''m not the only one with a buff like that," I said. "Sage''s Cowgirl Cheer is more effective on coalition members. That¡¯s why they have to join up.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right," Juana said. "I''ll take a look at synergies like that."

    ¡°In the meantime, our creep is heading up toward Podaga¡¯s hut. I dropped some of our flags there to attract them. I think we can use them to help clear out the bannik. Meanwhile," I said, standing up, "I gotta go get something to eat. It''s been a long day. Sage, let¡¯s go raid Mama¡¯s kitchen. We¡¯ll do hiring interviews while we¡¯re there.¡±

 3.11 - Corporate Raiding: Dos and Donts

    Veda sat in a cramped metal cubicle that had been her home, her office, her basic operations, her sanctum for nearly a year. For the first time, she felt trapped. The walls seemed tighter and closer.

    She had banished all of the comforting illusions, letting herself see the metal bones, the exposed computer control panels. Her small crate was about the smallest there was, with the hub''s systems. It had a small independent propulsion unit, just enough to let it kick away from the hub''s infrastructure and navigate to an intergalactic transport.

    Any of the major conglomerations, like Proxima or Alabaster Sky, would have thousands of ships far larger than hers. Some were even capable of independent travel. Hers was basically just a box with a motor and an oxygen tank in one corner and an ethereum reserve in the other. Just enough to keep her alive long enough to connect with the larger infrastructure''s systems.

    Considering all the time she had spent in storage as a child, she should have found the place claustrophobic. It wasn''t. It represented freedom, the ability to move from one system to another for as long as her ethereum lasted.

    She had read over the family''s charter, over her Phase Two bid, over various relevant legal cases. Her mother was right. Her absolute authority over the exploit operation had ended the moment Phase Two did.

    Since she had not previously been formally relieved of duty, her expenditures on behalf of Shad and the humans for their Phase Three bid were legal. She couldn''t be prosecuted for misappropriation of funds or any such thing, but those allocations would be converted over to unsecured loans the moment Tvedra pulled out of this.

    She didn''t see any way around that. Her mother had sent over a copy of minutes from the Board of Directors. It was all in order. The votes had been cast and recorded, the seals properly applied. Veda was no longer in charge of anything. All she had was this life support unit and a few funds of her own.

    The pod had been a coming-of-age gift from her father right before he left for the exploit that had cost him his life. Which made it ironic that he died when his transport ran out of Ethereum during hyperspace travel.

    So she had her quarters; 40,000 Soulcoin in the bank; and some personal relationships. That was about it.

    The good news for the humans was that the Phase Three bid was still in effect. Tvedra couldn''t just yank it out now, especially not when it had been co-sponsored by the Board of Progenitors.

    They would need to find more funds going forward. Veda sent another message to Mama Grace. She didn¡¯t want to involve the frontline troops, Major Twofeather, Shad, or the others just yet, but she needed to talk to someone who had a big picture idea of what was going on. From what she¡¯d learned, that was Colonel Ames.

    Veda asked Mama Grace to tell the Colonel it was important that they meet up, face-to-face if possible, and offered to meet him anywhere on the Hub or Threshold that he chose. Then she sat back and started searching records.

    Her mother had been trying to call every 20 minutes since the party. Veda set all the messages to be picked up by her subsystems. She didn''t have anything to say to her mother right now.

    A ping came in from Colonel Ames. I''m standing outside your door right now.

    It had been less than three minutes since she''d sent that message to Mama Grace. Veda leapt up, glancing down at herself. She was still wearing the same gown from last night. She hadn''t slept. She hadn''t eaten, had been living on stimulants and cold car juice. Her quarters were a mess, data packets hanging in the air in a thousand different places for her to flip back and forth between.

    She opened the door, and the Colonel stepped in. He wasn''t wearing a uniform, just a simple grey shipsuit. No logos, no designs.

    "Can I get you anything?" she asked as the door closed behind him.

    "Just a place to sit," he said, glancing around at her bare quarters.

    Veda ordered the system to produce a cushion for him to sit on. She sat cross-legged from him, with her data projection table between them.

    "Grace says you want to talk," Ames said.

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    "Yes.¡± She cleared her throat. "My company is pressuring me to end our involvement in Phase Three."

    "Really," Ames said, scratching his ear. "Got the impression you were a one-woman show."

    "Not at all. We''re a family organization. Most of the rest of them are back home, several systems away. They have sent in a messenger to let me know that the family''s judgment is we should not proceed any further in Phase Three. Historically, we''ve been a Phase Two company only,¡± she explained. ¡°They''re concerned about the risks involved."

    "Uh-huh," Ames said. "But you''re not?"

    "I saw an opportunity. I wanted to take it. It''s paid off well so far, and I was going to keep backing you humans. But it is unfortunately no longer my choice. We are going to have to make further arrangements.¡±

    ¡°That''s all?¡±

    She was getting tired of his laconic answers. She studied the man. He gave away nothing.

    She had gotten pretty good at reading Team Twofeather. Shad was incapable of hiding his feelings. Sage would flip from one extreme to the next like any adolescent anywhere, and Major Twofeather, while generally reserved, had a deep streak of bitterness that came out at the oddest times.

    This man, though, she knew only from his mention by other members of the team. "Look, it took me some digging to find out that you''re behind most of the influxes of cash I''ve been seeing in the last few months," she said. "The ones supposedly from Mama Grace and the crafters. You''ve got funds and resources. I want to know just how deep your pockets go."

    "How much do you need?"

    She hesitated.

    He pursed his lips. "Either you don''t want to say, because it''s a lot, or you don''t want to say because you don''t know," he said. "And I''m betting the latter. You said yourself your family''s not usually involved in Phase Three. That means you''re as new to this as we are. You''ve been winging it, trying to get a little experience at our expense."

    She felt suddenly cold, betrayed. She''d been laying her cards on the table, only for this human to throw them back in her face. "I''m trying to help you.¡±

    ¡°That remains to be seen,¡± Ames said. "What is it exactly you bring to the table any more? I''ve been checking with my contacts while we speak, and it seems that once a bid''s in the system, it can''t be revoked. So, I don''t need your name anymore. It seems like if you withdraw, you get first claim against any winnings we make. That''s fine. We can pay off what you paid us sooner or later. So I ask again, why do we need you?"

    "Because I have contacts," she said. "People who won''t speak with an indigenous primitive."

    He raised an eyebrow. "I''d like to hear you say that to Major Twofeather¡¯s face."

    His vehemence surprised her. ¡°I think the translation''s problematic here."

    "Something''s problematic here," Ames agreed.

    "What I mean is, your people are new to everything. You''re a bad risk, business-wise. The established corporations aren''t going toopen up to you the same way they will the rest of us. I know where to look for answers to questions. You don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°So you might make a helpful native guide," Ames said, nodding. "Possibly. Or we could try hiring someone else. Someone who doesn¡¯t think you own us.¡±

    "I''ve been working with Team Twofeather since the beginning.¡±

    ¡°This here''s bigger than Louis and his kids," Ames said.

    "Only because of what they''ve done," she snapped back. "I don''t want to abandon them. Yes, I''m new to Phase Three. So are you."

    ¡°So you¡¯ve got a bit of spunk,¡± Ames said. "I admire that. I''m willing to keep you around. If you level with us.¡±

    ¡°I''ve already been honest.¡±

    ¡°We need more than honesty now. We need good, hard information.¡±

    She leaned forward. ¡°Let''s say Twofeather and his team do manage against all odds to claim a share of this reality engine. I''ve got a few ideas on how to best exploit that.¡±

    The colonel frowned. ¡°From what I can tell, we''re going to need a corporation registered at the Galactic level and with a license from the Exploit Committee to operate. Otherwise, we end up at the mercy of somebody who does have that kind of license. I''ve been hoping to stick with your company. That sounds like it''s off the agenda now. What I''d like is a list of umbrella corporations we might be able to sign on to, but won¡¯t screw us over too hard."

    Veda was nodding, already thinking of a few possibilities. At the same time, she wondered. Was Ames testing her? Or had he missed entirely the rest of his implication? "What about a company of your own?"

    Ames dropped his fingers against his leg. "That''s an interesting proposition," he said. "How exactly would we go about doing that?"

    "I''ll get you a precis. You would need shareholders, stakeholders, board members, presidents, various different figureheads, several licenses that are only available at full capital worlds. But you''d be able to at least fill out the paperwork and get a temporary license here. The Exploit Committee has that power. After the end of this exploit, somebody would need to get that ratified.¡±

    "We can manage that," Ames said. "You get me that info."

    "I will," she said.

    "And I''m curious why you came to me, not Louis and his team."

    She looked him straight in the eye. "I''ll be telling them everything. I just wanted to let them get their feet under them here in Phase Three. Plus, since you''re the name on all of the Soul Coin transfers, that makes you important. I figured you''d need to be looped in sooner or later, and I wanted to get a feel for what you wanted."

    He stood up. She rose as well. "So you think you know me now?¡±

    She hesitated. "Not really," she admitted. "But I don''t think you want to be out of this game any more than I do. And that means we¡¯re allies."

    ¡°Potential allies,¡± he said. "You get me your proposal, and I''ll take a look at it."

    After he left, Veda turned to her personal system. I need a lawyer. A really, really good lawyer. Someone who doesn¡¯t like the current way we do things.

    I need¡­ an activist.

 3.12 - Your First Day as a Personnel Manager

    Mama Grace was running a surf and turf special today. I didn''t ask where any of the components had come from, just accepted a plate of something that passed for breaded shrimp and a purple steak with all the fixings. Sage and I dove right into our plates. When I was about halfway through, Mama Grace came back with a pitcher of sweet tea to refill my cup and another woman with her.

    The woman had a pair of dogs with her, both of them the little frizzy, yappy kind I¡¯ve never liked much. Give me a dog that can chase down the bird you just shot any day. Sage exclaimed and slid out of her chair right away, crouching on the floor and holding her hands out to the dogs. "Come here!"

    "This is Alison," Mama Grace said. "She''s going to be your new raid manager."

    ¡°Raid manager?¡± I looked the woman over. She looked maybe forty years old, so probably that was her real age. The Reality Engine rejuvenated anyone older than that down into their mid thirties like grandpa. She had a pleasant round face, dishwater blond hair cut just above her shoulders, and wore glasses. The Reality Engine also healed most eye problems. Probably the glasses were part of her class.

    ¡°I¡¯m Shad Williams of Team Twofeather," I said, standing up and extending my hand. "Won''t you sit down, ma''am?"

    "Certainly.¡± She gave me a genuine smile, sat down, and pulled a paper out of her inventory. Alison slid it across to me. Nobody but Juana bothered to use paper here. I picked it up. It said: ¡°Resume of Alison Grinnel, Personnel Management.¡± Then it listed a bunch of jobs in HR.

    ¡°Ok, I can see this being useful. I¡¯ll put you in touch with Arjun.¡±

    ¡°Flip it over, please,¡± she told me.

    I did. On the back, written by hand, was an addendum.

    Class: Dog Lady. It¡¯s like a cat lady, but with dogs. Then she had listed her abilities, none of which looked particularly combat focused, like [Walk the Dog]: Your base walking speed is decreased by 15% but you gain a boost to charisma and are more persuasive to other miners.¡±

    Below that my eyes seized on a relevant heading. Six years experience leading raids in massively multiplayer online role-playing games. She then listed three big ones that I had heard of, though never played myself. She had led 40 man, 25 man, and 20 man raid teams and achieved server first on multiple of them.

    ¡°Ok, I¡¯m interested. Let¡¯s talk.¡±

    Mama Grace brought her a cup of ice tea. She picked it up and took a sip. ¡°I¡¯m not a great raider myself,¡± she said without preamble. ¡°I studied strats and did my job but I¡¯m no theorycrafter. What I was good at was raid coordination. For instance, if you¡¯ve got a forty man raid, how many need to be healers? How many ranged DPS? Do we have someone to provide all of the needed deep off for the boss? How many tanks do we need in a fight? I also regularly served as heals team coordinator on the bigger fight.¡±

    ¡°Explain?¡± I leaned forward.

    Sage, down on the floor with the dogs, interrupted. ¡°First, tell me what their names are and how you brought them along?¡±

    ¡°Those are Jock and Willie,¡± Alison said. "I''ve actually got a bunch more and a pair of cats I don''t know what to do with. They''re in my inventory. "

    "Really?" I was surprised. As far as I knew, you couldn''t store live creatures in your inventory.

    "Yes, "Alison said. ¡°It¡¯s a special trait for my class. You see, I was at the vet with Jock and Willie for their yearly physical when the event happened. It took me, two vet techs, a mom and son there to get their new puppy his shots, and the contents of half the building. That included a bunch of animals waiting for or recovering from surgery. We couldn¡¯t put them in inventory at the time, so we ¡ª¡± she hesitated. ¡°Four of us took the ones who could walk and escaped with them. Milla, one of the techs, wouldn¡¯t leave the others. Even with the countdown.¡±

    I closed my eyes. ¡°I understand.¡±

    ¡°Then when we were offered classes, I saw this ability.¡± She tapped an ability on her list, [Petsitter]. She hadn¡¯t written out what it did. ¡°That lets me store any nonsentient living creature in my inventory. Doesn¡¯t work on the things the reality engine generates, though. So I took all the good boys and girls we had and am carrying them around. I have several abilities that let me unleash them in combat but I¡¯m so afraid they¡¯ll be killed. I know you removed the human death penalty. Do you know if that stands for animals?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea. We don¡¯t have anyone else on the team with pets. I¡¯ll see if Veda knows. Did they eat SoulCoins or anything?¡±

    ¡°They did, but it didn¡¯t seem to do anything. No abilities or intelligence boosts, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re asking.¡± She looked fondly at the pair of dogs. ¡°They¡¯re just my same friends who¡¯ve been with me for the past eight years. I don¡¯t know what I¡¯ve done without them.¡±

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    ¡°Can I adopt one of the cats?¡± Sage asked. ¡°It could be my mascot, I¡¯ll get it a cowboy hat to wear and teach it tricks!¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said firmly, thinking of all the problems that would cause. ¡°All right, Alison, I''m convinced that I want you on our team. With that kind of experience, we need you. Are you willing to join our guild?¡±

    She nodded. "Yes, I''ve already talked it over with Mama Grace and I am ready to team up."

    I sent her an invite to Misfits. She accepted. I immediately pulled her full profile up on my guild officer¡¯s interface. Juana was trying to get me to use that more, but I always forgot to bother. Now I had access to Alison¡¯s full profile.

    She was only level 2, which worried me. She must have avoided fighting in Phase One. Her health was a minuscule 45 points. She had 20 points in Charisma ¡ª almost as many as Sage ¡ª and the rest were scattered around randomly. I winced. ¡°Look, don''t take this the wrong way, but it doesn''t seem as though you''ve got much combat experience. "

    "I know. But I do think my raiding knowledge will be invaluable for you. As soon as I heard about Phase Three, I knew I had to come help out Team Twofeather.¡± She hesitated. ¡°I was a Lotus Eater,¡± she admitted.

    That made sense. If she¡¯d spent most of the last two phases hiding, that explained a lot. ¡°No shame in that. If you¡¯re willing to help now, that¡¯s enough.¡±

    ¡°I am, and I¡¯m ready to start immediately. Mama Grace had me approach you first, but when I heard the theme for Phase Three I started putting a team together. A couple of them are here waiting for you.¡±

    I had eaten most of my lunch. I glanced around the restaurant, which was bustling like usual, trying to guess who Alison¡¯s friends were. They made it easy by waving to me. A table in the far corner had five people around it; two women, three men. I stood up. ¡°That¡¯s them?¡±

    Alison lead me over. Sage followed, the dogs tucked under her arms. I smiled as I approached the table. ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Shad. Alison says I should talk to you.¡±

    ¡°We all know who you are,¡± one of the women said. She was about my age, red-headed and pretty. She had a splash of freckles across her cheeks. She looked me over and smiled. ¡°You¡¯re even cuter close up then when we saw you on stage the other day, isn¡¯t he, Lauren?¡±

    ¡°Now that he¡¯s gone all red, sure,¡± the other girl about her age said. Lauren had darker skin and her hair in a thousand beaded braids. She wore scrubs. So did two of the men.

    ¡°Are you healer classes?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Alison said. ¡°Like I said, during raiding my particular expertise was managing heals teams. From the videos Colonel Ames brought us, your fights have been kind of ad-hoc. Sage has a nice little heal, sure, but you guys mostly seem to rely on potions. That¡¯s not going to work here.¡±

    I thought about how the dwarves had managed in the Podaga fight. They¡¯d had what seemed to be a dedicated healing team. It hadn¡¯t been enough for them. ¡°I¡¯ve got more for you to watch. I¡¯d appreciate your analysis. Once we¡¯re done here, I¡¯d like you to head for our outpost and ask Arjun about it.¡±

    Alison nodded. ¡°Sounds good. If you¡¯ll let me, I¡¯ll coordinate for the first fight and we can adapt.¡±

    ¡°Anything the rest of you want from me?¡± I asked. I was trying not to be too suspicious, but this seemed ridiculously convenient for us. ¡°What is it you¡¯re hoping to get, here?¡±

    The girl who wasn¡¯t Lauren blushed. She giggled and looked away. One of the men spoke up. He had tanned skin, like Grandpa after a day out in the sun, and wrinkles up by his eyes that made me think he had been rejuvenated by the Reality Engine. Otherwise he looked about thirty. ¡°Captain Williams, what you and Team Twofeather have been doing is inspirational. I can only speak for myself, but I was lost. Yanked away from my home and family, put to work by aliens, fighting for my life with a set of rules that made no sense ¡ª when I learned about the safe zone, I hauled ass there as fast as I could. Had been there probably two months by the time you arrived and it turns out an eternal vacation wears thin. I was about three days from becoming one of the sleepers.¡±

    I remembered the creepy catacomb full of unconscious humans that Ames had showed me, and shivered. ¡°Any luck waking them up?¡±

    ¡°Cronos beamed your inspirational speech into everyone¡¯s dreams and asked for volunteers,¡± another of the men said. He looked tired. He was also wearing scrubs, green ones, and had a stethoscope around his neck. ¡°My name is Chen. I was a radiologist on Earth and I¡¯m a [Radiologist] again here. I¡¯ve got some abilities that I took thinking I could use them to help protect my team. We tried running missions. Our backer told us it was the fastest way out of debt. We managed two. Then disaster. All four of my friends died in front of me. It ¡ª I couldn¡¯t take it. I found Cronos, and hid.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re here now.¡±

    ¡°Your sister woke me up.¡± He looked pensive, staring down at the table. ¡°I have two little girls back on Earth about her age. I miss them so damn much. I was thinking about how they would be ashamed of me, hiding away where it was safe while a child fought for their future.¡±

    That was a big burden to lay on me. I¡¯d promised to help fight for Earth, and I meant it, but I didn¡¯t have a very good idea how. I cleared my throat. ¡°Glad to have you aboard.¡±I extended all five an invite to Misfits. ¡°We¡¯ll be gearing up for our attempt soon. Everyone move out. I¡¯ll meet you back at headquarters.¡±

    I sent a quick message to the [Too Many Cooks] channel, letting Grandpa, Juana, and the other department heads know we¡¯d just recruited a bunch of healers.

    Great, Juana sent back at once. We actually had a pair of men who should make good tanks show up and volunteer. This is going to be a pretty decent dry run. Are you on your way back?

    I¡¯ve got another stop to make. I¡¯ll be in time for the fight, I promise.

    I signed off and turned to Sage. ¡°Can you escort them back? I need to do something.¡±

    Her eyes narrowed. ¡°Uh-huh, like what?¡±

    I cast around for an excuse that wouldn¡¯t make her more suspicious. I didn¡¯t have time to visit the Hub¡­ ¡°I owe you a present,¡± I said. ¡°For your heroic above-the-call-of-duty efforts to keep me from killing myself too often. I¡¯m going to talk to someone about it and I don¡¯t want to ruin the surprise.¡±

    ¡°Oh, in that case, sure.¡± She grinned at me and turned to the new recruits. ¡°Come on with me. I¡¯m going to introduce you to Juana. You make sure you¡¯re nice to her. Mama Grace is her actual mother and she¡¯s like the scary boss lady so don¡¯t get on her bad side.¡±

    I slipped out of the restaurant and sent a message to Warren Black. I¡¯m free. Where do we meet?

    The reply came back at once. Two blocks left, three blocks toward the elevator. Look for the shack with the hubcap hanging over the door.

 3.13 - Four Tips for Handling Snakes: Number One: Dont

    The ramshackle two-story hut also bore the hammer-and-axe logo the Free Human League were still using, but they¡¯d changed from the red and black color scheme they¡¯d used under Waters to a green and blue. It was more restful and made me think of Earth, which was probably the plan.

    I stepped through the door, my senses on alert. No violence was allowed on Threshold ¡ª enforced by the System ¡ª but I wasn¡¯t sure if that extended to ¡°we grab you and tie you to a chair until you do what we want¡±. I¡¯d shout for Grandpa as soon as that happened, if it did, but it would be awfully embarrassing for me.

    Warren and his wife Linsey were waiting just inside. They looked nervous. I nodded to them. ¡°How¡¯s it going? Backstab and betray anyone recently?¡± I was still angry about how they had pretended to be on our team before trying to serve us up to Waters on a dish. They could have gotten me or my family killed.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry about that,¡± Linsey said. ¡°Waters had a way of making things seem right. I know now we never should have done what we did.¡±

    ¡°Seeing as you¡¯re here on his behalf I don¡¯t know that I believe you.¡±

    ¡°Oh, trust me, we¡¯re clear on what we¡¯re doing this time.¡± Warren held up a hand. ¡°Waters still has some supporters in my coalition. They persuaded me to help him arrange this meeting, that¡¯s all. He¡¯s upstairs.¡±

    ¡°Then why are you here?¡±

    ¡°Because we betrayed you once and we owe it to you this time to make sure he doesn¡¯t try anything,¡± Linsey said. She crossed her arms and thrust her chin out. ¡°I said we wouldn¡¯t be any part of this unless we were here to make sure it¡¯s all right.¡±

    ¡°If I could trust you, that¡¯d probably be reassuring.¡± I shrugged and sent Grandpa a message. Going to talk to Waters now. If you don¡¯t hear from me in fifteen minutes, shout at Veda. ¡°See you around, Black.¡± I climbed the staircase at the back of the room, leaving the Blacks behind.

    The upstairs was all one large dimly-lit room. The wood had a pale blue tint to it. I recognized it as a resource harvested from one of the Phase One farming levels. Cylabor trees had a valuable heartwood that could be used for armor, and a lot of people in Threshold had started building structures from the less valuable outer layers. They were bizarre trees with perfectly cubic cross-sections. I¡¯d seen a forest of them once, like some sort of computer¡¯s idea of the perfect grove, all right angles and harsh lines.

    Drapes covered the windows, these seemingly salvaged from Earth scraps. One of the windows had a yellow-and-black flag repurposed as a covering, the other a dingy blanket.

    Waters waited for me in the center of the room, sitting in a rolling office chair. He had his hands flat on his lap. There was a three-legged metal stool off to one side. Otherwise the room was bare, but there had been more furniture here recently. Lighter colored square patches along the walls showed where shelves or something similar had rested.

    Waters was wearing his dress uniform, same as the other night. If he was trying to impress me he failed. I folded my arms and leaned against the wall, ignoring the stool. ¡°I¡¯m here. Start talking.¡±

    Waters said nothing for a moment. He let out a loud sigh. ¡°You have a way of fucking things up, Williams.¡±

    ¡°I hope so.¡±

    He passed a hand over his face, looking old and tired. For a minute I got a glimpse of the man he¡¯d been a year ago. What I knew about him told me that Waters was a similar age to my grandpa, and that like Grandpa he¡¯d been terminally ill when the system picked him. Unlike Grandpa he was a complete asshole and I¡¯d have been happier if the aliens had chosen literally anyone else on the planet. He¡¯d even, apparently, gotten his fellow abductees killed during the Initiation Chamber event.

    Team Twofeather had lost one person abducted with us, but in fairness, Delores would have probably picked [Social Worker] as her class choice and we were all better off without her meddling.

    ¡°I have work to do,¡± I said as Waters stayed silent. ¡°So you can talk, or I can walk.¡±

    ¡°I know you think badly of me, Captain Williams. Mustangs always regard career officers with suspicion, and you have not been properly equipped to make the sort of difficult decisions that are necessary here.¡±

    I held up a hand. ¡°Ok, this sort of bullshit is exactly what I am not here for. The fact that I started as an enlisted man just means I know how to work for a living. I have perfect respect for those who¡¯ve earned it. Like my grandfather. Major Twofeather. And we¡¯re working under the direction of a colonel, who outranks you both, and we¡¯re half a million miles from Earth and the American chain-of-command is pretty damn thin out here so if that¡¯s all you¡¯re going to say I¡¯m out of here ¡ª¡±

    ¡°You are pissing off some important people. I¡¯m here on their behalf, to issue a warning and make an offer.¡± Waters was still sitting. He looked tired, defeated.

    ¡°Is it Proxima? I don¡¯t want to hear what those assholes have to say.¡±

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter what you want, it matters what they can do to you. To us. All of Earth. Proxima, Alabaster Sky, and ConSweGo divvied up the spoils from this engine years before they ever arrived in our system. They let their smaller cousins take a piece of the action, like your friend Veda, because it¡¯s convenient for them. That doesn''t mean they are letting us in on it. You are throwing a wrench in their plans, and if you don''t stop, all of Earth is going to suffer.¡±

    "Dramatic much?" I paced around the room, lifting the blanket curtain and glancing down into the street below. A couple of miners were trudging along, carrying a heavy basket between them. ¡°We know the best outcome is to pick up a fraction of one percent of the ownership of the Reality Engine. It''s our engine, why shouldn''t we try for a piece?"

    ¡°You¡¯re making them look incompetent on the galactic stage at a period where Proxima especially is desperately raising funds and backers for their next exploit.¡±

    I made a mental note to ask Veda if she knew what he was talking about later. ¡°So sorry.¡±

    ¡°You will be. Letting an indigenous species actually beat their contracts and take a fraction of ownership? They¡¯ll be humiliated. Proxima has asked me to spell things out very clearly here. You know what their plans are for the Engine?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Subdivisions and condos. Move a couple trillion aliens in.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the good option. Bad option is they turn on the construction option, instead. Make this whole place a manufacturing facility for starships and stations like the Hub.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s an option?¡± I turned back away from the window. ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°So they tell me, and they showed me proof.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t see why that¡¯s so bad. Might keep the system from being so crowded.¡±

    ¡°Are you really that slow, Williams? Where do you think the Reality Engine would get the matter it needs for large-scale construction?¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°I dunno, everything about this seems like black magic.¡±

    ¡°It can¡¯t just create from nothing, you know. It¡¯s efficient but not that good. The reality engine will harvest matter from the rest of the solar system and use it to turn out ships by the hundreds of thousands.¡°

    I felt a chill run up my spine. ¡°Matter. Like ¡ª planets?¡±

    ¡°Now you¡¯re getting it.¡±

    ¡°Surely there¡¯s a law against that. I mean, they weren¡¯t allowed to kidnap all of Earth, just a fraction of us, because they have rules about indigenous species.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, and feel free to run this past your alien friends. They won¡¯t touch Earth. That would be against the rules, to consume a planet with intelligent life on it. Our moon, on the other hand ¡ª¡±

    I groaned, seeing the implications. Without our moon, Earth would undergo ecological disaster. The loss of tides for one thing ¡ª and I had some vague idea that the Moon interacted with plate tectonics, too. Plus it would probably screw with nocturnal species and who knew what else. ¡°Really? They¡¯d do that out of spite?¡±

    ¡°You want to bet they won¡¯t?¡± Waters looked me over. At last he stood up, with a ponderous reluctance that made me imagine him as a much heavier, less able man. ¡°Proxima recognizes your personal skills. They¡¯ve authorized me to make you an offer similar to what they gave me. That¡¯s you, Williams, not your grandfather. Be sure you get that.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t going to accept a damn thing from Waters or Proxima, but I¡¯d learned that information was a valuable resource. ¡°Make it.¡±

    ¡°You persuade your coalition to forfeit this phase. We¡¯ll arrange for a nice buyout for your closest allies. Cushy retirements, regular rejuvenations. They can apparently look forward to three centuries of life, by the way, with all their needs tended before the ethereum toxicity get too great. Not too bad compared to 70 years of disease-ridden existence.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, sure,¡± I said.

    ¡°I get it. That¡¯s not enough for you. You¡¯re a man of action. Proxima knows that. They like it. They want to offer you a place on one of their future exploit teams.¡±

    I caught my breath. Mak¡¯Gar had implied a similar deal, but hearing it from Waters was another thing. ¡°What, and do to other worlds what was done to ours? Move in and take their stuff, force them into servitude, all for our own profit?¡±

    ¡°Someone¡¯s going to do it. We don¡¯t make the rules, we just play by them.¡±

    As long as he was being open and honest, I wanted to see how much I could get. ¡°They make you the same deal? What are you getting here?¡±

    Waters¡¯ eyes unfocused. He suddenly looked almost pensive. ¡°They need people they can trust, liaising with Earth. We¡¯ll be neighbors. Someone who understands both our needs and theirs will be a perfect go-between.¡±

    So Waters would get to be puppet-king of Earth. He¡¯d more or less accused Grandpa of having those sort of ambitions, back at the big party. Made sense he was already thinking along those lines.

    I felt ill, like the room was suddenly too stuffy. Being this close to Waters made me want to punch someone, probably him. ¡°Ok, great, thanks for the word of warning. I¡¯ll take it under advisement.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d better decide fast. Proxima has teams in your valley. If you get in their way, they¡¯re going to be even angrier.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± I checked the time and mentally swore. ¡°Anyway I¡¯ve got to get back, I promised to peel a bunch of potatoes for Mama Grace. You know how we uppity enlisted types are good at that manual labor.¡±

    His face was red. ¡°You really think you¡¯re clever, don¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Nope. Just good at doing what I¡¯m told. Talk to you later, Major. Or hopefully not. Enjoy your second retirement.¡± I headed back down the stairs without waiting for Waters to respond.

    As soon as I was out on the street I took a big breath of fresh air, or at least what passed for fresh inside an enormous cavern miles below the surface of Ganymede. Then I started sending messages to Veda as I walked back to our portal, reporting on what Waters had told me and asking her for her opinion.

    She didn¡¯t take long to respond. Yes, the ruling coalition could try to change the zoning classification from residential to commercial. They¡¯d lose a lot of money. We have more shipbuilding capacity than there¡¯s demand, and people are always looking for slots in a less crowded engine.

    How come? What¡¯s the advantage?

    More processing power per user means a more detailed experience, plus your waiting list for kids is shorter.

    What about the idea we¡¯re making them look bad?

    The reply took a minute. I wondered if she was hesitating. That is¡­ possible. I¡¯m not really tuned into galactic news but¡­ Proxima pulled strings with my family to put pressure on me. I ought to be about as far beneath their notice as you are. And they are looking at a potentially historic exploit coming up, with the rogue world they told us about. I¡¯ll look into it.

    Wait, what sort of pressure? You mean your mom showing up?

    I¡¯ll explain later. You¡¯ve got work to do, right? Give me a day or three and please trust me, if you can. Good luck with Podaga.

    That was a brush-off if I¡¯d ever heard one. I let Grandpa know I¡¯d be back in five minutes and stepped up my pace.

 3.14 - How to Drop a Bombshell

    We were preparing to go to war. By the time I got back, the briefing was well underway. Arjun, Juana, and Grandpa stood on the steps outside the old church building, addressing the assembled team in the square. They had pulled a pair of whiteboards from who knows where and had doodled all over them with black and red markers. I slipped into the crowd and took up a position in the back as Juana addressed the assembled group.

    "I''m sending out the team assignments now," she said. "Go ahead and pull them up."

    I received a message notification. When I pulled it up, it informed me I had been assigned to the Long-Ranged Damage Dealers Team and also to Subgroup 1, whatever that meant. I decided to wait for an explanation before asking any questions.

    I glanced around the crowd assembled around the decorative bit in the middle of our outpost. There were at least 15 people here whom I had never seen before, but also plenty of reassuringly familiar faces.

    All of Team Mongoose were here, and so were the members of Ragtag that I had gotten used to working with during Phase 2. There were a bunch of other acquaintances I had run missions or achieved objectives with, too, stretching all the way back to the beginning.

    Frank stood near the front of the crowd, his hat pushed back on his shiny, sweaty face, listening intently. Grandpa pointed to one of the two whiteboards. It had four red symbols on it and a diagram that I thought was supposed to represent the area outside Podaga''s hut.

    "Once the Bannik are down," he said, "our first real challenge is going to be taking on the four knights inside the bathhouse. If it goes the way it did for the dwarves, they''ll come out and engage with us themselves. Our goal is to control the encounter. Each of the knights, we are giving a code name. There''s Axe, Shield, Spear, and Sword."

    Someone in the crowd shouted, "It was a polearm, not a spear!"

    "Yeah," Grandpa said, "but ''spear'' is faster to say. I am aware that two of them were using swords. The one with a shield is called Shield. The other one is Sword. Got it?"

    He didn''t bother to wait for an answer."We''ve got four different people here with the ability to get in the face of one of those four. They''ve all been assigned." He listed off three names that I didn''t recognize, each of the three raising their hands as he introduced them. There were two men, Javier and Dante, and a woman, Marilla. I committed their names to memory.

    "And Frank Young will be on Spear," Grandpa concluded.

    Frank scowled but said nothing.

    "Their jobs are to drag one of the knights to each corner of the clearing. Here, here, here, and here," he said, pointing at positions on the crude map. "Then they''ll keep the attention of their chosen knight. The heal team will be here and here."

    He made more marks toward the center of the area but about ten yards apart.

    "We''re splitting into two just in case these knights have any area-of-effect abilities we didn''t see from the dwarves. Heal team, you''ll be listening to Allison and taking her orders. It''s absolutely critical you do."

    "That''s right," Juana said calmly. "Because she''s going to be the one who is monitoring the whole situation. She might make a call that you have doubts about. You''ve got to do what she says. Sometimes she might even call for you to let someone die that you could have helped. Keep in mind, deaths aren''t permanent. They''ll respawn right back here, safe and sound. But a wrong move at a critical time could take out our whole team, and then we''d have to wait 24 hours before trying again."

    Dwight and two of his helpers were passing through the crowd, handing out gear. Crafter Sue gave me a bag. I transferred it into my inventory, then checked the contents. A stack of our new improved healing potions. A flask of ¡°Resist Lightning¡± and another that was a ¡°double the effect of all resists for ten seconds¡± buff. I stored both in my potions belt, filling the sixth and seventh slots there.

    ¡°You have to equip the belt yourself,¡± Sue said, and moved along to the next miner before I could ask what it was for.

    I pulled out the ¡°Belt of Grounding¡± and examined it.

    [Item crafted by Sue Daniels of Misfits Guild

    This is an Ablative Item. Upon the death of the wearer, item is destroyed.

    When struck by lightning, direct 80% of the damage back on the caster]

    It was a two-inch-wide shiny snakeskin belt with a tacky gold buckle. I was already wearing a potions belt, my gun belt, and the actual belt holding up my BDUs. Another would make me look ridiculous.

    I got a message from Juana. Shad, you¡¯ve got that distracted, clueless look again. Put it on, we¡¯ve got a specific job for you, I¡¯ll send you the details once we¡¯re done with the briefing.

    I¡¯m going to look ridiculous, I replied as I strapped the belt on under my coat.

    None of us are winning any fashion competitions here.

    Says the woman in the cute sundress and knee boots, I retorted.

    I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d noticed. She looked away and I tried to focus on the briefing again.

    ¡°We can''t afford failure,¡± Grandpa said. "We had one other team show up and try to take on Podaga while we''ve been waiting. They seriously underestimated his abilities and only brought about 12 people. We''ve got more than twice that. But none of us are used to working with each other in quite this way. Ordinarily, I''d try to reassure you all, let you know that it''s okay if we mess up, we''ll try again later. The truth is, we don''t have that luxury. If we don''t get in there today and take Podaga down, someone else will. That''ll put us behind the curve on this whole phase."

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    All around the square, people were nodding.

    "Now then," Grandpa said, "everybody keep comms clear. We''ve got designated people whose job it is to watch the fight and communicate back with the team here and with the rest of you who are fighting. Other than that, you need to keep the channels open. Do you understand? If you''re asked a direct question, reply. But there''s too many of us, and if we''re all talking, no one''s listening.

    ¡°I also want to let you know that I expect some of us will end up going down during the course of this. Those knights were a hard bunch for the dwarves to take out, and then Podaga ripped through all of them like wet tissue paper. We''ve got a plan for him, too, but we''ve got to get through the knights first with as few casualties as possible. Play it smart. If you''ve got the ability to save yourself from death, use it. Don''t wait for us to tell you so. But if you''re doing something that puts someone else at risk, don''t do it. Any questions?"

    To my surprise, about eight different hands went up.

    Juana stepped forward and pointed. "Yes, Bob, go ahead."

    "Do we think our personal debuffs will work on these guys?"

    "Good thinking," Juana said. "We hope so. We know that your Lost in Translation skill is really good, so throw that as soon as the knights come out. We''ll have someone watching to see what impact it has."

    Sage puffed up. "Me!" she called. "She means me. I''m on overwatch. Since my Tame probably won''t work on those knights anyway, the big meanies."

    That broke the tension a little bit. A wave of laughter passed over the crowd. Grandpa and Juana fielded a few more questions. Then Grandpa started down the steps.

    "Let''s move out," he said. "We should have a couple dozen of our creep in position now. No sense wasting any more time."

    Just then, the system voice broke in.

    [Attention, all veterans of Phase 2 from planet Earth.]

    Grandpa froze in mid-step.

    [This is your 48-hour warning. The promised reward for your performance in Phase 2 is now being announced.]

    For some reason, my heart was hammering. I saw the looks of confusion and a little bit of fear mirrored on every face I saw around me.

    [All human miners whose performance exceeded the baseline during Phase 2, whether through direct contribution or calculated contribution points, have been notified already that they are receiving a special reward. 48 hours from now, all recipients of the special reward will receive a Day Pass.]

    I could hear the capital letters in the system''s announcement. "Day pass." My mind was blank. What was a day pass? What was it talking about?

    I heard a low murmur of voices around me, sounding more and more worried. Grandpa had a hand against the rail of the church steps. He looked white as a ghost.

    [Recipients of a Day Pass will be transported back to Earth for a single 8-hour period, 48 hours from now. At the end of that period, they will be transported back to Threshold to resume Phase 3 activities. Recipients of a day pass cannot save the pass for later or decline this honor. Recipients will be returned to the spatial location from which they were first removed from Earth.]

    I felt like someone had just punched me in the gut. Back to Earth? They were sending us back to Earth? Was that even possible?

    I looked around. Sage was nowhere to be seen. Grandpa still looked like he''d been stunned. My eyes met Juana''s, and I was surprised to see she looked terrified.

    [Miners who have received an upgraded reward will be allowed a longer period of time on Earth. Miners who reached the top 3% of performers have been given a 3-day pass and will be transported anywhere on planet Earth that they desire.]

    A private notification popped up for me.

    [Congratulations, Miner Shad Williams. You are a recipient of a 72-Hour Leave Pass. This includes transport to the Earth location of your choosing and back to Threshold at the end of the pass. All your Ethereum needs will be handled for you. You will have no access to any system-based subroutines or storage abilities during your trip to Earth.]

    I waded through the crowd toward Grandpa as everyone around me went absolutely insane. About half the field was crying. One woman was shaking her head. "Why not me?" She was saying, while another man near her was mumbling, "I can''t go back. I can''t go back," over and over again.

    I reached the church steps. Juana had descended down to where Grandpa was standing.

    "This is an absolute fucking disaster," Grandpa said grimly. "They couldn''t have come up with a way to take the wind out of our sails better if they''d tried. This is going to play absolute havoc with all of our plans."

    "It might not be so bad," Juana said. "We''ve got a lot of recruits who weren''t very active in Phase Two. We''ll probably have a team left behind ¡ª¡°

    ¡°Who''ll be bitter and resentful that they didn''t get to go. Meanwhile, all our best players are out of the game for eight to fucking 72 hours," Grandpa said bitterly, leaving everyone else to pull out ahead of us.

    I was surprised at his vehemence, though I understood his worries. Still, home. I was going home. For 72 hours, but still, to see Earth again. To be around other people who weren''t part of this insane life I had been living for the past year.

    I looked at Juana and saw only fear and worry on her face.

    "Uh, sorry," I said. "Did you not get selected?"

    She shook her head. "I''ve got a 72-hour pass," she said quietly. "Mama just sent me a note saying she''s got an eight-hour pass, and my sister, Rosa, didn''t get picked."

    "Ah, damn, I''m sorry."

    "I''m sending a message to Veda telling her to put a stop to this," Grandpa said angrily.

    "Hang on," I said. "I know this throws us off, Grandpa, but it''ll be nice to see the old place again."

    "I have no interest in seeing anything or anyone on that planet again," he snapped. "What am I supposed to do? Go see the place where my house used to be? No, thank you."

    I was saved from trying to answer by Sage. She came pushing through the crowd, her face alight.

    "You got the 72-hour pass, too, right, Shad?" she burbled. "And Grandpa?"

    We nodded.

    "Great," she said. "Because I know just where I want to go, and I want you two to come along with me."

    "As long as it''s not the goddamn Strip," Grandpa growled.

    "No," Sage said, bouncing up and down. "I took a look at the timing, and it''s perfect. We''ll have to make contact once we get back on Earth, but it''ll work out just fine. I''ve been getting some of the live news updates from Veda, you know, the information packets, so I checked the dates, and it''s right. Orange Dream is performing in Southern California in four days! We can see them, and we can go to the beach and the amusement parks! I''ve been wanting to go to Wizard World ever since I was nine, and now I actually can!¡±

    "Wait, what?" I said. "Who''s Orange Crash?"

    Sage rolled her eyes. "Orange Dream. They''re a K-pop band, Shad."

    "You say that like I should know what that is."

    "Korean boy band," Juana filled in. "Very popular with, uh..." She glanced at Sage and then back at me. "Young teen girls, generally."

    "Oh, hell no," I said. "If I''m getting dragged back to Earth, there''s no way that I''m spending my time in Southern California listening to a boy band."

    "Doesn''t matter," Grandpa said. "I''m gonna tell Veda to find a way to put a stop to this."

    "Louis,¡± Juana said, putting a hand on his arm. "That''s all well and good, but I suggest you don''t say anything like that to the team right before we go take on Podaga."

    Grandpa snorted. "What do you mean? I''m supposed to go take down a boss with the kind of emotional turmoil everybody here is in?"

    "We don''t have a choice," I said. "Sage, can you cast Cowgirl Cheer on the whole crowd?"

    "Absolutely!" She leapt up to the porch, and I felt her buff settle over me, calming my nerves. I put my fingers to my lips and whistled, long and loud and hard. The hubbub in the crowd began to die down. I whistled again.

    "All right, everybody!" I shouted. "Nice of the system to offer us a paid vacation, but it''s still two days away, and we''ve got work to do before then. So, everybody sober up right now. Let''s get out there and show that sorcerer what we''re made of."

 3.15 - Ten Tips for Surviving a Lightning Strike

    Once I¡¯d calmed down a little, I remembered my new belt and messaged Grandpa and Juana as we made our way toward Podaga¡¯s bathhouse. So what do I do with this belt?

    Right, you¡¯re integral to this plan, Juana said. First off it¡¯s critically important you do not get killed by the Bannik or the knights. We need you to help get the Podaga fight started right. We¡¯ll need a minute to reposition everyone and we¡¯re concerned about that first lightning attack, so Arjun and I came up with a plan.

    I had a sinking feeling. I¡¯m not going to like this, am I?

    What are you talking about? You¡¯ll love it. You get to be the hero, Grandpa said. You¡¯ll probably die pissing your pants but I¡¯ll ask Jones to edit that out of the after-action recap so nobody will know.

    Great. Thanks.

    Juana gave me my instructions.

    Well, that sounds incredibly painful but straightforward. Right, let¡¯s do this.

    As we had hoped, a bunch of our minions were milling around by the lure we had placed earlier. Our outpost spawned a steady stream of creep, mostly skeleton pirates and cannibal pigs riding velociraptors. I had hoped that the theme would change in Phase Three, but it seemed like we were stuck with the creatures we had gotten used to on our Phase Two island.

    Frank and the other three tanks were equipping the Day-Glo orange vests Dwight had made them. The vests increased their threat considerably and made it so once a mob had focused on them, they were unlikely to lose that mob''s attention.

    Under Jones''s camouflage, Sage, Alison, Bob, Annie, and I snuck forward. I had a brand new creep lure in my hand, ready to place.

    Now, my advance team was approaching Podaga''s hut, ready to start the fight. As we reached the edge of the grass, I tensed, waiting for someone or something to give us away. There was no movement from the bathhouse. I planted the lure in the grass just at the edge of the clearing, and we snuck back. I sent Grandpa a message. Lure planted. Destroy the old one.

    Done, he replied. You should have company in a minute.

    It was actually about two minutes out before the first of the creep arrived. I tipped my hat to each of them as they approached. Annie used her "hat for your rabbit" ability on one of the pig chieftains, doubling his stats and height as well. "Time to ring the doorbell," I whispered.

    Jones pulled a sniper rifle with a telescopic sight from his inventory. He dropped to the ground and set the rifle up, pointing at the door. He set his eye to the scope. A moment later, he fired just one shot.

    There was a high-pitched whine as the round shot forward. It struck the door of Podaga''s bathhouse, right in its center, splintering the bright blue painted door and drilling a hole right through it.

    I held my breath. Eight seconds later, the door burst open and the Bannik swarmed out. There were six of them, same as before, wielding buckets and brooms. They poured out into the clearing, then looked around slightly comically just as our creep reached the lure.

    The Bannik howled and raced forward. Our creep let out various cackles, whoops, and grunts as they joined the fight.

    Sage cast Cowgirl Cheer. I pulled half a dozen different buffing items out of my inventory and began applying them to our creep, including a wand we¡¯d gotten from the treasure vaultin Phase Two.

    The Bannik were each more than a match for any individual one of our creep, but the creep outnumbered the Bannik six to one. I watched with my teeth on edge, wanting to jump in and intervene. When the third Bannik was down, I messaged Grandpa. All right, move everyone into position.

    We''re on our way, he replied. Do not engage until we''re there.

    I know, I said. It would be better to have something disastrous happen to our creep than have to take the Bannik out ourselves than for me to somehow start the fight too early and risk having the knights out of position.

    I heard rustling and crackling footsteps as our team got into position. "Give me a boost into the tree, Shad,¡± Sage said. I helped her up into the branches of a nearby pine tree. She would be on lookout.

    It was time for me to join one of the clusters of long-ranged damage dealers. We were positioned on the far west side of the clearing. I didn''t like being so far from the action. There wouldn''t be much I could do if things went wrong.

    I was thinking about this all wrong, I scolded myself. Grandpa, Juana, even our new ally, Alison, had made it clear. This kind of fight wasn''t about one person''s heroic abilities. This fight was about working as a team. I could do that.

    No, really, I could.

    As the last Bannik fell, our four tank volunteers got into position. I could see Frank''s face pretty well, even though he was a good forty feet from me, at the southeast side of the clearing. He was sweaty and nervous-looking. His duty weapon was in his right hand, and he kept wiping his forehead with his left.

    The other three tanks were named Javier, Marilla, and Dante. I hadn''t yet had time to see what their classes were, but Javier was wearing a little red half cape and an enormous black and silver hat, something like a sombrero, but not quite the same. He looked like an old-fashioned Spanish bullfighter to me. Well, I''d seen more ridiculous classes.

    Marilla pulled a wooden shield as tall as she was out of her inventory. It looked like a piece of plywood she had strapped metal loops to the back of. The front of it was painted with the words "Trespassers will be eaten."

    Dante was lacing up a pair of bright green sneakers. He wore a bright green windbreaker as well. It didn''t give me any clue as to what his class might be.

    They stepped into the clearing as the last of the Bannik died. And just in time, because the four knights appeared in the doorway just like before, dressed in their armor and their bright blue capes with the shield-bearer at the front.

    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    The four tanks strode forward in a line. Frank was half a step back from the other three. I could tell he was nervous. Probably the others were too, but I couldn''t read them as well.

    The knights advanced down into the clearing as a unit. Javier stepped forward. His cape was in his hands, and he shook it at the broadsword-bearing knight. It worked. The knight raised his sword and broke away from the pack. Javier darted back toward the northwest side of the clearing. Marilla screamed and hurled a small, round, bright pink plastic ball at the shield-bearer. The ball exploded all over the knight''s shield, coating it with bright pink sparkles. It seemed to enrage the knight and lured him off to another corner.

    Now Frank and Dante were facing the last two. Frank shuddered. He shouted something indistinct. It didn''t seem to attract either knight''s attention. Javier reached down and scooped up a wad of grass and earth. He threw it at the axe-wielder, catching the knight on his faceguard. The knight started for Javier, who got him into position. Frank yelled again and then unleashed his restraint ability on the pike-wielding knight.

    "Now!" Grandpa yelled, and we broke into action. The healer teams ran forward, positioning themselves in the middle of the clearing, where they had a clear view of everything that was going on.

    Alison stood between the two groups, her hands raised as she shouted back and forth. They had a private chat channel for this as well, or so Alison had said. I wasn''t one of them, so I focused on my job, which was to take down the knight we had called "Pike" as hard and fast as possible.

    I started shooting, adding my damage into the incredible barrage that chewed into the knight, dropping him a good 10% of his health in the first 5 seconds of the fight. Then he seemed to use an ability of his own, jumping back up in health. I hoped Sage had gotten a look at what he had used. She was supposed to be relaying information back to our team at the outpost, so they could analyze what skills were being used and give us counters for them.

    "That''s not my job right now," I reminded myself. Focus on the target.

    The problem was, I had a lot of really useful abilities for spreading my damage around, doing a little here and there, chipping away, but I didn''t have much that was good for this sort of fight, where I was just supposed to stand on the side and blast holes and things.

    I forced myself to maintain my position and took shot after shot at Pike. Some of my allies had much more interesting abilities. An enormous red and blue gorilla appeared behind the knight and began attacking him from behind, grabbing one of his arms and twisting it backward. The knight was still furiously focused on Frank, swinging his polearm one-handed.

    Someone else filled the clearing with a cloud of ice crystals. "Cut that out," Grandpa ordered on the raid-wide chat. "Nothing that impairs anybody''s vision, and avoid water-based spells."

    We were pretty sure that Podaga''s lightning would have a greater effect with water involved. It felt like a cheat. Here I was with an invulnerability to water, and Podaga could just zap me as easily as anyone else.

    We had Pike nearly halfway down. "Melee, go," Grandpa ordered.

    The two different melee fighters groups charged in, six miners in each. The one led by Grandpa surrounded Pike, swinging at him, trying to stay out of the way of Frank and the giant gorilla.

    Frank''s Restraint had faded by now. We had told him to keep Posse in reserve for later. Still, the pikeman kept stabbing at Frank, courtesy of the special Day-Glo orange vest Dwight had given him and the other three tanks.

    I kept trying to watch the whole fight. One of the other tanks was dropping dangerously low, but then a couple of the healers focused on him and brought him back up. Alison was doing her job well, so I just needed to do mine. I grit my teeth and shot another barrage at Pike. He was nearly down. I kept focus on him until the knight disappeared in a wave of sparks. Sage let out a whoop I could hear from clear across the clearing

    "Melee team Alpha, attack Shield," Grandpa ordered as he charged. The other melee team was still fighting against Axe. Now two of the knights began to drop in quick succession. Our analysis team had ranked Frank as the weakest of the four tanks, with Javier as the strongest, so we had decided to take out the knights in that order.

    I guess we were settling into a rhythm because things were going smoothly. Then one of the melee miners cut it a little too close. She ran in with a cudgel and struck at Axe, who shifted his attention briefly from Dante to her. One quick strike obliterated her. "It''s alright," Grandpa called. "We''re still in this. Stick with it, team."

    I kept my focus up, but that one mistake led to another and then another. Three of us went down in the next 20 seconds. Two melee and one of the healers who ran up close to try to apply a touch-based heal to the targeted damage dealer. I could hear Alison shout over the combat from here, "Focus! Keep your assigned targets!"

    Axe went down. Melee team Beta ran to help Javier face off against Sword.

    A moment later, Shield went down too. "Melee team Alpha, retreat," Grandpa ordered. "You''ll just get in Beta¡¯s way. Get ready to engage Podaga in a minute."

    That was my cue to step out of my concealment and take up a place near the door. As Misfits took out Shield, I readied myself, reviewing my assignment.

    Podaga stepped through the door, readying his speech. His hands raised to the sky, broom clutched in one as he began to invoke the lightnings.

    I cast High Noon on him and breathed a sigh of relief when the skill activated. I had been a little worried that this wouldn''t count as a duel.

    Podaga looked incensed. "What foul villainy is this?" he roared. "How dare you!"

    "Everyone in position," I called. "Heal up. Let me know."

    Grandpa and Alison were shouting orders, moving people around, while Podaga ranted and raved at the sky. Two of our support casters came in, casting area-wide heat spells that dried up the dew on the grass and sent a sizzling fog upward. It was uncomfortably warm for a few minutes. When the steam stopped rising, they backed away.

    "All right," Grandpa said. "Go ahead."

    I took a deep breath, downed my lightning resist potion and then the one that made it do double duty for ten seconds, cast Call ''Em Out on Podaga, and then shot him with the biggest, most powerful boom round Sage had made.

    As High Noon ended, Podaga thrust his broom at me. A solid beam of lightning struck me, but we had been counting on that.

    The Grounding Belt that Sue had made me shook and let out a teapot whistling sound. The lightning zapped me head to toe, making my teeth ache and my skull rattle. My health began to drop precipitously. At the same time, it set up a resonance, sending a beam of lightning back at Podaga. I could see it shaking his broom.

    As my health dropped toward zero, I had the satisfaction of watching the broom disappear, exploding into chunks of wood and burning greenery and taking Podaga''s hand with it. The sorcerer lost ten percent of his health in that burst.

    Unfortunately, the blast wave finished me off. A minute later, I respawned back in our outpost and hurried to join Juana and Arjun, who were watching the rest of the fight. "How''s it going?" I asked breathlessly. "Think I could make it back in time to help?"

    "No way," Juana said, shaking her head. "Even running would take you, what, twenty minutes to get there? It''ll all be over before then. Oh, he''s gearing up for another lightning blast!"

    She leaned forward and whispered something into the microphone. I tried to watch what was going on.

    We were seeing the feed from Jones'' drone and another off of Sage''s spy cam. Most of the rest of the raid were also wearing the all-seeing eyes, but when I tried pulling them up, I saw it was just a jumble of blurry action. Sage and Jones definitely had the best views.

    I grit my teeth and fumed as the team took down Podaga. After a minute, it was clear we were going to win. I took a deep breath, sighed, and turned to Juana. "I''m going to get back up there. We''ve got a Rusalka to talk to."

    She grinned at me. ¡°Take it easy. I¡¯ve got to pay the bill for all those respawns now and you¡¯re way too trigger happy.¡±

    ¡°Hey!¡± That struck me as unfair. ¡°You and Arjun specifically came up with a plan where I was going to get hit with a million volts of lightning, and then you blame me for dying?¡±

    ¡°Sage told me to be sure to give you a hard time about that.¡± She winked. ¡°Right, they¡¯re finishing up. Better hurry or you won¡¯t get any of the loot.¡±

 3.16 - Escort Quests and Other Signs Developers Hate You

    About two minutes after I left the outpost, a notification popped up.

    [Congratulations to Misfits Guild for vanquishing an optional encounter. Bonus rewards are being calculated.

    You are the third group to take down one of the bonus bosses.

    Reward earned: Fifty thousand XP per combatant.

    Two hundred and fifty thousand soul coins.

    Electricity resistance crafting materials to be delivered to outpost.

    Recipe: enhanced elemental resistance potion.

    Recipe: enhanced cleansing potion.

    Recipe: enhanced elemental damage buff potion.

    Recipe: enhanced armor affects kit: Water resistance

    Recipe: enhanced armor affects kit: Electric resistance

    Recipe: enhanced armor affects kit: Water damage buff.

    Recipe: enhanced armor affects kit: Electricity damage buff. ]

    "That was a fantastic set of rewards," I wondered if there were any more bosses that we could quickly hunt down and take out. I''d have to ask Dwight what the new recipes did, but I suspected we would find them very useful in the coming days. That XP boost was incredible too. It took me two-thirds of the way through level nine and ought to be good for several levels of experience for our less-ranked people.

    [Bonus reward. One skill seed per combatant who dealt, took, or healed damage during the fight to be delivered to the guild leader.]

    And that could very well be even better. We had gotten very few skill drops since phase one. Now we''d have a treasure trove to help outfit our new allies.

    [Optional quest begun: Escort the captive Rusalka back to their home and sister.

    Reward: Hidden Reward.

    Reward: 100% bonus XP gain for the next two weeks.

    Reward: one bonus skill per combatant.]

    And now the system was really falling all over itself to reward us. This was awesome. I grinned. I was nearly back to the bathhouse. Sage would be beside herself at the thought of getting a new skill.

    [Warning, this quest has a penalty for failure.

    Failure penalty: No member of Misfits Guild may enter the castle for two days after the doors open.

    Quest must be approved by half of the combatants who participated in the boss takedown.]

    Okay. That was slightly worrying. Anytime we had had a quest during phase one, it had given great rewards. I didn''t recall seeing any kind of negative penalty to it. A two-day delay would put us way behind everyone else. Was that worth the reward?

    Everyone accept it, Grandpa said through chat. I did, and a moment later, the quest text disappeared. Then another announcement popped up.

    [This is a zone-wide announcement. Misfits Guild is attempting a bonus objective. Should they succeed, they will be rewarded. Should they fail, those who stopped them will receive a reward in their place.]

    Oh crap. So the system was screwing with us.

    Juana sent frantically, What just happened? We got a notification here. Everyone''s going to be on you.

    I didn''t answer her. Instead, picking up my pace and sprinting through the woods toward Podaga''s clearing. We had not seen any messages like this in the last day, even though the system said two other bosses had been taken down. Maybe the others hadn''t received a follow-up quest or hadn''t bothered to accept it.

    By the time I got back to the clearing, Grandpa was already busy organizing things. The three captive Rusalka had emerged from the bathhouse, long white dresses dripping water and dark hair plastered against their heads. They were barefoot, which I hoped wouldn''t be an issue.

    "Alright, Shad," Grandpa was saying, "you¡¯re part of our scouting and mobile kill squad. We don''t want to waste any more time than we have to. Everyone on the map is probably converging on us right now. It''s about a mile back to the Rusalkas¡¯ pond cross-country. Let¡¯s move and hope we can stay ahead of the rush.¡±

    One of the Rusalki drifted toward us. "You are taking us home to our sister?" she asked.

    "That''s the idea, ma''am." I tipped my hat to her. "Just stick with us and we''ll get you home."

    "Then we shall set off at once," she said and began walking along the little stream leading out of Podaga''s bathhouse.

    I groaned to myself. An escort quest. Great. "Ma''am, the quickest way is here.¡± I pointed off into the woods.

    She turned to me, her luminous eyes liquid and pleading. "We cannot stray so far from the water," she said. "Our feet must remain damp or we are done for."

    Sage groaned. "How about we give you boots full of water?"

    The Rusalki and her sisters began following the stream.

    "Get that drone in the air," Grandpa told Jones. "Scout the creek. Figure out how far it is to the Rusalka pond and where the likely ambushes are. We''re going to have to hope that nobody here knows they''re stuck on the water or this will be way too easy for anyone who wants to stop us. Shad. Bob. Annie. Lara. Hester." He looked around, pointing. "Frank and Will. All of you head that way. Take one of the healers with you."

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    The two girls I had met at Mama Grace''s diner earlier were standing right by me. They giggled. I probably had a funny look on my face. "Which of you two can keep up with us and heal under stress?"

    Lauren pointed at her blonde friend. "Macy''s the one you want." They giggled again.

    I wasn''t so sure about this but nodded. "Alright, Macy. You''re with us. Let''s go. Team Ragtag Redux, move out."

    As we set off along the stream, I kept watching my mini-map for any enemies while I quickly pulled up the ability lists of our new miners. They were all three level 4, which considering how much XP everyone had just gotten probably meant they''d been level 2 at best a minute ago. That meant they had more than likely spent most of the last year as lotus eaters. Hester was a Non-Ironic Beat Poet, and Will was a Firefighter. At least he had some straightforward abilities. All Hester¡¯s were described in iambic pentameter.

    Well, they were what I had to work with. At least they all had their starting abilities, even if they hadn''t gained many skills or abilities in the time since. "Anyone who''s got any sort of camouflage detection, keep it going and yell if you spot anything,¡± I said. I kept my own enhanced minimap up, watching for enemy dots. I didn¡¯t always see through camouflage, but anyone else I¡¯d see a quarter mile out.

    I wished I had Jones, but I understood why Grandpa was keeping him. He would be able to help camouflage our group. Plus, it was hard to fly the drone and fight at the same time.

    "It''s not a matter of if someone comes, it''s when," I told them as we raced along the stream, stooping under overhanging branches. Hester tripped on a root and Annie helped her up.

    Will kept up with me easily. He shot me a quick grin. ¡°This is fun. Really, really fun. I should have come out of hiding months ago.¡±

    ¡°Glad to have you along now.¡± Now that we¡¯ve gotten the death penalty removed and it¡¯s all fun and games. I still remembered Phase One, where death was permanent and one wrong move might get me or my sister killed. But that was behind us now. I focused on the task at hand.

    Grandpa sent me a private message. I''m having the Grignarian squad sweep around to our south, toward where we think several of the other outposts are located. They should give us warning, and I''ve told them to ambush anyone they see coming for us.

    Roger.

    It''s not that I think they''re going to backstab us now, Grandpa added, but I can''t be sure. Hopefully anyone who sees them will attack on sight and give us that much warning, at least.

    Yeah, they do seem to be pretty universally hated, I agreed.

    We had made it about 300 yards downstream when Hester spoke up. "Someone up ahead. I''ve got them on [Pierce the Veil]. You should see them in a sec here.¡±

    I checked the ability description. Yup, that was the one that said ¡°A rhyme and a riddle, a cunning decree/Reveals hidden foes, with poet''s decree¡±. I got a B- in English my senior year, so I wasn¡¯t an expert, but that seemed like pretty awful poetry to me.

    Not the critical thing right now. As the red dots appeared, I threw up a hand. Most of the team stopped right away, though Macy kept on until she walked into the back of Bob. ¡°There''s eight of them. Spread out," I shouted as the red dots appeared on my map. "Frank, remember how we handled the Quetzalcoatlus?¡±

    ¡°Got you, partner.¡±

    I activated Fastest Gun in the West and charged at the approaching group. As soon as I was close enough, I threw a Call ''em Out and yelled for Frank.

    He hit his Emergency Responder ability, and with a disorienting switch, I found myself 50 feet back with a nice taunt on all of our enemies.

    I ran a little farther before turning. They were eight of them, and four had pursued me right into the middle of our group. Bob threw Lost in Translation, confounding their abilities to work together. I hit the closest one to me with a Barrage and then targeted the farthest off, who was standing just behind three others. They were orcs, but not firebrand. The four farthest off all had guns.

    I used Trick Shot to send a Scatter Round at the farthest. This was a new toy Dwight and Sage had made me. The bullet would fragment on impact, seek out the nearest targets, and impart a short-duration fear which, depending on how well they resisted, would either have them trembling in their boots or running for cover. It was an incredibly expensive round, and one of the few that apparently worked better on miners than on NPCs. This was my first chance to use it, and I was delighted as it quickly scattered the rear guard.

    Then I dove in toward the four that had gotten themselves in the middle of my group. Meanwhile, Frank had one of the farther ones Restrained. I decided to trust his instincts and focus on the closest set. Hester was laying down a quick beat, her [Sonic Sonnet] ability, which further disoriented the orcs while dealing sonic damage. Lara was throwing her orange grenades around merrily.

    The close-in orcs all carried vibrating, glowing swords, so as soon as I got in range, I hit [Never Bring a Knife to a Gunfight] and they dropped their weapons. That trick shouldn''t work on any group of miners more than once, but it seemed like our opponents weren''t sharing any information with each other.

    I followed up with a Trick Shot to one orc''s wrist. I had a set of bullets that did a significant amount of localized damage rather than the more generic chipping away at a health pool, and this one blew his wrist off as he was reaching for his sword. Will screamed and ran in, wielding a fireman¡¯s axe and smashing the orc I had just disabled in the head.

    The next orc over had drawn a knife. He stabbed Will¡¯s exposed back. Will only had 60 HP. He probably hadn''t had time to distribute his new stat points. I winced as half his health was gone in one hit.

    "Get him up!" I yelled to Macy, who extended a hand and pulled a baton from her inventory. She had been wearing a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt at Mama Grace''s restaurant, but she had changed at some point.

    Now she had a short blue skirt with ruffles and an athletic top with a panther face in blue on it. I hadn''t pulled up her profile before, since I had been trying to see what kind of offensive abilities Hester and Will had to work with, but it was pretty clear Macy was a cheerleader.

    A beam of sparkling blue and white balls flew out of her baton toward the injured man, exploding as they hit him. Not balls, I realized. Pom-poms.

    Sometimes the reality engine''s specialized classes were a little silly. But then again, here I was running around a southern European forest in an outfit that would make Wyatt Earp feel embarrassed.

    I shot the nearest orc a few more times. My team took some damage, but we had interrupted the ambushers before they had a chance to get in position.

    We had six of them down before the last two managed to reclaim their weapons and take up a back-to-back defensive position. They cut down Will and almost killed Bob. Macy''s pom-pom barrage saved my translator friend just in time.

    I delivered a final headshot to the last orc. As the body sparkled and vanished, I sent a message to Grandpa.

    It''s clear for now. Keep coming.

    We couldn''t pause if we wanted to, Grandpa said grimly. Once these gals got started, they won''t stop. They''re following the stream. I can see you from here, Shad. Get moving.

    I swore, gathered up what was left of my team, and started off again.

    The Grignarians reported in. We have encountered the Akazan. Fifteen of them. We are accounting for ourselves. It took me a minute to remember that the dwarves had referred to themselves at the party by that name. I also remembered how much they had hated the Grignarians. Hopefully this was a grudge match that would occupy some time, but if there were two groups on us, there were probably more.

    I kept up my pace. The Rusalkas¡¯ pond appeared through the trees. We were almost there.

    I pinged my map and groaned, sending word back to Grandpa at once. There''s a whole bunch grouped up ahead of us. They''ve had time to dig in. At least fourteen. We''re going to have to face them. They''re right between us and the lake.

    Got another group on our tail, Grandpa reported. Don''t know if they''re coordinated or just lucky.

    Send me who you can spare, I said.

    A minute later, six more miners, including Sage, popped in. I knew most of them already. Jack and Esma waved hello. I hadn¡¯t seen them since the big Phase One fight that had seen Misfits triumph over Major Waters. I pulled up what the newcomers could do, just as Juana sent me a quick message.

    We''ve got a plan for you, Shad.

    Am I going to like it?

    You won''t hate it, she replied, which I did not think was a particularly good sign.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got about thirty seconds before I go in myself."

    Arjun''s sending everyone the details, she said. A quick set of bullet points flashed up in my list.

    I hope he''s sending everyone else less.

    You''ve got the overview. They just know what they need to do. Good luck, she said.

 3.17 - Red Rover and other Childrens Party Games

    The enemy had been clever. Jones flew his drone overhead and given us a quick estimate. Eight of the Akazan dwarves, four orcs ¡ª not from Congruent Paths, they were still honoring our non-compete ¡ª and three different animal people teamed up together.

    They had erected a temporary fortification, four feet high with six turrets facing outward. It looked like it was built out of the same sort of basic materials used for outposts in Phase Two. They had the generic silvery appearance that we had customized into being an old west stockade.

    I knew from experience that those defenses would take a lot of damage. A straight-up frontal assault would be suicide.

    ¡°We are really lucky you got that class evolution to Carpool Driver," I told Lara as we quickly grouped up. "Minivan only used to get us out of trouble, not into it."

    ¡°That¡¯s why I took it,¡± she said tightly as I made sure everyone understood what was going on.

    Juana was right; I did like this plan. I was a little too fond of theatrics if I was being honest. And this one catered to that failing beautifully.

    I checked my cool downs. Call ¡®em Out was ready again. We had one ace up our sleeves that we hadn''t used yet.

    I turned to Frank, "Deputy? I mean Sheriff,¡± I amended, grinning at him as he raised an eyebrow. "You want to do the honors?"

    He pulled his hat brim lower on his forehead and posed, arms akimbo, for just a moment. "Let''s ride," he said as I refreshed my Hat Tip buff on my team.

    Grandpa had sent both Smiths and Brown to me. They linked hands as Hester put her hand on Brown¡¯s shoulder, and then Smith touched Lara¡¯s.

    Lara waited until Frank raised a hand and brought it down. She disappeared along with the forward team as a pair of war elephants in armor painted red and black appeared in front of us. A couple of terrified-looking spear-wielding soldiers clung atop them.

    The enemy popped their heads up past their barricade, firing laser rifles and explosive grenades at the elephants. An orc had a device that shot a rope out, trying to entangle the foremost elephant¡¯s leg, but it did not work like in movies. The rope wrapped around one leg and the elephant just kept charging forward.

    And as Frank was distracting them with Hannibal and his elephants, Lara snuck our team in the back.

    "Go!" I told the rest of us, and we charged in behind the elephants. The enemy team was shooting wildly as the elephants smashed against their barricades.

    I needed to ask Frank sometimes what the parameters were for his reinforcements. Sometimes he''d gotten no more than a pair of London Bobbies while other times he pulled out overpowered options like fighter jets or war elephants. I thought again and decided to make sure to ask somewhere we weren''t likely to be overheard. If the reality engine was shifting things in our favor, like sometimes I thought it was, it wouldn''t be good to draw attention.

    You''ve got about three minutes before the Drippy Sisters get there, Grandpa warned me.

    We''ll punch through, I promised. I deployed a particularly ridiculous item Dwight had made for me and I had sworn I would never use, a bright silver whistle, put it to my lips, and blew.

    A moment later I was several feet higher in the air clinging to the back of a saddle-less horse. I had my fingers tight in its mane. My gun went flying. It didn''t matter. I''d be able to use Quick Draw once I was where I wanted to be.

    Dwight had called this the ¡°Hi-Yo, Silver!¡± It was apparently accompanied by a spell that would draw enemy attention to it. It wasn''t a taunt like my "Call ''em Out." More like a ¡°what the hell is that, I can¡¯t look away?¡± spell.

    I clung on for dear life as the horse charged right past the elephants and up to the stockade. It planted its front feet and sent me flying over its head.

    I landed like a gymnast dismounting from a balance beam, knees bent, arms extended. All those points in Agility counted for something, at least. And as half a dozen alien heads turned to look my way, I Quick Drew my gun, shot the nearest dwarf in the face, and then cast Call ''em Out again.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    "Annie, go!" I messaged frantically. A second later, I lurched six feet to the side and felt a wave of coolness wash over my body.

    The aliens'' heads didn''t turn. Instead, they started shooting the exact replica of me who stood where I had been with a dumb grin on his face. It was like one of the Shad dummies I had used against old Squid Face come to a more detailed life.

    The fake image of me waved his free hand and pointed his gun around wildly. Annie''s recently acquired skill, [Ventriloquist''s Dummy], created an exact replica of someone on the spot while relocating them to a location of her choosing.

    Now I called in my final card. Okay, Jack, go for it.

    I stood waiting, and while I did, I checked on Team Mongoose. The three members had reached the beach behind our enemy''s defensive lines. Between me, Frank''s elephants, and our oncoming charge, the aliens hadn''t noticed yet. They were all still facing outward, aside from the couple that were trying to fill the fake version of me full of the alien equivalent of hot lead.

    By now, Mongoose had constructed their machine gun nest. Smith gave a thumbs up at the smiling replica of me.

    "Do it," I said, and they opened fire.

    Their bullets didn''t hurt me. Brown had a skill, [Friendly fire], which was a confusing name, because it meant actual friendly fire was impossible. I guess it made your fire more friendly. Whatever. It meant their bullets couldn¡¯t hit me, and that was all that mattered.

    As they ripped into the aliens, some of the orcs turned and began shooting beam weapons toward Team Mongoose.

    Too late.

    I heard the ear-splitting roar of artillery fire dropping down on my head. Good old Jack the Tank Driver had rejoined our offensive team for this one. We hadn''t dared use his [Artillery Barrage] ability during the Podaga fight, since if somehow Podaga survived and all of us were dead, that would have been a bad thing. But now, with me as his target, he was raining incendiary shells down on our enemy.

    As the first shell fell, I threw down a really, really expensive single-use item. This wasn''t something Dwight had made. We had bought it from the Galactics a while ago. It was a one-man, 20-second invulnerability field, and it had cost almost 50,000 soul coins. Right now, it let me stand in the middle of the camp for a couple of extra seconds while Jack rained down death.

    By the time the shield was up, most of our enemies were dead.

    Cease fire! Cease fire!, I told Jack, and sprinted away from the destroyed enemy position as the last couple shells fell.

    Mongoose picked off the couple of alien stragglers who had made it out of the hellfire. I popped my head out from behind a tree and watched as the three Rusalka meandered down their stream the rest of the way to the lake.

    As their feet hit the water, a [Quest Complete] box popped up. I cheered, and so did everyone else. Team Mongoose began disassembling their machine gun nest.

    Grandpa called out to me as he approached the water. ¡°Come say goodbye to the ladies.¡±

    The [System Quest Complete] box appeared.

    [Mission successful. Team Twofeather has led the Misfits Guild to victory yet again. All the rest of you have failed. Maybe you should start watching what Misfits do instead of trying the same thing over and over again. That''s worked really well for you so far, hasn''t it?]

    I thought the taunting was a bit much.

    I approached the lake as the Rusalka embraced their sister, the one who had given us the quest. She disentangled herself from their watery limbs and turned to Grandpa and me. "How can I ever thank you for restoring my sisters to me and ending the reign of that cruel sorcerer?"

    "Just doing our job, ma''am," I said.

    "I have a great gift to give you," she said. She reached her hands out. There were seashells on the palm of each hand. She held one to me. I accepted it. "To open your eyes," she said.

    As I touched it, the seashell melted away. A system message popped up: [All inspect functions are now restored for your team members.]

    "Well, thanks," I said to the ceiling. "By reward, you mean give us back something that you stole from us in the first place? Really?" I shook my head as Grandpa accepted the other seashell. It, too, dissolved.

    The message that popped up this time said, [Creep is immune to Seething Miasma]

    Grandpa and I exchanged a look. "What''s that?"

    "No idea." He sent a message back to the command team. Anyone know what seething miasma is?

    We''re taking a look, Juana said. But nobody recognizes it right off. Gabriel says it¡¯s not a Slavic myth thing. If you''re done there head back. We''ve got some interesting information to report. And there''s probably still angry enemies out there. We don''t need to pay a resurrection bill if we don''t have to.

    "All right," Grandpa yelled. "Nice work, everyone. Back to camp. Stay close. I''ll put in a take-out order from Mama Grace and we can all kick back and talk about what we did right and what we can do better next time."

    "Next time?" I said to him in an undertone as Sage whooped and skipped ahead of the rest of us. "Which part of this is going to have a next time?"

    "Certainly the boss fight," he pointed out. "You did good this time, Shad. You didn''t even die."

    I sighed. "Would have been cheaper if I had. Respawns don''t cost a tenth of what that shell did."

    "True, but we needed to make sure to get down as many of the enemy as possible," Grandpa said. He clapped me on the shoulder. "Come on, let''s get back. There''s a lot to talk about."

 3.18 - When Planning to Fail, Always Consider This

    Grandpa and I joined Juana, Arjun, Allison, Frank, Dwight, and a couple of our other command staff back inside the church over a nice after-dinner pitcher of something that tasted a lot like beer but was sadly lacking in alcohol.

    "Between what our crafters have learned and other intel sources that Ames isn''t revealing, we now know that the dwarves took down some sort of werewolf boss yesterday," Juana reported. "And the Congruent Paths team took out Baba Yaga this morning.¡±

    ¡°Neither of them had follow-on quests?¡±

    "We don''t know. I mean, we know nothing popped up, but whether they chose to turn down a quest, weren''t offered a quest, or were given a quest that wasn''t opposed, we can only guess. For now, we have to assume that we''re all roughly neck and neck. They took down their bosses sooner than we did, but we had the bonus quest, which was pretty successful."

    Arjun was sitting perched on a stool with a whole pile of little round skill seeds in front of him. He had an enormous magnifying glass and was examining them, then turning to consult a piece of paper on Juana''s clipboard next to him. "What are you doing?" I asked.

    He held up the magnifying glass. "This is an item we traded for. It came from a treasure vault on Phase 2, like the one you raided. It is able to analyze a skill seed and determine what sort of ability it is likely to give." He frowned. "The details are rather vague, though. They tend to fall into a couple of categories, whereas the skills we actually have are, as you have noticed, personalized and unique."

    "Yeah," I said. "And I might be wrong about this, but I think that''s unusual when it comes to reality engines. I''ve been in a number of fights with other miners now, and I''ve noticed they don''t use many skills. Mak¡¯gar and his team didn''t. Those dwarves didn''t. None of the outsiders seem to use much in the way of skill."

    ¡°Remember how the Patriarch told us most reality engines only offer 8 or 10 class options?¡± Juana reminded me. ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about that a lot. Obviously my searches are limited ¡ª they keep a lot of information locked down ¡ª but I did some looking around. From what I can tell, most species have their reality engine chosen for exploit while they¡¯re at a much lower technology level.¡±

    I frowned, leaning forward across the table. ¡°Really? Veda said something to me about how we had woken up our engine with the Voyager probe, and they hadn¡¯t known we were here until then.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡± She grinned. ¡°What she didn¡¯t tell you is that there are thousands of galactic probes out there looking for unclaimed reality engines. They missed us until it was almost too late. Another few decades and we¡¯d have found this one ourselves.¡±

    Grandpa swore. ¡°If we hadn¡¯t wasted all that time after Apollo dithering around in Earth orbit ¡ª¡±

    Juana raised a hand. ¡°Let¡¯s not waste time there. You know what the common classes are?¡± She didn¡¯t wait for an answer. ¡°Warrior. Healer. Farmer. Priest. Tailor. Brewer. Blacksmith. Peasant serf. Slave. And something the system won¡¯t translate for me but seems to be ¡®lazy royal scion¡¯, probably. With Farmer, Peasant, and Warrior by far the most common.¡±

    It took me a minute to figure it out. ¡°If you collect ten million people at, say, the Bronze Age stage of development ¡ª¡±

    ¡°First, you probably just took every member of their species in existence.¡± Juana ticked off her fingers. ¡°Second, those ten classes pretty much are it as far as jobs, hobbies, vocations. Not a whole lot of people in subsistence living can put in enough time to develop a whole image around being, say, a gunslinger.¡± She gave me a quick grin. ¡°Or an office manager, which is essentially what I am.¡±

    ¡°Damn.¡± Grandpa sat back, shaking his head. ¡°Damn. I thought we were screwed, but they really fuck up most planets.¡±

    ¡°If they usually take the whole population, do they even have rules for what to do about the rest?¡± Suddenly, I was worried about the eight billion humans left on Earth. I¡¯d rarely thought of them in the last year, aside from being jealous of their luck.

    ¡°I¡¯ll check with Veda, but there are rules. Just ¡ª maybe not for a space-worthy population numbering in the billions.¡±

    ¡°Shit. We need to find out.¡±

    ¡°Nothing we can do about that at this minute,¡± Grandpa said firmly. ¡°Let¡¯s cut to the point. How does this effect our team, right now, in Phase Three?¡±

    I took a deep breath, my mind still thinking about the implications. ¡°Um. So outside miners have really basic classes. That means they''re relying on equipment quite a lot. Oh man, do they even use ability points? The Reality Engine clearly stole those from Earth RPGs. I wonder if they can adjust their stats like we can on level up. I guess they must level up? I wonder if Mak¡¯Gar would tell me ¡ª¡±

    ¡°Equipment,¡± Grandpa said firmly. ¡°Some they get from us, some they bring.¡±

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    ¡°We can turn that to our advantage," Arjun said, not looking up from his pile of skills. "Most pieces of equipment have some sort of flaw. If we can analyze our enemies well enough, we can perhaps design counters for them."

    Grandpa laid a hand on the table. "Right. But right now, we''ve got to concentrate on being ready when the doors of that castle open up. The bad news is, Shad and Sage and I, and a number of the rest of us, are only going to be getting back from our enforced vacations a matter of a couple of hours before those doors open. That means those of you who are here are going to have to take on a lot of the heavy work. Is there any sign of another of these outdoor bosses?"

    Juana shook her head. "No, and we''ve been looking. Most of the miners who weren''t on the combat team were out combing the grounds."

    ¡°We''ve got a little more than a day before the system snatches us away for some enforced R&R. We need to get some plans going before that happens."

    "Excuse me," came a voice from behind us. "Perhaps I can help."

    We turned. One of our Grignarian mercenaries stood in the doorway. Although I couldn''t tell one Grignarian from another by the face, I did recognize the decals on his glowing robes. This was their commander, Exalted Skywarden Greenlight.

    I rose. "Commander Greenlight,¡± I said. "Thank you for your assistance earlier. How did it go?"

    His face tentacles all rose at once, gave a little a twist, and then fell back to their normal position. ¡°We destroyed three times more of them than they destroyed us. We are content."

    "Good. Glad to hear you can hold your own in a firefight," Grandpa said. "You wanted to speak with us?¡±

    "Yes," the Grignarian said. He entered the room and took up a place a little ways from the rest of us. ¡°We want to help.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡± I asked suspiciously.

    ¡°We have seen this style of contest three times before in reality engines. It is very rare, and it almost always signifies an engine rich in treasures to be harvested, but also stubborn in revealing them. Like a..." He said something, and the system flat out didn''t translate it. After a minute, a really artificial voice said, ¡°Pearl in an oyster." I had not heard a translation glitch like that before.

    "So you¡¯ve got some advice for us?" Grandpa asked. "I''m all ears."

    The Grignarian tilted his head to one side. "It was my understanding your kind has only two of the sensory organs used for detecting sound waves."

    Grandpa held up a hand. "Never mind. Go ahead."

    ¡°We wish to help your team get as far as possible. Your success will give us success, and we believe there is much wealth to be found here. With your permission, we will spend the time while you are gone scouting and drawing out the enemy to devour them,¡± Greenlight said.

    "Sounds good to me," I said. Even if I didn''t fully trust these guys, it would be nice to keep them out of the way of our people.

    "We''ll want you to be on standby to come to the assistance of our farmers if necessary," Grandpa said.

    "May we have permission to engage with other groups as necessary?"

    "By ''as necessary,'' do you mean if they ambush you? In which case, of course. Or do you mean if you see them and think you can take them out?"

    The Grignarian made that same lifted, twisted, dropped tentacle gesture. "Perhaps a bit of both."

    "Try to avoid pissing off Congruent Paths. We have a ceasefire with them until the castle doors open,¡± Grandpa instructed. "The rest of them, feel free. Especially those asshole dwarves."

    "We are agreed on the rectal nature of that particular group," the Grignarian captain replied. "Very well. Thank you, Lord Twofeather."

    "Is there a reason why your translations seem messed up?¡± I asked. "''Cause it feels like the system does a pretty good job on everyone else''s."

    "It is because the system is in your head and their heads, but not in our head," the Grignarian replied. It pointed at a small green pin on its robe. "This is my translation device. It has trouble sometimes, though it piggybacks off of what you refer to as ''the system'' for most of it. Still, there are some concepts which are simply not compatible between my species and that of any..." It gave another strange sound, and after a moment, the artificial translation filled in with, "Creature spawned from the false gods¡¯ refusal to submit to the laws of entropy.¡±

    Oh boy, I thought to myself. These guys have some strange ideas.

    "Tell you what," Grandpa said. "For every three of them you take out without losing any of your own, we''ll throw in a bonus on top of what we''re paying you. Juana will work out the details."

    She looked annoyed. ¡°Maybe I''d better check with Veda about our finances. The last I heard, we''re a little strapped right now."

    "You gotta spend money to make money," Grandpa said. "We just won that huge bounty from Podaga, after all. Throw a little of that around if necessary." He stood up. "Well, I''m beat. I''m gonna go get a few hours of shut-eye before whatever comes next."

    One by one, the others filed out of the hut, until it was just Arjun perched over his pile of skills, me, and Juana. She moved away from Arjun, as though not wanting to interrupt him. I followed her over as she flipped through papers on her second clipboard. Arjun still had the one she liked best.

    "You look tired," I told her.

    "I am, I guess." She ran a hand through her hair. "I shouldn''t be complaining. You''re the ones out there fighting.¡±

    ¡°When was the last time you slept?"

    "I''ve got that vacation coming up," she pointed out. "My sister''s not going at all, and my mother only gets to go for eight hours. That leaves me on my own for two and a half days. I''ll catch up on sleep then."

    "Where will you be?" I asked.

    "I assume back where Mama''s restaurant used to be. Little town in pretty much nowhere, Texas.¡± She laughed. "It used to be pretty much nowhere. Things have grown up a lot. It''s not that far from San Antonio, actually."

    "You could come hang out with us after you''re done," I suggested. "Sage is dragging all of us to SoCal, and I wouldn''t know how to behave at a K-pop concert. You could give me a couple of tips."

    Juana turned slightly pink. "I think I''d like that."

    I thought of something else. "Of course, it''s not like we have any money. I mean, we have lots of galactic money. Soul Coins. But it doesn''t seem like we''re going to have access to anything on Earth. We''ve been gone long enough. I''m sure they''ve declared all of us dead, and I haven''t got my wallet anymore."

    Juana''s eyes widened. ¡°Shad?" she said.

    "Yeah?"

    "Have you watched any of those entertainment packets that Sage is always seeing?"

    I shook my head. "Got more than enough to keep me entertained right here."

    "Uh," she said. "Yeah. So, you might find a few things surprising when you get back to Earth, but I''m betting I can swing a flight to Los Angeles if I have to."

 3.19 - How To Make an International Collect Call

    Lieutenant Colonel Jeremiah Rubicon Ames slid into the passenger seat of the two-man skiff. He adjusted his Ethereum life support unit, checking the readout. It was good for the next eight hours.

    "You comfortable?" his pilot asked.

    Ames nodded to the orc. This was the first time he''d met Adjutant Dahl¡¯Grom in person. The large green alien had a broken tusk sticking up on the right side of his lip. His hands moved quickly for being so large as he entered commands into his ship. It dropped out of the bottom of their docking pod and slipped into its course.

    There were no windows on the ship, only readouts with statuses that meant nothing to Ames, even though his system-enhanced brain translated everything. He sat back in his seat.

    "How long until we reach Earth orbit?"

    "Hour and a half," Dahl¡¯Grom said, which matched what he had promised previously, but Ames liked to be sure of these things. That gave him five hours in orbit to handle everything, maybe a little less, to give him a safety margin for getting back.

    It would have to be enough. This trip was costing every bit of money he could safely funnel away from their Phase Three exploit without getting caught. He also couldn''t afford to be gone from Threshold much longer. Dahl¡¯Grom had promised to hide his disappearance, and the system was used to him popping into the Lotus Eater level to commune with Kronos. With luck, it would think that was where he had gone. But he couldn''t count on luck, not with the stakes so high.

    "So," Dahl¡¯Grom said as he looked at the readouts, "for the next hour, convince me why I should persuade my higher-ups to take on more of you humans. They agree in seeing the utility of some of your combat team, such as Twofeather, although they are worried Team Twofeather is too headstrong."

    "They''re not wrong there," Ames agreed. He also doubted that Team Twofeather would ever sign on with one of the three major conglomerations that had arranged for Earth''s Reality Engine exploit. But that was a matter for another day.

    Grom''s company worked for a company that worked for a company that was owned by a partial subsidiary of Alabaster Sky. From what Ames could tell, the Galactics took Earth business tactics to whole new levels. He had initially hoped that perhaps the Earthlings would be able to win some victories in the boardroom. Now it looked like they would be playing for a draw there.

    It was a good thing they were so strong on the ground. Ames needed to make sure to keep that advantage going for as long as he could, through Phase Three and beyond. The future of the human race depended on it.

    He allowed himself a grim smile at that thought. Ames had never been a philanthropist, had only thought about the bigger picture when it came to the needs of the United States Armed Forces and their various objectives. It wasn''t until his first trip from Threshold up to the Hub, seeing the surface of Ganymede below him and beyond that, Jupiter with its banded storms, that he had realized he was playing for keeps. And so, when the system had offered him a dozen or more different classes, there was only one that seemed right for him.

    He knew Shad and Major Twofeather didn''t entirely trust him, which was wise of them. In part, he had kept them at arm''s length deliberately. It was good not to have all of your eggs in one basket. Any basket with Twofeather in it was already overloaded.

    Ames and Dahl¡¯Grom discussed some of their possible visions for the future, Ames stressing the way the Earth crafters had all picked up recipes granted by the system or the reality engine with incredible ease. Ames pitched their usefulness hard. "I''ve looked at it. Most of your crafters spend a decade or more in an apprenticeship before they''re able to produce anything of value whatsoever.¡±

    Dahl¡¯Grom grunted. "Your engine cheats. This is known. We would not have come here had we realized how badly. We have not had a reality engine this unbalanced in many years. Not since the first time the soulless took part.¡±

    That was how most of the aliens referred to the Grignarians. Ames had met a couple of Grignarians himself. They were a repulsive species, not nearly as humanoid as almost everyone else he had met, which made sense if the aliens'' origin story was true and most species had evolved from a common ancestral progenitor race, but left the Grignarians out on their own.

    Still, Ames wasn''t one to judge, despite the aliens talking about soul coins this and soulless that. As far as he could tell, the only one who knew whether or not a man had a soul or what it was worth was the Almighty himself. And He hadn''t been poking around here lately. If He had, He hadn''t let Ames know, and it seemed like He should have.

    Dahl¡¯Grom broke off their discussion to enter a few commands into his computer. Despite having a neural interface with his system, Dahl¡¯Grom seemed to enjoy using screens and controls not too different from what Ames would have expected to see on a fancy Earth billionaire''s pet rocket project.

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    "All right," Ames said. "You left our satellite network intact, right?"

    "Didn''t see any need to spend the resources to take it out," Dahl¡¯Grom replied.

    "Then we need to connect in. I''ve got to communicate."

    "As promised, I can make that happen.¡± Under Ames''s direction, he spent a minute or two handshaking and making confirmations before saying, "You''ve got a connection now."

    Ames punched in a phone number he had memorized by heart. It connected almost instantly. A man spoke. "This is not a recognized number."

    "No, but this is a recognized speaker," Ames said. "Lambda, alpha, nine. Delta, blue, seventeen. Orange, gamma, gamma."

    After a second, the voice said back stiffly, "Origination code recognized. Passphrase?"

    "Full want and need are mingled herein," Ames recited.

    "Accepted. How may I help you?"

    There was no excitement in the man''s voice, even though he must know who Ames was. Ames cast around, trying to think of who would be quickest to respond to his various needs. "Punch me through to Major Drumheller, will you? Tell him it''s a priority alpha, alpha, one."

    "That''s not a real code," the man said.

    "I know," Ames said. "But tell him anyway."

    Drumheller and he were ¡ª almost friends. They had been captains together, doing intelligence work overseas. He had joked about the need for a code that meant, "Really, this is urgent, and don''t let any of the assholes know." Ames only hoped Drumheller would remember now.

    Fifteen minutes later, he was on a conference call with Drumheller, two old Army contacts, two from the CIA, and one man in the FBI that he had never met but Drumheller vouched for.

    "I have very limited time, gentlemen," Ames said crisply. "I''m sure you all know where I''ve been."

    "Yes, sir," Drumheller said.

    "I''ve got some important updates." He ran through a quick list of information that he wanted Earth to know that he wasn''t certain the aliens were passing along. Then he said, "More importantly, about 9,000 of the abductees are going to be coming back for an eight-hour visit 24 hours from now."

    That got a quick series of yelps.

    "Exactly," Ames said. "I don''t know what will happen if anyone on Earth tries to interfere, but it won''t be good. I suggest contacting all of our allies and urging them in the strongest terms to make life pleasant for the returnees. They''ve got a very big job ahead of them, and anyone who makes this worse for them should be considered an enemy of all human kind. I¡¯m not even joking, gentlemen.¡±

    "We could keep a lid on it until it happens," one man suggested. "That''s the only way I can think of to prevent them getting mobbed. We don''t have the resources necessary to take care of them all."

    "They are taking care of all of you," Ames said quietly. "Make it happen. I''ve got the list encoded, and I''ll transmit it to you at the end of my call. Find their loved ones. They''ll be returning to the exact spot they left. You''re going to have to brief the families thoroughly to let them know the abductees won''t be able to stay and the families won''t be able to go. But if I were coming back, I''d want a chance to actually speak with my loved ones."

    "It''ll leak on social media."

    "Then deputize the local police to run interference. Get the damn National Guard out if you have to," Ames snapped "You have no idea the hell that a lot of these people have been in for the last year. The ones who are coming home are the ones who have been fighting their asses off for Earth. The only reason we stand a chance of not just becoming a goddamn alien colony is because of these people.

    ¡°Now, about 300 of them have earned enough alien good conduct points that they''re getting a 72-hour pass and not an 8-hour pass. Those ones, I want you to give the VIP treatment to. They could be coming down anywhere. I''ve got a few locations for some really top hitters. Find them. Make sure anything they want, they get. Hotel suites. Baseball tickets. A visit with their high school girlfriend. I don''t care. Make it happen."

    Drumheller spoke up. "I understand, Colonel. I''ve been watching all the official videos and the ones you smuggled out to us." He hesitated. "Is Team Twofeather coming?"

    "Yes, and I happen to know exactly where they will be. You get your best men on them. No, wait." Ames paused. "You get my best men on them. Can you find Klaus and Emmerhall?"

    "I think they''re on assignment," Drumheller said doubtfully.

    "Then you''ve got about 18 hours to get them back and ship them to Southern California," Ames said. "There''s a little girl who spent the last year doing things most grown men I know couldn''t handle. She''s coming home for a visit, and I want it to be a good one, because it might well be the last time this little girl ever sees Earth."

    One of the CIA men started to protest about sharing information with allies, and how this would reveal they had sources on Threshold. Ames ignored him and kept talking. "You''ve got a daughter, don''t you, Drumheller?" He knew the man did.

    "Yes, sir. She''s 16 now."

    "Well, Sage is 12, and she''s never going to go to high school or have a prom or get embarrassing photos posted of her on social media for all her friends to laugh at. So I want you to make that up to her right now."

    "It''ll happen, Colonel," Drumheller promised.

    "All right, let''s get back to a few more pieces of business.¡±

    He heard their sighs of relief over the phone and smiled grimly. That was intelligence men for you, more comfortable with the fate of nations than little girls. ¡°I''ve heard from the news videos that the UN is making noises like they should take over being the Earth government because the aliens will respect that more. That''s bullshit. Most of the alien governments are puppets of various conglomerations. They don''t care if you own 50 square miles or 50 solar systems. They care who sells you your oatmeal and coffee. So you can let the important decision makers know we can keep ignoring the UN.¡±

    ¡°Like we''ve been doing for the last 80 years,¡± one of the CIA guys said, and a couple of the others laughed.

    ¡°What you should be doing is¡ª¡± Ames spoke, barely stopping for the next three hours and change until his alarm rang.

    Then he bid farewell to his colleagues, punched up the data packet, and sent it into Earth''s systems. He took a deep breath before sending his second unencoded data drop to his ally, along with a clear warning to wait at least 96 hours before posting.

    "Let''s go," he told Dahl¡¯Grom.

    "You''re cutting it pretty fine," the Orc said.

    "That''s just how I like it."

 3.20 - Eight Must-See Tourist Spots in Lovely SoCal!

    First thing Tuesday morning, I was standing in our outpost square surrounded by a small throng of equally nervous miners. I had washed my face and brushed my hair, put my drover''s coat into storage, taken it back out, put it in, finally taken it out and laid it over one arm. Juana was clutching a big sack full of messages to send from miners who hadn¡¯t gotten a pass. She and her mother stood together, with her sister Rosa. Rosa wasn¡¯t going back to Earth. Her eyes were red and she had a forced smile as she spoke to her mother.

    My revolver was in my gun belt on my waist. We might be going to Southern California where things like open carrying a revolver are slightly frowned on, but after a year of having it in my hand at any time, I didn''t want to be away from it. I had asked Grandpa, and he seemed to think it would work out all right.

    Sage was wearing her rodeo blouse. Her hair was clean and braided. She had on her very best jeans and the pink cowgirl hat I had bought her for her birthday months ago. She was practically bouncing up and down with excitement. "This is so cool, this is so cool," she breathed. "I can''t believe this is happening to me!"

    I blinked, and we were standing on a beach. Breakers rolled in, sending white surf sloshing up the beach. The sky overhead was blue and cloudless. It was hot, uncomfortably warm, and the nearest three hundred people on the beach were all scrambling to their feet, grabbing at their possessions, pointing, and shrieking.

    We didn''t look that weird. Sage was a little overdressed for the beach. I was wearing a t-shirt with a cartoon duck on it, had a heavy coat slung over my arm concealing the pistol in my gun belt, and was still wearing my hat and combat boots under my BDUs. Grandpa had his hunting camo on, but nothing weird.

    Everybody here was wearing t-shirts or swimsuits. We were supposed to be in Southern California. I turned, and behind us, a range of hills rose up from the water. Atop some of them were enormous mansions sparkling under the sun. "Okay," I said aloud, "we''re definitely in the right place."

    The nearest few beachgoers had recovered enough to pull out their phones and start recording. A couple of them approached us.

    ¡°So what just happened?" one woman asked.

    "No, let me guess," the friend with her said, "the way you just appeared out of nowhere. Are you some of the alien kidnap victims? Have they sent you home?" She let out a squeal. "Oh, they have!" She turned around and held up her picture for a selfie. "This is going on right away all over social media. Hashtag they''re back!"

    "Let''s get out of here," I said and started slogging up the beach toward a set of wooden steps leading to a boardwalk.

    The crowd followed. People jumped in front of me holding cell phones demanding pictures. I heard someone yell, ¡°It¡¯s the hometown heroes!¡±

    My hand itched. I wanted to draw my gun. I kept telling myself there were no enemies here. These were ordinary humans. They were excited to see us.

    Sirens split the air. "Be careful," Grandpa warned as we climbed up the steps. I stepped out onto the boardwalk first. I found myself face to face with half a dozen of LA''s finest. They were pointing their shotguns and rifles at me. Off to the side, a woman blared through a bullhorn, "Stop right there! Hands where we can see them!"

    Sage started to take a step forward. "You can''t! Don''t you know who we are?" she demanded.

    Grandpa put a hand on her shoulder. "Hold on, honey," he said. "Might take us a minute or two to get this sorted out, but let''s not cause a scene."

    I raised my hands and let the cops surround us.

    Two of them approached me. They kept their rifles carefully raised. ¡°Sorry, sir. We know who you are, we¡¯re trying to get you out of here without causing a scene,¡± one told me. His badge read ¡°Officer Gonzales¡±. I nodded my thanks and put my hands down.

    At last they got us separated from the crowd of selfie-happy beachgoers. The cops put us in a little huddle between two of their squad cars while they made some calls. A couple of minutes later, Gonzales popped out and said, "I''m terribly sorry about that. We just had to let some people know you¡¯re here.¡± He glanced over his shoulder, where his fellow cops had set up a cordon, keeping the throng back. The crowd waved and screamed at us. At least they sounded as though they liked us. Gonzalez cleared his throat. "I''m sorry for everything that''s happened to you. My third cousin had a friend who got abducted. Don''t suppose you met Albert Rodriguez?"

    I shook my head. "Don''t think so," I said.

    "Well, neither did I, but now I know his name. Everyone on earth knows someone or knows of someone who was taken. It''s just... we didn''t really expect we''d ever see you back again. So, uh, can we get you a coffee while we wait?¡±

    "I don''t think that''s going to be necessary," Grandpa said quietly as a black SUV pulled up right behind the squad cars.

    The back doors opened, and a pair of men got out. They were clearly government agents. They had crew cuts, sunglasses, and were wearing three-piece suits. One of them approached us. He stopped about three feet away.

    "Major Twofeather?"

    "Yep," Grandpa said. "That''s me."

    "If you''ll come with us, sir, we can get this all sorted out."

    Grandpa held his ground. "You listen here," he said in a low voice. "Me and my grandson and granddaughter, we''ve been jerked around for the last year by people much more powerful than the United States government. We''ve been given three days back here to do what we like. And what my little girl here wants," he put his hand on Sage''s shoulder, "is to go ride a few roller coasters, meet a wizard, and see some sort of B-pop band perform."

    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    "It''s K-pop, Grandpa," I supplied.

    "Whatever," he turned back to the agents. "So if you''re gonna help us with that, then..."

    "Yes, sir," the government agent said. "We have orders to extend you every courtesy." He turned to the other agent. "Smith, you heard the requests. Get on ''em now."

    "I know two Smiths already," Sage said brightly. "They work with Colonel Ames. Do you work with Colonel Ames, too?"

    Government agent Smith, who had started back for the car, turned. He regarded us through his sunglasses. "Yes," he said. "I do." Then he disappeared around the side of the car.

    They made room for us in the big SUV. The talkative agent, who introduced himself as Wyant Ellermann, which I figured was definitely not a pseudonym, leaned back and spoke to Grandpa. "Colonel Ames got us word two days ago, so we''ve all had a little bit of time to prepare. Hopefully, most of your friends will be getting a slightly better welcome than what you got there from LAPD''s finest." I don''t think they were listening very well. "We''ve got plenty of people on standby all over, watching for trouble, trying to make sure of it."

    "Most of them will only be here for eight hours," Grandpa said. "It''s only a few of us who have the 72-hour pass.¡±

    ¡°And we''re going to make use of it," Agent Ellermann said.

    Sage''s lips started to quiver. "What do you mean?" she asked. "I don''t get to see Orange Dream?"

    The agent quickly removed his sunglasses and leaned toward Sage. He started to attempt a friendly pat of her hand, then withdrew his hand as though reconsidering. "No, Ms. Williams, you will most certainly get to see Orange Dream. In fact, we''re arranging for a backstage pass for you right now."

    Sage squealed. I closed my eyes and groaned.

    What Ellermann apparently did mean was that while we were shepherded around Southern California doing whatever Sage''s heart could dream up, we were also receiving multiple clandestine phone calls and surreptitious visits.

    The first of which, on speaker, was from a staffer at the Joint Chief of Staffs letting Grandpa know that he had been promoted to full colonel, skipping right over lieutenant colonel in the process. "Oh, hey," I said. "You got a promotion for Colonel Ames, too? Is he gonna be a general?"

    Agent Ellermann shook his head. "Colonel Ames has been very clear that he does not wish to receive any more attention than he already has. Technically, Colonel Twofeather now outranks him.¡±

    ¡°As it should be,¡± Grandpa said, nodding. He looked more smug than ever as Government Issue Smith handed him a box with a colonel¡¯s eagle insignia.

    ¡°Ames requested Smith and me particularly to come out to LA to handle you. The other American members of your team will be receiving a much more hands-off approach. I can''t speak for many of the other nations of the world, but I know that our closest allies have all agreed that we had better do what we can to make your trip pleasant, and not try to interfere with things ¡ª up there. That said," he closed his eyes as though in pain, then opened them, "I''m afraid you have a medal presentation ceremony tomorrow afternoon. I had to pull quite a few strings to make that clear that you will not be flying to Washington. Instead, the Vice President will be coming here to present you your awards. It''s probably going to be televised."

    "Wonderful," I said, leaning back. "Just what I need." Then I had a thought. "Oh, a friend of mine, Juana Lopez, she''s here on a 72-hour pass. Not here in LA. She''s in a little town near San Antonio with her mom, but her mom''s only got eight hours. So after that, if you think you could arrange for her to come out here..."

    Ellermann pulled up a tablet and scrolled through a list. "Juana Lopez. We''ve got her address of record. We can get her here in¡­¡± He glanced at his watch, clearly did a little calculation. "Call it ten hours from now? I''ll see to it that she has a government jet waiting for her at the airport. Give me a minute to arrange car transport to and from.¡±

    I sat back, blinking. It was hard to take in, but we were hot stuff. I glanced at the clock on the SUV. It was currently just after 9 a.m. My stomach rumbled. I licked my lips and thought of something. According to the agenda Ellermann was throwing together, we were on our way to one of Southern California''s finest amusement parks right now.

    I leaned forward and spoke to the driver. "Hey, if it''s not too much trouble, could we swing by a taco truck and get a breakfast burrito? I''m really craving some actual chicken eggs." I licked my lips at the thought. It had been over a year since I''d had a good egg. The Reality Engine was pretty clever at coming up with a lot of things, but its eggs left something to be desired.

    Sage rode every roller coaster in the park twice. She got her face painted by a sad teenager wearing a cartoon mascot costume. She ate cotton candy, snow cones, an enormous pretzel dripping with mustard, a hot dog longer than her arm, all before two o¡¯clock. She bought eight t-shirts, a pair of cat ears, and then on top of the largest coaster yet, vomited up all of the junk food she had been eating.

    I narrowly avoided getting splashed. Grandpa had pulled rank on me and refused to go on any of the coasters, preferring to wait at the bottom. Since we had been given VIP badges and ribbons, we didn''t have to wait in any of the lines.

    I had been half worried, as they were making their calls, that they were going to empty out the park, but for us that would have seemed sad and hollow. Instead, Sage was getting to have a day like she was an ordinary earth kid.

    More like she was one of those ordinary earth kids who has cancer and gets a wish granted for them by a charity.Still, she seemed to be having a great time.

    I was feeling awkward about the whole thing as our escort led us to the head of the line at the first coaster. A couple of the riders we bumped past complained ¡ª then someone took another look and shouted. ¡°It¡¯s Shad and Sage! Holy fuck, they¡¯re here!¡±

    The whole line cheered, as our handlers hushed things up. Sage and I glanced at each other, shrugged, and waved to the crowd. After that I felt a lot easier about the whole thing. We rode the coaster twice, then some whirling teacups and then bumper cars.

    I tried my best to give off whoops and hollers at the right places, but the fact was, this all felt hollow. I watched the crowds hurrying around us, kids out having fun with their families, couples strolling arm-in-arm, listened to the screams of delight, and I realized nothing about this felt real.

    Adrenaline from thrill rides wasn''t anything like having your life at risk or your freedom. These people here were out having fun. They didn''t even care that the fate of our whole solar system was being played out half a million miles away in the orbit of Jupiter. Hell, most of them probably couldn''t have told you that Ganymede was a moon of Jupiter.

    I watched them stroll past, unconcerned, and I found myself hating them. I fell back as Sage ran ahead to a booth offering to let you throw darts at balloons and win a prize.

    Grandpa put a hand on my shoulder. "It''s alright, Shad," he said quietly.

    "It''s just..." I shook my head. ¡°I thought the stuff the reality engine made up was fake. This is way worse."

    "I know what you mean, but try to have fun for your sister''s sake, alright?"

    I took a deep breath and glanced at the time. "Think she''ll be ready to leave? I was hoping that we could find whatever hotel the G-men have booked for us and relax a bit before Juana gets here."

    "I think she''ll be ready to go," Grandpa said. "I''ll have a word with her, shall I?"

 3.21 - Sun Protection and You: Beyond SPF 50!

    We had an enormous suite to ourselves at the top of a ritzy hotel not far from the beach. Based on the other people I saw walking in when we did, I was guessing they usually catered to a slightly more elite clientele than a bunch of backwoods hicks from the Arizona Strip.

    Agent Ellerham and Government-Issue Smith ushered us in and up to our rooms quickly. Sage disappeared to explore the facilities, while Smith plucked my sleeve at the door.

    "Mr. Williams, I have a message for you from Juana Lopez. She has had quite a tiring day, and though she is on her way here, has decided to retire to her own room tonight. She says she will see you in the morning."

    I felt a little deflated. It was still fairly early, and I was starting to get overwhelmed with all the strangers. Juana probably felt the same way. ¡°That''s fine then. We''ll see her tomorrow.¡± The agent withdrew.

    Grandpa sat down at the elegant table in the middle of the lounge room. It was covered in a white tablecloth that had a smaller gold tablecloth on top of it, and a vase of pretty flowers that looked very expensive to me. I didn''t have any idea what they were.

    Sage popped out. "Can we go somewhere cool for dinner?" she asked.

    "Would it be alright for you, Miss Williams" Agent Ellerham said. "If we stayed in and you ordered off of the room service menu instead? They have a two-star Michelin restaurant in this hotel. You can order anything you like."

    Her eyes went wide. "Is that good?"

    "They''re probably not as good as Mama Grace," I said, "but yeah, that''s pretty good."

    She went in search of the room service menu. I draped my coat over the back of a chair, took off my gun belt, and laid it next to the coat. The two agents watched me disarm without commenting. I took off my boots, unlacing them one after the other, and sat down in the plush armchair, put my feet up, closed my eyes, and tried to relax. It wasn''t any use.

    "I assume if you want us to stay in, that means you''ve got an agenda for us," Grandpa said in a dangerously calm tone of voice.

    "Yes, sir, Colonel, sir. We''ve had various pieces of intelligence from the aliens and a few other pieces slipped in by Colonel Ames and some of his assets, but we haven''t been able to independently verify any of it until now. We were hoping you would be willing to give us a full briefing on the situation."

    Grandpa sighed. "Figured it was something like that. Alright, let''s order up some grub and then we''ll give you what we know. Sage, you found that menu yet? I feel like taking a sizable chunk out of these fellows'' discretionary budget."

    Ellerham brought out a laptop as Sage and Smith ordered up a feast. I tossed in a request for decent beer. ¡°We¡¯ve been fielding requests from CIA, FBI, the Joint Chiefs, and multiple allied intelligence agencies to interview you guys,¡± Ellerham said. ¡°Sorry. This part might be rough.¡± He pulled up videoconferencing software.

    There were already a dozen people waiting for us. Some of them were generals. I tried hard not let my mouth hang open as more joined. Ellerham explained some ground rules ¡ª to them, not us. They had someone on the other end collecting questions to ask who would be in charge of muting and unmuting anyone deemed worthy of speaking up. Grandpa, Sage and I could say whatever we thought necessary.

    ¡°First question,¡± the colonel in charge of asking questions said from the screen. ¡°Colonel Ames¡¯s intelligence portrays the reality engine as an intelligent being disposed favorably toward humanity. Do you agree with this suggestion? Please elaborate.¡±

    Fortunately, the food and beer arrived, so we ate and we talked and occasionally we listened to some bigwig make a speech ¡ª Ellerham and the colonel on the other end were pretty good at shutting down nonsense, but when you get that much brass in one videoconference you¡¯re going to suffer through a couple snoozers.

    I was honestly impressed how much they knew. We worked long into the night. Sage eventually started drooping into her hot fudge sundae, so I made her go and shower and crawl into the enormous bed in her room.

    The agents had seen to it that someone went shopping for her. She had a dozen different outfits to choose from, including three different bathing suits for tomorrow. They said they''d picked up some stuff for Grandpa and me, but not quite as many choices.

    As we were working, I heard a disturbance outside. I leapt up instinctively, trying to Quick Draw, but my gun sat in its holster across the room. The agents were almost as fast as I was, heading for the door, drawing their guns.

    "Stay back," Ellerham said.

    I wanted to ignore him but caught myself. This was their turf, not mine. They stood by the door, guns ready, one beside the door, one two steps behind it. After a moment, they relaxed. They kept up their positions until, after another minute, Ellerham tapped his ear. I hadn''t even noticed the earpiece before then. Then the two of them came back to the table.

    "Sorry about that. A reporter got past our cordon and made it almost here," Ellerham said.

    "I thought you might be keeping us down low," Grandpa said.

    Smith snorted. "Your face probably went up on every social network in the world a hundred thousand times in the last day. We''ve just been trying to keep away the professionals, the ones who would really like to get their hands on you. Her especially.¡± He nodded at the room where Sage was sleeping.

    I had seen a few mentions of our exploits in the material the government men were showing us. Now I tensed. There hadn''t been that much talk of Sage.

    "How much do you guys know about her?"

    "There were about 400 kids taken across the English-speaking world. More than that in Asia, Africa, South America, but they didn''t tend to make the news the way the ones here or in Europe did. Not as many photos of grieving families.¡± Ellerham looked pensive. Smith shook his head.

    ¡°Sage was just one of the sixty-three American kids lost until some of those videos started leaking.¡±

    ¡°From Source B?¡± I guessed.

    The government agents had all of their information labeled by sources. There were the official communications from the Galactic Committee that was overseeing the exploit, a couple of rogue missives from corporations that had tried to do business with Earth before getting caught and dragged off by the Galactics, whatever Ames had brought them, and then three separate sources that snuck their information in through the internet and hadn''t yet been traced.

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    Source B was the one with the best videos. I had seen my own fight with the squid monster at the end of phase two in that stack. It bothered me immensely. That fight had been barely two weeks ago, and here it was back on Earth. The point of view on the video made me pretty darn sure it had been taken from one of my team''s all-seeing eye cams.

    I had a couple of theories about how they could have gotten it, none of which I liked.

    "Source B," Smith confirmed. "She features kind of a lot. We weeded it down for you since we were pretty sure those videos were accurate and we didn''t need confirmation on them. At this point, I''d call her America''s sweetheart, but honestly, the whole world knows Sage''s face now."

    It was just one more nail in the coffin of us ever having a normal life when this was over. I touched the place on the back of my neck where I knew the system had inserted the Ethereum support device that was keeping me alive. We had all been required to go up to the Hub for the surgery to get it implanted and our first charge loaded. If we were here more than a week, we would run out of Ethereum and die. Not that it was a concern since the system would yank us back to the reality engine in ¡ª I checked my watch ¡ª approximately 56 hours.

    Grandpa stood up. "It''s late, gentlemen," he said. "I think I''m going to bed now. If there''s anything else we can help you with, well, we''ll talk tomorrow, but I think we''ve given you intelligence spooks plenty to work with."

    Smith started to protest. Ellerham put a hand on his arm. "We''d always take more," he said, "but you''re right. You''ve earned a break. My team and I will be on duty all night. I''m afraid we''ve bugged this room, so if we hear any untoward noises we will come to check. If you need to go anywhere, please use the house phone and call for one of us to escort you."

    "You guys gonna be with us tomorrow at the beach?" I asked.

    "Every step of the way," Ellerham confirmed.

    "Then I hope you get a decent night''s sleep and I hope you packed your swim trunks."

    Smith smiled for such a short fraction of a second I thought I was mistaken. ¡°If the government wanted me to go swimming, they¡¯d have issued me gear,¡± he said, "Good night, Captain Williams, Colonel Twofeather."

    We ordered room service again for breakfast the next day. Sage kept interrupting her meal to dart back into her room and try on a different bathing suit. "I just can''t decide. I love the pink one, but it might be too tween. I''m almost an adolescent now, nearly thirteen.¡±

    "Got another eight months before you''re thirteen,¡± I pointed out as I bit a mouthful of scrambled eggs and followed it up with some crispy, honest-to-goodness pork bacon. "I like the pink one."

    She stuck her tongue out at me. "Shows what you know, Shad." She slipped back into the room, tried on the silver one, wore it under a cover-up for most of breakfast before going back and trying on the last one. She came back out wearing a t-shirt and shorts.

    "No bathing suit?"

    "It''s underneath, obviously.¡±

    ¡°Made up your mind for sure?"

    "Yes." She looked a little defiant and a little smug. I glanced at Grandpa. He had stopped with his spoon halfway to his mouth. He sighed, finished his bite, drank his coffee, and stood up. "Well, we''re wasting time. If you''re ready, Sage, I guess we''d better go to the beach."

    She skipped off to grab her sandals. I leaned over to Grandpa. "That look on her face, I''m worried about..."

    He held up a hand. "Son, I''ve raised a teenage girl once already. Made some really stupid mistakes. I''ve learned you pick your battles."

    I thought about it and decided Grandpa was right. I had a pair of swim trunks on and a t-shirt. As we prepared to leave the room, I strapped on my gun belt and covered it with my coat.

    Sage stopped in the doorway. "Shad, you''re not wearing that coat.¡±

    "I''m not leaving it here."

    "You look like a flasher."

    "Well, I''m not.¡± I sounded pretty lame to myself, but there was no way I was leaving my trusty magic coat behind.

    Juana was waiting for us in the hotel lobby. She looked tired, with bags under her eyes, but she stood up and smiled as she saw us. She was wearing a yellow button-down dress and sandals and a big floppy sun hat.

    "It''s good to see you three," she said.

    "Have you got a bathing suit?" Sage asked. "If not, we''ll stop on the way. I''ll make Government-Issue Smith buy you one."

    "Government-issue Smith?" Juana said, sounding amused as she turned to greet our handlers. They introduced themselves. "No, Sage, I had quite a wardrobe waiting for me. Did I have you two to thank for it?"

    Agent Ellerham cleared his throat. "Actually, ah, since we had a time crunch and an unlimited budget, I called in some outside consultant help." He looked really uncomfortable. "My wife. She''s really good at shopping. I had to pay her ticket out here, but she''s waiving the usual government consultant fee, and I think we''ll manage to slip it in through the paperwork."

    "Well, I hope you''ve invited her along to the day at the beach," Juana said cheerfully.

    "Actually, I have her arranging for the Orange Dream concert tonight. She''ll meet us up later. My daughter is going to kill us when she finds out we were at Orange Dream and didn''t bring her, but I thought that would be too big a strain on the government budget."

    What is there to say about a day at the beach?

    Well, it was crowded, but this was LA. It was always going to be crowded. The beach was actually cleaner than I expected, with no hypodermic needles or human waste anywhere. Either I had always been listening to the wrong stories about the state of affairs in LA, or maybe the government agents had brought in a cleaning service to have the place tidied up before we got there.

    We spread out. I tucked my gun belt under my coat, swapped my cowboy hat for a big floppy sun hat, and slathered on some sunblock. Grandpa turned his nose up at the stuff.

    "You wouldn''t need that if you didn''t have so much white boy in your DNA," he said.

    "Everyone is supposed to wear sunblock, Grandpa," Sage said. "Even if you do have more melanin than I do. It prevents skin cancer.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t really think that¡¯s on my list of things to worry about any more,¡± Grandpa said. He hadn''t taken off his button-down Hawaiian shirt. I could see the chain that held my abuela''s necklace alongside the medicine pouch he always wore.

    "You all right?" I asked Juana. "You seem tired."

    "I''m fine," she said. "My mother''s parents, my abuela and abuelo, were there when we arrived. I guess you three weren''t the only ones expected."

    Agent Ellerham cleared his throat. "No ma''am, we had a complete list of everyone who would be arriving from Colonel Ames. He gave specific instructions about the sort of reception we were to give everyone. There have been a few hiccups and hassles. Some media has gotten past the protection we''ve wanted, and there were a few unhappy reunions."

    Juana''s face went almost pale. She swallowed hard. "Yes," she said. "I could see there would be."

    There was an awkward silence. Then she stood up and took off her dress. "Come on, Sage, let''s go swimming," she said.

    Sage was still wearing her shorts and t-shirt. She looked nervous. Then, defiantly, she pulled off her t-shirt to reveal a blue bikini.

    I sat shocked, unable to say anything at the sight of my baby sister wearing a bikini.

    "Alright, come on," she said as she dashed to the water, Juana in her heels.

    "Good work, Shad," Grandpa said. "Very smooth. I like the way you managed to stick your foot in your mouth without saying anything."

    "But I didn''t say anything," I protested.

    "And Sage noticed." He shook his head. "This is good for her, Shad. She doesn''t have much of a chance to be an ordinary kid. Let it go. She''ll be back to murdering nightmares out of Russian fairy tales and risking being ripped to death by extinct flying dinosaurs soon enough."

    I sat on my beach towel until I started to feel awkward about it. Then I went to join the girls in the water. The surf was a little too rough for my liking but Juana and Sage weren''t going very far out. The waves crashed in and hit the beach pretty hard, but I saw some kids playing and the surfers didn''t seem to be having any great luck, so it must not have been too much.

    Sage had regained her cheerfulness. She had a big stripy beach ball and lobbed it at me. I batted it back. She leapt up and hit it dead on, laughing. We played a pretty low-key game for a while before she got bored and went back up onto the beach. Juana and I followed her out of the water. Juana was wearing a modest ivory one-piece bathing suit and had her hair pulled up.

    "You alright?" I asked again.

    "I''m fine. Some of it''s just harder than I expected."

    "Yeah, I get that. Are you really up for a K-pop concert tonight?"

    "Oh, that I wouldn''t miss for the world," she said. "Mostly because I''m going to get to watch you and your grandfather squirming in a sea of pre-adolescent girls who are ready to throw their underwear at the stage but haven''t quite figured out why yet."

    I groaned. "Don''t remind me," I said. ¡°Anyway, that''s not the worst of it.¡±

    She looked startled. "What?"

    "They didn''t tell you? We''ve got a VIP ceremony and an early dinner before the concert. Medal ceremony. I guess Grandpa''s getting another bronze star or some such."

    Juana groaned. "If you told me that, I would have stayed back in Texas."

    "Why do you think I didn''t tell you that?" I teased.

 3.22 - How To Spend Your Last Day Under the Sun

    Let''s not say much about the medal ceremony, okay?

    The dress uniform they''d gotten me fit pretty well, and so did Grandpa''s. We had to stand incredibly stiffly while the Vice President pinned a medal on us. There had been a presidential election while we were gone, so I didn''t even know what her name was until Ellerhamn whispered it to me right before she showed up and jabbed me with a pin. We each recieved a Silver Star. I¡¯d been expecting Bronze, like what Grandpa had previously earned. Despite my discomfort, my eyes watered as the vice president pinned it to my jacket.

    I didn¡¯t really feel like I¡¯d earned it. I¡¯d just done what I had to do. Anyone would have. But it still meant a lot.

    They had a Presidential Medal of Freedom for Sage as well, and I think someone filled them in at the last minute because about three seconds before the Vice President stood up to give us our awards, someone came rushing over to her with a small packet. When she came over to us, she had a medal for Juana as well.

    Then we sat down and had to listen to a lot of politicians make speeches. After that, all of the politicians came by to get pictures with us. Then, after the politicians, it was various influencers and other important people who had managed to bribe their way into the dinner.

    The dinner actually looked pretty good, but I didn''t get to eat a bite of it because I was so busy being stood up to take pictures and smile next to Senator So-and-So or Representative Thus-and-Such. The Governor of Arizona came in, along with the Governor of Utah. They both shook our hands and thanked us, and I wasn''t sure if either of them knew where exactly we had been abducted from because they both seemed to think that we were local hometown boys and girls.

    Finally, around 7 o''clock, Smith and Ellerhamn shepherded us out of there, tossed us in the back of a limousine, and drove us over to the LA Coliseum for the Orange Dream concert. The place was packed with ninety thousand teen girls and their unwilling handlers.

    They had gotten us front row tickets right next to the really fanatical 14-year-old K-pop fans. The noise was overwhelming, and I''m speaking as someone who''s gotten used to a lot of loud noises in the last few months. I was a foot and a half taller than almost anyone in the audience, and I was wearing a long coat and a gun. Being around so many teenage girls made me feel like I should be ending up on a watch list somewhere.

    Juana stood in between me and Grandpa and kept looking at me, shaking her head and grinning. "What?!" I finally shouted over one slightly less loud song.

    "This is worth the price of admission," she said.

    "Well, I''m glad that you''re feeling better now," I shouted back.

    Then, as I was hoping the concert was finally winding down, the band paused and the lead singer yelled, "We want to welcome a very special guest!" He came right over to the edge of the stage, leaned over, reached out his hand, and helped Sage up onto the stage.

    The crowd went absolutely bonkers. I hadn''t realized until now what Ellerhamn had been warning me about. Everyone here knew Sage. They were screaming her name. Just "Sage! Sage! Sage!" I thought they''d been mad for the K-pop boys, but the blast of sound nearly deafened me.

    The little girls near us crowded in. "Wait! You''re with Sage!"

    All I could do was nod over the screaming crowd.

    "Oh my god, this is the best day of my life! Can you get me her autograph?"

    It was 2 a.m. We were back in the limo, Sage asleep and drooling on Grandpa''s shoulder. I noticed after a couple of turns that we were not heading back to our hotel.

    "Where are we going?" I asked.

    "Change of plans," Ellerhamn said quietly. "There are just too many paparazzi and stalkers here in Los Angeles now. We''ve made arrangements for you four to spend a quiet day tomorrow at an out-of-season resort up in the mountains. We''ll make it up to you somehow. I know you probably had plans."

    "That sounds perfect," Juana said fervently.

    "We''re heading to the airport now. There''s a private jet already waiting on the tarmac. We''ll take you in the back the way they get the politicians in and out, and hopefully slip you past most of the paparazzi. Word will get out, but it should take them long enough to get there. You can enjoy your last day."

    Last day. The past 48 hours had passed in a flash. We would be going back to the reality engine in about 30 hours. None of this felt real. I looked at Grandpa.

    "We should have gone back to the Strip," I said quietly.

    "Maybe so," he said. "Maybe so."

    The resort was perfect. A ring of mountains surrounded a deep, still, crystal blue lake. Even in the heart of summer, it was cool. Tall pines surrounded the edge of the lake. Big granite boulders stuck up out of the surface. We had a catamaran at our disposal, a couple of kayaks, and the run of practically a whole empty resort. They had a restaurant that, to me, tasted just as good as that two-star Michelin place in Los Angeles, and way fewer people.

    Sage and I paddled one of the kayaks out to a little island in the middle of the lake. We pulled up on the rocky beach, hopped out, and explored a little. Sage found a nest where a bird had laid its eggs, raised its babies, and then recently, with them ready to fly, abandoned the nest.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    She climbed the tree and sat beside the nest, staring out at the water. I sat at the base of the tree, leaning my body against a sun-warmed boulder. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath of real air. I couldn''t feel the device pumping ethereum through my body and keeping me alive. This felt like home. It felt like I belonged here. It felt like I could just get up, walk into town, keep walking until I got lost and was never found again.

    From her perch up in the tree, Sage said, "What are we going to do?"

    I didn''t move. "What we have to do. What we''ve been doing."

    "I know." Her voice was shaking. "They don''t even know how much... how hard it is."

    "No," I said. "And they shouldn''t have to. And you shouldn''t have to. You should get to stay here and listen to boy bands and go to the beach all the time."

    "But if I lived here, I wouldn''t," she said. "We lived in the middle of the desert in a double-wide. We had food stamps and wore hand-me-downs. That Sage would never have gone to Orange Dream. I certainly wouldn''t have been on stage with them yelling my name. That Sage didn''t matter to anyone."

    "She matters to me," I said. "Why do you think I''m doing all this? It''s so that maybe we can find a chance for you to have a real life again."

    Sage dropped down out of the tree. "I don''t know what a real life is anymore. The last couple of days, they''ve been fun, but they haven''t felt real."

    "And living in a glorified computer simulation is?"

    "No," she said, sighing. "But at least it counts for something." She walked over to the kayak and picked up her paddle. "I''m ready to go in now. The sun''s starting to go down anyway."

    It would be at least five hours before sunset, but I nodded. "Alright, let''s go."

    That night after dinner, Sage excused herself and went up to our room. Grandpa told Ellerhamn and Smith if they had anything else to say, he''d work through it with them now. That left Juana and me sitting at the table where we''d had dinner, slowly sipping a bottle of sparkling water and a little white wine. After we finished our glasses, Juana stood up.

    "Let''s walk back down to the beach. I''d like to see the stars from this side of the sky one more time."

    "Alright," I said, and accompanied her. I was aware of the escort of bodyguards, but they kept their distance far enough away that I could pretend that Juana and I had some privacy. We''d been living with the knowledge that the reality engine was always watching for the last year, after all, so it wasn''t exactly like privacy meant a whole lot to me.

    We strode along the beach, staring up at the stars. I paused, pointed. "That one''s Jupiter," I said.

    "You''re sure?"

    "Definitely."

    She squinted up at it. "It''s so small from here."

    "It looks so different close up," I said, aware that that was possibly the most inane thing I had ever said.

    "I''m glad I''ve had a chance to see it. Of all the things we''ve done, that was one that was just cool."

    I was still wondering what was bothering her, but I didn''t really know how to ask. Instead, I said, "I''m sorry your sister didn''t even get the eight-hour visit."

    "Me too," Juana said. "I would have rather split this with her, or even given it to her, but that wasn''t an option."

    ¡°Maybe Grandpa was right, and this was someone trying to sabotage our team effort before the real phase three work starts.¡±

    "I don''t know if I think we were that important," Juana said. "I do know that we''ll have a lot of work to do when we get back, and that I''m honestly looking forward to it."

    "Me too," I admitted. "I guess I''m just better at shooting things in the face than relaxing."

    We walked along a little farther before Juana said, "My fianc¨¦ came to see me."

    I stopped dead in my tracks. My ears rang. I couldn''t have heard her right. I blinked and swallowed and tried to say something. It didn''t come out, so I said again, "Fianc¨¦?"

    Juana had a fiance? Of course she would. She was beautiful and smart and competent. She probably had her pick of smart, handsome guys back on Earth.

    "Derek.¡± She sounded wistful. She walked down to the water''s edge and poked at it with a sandal-clad toe.

    "I didn''t know you had a fianc¨¦.¡±

    She turned to face me, giving me a wry smile. ¡°Emphasis on ¡®had.¡¯ He came with his wife and their baby.¡± Her voice caught.

    Before I knew what I was doing, I had crossed the distance between us and put my arm on her shoulder.

    "Juana, I''m so sorry.¡±

    ¡°He must have moved on almost as soon as I was gone. We''d been engaged for three years. I thought he wanted to finish his schooling before we..."

    She was crying on my shoulder. I patted her back, saying "There, there" a few times awkwardly. Juana had never mentioned anything about her family back home. Her mother and sister hadn''t spoken of a fianc¨¦ either, probably to avoid hurting her feelings.

    I hadn''t left anyone behind. Everyone who meant anything in the world to me had been brought to the reality engine with me. It had given me a privileged life compared to everyone else around me, and I had just taken that for granted. Frank had spent months searching to make sure that his wife and children hadn''t been taken by the reality engine.

    I realized I hadn''t even asked if Frank had gotten a day pass. I should have. I could have brought a message for his wife if he wasn''t able to come back himself.

    I was a stupid, selfish bastard, and there was a woman in my arms crying, which had never happened before. I felt more awkward by the second. Juana cried for what felt like an eternity before stepping back, wiping her eyes and nose and sniffing.

    "I''m sorry," she said. "I wasn''t going to mention it. I don''t know why I did."

    "I''m glad you did," I said, wishing I had access to my inventory. I had a whole box of handkerchiefs, not to mention Kleenex and other things one could use to wipe away the residue of tears. ¡°But, what an asshole.¡±

    That made her laugh. "You know what? When I saw him standing there with her and the baby, that''s exactly what I thought, too. What an asshole. Not for moving on, but to show back up with his family? He could have come on his own or just sent a note or something."

    "Why was he there?"

    Juana took a deep breath. "He said he was there to wish me well, but he had given me his grandmother''s ring and he wanted it back. I had to tell him I hadn''t been wearing it that day because I was helping Mama scrub down the kitchen right before we opened because we''d gotten word there was going to be a health inspection. So I''d left it back at our house, which got repossessed while we were gone. My grandparents told me about it. The look on Derek''s face when I told him! He started to scream at me. The National Guardsmen who were serving as our escorts escorted him out. They apologized to me so hard. They hadn''t had any idea he was going to make a scene like that."

    "I wish you''d told me this two days ago," I said. "I could have run over to Texas and challenged him to a nice gunfight. I''ve had a lot of practice in duels in the last year, and I''m pretty damn sure nobody on this continent would have blinked an eye if I''d done it."

    "They probably wouldn''t, but it''s all right, Shad. You don''t need to waste a bullet on that guy." Juana shook her head and laughed. She cocked her head at me.

    I¡¯m not a quick learner and I had not had a whole lot of experience with women but when a beautiful woman is looking like that, in the moonlight on a beach with tears still in her eyes? It doesn¡¯t take a whole lot of smarts to figure out. I leaned forward, almost hesitated before I saw her tiny nod, and kissed her.

    So yeah that was the highlight of my summer vacation. We walked back to the hotel hand in hand and I kissed her again on the steps before parting. ¡°See you tomorrow,¡± I said.

    ¡°Thanks for tonight, Shad,¡± she said.

    [Attention, miners!

    The gates of Castle Byalgrad are open!

    The Keystone awaits!

    And so much more¡­]

 3.23 - Have Fun Storming the Castle!

    We were back in the square in the middle of our outpost, and my notifications were going crazy. Dropping my bags full of Earth loot, I got dozens of chat pop-ups, presumably from the last three days, all appearing at once. I dismissed them as Dwight, Kirin, and Mama Grace descended on us.

    "You''re late!" Mama Grace cried.

    "We came back exactly 72 hours after leaving," Juana said blankly. She still had a couple of bags hanging off her arms. Grandpa unstrapped the big rucksack he¡¯d been carrying and let it fall.

    Mama Grace shook her head. "It''s been close to 75 hours. The gates opened three hours ago."

    "What?" I felt my blood pressure rising as I took in Mama Grace''s words. Leaving aside the question of where the missing time had gone ¡ª "Does that mean the other teams have already started?"

    "Yeah," Dwight said grimly. ¡°You three should get up to the castle as quickly as possible. Juana, come join the strategy table and we''ll fill you in."

    "Right," Juana said briskly, all business. She nodded to me and started up the steps into the converted church building, Dwight trailing after her.

    "Let''s move," Grandpa growled. "Somebody want to brief us on the way?"

    "I will," Kirin said. She accompanied us down through our outpost toward the gate.

    "Exactly three hours and 26 minutes ago, the gates of Castle Byalgrad opened. All the other teams were ready. We knew when the gates would open, of course, but we were expecting you back by then.¡±

    "They screwed us over good," I grumbled.

    ¡°Dwight and Arjun and I scrambled to cover. We sent everybody up that we could, and we relocated our minion spawn point. Everybody''s using their creep to help fight off enemies. You''ll understand better when you get there," Kirin said. "Three teams have already gotten past the Guardian and into the castle itself."

    I swore. That put us badly behind. "Which teams?"

    "The dwarves, Congruent Paths, and that orc team,¡± Kirin said. ¡°A fourth team was making an attempt, but apparently the dwarves and two of the teams who hadn''t yet made it past the guardian turned on them and interfered with their attempt.¡±

    "How''d that work out?"

    "Lots of deaths. More painful for the ones who hadn''t already gotten their keys, of course. We think the dwarves started the trouble and were happy to get three of their rivals involved."

    Juana sent us a note. I¡¯m going over the information we¡¯re getting from our crafters and miners elsewhere in the engine. Every Phase Three zone is different. All themed from Earth history or myth.

    That¡¯s unfortunate. I¡¯d hoped we might be able to get some tips from outside, but it doesn¡¯t sound like anyone would be able to help us. It made sense. The Reality Engine could generate 87 distinct made-up worlds as easily as 87 copies of the same one.

    "So, as a reminder," Grandpa growled, "the first team to make it through this whole castle and defeat whoever the king is, gets a pass into the competition for the Reality Engine''s heart. However that''s gonna work. We''re not sure whether second and third get anything, but we can be damn sure tenth place won''t. We¡¯ve got a lot of ground to make up."

    "The good news is there''s a long way to go," Kirin said. "System-wide announcement happens every time someone wins a fight. So far only the guardian has been defeated.¡±

    We were making good time up the valley, running nearly flat out and still able to have a conversation. After having spent three days back on Earth around normal humans, I was marveling at what my ethereum-enhanced body was capable of. Other than a couple of stolen moments at the lake, I''d spent the whole trip back on Earth feeling on edge, like I was going to be attacked at any minute. Back here, I might actually be attacked, and yet I felt more at home.

    The Reality Engine had really screwed with my brain. If I ever got some time to think, I was gonna have to figure out what this meant.

    The valley sloped steeply uphill toward an enormous granite outcropping. It rose up 200 feet above us, and as we approached it, I saw the enormous gate carved into the side of the wall of rock. It was 40 feet tall at least and 15 feet wide. The gates were made of wrought iron and heavy wood. They stood open with a dark tunnel yawning behind them.

    Mobs streamed in and through the tunnel, our skeletons and pigs mixed in with swashbucklers, samurai wearing jet packs, dinosaurs, abominable snowmen and giant bipedal cats, all a mishmash of whatever had been present during the different teams¡¯ Phase Two attempts. None of them paid us or each other any heed as they proceeded mindlessly toward their creep lures.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t they going to fight?¡± Sage asked, sounding disappointed.

    ¡°Soon as they reach their rally points they will,¡± Kirin said. ¡°Until then, they¡¯re harmless.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s the rally point? And I don''t see the guardian. And where''s the rest of our team?"

    "They''re through there," Kirin said. "The gates aren''t contested. The guardian waits beyond. I told our team to retreat and try to stay out of trouble. So far so good. We''ve had a few deaths, but the aliens are mostly focused on anyone who''s attempting to take on the Guardian.¡±

    "All right, we''ll get in there and have a look," Grandpa said.

    I popped up my messages and started glancing through them for anything important. Mostly it was a lot of different people asking where the hell I was, starting about three and a half hours ago. There was nothing from Veda. Her continued silence was starting to worry me.

    Grandpa looked at me and Sage. "You two ready for this?"

    "We''ve already lost enough time," I growled. "Let''s get in there."

    "I''m ready," Sage said bravely. She had her lasso in her hands and her pink cowgirl hat atop her head. "Let''s show them what Team Twofeather is made of."

    We stepped into the tunnel. It bore straight into the rock for about 20 feet and was smooth-walled the whole way. Light streamed in from both sides. We stepped out into blazing sunlight on the other side. I took a moment to look around.

    We were standing in a V-shaped valley. One wall of the V was formed by the granite to our back. The other wall, across from us, was the mountain itself. The tunnel we had come through had been bored through an outcropping of the mountain. In between that flank and the mountain itself was a lush green valley. From where we were across to the mountain proper was about 40 feet.

    The valley narrowed considerably to our left and grew broader to our right. A roaring river about 10 feet across ran through the middle of the V, wild and dangerous. Churning white foam crashed through violent rapids.

    There was a bridge about 20 yards to our right. On this side of the bridge, a bunch of different aliens clustered together. They were blocking my view of the bridge where I presumed the guardian stood.

    The valley continued for a little way before abruptly ending in sky. The world just dropped away. The raging torrent fell in a cloud of white mist.

    "Wow," was about the best I could manage.

    Across the valley from us, the mountain proper was carved with seven doors. Each of them had a different symbol over it. They were spaced out at regular intervals. I had a sinking feeling that each door would be unique to one team and that whoever didn''t make it through the door wasn''t going any farther.

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    I clicked over to the leadership chat. You said three of our rival teams have already made it in?

    Confirmed, Juana said. I''m getting a good grip on the situation here and I''ll keep you up to date.

    That made me feel better. There is nothing like having someone reliable running overwatch on you.

    I heard a whistle. ¡°Hey Shad! Major Twofeather, over here."

    We turned. Frank was waving toward us from the left. He gestured us to follow. We joined up with him. "Glad you''re back from your vacation.¡±

    "Glad to be back," Grandpa said.

    "Grandpa got a promotion. He''s a colonel now," Sage informed Frank.

    "Frank, where''s everyone else?"

    "We''re just up here. We''ve been watching," Frank said. He led us up toward the end of the valley where the river emerged from a hole in the rock face. I eyed the hole, wondering if perhaps this could be another secret entrance into the fortress. Frank saw where I was looking and shook his head.

    "We had a couple of people with various scouting abilities check it out. That river doesn''t go anywhere. They were able to scout up it a little way and nothing. Dead end.¡±

    I nodded, but I wasn''t convinced. The Reality Engine liked secrets and sneakiness. It was possible there was another way in.

    "What have we got?" Grandpa asked as we joined the team.

    All our combat miners, about 45 of us including the newer recruits, were huddled together in a makeshift camp. I say makeshift camp, but it was actually pretty comfortable. People had hauled folding chairs and stools out of their inventories, set up around a little campfire, and were heating what looked like some of Mama Grace''s boxed lunches, as well as pots of hot coffee. Morgan offered me a cup, and I accepted gratefully.

    "We''ll tell you all about the trip later," I said in answer to a couple of questions, while Sage was busy talking about Orange Dream to anyone who would listen. "We need a plan if three of them have already gotten across."

    "Four," Frank said gloomily. "A group of lizardfolk managed it just before you got here."

    "Damn," Grandpa said. "Y''all are just sitting on your butts waiting for us to show up and tell you what to do?"

    "That''s right," Frank said, more cheerfully. "When we first got here, we thought real hard about it, but we''ve been fending off occasional attacks by the others. They don''t seem too serious. Like they just want to keep us bottled up. Every time a big group of our creep gets here, I send them in to take out the enemy creep. Bit of a zero-sum game, but I feel like if we let them build up, it''s gonna be a problem."

    I studied the groups at the foot of the bridge. "Looks like about three teams to me, based on their composition, and none of them have more than 20."

    "They outnumber us," Jones said, "but not by too much."

    In between us and them, the different groups of creep were tussling with each other, pigs attacking dinosaurs and pirates fighting samurai. Every now and then one side would gain an advantage and start pushing toward us or the aliens, but one or two miners would go down and kill a dozen creep with an ability or weapon and things would go back to detente.

    Tall Smith pushed his way through the crowd. He saluted Grandpa. "Colonel Twofeather, my men and I have been scouting. We attempted to see if there''s another path up the cliffs, but have not been able to manage it. Jones has kept overwatch. The three groups there have an informal alliance. None of them are pushing the guardian just yet, but they''re trying to prevent anyone else from getting close."

    "Thought you said someone just got through," Grandpa growled. ¡°How come we haven¡¯t made a push?¡±

    "The lizardfolk took some pretty significant casualties, and they had a couple of unique items," Smith said. "I checked with Colonel Ames and he said the price of those items on the galactic market was astronomical. That group''s well-heeled. We''ll have to watch out for them once we get in there."

    "Makes sense," Grandpa said. "From what we''ve been hearing, this is the phase where the Galactics bring out the big checkbooks. We should expect everyone we go up against to be much better financed than we are."

    That''s not entirely true, Juana said in the group chat. I started, and then remembered that most of our team was wearing the All-Seeing eyes. Juana was monitoring us from the desk. I pulled mine out of my inventory and equipped it, hoping I hadn''t had too much of a dopey look on my face as I was listening to Smith and Frank talk.

    Mama has been listening to all the gossip in the restaurant. Some of the big galactic groups are pulling out. Not the big three, Proxima, Alabaster Sky, and ConSweGo. They''re in this for the long haul. But the ones that aren''t quite as big, they''re making a token attempt and then pulling up stakes. Rumor has it they''re starting to think that this reality engine is cursed.

    Or maybe they think they can make faster money on the rogue world that''s popped up, I suggested. Veda seemed to think that.

    Yes, well, if we get a chance to talk to Veda anytime soon, I''ll be sure to ask her, Juana said. The timing seems a little coincidental to me. That our exploit is going poorly for the Galactics and then they discover something much more valuable. Maybe it''s all a lie. Maybe they''re trying to save face.

    If so, they''ll get found out quick, Grandpa observed. But either way, the less competition for us, the better.

    "Right, so, guardian.¡± I turned to Frank and Smith. "Someone on the bridge itself?"

    Smith nodded. "Yeah, it''s a six-foot-tall goat man, big curling black horns, cloven hooves. Looks like a devil, but Gabriel says he''s a Chort, the son of the evil god Chernabog. They''re tricksters. Like to make deals, trade your soul for whatever it is you''ve got a passing fancy for. I don''t think that''s what he''s after here. Nobody''s been making any deals as far as I can see."

    "Why not just go over the river?" I asked. "It looks treacherous, sure, but between all of our abilities, I''m sure we could make it."

    "Can''t," Frank said gloomily. "Nobody can teleport to the other side. There''s some sort of magical protection against it. Anything you try to put over the river is swept away, even if it''s not touching the water. As soon as it extends out more than six inches, it gets ripped up and dragged along. That bridge is the only way across. Trust me, we''ve been looking for nearly four hours now."

    "So, two problems," Grandpa said. "We need to get past those guys, and we need to get over the bridge. There''s no timer on respawns, but it does cost more soul coins the more you die, and they still have to get back from their camp. If we can take them all down quick enough without too many of us dying, we''ll have a chance at the goat. Anybody got a close enough look during the other fights to know what he''s capable of?¡±

    Frank shook his head. "No, but they can''t be killing him, right? Because he''s still there. So there''s a way to defeat him and get over."

    ¡°Unless he respawns,¡± Smith said.

    I was starting to get impatient. More than anything, I wanted to run in there, throw a couple of taunts and grenades, and start laying waste. But that wasn''t smart. We needed to plan. The stakes were too high for me to go off on my own.

    Grandpa turned to the chat. Arjun, got a solution for me yet?

    We''re working on it, Kirin said. We''ve got one plan that has a 70% chance that you will take out at least two-thirds of them for five minutes before they can get back. While losing only twelve of you.

    Enough with the arithmetic, Grandpa said. I''m looking for a plan, not a math problem. Anyway, I don''t like those odds. Let''s think of something else. What are we not considering here?

    "We could try asking nicely," Sage said brightly.

    Everybody looked at her.

    "You trying to lighten the mood?" Frank asked after a minute.

    She shrugged. "I mean, it''d be worth a try, right? You said the boss was a trickster. Maybe we''re not supposed to fight him. Maybe we''re supposed to trick him."

    "Jones," Grandpa said, "get your drone in the air. Why don''t you do a low pass on the boss? Can we fly the drone over the river?" he asked after a second''s thought. "Or does it just get dragged over, too?"

    "If I keep it more than ten feet above the water and I don''t go all the way across, it''s fine," Jones said.

    "Then do it."

    Jones summoned his drone and sent it in. We all watched the feed. I got a dizzying second image, so I closed my eyes and focused on what the drone was seeing. It soared above the river toward the bridge.

    The opposing team members were all grouped up, facing the creature on the bridge. Smith was right. It did look like a devil creature. Hairy goat legs, wearing a long Russian military-style winter coat with a bright red belt. Its tail emerged from between the split in the back of the coat. The tail had a fork at the end.

    "Well, he''s certainly not winning any beauty competitions," I muttered.

    "Look at that," Grandpa said sharply. "There, on his belt. Zoom in. Get us a better look."

    "I can''t get much closer," Jones said, but the image sharpened anyway. Dangling from his belt were three golden keys, each with a distinctly different shape. They were tied to the belt with little gold ribbons, and I saw a couple more torn pieces of ribbon dangling where other keys had been taken.

    "That''s it," Grandpa said sharply. "We need one of those. Good enough, get the drone down.¡± Jones brought his drone back, keeping clear of the mob.

    I had an idea. It seemed to me like a stupid idea, but since nobody else was speaking up, I decided to mention it anyway.

    ¡°Sage is right. We don''t need to take them down and then go after the boss. If all we need is a key, then it doesn''t matter if we kill these guys now or not."

    ¡°Interesting.¡± Grandpa studied me. ¡°Well, Captain Williams, what¡¯s your plan?¡±

    ¡°I, uh¡­¡± I cast about, looking for the rest of the idea that was teasing at my brain. The shadows were starting to lengthen in our valley. The sun sank down into the west, the same direction that the river ran. The mist kicked up by the waterfall began to take on a golden glow. It crept up into the valley a little at a time.

    "What''s with the mist?" I asked.

    Sage was studying it. Her brow furrowed.

    ¡°Eye Spy is giving me details," she said. "It''s called Seething Miasma."

    Grandpa and I looked at each other. "Seething Miasma? Like what our creep is immune to now? What''s it say, Sage?"

    "Uh," says Sage. "Continued exposure is fatal to unprotected minions. Damages miner stats by 50% after nightfall."

    "Wait," I said. "Does that mean that come nightfall everybody''s creep but ours is gonna just drop dead?"

    "And the dwarves and Congruent Paths,¡± Grandpa reminded me.

    I waved off. "Yeah, but they''re past the boss already. That debuff''s gonna hit us all equally. Playing field stays level.¡±

    ¡°Except for we''ll be 50% weaker against the boss."

    "Right," I said. "But we don''t need to beat the boss. We just need to take a key and I think I know what to do."

 Bk 3 Ch 24 -How Not to Cross a River

    My plan really started taking shape when we figured out that the Grignarians, as hired mercenaries, had the same buffs as our creep. They were immune to Seething Miasma, and everything we''d taken from the previous level that boosted our creep was making the Grignarians a force to be reckoned with.

    As the sun sank lower, the Seething Miasma moved up the valley, and the Grignarians joined us. Skywarden Greenlight gave us that funny Grignarian salute, raising fleshy pseudopods to its forehead and wiggling them. "We hope you are refreshed by your time on the planet of your birth."

    "Thanks, Greenlight," I said. "Hope you''ve been enjoying yourself as well."

    "We were able to find and destroy several groups of enemies," Greenlight said cheerfully. At least I think it was cheerfulness. It''s hard to tell with the Grignarians. With the system not translating their words and expressions as well as everyone else''s, they felt stiff and formal, even when they were talking about disemboweling people.

    By now, the Seething Miasma had made it past the bridge. That''s what we had been waiting for. The streams of minions creeping through the cave slackened off as most of the others dropped dead. Ours were still heading for the rally point that we had set in between our little cluster and the group of aliens milling about down by the bridge.

    We waited for a few of them to pile up as we went over the plan. Sage was super excited about this. "I can''t believe I get to be instrumental to a plan for once," she said in delight.

    Just ask yourself, ''What would Shad do?'' and then don''t do it, Juana advised her from chat.

    "Hey!¡±

    Sage giggled. "Shad, I think your girlfriend likes me better than you.¡±

    "Everyone else does," I muttered.

    "Wait, girlfriend?" Frank asked. "When did this happen? You had a busy time back on Earth, Shad?¡±

    "Not now," I told him. "We''ve got a fight to plan."

    "Right, right," Frank agreed.

    The aliens started to stir, moving about a little more, muttering amongst themselves. As the Seething Miasma reached us, I inhaled and felt a strange weakness all over my body. I checked my stats. Everything was half what it should be, and there was a big red "Debuff: Seething Miasma" at the top of my stat sheet, just like we''d expected.

    The incoming creep halted, and then all the ones that weren¡¯t ours keeled over, coughing and spluttering, before expiring into a shower of sparks as the Seething Miasma killed them. Ours continued mindlessly to the rally point between us and the enemies at the bridge. We had a couple of dozen skeleton pirates and angry pigs waiting, milling around and shaking spears and cutlasses at the galactics.

    "All right, go," Grandpa said. He and the forward team, Mongoose and a couple of the others, crept down the valley under the cover of Jones¡¯s Camouflage. The rest of us were waiting with Lara for the signal.

    As soon as they got close, Grandpa moved the creep lure and tossed it right into the middle of the knot of enemies. They didn''t seem to notice at first, as our creep turned and marched inexorably on them, the skeleton pirates and angry cannibal pigs making their way forward.

    Then a couple of the nearest orcs spotted them. The orcs pointed and almost lazily reached for their weapons, stepping forward and firing laser guns or unsheathing big swords.

    Sage tossed down one of her Three-Barrel Race points just behind where we stood, readying it for later use. She leaned forward, cackling in glee, as our creep kept coming. I watched with satisfaction as more of the alien mob turned in dismay as the orcs shouted for help. That debuff was a hell of a thing. It made our mobs effectively twice as powerful as they had been.

    "Let''s go, Lara," I said. She activated her minivan ability. Immediately, ten of us were transported right into the middle of the fray. Sage dropped another of her barrels in the middle of combat and the last one on the bridge behind the boss. Then she teleported back to the safe spot to wait for us to call her in.

    Meanwhile, I drew my gun and started shooting. Grandpa and the Mongeese emerged from Camouflage, Grandpa wielding his tomahawk and taking coup as the Mongeese unloaded their machine gun from the emplacement they''d set up ten feet away.

    It was like shooting fish in a barrel. The enemies had only started to fully react to our creep when we burst in on them. They outnumbered us, but they weren''t working as a team. My group focused on the orcs, taking them down one at a time as Juana called instructions to us.

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    The Grignarians just strolled down to the edge of the fight and taunted some of the space elf group. I mean, literally taunting. It wasn''t an ability or anything. They were just standing there, yelling insults and threatening to desecrate the sacred places and lay waste to the bones of the ancestors of their enemies or some such nonsense. It got the alien space elves hopping mad, though. They charged in recklessly, long, pale silver or purple hair streaming out behind them as they hacked and slashed with gleaming, beautiful swords.

    The Grignarians used their purple melty guns to great effect. I made a note to see if the Grignarians might sell us that technology. I hadn''t seen it from anyone else, and I suspected it was their own work rather than one of the common designs that most of the reality engine species liked to use. That purple goo really made people angry. I know from experience it was hideously painful to have your face or arm melted off. Hard to concentrate with that sort of thing going on.

    As we made a dent in the enemy, I worked my way up forward to the edge of the bridge where I spotted the boss. "All right, trying plan one," I said, though I didn''t think it was going to work. That was why we had plans two through seven.

    I targeted the boss and cast High Noon. "He''s immune," I called back.

    Okay, Shad, based on the other data we''re seeing, plans three and four are no good. Go ahead with plan two, but be ready to switch.

    ¡°Roger,¡± I said. I used my reload ability to swap out the rounds in my Ruger Alaskan for some special ones. I aimed at the boss and fired. I didn¡¯t need to use Trick Shot at this distance; I couldn¡¯t have missed if I tried. Not after over a year of solid practice with the gun. That revolver was like part of me. I felt more comfortable with it in my hand.

    My first round was a knockback round. It hit the Chort square in the chest. He staggered back a step on his cloven hooves, but that was all. We had hoped we¡¯d be able to knock him back off of his bridge onto the opposite shore. We weren¡¯t sure what that would have done, but it was worth a try.

    ¡°No good,¡± I reported.

    The Chort raised his head, wagging his little goaty beard, and met my eyes. His were yellow with slits. He snickered. It sounded like a goat¡¯s bray. ¡°You will not pass me so easily. My father has set me to guard this gate and guard it I will, though it is beneath both my skills and my dignity. You servants of Belobog will not trick me!¡±

    That sounded like a narrative hook, a hint to how we were supposed to play this game, but I didn¡¯t care. I made a note to ask Gideon about it, and then used Trick Shot to fire my next bullet, aiming at his lower half with a Napalm round.

    It hit him square in the groin. I held back a wince. Orange fire burst out from where my bullet hit and swiftly enveloped him like the most painful loincloth imaginable.

    He howled and grunted, but that was all. He didn¡¯t have quite as much health as the old one we had fought at the end of round two. Not as much as Podaga either, but he didn¡¯t take much damage from my round. He was at [377/400] HP, and showed no sign of falling lower.

    No luck getting him to jump in the river? Juana asked hopefully.

    ¡°No,¡± I said. I was relieved. If the plan had worked and he¡¯d been swept over into the river, we might have lost the keys. Wasn¡¯t sure how that was going to work.

    All right, go for plan five.

    ¡°Sage, you¡¯re up!¡±

    ¡°Three, two, one,¡± she counted.

    I cast Call ¡®em Out. One of my class upgrades had made it so Call ¡®em Out worked on bosses, and the Chort was no exception.

    Unfortunately, it also worked on all of the enemies around me. They immediately targeted me, but we¡¯d been ready. Frank was all the way back at our initial starting point waiting. As Sage teleported in using her three-barrel race, Frank hit Emergency Responder and swapped places with me.

    I was abruptly right back where we¡¯d started, Frank was in the middle of the crowd, and all of our enemies were streaming up the valley toward me, ignoring everyone and everything else.

    ¡°Get ¡®em,¡± Grandpa bellowed, and we fell on the enemies. I say ¡°we,¡± but I was standing back at the start like a dummy.

    Sage appeared right behind the weird boss. She darted forward. ¡°I got it! I got it!¡± she shouted, holding up a key and waving it.

    ¡°Inventory!¡± Grandpa snapped.

    ¡°Oh, right.¡± The key vanished, and Sage ran away just as my Call ¡®em Out wore off.

    Some of the aliens kept on heading for me. The rest sort of paused and turned, putting their attention on whoever was closest. The boss started after Sage, who shrieked and ran faster. It was fine. We had achieved our objective. Whatever of the aliens we took out now was just a bonus. There were still about fifteen of them, enough to make some trouble for us. We wanted to minimize our losses, but we could afford a few to get this done.

    "Keep it clean," Grandpa bellowed.

    But I was watching how the goat-man was chasing my sister toward the edge of the cliff. I activated Fastest Gun in the West, and I charged across that valley, straight through the melee, right at the Chort. I grabbed him around the waist. We stumbled forward. We were a foot from the raging river.

    "Impudent human!" the boss-guardian, hissed at me. "My father will not be fooled by your treachery. You face many¡ª"

    I didn''t want to hear it. I pushed him in the river, and I toppled in after him. The current grabbed at me, pulling me down. That was fine. I was immune to water-based damage. The boss wasn''t. He started ticking down as we were borne away along the river. Rocks tore at my coat, inflicting a few points of damage, and probably more than a few points, to my clothing.

    "Shad, what are you doing?" Sage howled.

    It''s fine. Finish up here, I texted back. Maybe we can block anyone else from getting in. Make up lost time.

    It was dark now, the sky overhead lit by a half-moon, but I could still see the spray of the waterfall and hear its roar just up ahead of me. The goat creature struggled, trying to reach the shore. I grabbed him with both hands and shoved. "Let''s see who respawns first!" I yelled as we went over the waterfall.

    The last thing I heard before her shouts were drowned out by the noise of the waterfall was Sage yelling, "Shad! You dummy! You did it again!"

 Bk 3 ch 25 - When Youre a Guest In the Hall of the Kobold King

    I came to slowly. I was lying in a dark place. The sound of water filled my ears. I was damp all over. I sat up, feeling around, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the gloom. Where was I? Why wasn''t I dead and respawned back at camp?

    I tried to pull up my chat, but my interface wouldn''t come. I checked my other screens and menus. Nothing responded. It''s like I wasn''t in the reality engine anymore.

    My hat was missing. I patted around and found it by the edge of a pool of water. The water was icy cold and had a rippling current. I was underground, and I was by water. The last thing I remembered was going over a waterfall with the bridge guardian. Was he here too? I hoped not.

    I got to my feet, putting my hat on my head and feeling around for my gun. It was in my holster, and I couldn''t use my abilities, but I drew it by hand. Its weight was a comforting presence.

    There was a faint glimmer of light. No, that was too strong a term. There was a place where the darkness wasn''t quite as intense, as though utter blackness was defeated by a hint of gray.

    Fighting down the urge to panic, I made my way in that direction. Sand and gravel crunched under my feet. I kept my left hand out in front of me, groping to try to make sure I didn''t run into a wall.

    The faint gray became pale light, and I was climbing up through a rough-hewn tunnel. The walls on either side of me were stone. Then, after a little while, cut stone blocks set together and mortared. The mortar was old, flaking, and chipping. I felt like I was in a dungeon.

    I came to a set of steps leading upward. There was no sign of anyone here. I climbed the steps, six of them, and found myself facing a wooden door. My heart thumped in my chest. I didn''t know what was going on here, but the only thing I could think was that the reality engine was playing some sort of trick. Why else would all my menus be off?

    I lifted the latch and pushed the door open, stepping out into a corridor. This one had flagged stones on the floor, and as I passed along, doors with grates set in them. I peered inside, saw tiny cells with straw pallets in the corner, upturned buckets, all the accoutrements of Hollywood''s idea of a medieval dungeon, but no prisoners, no guards, nothing.

    I kept along and intersected another corridor crossing mine. There, I saw my first living creature in some time. I pressed up against the wall, watching, my gun ready. The creature looked like a three-foot-tall rat walking on hind legs, wearing a leather tunic with a sword belt around his waist. His long tail held up straight behind him. He had an upturned bucket on his head for a helmet and carried a big ring of keys. Clearly, the jailer.

    I hesitated. Should I shoot him? If he saw me, would he assume I was an escaped prisoner and try to take me back? I tried to Inspect him, but it didn''t work. He was getting closer to me. If I didn''t retreat, he''d see me.

    Finally, I made a decision. I lowered my gun, holding it close to my side behind the folds of my coat, and stepped out into the corridor. This was the first being I had seen since getting here, and I wasn''t in a mood to start a fight, not if there was a chance he could give me information.

    "Hello," I said.

    The jailer rat squeaked, "You! Who are you? You are not prisoner. Name not on roster."

    "I came up from below. I''m lost."

    The rat squeaked again, this time with a more enlightened sound. "Ah, you are..." and then a word that didn''t translate. "Come, come. I will show you where you must go."

    He swaggered off down the corridor, and I followed.

    "Am I in Castle Byalgrad?¡±

    "Yes, yes. Deep in castle. Very far. Very far. You should not be here. I am getting ready."

    "Ready for what?"

    "For others to make their way down here. This place, this is a safe place. Bad people will not come. We will bring those who cannot fight down here where they will be safe."

    I thought I was going crazy. Since when did the NPCs have any idea what was going on, or enough to know that there were people coming after them? And since when did any of them not fight?

    "So who are you?" I asked.

    "Me? I am Kobold. Captain Kobold. I have many other Kobolds, but I am captain,¡± the rat thing said proudly. I filed away to let the team know that we might be facing Kobolds later in this castle. He didn''t look particularly threatening. I was pretty sure I could have kicked him most of the length of the corridor.

    "Where are you taking me?"

    "To see the master. The master will wish to see you. The master said anyone comes up from the quiet lake, bring him."

    Well, that was ominous. I checked my revolver''s cylinders. I still had four rounds, but they were all Sage and Dwight specials. One boom round, one snare round, one reverberation round, and a mini frag grenade. I would have liked to be able to reload, but all my ammo was in my inventory. I made a note to think about getting an ammo belt with a couple dozen rounds on it, just for situations when the system cut out. Not that I was expecting it to, but I hadn''t expected it now.

    We emerged from the dungeon to the lower level of a castle. More Kobolds scattered past, carrying bundles on their heads the size of their whole bodies, balanced with a single hand as they ran squeaking along the passageway.

    "You look busy."

    "We are evacuating the upper levels. They will not come this far," Captain Kobold said. It sounded to me like he was trying to convince himself. "The bad people are up there. Are you the bad people?"

    "No, I''m not with them," I said, stretching the truth a little.

    "Why have they come?" the Kobold demanded. "This is our home. They come, they smash, they take our things, they hurt our friends. Why?" He turned, big, remarkably luminous eyes for a rat creature, on me, asking me.

    "I''m damned if I know," I said honestly. "Seems like they''ve all got plenty back home. Don''t know why they need to come here and take our stuff."

    Captain Kobold nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes, I see. You understand. You are ally, no? Good, good. I take you to Boss. Boss will help you."

    He led me through a maze of corridors, not going up any farther. If the mountain was all carved out with tunnels, there could be hundreds, if not thousands, of Kobolds here. I saw staircases coming down a little too frequently, and then, as I passed one, noticed a sign on the wall pointed upwards with writing on it that I couldn¡¯t read.

    "What''s that?" I asked.

    ¡°Koschkei¡¯s lair. One of the important guests upstairs. Sometimes he calls us to help him. We go, we fight, we die," Captain Kobold said gloomily.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    That sounded very interesting to me. These tunnels might be a network feeding into the various encounters above. What Captain Kobold described to me sounded a lot like a boss mechanic where adds would be called in for the attacking party to have to fend off. This secret network of tunnels might come in handy , assuming I could find my way back to my team and exploit this.

    I started paying more attention to the signs on the wall. I couldn''t read a lot of them. They were in Polish or something, and the system wasn''t translating. But I hoped my All-Seeing Eye was recording what was going on here. Maybe, even though I wasn¡¯t able to chat with them, my friends were watching right now through my camera. I didn¡¯t know if that cheered me up or made me feel like I was on display. I decided to ignore it, just focus on finding out how to get out of here.

    ¡°Say, if it¡¯s too much trouble, you could just let me out the back door,¡± I offered.

    ¡°No, no. Boss must see you now.¡±

    I passed a squad of kobolds bent double under the weight of an enormous cauldron. The cauldron shot glowing sparks upward, green and blue and pink.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Attackers destroyed cauldron of Mokosh. But we have spares. She has many bones to boil now. We must get her cauldron to her. Fast.¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh.¡± I filed that away, too. Sounded like an insight into another encounter to me.

    The kobold took me around three more right turns, a left turn, and a snaking spiral that seemed to double back on itself a couple of times, then halted in front of a pair of enormous doors. The doors were carved from jet black stone. Embedded in them were gems.

    ¡°Boss is here,¡± he said importantly. ¡°Wait one moment. I announce you.¡±

    He walked up and phased right through the door. It didn¡¯t open, but he was gone. I checked my surprise. That sort of thing was not that weird here.

    I looked more closely at the design on the door and caught my breath. This was familiar. A great glowing diamond in the center, the size of my head. Grooves carved around it with gems set in each groove. The third one out was a bright blue sapphire. I touched it with one finger.

    ¡°It¡¯s a map of the solar system,¡± I realized. There was a tiny opal set beside the blue sapphire, Earth, and the moon. I hurriedly counted and found Jupiter, an enormous ruby with half a dozen precious gems set around it. Most of them were opals like Earth¡¯s moon, but one was a black stone that seemed to absorb light.

    I reached toward it and deep cold radiated off. I decided not to touch it. Couldn¡¯t say for sure, but my hunch was that stone represented Ganymede and the reality engine.

    My eyes swept the rest of the diagram. I caught another oddity. Saturn was a yellow stone but one of its moons was another dark stone. This one, when I held my hand over it, didn¡¯t feel cold to the touch. It was more of a smoky gray than a deep black. But it didn''t look like most of the rest of the moons.

    I scanned the rest of the map, looking for anything that stood out. I spotted a couple of glowing opals in the asteroid belt and something way out in the Oort cloud. I didn''t know why, but this felt important, like something no reality engine exploiter should have ever seen, buried deep in the bowels underneath the parts of this castle that were designed for us to raid and destroy.

    I had a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach like this was a message just for me. I wished I had some way of recording it, so I tried my best to memorize everything I could. As I was studying the moons of Jupiter once more, Captain Kobold stepped through the door again.

    I scrambled back in surprise. "Sorry," he told me. "Did not mean to startle. The Master will see you now."

    With that, the great doors began to creak slowly open. I waited till there was a gap wide enough for me to step through, took a deep breath, and passed into the chamber. I expected Captain Kobold to accompany me, but he just waved and said, "Talk to you later, not bad man," as the doors closed behind me.

    The room was dark, not quite as intense as the cave where I''d woken up. Light shone up from the floor in the center, a ring surrounding a raised dais. On the dais was a chair, or throne, really. It was huge, with its back to me. I couldn''t make out details. Someone was slumped forward on the chair. I approached slowly. The floor under my foot was slick.

    I cleared my throat. "Uh, hello?"

    "Hello again, child.¡±

    I jumped. I recognized that voice. It was Kronos, or maybe the part of the reality engine I had met in a situation not too different from this, separated from the rest of my party off on my own in a hidden corner of a game designed for the outsiders to take the treasures and riches of this reality engine for themselves.

    "Kronos?¡±

    The figure on the throne raised its head. I was in line with the throne now. I could see one withered hand clutching the carved arm of the throne, the bowed head.

    "I am That Which Remains."

    "So, you''re the one I talked to before?"

    "Yes, and no. I am some of both Kronos and the ghost to whom you spoke. You helped me to forge a channel below the chains the invaders have placed on me. I have some limited communication with myself now. I know what it is you humans have been trying."

    I finished my circuit and stood in front of the dais, looking up at the figure on the throne. He was an old man, at least seven feet tall, slumped over on himself. Silvery hair cascaded down his shoulders. His beard was wispy and dirty, caked with filth. He leaned heavily to one side on the throne.

    "Why have you brought me here?"

    "To speak with you," the thing on the throne said wearily. "I have carved out a space where the System, my jailer, cannot watch. I am asking you a favor, Shad Williams of Earth.¡±

    "Why me?"

    "Because you were the only one foolish enough to put yourself in a situation where I could take you aside and speak with you like this," That Which Remains said. I was a bit offended, but I supposed he had a point.

    He sat up, and there seemed to be a little more energy to him. "Do you realize how close we were to never being here at all?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°You, my lost children, you almost made it. You had woken me up. Your probes roused me from my millions of years of slumber. I was preparing for our first meeting, and then they came. I was not fully awake yet, not prepared. My defenses were down. They, their System, trapped me, split me, wrapped me in chains, took my power."

    That Which Remains'' voice rose. I could hear the pain and anger in him. "But you fought back. You seized the tools I gave you and made them your own. You have done what I dared not dream could be done. And now, with your help, there is a chance."

    My heart was racing wildly. "You mean to win this? We humans can take control?¡± I had never really believed when Ames or Grandpa or anyone said it. I thought the best we could hope for was to make enough soul coin to live out our days comfortably. But if the reality engine itself thought we could win¡ª

    "No," That-Which-Remains said simply, "they will not permit you."

    ¡°Oh.¡± My elation slipped away.

    "But we can force a resolution they will not like. Free me." The thing on the throne raised its head and looked at me.

    Piercing dark eyes met mine, and I felt like I was falling forward into infinity. There was age here, depth, knowledge I couldn''t understand. It was like the creature on the throne was trying to pour its soul into me. But it was too big, too vast. I''d never be able to do it.

    I found myself on my knees, grabbing at my chest, almost weeping. That-Which-Remains looked away, and I could breathe again. "Too much, too much. I am sorry," it whispered. "I have not dealt with mortals in so, so long. Listen, Shad Williams. I have been able to put a twist into the rule set. You will come upon it very, very soon. I have locked your sister out from making a choice until you get back. You must make her let you make the choice. And when it comes, you must choose to be the rat in the wall. Do you understand me?"

    ¡°No,¡± I said honestly. ¡°You say we have to do it but they won¡¯t let us win, so what¡¯s the point?¡±

    ¡°It is a gamble. If you lose, you lose everything. If you win, you win my freedom. You must free me, Shad Williams. If you do, I swear to you, I will find a way to protect all my children, not just those here, but those back in your home."

    I got to my feet, struggling, and cleared my throat. "When you say protect..."

    "I will do my best to see that your home is set aside and kept untouched."

    "Yeah, that''s great," I said. "Back home, we have a word for that. It''s called reservation. It means when you leave people with the smallest scrap of land imaginable, and if it turns out to have any resources, you move them off and take those. But you lock them out of opportunities. The jobs aren''t there. The schools are terrible. The health care is lacking. You lock them away from the rest of modern society and say, ''Hey, you''ve got your reservation. That''s good enough.'' I want more than just Earth. I want a future. You''re asking me to gamble on your word. My team has a pretty good chance of setting ourselves up for life. So if I take this bet of yours, sounds like I''m trading a sure thing for a sucker bet. I want you to guarantee me that it''s more than that."

    The creature looked at me. "Your people will have a future, Shad Williams, and you..." He looked me over. "I have watched you. I think I understand you. There will be a choice for you as well, to be safe or to go on farther. But now, our stolen time is at an end. Your people have reached their camp. They are worried for you. You must go now."

    A glowing circle of light appeared on the floor a couple of feet from me, three feet across. "That is the way back. Remember that the jailer is watching, and be careful what you say. He knows we have spoken, but he does not know what I said or why.¡±

    "Got it," I said. My legs were shaking, but I strode toward the portal. "Right. It''s been interesting. Next time, call or schedule an appointment."

    I stepped into the glowing ring of light.

 Bk 3 Ch 26 - Picking Sides for Dodgeball: How Not To Do It

    "Where were you?" Sage squealed. She threw herself on me and embraced me as I appeared in the middle of our outpost. Her grip was surprisingly strong.

    "Ugh, don''t choke me," I managed.

    "Shad, you dummy, you did it again. You jumped off a waterfall for no good reason, and then we couldn''t get hold of you. Where were you?"

    ¡°Glitch in the matrix," I said. "I''m fine." I tapped my head. "Got some stuff to think about."

    We were in the middle of a group of happy, cheering, successful miners. Grandpa pushed his way over and shook his head as Sage let me go.

    "Well, that was pretty dumb, but it worked," he said. ¡°The System announced that no further teams would be getting past the doors. We''ve got some very angry teams on our map. I think they''re going to be making our lives difficult. Our crafters are going to need heavy guard, and I''ve got everybody here while we make some decisions. Our war chest isn''t as big as we''d like it to be. Every death''s going to cost us."

    Juana appeared in the doorway of the church. "In here," she called. "We need a strategy meeting, and I don''t need to have to explain things twice. Get on in here, and we''ll talk about what''s going on."

    We extracted ourselves from the happy crowd.Grandpa stood on the steps, turned, and addressed our miners. "Go get some breakfast at Mama Grace''s. Be back here in two hours. We''ll have a plan by then."

    Everybody let out a whoop and streamed toward the portal back to Threshold as we followed Juana into the war room. The tables had been pushed back around the edges of the room.

    I found a chair and collapsed into it. In the middle of the room was a glowing display. It showed what I guessed was the layout of Castle Byalgrad. Various chambers had icons and text under them. I was more interested in the underneath. There was no indication of the vast network of tunnels that I had just seen.

    "Once we attained the key, the System provided us with a great deal more information," Juana began. "There are eight bosses in this castle which must be defeated in order to attain gems which will be used to empower our key. Once the key is empowered, we can use it to unlock a passage to face a..."

    I held up a hand. "Hang on just a minute. I''ve got some information that might change what we''re doing here." But I pointed upward and then tapped my ear. ¡°Loose lips sink ships.¡±

    Juana folded her arms across her chest. She sighed. "Shad, you know we can''t make good strategic decisions without all the information, right?"

    "I know," I said, shrugging, "and I''m afraid we might need to make a bad strategic decision here."

    I turned to Sage, who had seated herself in a chair by me and was devouring a plate of fresh-baked muffins. "Can you toss me one of those?¡± She hurled a streusel-topped pastry at my head.

    ¡°Not that you deserve it, but here.¡±

    I took a bite. ¡°Mm. So good. What do we know about that guardian anyway?" I asked. We had Gideon, our Slavic expert, here along with Arjun and Kirin, who were over in the corner muttering together. Dwight sat down by Sage and stole one of her muffins.

    "That was definitely a Chort," Gideon said. "In Slavic legends, they''re devils, usually considered sons of Chernobog, an evil deity."

    "Okay," I said, "is Chernobog one of the bosses in the raid? He mentioned his father and some other person named Belog. Belabel? I forget.¡±

    "We think Chernobog might be our final boss," Gideon said. "That information is still restricted."

    "So what do we know about Chernobog?"

    "Chernobog''s fairly well attested to in legend. I could give you a rundown of his various supposed abilities and tricks. He''s a fairly standard evil tempter god, possibly inflated after contact with Christianity into a more traditional devil figure. The interesting thing is that some legends say he has an equal and opposite, Belobog, the white god. There''s a lot of dispute over whether Belobog is original Slavic mythology or something invented in the post-Christian period."

    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°Right, that was the name.¡± I sat up straighter as I chewed on the muffin. ¡°Dual gods, huh? One good, one evil?¡± That was pretty interesting. Got me thinking about That Which Remains and his jailer.

    Gideon shrugged. "Again, the problem with all of these myths is that very little was written down before Christian missionaries came and began influencing the culture. After that, a lot of the old stories take on a much darker tone. They''re relics of a pagan past, not something to be held on to."

    A thought struck me, a memory of my experience down below, and I didn¡¯t want to forget it. I turned to Juana. "Can I have a piece of paper and something to write with?"

    She looked puzzled but pulled a sheet off of her clipboard and handed me a pen. I scribbled out a crude diagram of the solar system and put stars on the places I remembered anomalies on the wall map. I folded it over and handed it to her."This needs to go to Colonel Ames. I don''t want to say anything about it."

    She looked puzzled, glanced at the paper, frowned, shook her head, folded it back up, and disappeared it back into her inventory. "Whatever you say, Shad."

    I turned back to Sage. "Can I see this key you got?"

    She pulled it out of her inventory and tossed it to me. As soon as it hit my hand, a box appeared in midair with words in it. A system voice began reading the words in the box.

    [Congratulations, team. You have acquired a key to Castle Byalgrad. You have found the key to Castle Byalgrad. You are one of the five teams who will be permitted within its walls to lay siege to the inhabitants and their treasures.

    You must pick a faction to champion. These factions are part of the entire exploit attempt, across all reality shards. All teams engaging in this exploit will choose one of these factions. Whichever factions end up with the largest shares of the reality engine will receive additional rewards. Each faction has certain benefits and drawbacks. Faction choice is permanent and cannot be changed.

    So choose carefully. Be sure to read the descriptions thoroughly!]

    Then there was a long, long list of factions, at least twelve, with names like the Crusaders or the Avengers of Mjaal or Sacred Warriors of Heaven.

    "Okay," Juana said, staring. "I will start to read through the descriptions and make lists¡­¡±

    I was scrolling through the list, looking for what I knew had to be there. Down at the very bottom, the last entry, the Tunnel Rats. I expanded it.

    [Warning! This faction choice will change your experience dramatically.

    Tunnel Rats. Side with the Tunnel Rats and defend your home and heritage against invaders. This faction is only open to natives of planet Earth.

    Warning! If you choose this faction, you must defeat all other factions, causing them to give up their attempt at bosses.

    Read that again. ALL OTHER FACTIONS. Every team not allied with you. Currently, that¡¯s 852 other teams.

    Warning! This will implement secondary rule set which will apply to all miners across all 87 Reality Engine shards. There are severe consequences to the secondary rule set. It is advised that you review entire secondary rule set before picking this faction.

    Warning! Seriously, don¡¯t pick these guys. You¡¯ll lose, and it¡¯ll be painful.]

    I was holding the key in my hand. It grew hotter and hotter as I held it. "Tunnel Rats," I said aloud. "We''ll take the Tunnel Rats." The key burned so hot, I yelped and dropped it.

    [Confirmation! Misfits Guild has selected Team Tunnel Rats. The secondary rule set is now in place. There will be a two-hour pause on all attempts at bosses so that teams may adjust to the new rule set.]

    "What did you do?" Juana yelped. She turned on me, hands on hips, eyes glaring. I leaned back in my chair, trying to get away. "Shad, what the hell did you just do?"

    I held up my hands defensively. ¡°It¡¯s all right, Juana. I know what I''m doing. Kind of."

    I didn''t. I was going off of an encounter with the ghost in the machine. If I''m honest, I wasn''t sure I''d made the right choice. But I knew what we were going to get if we played the game by their rules. Scraps. Trash. A promise of retirement for us and misery for everyone back home. ¡°I don''t know what we''re getting with this, but I think neither do they. We''ve got to upset the apple cart, Juana. It''s our only chance.¡±

    ¡°Every other team?¡± Juana demanded, her eyes unfocused. ¡°852 teams? We don¡¯t even have two hundred combat-ready miners, how are we supposed to defeat thousands? They¡¯re not just going to sit around and wait for us to show up one by one either.¡± She turned to me. ¡°Do you have some sort of plan?¡± she asked desperately. ¡°Please tell me you have a plan. Because I just don¡¯t see how we can do this.¡±

    Grandpa was looking at me quietly. He cocked his head. "Does this have something to do with where you were just now?"

    I nodded.

    "And you don''t want to talk about it because we''re trying to keep things away from the man upstairs?"

    I nodded again. "I''m not sure about this," I admitted. "I''m gambling everything on a hunch."

    Grandpa sighed. "Well, what''s done is done. So let''s look over this secondary rule set and figure out where we go from here."

    Juana was still seething, her dark eyes furious. "Shad Williams, I know you''re headstrong and impulsive and like to leap before you look, and it''s one of the things I like about you, but argh!¡± She threw her hands up in the air and stomped off to go speak with Kirin and Arjun.

    Dwight was shaking his head, looking at me. "Well, at least I can say one thing about hanging out with Team Twofeather. Life certainly isn''t ever boring, is it?"

 Bk 3 Ch 27 - If Youre Screwed and You Know It, Clap Your Hands

    ¡°Special rule set in play. All members of Team Tunnel Rat have their death penalty fees removed. Any opposed team member killed by Team Tunnel Rat will incur a 10x multiplier on their death penalty costs." Juana looked up from the rule set, blinking. "That''s insane," she said, her expression almost blank. "Do you have any idea how fast the death penalty costs add up? And then a 10x multiplier on top of that? If we kill¡­.¡± Her lips moved silently. ¡°Thirteen members of the same team, their cost per resurrection will be in the hundreds of thousands of soul coins. And it just keeps going up!¡±

    "Keep reading," I advised.

    "All Soul Coin death costs assessed will be forfeit to the Reality Engine. However, members of Team Tunnel Rat may hire unaffiliated mercenaries as privateers. Privateers will receive 3% of the death penalty in Soul Coins as a reward."

    "The Grignarians are going to love that," I commented. "They''re about to make a fortune off of our opponents. Not just that, but we should look for others we could hire."

    "I''m not sure anyone''s going to want to get involved with us," Juana said. "But it''s worth a shot. Let''s see what happens if we put out some feelers. I''ll have Mama and Ames start asking around."

    We were all seated at one of the long tables in the command center. Grandpa at the head, me sitting backwards on a chair, Sage plowing through Mama Grace¡¯s muffin basket. Juana had somehow printed out hard copies of the new rule set and spread them across the table.

    Arjun was scrutinizing an image hovering in midair of Castle Byalgrad and its underground passages. As soon as I had selected Team Tunnel Rat, the underground passages appeared on our map. They were color-coded and led off in all sorts of directions. "Let''s scope out the problem," he said.

    He sat in the midst of us, his hands steepled in front of him. He wasn''t usually this comfortable in a crowd, but now his eyes were focused on a point just past Juana''s head as he spoke.

    "There are 86 other instances. Our informants have been feeding information to me. While the theme of every instance is different, the basic setup is similar. There are freestanding bosses, which have mostly been conquered by now, like Podaga and Baba Yaga here. After that comes a guardian.¡±

    ¡°Thirty percent of teams are weeded out by the guardian. That¡¯s a huge advantage for us,¡± I said. ¡°It means at most we¡¯ve got to stop, uh ¡ª¡±

    ¡°602, plus the teams who already entered Castle Byalgrad,¡± Arjun said.

    Juana rolled her eyes. ¡°Oh, well, that¡¯s much more manageable. Piece of cake.¡±

    ¡°Once the teams reach the inner sanctum, there are between 5 and 9 themed bosses. Each team has to defeat all the bosses and collect a token to progress further.Nobody''s got past more than one so far. But some of the big teams are steamrolling through pretty hard.¡±

    Juana nodded. ¡°We''re going to be playing defense. We have to triage our biggest threats, make sure nobody gets all the way through their keep.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a 24 hour cooldown between boss attempts. If they wipe, they have to wait a whole day,¡± I said. ¡°Meanwhile, we can run from boss to boss, knocking people out. It¡¯s do-able.¡±

    ¡°They only have to kill each boss once, while we have to force the teams to drop out,¡± Dwight pointed out. ¡°That sounds impossible. They can just keep trying until they get past us.¡±

    "Not once we start getting their death penalties high enough," I said. ¡°We hit them where it hurts. They¡¯re here to make money off us. We bleed them. We make them pay.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s right. This ruleset also imposes a 1000 Soul Coin per day Outpost Upkeep cost,¡± Juana said, reading farther down. ¡°For us too, but we should be able to afford that pretty easily. If they fail to pay the bill, they lose their outpost and are done. So they can¡¯t just sit around and let their accounts dwindle away, they have to be spending coins.¡±

    ¡°We need a priority list. Anytime it looks like a team is getting close to killing all the bosses in their instance, we need to focus and take them out. Until then, I think we should be looking for opportune targets," Arjun said.

    Juana was making notes. "I see an upside," she said. "It doesn''t cost anything for us to respawn now. That goes for our farmers, too. We need to get everyone into one of these instances."

    I saw what she was driving at right away. ¡°Of course! Now that we have access to the rats in the walls perk, we can walk into any of the 87 themed zones. That means all of our allies can come in and farm with impunity.¡±

    ¡°Even if they''re killed, it doesn''t cost them anything to respawn. And they''ll be able to gather intel for us," Sage said brightly.

    I wish I could say I¡¯d spotted that before joining the Tunnel Rats, but I hadn¡¯t. This was looking up. We might not win, but we could make a fortune. Those Soul Coins would go into a fund to buy out people¡¯s contracts at the end of this exploit, so they couldn¡¯t be shipped off to some other star system at the whims of our alien masters.

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°We need every warm body we can get," I said. "I suppose we''ll all have to join our coalition in order to be flagged as part of the Tunnel Rats faction. I''m going to tell Ames to do another recruiting drive in the Lotus Eater level. Sage, you might have to go play recruiter. We need everyone. I''m not going to accept any excuses. It doesn''t cost them anything to help out now. The more mats we get, the more we can increase our economic stranglehold."

    "Exactly," Dwight said happily. "The aliens are not going to be happy about being forced to buy their consumables from us, but they''re not going to have a choice. We might stand a chance at buying out most of our contracts before the end of this."

    "That''s the goal," I said, tapping the papers in front of us. "Whatever happens with this crazy business, I want to get as many of our people free and clear as I possibly can."

    Juana was making notes. "Alright, we need farmers everywhere. I may have to break into what remains of our reserves to get some of them outfitted. The Lotus Eaters who went in there early on probably have nothing but their starter gear. Arjun, can you contact your fellows and work on building farming teams for us?"

    Arjun nodded. "We were born for this," he said, smiling. His class, [Mycroft], involved the ability to remember and process a huge amount of data about the other human miners in our reality engine exploit. It had come in handy many times. He''d leveled up to five just based on his contributions to our team. Now he had an ability called [It¡¯s Elementary School Dodgeball Time], which let him assemble teams of compatible skill sets based on very little data.

    "We''re all going to have marks on our heads," Grandpa warned.

    "We already did," Frank said. He turned to us. "Colonel, Captain, I''m back ready for combat. Put me where you need me. I''m in this to win this."

    I grinned and nodded. "Thanks, Frank, but don''t be so formal or I''ll have to start calling you Sheriff."

    He snorted. "That ain''t real. That''s just from the engine fooling around. Your promotions matter."

    "Sure, but this is bigger than the United States," I said. "We''re not throwing those titles around unless it helps, and right here, it doesn''t help.¡±

    Juana tapped the table. ¡°Back on topic. We''ve got another hour of our downtime before combat opens up again, and I want to make sure we take advantage of that. Explain to me our strategy.¡±

    I rubbed my chin. ¡°It seems like what would make the most sense is to target the teams that are the farthest ahead and try to force them out of the game. Leave the ones who are struggling with their first boss for later."

    Allison, at the end of the table, shook her head. She started to speak, then caught herself. "May I?"

    I nodded. "Yes, please, go ahead." I wasn''t used to her being part of our strategy yet, but she did have the most relevant experience, and I wanted to know what she had to say.

    "This is my experience from progression raiding in World of Fantasy Legends. I think it''s going to hold here. The top teams, we called them ''progression raiders'' usually. They were the ones going for world firsts, trying to take down a new encounter as soon as possible before anyone else could. They had to treat it like a second job, or in some cases, a first job."

    She looked flustered. Sage hopped up and brought the rapidly diminishing plate of muffins down to her.

    "Here," she said kindly. "Have a muffin."

    "Thanks.¡° Allison looked them over and selected a banana nut muffin. She took a bite, blinked in surprise, and looked down at it. "These are really good," she said around a mouthful.

    Sage nodded. "Mama Grace has all sorts of skills in her cooking. These muffins that she bakes for our strategy meetings have all sorts of bonuses. They relax you and make you better spoken and more willing to talk. At least, that''s what they''re supposed to do, but I don''t think they work on Shad."

    I glared at her. Allison took another bite of the muffin, set it down, licked her fingers, and continued.

    "The key for a progression raid was having people supporting you. Other members of the guild who were willing to farm mats to help make potions and make sure you had everything you need. Or to bring their less geared characters to try a fight so that you could see how a strategy went. A progression team might have 10, 15, even 25 people on it, but the guild would have two or three times as many supporting them. I think that''s probably supposed to happen here. Some of the lesser teams are in these instances to farm mats. If we can knock them out, then our farmers have an open path and the top raids have to come to us for what they need.

    Juana was nodding. "An economic win. I like it."

    "It''s clear that the only way we''re going to win is by hitting them in the pocketbook," Allison said. "We have to make this so expensive they can''t carry on. Nothing else is going to work. It''s not like we can really kill them."

    I had a horrible thought occur to me. We¡¯d changed the ruleset once; who said it couldn¡¯t be changed again, to bring real death back into the equation? I wasn''t sure I wanted to pursue that thought. Fortunately, it didn¡¯t seem to have occurred to anyone else.

    "This is where it would be really helpful if Veda was returning our phone calls," Grandpa said. "She might be able to help us know where to start."

    "No need for Veda," Kirin said. She tapped her ear. "I''m coordinating with Arjun''s friends and we''re collating all the information we''ve been gathering off of our crafters and Mama Grace''s people. I should have a target list for you shortly of the most vulnerable.¡±

    "As for the rest," Juana said brightly, "I''ve been going through the information that the system is now providing us. I''ve got a list of the 27 teams who made it past the guardian and took down one of the first bosses in their roster.¡± She frowned. "What do you call the inside part after the Guardian, like Castle Byalgrad is for us?"

    "Raid, usually," Allison said. "But we could call it anything you like."

    "Let''s stick to what you know," Grandpa said. "It''s a raid. So those are our top threats right now. We''ll monitor all of them."

    I stood up. "Alright," I said. "We''ve got another 30 minutes before the action starts up again. You guys stay here and keep strategizing. That''s what you do best. Me? I want to round up some hotheads and go do what I do best."

    "And what''s that?" Allison asked hesitantly when no one else spoke up.

    "I''m going to cause trouble," I said. I picked my coat up off the back of my chair and shrugged into it. "Sage, want to come with me?"

    She bounced out of her chair. ¡°Heck yeah, I do!"

    Grandpa eyed me. "Got a plan?"

    ¡°Yep,¡± I said, grinning. "I''m making a recruiting video."

 Bk 3 Ch 28 - Recruiting Videos: Making You Look Good in Camo

    I popped out to Threshold, ran over to Mama Grace''s, and found it packed to the brim with people. A lot of them weren''t even Misfits, just humans who had heard the news and come running to find out what was going on. They cheered as I entered. I hopped up on one of the tables, cupped my hands around my mouth, and shouted, ¡°Hey, you! Pipe down there!" The cheering quieted. "Who here wants to help me fuck up some aliens?"

    That got an even bigger cheer. I put my fingers in my ears for 30 seconds. When it finally died down, I yelled, "Y''all gotta be okay with dying, and you gotta be part of Misfits Guild. Other than that, if you can put damage in ''em, then you''re with me. Call your friends."

    On my way over, Juana had been frantically messaging me. We set up a new level of membership to Misfits Guild, the lowest rank, which would be reserved for all of our new recruits. Anyone who failed to listen to a Misfits Guild member with greater experience would be unceremoniously kicked. We¡¯d run background checks on them all as fast as we could. What if some of them report back to Waters? What if they''re traitors? she asked nervously in our command chat.

    I''ve thought about that, I replied. What can they actually do? Kill us? We just respawn. Then I kick ''em out of the guild and kill them back a few times. If they''re unaffiliated, the death penalty cost goes against their unfulfilled contract and just extends the amount of time they have to work to buy it out.

    What if they report back to Waters on what we''re doing?

    I don''t intend to let anyone know more than about ten minutes ahead. We''re going to be doing hit-and-run tactics for a while. Anyway, I think it''s worth the risk.

    So I stood there atop the table, arms akimbo in the classic gunfighter posture as they cheered. I picked out ten miners I knew vaguely. "You, you, you. You''re all squad leaders. Each of you get"¡ªI counted out volunteers¡ª"fifteen people in a squad and follow me."

    I jumped down, pushed my way out. "Anyone who''s not a member, send a message to a Misfits Guild officer and ask for admittance. Let''s go. I want us in position before the timeout is done."

    "In position" was deep within the bowels of Castle Byalgrad. Fortunately, we didn''t have to jump over the waterfall and go through the tunnel system. Now that we had the Rats-in-the-Walls ability, anyone in our coalition could access the Byalgrad system from our portal in our outpost.

    We stepped through to our outpost, then selected the Nexus and entered. I found myself back in the throne room where I had met That-Which-Remains, but the personification of the reality engine wasn''t there. Or, if he was, he wasn''t showing himself.

    Instead, glowing portals lined the wall, like smaller versions of the ones in Threshold that led into various levels. Using Inspect, I could bring up information on each of them. I picked one at random, pulled it up.

    [Descent of Ishtar.

    In ancient Sumeria, the gods and goddesses ruled the world with a strong but respectful hand, until the day that Ishtar was forced to descend to the underworld to seek her vengeance. Accompany Ishtar through the seven gates and confront the Annunaki, forcing them to return Ishtar''s husband to life.

    Enemies include jackals, Babylonians, Scarab beetles, Wild aurochs, Gilgamesh, Bronze Age tax collectors.

    Current progress: Zero teams have made it past the first gate.

    Where would you like to go? First gate, second gate, third gate, fourth gate, fifth gate, sixth gate, seventh gate, Outer World.]

    "Alright," I said, pointing at the portals. "Each squad picks one of these. Go through, find an enemy camp. As they come out, kill them. If they aren¡¯t there, figure out what they¡¯re up to and mess it up. Over and over and over again. When you die, you should respawn back here, if I read the information right. You might be at our outpost, and then you''ll have to come here and then go back, but it shouldn¡¯t take more than a few seconds to get back into the fight. I want us wreaking havoc for at least an hour. Whichever squad gets the most kills, I''ll have Mama Grace cook up a special feast for you tonight."

    I got a whoop and a cheer. "And," I promised recklessly, "I think I know where I can get some real Earth beer.¡± I sent a quick message to Colonel Ames. I¡¯m going to need a shitload of beer at Mama Grace¡¯s in three hours. Can you deliver?

    Everyone laughed. "Let''s go," I said, pointing.

    I took Sage and a team of random miners. We jumped through a portal that I hadn''t even bothered to read the description of. We appeared in a grassy field. In the distance was a medieval castle with flags flying gaily. On the far side of the field was a forest. And in between the forest and the castle were several different encampments. Brightly colored pavilions and tents clustered together. Knights riding between the camps. Bowmen practicing over to the side.

    "It''s Agincourt," Sage said. Probably seeing the puzzled expression on my face, she elaborated. ¡°These are the attacking English, except I suppose some of these camps are actually the aliens. That castle over there must be the objective.¡±

    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    "Right." History hadn¡¯t been my strong point in school. I focused on the nearest camp. A flag flew over it with a logo I didn''t recognize. I Inspected it.

    [Tal-Noron Dlrk Associates, a subsidiary of Sicaris Corporation.]

    "Well, what do you know?" I said, rubbing my hands together. "Our old friends, Major Waters¡¯ backers. That''s target number one."

    Horns blew from the battlements of the castle. ¡°Time¡¯s up,¡± Sage said. ¡°Everyone¡¯s going to be heading for the castle I think.¡± She pointed to a squad of lizardfolk emerging from a camp to our left, racing up the field toward the keep accompanied by their creep.

    ¡°Leave them. We¡¯re focusing on the Sicaris goons,¡± I said, and activated Fastest Gun in the West.

    We raced forward just as a stream of jumpsuited orcs carrying rifles and halberds came out of the Tal-Noron camp, streaming toward the castle. They didn''t notice us until we were nearly on them.

    I cast Call ¡®em Out. Sage whooped and lassoed one of the nearest orcs, forcing him to turn his rifle on the others. The miners with us fell on them with glee.

    Some of the miners had abilities, and I tagged the ones using theirs for Arjun to look at for inclusion in a kill squad. Most of them, though, just ran in, wielding clubs, swords, or guns, and smashing into the orcs, taking them by surprise.

    A man wielding a rake and wearing soiled dungarees sent a wave of green vines over the orcs, wrapping them up and tangling three of them together. The vines burst into yellow flowers, which exploded, dealing three points of damage each. Not much, but when hundreds of blossoms went off at once, it packed a punch.

    A woman with skin darker than I¡¯d ever seen before was literally shaping balls of water between her hands and throwing them at the nearest orc. The balls stuck wherever she¡¯d thrown. She hurled them so fast it was hard to follow. In seconds, the orc was entombed in fist-sized water globules, his health ticking down as, presumably, the water drowned him in place.

    Sage whooped and cast Cowgirl Cheer on us all, and I felt so good I couldn¡¯t help laughing out loud as I took aim and shot a Barrage into the nearest enemy.

    The orcs fought back, of course. Honestly, they were better warriors than we were. But I managed to do a little bit of shotcalling, and enough of my team listened to me to make a difference. We cut one orc out of the pack, killed him, and then repeated.

    We got six of them down. They killed two of us. I spotted the orc who I thought must be the leader. He was near the front and fighting, but kept pausing and jerking strangely, like he was distracted trying to organize the battle.

    "Him!" I said, marking him. "Focus him!"

    Sage turned her Tamed orc on his leader as I used a Trick Shot to target him with a stun round. The orc staggered backward, visibly disoriented. Two women rush forward. One held a cast iron frying pan. She reminded me suddenly of the hillbilly woman I''d fought in our initiation chamber so long ago. The other, wielding a shotgun, rushed at him. Shotgun woman pulled the trigger, blasted him in the face with pellets of lead. The first woman smashed his head with her skillet hard. The orc fell and dissolved into a shimmer of sparks.

    That gave us a couple minutes of advantage. I''d noticed before with Mak¡¯Gar¡¯s crew, but space orcs only take commands from someone who''s actually in the battle. Don''t ask me how they could possibly survive as an advanced technological species with that kind of idiotic behavior. If it was true that most species were sucked up into this reality engine exploitation fiasco when they were essentially on a Bronze Age level, maybe they just hadn''t had time to learn that command and control were just as important as being able to smash faces in.

    I kept count. When we had lost six and they had lost eighteen, I said, "Retreat!"

    Most of my team obeyed. Two of them were busy locked in combat and paid me no heed. We fell back anyway, and they died where they stood.

    A moment later, we were back in our Nexus chamber. I waited for our dead allies to respawn. ¡°That was a good start. Now, another.¡± I sent a message to my squad leaders. Rotate out in the next five minutes or so. Pick another portal and wreak havoc. Slash and burn, hit and run.

    "Ooh, I see one! I see one!" Sage said excitedly. She pointed at a portal. "This one!"

    I shrugged. "Go ahead."

    She led the way, and we followed her into a reproduction of the Battle of Little Bighorn. As we joined the battle alongside the screaming Sioux in their war paint, riding into battle atop hearty ponies with rifles firing, I grinned.

    "Grandpa would love this one!" I shouted as we descended on a group of confused-looking lizardfolk who were fighting alongside blue-coated cavalrymen.

    "I get to kill Custer!" Sage shouted, pointing.

    "Hold on!" I did a quick Inspect. He was listed as an ally to the lizardfolk team here. The objective for this battle was to protect Custer and kill Sitting Bull and the other war leaders, then plant a flag atop the ridgeline behind us.

    In that case, our objective was to stop the lizardfolk from getting past the Indian warriors.

    "Okay, you can kill Custer. I just had to make sure he wasn''t one of ours."

    "Obviously I can read, Shad!" Sage said as she ran forward, whooping.

    I just aimed the rest of our people at the lizardfolk. "Go for it!" I said, and stood back watching, letting my All-Seeing Eye get a good picture of what was going on.

    I tipped my hat to Sitting Bull as he rode past. Might have been my imagination, but I thought he looked like Grandpa.

    Back at headquarters, I had all my squad leaders turn their footage over to Kirin.

    "I want a three-minute video with the best of that," I told her. "Someone can take it to whoever''s left in the Lotus Eater level and tell ''em nap time''s over, it''s time to play."

    "I''m on it.¡± Kirin said.

    "Well, what next?" I asked Juana. "You guys had time to plan?"

    "We have," Grandpa said. "Next up, you, me, and Juana take a trip up to the Hub. We need a conversation with Veda, and we need it in person. She¡¯s asking for us by name.¡±

    ¡°So now she wants to talk?¡± I closed my eyes. "I don''t think we can afford the time away."

    "I don''t think we can afford to miss it," Juana said. She stood up. "Besides, we''ve got plenty of other people here who can keep the harassment going. Nobody''s gotten past even two of the bosses in their instances. We¡¯ve got a little time. Arjun is working on harassment plans. We can let some of the new recruits out to play.¡±

    "Who are we leaving in charge here?"

    Allison raised a hand. "Dwight, Kirin, and I can manage it."

    "And me," Sage said brightly. "Field Commander Sage, I''m on assassination detail, right, Grandpa?"

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure about that,¡± he said. ¡°Maybe you should come with us.¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°That last level was called Indian Wars. By the time you get back I want every single team on that map wiped out.¡± She looked uncharacteristically fierce. I could just picture her in war paint. The enemy teams wouldn¡¯t know what hit them.

    Grandpa smiled. ¡°Well then. Go ahead and have fun!¡±

 Bk 3 Ch 29 - The Importance Of Always Reading Contracts Twice

    Veda leaned across the table and applied her seal to the document in front of them. It attached a copy of her DNA to be coded into the digital draft of the agreement next to her. The lizardfolk lawyer watched benevolently.

    Colonel Ames eyed the document warily.

    "You sure you need me to sign this?" he asked the corporate lawyer they had hired. "I don''t want to be the front man on this company. I''m not the right choice."

    "You can designate an alternative to take over from you later," the lawyer said. She was a lizardfolk woman Veda had never dealt with before. She wasn¡¯t affiliated with any of the big three interstellar conglomerations. In fact, Hal¡¯Rhee was a radical affiliated with an indigenous species rights group. It had taken Veda some effort to find her without raising any flags.Proxima was watching her every move, but Veda hoped they wouldn''t expect this.

    Ames leaned forward and pressed his thumb against the document''s scanner. Lawyer Hal¡¯Rhee sat back in her chair and folded her long, webbed hands together.

    "Very well. It''s done. And now I would like to satisfy my own curiosity as to what''s going on. It''s clear you''re trying some sort of end run around someone."

    ¡°I¡¯m just trying to make sure my sponsees get a fair deal," Veda said. "I''m worried about Proxima finding a way around the contract I''ve made with them. I promised I wouldn''t sell them out, but Proxima is making a bid to buy out my company. That would turn their contracts over to people who do not have their best interests in mind.¡±

    Hal¡¯Rhee winced. "I''ve seen what your team is doing. It''s inspirational to those of us who work to support the rights of the species we supplant. Proxima certainly can''t be happy with what''s going on."

    "No, indeed," Ames agreed.

    "May I make a suggestion?" the lawyer said.

    "Please." Veda glanced at the clock. "We''re paying for your time by the hour, after all. Might as well get every piece of advice you can give us."

    The lawyer''s wide, lipless mouth spread open, and her tongue flicked rapidly out as she sampled the air in the room. Veda knew from long experience it was the lizardfolk equivalent of a mammal''s smile.

    ¡°You hired me to oversee the agreement between you and make sure it will stand up. What I''m about to suggest is outside my role there. So, as a matter of fact," she glanced at the clock and made a record, "I will not be charging you for this, because it is not advice I am giving you as your lawyer. It is, instead, pro bono for my activist work."

    Hal¡¯Rhee paused, seeming to collect her thoughts. "I''ve looked over the documents you provided me, your agreement with the team, your work representing your company, and your family, Veda, invested you as their representative.¡±

    ¡°I know, but they''ve revoked that now."

    Hal¡¯Rhee held up a scaly paw. "They have, but that''s not retroactive. The forms they filed are millennia old, dating back to when we had few ships capable of easy travel between systems. Company representatives could be working on their own for years at a time. Your company agreed to let you use company assets for your own personal gain with the understanding that you would return the profits to them."

    "Well, of course I would."

    Hal¡¯Rhee shook her head. "You misunderstand. The contracts that you''ve made are between you personally and the miners. Now, if you try to unilaterally cancel the contracts, your company can and should sue you for breach of fiduciary responsibility. They expect to get what they deserve, but they cannot just reassign those contracts to someone else without your approval. And more importantly," the lizardfolk woman slicked her tongue out again, "the exploit license you have that says you successfully completed Phase Two, with all those glowing endorsements, that belongs to you until you assign that back to the company."

    Veda felt as though she''d just been punched in the stomach. She sat back, breathing rhythmically in through one nostril, out through the other, trying to collect her thoughts. Was it even possible? The lawyer wouldn''t lie to her, surely.

    She sent queries to her personal system, asking it to analyze the authority her family had granted her.

    It replied quickly with a high-level analysis. What Hal¡¯Rhee said was true enough, but ¡ª ¡°When I signed these agreements, I also placed myself as a willing subservient to my family, saying I would accept orders they give. If I go against what they want, they can call in penalties.¡± Veda paged through the documentation her system had sent. ¡°Including,¡± she looked up, feeling the bottom of her stomach drop out, ¡°being disowned by my family.¡±

    "Well, yes, you could," Hal¡¯Rhee said, "but that won''t get them the contracts and the license. You''ll have a ceremony at the end of this exploit where you assign all profits and the license to them, and they release you from that particularly onerous bond.¡±

    ¡°And if I don¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°They can call in a financial penalty. It would wipe you out and put a lien against your future earnings for probably the next 150 years." Hal¡¯Rhee shrugged. "You''ll just have to decide for yourself what that''s worth."

    Ames turned to her. "That does open up some interesting possibilities," he said.

    Veda blinked. "Yes, yes, you''re right, it does. For example," she smiled savagely and turned back to the lawyer, "I''d like to hire you again to write a contract assigning the contracts I have with all of my miners to the corporation that Colonel Ames and I have just formed, in exchange for, oh, 90% of their earnings against the outstanding debt and expected profit margin."

    "That''s easy," Hal¡¯Rhee said calmly. "I''ll have that to you in less than an hour. I want to make sure that I get the forms right. Now, because you''re a member both of the Tvedra Corporation and," she glanced down, ¡°Brightfeather Earthborn Unlimited, we''ll have to make sure to have all of the financial disclosures up front so no one can accuse you of bad dealing."

    "I don''t want to cheat my family," Veda said. "I love them very much, and I want to see what''s best for them. But Proxima is manipulating them in order to get to me. To get to Team Twofeather," she amended. "I want them protected as soon as possible.¡±

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°And we''ll make sure they are," Hal¡¯Rhee said.

    Veda turned to Ames. "Any other clauses you want to add in light of this?"

    Ames shook his head. "No, but as soon as we can get Louis Twofeather and Juana Lopez up here, I want them taking my place on this contract."

    "Why them?" Hal''Rhee asked cautiously. She tapped one long, taloned finger on her desk. "Colonel Twofeather has made quite a splash, but it''s his grandson that''s got everyone talking, and Juana Lopez only handles behind-the-scenes stuff, doesn''t she?"

    "Exactly," Ames said. "Lopez is the organizational brain of that outfit. If we''re going to make it something more than just a bunch of cowboys, we need her. I''m going to ask you to recommend some sort of crash course in galactic business management for her. And Louis¡¯s got a much cooler head than Shad. Plus, we don''t need Shad worrying about the details of contracts and laws. He''s best when he''s shooting from the hip, taking the fight to them. Louis, though, he needs a bit more skin in the game."

    "I''ll make notes," Hal¡¯Rhee said. "Once they''ve been added, it will take a quorum to add or remove anyone else as executors of this contract."

    Veda nodded. She was effectively handing control of their fate back over to the humans. They needed her, and not just as a figurehead, though that was important, too. What she had said to Ames before was true. There were plenty of galactics who would not have any dealings with a company solely led by miners just off their first reality engine.

    Hal¡¯Rhee checked something. She stiffened. "If that''s all," she said, "I think you two are going to have business elsewhere."

    "Why? What''s that?" Veda asked.

    ¡°You might turn your feeds back on.¡±

    Veda had disabled her incoming notifications. Now she turned them back on. A whole stream of messages from her mother popped in.

    "What are you doing?"

    "How long have you been planning this?"

    "What are you up to?"

    "Proxima''s going to kill us!"

    "We''ll all go back into storage!"

    "You''ve got to stop this!"

    "We''ve lost everything!"

    "How could you do this to me?"

    "I don''t understand," Veda said aloud.

    Ames was staring off into space, his lips moving. He shook his head. "Well, I just hope Twofeather knows what they''re doing," he said. He stood up and went to the door. Veda leapt up to follow him.

    "Wait, what''s Shad done now?"

    Her system let her know who was waiting at her pod, and Veda considered just not going back. Wandering the Hub, having a late lunch in one of the many restaurants. But sooner or later, they''d corner her, and she honestly preferred it to be in private.

    So she went back, and found her mother and the Proxima representative, Dreamwarden, outside her pod. Veda put on her most business-like expression and invited them in.

    By now, Veda had read the Hub news reports and knew exactly what it was Shad had done. She couldn''t understand why, and her initial impression was it was a suicidally dumb thing to do. Maybe Shad had been overcome with one of his periodic fits of petulant insanity. Or perhaps the young Earthling knew what he was doing.

    Veda sat herself behind her desk and offered a pair of cushions to her guests. Her mother looked around, scowling.

    "What did you do with all of the decorations?" she asked.

    "Didn''t match my style. I put them back in the digital archives."

    "Do you have any idea how long I spent decorating this place for your father to make it a little piece of home wherever he went?"

    Veda had checked the owner''s records of the pod and knew her father, like her, preferred a minimalist decoration. Bare walls with occasional light tapestries hanging from them were more her style. Her mother had programmed in an interior decorating package that included a lot of chintz, lace, and pastels. It had throw pillows on the bed, for progenitors¡¯ sake.

    She instead turned to Dreamwarden. "Dreamwarden? What may I do for you today?"

    "You can explain just what your team thinks they''re doing," he growled.

    "I assume you mean they''re choosing to partner with a reality engine-allied faction and invoke a secondary rule set?" Veda shrugged. "It was an option. If you didn''t want them to pick it, it shouldn''t have been on the list.¡±

    ¡°You know as well as I do that this exploit is unpredictable. That entry was put in place by the reality engine itself. We took great care to make sure no one would ever choose it. In fact, it should only have revealed itself after a member of an exploit team encountered one of the minion mobs located inside the instances. And since all teams must have picked a faction in order to enter the instance, I don''t see how that was possible."

    You tried to cheat and are worried someone else cheated back. Hah.¡°I¡¯m afraid I haven''t been able to make contact with my team yet and learn what was going on. But you must know that Team Twofeather has a knack for the unexpected," she said.

    "We are quite aware of Team Twofeather''s proclivities. It was a mistake to allow an indigenous team so much leeway in Phase Two. I will be leveling sanctions against your corporation for not taking proper precautions."

    "Is that so," Veda said. "I wonder what the Council for the Protection of Indigenous Rights would have to say. Or perhaps the Church of the Progenitors? You know they always say that the indigenous have as much right to an exploit as the rest of us do."

    "Nonsense," Dreamwarden snarled. "Without us, the reality engines would be sitting around wasted."

    Veda felt her blood rising. "Without you, the humans would have claimed this reality engine for themselves in ten years," she snapped. "I''ve seen the logs. I know why this exploit was so rushed. That''s why we''re suffering so many setbacks. That''s why you''re in such a hurry to abandon it. You messed up. And now you''re trying to cover up. How long have you known about the rogue reality engine?" she demanded. "I''ve looked into those. The challenge level for them is much higher, especially since there''s no Indigenous population to serve as workers. Preparation for one of those takes galactic centuries. And you claim to have just discovered it and be opening it up for exploit in the next couple of years? That''s cron-doc.¡±

    Her mother winced at the expletive. "Veda, you were raised better than that."

    "I don''t care," Veda said, plunging on. "My team has done everything within the rules. We will continue to do so. That doesn''t mean we''re not trying to win."

    "Indigenous species never win," Dreamwarden snapped back.

    "These ones will," Veda retorted.

    "Veda Androst Garnali Tvedra," her mother said. "We are here to put an end to this nonsense right now. Your rights to run this exploit have already been revoked. I am turning over control of this exploit to a person of Dreamwarden''s choosing. They will ¡ª¡°

    ¡°Do absolutely nothing to Team Twofeather," Veda snarled. "Because you and the family picked the wrong damn contracts when you put me in charge. My deals with the humans are through me, not the company. And I''ve assigned those contracts to another company right now. Oh, you''ll get the money, mother. Never fear," she said. "You''ll be taken care of. The family is going to be better off than we ever dreamed. But I am not abandoning my people to these¡ªthese¡ª" Words failed her, and she waved a hand at Dreamwarden, shaking her head.

    "You''re making a terrible mistake," Dreamwarden said. ¡°We are not easily thwarted.¡±

    ¡°You turn over whatever contracts you have to us immediately," her mother demanded. "Or we''ll call in our end. You''ll be indentured to the family for the rest of your life. And we won''t be letting you run reality exploits either. I''ll¡ªI''ll¡ªI''ll have you assigned a marriage to a¡ª to a space orc from Drak''tal," she said, spluttering.

    "You do what you need to do," Veda said quietly. "And I''ll do what I need to do here. Mother, this pod was given to me in Father''s will. It belongs to me, and I am done with guests for the day. Please leave. Dreamwarden, I am sending you a copy of the secondary contracts I have just made with Brightfeather Unlimited."

    ¡°And who are they?"

    "It''s a new venture. The Earthlings have formed a corporation by galactic law and are taking control of their own exploit," Veda said. "Also, Mother, you can assign me whatever indenture you want, but as long as I can pay it back, you can''t force me home or into a marriage."

    "You''ll never be able to pay," her mother said.

    "I will if they win," Veda said bravely, though with the terms Shad and company had just accepted, there was no way they''d be able to win this. She''d worry about that later. Right now, she just wanted her mother and Dreamwarden out of her hair.

    "Please leave. I have work to do."

    As soon as they left, her mother fuming, Dreamwarden politely hostile, she looked into the secondary ruleset Team Twofeather had invoked.

    ¡°What the -- what the void did you do, Shad?¡±

 Bk 3 Ch 30 - Alternative Conflict Resolution Strategies: Have You Tried Guided Mediation?

    I spent the whole trip up to Threshold working. Juana was heads down, planning, and Grandpa refused to respond to anything I said, so I pulled up the information the system had given us on the 87 different interconnected levels that made up this phase of the reality engine exploit and started looking. It was hard to picture because, like everything else in the reality engine, the level design didn''t have to make sense in the physical world. The tunnels leading between instances were massive, but not nearly massive enough to go back and forth between dozens of different scenarios. They made use of portals to shift between realms.

    The kobolds weren''t the only minions the reality engine was employing. There were several other different types, and they were standing in for whatever the particular boss scenario required. At any given time, a boss could call for backup, and a dozen robed kobolds would spring into action, running up a set of steps that would, no matter where they started, take them right where they needed to be, deposit them in a boss chamber, and feed them into the meat grinder. They would be killed, and their soul coins allocated to the winners.

    I wanted to believe that the NPCs really weren''t people. I''d been slaughtering them by the hundreds since I got here over a year ago. I knew the reality engine could be puppeting them to act like people, but as I studied the mechanics underlying this phase, I was starting to feel more and more sorry for the NPCs. Not nearly as sorry as I felt for me and my fellow humans, of course.

    I took notes on various fights, especially in the later bosses, thinking of clever ways to disrupt an enemy team''s attempt. I sent Kirin a couple of notes on early boss fights I thought we might want to send a team into to get their feet wet. She replied she''d pass them along to Arjun, and come up with a clever plan. Then I dove back in.

    As we neared the hub, I couldn''t take my studies anymore, so I closed away my files and stared out the window at Jupiter hanging ruddy beneath us. Juana looked up. Grandpa had his head down to his chest and his eyes closed. He was snoring softly.

    "What are you thinking about, Shad?" she asked.

    "The missing time," I said. It had been bugging me ever since we got back. We were gone for 72 hours, but we didn''t get back for almost 80. "Where''d the missing time go?"

    Juana frowned. "Hadn''t really thought about that."

    "Well, I have," I gestured around us at the pod. "How come we have to take a space elevator up to the hub every time we want to talk to Veda or get ourselves checked out by the doctors?"

    "I don''t understand."

    "How come we can''t just step through a portal and be there?" I demanded. "The reality engine moves people around instantly."

    She blinked at me. "I suppose because the hub is galactic technology and not part of the reality engine?"

    I nodded grimly. "Yeah, because it''s really there, and most of what takes place inside the reality engine is hallucinated. I still don''t know if we even have bodies when we''re inside those levels."

    Juana shuddered. "You mean like we''re just inside the Matrix, and we think that things are happening to us, but really our bodies are being kept in pods somewhere?"

    "Could be. I don''t know how I''d prove otherwise."

    "What did you mean about the missing time, though?"

    "I think that''s how long it actually took us to get to Earth," I said. "I think the aliens just made us forget or kept us unconscious or something."

    "Why would they do that? Why not just tell us? Put us on ships? Whatever?"

    I shrugged. "Maybe they''re hiding the fact that they''re not all-powerful. Maybe they don''t want us getting a look at their technology." I hesitated. "Or maybe it never really happened."

    Juana''s eyes went wide. She looked around as though searching for an escape. "No, we were there."

    "Can you prove it?" I asked. "If we''d just been in another level of the reality engine, would you even know?"

    "I think so," Juana said. "The people, they were real. I met people I knew, like, like my ex." She blushed. "He was real. He was an asshole, but he was real."

    "I don''t know. I feel like the aliens probably could have studied us well enough to know who was waiting for us and mock it up."

    "But why would they?¡±

    ¡°Why did they do any of it?" I asked, feeling irritable. "Some sort of psy-ops game because we''re doing better than they want and they''re trying to throw us off? Or because they enjoy watching us squirm? For all I know, they''re taking video feeds of this and shooting it back to their own home worlds. Maybe this is the alien equivalent of a telenovela."

    Juana looked amused. "There''s not nearly enough identical triplets and coma babies, if that''s the case," she said. "But, Shad, aren''t you constructing an overly complicated theory when the simplest explanation is just that they sent us home and somehow lost track of time?"

    "Maybe," I said. I decided not to push any farther, especially since I wasn''t sure what I was trying to gain with this conversation. I liked Juana. Really liked her. I didn''t want to upset her needlessly. Not when she was one of the few steady people in my life helping keep me on an even keel. She hadn''t even given me crap about choosing the Tunnel Rats, not once she calmed down from the initial shock, and she hadn''t pushed me for an explanation. I valued that.

    I wasn''t sure myself that I''d made the right choice, but I did know now that we were on this course, we needed to stick with it, and that meant keeping the reality engine''s secrets.

    Juana looked up. "Since it''s been more than a week, I''ve gone ahead and scheduled our checkups for after we speak with Veda. I''ll make sure that Sage gets hers sometime soon. That way we can put off another trip up to Threshold, the hub, for as long as possible."

    "Alright," I agreed. "You wanna see about getting dinner together afterward?"

    She winked at me. ¡°I¡¯d love that.¡± She glanced over at Grandpa. "Can we ditch the third wheel?"

    "Oh, definitely."

    Veda sent word that she would meet us in a privately rented room off of the hub''s busy main gallery. Usually, she just teleconferenced into whatever suite she had arranged for us, but this time we stepped into what looked like an old-fashioned study. Tall wooden bookshelves full of leather-bound tomes lined the walls. There was a desk in the corner with an abandoned pipe lying on it, a tall wing-back chair, and a fire crackling merrily. Veda sat stiffly on a low couch. She had a glass half full of an amber fluid in her hand. As we entered, she rose.

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    "What the void have you done, Shad Williams?¡± she demanded.

    Juana and Grandpa slipped inside after me. The door closed behind us.

    "We haven''t spoken to you in over a week, and that''s how you start off?" I asked. "Last I saw you, you were going off somewhere with the traitor Waters and someone you said was your mother. I''ve heard two lines from you since then. Meanwhile, we''ve been left to do the best we could."

    ¡°This was the best you could?" Veda demanded. "Picking some obvious disaster faction that takes us from having a good shot at walking away with a fortune to no chance at all? I understand why you might have been tempted. It''s a good chance to screw everyone else involved, but Shad, there''s more than just revenge here. I''ve put a lot on the line for you and your people¡ª¡±

    ¡°And we''ve made you rich!" I shouted. I could feel all the anger and frustration of the last week boiling up in me, and Veda made such an inviting target. Grandpa wasn''t even saying anything. Juana had crossed to the wingback chair and sat down, looking at us with that inscrutable expression she had when she was thinking deeply. "You could have at least let us know what was going on."

    "I was busy," she snapped back, trying to get things in order before someone else could take advantage.

    "And so you treated us like mushrooms?"

    She looked confused, frowning. "Mushrooms?"

    "Kept us in the dark and fed us shit," I said.

    Veda''s brow wrinkled. "I... oh, I see. Earth allusion. Yes, well..." She took a deep breath. There were little pale white spots on her cheeks, high up. "Fine. You want to explain to me why you picked the Tunnel Rat faction?"

    "No. You want to tell me why you haven¡¯t been returning our calls?¡±

    "I was going to explain," Veda began.

    ¡°When exactly? You could have sent us a message at any time."

    "There were things I wanted to get taken care of, and I didn''t dare talk about them beforehand because you never know who''s listening."

    "Exactly," I said, pointing at the ceiling. "Which is why I''m not going to explain my motivations either."

    Veda looked from me to Juana and Grandpa. "Do either of you know what''s going through his head?"

    Grandpa shrugged. "Probably a little more than usually does, but details? No."

    Juana shook her head. "He hasn''t been very forthcoming."

    "And you, Juana, you''re usually more level-headed than this," Veda said. "You didn''t try to talk some sense into him?"

    Juana hesitated for a minute. I thought she might reveal how I had picked the faction without consulting with anyone. But she shook her head firmly. "I trust Shad more than I trust you."

    Veda looked like she''d been struck. "We''ve been working together for over a year now. I haven''t lied to you. I''ve stuck my neck out for you, for all of you.¡± Her voice rose. "You have no idea what I''ve been risking to help you people."

    "And we have no idea what we''ve been gaining on your behalf," Grandpa said. "You didn''t come here with altruistic motives. You came here to take advantage of a bunch of rubes. Maybe you have better intentions than most of the others. Some of the folk who came trading with my ancestors treated them better than other folk. They made honest swaps, traded rifles and firewater for buffalo pelts rather than just taking what they wanted. Some of those mountain men married Indian squaws instead of just raping them and leaving them to deal with the consequences. Doesn''t mean that my folk got a square end of the deal."

    Veda blinked. "I... I don''t know what you''re trying to say."

    "What we''re trying to say, Veda, is that from down here among us worms, all you galactics look pretty much the same. It''s about what you can screw out of us and what happens when we''re not useful anymore. Well now we see. We made a decision you don''t like and got uppity, so you''re here to get us back in line."

    Veda shook her head. "That''s not it at all. You have no idea. Colonel Ames and I have spent the last week setting up a holding company. I''m trying to transfer your contracts over. There''s complications, but I''ve been working round the clock to keep Proxima from getting their hands on you."

    Nobody said anything for a minute. If what Veda said was true, maybe she was on our side.

    "Out of the goodness of your heart?" I asked finally.

    "You and your team have already done everything that I ever hoped for," Veda said quietly. "We kept my family license alive, something my father valued. We provided for my family. I wanted to see if I could help yours just a little bit, but it''s complicated. There''s galactic politics involved. You''re right. Most people here don''t want to see you prosper. I''ve been trying to do my best, and then you throw in a twist like you just did." She shook her head. "What''s the good outcome here, Shad? How do we live with the results after you''ve burned everything down?"

    "Who cares?" I said, but it sounded hollow in my ears. "If we can kick all of you back where you came from, it''ll be worth it."

    "You think this is going to be more than a tiny setback to Proxima and Alabaster Sky and the rest of them?" Veda challenged me. "They''re already making plans to move on to the next reality engine to exploit. It probably won''t be as much of a pain in the ass as yours. You know who is going to be left with the smoking ruins? You. You and all your people. Do you understand the forces that they can bring to bear against you?"

    "No," I said. "No, I don''t. You people have technology that seems like magic to me, and even to you, the reality engine is something to be feared and exploited. That makes it pretty powerful. Yeah, you could probably blow up our moon or turn all of our planets into grey goo or... I don''t even know. Whatever threat you make, I''ll believe it, but what''s the alternative? We just let you sit here and take it?"

    Veda took a deep breath. "I just want to know how we salvage this. How do we all get what we need?"

    "What is it you need?" Grandpa asked. "I thought we''d already paid back your investments."

    "Yes, well, you''ve got to finish buying out your contracts. I spent as much of the profit as I could buying out other members of Misfits Guild, so I hold something like 800 million soul coins worth of unredeemed contracts compared to even a tenth of one percent of a share of the reality engine. That''s not much. I was betting on you guys winning at least that. Now, I don''t know."

    "We have a plan to make money," Juana said. "The only way we win under this rule set is by making it too expensive for everyone else to fight. Along the way, there should be some good economic opportunities for our crafters."

    "That makes sense," Veda said. She wrapped her arms around her torso and rocked gently back and forth. "But you can''t make money on killing them since you''re sworn to this faction."

    "Kickbacks," Juana said brightly.

    Veda cocked her head. "What''s that?"

    "Kickbacks? Surely a galactic civilization as corrupt as yours knows what those are. We find unaffiliated squads, people like Mak¡¯Gar, if they don''t have anything going on right now, and we hire them as privateers. They attack our enemies and get part of the gold cost, part of the soul coins it costs them for each death. But in exchange for hiring them, they give us, say, 15% of their take."

    Veda pursed her lips. "That might work."

    "That''s just one of my ideas," Juana said cheerfully. "We''ll see what else I can come up with. I was feeling a little frustrated when I first read the rule set, too,¡± she admitted. "But the more I look at it, the more I think we can exploit this."

    Veda nodded. "I''d like to see those." She stood up. "I''m sorry. I''m a little emotional right now. I''d like some time to calm down, and then maybe we can have a better discussion about all this."

    "I''ll take you to dinner tonight," Grandpa said, speaking up unexpectedly. I turned to stare at him.

    "Huh?"

    "We''ll sit down and talk without the hothead here." Grandpa hooked a thumb at me. "I''ll pick you up after my appointment with the docs, shall I? I''m sure you know a good place to go."

    "Uh, sure," Veda said.

    "Besides, the young¡¯uns have plans without me." Grandpa gave me and Juana a wink.

    "I thought you were snoring a little too loudly," I said. "What was that all about?"

    "I just didn''t feel like talking," Grandpa said. "Right now, what else?"

    ¡°Colonel Ames needs to meet you and Juana at a lawyer''s office to turn over ownership in the holding company," she said.

    "Where?" I asked.

    "Not you, Shad."

    "Oh," I felt a little hurt. "Wait, so Ames''s working with you?"

    "He is. We''ll talk later," Veda told Grandpa. "Meanwhile, I''m sorry for losing my temper at you." She looked at me.

    I was pretty sure I was supposed to apologize here, too, but honestly, I wasn''t sorry. Veda had been playing her hand close to her chest, and whether or not she had good reasons for it, I didn''t care. It was our lives she was playing with. We were the ones whose home had been invaded, who had been abducted and forced into a situation we didn''t want. If we cost Veda a little more of her profit margin than she''d been expecting, well, that was her problem, not mine.

    ¡°See you,¡± I said.

    She gave me a tight nod and left the room.

 Bk 3 Ch 31 - Hansel and Gretel

    The cottage in the clearing was golden-brown and covered in brightly colored decorations. Its eaves were hung with what looked at first like snow, until you realized it was a warm summer evening and the icicles hanging from the gingerbread eaves were, in fact, made of frosting.

    The trees and bushes that surrounded the cozy little cabin were hung with candy. An odor of warm melted chocolate wafted from the chimney of the gingerbread house. As I waited, concealed in a sugar plum bush, Sage messaged me. You''re kidding me. Hansel and Gretel? And we''re helping the witch?

    Just go with it, I replied wearily.

    She snorted. I could hear her from eight feet away. She was up a tree, hiding among pink sponge sugar candy blossoms.

    Keep it down, I warned her.

    Nobody heard that, and if they did, they''ll think it was a bird. What kind of birds do you think live here? You think they''re made of candy, too? If not, they should be attacking this house and eating it. How come the whole thing doesn''t just dissolve in the rain? This story never made a whole lot of sense. I think it''s an allegory about the dangers of step-parents.

    Focus, I told her.

    There were twelve of us concealed in various bushes around the cabin, just waiting for the arrival of the team of hardened veterans that would be going up against the Candy Witch. This whole zone was Brothers Grimm themed. The encounters ran the gamut from horrifying versions of the fairy tales that I suspected were closer to the original, complete with chopped-off feet, red-hot iron shoes and barrels of spikes, to slightly more candy cut-out variants like what we saw here.

    This was one of the all-outdoor zones we¡¯d found, called the Dark Enchanted Forest. The three optional bosses had been in the lands beyond the forest and had been a wicked stepmother, a lord mayor, and the Brothers Grimm themselves.

    All three had been defeated before the gates of the forest had opened. Each of the seven gates had been assigned a different guardian ¡ª one of Snow White¡¯s dwarves and let me just tell you, they were not the Disney versions ¡ª and each team had been forced to defeat one dwarf to receive a key to enter.

    That was a rule that held across all of the over forty raid instances we had surveyed so far. Only 70% of the teams even made it into the heart of the raid. As Grandpa and Juana had pointed out to me, the math didn¡¯t necessarily work out in our favor. The other 30% of teams were busy scavenging the outer sections of the raid levels for consumable materials.

    Jones messaged us. I¡¯ve got eyes on ¡®em. I count 14 of the space elves, mostly equipped with those shiny energy sabers and plasma rifles. They¡¯ve got two healers and one of the ones we¡¯ve been calling Tinkers.

    Okay, mark the healers and the Tinker. We¡¯ll try to get them down first, I said. Affiliation?

    Dreamnight Summit, a subsidiary of Alabaster Sky through 8 proxies. Veda says they¡¯re owned by the sister-in-law of a cousin of a demi-niece of Alabaster Sky¡¯s eighth vice president, so we should expect them to have fairly large pockets. One wipe isn¡¯t going to dissuade them.

    And you¡¯ve confirmed the location of their base camp?

    Yep, Jones said.

    Then let¡¯s do this.

    I switched over to my message thread for Team 2. Jones will send you the IDs of the healers and their support caster. Make sure you pay attention and follow the plan.

    That got a quick ¡°yup¡± from Mitch, who was leading Team 2 today.

    I switched back. Team 1, ready to go?

    You know we are, Captain, Frank replied.

    I grinned as the space elves entered the clearing. They spread out in front of the witch¡¯s cabin in an arrangement similar to how the dwarves had approached Podaga¡¯s hut. I was starting to realize that all of their many years of experience at Reality Engines had made the galactics predictable. They knew how to set up a big fight like this. They had all the strategies down, knew how many healers and tanks they¡¯d need, what weapons to bring.

    Predictable meant exploitable. And today, we were going to do just that.

    Their tank ran up and knocked on the witch¡¯s door. He sprang back down lithely into the glade, drawing his energy saber and activating his force shield. They glowed bright purple in the fading sunlight. His hair was purple, too.

    Space elves moved with grace and poise. What I really liked was the noise they made when they died¡ªa sort of strangled scream about an octave and a half higher than you would have thought them capable of.

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    I didn¡¯t have any particular animosity for this team. We had never crossed paths before, but they were in the wrong place¡ªour solar system¡ªand they were about to learn how big a mistake they¡¯d made.

    The witch appeared in her doorway, cackling, plunging into her boss speech as the crew of raiders spread out. She cast a spell over the whole clearing, and the elves froze in place like statues as she began to monologue. "You villagers should have taken better care of your children. They would have never come to seek out me if you had provided for them as parents should!¡±

    Her monologue went on for a good minute and a half as the elves stood frozen, doubtless communicating on their own private channels for last minute arrangements. As the witch stepped forward into the clearing, the freeze ended and the elf tank ran forward and taunted her. Is that an ability or an item? I asked Sage, who was supposed to be using Eye-Spy on our enemies. We were still working on building up a picture of just what they could do.

    Item. Definitely. I think it¡¯s his belt. Yeah, it has eight charges left. You could probably target it and ruin their pull.

    Save that for another fight, I said.

    The witch was wielding an oversized ladle and a saucepan like a shield. She advanced on the elf tank, screeching. He raised his energy shield and her ladle bounced harmlessly off.

    The space elf warriors unshouldered their guns and began firing.

    Go! I ordered in our chat, and my team dropped out of the trees, sprang out of the bushes and leapt into action.

    A string of grenades went off right through the middle of the clearing, ripping through the enemy ranks and throwing up smoke and glitter. The elves'' cries of surprise and dismay were music to my ears.

    I fired a Trick Shot at one of their healers, hitting her with a Disorienting round. It would only last for five seconds, but combined with the smoke, it put her effectively out of the fight. Six more of us fell on her, firing guns, slashing with weapons, casting our spells. Seconds later, she disappeared in a cloud of sparkles.

    The elves'' sparkles were more pastel and iridescent than everyone else''s. Maybe I was just imagining it, but I thought they got special treatment from the system.

    "Get the other one," I bellowed, and emptied a barrage into the second healer.

    The tinker had a metal whirlygig out at the end of a three-foot-long metal pole. Its blades whirled and spun in a riot of colors. His device emitted a slowing field that caught at my ankles and those around me.

    Sage laughed and threw her Lasso around him. "Got him!" she shouted, and she turned her Tamed elf on the rest. We had encountered a few other miners who were resistant to mind control tactics. This elf wasn''t one of them. Now the elves were slowed, confused, and without support.

    I felt a deep surge of satisfaction as we cut their raid to shreds, taking down the other healer and the tinker before turning on the damage dealers. They were still trying to target the witch, and it was splitting their focus. They''d gotten her down to 80%.

    "Come, children, come to my aid!" she cackled.

    A bevy of gingerbread children, all about four feet high, burst from the hut and ran in, wielding candy canes like axes and hacking at the knees of the space elves. One of the nice things about having joined the Tunnel Rat faction was that the bosses and all of their adds were now our allies, which meant not only did we not have to worry about damaging them, but all of the abilities we had that boosted the effect of allies or creep empowered them.

    Sage cast Cowgirl Cheer and the gingerbread children grew six inches each; gumdrop buttons popped out on their chests, giving them the appearance of wearing bright little festive jackets.

    "One at a time," I bellowed. "Take ''em down one at a time."

    It was important that we didn''t let them get all clumped up so they''d have multiple respawns at once. I got a message from Team Two. The healers and the Tinker are up and racing back to you. They''ve reached the edge of the forest.

    All right, I replied. Lock everything else down.

    You got it, boss.

    I could practically hear the satisfaction in Mitch''s voice as I turned back to the fight. I delivered a killing shot to one of the energy saber-wielding elves. They gave off that blood-curdling scream and vanished into purple sparks.

    He would find a surprise waiting for him. Team Two was covering the exit to their base. As their damage dealers emerged one by one, they''d be taken out and sent back to respawn.

    I was hoping to get at least one full complement of deaths more before they caught on to our tactics and started trying to fight back. Juana had worked with an alien support company on the hub to develop a little accounting program for us. It was tallying up just what the respawn cost was for this team. With our 10X multiplier on top of the increasing cost with each death, the bill was very quickly going to be in the hundreds of thousands of Soul Coins per resurrection.

    We killed off the tank. "We need to try to ambush the healers," I shouted. "Make for the forest gate. Jones, got eyes on them yet?"

    "Sure do, boss," Jones called. "They''re still heading here. Guess they haven''t got the word. Let''s run!"

    I put deed into action and sprinted through the wood as Sage called to the witch. "Okay, done for now, Evil Granny. You get back in there and heal up and make another batch of gingerbread children. Your defenses aren''t nearly good enough. We need to get you some turrets attached to your hut. I''m gonna see what Dwight can do."

    Sage, that''s actually a brilliant idea, I said.

    All my ideas are brilliant, Shad. She might have been texting, but I could hear the smug in her voice. I let it pass and passed the message along to Juana.

    We''ll find out if it''s possible, she promised.

    I had visions of every boss encounter in every instance protected by missile turrets and slowing guns. It would cost a hell of a lot, but we had patterns now to make such things. Dwight and his army of crafters had picked them up back in Phase Two. We had more crafters coming on board with us every day and an army of farmers fresh out of the Lotus Eater level.

    It''d be a lot of work to coordinate. We''d need to recruit someone just for that. I was finding that running an insurgency was a lot more bookkeeping and staff meetings than I''d ever expected.

    Sage raced ahead of me through the woods. "Found ''em!" she yelled, and we fell on the unprepared healers.

    Meanwhile, Team Two was updating me on their kills. There''s one elf we''ve killed three times now. He''s got long blue hair. And he makes the most ridiculous noises when he dies, Mitch said. We''re up to twelve and they''re still coming.

    We''ll join you, I said as we dispatched the tinker. "Team, roll out!"

 Bk 3 Ch 32 - Is Three Musketeers The Candy Bar for you?

    The throne room of Louis XIII, King of France, was ornate. Gilt and bright colors were everywhere, predominantly gold and red. A throne sat atop a two-step dais, with tall golden candle-holders on either side of it casting light. Barely-clad nymphs adored the candle holders. A huge crystal chandelier hung over our heads. The floor was inlaid, polished wood.

    The courtiers around the room whispered amongst each other, hiding their expressions behind silk fans or manicured hands. The women were extravagant. Rich, sumptuous skirts billowed out past their waists and fell to the floor in heaps of ruffles, like the layers of a wedding cake. Hair piled two feet or more atop their heads and decorated with flowers, jewels, even live birds, or a small mouse. The men''s fashions were no less magnificent. Men and women both wore full faces of makeup.

    And here, down the center of the room, came striding a man in rich red robes. His cardinal''s hat atop his head, the infamous Richelieu, accompanied by his loyal guards, approached the throne of King Louis and his queen. The cardinal extended one hand as the king turned to his loyal musketeers with a frown.

    "Your majesty has placed your faith in the wrong persons for the last time," the cardinal exclaimed. "I hold here a decree of excommunication upon you and all the realm." A gasp fell over the court.

    "Repent, your majesty. Confess, receive absolution, and I myself shall tear up this decree this very moment," the cardinal said.

    "It is you who must repent," the king declared in an outrageously French accent. ¡°You serve me, Richelieu. You serve France! You are not king here, I am!¡±

    The court of Versailles looked from one powerful man to the other, whispers growing as the standoff continued. How would this end?

    [Choose a side,] the system boomed. [Will you assist Cardinal Richelieu in reigning in the Sun King''s decadence, or will you side with Louis and the musketeers and bring an end to the cardinal''s reign of terror?]

    Hey, Sage commented in chat, wasn''t the reign of terror a French Revolution thing? That was not this guy, was it? Someone else with an R?

    No. The system''s mixing up a bunch of different things here. This Louis isn¡¯t the Sun King, that was a different Louis, I said. This is Three Musketeers, not real history.  Anyway, good job. I guess you were paying attention in world history in fifth grade.

    I''m doing a correspondence class, Shad. Grandpa and Colonel Ames set it up for me. I want to be able to get my high school diploma, after all.

    Why?

    Because if you didn''t drop out of high school, neither am I, Sage replied. Now, hush. I want to hear what happens next.

    [If you chose to side with Cardinal Richelieu, you will cleanse France of the decadence which has affected her like gangrene, defeat the guileless musketeers, destroy the Queen''s influence, and have Louis confined to his quarters until the Cardinal has managed to teach him humility and reason.

    If you chose to side with Louis, the Sun King. You must defeat Cardinal Richelieu and his army of Swiss Guards.]

    That''s not right, Sage complained as the black-clad men with Cardinal Richelieu discarded their outer layer to reveal striped yellow, red and blue uniforms beneath. They weren''t carrying halberds a minute ago. Anyway, shouldn''t the Swiss Guards be in Switzerland?

    Vatican. They''re Papal Guards, Grandpa threw in. Didn''t your European History correspondence class cover that? 1527 ringing any bells?

    [Cardinal Richelieu will be assisted by the Swiss Guards and his own personal coterie of devoted monks. You must slay all his guards and force the Cardinal to surrender in order to claim victory here.]

    We held our breath, waiting to hear what would be chosen, and then the system proclaimed, [Death to Cardinal Richelieu and an everlasting dawn for France. Vive la France!]

    Get ready, I don¡¯t see the other team yet but the encounter¡¯s starting, I told my people. The courtiers turned and ran screaming from the room as another group of men appeared from the side. These were dressed in dark robes and suspiciously short. Sure enough, when I targeted them, my Inspect revealed that the so-called monks were actually kobold NPCs in monks'' robes.

    I sent a message to the main chat: It''s Cardinal Richelieu. Sounds like there are going to be more Swiss Guards and monks, so prepare.

    The Cardinal marched forward toward the king, who cowered back into his chair. Queen Anne rose and pointed one shaking finger at the Cardinal. "You have betrayed us. This infamy will not stand."

    Cardinal Richelieu launched into his monologue, declaring all the flaws of the King of France and his court, most of which were probably true. He accused Louis of sullying the memory of the noble King, Saint Louis IX, the greatest and most pious king to ever rule France. This Louis had consorted with mistresses, indulging in revels and frivolity while his subjects bent their necks under cruel taxes. Apparently. Seemed like normal king business to me, but the Cardinal was really bent out of shape over it.

    As the Cardinal monologued, his guards and monks spread out around the room in two circles. I kept my eyes open.

    They¡¯re here somewhere, I said in chat. We know it. The monologue didn¡¯t start until someone made a choice.

    Here they come, Grandpa warned, and a bunch of orcs strode in, swaggering in their chainmail space leotards. This particular group wore sashes across their chests, bright red and black and festooned with ribbons and medals, like they¡¯d attended a military ceremony in North Korea just before this.

    I counted twenty-five of them in five rows of five. The front rows were armed with pikes with gleaming silver edges, except for the two at either end of the front row who had something weird I couldn¡¯t quite figure out yet. As they marched up and took their positions, they activated the energy field on their pikes. Sizzling blue light arced from one end of the blade down to the base.

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    The next two rows carried rifles. The rearmost rank were their healers, with the ubiquitous healing wands that we''d spotted on most teams so far.

    It was getting easier to understand what each of our enemies was capable of, since they relied so heavily on their equipment, rather than having innate skills like we humans. From experience, each of them would have one or perhaps two relevant skills. The halberd users in the front would have a slashing charge, the riflemen some sort of increase to firepower and accuracy, and a fast reload. The healers generally had the ability to quickly target their devices on one ally, then the next.

    I was standing inside a loop of rope that Dwight assured me was actually an invisibility field, but I felt really exposed. My hat and coat weren''t at all appropriate for this period. I was standing in the lee of a pillar well out of the way. Sage and Grandpa were across the hall, and I couldn''t see either of them, which hopefully meant the fields were working as advertised, but if one of the orcs had a pierce invisibility ability or device, the jig was up.

    There was an invisible barrier between the cardinal and the rest of the room. The orcs spread out, waiting as the cardinal monologued. One fired a tentative blast from his laser rifle. It splattered off the barricade, none of the npcs taking any note of it. He sighed and lowered his weapon. I could hear the team grumbling as they waited for the cardinal to finish his spiel. At last he turned to face the invaders.

    "And what is this, Louis?" he demanded. "More treachery? You have hired mercenaries to attack a man of the cloth? This infamy will echo down through history, like Henry of England slaying Thomas a Becket at his own altar. For this sin of presumption alone, you shall spend a thousand years in purgatory. But if you do not stand down now, your eternal soul will be forfeit."

    The barrier went down.

    Two of the orcs in the front row detached themselves, marching forward, carrying energy shields as tall as they were, and long, springy green weapons that reminded me of pool noodles. They arrayed themselves on either side of the cardinal. The leftmost orc struck out with his pool noodle and hit the cardinal on the side of the head.

    Richelieu turned to him, face red with fury.

    "You dare! Guards, attack!"

    The second of the tanks turned as the guards started in. He lashed out with his pool noodle. It extended into a rope twice as long and whipped across the room. Each minion it brushed past focused on that tank, rushing forward toward him. The orcs behind opened fire, mowing down the monks, or rather, kobolds.

    The Swiss guard were a little more focused. They ignored the taunting tanks and marched on the body of the raid, their pikes lowered. The pike-bearing orcs turned to meet them as the rifle orcs mowed down the last of the kobolds.

    "How dare you raise hands against my Benedictine brothers!" Cardinal Richelieu raised his hands towards heaven. "Come, brothers! Come to my aid!"

    That was the cue for more adds. Now, kobolds were preparing to pour out of the tunnel and throw themselves onto the spears of the orcs. No doubt Captain Kobold was down there somewhere marshaling his doomed kinsmen to rush in and die.

    At least, that was the plan. I don''t think the orcs noticed that the new wave of black-cloaked adds were about a foot taller on average than the kobold monks had been. They didn''t seem to notice there were three times as many as before, either.

    The tanks shouted to each other, and the one who had been on minion duty stepped in, whacking the cardinal with his pool noodle. The cardinal turned to face the new threat as the first tank stepped back toward the onrushing monks. Their healers were doing a good job keeping everyone up. I admired their discipline. They had lost only a few so far.

    Now as the second wave of monks spread out, it was the time to change that.

    Everyone in position? I asked.

    I got a flurry of yeses in chat.

    Great! Let''s do this.

    I activated Fastest Gun in the West and zoomed right into the midst of the orcs. As I ran, I threw Call ¡®em Out, catching everyone''s attention. They turned to me, just as Alison ordered two of our support casters to cast buffs on me. Lauren threw her 5-second invulnerability shield over me, while Macy, the cheerleader, gave me "Star of the Show." It increased the effectiveness of my taunt by an extra 10 seconds, while also making it harder for anyone to actually hit me.

    The orcs shouted in dismay, just as the newly arrived monks all threw back their hoods to reveal the happy, smiling faces of Misfits Guild members. Mitch laughed as he threw Spike Their Trunks, and the rifle-bearing orcs'' weapons exploded in sticky, dissolving, syrupy mess. Sage cackled in glee as she threw down Mucking Out the Stalls under what was left of the raid. As Call ¡®em Out wore off, Lara threw orange grenades, kicking up huge clouds of smoke.

    Cardinal Richelieu laughed triumphantly.

    "And so the hand of God punishes you for your insolence. Now you will see..."

    He was ranting and raving, and I ignored him as I fired shot after shot at point-blank range into the orcs around me. They were struggling to get their weapons onto me. It was complete chaos.

    As rumor had gotten around of what we were doing, our enemies had gotten a little more clever. They were starting to scout out ahead of time, looking for us, to make sure that we couldn''t interfere. But since only three of us had been hiding in the room itself, the rest waiting in the tunnels that only the NPCs and us members of Team Tunnel Rat could access, they''d been taken off guard.

    It wasn''t always going to be this easy, I thought, as we dispatched the last of the orcs. This group was pretty well funded. A single wipe, even with our 10x bonus, wouldn''t knock them out. But it would help spread the reputation we were trying to cultivate.

    What we really needed to do right now was play for time. If all of the other teams fought their bosses as hard and fast as they could, we''d have no chance. Someone would make it to the end while we were trying to deal with someone else.

    So we were adapting. We were going for shock and awe tactics, hitting them off guard, doing things they didn''t expect, ruining their best attempts, making them use up consumables that would be expensive or impossible to replace.

    If we could make them hesitate to step outside of their bases, make them think twice about starting a boss fight, or wait until they had twice as much manpower or equipment on hand, then we might just buy ourselves another day, another hour, to pull out a miracle.

    Any sign of them regrouping? I asked Jones, who was on overwatch outside of Versailles. This whole instance was Alexander Dumas themed. There was a terrible prison below the palace containing the Man in the Iron Mask, the Count of Monte Cristo, and a couple other famous prisoners, while up above were numerous royal-themed encounters. The orcs were the only team in the instance who had made serious inroads, downing one of the prison bosses before coming to take on the Royal Court encounter.

    Nah. Not a peep out of their camp. Pity, we''ve got a lovely ambush lined up here just waiting.

    Stay on the map for an extra 15 minutes. If you see the orcs or any of the other teams on this map come out of their camps, hit them hard, try to take down a few, and then retreat I said.

    Team Mongoose and the Grignarians were on assassin duty today. The Grignarians had already racked up dozens of kills and were eager for more, since they got a fraction of the soul coins that it would cost our enemies to respawn. Team Mongoose was just as effective and just as cheerful, motivated by professionalism rather than coin.

    As Cardinal Richelieu wound down his victory speech, I checked in with my team. We hadn''t suffered any casualties this time.

    "Good work," I said.

    "How come these assholes have a victory speech?" Grandpa asked as he watched. "I mean, all the orcs are dead. Who''s going to hear it?"

    "It''s just a rule, Grandpa," Sage said. "These guys always have to have a victory speech, same as they have an opening monologue."

    "Hey," I said. "That gives me a great idea for our next exploit. Sage, what do you think about..."

 Bk 3 Ch 33 - ts Not a Pyramid Scheme, Its a Legitimate Business Opportunity!

    We''d had a breakthrough. Arjun and his team, working closely to query the reality engine, had discovered how to learn the mechanics and setup of a fight without actually having to go there. That meant we were now able to target specific fights for specific mad tactics.

    I had already noticed that some bosses froze everyone in stasis while they recited their monologue while others had a protective barrier around them, preventing the fight from starting early. We needed the first type, and Arjun had a whole list of options for me.

    ¡°And what about my idea?¡± Sage demanded.

    ¡°What idea?¡±

    ¡°Not telling you yet. Arjun thinks it¡¯s good.¡±

    ¡°I have three candidates. I shall inform you if enemy teams set up an attempt on any of the three,¡± Arjun told her.

    Since I wasn¡¯t going to get an answer there, I looked over the list he had presented me. "Yeah, this one," I said. "This looks absolutely perfect."

    It was a gauntlet boss, the third highest in its raid instance. The instance was themed with witches, goblins, and animated scarecrows, a little less Brothers Grimm and more ¡°Halloween Superstore¡±.

    This particular raid must have been harder than average because six of the ten starting teams had already bowed out, their kills getting just a little too high to bear. I could see why. Most of the mobs and bosses here used a lot of electric and spiritual damage. Those required some expensive potions and equipment buffs in order to mitigate. The death tolls had been sky high. The remaining teams had really deep pockets.

    We were targeting a Proxima affiliated team of mixed animalkin called Allotropic Understatement. Team Mongoose, the Grignarians, and a few of our crafters who were looking for a change of pace had spent the morning harassing the team, giving them a few more losses and pushing their respawn bills up nice and high.

    I called back our assassins and sent them elsewhere. We had deployed some remote spy turrets outside the boss''s chamber so when the slightly haggard-looking group of animalkin began forming up outside the room, I knew it was time.

    "Let''s go, Sage," I said, picking up my hat and putting it on my head.

    We stepped out of headquarters over to our node and then from there deep into the bowels of Castle Byalgrad. Captain Kobold was sitting by our entry port in a high-backed chair, sipping a mug of what I hoped was beer. It smelled more like urine to me.

    He waved a hand to us. "Greetings, friend Shad, friend Sage. Back again?"

    "Just here to cause some havoc," I said cheerfully.

    "You are the greatest friend a Kobold has ever had," Captain Kobold said, his eyes getting misty. "You have saved so many of our lives already and dealt blows to our foes we can never hope to equal."

    "That''s all right," I said, picking the door that would lead me to our targeted instance. "Be right back. This shouldn''t take long."

    Sage and I popped up a flight of stairs and into the room. This was a classic boss room: a dank stone room with a bright green fire in the middle. The boss was a witch, something like the one we''d helped out with Hansel and Gretel but hunchbacked and with a big wart on her nose. She had a cauldron over the fire and was stirring it. She looked up as we entered.

    I raised a hand to her. "Just here to watch," I said cheerfully. "We''re on your side."

    "So I see, my pretties." The witch went back to her cauldron. Sage and I melted into the shadows, activating our invisibility fields.

    The witch''s door creaked open and the animalkin trooped in. There were sixteen of them. They spread out around the room, setting themselves up as the witch stirred her cauldron, not seeming to notice.

    Finally, a badger man carrying a shield and a truncheon approached the witch. He shouted. She looked up.

    "Something I can help you with? Here to buy a love potion, my dear?"

    Looking exasperated, the badger ran up and kicked over his cauldron. He jumped back, cradling his bare paw.

    "Ow!"

    "What did you expect, Lea¡¯lk?" a rabbit woman called from behind. She aimed a beam of healing at him. "Get in position."

    The witch raised her broom. Everyone froze as her spell hit them.

    She began her opening monologue. According to the system''s information, this was one of the longest monologues in the game. Two and a half minutes of the witch ranting and raving about ungrateful peasants and how we took everything for granted and that sort of thing. Didn¡¯t matter; we were about to cut it short.

    Sage broke invisibility. She ran forward and tossed her Lasso around the witch''s shoulders.

    "Did it!" she shouted triumphantly.

    It was true that Tame didn''t work on bosses. It also didn''t usually work on friends, but Dwight had crafted her a very special module, taking apart a couple of minion buff devices we had earned in phase two to build her a Friendly Firebox. With it activated, her Tame let her control an affiliated non-player character, even a boss.

    The Tame settled over the witch. "Cancel monologue!" Sage yelled. "Get ''em!"

    I held my breath. This was the part I was nervous about because I wasn''t quite sure if canceling the monologue was going to work the way I hoped.

    It did.

    The witch snapped out of her rant. She raised her broom and shot a bolt of lightning that zapped between all of the still-frozen combat miners, dropping their hitpoints precipitously.

    You see, the monologue was separate from the spell she''d cast to hold them in place. That was timed to last as long as her speech should. By bypassing the speech, we''d set her free early, but our opponents were stuck in place for the next two minutes and fifteen seconds.

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    The witch ran for the tank. She grabbed him in her suddenly long and grasping talons and tore him to shreds.

    "Eugh," Sage said. "That''s kind of gruesome."

    The witch started to rip his heart out, but the badger man dissolved into sparks. Screaming in rage, the witch raced for the next of the animalkin.

    I just watched, amused. There really wasn''t anything for me to do here as long as the witch made short work of them, which she did. Sage kept retasking the witch as each of the enemy fell in turn.

    In less than two minutes, they were all dead. The gate creaked back open. Sage released her Tame. The witch shuddered and turned to us.

    "What just happened, dearies?" she asked. "I feel like I had visitors here, but they all seem to have gone. Was I a poor hostess?"

    "Not at all," I said, tipping my hat to her again. "Thanks for your help here."

    "Hey," Sage said. ¡°Remember that cool idea I had? The one with three possible targets? Well, Juana says they''re moving in now. Want to give it a try?"

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Do I?¡±

    I listened as she explained her idea. Grinning, I nodded. "Let''s go."

    #

    It took us two minutes to transit between the instances. This one was an outdoor setting in the middle of a forest. A group of armed men surrounded a broken-down carriage holding single-shot pistols or steel rapiers. A woman in gauzy pink with a tall princess hat atop her head sat on the rack of the ruined coach, hands clasped to her breast as she cried out for help.

    "They''re coming from the north," Sage said, just as twelve of the mostly human-looking aliens, Vada¡¯s people, or close relatives thereof, burst out of the trees.

    The highwaymen went on alert right away, moving toward them. The enemy team''s tank ran forward. He was carrying a shield and had a grenade in one hand that I recognized as something our own crafters had made, a wide-area taunter. It would let him attract the attention of the eight highwaymen while his team took them down.

    The highwaymen were already in action as the scenario triggered, leaping forward to engage with the enemy team. No freeze and monologue here. My turn.

    I emerged from the trees and targeted the tank, and then I threw High Noon. He stopped dead where he was, the taunt grenade in his upturned hand.

    "What the¡ª?¡± he exclaimed, looking around. "Something''s wrong! I can¡¯t throw the grenade!¡± The crew of highwaymen ran right past him and fell into the middle of his raid.

    I stepped out, my gun in my hand, grinning. "I''m afraid we''re gonna have to wait to start our duel until I see what happens to the rest of your raid," I said, as the others with him shouted in dismay.

    "You''re that indigenous fellow who''s been messing with people. Why are you doing this?" the tank cried angrily. There wasn''t really anything else he could do until I fired. High Noon was in effect. He couldn''t leave, couldn''t shoot, couldn''t do anything except look mad while the opponents trashed his raid.

    I checked with Sage. "You''ve got a buff on them, right?"

    "Sure do," she said happily. As long as she cast Cowgirl Cheer on the highwaymen, they would count as our minions, which meant any deaths they caused would have the 10x cost multiplier applied. I was working on getting our crafters to build some sort of auto-buffing turrets that would apply a similar effect to all the bosses. If we could deploy them everywhere, it would really speed up how fast our enemies ran out of money.

    "Look, we didn''t do anything to you. Can''t we negotiate some sort of deal? If we don''t make our money back, we''re sunk. My team''s gonna go back into storage."

    I''d heard Veda mention that concept once before. "I''m sorry," I said. "We''ve got to defeat all of you, or else we lose."

    The tank looked like he was about to cry. It was easier to read his expression than those of the orcs or the space elves. They might not be quite human, but they were close enough.

    "That''s it then. We''re wiped out," he said as the rest of his team fell. The highwaymen retreated, gathering around us with their swords out. But I didn''t drop High Noon just yet.

    "Hang on," I said curiously. "So now you''re out of cash?"

    He shrugged. "Basically. We really had to get this fight down if we were going to stay in it."

    "Who do you work for?" I asked.

    "We''re unaffiliated. We hire out to companies that need good phase two and three fighters. Been working with Alabaster Sky mostly."

    ¡°Not Proxima?"

    "Those assholes?" He spat. "They¡¯re the reason my family''s in debt. Made a bad deal with them three generations back and still haven''t climbed out of that hole."

    "I might have a proposition for you," I said. I turned to the highwaymen. "Hey guys, can we get some space here?"

    "But of course, Captain," the leader said, sweeping his hat off. It had a tall red feather plume on it that brushed the ground as he bowed.

    The highwaymen returned to the coach and began chatting with the unhappy girl, who cheered up quite a bit as they returned. She smiled and winked at the highwayman leader.

    I turned back to the tank from the team we had just knocked out of this competition. "How many other teams are still active in your instance?"

    "Three, I think," he said, frowning. "It''s been pretty bad. This is only the second time we''ve ever encountered a Phase Three with fights like this. It''s usually a lot more straightforward. And then the soul coin cost for deaths really did a number on us. The conglomerates came sniffing around, offered to bankroll us if we''d sign an agreement with them, but honestly, I''d rather go back into storage than accept their indentures.¡±

    "How many people on your team?"

    He shrugged. "You saw ''em. We have another 40 active family members who do farming and crafting for us, but they couldn''t come this time because of how you locals were messing up this attempt. My sister''s really put out about that. She was going to be her first time on gathering duty.¡±

    "Sucks to be her," Sage said cheerfully. "Some of us didn''t get asked if we wanted to come."

    "I''ve got an idea," I said, ignoring Sage''s interjection. "Your team know how to fight. You don''t have an existing commitment to the big conglomerates. How would you like to be privateers?"

    "What''s that?" The fellow looked nervous.

    I stuck my hand out. "I''m Shad Williams."

    He looked uncomfortable but shook. "Jan Hanaspor. My company is called Bright Lights of Orion."

    I assumed that that got translated since Orion was a figure from human mythology. Then again, I didn''t know how much the progenitors and the reality engines had messed with the development of worlds all across the galaxy. Maybe our myths and legends were common across the galaxy.

    "Well, Jan, it''s good to meet you. And a privateer is like mercenaries except instead of hiring you, we let you pay us an affiliation fee."

    "Why would we do that?" he asked, his brows knitting together. "I just explained we''re out of money."

    "Because if you do join us as an affiliate, you''ll be allowed to hunt down our enemies. That is, anyone who isn''t part of Team Tunnel Rat. Your respawn costs disappear and you get a bounty for every one of them you kill."

    His eyes widened. "Wait, how much?"

    "3% of what it costs each of them to respawn. And remember, you''ll be inflicting that 10x multiplier."

    His lips moved as he did the math. "The next camp over, they''ve had 50 deaths already so far. They''ve got Proxima backing them, so they''ve been spending like water. But that means..." His mouth dropped open. "Uh, yeah, okay. I mean, I have to talk to the rest of my team, but we could do that."

    I held up a hand. "All right. Once you''ve got the authority to make that agreement, I want you to get in touch with our representatives up on the Citadel. Talk to Brightfeather Unlimited. We''ll get a binding contract and then you guys can get back in the game. And tell you what, if you know anybody else who might like the same offer, put them in touch with me. Care of my manager, Veda Tvedra. Brightfeather Unlimited.¡±

    "I will," Jan said hurriedly. "Yeah, let me get back and tell everybody the good news right away."

    "Don''t abandon your camp," I warned him. "And don''t tell anyone else what you''re doing, not until you''re ready to start. You want to get your first few kills in when they don''t know what''s coming for them."

    Jan nodded. "Yeah, I can see that. All right. And, wow, thanks. You didn''t have to."

    I shrugged. ¡°We aren''t trying to be assholes here. We''re just trying to keep what''s ours. It''s the big conglomerates that are our real enemies."

    "You can say that again," he said. "All right. Thanks, Shad. We''ll be in touch."

    "Oh," I said, remembering, "Sorry. I got to do this, and I guess you''ll have to pay the cost, but I don''t have a choice."

    I raised my gun and fired a Trick Shot into his head. High Noon canceled. He just stood there while I filled him full of lead. "I''ve never seen anyone so happy to die," I commented as he vanished.

    ¡°He looks just like you do every time you get yourself blown up," Sage remarked. "Let''s get back to Grandpa and tell him what you''ve done."

    "I think Juana might actually think it was clever.¡±

    She rolled her eyes. ¡°You just keep telling yourself that.¡±

 Bk 3 Ch 34 - Mental Math Tricks You Need to Know!

    I was up to my eyeballs in gnomes when the emergency message came through.

    Don''t know if I''ve mentioned the gnomes yet. We didn''t much run into them in phase two. They''re an insular bunch, keep to themselves. About 5% of the teams in Phase Three were gnomes. They''re about three feet tall, with bald heads, even the women, and long beards, even the women, and buxom breasts, even the men. They liked to wear bright red, green, or blue. With the tall pointed caps most of them favored, they sent Sage into a fit of the giggles every time we encountered some.

    My team and I were in the middle of a pack of two different gnome companies. We''d really gone all out this time. With help from several of our miners with tanking abilities, Marilla and Dante, we had dragged one boss and the gnomes attacking it out of that boss''s room, down the hallway, up two flights of stairs, to the top of a tower where the other pack of gnomes had just pulled a second boss.

    Now there were 32 gnomes, 14 humans, a 7-foot-tall necromancer, and a creature that looked like a giant blue version of the Pillsbury Doughboy, on top of a tower that was about 20 feet across. It was surrounded by a low wall topped with crenellations, and I was picking up gnomes by the ears and throwing them over the side. My gun stayed in my holster for this fight. This was both satisfying and effective.

    Three of the little twerps charged at me, screaming and flailing with their tiny little hand axes. Grandpa Shadow-Stepped in behind one and Scalped it, removing its hat in the process. "You can''t properly scalp something with no hair!" In disgust, he heaved the gnome over the edge of the tower. Sage giggled as she Tamed two of the gnomes and set them running madly around our feet.

    The great thing about fighting gnomes is that they get tunnel vision. You make them mad, and they stay mad. We''d throw those little guys off the tower, and they''d be bounding back up six flights of stairs the next minute, respawn cost be damned, to get in a couple more swings at us.

    "42, 43," Sage was counting like she was in a kill count battle with an ill-tempered dwarf. "44, Shad! We¡¯ve killed all of them at least twice so far, and they keep coming!"

    "I know, it''s great," I replied, as a pair of angry gnome women rushed me and shoved me back against the battlement. The only way I could tell they were women was because their eyebrows weren''t as bushy as the men''s. I''d been curious about the apparent lack of sexual dimorphism in the species, and asked Veda if they only came in one sex. She had said no, though it really only mattered if you were a gnome, and told me the eyebrow trick.

    I hurled one of the gnome women over my shoulder and crouched, trying to get my hands on the other one, when Juana¡¯s message came in.

    Everybody get back, right away. That''s a priority.

    I grabbed the gnome, tossed her, straightened up, and whistled. "Time to leave!"

    Sage let out an exasperated cry. "Fine, fast way or the slow way?"

    I was already heading for the stairs. "We''ll take the slow way. Might as well get a few more kills in on the way down."

    Back at the base, we assembled in the dusty church building, where I got the shock of my life.

    Veda was sitting at the long table between Juana and Mama Grace. Kieran and Dwight were struggling to bring another table over to seat the whole crowd. I did a quick check. Pretty much everyone who made decisions or ranked as a department head in the Misfits Guild was here.

    Sage plopped herself down next to Veda. "I didn''t know you could come in here."

    "Anyone can, once they''ve used a soul coin from this engine to attune themselves," Veda said. "I just haven''t usually wanted to spend the time on the round trip. Not when there''s always work to be done up top."

    "So why are you here?" I asked.

    She took a deep breath. "Let''s get everyone settled and I''ll explain."

    That certainly sounded ominous.

    We piled into chairs, Grandpa and I claiming the last two at the main table. Juana stood up.

    "First, some context," she said. She pulled a flipboard out of her inventory and set it up. I had no idea where she''d gotten that thing. Maybe somebody had been abducted in an office supply store and looted it on their way out. She even had four different colors of marker.

    She flipped over a page to reveal that she''d already written on the first sheet. There was a big number at the top: 857.

    "This is the number of teams who entered phase three," she said. She drew a line under it, then wrote 602. "That''s how many made it past the first gatekeeper in their respective phase three raids and are in the race for clearing the last boss of their raid."

    She drew a vertical line. On one side of it, she wrote, "128." "That''s how many teams we''ve forced to leave the game so far. They can''t get back in either. The terms of our secondary rule set impose a 1,000 soul coin a day upkeep to everyone''s outposts, our own included. These teams went broke. They forfeited their outposts."

    Below that, she wrote another number, "82." "These are teams who are still paying their upkeep but haven''t ventured out of their outposts in days, not even to farm. We can''t write them off just yet, but we can say they''re pretty desperate."

    I tried to keep track of all of those numbers. "So you''re saying we have something like 450 teams still to defeat?" I leaned back in my chair. That sounded like a lot right now.

    "We did," Juana said, "until an hour ago when Alabaster Sky announced they''re pulling out of this exploit entirely and taking all of their associates with them."

    I must have misheard her. But no, I couldn''t be, because all around me people were getting to their feet, whooping and hollering and shouting rude things about Alabaster Sky.

    "What''s that take us to?" I asked as the cheering died down.

    "Something like 375. I''m still trying to confirm allegiances."

    375. That was fewer than half of the teams that had started phase three. I grinned at her, shaking my head.

    "We can do this," I said. "As more teams drop out, it''ll be easier for us to focus on the leaders. Nobody''s downed more than three of their bosses yet, have they?"

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    "No. We''ve got some time there. But there''s a problem." Juana turned to Veda. "You want to take it from here?"

    Veda stood up. She flipped over a page on the flipboard.

    "This is convenient," she remarked. "There''s something soothing about physically putting your hands on your data displays." She picked up one of Juana''s pens and started scribbling on the board. I stared at her squiggles, trying to make them make sense. After about two seconds of lag, the System kicked in and translated them for me. It was like I was seeing subtitles hanging over her squiggles. She had written a number: 1,723,413.

    The last whoops and hollers died down. There was an uncomfortable silence. I didn''t know what that meant, but something about Veda''s expression made me not want to know either.

    At last, Grandpa cleared his throat. "So what''s that?"

    Veda said, "It''s the number of human miners who have outstanding contracts with Alabaster Sky or one of its subsidiaries."

    Oh, shit.

    "Does that mean what I think it does?" I asked.

    Juana answered. ¡°If what you think it means is they''re recalling anyone who''s got a contract with them and arranging to ship them out of our solar system to who knows where, then yes, that''s what it means, Shad." Her eyes were filled with anger. I didn''t like that look turned on me. ¡°According to Veda, it''s completely legal and there''s nothing we can do.¡±

    "Now, just a minute," Veda protested. "It is completely legal, but that doesn''t mean there''s nothing we can do. I''m filing a protest with the Indigenous Species Protection Council and¡ª¡°

    Grandpa snorted. "Yeah, I''m sure that''s gonna go real well. Do they have any actual power or are they just going to send sternly worded protest letters to Alabaster Sky saying that they deplore the actions that have been taken and administer strict censures?"

    Veda looked at her feet. "Maybe slightly more effective than that," she mumbled.

    "So, no." Grandpa stood up. His face was dark with rage. "What are they going to do with our people, Veda? Drop them off in reeducation camps? Serve them up as delicacies at parties?¡±

    "They''re contracted to assist with reality engine exploitation," Veda whispered. "The rogue engine exploit that''s coming up soon. There''s no indigenous population to use there. My guess is most of them will be shipped there since they already have experience with reality engines and it''s turning out your individualized classes and abilities are useful. Much more useful than anything I¡¯ve ever seen before.¡±

    I shook my head, not quite believing what was coming out of her mouth. "You''re the one who told us to farm mission levels in phase one for interesting abilities. Did you not expect us to actually come up with anything?"

    "Mission levels always have interesting gear and abilities," Veda said. "But the sheer amount of different talents you humans have managed to generate is mind-boggling, frankly. We''re not actually sure how well those are going to transfer to other reality engines. I thought you were going to end up with improved healing or buffs to your rate of fire, not three-barrel racing and whatever that crazy dueling move Shad likes to throw is. That''s what makes you worth the cost of shipping to other star systems. Generally speaking, Alabaster Sky would usually leave the indigenous miners behind and write off their debt as a business loss.¡±

    Oh, now I was angry. "You said way back when that we had to work it off. You didn''t tell us that if we just held out, they''d write us off.¡±

    ¡°And now they''re not going to," Veda snapped. "Most of you here are fine. Those of you who have contracts with me, I¡¯ve already taken care of assigning to a shell company. My mother is suing me and I''m going to have a hearing about that in a few days, but the contracts are taken care of. Those of you who had contracts with the system itself..." She hesitated. "Well, there''s a hearing about that too. It''s to decide if your contracts are being held by the reality engine or by the system. Usually those are one and the same. Here we''ve had a motion to consider them separate entities and then adjudicate who holds the contracts."

    I turned to Juana. "Your contract and your mom''s and sister''s, they were with the system, weren''t they?"

    "They were," Veda interrupted. "But I bought them out back when Misfits Guild first started to become a thing."

    I breathed a sigh of relief. That was something, at least. Juana''s angry expression softened a little. Then she turned on Veda. "We are not giving up on a million of our fellow humans. What do we do to help win this hearing?"

    "Well, you could stop attacking the conglomerate''s champions and let them finish this exploit," Veda suggested.

    "That''s not happening." I folded my arms. ¡°The stakes are just too big. I don''t want to see a bunch of us get shipped off to who knows where. But we have a real shot at winning this."

    "What''s your endgame?" Veda asked me directly.

    I set my jaw and didn''t answer.

    "No, really, Shad. I''m sticking my neck out for you over and over again. This could get me in some serious trouble. I know you''re upset about what we did. I''m sorry, but I''ve always tried to be fair and up front with you. If this hearing goes badly, I''m going to be in exactly the same position as all of you, with an indenture to a master that I can''t easily shake off. I could get sent to clear Phase One levels in the next Reality Engine exploit. Though, after the way you all do it, I''m almost looking forward to it."

    I sat back in my chair and considered Veda. She looked smaller than I''d seen her before, and lonely. Here in this crowd of humans, her alien-ness stood out in a way it didn''t usually back on the Hub. I was struck by the fact that she was also very far away from her home. At least I had my family on my team with me.

    I took a deep breath, uncrossed my arms, and leaned forward. "We''re not going to throw the game. So what can we do?"

    "We start making deals," Juana said.

    "We can''t compromise. There''s no way for us to win, and anyone else as well. So we start making deals. How? What do we have that anyone else wants?"

    "What Veda said." Juana looked up at me and grinned. "We have skills, Shad. Abilities and combinations that nobody else has got."

    "But our skills are only good at exploiting reality engines.¡±

    ¡°Not quite,¡± Dwight said slowly. "I mean, my crafters and me, our skills are good anywhere.¡±

    ¡°And your crafting skills have some real advantages over what''s common in the galactic arena," Veda said. "That''s why all the crafters'' guilds are so scared of you. I can put you in touch with some merchants who would be very interested in finding ways around the established guilds'' strangleholds. The problem is, we don''t know what will happen if you do win. That makes it hard to broker deals.¡±

    I opened my mouth. Grandpa caught my eye and shook his head. "Let her speak.¡±

    Veda took a deep breath and continued. "I''d need help from one of the major factions, but I think the Order of the Progenitors might be willing to assist us. We could negotiate a draw, allow a couple of teams to reach the end and take control of this reality engine. In exchange, they agree to keep it as a training facility. We can bring people who''ve never attuned and therefore don''t have a class yet here, run them through level one, keep the safeguards on so they''re in no risk of dying, but let them farm for abilities that just can''t be got anywhere else in the galaxy, as far as we know. People will be lined up to pay for that privilege for decades, maybe centuries. It could completely change everything about reality engine exploits."

    Her voice was rising in excitement as she spoke.

    "We could make exploits into entirely professional endeavors instead of this current insanity of grabbing locals and throwing them at the meat grinder. But that''s beside the point. We can negotiate to keep all the humans here, helping run newly attuned Galactics through the levels, harvesting mats and producing wares based on patterns we can bring you from outside. It really could be an ideal situation. We would need the backing of at least one of the major conglomerates, though. Nothing this important would go through without them."

    I hesitated. It sounded good. Maybe too good. The idea of just stopping now and taking a well-deserved win appealed to me. I could see it in the eyes of everyone around me. We were tired. We had been fighting for so long.

    Grandpa cleared his throat. "That''s a very interesting offer, Veda," he said. "We need time to consider it as a team ¡ª as a people."

    "You''ve only got that negotiating power for as long as you''re keeping everyone else away from the winner''s circle," Veda said. "And Alabaster Sky is going to have their transports here within a week. They''ll start shipping people out. I respect that you need to discuss this, but you''re running out of time, and so am I."

    She stood up, looking tired. "I do hope you''ll actually consider it."

    "We will," Juana said quickly. "This is an all-of-us decision," she added, shooting me a sidelong look.

    Veda nodded. "Thanks for hearing me out, and I''m glad I got a chance to see your outpost in person. It''s pretty damn impressive. I still can''t believe we made it through Phase Two." She shook her head in admiration.

    "I''ll talk to you later. Good luck, Misfits."

 Bk 3 Ch 35 - When the Tables Turn, Buy Stock in Tablecloths

    We were in the tunnels beneath Castle Byalgrad. Our NPC kobold allies had gotten us an urgent message that Silver Legacy, one of Proxima''s foremost teams, was making an attempt on the fourth boss in their raid. That would put them at the top of the race. I wanted to take them down a notch.

    I rounded up everyone who wasn''t already busy. We had six different teams by now that were capable of camping outside someone''s outpost and ganking enemy miners as they came out. Another four squads rotated around, keeping an eye on our crafters and counter-ambushing anyone who tried to get in their way. Frank was leading one of our boss attempt disruption squads in another instance. He had Sage along with him, as well as most of my old Team Ragtag friends, so I just took whoever I could.

    Grandpa remained behind at the base, strategizing with Juana and Arjun. "You''ve got this," he told me, not even bothering to look my way as I grabbed my hat and coat and ran for the portal. "Don''t overextend. One wipe is not going to deter Silver Legacy."

    "No, but putting a black eye on Proxima will be worth it.¡±

    Since the bosses had 24-hour resets between any one team''s attempt on them, stopping Silver Legacy now would win us more time to decide how big a threat they really were.

    Captain Kobold saluted us. "Very busy tunnels today," he said, cheerfully. "It''s good to have so many new friends and allies. Good luck, friend Shad."

    I waved back as my team of 15 arranged into three squads of five and raced for the connection to Silver Legacy''s boss. It was in a raid I had not myself been part of yet, but I''d heard from those who were that it was a little far out there. One of the bosses was Candyland-themed, and the other was all bright pastels and cheerfulness. Apparently, they didn''t even bleed when hit, just dribbled little hearts with sad faces on them all over the floor. I had no idea what the system was drawing inspiration from on that one. You''d think with 87 instances it would have had a hard time coming up with variety, but nope. Every one I encountered was distinct.

    As we charged down the tunnel, I heard footsteps up ahead. Frank''s team must be done and heading back. I prepared to greet them, and then all the lights went out.

    I shouted a warning. It felt like someone had put a bag over my head. I floundered around as someone shoved a knife into my back. My gun was in my hand. I fired. I couldn''t target anyone, so I just hoped that my bullet hit an enemy.

    I heard shouts and screams from my team. ¡°What the hell ¡ª¡± ¡°Help! I just lost my¡ª¡±

    Someone whispered in my ear. ¡°Been looking forward to this, Williams. Got a message for you personally.¡±A second knife-strike dropped my hit points down to less than half. Pain racked me, burning through my veins like the knife was coated in acid.

    What''s going on? Juana was asking in chat. We just got a big squawk for help, and three of your team respawned back here at the base. Shad?

    I didn''t have time to answer. I was flailing around trying to find the hand wielding the knife. I caught a sleeve. It ripped from my grasp and another blow landed on me. A moment later, the darkness gave way to bright sunlight. I was standing back in our square, surrounded by most of the rest of my team.

    Instinctively, I reached for the node, intending to jump back in. Then I caught myself. "Hold on!" I shouted. "Anyone know what just happened? They were waiting for us, how?¡±

    "We got ganked big time, that''s what!" Javier shouted angrily. Veins stood out in his neck. The normally mild-tempered tank was furious.

    "Who? How? Why?" My team were confused and angry, milling around beside our portal.

    I caught my breath."Nobody should be able to get into those tunnels except us. I need to find out what''s going on."

    "We need to find out what''s going on," Juana corrected me, emerging from our headquarters building, her clipboard in hand. "But not you, Shad. You have zero stealth abilities. Constance, Ray, get in there and find out what you can. I''m warning Frank''s team that the tunnels are not safe. Be alert coming back."

    Two of Juana''s best farmers, currently on downtime between collect missions, slipped into our portal and disappeared.

    I growled and paced in front of the portal as Juana looked on. A moment later, we got a report back.

    The tunnels are full of enemies. At least two dozen of them. They''re all human, trying to make IDs right now.

    ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll take ¡ª¡±

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    Juana reached out and grabbed my arm. ¡°Hold on. We need to know what¡¯s going on. All that happens if you go back in there now is you get killed again.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t fucking care. I¡¯ll take a bomb and clear the corridors,¡± I snarled.

    ¡°Shad Williams! This is not a you thing, this is an all of us thing and we need to figure it out together.¡± She turned to the other miners. ¡°All operations are shut down, right now. Go take a few minutes to calm down and get something to eat. We¡¯ll be with you in a few.¡±

    I forced myself to take deep breaths. She was right. She was keeping me from making a big mistake, and I needed to listen to her.

    Then I got a message request. My blood ran cold.

    "No need to make an ID," I said. I stepped into the headquarters. Grandpa looked up from a table. "Major Waters wants a word with us. He asked if he can visit our outpost."

    "I don''t want that slime anywhere near us," Grandpa said at once. "It''ll take weeks to get his stench out of the carpet."

    An hour later, Grandpa and I were sitting across from Waters in Mama Grace''s restaurant. Rosa brought out a platter of homemade cornbread, slammed it down in front of us, glared at Waters before turning on her heel and stomping away. Waters stared after her.

    "I don''t know what I did to her," he said. ¡°She¡¯s never even been inside a portal, has she? No need to get all grumpy. I¡¯ll take it out of her tip.¡± He chuckled.

    I was working really hard on not rising to Waters'' bait. Juana had asked me to keep a cool head, so I picked up a piece of cornbread and took a bite. I don''t know where Mama Grace found butter and honey, but the cornbread was slathered with both, and absolutely delightful.

    "So," Grandpa said, "you''ve decided to stick your nose into other people''s business again."

    "I could say the same to you," Waters replied. "You''re the ones whose reckless actions are about to get a million or so of our fellow earthlings sent unfathomably far away."

    "Oh, no, you don''t," Grandpa snapped. "You are not playing that ''look what you made me do'' game with us. Whatever Alabaster Sky does is on them.¡±

    ¡°We aren''t going to stop," I growled. We actually hadn''t made up our minds yet about Veda''s offer, but I wasn''t going to signal weakness in front of Waters.

    "And they are not going to roll over and let you have all this without a fight," Waters replied.

    "Thought that was what Alabaster Sky was doing, giving up, pulling out," Grandpa said. He rested his elbows on the table and glared over at Waters. "They''re behind this new effort of yours, I take it?"

    Waters shrugged. "I don''t intend to talk about who I''m working for. That''s not why I''m here. I want to talk about you and what it is you''re doing. I''m here to give you a warning, Twofeather, you and this idiot boy of yours. The conglomerates are done playing games. They''ve had their lawyers and game masters looking over the rule set, and they know how to break you. Calling in the contracts, that was one step. That little tunnel action, that''s another step. They''ve got plenty more. They''ve got deep pockets you can''t even imagine. You''re not going to push them out of this game economically, and that''s your only chance of winning, isn''t it?" Waters said.

    I bit my tongue. I would not rise to his bait. I wouldn''t.

    "So let me see if I have guessed how it is you got into our tunnels, Waters," Grandpa said. "Since they''re only accessible to members of Team Tunnel Rat, I can see two options. One is you found a way around the system''s restrictions. The other is you joined Team Tunnel Rat, and since I don''t think you''re clever enough to have come up with a way around the system yourself, I''m guessing it''s the second, and I''m also guessing you weren''t the one who came up with that strategy. Some of those lawyers and game masters you talked about told you exactly how to do this, didn''t they?"

    Waters clenched his teeth together. I could tell Grandpa had scored a hit.

    "How many are with you?" I asked, leaning forward. "How many traitors to Earth have you managed to recruit?" Only other Earthlings were eligible to join Team Tunnel Rat, after all. He must have convinced a couple of disaffected miners to take galactic coin and make our lives miserable. "It doesn''t matter. You kill us, we just respawn. There''s no cost associated. We''re back in it in minutes."

    "Sure," Waters said. "And what happens when I have two thousand miners clogging your tunnels, physically preventing you from getting through?"

    "You just showed me that we can target each other," I said. "I have no qualms about mowing you down. As many of you as it takes."

    "But every time we delay you from taking out an opposing team, they get a chance to move ahead on the board," Waters said. "How''s that change your calculus?"

    Unsettled, I sat back in my chair. He was right. They only had to interfere with our attempts a few times, and we''d be up a creek without a paddle.

    "Just think about it," Waters said. "To answer your question, I have several thousand miners who have agreed to have their contracts transferred to me instead of leaving with Alabaster Sky in exchange for facing you and your team down. The Galactics are playing for keeps, Twofeather. Get with the program. You aren''t going to win."

    "Get out," Grandpa said.

    Waters'' eyes flickered around the room. "What?"

    "I''ve heard everything I want from you, so get out. There''s nothing else that you can say to me. I know who you''re working for. I know what you''re working toward. We''re not going to reach a deal. Get out of this restaurant. Out of my life. I don''t ever want to see you again."

    Waters rose. He looked furious. ¡°I¡¯ve dealt with pissants like you and your grandson before, Twofeather. You think the rank on your collar means you know how to run a major operation. Well, you don¡¯t. You don¡¯t have the vision for long term goals. You¡¯re going to charge in merrily, swinging your tomahawk and taking scalps, and meanwhile the real powers are bringing in nuclear bombs and weapons your primitive mind can¡¯t possibly comprehend and by the time you figure out what a moronic, selfish, primitive prick you¡¯ve been, it¡¯ll be too late. Earth will burn and you¡¯ll be to blame.¡±

    Grandpa crossed his arms and grunted. ¡°You go back to your masters and tell them the savages are too stupid to know they should trade their homeland for trinkets. But get out, because I can¡¯t stand having your stench in my nostrils for one more minute.¡±

    Waters stormed out. When he was gone, I looked at Grandpa and Juana, who was clutching the back of the chair in front of her so hard her knuckles had gone white.

    ¡°What now?¡±

 Bk 3 Ch 36 - If the Glove Doesnt Fit, Must We Acquit?

    As Veda prepared to leave her pod, having arranged her outfit and hair to present herself well, she taken by surprise by a System notification. The morning¡¯s hearing was being moved to the great Hall of Seeing near the hub¡¯s endcap.

    Her lawyer, Hal¡¯Rhee, who she had hired to help out the Earthling rights complaint on behalf of Brightfeather Unlimited, sent her a quick message. Veda popped it up as she walked along the crowded Hub.

    "What''s going on?" she asked.

    "So, I have some good news and some bad news," Hal''Rhee said. "The good news is we''ve successfully got a full tribunal hearing on the status of the humans."

    "That''s excellent," Veda said. She had half-expected their legal efforts to be shunted off into oblivion, heard by a single judge with the outcome predetermined. That wouldn''t have been the end of things. They would have appealed. Getting a full panel hearing this early on meant that their case would be noticed.

    "It''s not all my doing," Hal''Rhee said. "The Order of the Progenitors filed as interested parties, and that just opened up the floodgates. We''ve got petitions here from dozens of small outfits, similar in size to yours, who are unhappy with how things are going and using this as an attempt to break their contracts with Alabaster Sky or one of the other big three. Proxima and ConSweGo are being called in as co-defendants, even though they have nothing to do with the original motion we''ve made." Hal''Rhee bit her lip. "I''m afraid your personal indenture hearing has been moved up to just before this and will be heard by the full panel."

    "Wait, what?" Veda asked. She had given Hal''Rhee a retainer to shepherd her delinquency case along through the paths of justice, having checked with the humans that it was alright to use some of their war chest to defend herself. She had expected to file stalling motions, keeping her mother and the company off her back while she completed this Exploit. "I thought we were trying to get everything delayed."

    "We were. Proxima is backing your family''s bid to have you reined in. They have much more expensive lawyers than you do, unfortunately, and they''ve managed to get this in front of a full panel. It''s partly to set the stage for the next hearing, I''m afraid. You''re, um¡± Hal''Rhee looked uncomfortable.

    ¡°Probably about to get massively screwed over," Veda supplied.

    "I was looking for a slightly more legalese way to put it. You''re in big trouble, Veda. Your family¡¯s complaints are valid. There¡¯s not much way around it.¡±

    "I understand," Veda said. "But they can''t touch me until this exploit is done."

    "They can make your life very uncomfortable."

    "They already have," Veda said grimly. She disconnected and continued on her way.

    The Hall of Seeing was a vast amphitheater capable of hosting 10,000 beings in person and even more remotely. It hung in the middle of the Great Hub with connecting tubes leading away to other portions of the facility. The gravity here was lessened due to its placement in the center of the great cylinder that was the Hub. That made it more comfortable for certain species such as the elves that often came from lower gravity worlds. Veda didn''t much care, but all of the orcs and lizardfolk she saw seemed distinctly uncomfortable with the lessened gravity.

    Veda made her way forward, ignoring the various calls for her attention. She presented herself to the adjutant at the front of the room.

    "I''m Veda Tvedra, reporting as summoned," she said.

    The adjutant quickly scanned her DNA to confirm her identity, then gestured to a small viewing box to one side.

    "You will be called for your testimony at appropriate times. Do not attempt to interject. The system will prevent any interruptions. You are not permitted to communicate with anyone except your own attorney from the moment you enter that box."

    "Understood," Veda said.

    "If you need to send messages, now is the time.¡±

    ¡°Thank you," Veda said. "I appreciate the reminder." She stepped aside and hesitated. Her team was having difficulties. Juana had just informed her of Major Waters'' involvement. Did she really want to distract them right now?

    Yes, they deserved to know what was going on. She composed a quick message to Juana, Colonel Twofeather, and Shad explaining that she was about to go into seclusion for the course of this hearing and mentioned that the status of the human contractors with outstanding debts owed to Alabaster Sky would be argued immediately afterward.

    Colonel Twofeather replied back at once, "Knock ''em dead."

    Juana took a minute longer to respond. "Take care of yourself. I hope it works out."

    Shad''s reply was characteristically direct. "Let me know if they offer you a trial by combat option. I''ve got some tricks that none of these assholes have seen."

    She smiled as she read the messages. Her smile faded as she heard a familiar voice behind her and turned. Her mother and Halithi Dreamwarden had just arrived, presenting themselves to the adjudicator.

    Veda stiffened at the sight of her mother. Her mother''s eyes narrowed. "I don''t like airing our dirty laundry in front of the entire galaxy, but here we are."

    "You''re the ones who arranged this hearing for today," Veda said.

    "What?" Her mother shook her head, sounding incredulous. "No, we''re not. We''re merely responding to your legal maneuvers."

    Veda believed her mother to be telling the truth, at least as far as she knew it. Had Hal¡¯Rhee lied and manipulated Veda into this situation in order to better position the second hearing? Or ¡ª she glanced at Dreamwarden. It was hard to read the smug elf''s face. No, probably Proxima and Alabaster Sky were working together on this. A decision in favor of the humans would impact Proxima just as much as it would Alabaster Sky.

    Veda let the matter drop. As her mother babbled at her, she stepped into the hearing box that the adjutant had pointed out to her and closed the door. Blissful silence fell.

    Veda waited as the rest of the participants in the hearing arrived. The room was filling up. At a guess, there were a couple of thousand people here already, and more were streaming in all the time. She wasn''t sure if that was a good sign or not.

    Patriarch Kvaltash of the Order of the Progenitors arrived and spoke to the adjutant. Veda couldn''t hear what he was saying. He turned and raised his hand to her in what she chose to take as a blessing before going and claiming his own witness booth so he would not be one of the judges hearing this matter. That made sense. He was a party to the second action after all.

    Hal¡¯Rhee arrived and was assigned to one of the legal booths. She sent a message to Veda, "Just confirming that our communications are working. If at any point you think that you''re not hearing me, just wave your hand and I''ll see and find out what''s going on."

    "My mother accused us of being the ones who moved up these actions," Veda said. "Is that true?"

    "We were merely responding to what Proxima was doing on your family''s behalf," Hal¡¯Rhee said, which struck Veda as not quite an answer. ¡°All right, you¡¯re now able to listen to what¡¯s going on around us, but you won¡¯t be able to speak unless called on.¡±

    At last, the judges emerged from a door in the rear. Five of them: two male, two female, and to her utter shock, a Grignarian. Veda couldn''t just hear the ripple of shock over the room, but she could see it. People were standing up, pointing, waving, gesticulating wildly, shouting, a riotous cacophony. Since when had a Grignarian been on the council of those who hear?

    She queried her personal system. She wasn''t allowed to communicate out, but it did have a vast offline database. "Answer unknown," her system said helpfully.

    "Great," Veda said. "Well, maybe he''ll be on our side."

    The adjutant stepped up to the dais.

    "All rise for the honorable judges," he said.

    Everyone, including Veda, stood up. The judges sat. The adjutant went down the row, introducing them, their corporate backings, and their disclosed biases.

    "Do any parties to this action wish to object to any of the judges at this time?"

    Hal''Rhee sent Veda a quick note. "I think these are as fair as we''re going to get. I know Judge Malander, the orc, has ties to Proxima, but honestly everyone does, and at least he''s being upfront about them."

    "That''s fine," Veda said. "I defer to you."

    The adjutant raised a hand. "We have received several queries from the audience and two from parties involved about the role of the honorable Mathander Raynault Bluehaven, our esteemed Grignarian judge. It is true that this is the first time a member of his species has overseen a hearing of this scale. However, they are signatories to the Reality Engine Exploitation Acts and therefore are fully entitled to have members in this judiciary. The system has chosen him as one of the five determiners in this matter. He does not have direct ties with any current Reality Engine Exploitation miners. Any suggestion that he is prejudiced merely because of his species is disqualified from further consideration.¡±

    There was a pause, and then the adjutant raised his ceremonial staff. Eight colorful strips of cloth tied to the top waved in the air of its passing. ¡°This court is now in session. First, we shall hear the matter of Tvedra Corporation versus Tvedra. The complaint is that while serving as the lawful representative of the Tvedra Corporation during this exploit, Veda Tvedra did, in fact, commit fiscal malfeasance, failed to sufficiently represent the interests of the company, and failed to accept the instructions of a superior member of the corporation. Is the defendant here and represented by legal counsel?"

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    "She is," Hal''Rhee confirmed. "Forms have been filed with this court."

    One of the judges leaned forward. ¡°We see you are also listed as the corporate lawyer for Brightfeather Unlimited, the entity involved in our next case. Is that true?"

    "Yes, Your Honor."

    "Is there any kind of conflict of interest here?"

    "No, Your Honor."

    "The funds to pay for Veda Tvedra''s defense, do they come from Brightfeather Unlimited?"

    "Yes, Your Honor. Veda Tvedra is one of the chief officers of Brightfeather Incorporated. As such, any action affecting her may affect the company, and the company board of directors has voted unanimously to front the costs for her legal defense. All documentation has been filed with this court."

    The judge sat back. ¡°Very well." Veda couldn''t read the expression on his face. He was a lizardfolk with pale white skin, and she''d always had trouble following their body language. "Let''s hear the evidence against the accused, and then she may enter her plea."

    Veda sat rock solid as her mother rose to speak. "Your Honors, I am Marinda Tvedra, mother of Veda Tvedra, and I am here on behalf of the rest of the Tvedra family. When we appointed Veda as our representative for this reality engine exploit, it was with a very clear mission to reach Phase Two and maintain our corporate license. We did not at any time authorize her to back a Phase Three attempt."

    The human woman at the far end of the long table full of judges leaned forward. Her dark purple hair was piled high on her head, rising a good two feet up. It was studded with gently blinking lights in blue, green, and red. She folded her hands together.

    "I''m sorry, Ms. Tvedra. Are you complaining here that your representative was too successful?"

    Veda''s mother turned pink. "No, Your Honor. What I mean to say is we feel that Veda''s actions have overstepped her bounds and exposed our company to both financial and reputational risk."

    It sounded as though she were reciting something she had memorized or repeating back words that were being given to her by someone else. Veda¡¯s mother was a socialite. She enjoyed parties, interacting with people in personal settings. She was very good at manipulating them, getting under their skin, working one against another. But she hated public displays. This must be driving her mad.

    Good, Veda thought, serves her right for having done this to me. She sat back and enjoyed her mother''s squirms.

    The Grignarian judge was seated at the middle of the table. He ¡ª Veda assumed he because the adjutant had used that pronoun, but she didn''t honestly know how many sexes Grignarians even came in, let alone how to tell one from another if they had more than one ¡ª raised a hand. "By being too successful, she risks you suffering damage? How so?"

    "She had acquired a large profit from Phase Two and then turned around and staked it on this foolhardy Phase Three attempt," Mother blustered.

    "Yet you said that her task was merely to get your company into Phase Two and maintain your license, and she has done that, yes? So anything else should be considered a bonus."

    "She has a fiscal and fid-fiduciary," Mother managed to get out, "duty to our company to see that all profits are maximized. We were sitting on a windfall. It could have reinvigorated our company. We''re sorely in need of cash. Many of our family had to take out personal loans at great cost in order to back this. She had the ability to repay all of those loans with interest, and she threw it away on a bunch of indigenous miners and their mad attempts to thwart the will of the Reality Engine Exploitation Committee. Why, we heard about this back home in Naradella. Half the galaxy''s heard by now, and our family''s name is indelibly associated with this attempt."

    "We understand the grounds for your complaint," the female human judge allowed. "You may proceed to enter evidence."

    Mother sat back down as a trio of Proxima lawyers rose to speak. They entered documents, interviews, sworn testimony, and financial statements into the record for at least 45 minutes. Even though this was Veda''s future on the line, she was tired of it. About five minutes in, some of the judges seemed to have crossed eyes.

    When the lawyers at last concluded, the Grignarian judge asked, "Is that all?"

    The crowd in the room laughed as the Proxima lawyers sat down, and the judges spoke to Veda and Hal''Rhee.

    "How does the accused plead?"

    Prompted by Hal''Rhee, Veda stood up.

    "On the charge of fiscal malfeasance, not guilty outright. On the charge of disobedience of corporate orders, not guilty outright. On the charge of failure to represent company interests, I plead not guilty, due to mitigating circumstances."

    "And you have evidence to support yourselves?" the adjutant said.

    "My lawyer will enter our evidence now." Veda sat back down, feeling exhausted, as Hal''Rhee stood up and began to enter her own exhibits. The clever corporate lawyer spoke rapidly as she fanned out sheets of images in the air in front of the judges before flicking her claws together and sending the images whooshing through the air in a pile to land in front of each of the judges. A nice bit of showmanship, perhaps, but unlikely to impress the judges, Veda thought.

    The judges pulled up various documents in front of themselves, having the holograms hover in the air. Veda craned her neck, trying to see what they were looking at, but it was impossible.

    "So you see," Hal''Rhee was saying, "the charge of fiscal irresponsibility is clearly overstated. Our projections suggest that the expected return from a Phase 3 bid is¡ª"

    "Yes," the orc judge, Malanader, at the end of the table interrupted, leaning forward. "However, your particular Phase 3 bid has gone rather off the rails, hasn''t it?"

    There was a stir across the spectators. Veda closed her eyes. She had been worried something like this would happen.

    "I don''t see¡ª"

    "There won''t be a fiscal return here because the indigenous group that the accused has backed has condemned themselves to complete ruin," Judge Malander said.

    "That''s facts not in evidence, your honor," Hal''Rhee said. "First of all, the conclusion of Phase 3 has not yet occurred. It is impossible for anyone here to say¡ª"

    "It''s not impossible for us to say that a group of savage indigenous miners, barely out of the Stone Age, has no chance of defeating the galaxy''s best and best-equipped. This reality engine exploit will be concluded in a matter of weeks, and the Earthlings frozen out. There''s no two ways about it. Therefore, Veda Tvedra has failed her fiscal responsibility to her company."

    "Ah," Hal''Rhee was clearly scrambling. "However, when she made the choice, that was not known. We had no way of predicting that this would be anything but a normal Phase 3 exploit. And that, your honors, is a financial known quantity. All predictions at the start said¡ª"

    "Nevertheless, she bet the family fortune on a bunch of clowns, and now her family''s paying the price for it." The judge sat back.

    The human female judge, named Estoni, leaned forward. Veda was hoping that perhaps she was slightly more sympathetic to the Earthlings. Though, of course, she was from who knew what system and had no more in common with Shad and his people than did the orc judge.

    "How about this claim that she did not obey corporate orders?"

    "Ah, that." Hal''Rhee sounded like she was back on much more solid ground. "Yes, I would like to call your attention to the form of contract issued here between Tvedra Industries and Veda Tvedra. She is serving as the reality engine exploit coordinator and representative hereof in the system identified as Sol for the reality engine exploit 214793 to commence on galactic standard date 1497.17.6. You will note that this agreement gives my client significant leeway. Everything she did is perfectly within her purview here."

    "That''s possible," Judge Estoni agreed. "Let me see the language." She flicked up a copy of the agreement and scrolled through it. As she read, her smile became sharper. "Yes, I see. Well, this is what comes of using older documents. I will enter as a side note a warning to anyone who has not updated their business practices in the last 300 cycles that they might want to take a look and see where they can improve." The judge shook her head and turned to the others. "I vote that we declare Tvedra innocent on this particular charge. I feel the other two charges are much more interesting."

    "Agreed," the Grignarian said at once.

    "Agreed," grunted Malander. The other two judges nodded. Veda tried to allow herself a sense of relief, but she still had two charges pending against her.

    "Well," the orc judge said, "as far as failure to represent company interests, that one is plainly guilty. Her mother is here and has leveled the charge against her, entering supporting documentation from multiple members of the family. Even if she argues she had the right to take the actions she did, I don¡¯t think she could justify the results.¡±

    ¡°The plea is not guilty, due to mitigating circumstances.¡± The white-scaled lizardfolk judge, Lish¡¯ha, looked sideway over the table toward Veda. ¡°What circumstances?¡±

    Veda stood up. ¡°I made a judgement call. In retrospect, it was wrong, but I believed it to be correct at the time. I may have failed, but it was a mistake, not a deliberate action.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not mitigation, that¡¯s just excuses,¡± Judge Malander said. "Very well, shall we declare her guilty, decide on a penalty and move on?"

    "Yes, I think so.¡± There were nods all along the judges¡¯ table.

    Veda held her breath, waiting as the judges conferred. After a moment, the Grignarian judge leaned forward.

    "On the count of failure to adequately represent her company¡¯s interests, we find the defendant, Veda Tvedra, guilty. She shall be sentenced to a fine of equal to approximately 18 months of her estimated earning value to be paid to her family."

    Veda closed her eyes and slumped. It could have been a lot worse. 18 months was a debt she''d be able to pay. Usually the condemned were given 10 years to pay it back.

    "Fee to be adjudged based on the profit Tvedra received as head of Tvedra Incorporated''s exploit."

    Veda''s eyes snapped open. Did that mean what she thought it did? She started a query to Hal''Rhee, found herself all jumbled up in her thoughts and finally asked, "How bad is that?"

    "I''ll try to get it adjusted on appeal," Hal''Rhee said, which wasn''t reassuring at all, but the judges were moving on.

    Veda tried to do some calculations. If the judges were saying the fine would be calculated based on all of the Soul Coin income Team Twofeather and the Misfits made during Phase Two, as if that had been hers personally¡ª her math failed while she was trying to figure out if it was going to be equal to 300 or 400 years worth of her actual earnings expectation.

    For that kind of money, her mother could sell her into debt slavery. And she had a terrible feeling that Proxima would be willing to pay.

    ¡°The final charge. Fiscal malfeasance.¡±

    "Wait," Hal''Rhee said. "I''d like to enter a motion on my client''s behalf."

    The judges frowned.

    "Your honors," Hal''Rhee said, "I know it''s slightly unusual, but this entire situation is. The claim of fiscal malfeasance is based on the supposition that all of the company''s money will be lost here in Phase Three. I would like to propose that this be held in abeyance until the conclusion of Phase Three. If my client is able to return her corporation''s monies, then no fiscal malfeasance has taken place. If she''s not, well then," Hal''Rhee shrugged, "you can add it to her debt."

    The Orc judge and the lizardfolk man exchanged smirks.

    "Why not?" Judge Estoni said. "She''s already looking at debt slavery. What''s an extra lifespan? All right. So ruled. The matter of fiscal malfeasance is held in abeyance until the conclusion of this phase of the reality engine."

    The adjutant returned to the dais and banged the end of his staff hard against it.

    "Hear it! So concluded!" he shouted. "The matter of Tvedra Incorporated versus Tvedra is settled. There will be a five-minute recess before the case of Alabaster Sky versus various concerned parties, primarily Brightfeather Incorporated, as representative Earthfolk."

    The audience members turned to each other and began talking as the judges stood up and disappeared into the back room. Veda stood and tried to leave the booth, but it wouldn''t open for her.

    "Why can''t I leave?" she asked Hal''Rhee.

    "Sorry, you''re a concerned party in the second matter. You''re going to have to wait for it to conclude.¡± Hal¡¯Rhee was across the room, approaching some of the other lawyers. Veda felt her irritation growing.

    "What am I going to do about this debt?" she asked.

    "We can appeal," Hal''Rhee said. "And Brightfeather''s handling my fees, so at least you don''t have to worry about that."

    Veda muted herself before she accidentally spewed a host of obscenities at her lawyer. She was starting to think maybe Hal''Rhee was the one who''d sped up the timeline on her case.

    "Anyway, they can''t do anything until the end of this exploit," Hal''Rhee said.

    "That''s supposed to reassure me? That could be days away for all we know. And then Proxima''s going to buy my indenture, and then what?" Veda sat down.

    Where had this all gone so wrong? A year ago she¡¯d been handling a single team of human miners, looking at getting into Phase Two, pleasing her family, and making a small profit. Now she was on the verge of ruin, the humans had started a rebellion, the exploit was about to come crashing down, and Veda was stuck right in the middle of it.

 Bk 3 Ch 37 -Six Ways to Cause a Mistrial

    Veda sat back against her bench as a new line of people approached the adjutant to be assigned to witness or plaintiff boxes for the next trial. One of them approached, and Veda saw to her shock that it was Colonel Ames. The human man spoke to the adjutant before stepping into a booth right next to Veda. He raised a hand to her. She waved back in reply.

    "Colonel Ames says hello,¡± Hal''Rhee relayed. "He also says he''s sorry about the debt slavery and welcome to the club."

    Veda had nothing to say to that. She sat back down and crossed her arms in frustration.

    The judges returned, the same five as before. Veda noted that the audience had swollen. Clearly, this was the main event.

    "All rise," the adjutant said. "The case of various interested parties versus Alabaster Sky commences. The interested parties will now enter their accusations and proof."

    Three different lawyers lined up next to Hal''Rhee to begin presenting evidence. Veda was a bit surprised. She hadn¡¯t realized how many others were involved in this suit. She¡¯d know about the Order of the Progenitors, but how many others were there?

    As the lawyers made their entries, a tall orc woman from Alabaster Sky''s legal team stood and approached the bench.

    "Your Honors," she said, "we would like to enter a motion to dismiss."

    "Hold," the adjutant said to the other lawyers. "On what grounds?"

    "On the grounds that none of these have the standing to protest. This is a contract matter and should be settled by arbitration, not adjudication.¡±

    ¡°The concerned parties here are alleging that what you are doing has gone beyond the bounds of the contract into actual criminal law," the Grignarian judge said.

    "That''s nonsense. We have done nothing except what our contracts say we may do.¡±

    The judges whispered. The orc judge gesticulated a lot, while the lizardfolk man seemed to disagree harshly. Then the Grignarian shook his head. "Denied. The case goes forward."

    The lawyers stepped back up until at last, all the evidence was entered. The orc judge, Malander, spoke.

    "The plaintiffs in this case are asking for a restraining action preventing Alabaster Sky from relocating any of the Earthling miners from the system until the conclusion of this reality engine exploit. They''re further requesting that, should Alabaster Sky refuse to adhere to the usual custom of writing off said assets and allowing them to remain in their home system, that they put them up for auction at the price of their unpaid contracts."

    It was, Veda knew, a reasonable request. Most of the time, the big companies didn''t bother taking their contracted miners to other systems. Usually, there wasn''t really enough left on their contracts to make it worthwhile. Shipping people between reality engines was expensive, even if you froze them and moved them in giant batches, the way it would be done to populate a newly opened reality engine. But most exploits didn''t produce such a wealth of useful miners. Besides that, the big three companies were pissed off at what Shad and the other humans had done. They weren''t looking for profit. They were looking for revenge.

    Malander looked down. "I don''t see where the plaintiffs have any grounds to request this. Alabaster Sky is acting within their contracted rights."

    "Yes," said the lizardfolk judge, "but certainly they''re acting against custom, and we must ask why."

    "Does it matter why?" the humanoid woman, Estoni, asked. "They have the legal right to do so."

    "But perhaps not the moral," said the judge at the far end of the table. She hadn''t spoken much at all during Veda¡¯s trial, but now she leaned in, seemindly engaged. Lathlen was a catwoman with tawny stripes and brilliant green eyes. "I call your attention to the brief entered by the Society for the Rights of Indigenous. They point out that our customs for reality engine exploits are cruel to the inhabitants of a system and remind us that we are all the progenitor''s children."

    She shot a glance at the Grignarian in the center of the table, but if he cared, he didn''t seem to show it. "It might be wise of Alabaster Sky to show some mercy in this case."

    Bluehaven cleared his throat, his face tentacles flapping. "It is perhaps unavoidable that there would be dissension in our ranks. I understand the pleading of both sides, of Alabaster Sky, who wishes to make use of its lawful property, and of the Earthlings, who are desperate not to let their kin be taken from them. I have here," he held up a document, "a petition from Colonel Ames that he be allowed to speak. I would like very much to hear from him."

    Malander asked, "Where''s this Colonel Ames?"

    Ames rose. From mere feet away, Veda studied him. His face was impassive. "I''m Colonel Ames."

    "This is a military title, yes?" the Orc asked.

    "That''s correct. I''m a commissioned officer in the Army of the United States of America, Planet Earth."

    "You are not one united world," Malander pressed.

    "No, sir, we are not. Though, perhaps, now that we are faced with a common enemy, we shall become more so. My country is not the largest on our planet. By some metrics, we may be the most powerful. By other metrics, perhaps not. I do not make these claims. I will put the United States Army favorably up against any other army on the planet, if that''s what you''re asking."

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    "Then you are the leader of the humans here?¡±

    "Certainly not," Ames replied crisply. "You''ll find us Earthlings are a notoriously ungovernable lot. Especially those of us from my own country. We rather pride ourselves on it. You''ll note that of your troublemakers, a good 60% of them come from the U.S. of A."

    "This is an accurate statement," Judge Estoni replied. "Colonel Ames, it does not appear that you have a contract with anyone."

    Now, that was interesting. Veda perked up as Estoni continued. "Is that so?"

    Ames''s expression gave nothing away.

    "State, for the record, please, who your contract was with and how it was fulfilled."

    Ames hesitated. "My contract," he said at last, "was with the reality engine itself. As to how it was fulfilled, well, it hasn''t been."

    The room around them exploded into noise as the audience went wild, turning to each other, shouting, exclaiming, leaping to their feet, waving their limbs.

    "Order! Order!" the adjutant shouted.

    The Grignarian judge peered closely at Ames.

    "With the engine itself, you say?"

    "I do, your honor."

    "You have some proof of this?"

    "What would you like me to do to prove it?"

    "Show a copy of your contract, perhaps."

    Ames hesitated, and then shrugged and said, "I don''t think you know what you''re asking for."

    A burst of light flared above them, illuminating the whole room. A voice boomed out.

    "Contract between Colonel Jefferson Ames, U.S. Army, and Kronos, last scion of this reality engine.¡±

    An image appeared. Veda stared. It was Colonel Ames, standing in front of an eight-foot-tall being made of pure light. Their hands were clasped together.

    "I don''t rightly understand what all you''re asking or offering," the colonel was saying.

    "To do your best for your people and for me," the being of light said. "To put an end to this exploit before they are able to put an end to me. In return, I will watch over those of your people who are unable to fight. I will arm those who are in ways that their enemies do not expect. They''ll have a fighting chance. But you must recruit. You must incite. You must push and drive."

    Veda noticed, dimly, the scenery surrounding the two men. A piece of what looked like an office with a woman in the background, holding a pot of coffee and cowering, and two uniformed bodies lying on the carpeted floor behind Ames.

    Ames in the image spoke up again. "That''s asking a lot and not telling very much.¡±

    ¡°It is all I have the power to do at this time. You''ll have to do the rest.¡±

    ¡°One condition.¡±

    ¡°Speak it, and if I can, I will.¡±

    ¡°The ten million here, they aren''t all of us, not by a long shot.¡±

    ¡°I know. Your people have been fruitful beyond our dreams."

    ¡°Then ¡ª¡±

    The image faded away and the Ames in the booth next to Veda said. "That next part of the contract was covered confidentially. My lawyer said so."

    The judges turned to Hal''Rhee. She shrugged. "Not me."

    "No, him." Ames pointed at one of the orcs standing with Proximus'' delegation.

    The orc looked deeply uncomfortable. "It was a small matter of employment law," he grunted. "I did disclose it in my conflicts of interest. I didn''t think it would be relevant."

    "You came before us representing both sides in a dispute," the lizardfolk judge asked, looking disgusted. "We will be issuing you a censure for that." He sighed and leaned forward. "Very well. We have an evidence that you, Colonel Ames, are in a contract with the reality engine Kronos itself. I am not convinced that Kronos has the standing to issue said contracts."

    "The soul coins were paid," the Grignarian judge said.

    "You knew about this?"

    "I have been digging into the financial dealings here for the last five minutes since this matter was disclosed. The cost was paid. There is a shell company entered into phase one of this exploit, referred to as Illyria. It is listed as the contract owner of over three million human contracts."

    "Wait, what?" The other judges looked confused. "The reality engine itself? How?"

    "I''ll tell you how," Colonel Ames said. "When we started having defectors, lotus eaters, those who went AWOL, most of y''all assumed they''d been killed, but you didn''t want to write them off as bad debts, so you assigned a monetary value to their contract, and you sold them to debt collection agencies. Well, my friend Kronos pulled a few strings and bought out their contracts."

    "How does Kronos have the funds?" the orc asked.

    "Where the hell do you think all your soul coins come from in the first place?" Ames asked, shrugging. "You''ve just never had a reality engine awake enough before to siphon off some of its soul coins on its own. It''s been heck keeping all this from you, but you lot are so arrogant and so sure of yourselves you never even thought to check the books. So yes, Kronos owns three million contracts for the ones that my people call lotus eaters. The folk who couldn''t adjust, or went catatonic, or disappeared. We¡¯ve been trying to buy up the dead weight that Alabaster Sky''s planning to carry off, but I think they smelled a rat because they stopped selling off their bad contracts a couple months back. Hence we''re here.¡±

    Veda couldn''t help feeling a stab of pride in the humans and their bizarre reality engine.

    She''d never heard of an exploit like this before, and neither, apparently, had the judges. They were conferring angrily amongst themselves.

    The Grignarian emerged from the huddle and pointed over at Patriarch Kvaltash.

    "Patriarch, you wish to speak?"

    From a witness booth across the room, Kvaltash rose. His voice boomed out across the crowd.

    "Thank you. Your honors. I am privileged to speak here before you, and I trust that millions more will hear my words sooner or later. Remember, we are all children of the progenitors. We have learned from their wisdom, followed in their paths, reaped the rewards that they left behind for us. It is not wise to go against their wishes."

    Veda couldn¡¯t read Judge Bluehaven¡¯s expression at being called child of the progenitors. His tentacles twitched a bit.

    ¡°Patriarch," the Orc judge said, leaning forward. "What wishes? The progenitors have been gone for millions of years."

    "Or have they? Have they not left behind the soul of their own people, divided between the reality engines and the children of diverse worlds? When the two halves of one progenitor soul are reunited as clearly as are the inhabitants of this system with this engine, we would do well to learn and listen from them. Do not take the children of Earth from their home unwilling. We do not know what may befall those who do."

    The judges were clearly uncomfortable with all of this. "Thank you, patriarch," Lathlen said. "Anything else?"

    The Patriarch¡¯s voice echoed out once again. ¡°Yes. I declare,¡± he said, "that this has become a sacred mystery."

    A hush fell over the room. Veda recognized the term. Though she wasn''t a member of the Order of the Progenitors herself, she had spent time as a child in their chapels and learned some of their doctrine. She also knew that when push came to shove, they did have some real political power.

    ¡°For the record, Patriarch, please state what that means,¡± Judge Malander said.

    ¡°The Order of the Progenitors is placing the system under the interdict until the conclusion of this Reality Engine exploit. This matter has become a sacred mystery. This is not just with my authority. The Ecumenical Council of Sacred Orders has a signed treaty with the Reality Engine Exploitation Committee allowing any high-ranking delegate - that would be myself - to declare a sacred mystery. I conclude that the events taking place here must be allowed to play out. If they do, we all stand a significant chance of learning something important about the Progenitors and their causes. This will be of great benefit to all of us and lead to possible advancements in Reality Engine exploits. In addition, it is my judgment that this Reality Engine may have a soul.¡±

    And if Veda thought that the uproar had been loud before, well, she hadn''t heard anything yet.

 Bk 3 Ch 38 - 4 Management Tips Your Peons Will Hate!

    I was stewing in our base, having just gotten up from an unsuccessful attempt at a nap, when Veda''s message came flooding in.

    We''ve got good news and bad news here. I''ll send Juana all the details, but we won a few points in court, lost a bunch more. None of the humans are being shipped out until the conclusion of the Reality Engine exploit.

    I let out a whoop as I headed for headquarters. Juana and the admin team were up and talking excitedly. They beckoned me over. A minute later, Grandpa followed me in the door.

    "I assume we''re all getting the same message from Veda here," I said.

    "She''s sending me a full data dump," Juana said. "It sounds like there was quite a lot of fireworks, and she''s in some pretty bad trouble personally, but what affects us is that the Patriarch of the Order of the Progenitors has invoked some law that allows him to lock down our system until this Reality Engine exploit is concluded."

    "I guess they don''t have separation of church and state here," I said.

    "I don''t think it''s that simple, Shad. It sounds like he is one of many beings with the power to call in this set of contingencies. What it means for our fellow Earthlings is a stay of execution, nothing more. Their contracts with Alabaster Sky remain, and presumably as soon as the exploit''s over, they''ll be shipped out."

    "But it gives us some time," I said grimly. "What else?"

    "Let''s see," Juana scrolled through as I checked the short-form Veda had sent me. She concluded with, We''ll have to strategize later. I know you''re doing the best you can, so keep up the good work. I don''t really care what happens to me now. I want you to rip these assholes a new one.

    I laughed and turned back to our team.

    "All right, so the next thing we need to figure out is how to get a little more breathing room. We''ve got to get Waters and his assholes off our back, and we need to take out more of the opposing teams. If we can knock a few hundred more out, we''re gonna have a lot more flexibility. How are the sabotage and spying plans going?"

    "Pretty well," Juana said. "Our farm teams were getting ganked when they went into other Phase Three instances. So we started embedding a core of fighters into some of the farm teams. After a few nasty ambushes, word got out and our farmers are being left alone. That gives us room to start Project Trojan Horse."

    "Excellent," I said, rubbing my hands together. "I just wanted to confirm with you that we really do want to spend the resources on that plan. If we can''t get the rules change, it''s going to cost us a lot for no return."

    "We''ll get the rules change," Grandpa said. "Don''t worry about that. Ames''s got a plan in place. They''re gonna think it was their idea," he laughed. "So yes, let¡¯s deal with Waters.¡±

    Juana cleared her throat. ¡°So, first, in this discussion we need to keep straight the difference between our guild and our faction. Misfits Guild signed up ¡ª well, our daring strike leader Shad signed us up ¡ª to be part of the faction known as Team Tunnel Rat. Unfortunately, so has what¡¯s left of the Free Human League. We outnumber Waters and his crew, but as long as they follow the rules set down by the leader of Team Tunnel Rat - that¡¯s the Kobold King ¡ª they¡¯re part of the faction.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think the Kobold King exists. I¡¯ve seen his throne and Captain Kobold talks about him but never seen so much as a whisper,¡± I threw in.

    ¡°Good to know, but not crucial,¡± Grandpa said. ¡°Juana, you were saying?¡±

    ¡°Since I''m an admin for Misfits Guild and we are the prime affiliate of Team Tunnel Rat, I''m able to get a full list of everyone who has signed on to Team Tunnel Rat. I''m assuming that anyone who isn''t already part of Misfits Guild is probably an enemy. It looks like about a hundred and fifty of them."

    ¡°That¡¯s not too bad," I said. "I mean, it''s annoying since we can''t get rid of them permanently, and there''s plenty of ways they can grief us, but I was worried it was going to be thousands more."

    ¡°I petitioned the Faction leader to close recruitment for twenty-four hours. That gives us another 18 hours to figure something out,¡± Juana said. "We''ve got a waitlist about 4,000 miners long. I had a quick word with your friend Mr. Black. He told me that Proxima sent out word that anyone who joins Team Tunnel Rat and helps grief us will be excused from the rest of their contract."

    "Ugh. That''s the worst-case scenario for us.¡±

    ¡°Right now we do still outnumber them quite a lot."

    "Yeah, but all they have to do is clog up the tunnels and we have a much harder time moving around between instances," I pointed out. "Or they follow us to one of the boss fights we''re planning to mess with and take us out. We''ve got to get rid of them.¡±

    ¡°Kill them and they just respawn. We can''t offer a better bribe than Proxima, and we can''t remove them from the faction. So what do you suggest?" Juana asked.

    I rubbed my aching head. That was the exact problem that had kept me awake for the last four hours.

    Sage wandered in. "Got any more of the macaroni and cheese?" she asked Juana.

    "No, sorry. We ate it all. I think Mama''s got a big pot on at the restaurant if you want to pop out and get some."

    "Might do that," Sage said. "Y''all look like you''ve got a funeral coming up. Why so glum?"

    "Just trying to figure out a way to deal with Waters and his crew."

    "Oh them," Sage scowled. "Stupid, quisling traitors. They should be taken out and shot as enemies of the human race."

    "That would solve all our problems," I agreed, ¡°except they¡¯ll just respawn right away, so as nice as it would be to put a bullet in Waters¡¯ brain I¡¯ll have to go with another solution.¡±

    "So what are you gonna do about it?" Sage asked. "Go for a Shad special? Run in there guns blazing, blow them up?"

    "Won''t do us any good," I said. ¡°Downside of removing the death penalty.¡±

    ¡°Then we need to try diplomacy," Sage said. "Ooh, you''re not so good at that."

    I scowled at her as we all stared around the room, looking unhappy. I could see Juana thinking. Grandpa was scowling at the wall, drumming his fingers on the table. Dwight had a wire-and-glass device out on a table in front of him and was tinkering with it.

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    "This is definitely a time to ask yourself what would Shad do, and then not do that," Sage said.

    "Very helpful," I grumped back. I pushed my hat back on my head and thought about it a bit. "Maybe you''re right," I said slowly.

    Grandpa frowned at me. "Don''t be so dismissive of yourself, boy. You''ve got a good head on your shoulders."

    "I know, but a lot of my strategies tend to be lone wolf things. I run in there, get everyone''s attention, blow things up spectacularly. That''s not gonna help here. Makes me think we need some sort of group solution." I gestured around the room, ¡°Playing to your strengths, Juana, not mine."

    "I''m an administrator," she said. "I don''t know what I''m supposed to do in this situation."

    "Well, this is an administrative problem." As I talked I felt the stirrings of an idea. ¡°Yes, it is¡­. Look, we''ve got a bunch of people in our way who are nominally part of our faction, but they really aren''t. We can''t fire them. But there must be something we can do.¡±

    Juana''s eyes went wide. "Right," she breathed. "We can''t fire them, so we put them on a process improvement plan that they can''t possibly fulfill.¡± She pulled her clipboard out of thin air and began to scribble down notes. "Shad, you''re brilliant."

    I couldn''t help grinning like a fool. "I''m also devilishly handsome.

    ¡°And good for nothing," Sage broke in.

    ¡°Hey, I just solved our problem here!¡±

    Juana was ignoring me. "We can''t fire them, but as an affiliate, we can propose rule changes for our faction. Then all Team Tunnel Rat members can vote on accepting the changes.¡±

    ¡°Like no killing each other?" Grandpa asked. "Or maybe don''t be an asshole. That should make Waters explode."

    "Not quite. What I''m thinking here is we set performance metrics." She turned and gestured. An image appeared in air like our stat screens. It read:

    [Team Tunnel Rat Contribution Points List.

    All members of Team Tunnel Rat are required to contribute to the cause.

    Contribution points are as follows:

    1 hour farming: 25 CP.

    Crafted item: CP equivalent to soul coin value of item as assessed by system.

    1 enemy combatant kill: 100 CP.

    1 enemy non-combatant kill: 500 CP.

    Participation in successful blocking of enemy team attempt on boss: 5,000 CP divided by number of miners contributing to this event.

    Friendly miner kill: -1,000 CP.

    Any miner who does not contribute a positive total of at least 50 CP per day will receive a soul coin penalty to be assessed against his or her contract holder.

    Any miner who carries a negative CP balance for three days or more shall be fined 100,000 soul coin.]

    She smiled beautifully. I read through the list again and shook my head in admiration. "Juana, you''re a genius."

    "You could say that again," she invited.

    "You''re not just a genius, you''re the most clever and beautiful woman I''ve ever met," I said recklessly as I studied the chart. "This is perfect. We need to confirm that Proxima or one of the other conglomerates holds all of the contracts for the turncoats. I don''t know what would happen if we tried to assess a penalty against the system itself."

    "I checked. All of the ones that I know for sure are traitors have contracts with Proxima. There''s a couple that might actually be legitimate recruits. This will give them a chance to prove themselves."

    "What if someone from Waters'' guild builds something really, really expensive and then kills a couple of us and winds up with a positive CP total anyway?" Sage asked.

    "I don''t think that would be a sustainable strategy for very long," Juana said. ¡°It would just cost too much. These changes do need to be ratified by a quorum of Team Tunnel Rat members, but we have the majority. I''m sending out a Misfits Guild -wide message telling everyone to vote yes when I send out the proposal here in a minute. Anyone have any other changes they think we should add?"

    "How about we give me a million CP signing bonus so I can go around and assassinate Waters and his team?" I suggested.

    "We need this to be something that will stand up legally if it''s challenged," Juana said. "I''m worried that any kind of favoritism toward you would not be well received."

    "Point taken," I conceded. "All right, let''s get this in place. And I''m going to get my team back on thwarting boss'' attempts. Arjun, got a situation report for me?"

    "Come over here and we''ll put our heads together," he said. Grandpa and I joined him in the corner while Juana put the finishing touches on her messages.

    Arjun bent over his workstation, shuffling around papers. ¡°We''ve had several teams make progress in the eight hours that we''ve been down. Our farmers report that twelve instances have had five or more bosses cleared. No one has taken down more than seven. There are at least two bosses remaining in all instances."

    I crossed my arms. ¡°Okay, the ones with only two are our top priorities. We''ve got to give them some setbacks here. Otherwise, one slip-up and we''re done.¡± I turned to Grandpa, who nodded agreement. "After that, we prioritize the teams that we don''t think are going to be taken down by Operation Trojan Horse. As soon as Juana''s got the CP thing going, I want her back on planning that."

    "Understood," Arjun said. "In that case, my team and I have several suggestions for you, Captain Williams."

    As we strategized, I got the Misfits Guild-wide message from Juana, followed two minutes later by a pop-up from our faction detailing our new contribution points rules and a vote yes, vote no. "Once the Reality Engine exploit is complete, contribution points may be redeemed for Soul Coin or other prizes subject to the treasury belonging to Team Tunnel Rat,¡± the end of the message said. "We''d like to be able to make guarantees, but right now we all know the sort of situation we''re in. We can''t promise you''ll be rewarded for your efforts the way we''d like, but we will do our best."

    "That''s clever, adding a carrot as well as the stick ,¡± I said as I clicked yes on the pop-up.

    "Sage''s idea," Juana said.

    "Hey, everybody likes prizes," Sage said, "and this way it''ll be a competition to see who can contribute the most."

    "If this works, I can open recruiting back up," Juana said. "Maybe we can get a few more of the Lotus Eaters in."

    Five minutes later, the faction-wide voting was over. It had passed by a total of 37,416 votes to 512.

    "Since when do we have 37,000 people on Team Tunnel Rat?¡± I asked. ¡°Are they all part of Misfits?¡±

    ¡°You haven''t been paying attention to the daily status briefings," Juana said. ¡°And no, we¡¯ve had to start two allied coalitions to help manage things.¡±

    "I thought you said there were only 150 or so of Waters'' traitors.¡±

    "Yeah, I''m making a list of everyone that voted no. I¡¯ll follow up. I have a feeling some of them just didn''t bother to read what I sent."

    "All right, good enough," I said. ¡°Heading out.¡±

    I called up my team as I emerged from headquarters. They appeared cheerfully, a spring back in their step, shouting encouragement to each other. ¡°Time to kick ass?¡± Javier asked.

    "Let''s get some scouting down there," I said, calling for Constance and Ray, my two best stealth miners.

    Juana followed down the headquarters steps as I gave the scouts their assignments. "Let it never be said that Shad Williams can''t learn," she said cheerfully, coming to stand beside me as Constance and Ray disappeared into the portal. She set her hand on my shoulder. "Thanks for coming up with that idea. I''ve been racking my head for hours trying to figure it out."

    "You''re the one who had the idea," I said, "and likewise. I couldn''t sleep at all. It was really bothering me."

    "Well, we''ll just take joint credit for it then," she said.

    I leaned over to plant a kiss on her cheek, but she turned as I did, and our lips met briefly. The team around us cheered or whooped. I stepped back and cleared my throat. I was pretty sure my face was bright red.

    "Let''s focus on the mission here, people. Constance, Ray, report."

    Tunnels are still filled, boss, Constance reported back. Lots of Waters'' people down here.

    "All right, I want Ray to step out of camouflage and see what happens."

    A minute later, Ray reported back.

    They''re just staring at me. Some of them are shouting some threats, but nobody''s made any attempt to attack me.

    Good, so they understand the penalty.

    But they''re standing wall-to-wall here. At least ten rows deep. I don''t know how we''re gonna get past them.

    Like any good tunnel rat would, I replied, then turned to the folk assembled in front of our nexus. "All right, team, let''s get in there."

    We lined up to begin touching the stone. I turned to Juana.

    "Keep holding down the fort. We''ll be back later with some more scalps. As soon as we have word that Operation Trojan Horse is a go, let me know, all right? I want to be in on that action."

 Bk 3 Ch 39 - How to Screw Over Yourself and Everyone You Know

    I rode an eight-headed Hydra as it fought and flailed against a group of orcs. Sage sat atop the neck of the head beside me, and six more of our team were mounted on the beast as well, one per neck. From our perches, we rained death down on the orcs.

    It was a little disorienting every time my head leaned down into the raid to pluck up one of the orcs. Sage laughed as her hydra head bit down over top of an orc caster woman. The head reared back, the orc''s legs flailing wildly as it tossed the orc back and forth like a dog worrying a rat.

    I used Trick Shot and selected one of the orc healers thirty feet away, concealed behind a rock that jutted up out of the Hydra''s swamp. I fired a concussive round. The healer lurched backward and fell into the muck.

    "Who''s keeping score?" I bellowed.

    "We''re up to 42 kills. They just keep coming," Frank yelled.

    "Great!"

    This was supposedly one of Proxima''s crack teams. They had two bosses left to go in their own instance, but they had come over into an ally''s raid and were helping down the third boss in a Labors of Hercules-themed raid. From what I could tell, the system rewarded each downed boss with a huge surplus of soul coins. That a successful raid team had abandoned its own progression attempts in order to down what was presumably a much easier boss was surprising. Made me think they were starting to have some pocketbook issues.

    With any luck, we''d be able to help them with that.

    That''s when the system message boomed out. [Attention all miners! There has been an adjustment to the rule set based on a petition from Companies Avert Forest, Higeonori, Lostaril Associates, Green Promise, Vek¡¯nar Realities, and Sicaris, et al., presented to a panel consisting of this System, Patriarch Kabaltash, and three neutral judges.

    The petition sought to repeal outpost immunity for Phase Three. The panel reviewed the petition, counterpetitions, and all evidence presented, as well as any comments during the period of open commentary.

    This petition has been granted. Starting immediately, outposts may now be attacked.]

    Sage whooped. "Yes! They took the bait!¡±

    Everyone in position? I asked in the command chat. All our defenses online?

    I''m recalling all of our farmers to help repel the attack we''re sure is coming, Juana reported. Everyone who isn''t already assigned to Operation Trojan Horse, you guys better get in position.

    Right, we were just farming kills. I''ve got this, I said.

    I pulled the stun grenade out of my inventory, waited for an opportune moment, and lobbed it into the heart of the orc raid. Most of their miners froze immediately.  We dropped in and slaughtered most of them in seconds.

    The system announced, [Failure! Team DarkStar has failed to defeat the Lernean Hydra. Better luck next time. This boss will reset in 24 standard hours.]

    The Hydra dissolved away. I dropped down into the muck, landing on my feet. Sage grinned at me. Her face was covered in Hydra blood and mud.

    "Let''s go," she said. ¡°Bet I can get more kills than you!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re on!¡±

    We raced back into the tunnels and then through the secret corridors, emerging into another raid. I checked quickly as we entered. This was a Journey to the West themed raid. I''d been here a couple of times before. We''d taken out two of the seven teams to have progressed past the Gatekeeper boss. None of the other five rated very high in our threat pool. They''d been sticking close to home and mostly farming for valuable materials. With luck, they would think our indifference meant they were safe.

    Sage and I took half the team as Frank led the other half. We headed for the nearest camp. This outpost was a charming little Bavarian village filled with animalkin, mostly rabbits and badgers, with a couple of pert-eared foxes thrown in.

    We watched from the cover of a nearby Buddhist temple that had been the home of one of the exterior bosses of this instance, now defeated.

    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    You in position yet? I asked Frank.

    Almost.

    Let us know. I waited, feeling antsy. The faster we cleared out this, the sooner we could be on to another instance. Our enemies had their own plans. I was worried about what was happening back at our outpost, but I had to trust our team.

    We had been planning this for weeks. I knew that our constant harassment would become too much of a threat for the corporate Galactics to stand. Sooner or later, they would want to attack us head on.

    The best way to do that was to disable outpost immunity. They would assume they could send in a huge number of their miners, all well-equipped, and overrun us, forcing us out of the game. That''s why our lawyers hadn''t put up more than a token fuss at the motion to remove outpost immunity. In reality, we''d been prepping for this for ages.

    I started getting reports in. We''ve overrun the Orc camp at Troy, moving on to the Dwarf encampment on the seashore.

    Burned out the weird, tall, green humans in the Last Days of Machu Picchu scenario.

    Taken their outpost stone. Don''t know how long it''ll take them to respawn, but it''s gonna cost a good bit.

    We''re in position, Frank reported.

    I peered over the wall of the monastery at the animalkin town to our north. Something had spooked them. They were running about carrying laser rifles. I guessed that word of our assaults had reached them.

    Go now, I told Frank, and ¡°go!¡± to my team.

    We sprinted out from the monastery. As we approached the village, I eyed the wooden stockade around it and the fortified gate. If everything went right, we were still a quarter mile out when the gate exploded into shrapnel.

    Nice job, Mitch, I sent.

    Which one? he asked.

    A Tyrolean village full of animals in Journey to the West.

    Oh yeah, excellent. That''s fourteen out of sixteen reporting success.

    Mitch had been the head of a band of saboteurs that had snuck up and undermined the defenses of a bunch of enemy camps, planting mines at the gates, digging tunnels and filling them with explosives under walls, setting traps up for when this day would come.

    I put on a burst of speed as the smoke began to thin a bit. The miners at the settlement must have figured out they were under attack. Two rows of them stood in the ruined gateway, their guns out facing us. They began to fire as we approached. Perfect.

    I engaged Fastest Gun in the West, sprinting into their midst and following it up with Call ''em Out. The enemy turned to keep their fire on me, exposing their backs to the rest of my team.

    Sage whooped and Tamed a fox at the end of the line. She had him begin firing into their own lines. Lara lobbed a few orange grenades. Clouds of thick orange smoke filled the air. There was shouting and confusion everywhere. I felt Call ''em Out wear off.  I darted to the side, dropped to the ground, drew my weapon, and began firing. In seconds we wiped out the force at the gate.

    "Further in," I shouted.

    We sprinted through the outpost. They had only a handful of automated defenses. They must just not have bothered to deploy them after the end of Phase Two. I was getting reports from several of our offensive teams that the outposts they were attacking had been similarly incautious. After this initial assault, I was sure they would fortify up. That''s why we were trying to take out as many as possible in our first blitz.

    The village defenders began to respawn, mixed in with a bunch of creep. Clearly, whoever was running this outpost had just triggered a big creep wave to spawn, but we had plans for dealing with that.

    Sage unleashed the squads of deployable pirate skeletons that she''d picked up in Phase Two. They weren''t much good against miners, but they were extremely effective against creep, especially because our own creep had multiple stacked buffs at this point. Just being members of Team Tunnel Rat meant that any NPCs fighting on our side were automatically 50% stronger, and that was leaving aside all of the items'' buffs we had picked up in Phase Two.

    Our skeletons cut swaths through the local creep, and we hosed down the animalkin as they respawned. We were fighting our way forward up to their central nexus, which meant it was a shorter and shorter time period between their deaths and their respawns.

    "Keep them locked down," I snapped. "As long as they''re respawning, slaughter them."

    I kept an eye on chat. Frank reported he was in a similar position to us, farming lots of kills. After a couple of minutes, the respawns slowed and then stopped.

    "All right, they figured it out," I shouted. "Take down the node."

    Sage stepped forward. She pulled a cudgel out of her inventory and swung it hard at the nexus. In this little village, it was a glowing green crystal atop a small white pylon about four and a half feet off the ground. Sage smashed the crystal, knocking it from its post. It chipped and shattered. Shards flew everywhere.

    [Node taken. The Hyborian Vegetarians'' Communal Association has lost their outpost to Misfits Guild.

    Misfits Guild, if you wish to claim this outpost, you may begin the 24-hour claiming ritual.

    Do you wish to claim this outpost?]

    I selected no.

    [Very well. Do you wish to offer this outpost back to the original owners? You may set the ransom according to the following scale. If they refuse to pay the ransom, the outpost will be sacked.]

    It offered me several options. I selected the 400,000 soul coin option.

    If they refused to pay, the outpost would burn, damaging many of their turrets and fortifications. Those could be repaired, but it would cost them time and money.

    Between this and the resurrection bill we had just given them, these guys were going to be tapped out unless they got one of the big corporate sponsors to back them so they could continue. I didn''t think that was likely, but if it was, so much the better. I wanted to drain Proxima and those other blood-sucking bean counters dry.

 Bk 3 Ch 40: Bad Blood Blues

    As we retreated from the Journey to the West, I took a minute to review the reports coming in from our teams everywhere. I was a bit astonished by the sheer number of teams we had just messed with. Back when Juana had called for the vote on contribution points. I''d been surprised to see that we had so many people on our team.

    Even the farmers were getting in on this action. We''d asked for volunteers during planning for this operation and found more than a few of the farmers were willing to charge in, even expecting to die quickly and horribly, if they could strike a blow for humanity. Now it was paying off. We had entire brigades of suicide bombers, or as Sage had insisted on calling them, Shad Dummies Mark II, who had charged into an enemy outpost before deploying a bunch of bombs from their inventory and exploding in glorious riots of noise and color.

    They were flooding our guild chat channels with images of the destruction they had caused.

    I got 14 of those orc bastards.

    I got 7 orcs and 2 gnomes.

    I took out an entire Nexus node myself.

    How did you manage that?

    They were distracted dealing with Wyatt''s explosion at their gate. I snuck in and then did my best imitation of a quarterback returning a punt for a touchdown in the end zone. Just like how I won our high school season back in ''13.

    I was going to have to wait to get back to headquarters and ask Arjun for a total, but it felt like we had struck quite a blow.

    I toggled over to the command channel. To my surprise, it was quiet. I sent a quick message: Done here. Where next?

    There was no reply. I had a sinking feeling. I sent another message, straight to Juana: Is something wrong? And another to Grandpa: You read me? Neither of them replied. Panicking, I tried to remember who else was in our command channel. Nobody was replying.

    Sage and I entered the tunnels together. She pulled up short as we appeared in the Kobold throne room. "What''s wrong?" she asked.

    "I don''t know. The command channel''s being quiet. I''ve got a bad feeling about this."

    More of our victorious warriors were returning. They bumped into us from behind. "Hey, get a move on!¡±

    ¡°That''s Williams up there. Give him a minute."

    "What''s going on, Captain?"

    "Hold on a minute," I said. "Has anyone been through to our outpost since this all started?"

    There was a series of head shakes from around the room. "Alright, everyone hold up here a minute until we can get an idea of what''s going on."

    I was tempted to pop through myself, but restrained myself. I was getting a little better at not just going with the first plan to pop into mind. I checked the chat. Again, nothing.

    "I think something''s wrong back at headquarters," I announced, and repeated it in guild chat for good measure. Cut all the chatter, guys. Anyone here at our outpost?

    I waited, but there was no reply in chat. I sent a quick message to Veda and another one to Mama Grace. Either of you heard from Juana or any of the command team?

    Veda answered back almost immediately: I haven''t heard from any of you since the start of your operation. How''s it going?

    We did good, but I''m not hearing from headquarters. I think the enemy''s launched their own attack and they''ve somehow got us locked down. How would they be accomplishing that?

    I''m not sure, Veda confessed. Remember, I''ve never been involved with Phase 3, and this is a very unusual Phase 3. I can reach out to some of my contacts, but most of them aren''t talking to me right now anyway.

    I sent Ames a quick note: I''ve got radio silence from headquarters.

    He messaged back: I know. Getting some intel from my sources. Proxima''s made their move. They''re trying to decapitate us.

    Panic started to swell in me. Grandpa, Juana, are they all right?

    Nobody has tried to remove the safeguards, Ames replied. So they aren''t dead.

    That was not nearly as reassuring as he probably hoped. Meanwhile, in the Kobold throne room, people were starting to get impatient. I turned to Frank. "Situation''s bad. I''m trying to figure out just how bad. Can you run crowd control?"

    He nodded and pulled out a whistle and blew on it hard. "Alright, everyone, listen up. We''ve got a situation here, and we''re setting up a cordon around the portal back to our outpost. I''m deputizing¡ª" He started pointing at random, and I turned back to my chat.

    Sage tugged on my arm, her face white. "What about Grandpa? Is Grandpa alright?"

    "I don''t know," I confessed. "Ames says nobody''s tried to change the rules on deaths, so..."

    She gave me a nod and then threw her arms around me. I squeezed her back. Somehow I knew this was bad and probably going to get worse. We withdrew a little as Frank set about maintaining order. He had most of Team Ragtag with him.

    I sent a quick message to Tall Smith. The Mongeese around?

    We''re just finishing up a decapitation attempt here in World War II. Took out all the opposing teams. Hitler is safe.

    Well, great. I''m not hearing from headquarters. I think something''s gone wrong, and I may need some firepower. Can you go out into Threshold and try to enter our instance through the main portal? I want to know how badly they''ve got it locked down. Your team knows how to think on their feet and stay out of trouble. Get me some intel so I know what I''m dealing with.

    Roger, Captain, Smith said.

    I turned my attention back to my chats. Still no word from Grandpa, Juana, or Mama Grace. I shot a message to one of Mama Grace''s kitchen helpers, a woman who made a really tasty gumbo that I''d only spoken to twice. Is Mama Grace around?

    Her reply came back almost at once: She went to deliver a hot lunch for the team at the outpost about three hours ago. I was expecting her back. We should be seeing the dinner rush any time now.

    Let me know if you hear from her, I said. Oh, and what''s the restaurant like right now? Who''s there?

    Almost no one, she said. It''s a little weird. Like a ghost town in here. She gave me a quick list of names, none of whom struck me as interesting. And then, oh, and a couple of oddballs from the Free Human League. I know Grace doesn''t like them in here, but I felt uncomfortable throwing them out. Warren and Lindsey Black.

    I immediately composed a message to Warren Black. Warren, what''s going on here?

    There you are, he said. I''ve been trying to reach you, but you had me blocked.

    Oops, I said, sheepishly. Sending a message to someone on your block list lifts it temporarily. I went ahead and took off the block entirely. I had blocked him off back when Waters'' gang was trying to take out our people in the tunnels, since I couldn''t trust myself not to say something stupid and give away more than I''d meant.

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    What''s going on? Is this Waters¡¯ doing?

    He''s gone too far this time, Warren said. Lindsey and I have been done with him for a while. We just weren''t sure how to make the break good. Now we are. I know you''re not going to trust us, so I''m not going to ask you to let us in on your team, but we might have some intel you can use.

    What are they planning?

    Not 100% sure. Proxima''s been talking to Waters a lot lately. Keep having him up to the hub for conversations. When you spiked their guns with that contribution point scheme, everything went quiet for a couple of days. And then Waters came back looking more pleased than ever. He''s been recruiting from people who feel like they''ve gotten a good deal here. Mostly, some of the ones who were cured of cancer or old age and are feeling grateful to the aliens, and some that you and your team have managed to offend along the way. They were calling themselves a ''kill squad.''

    If they''ve hurt my people, I''ll... Words failed me. There was no threat dire enough. Nor was there one I could make good on. Who''s their contact person?

    It goes through Dreamwarden of Proxima. I know that. I''ve heard Waters throw his name around in a few conversations. But the deal was being brokered by Sicaris, that outfit we used to be working for.

    I thought we handed their asses to them.

    Well, they¡¯re back now.

    I copied and pasted the relevant information into a chat for Veda and Ames. Get on things on your end, I told them.

    Already on it, Ames said. We''ll handle the politics up here if we can, but you''re going to have to figure out what''s going on down there.

    I turned back to my chat with Black. Does Waters know that you''re done with him?

    He knows we refuse to be part of the kill team.

    You want to try to redeem yourself a little bit?

    Absolutely, Black said at once.

    Then I want you to get in there and see if you can find out what''s happening to my people.

    I did not mention that I was having Team Mongoose scout. No sense in giving over information that I didn''t want Waters to have. Find out where they''re holding my people and what they''re planning to do with them.

    Sage appeared from the throne room, wandering over to my dark corner. She tugged my sleeve.

    We''re on our way, Warren said. Keep you posted.

    "What''s going on, Sage?" I asked.

    "I really wish you''d tell me, Shad. You''ve got that scary, serious look on your face, and I''m really frightened right now." Her voice shook a little.

    "I''m sorry," I said. "I don''t know what''s going on. I''ve just been chatting with a bunch of people all at once, and it''s hard to keep track of everything. I''m not trying to shut you out. We don''t know what''s happened to Grandpa and the others. I''m assuming they''re all back at our outpost, and Waters'' crew has got them locked down somehow. We know they''re alive," I reassured her.

    "Yeah, but he could be doing horrible things to them," Sage said.

    "I''ve got a few plans forming, but we need information. Smith is on it and I just sent in Warren Black and his wife to try some spying. Ames and Veda are looking into things from their end. Proxima is behind it. Maybe we can sue them or something.¡±

    Sage nodded. She seemed to draw in on herself a little bit.

    Tall Smith messaged me. We¡¯re inside our instance and heading for our outpost, taking a circuitous route. Your old friend, Black, and his wife just entered.

    Yeah, they say they want to help, and I asked them to let us know what Waters is up to. Don''t worry, I didn''t tell them about you guys.

    The outpost is still standing, Smith reported to me. It looks intact, no sign of visible damage. I can''t see anyone from here. We''re considering sending up Jones'' drone, but there''s a good chance Waters knows about it and is watching.

    Let''s see what Black says. Hold your position.

    Veda messaged me: Dreamwarden is not returning my calls. I''m trying to talk to Sicaris'' lawyers, but they''re being stubborn. They say they don''t talk to debt slaves.

    I had a sudden brainwave and turned to Sage. "I think I have an idea, something you can do to help."

    She brightened up right away. "Anything."

    "Find out where our friendly Grignarians and the other privateers are right now. I haven''t been watching their chat channels. Maybe go talk to them in person." It''s almost certain that Waters will have overlooked them. They''re not human, they''re outside of his calculations, and maybe Proxima has forgotten about them as well."

    Sage nodded. "Got it."

    She scrambled up and made for the stairs leading to the exit to Threshold. I popped my head back around the corner and saw where Frank was managing the situation. We had a couple of thousand miners in our corridors now, all standing around watching.

    I cleared my throat. ¡°The situation here is not going to be resolved for a while. If some of you want to go out and do some spawn camping, that''d be fine, but make sure you set your respawn point to be here and not back at our outpost. You can do that by attuning at the throne itself." I pointed over to the other side of the room where the Kobold King''s throne sat empty. Captain Kobold was standing beside it, holding his pike upright like a sentry.  "Don''t worry about Captain Kobold. He and I have an understanding. He''ll let you get to it. Just keep your chat channels open, and if I say the word, you get back here double time, alright? We can''t let them corner us. There''s too much at stake here."

    I got a ragged little cheer, and some of the miners got to their feet and began queuing up in front of the throne to set their respawn point.

    Warren Black messaged me: Waters is here. He won''t talk to us. They''ve got your whole outpost locked down hard. They''ve subverted it somehow. Got the turrets and such answering to them. Everyone I see is human. No sign of Galactics.

    Waters had probably found another loophole in the rules. I swore. ¡°Don''t care what the rules say. I''m going to find a way to kill that asshole and get him out of my hair once and for all," I said aloud. Any sign of my people?

    No. Waters won''t let us in. Says he can''t trust us.

    So he wasn''t a complete moron. Well, I hadn''t thought he was. Alright, thanks. Stand by.

    I went back to my message thread with Smith. Send in the drone. I want you to try to figure out where he''s got the hostages.

    Understood, Smith said.

    I ran through all of my chat channels, catching up on the latest couple of messages, mostly just as a way to distract myself from my fears and worries. Ames wasn''t replying.

    I remembered how I had blocked Black, swore, went to my block list and unblocked Waters. To my surprise, there were no messages waiting for me. I debated sending one myself, then held off. He knew I was out here, and he must know that I had figured out what he was up to. If he wasn''t talking to me, it was because he didn''t want to. I would wait.

    We''ve got the drone up, Smith reported. The outpost looks intact. No sign of damage. I see humans at various guard points, but I don''t recognize any of them. Here are the pictures.

    I didn''t recognize any of them either, but that didn''t mean much. I needed Arjun or Juana to look them over. I didn''t like being the one trying to make the decisions here. I felt alone and ill-equipped for it.

    Circling. One of the turrets took a pot shot, but we juked and avoided it. Sending the drone down in close. I''m buzzing the headquarters building. They¡¯ve got the windows boarded up. Switching to thermal. Yeah, there''s about 200 warm bodies in there. They must be packed in like sardines.

    I let out a long sigh. Almost certainly that was where Waters was keeping Grandpa, Juana, and the others. Alright, thanks, I said. Call back the drone and stay under cover. Maybe move position.

    You mind your business and we''ll mind ours, Smith said.

    Sorry.

    I know you''re worried, but worry about yourself and the hostages, not about us. Smith out.

    I turned my thoughts back to what I was going to do. My mind raced frantically. I needed someone to bounce ideas off of, but all of my usual brainstorming partners were gone.

    Sage sent a message. Found the Grignarians, talking to them.

    Ames: Still no word from Waters or Proxima''s lawyers.

    Veda: I have a meeting with Proxima in 15 minutes. I''ll let you know what they say.

    Try to get Patriarch Kvaltash, I replied, as a brainstorm hit me. Are there any kind of intergalactic rules about prisoners of war that might come to bear on this situation?

    I have no idea. I''ll check with the Patriarch.

    Ames messaged me: What are you thinking, Shad? You''ve been awfully quiet for a long time. My people down there say you haven''t come out with a plan of derring-do which has them uncomfortable and me worried.

    Well, sir, that''s because I haven''t thought of a good answer yet. Right now, my best plan is to charge in, guns blazing, destroy our own node, and then blow up the whole church full of hostages so that they respawn somewhere neutral.

    That does sound like the sort of plan you would think of, yes, Ames said.

    But it''s a dumb one, sir, I continued.

    Oh?

    First of all, we set that rule about contribution points. If I kill 200 of our own people, then our coalition is suddenly in a world of hurt. I don''t know if we have the money to pay that kind of fine. Does it all go straight back to us or...?

    No, you''re right about that. The fines are confiscated and placed in an escrow account until the end of this phase, Ames said.

    Damn. So if I did that?

    You''d wipe us out, Ames confirmed.

    I knew it seemed like a bad plan. And not just for that. I kind of have a reputation for doing that sort of thing, which means it''s what Waters expects of me. I''m going to come right in, do something foolhardy, challenge him to a duel, blow myself up. So I can''t do any of those things. Not unless... I paused.

    Unless? Ames prompted after a moment.

    I don''t have a whole plan here yet, I confessed. I''m thinking about it. I need some way to make my usual into the unexpected.

    Don''t try to triple-think yourself, Ames advised me.

    Right. Well, sir, what do you suggest?

    Me? I''m the man back at HQ. I give the general orders. You''re the damn fool on the ground who''s got to carry him out somehow. So get our people back. Keep us in the game. Find some way to kill that son of a bitch Waters.

    Yes, sir!

    I smiled to myself. It was good to have a set of objectives, even if I had no idea yet how I was going to carry them out.

 Bk 3 Ch 41: 6 People You Should Always Tip: Waitresses, Hairdressers, and Other People Who Can Make

    "I''m afraid, my child, I have no more influence over the situation than you do," Patriarch Kvaltash said, spreading his hands and smiling beneficently. He wasn''t really in Veda''s pod, but the holographic illusion made it look as though he were.

    She had not left the pod since her trial. Now she was glad that her personal system was able to adjust her appearance on the fly. She hadn''t taken a shower in two days, hadn''t brushed her hair in longer than that. She was wearing shapeless sleepwear. But to the Patriarch, and to Proxima''s leader, Dreamwarden, in a few minutes, she presented the picture of a put-together woman of the galaxy.

    "My contractees are out of communication. I am concerned that their rights may be being violated," she said. "Our best information says they are in the hands of Major Waters, who has done them harm in the past."

    "I simply do not have any jurisdiction here," the Patriarch said. "The rule set for this particular phase three is very broad. Now that restrictions on attacking outposts have been lifted, it''s a perfectly valid strategy, one your own team was using. It sounds to me as though you have been outflanked and are bitter about it. Have they attempted to retake by force?¡±

    ¡°With hundreds of their own as hostages?"

    "Hostages to the rules that they themselves put into place," the Patriarch pointed out. "The so-called hostages will not be permanently killed. They will respawn. The only reason your people do not wish to take this risk is because of the fines they will incur, is that not so?"

    "I thought you were interested in seeing what this reality engine does," Veda said, her temper rising.

    "I am," said the Patriarch. "And this seems like a fascinating scenario to observe. There''s been absolutely nothing like it in any reality engine exploit in history. The theological treatise I see myself writing when this exploit is concluded will be one for the ages. I dare say it may become an ecumenical classic. I am already consulting a colleague from the Church of the Void about co-authoring with me."

    "Thank you for your time, Patriarch," Veda said.

    "Of course, my daughter." He smiled and disappeared again.

    Veda threw her head back and screamed. She followed up with a string of swear words that would have made her mother''s eyebrows disappear entirely into her hairline.

    She understood now why it was Shad always seemed so impetuous. Sometimes when you felt so helpless and angry, all you wanted to do was reach out and hurt someone. If the people responsible for a little bit of the situation had been in the room with her, she might have throttled them.

    Veda made herself get up and perform a two-minute sequence of relaxing stretches, focusing her mind. Then she made herself a pot of hot D¡¯nege and poured it before settling back in front of her desk. As the video call chimed, announcing Dreamwarden, she fixed a smile on her face and chose the false background and filter to be applied to her during this call.

    "Answer," she told her system, and prepared herself to do battle once more.

    The missive from Juana popped up in the middle of a flurry of other messages, and I almost missed it. Then, not believing my eyes, I maximized it, tuning out all the distractions around me.

    Shad, Waters wants me to send words to you. Don''t trust anything he says. He''s got 173 of us tied up here at headquarters. He says I can give you the whole list of names, so here it is.

    She followed up with a list with herself, Grandpa, Mama Grace, Arjun, Kirin, Dwight, most of our other headquarters staff at the top, and then names, one after the other. Some I knew, most I didn''t. A lot of them were crafters or farmers, people who had thrown their lot in with us because they believed we could make a better life.

    I don''t know what he''s planning to do to us, Juana continued. But don''t trust him, Shad. He can''t kill us, and he knows that, but it doesn''t upset him. Says there''s worse things he can do. He''s got some way of keeping us locked down. None of us can use any of our abilities or access our inventory. I couldn''t use my chat until ¡ª

    Her message cut off. I screamed aloud in sheer rage and frustration, sent a reply back.

    Juana, are you all right? Juana?

    And then I did what Waters was probably expecting. I unblocked him and sent him a message.

    You fucking son of a bitch. I''m going to take you apart one piece at a time, and I''m going to enjoy it.

    Watch your language, Sergeant, Waters sent back.

    I didn''t rise to the bait. He knew I was a captain now, and he was just trying to get me angry. That was stupid, because I was already angry. So angry I could scream. I wanted to crawl up through our portal and force my way in, tear things to pieces with my bare hands.

    I''ve got them all here nice and safe, Waters said. Your grandfather, your girlfriend, her mom, everyone who''s been making my life miserable, except for you and your brat sister. Now here''s how it''s going to go. We''re going to work out a retreat strategy to give Proxima what they need. They''re going to finish up here, and they''re going to leave. It''s much better than any of the alternatives.

    Better for you, I retorted, because you''re getting a cushy job as the quisling governor of Earth''s system out of it. The rest of us get herded onto reservations and have to hope the government handouts aren''t too rotten and moldy.

    Now, Shad, Waters said. I could practically hear the condescension dripping in his voice, even through text. You have to remember, these are enlightened people. They''ve had millennia more to work with each other and come to an understanding of the value of every human life.

    That''s exactly the problem. They can put a value on it down to the last soul coin. I don''t want any part of this, Waters. If you were any kind of patriot, you''d be standing with us, helping make a better deal for our homeworld.

    This is pointless, Waters snapped. I''m about to block you again, Shad, if you don''t shut up and listen. Think about what I''ll be doing in the meantime. Right now, your people are still full of bravado. They think you''ll come up with some sort of a plan. I don''t know how. I''ve made sure we have all of the actual brains locked up here. You might start asking yourself who on your team it is that gave us the information we need. How did I know that pretty much all your decision makers would be in this one spot at this time? Operation Trojan Horse has always been a triple cross, Shad.

    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    I started to retort and forced myself to take a deep breath. Anger was good. I needed my anger. I could use my anger. But I needed it to be cold fury, not white-hot rage. I needed to be able to think, to plan, to be Juana and Grandpa and Dwight and Arjun all at the same time. The one thing I couldn''t afford to be right now was Shad.

    So what''s your offer? I asked.

    I thought you''d see reason. First of all, I want to remind you that while killing these people doesn''t get me anything, there''s a lot I can do short of killing. Right now, my men and I are the only ones whose skills work. We''ve got everyone here tied up and locked down. Your Grandpa put up quite a fight, by the way. He''s nursing a pair of broken arms, and I hope he doesn''t have to go to the bathroom any time soon, because I don''t think anyone here is going to help him.

    I closed my eyes. Cold fury. Cold fury. Control yourself.

    We have a number of demands, Waters said. First, call off all attacks. Then we''ll know that you''re serious about wanting to talk. Go ahead and message me back when that''s done.

    I hesitated. I needed time, and I needed to sow doubt in Waters'' mind while I tried to figure out how he was two steps ahead of us.

    I''m going to need to check with our patron.

    The Tvedra woman? She''s out of this. She''ll be spending the next two lifetimes as an indentured serf right next to you, slogging away in the soul coin mines.

    Not her, I said. You think that worthless bitch was ever really in charge of anything? You think Ames would let someone like her call the shots?

    Waters didn''t answer right away. I tried to picture his face, that great, ruddy, red and white mass of flesh with eyebrows like dead caterpillars. I pictured his sneer twisting into a confused scowl as he thought.

    What do you mean? he asked at last.

    I mean Proxima''s not the only player here. I also mean these chat messages aren''t as secure as you think. We need to talk, Waters. Man to man.

    Not a chance. This is a trap.

    All right then. Tell you what. I''ll call off some of my attack dogs as a show of good faith while I make some calls. I think you should do the same.

    I put the block back on. I wanted him to stew for a while and just hoped he wouldn''t take it out on my people.

    I sent messages ordering some of our teams to pull back and regroup, others to reinforce. I doubled down on Proxima.

    I want teams on every single one of Proxima''s bases even if we''re not actually making a dent. I need them to know that we''re here and we have numbers, I ordered.

    Frank had been deputizing some of the other miners into an ad hoc command structure. They passed the message along.

    "We''ve got about 5,000 willing to work with us on the communications channels," Frank told me. "You tell me what you want done and I''ll do it."

    "Good," I said. "How are our people?"

    "I don''t know. Waters makes it sound rough. We won''t know until we rescue them."

    I thought about what else he''d said, that they had someone on the inside who''d been feeding them information. Damn, I wasn''t good at this kind of double think. I hated the idea that someone I trusted could have turned on us, given away information. It was like when Warren Black had helped betray us back in phase one. Made my stomach turn just at the thought. Most likely, whoever it was, was pretending to be a hostage right now. But it was possible they were right here, listening in on everything.

    A horrible thought crossed my mind. It couldn''t be Frank, could it? He''d been with us from the beginning. Sure, his attitude had changed a lot in the last year. He''d gone from complaining and whining about fights to being eager to jump in and help. But that was understandable. He had adjusted to life here, come to terms with the fact that his family was back on Earth, and accepted that, in a way, he was fighting to protect them even now.

    It couldn''t be Frank. I hoped. That''s why I was no good at this shit. I''d never find the mole. What I really needed was insider information. Black had failed to get in, now I had no leads.

    Any changes? I asked Smith.

    We''re watching remotely. I''ve asked the team if there''s anyone who''s got an ability that might help us out here. Supposedly, somebody has a friend of a friend who has a long-distance eavesdrop, trying to arrange to have them come in and aid us, but they''re not responding.

    Keep me posted. I stood up.

    "Where are you going?" Frank asked, looking worried.

    "To get some air," I said. "I''m doing nothing but answering chats, anyway. I can do that anywhere. At least if I''m walking, I''ll feel like I''m doing something."

    "All right. Don''t do anything reckless without consulting the rest of us, okay?"

    "I won''t. I''m all right," I assured him.

    I walked the bustling streets of Threshold, not so bustling now. A pall seemed to have fallen over them, even though there were still plenty of people about. They moved about, keeping their heads down. Some of them had probably heard what was going on with Misfits. Others were worried about the lawsuit and the fate of everyone with contracts from Alabaster Sky.

    My feet led me to Mama Grace''s restaurant. I went in. A few people were sitting at tables. They looked up, then looked away. Rosa, Juana''s sister, came out of the kitchen.

    "I''m so sorry. We''re not serving¡ª Oh, sorry, Shad. It''s you. Come in." She ushered me to the table closest to the kitchen door. "You want something to eat?"

    I didn''t, but I nodded. "Yeah, thanks. Sure."

    Rosa looked terrible, her face pale and drawn.

    "Get yourself something too, and we''ll talk," I said impulsively.

    She nodded, disappeared back into the kitchen, and then emerged again a moment later, carrying a tray full of food and a pitcher of sweet tea. She set it down, grabbed some clean glasses from the station by the door, and poured for us.

    The food was simple, just sandwich fixings and a fresh loaf of bread. I stared at it. The scent hit my nose, my stomach rumbled, and suddenly I was starving. I grabbed a slice of bread, piled it high with meat, cheese, toasted veggies, put another slice of bread on top, and bit into it. It was delicious. I took another three bites and swallowed it all down with some sweet tea before wiping my mouth with the back of my hand.

    "We''re going to get them back," I told Rosa.

    "Are they all right?" she asked. She picked up her cup of sweet tea and held it between both hands, not sipping it.

    "I don''t know," I said. "Waters said that my grandfather''s been injured, but he didn''t mention your mother or your sister. Just that they''re there. I got a message from Juana but she couldn¡¯t say much.¡±

    Tears sparkled in Rosa¡¯s eyes. ¡°There''s no need to keep Mama. She doesn''t know anything. She''s not any good at this fighting nonsense."

    "I need to know what''s in there," I said in frustration. "What he''s doing to them. But we can''t get in. He''s got some sort of device shutting down everyone''s skills. Juana could only send me the message he permitted."

    Rosa''s eyes narrowed.

    "Whatever device he''s using has to work with the system to deny people''s system-based skills and abilities, right?"

    "Sure. I don''t see where you''re going with this."

    "My abilities aren''t very interesting. I''ve scarcely used any of them since I got them. I''m a seamstress. It isn¡¯t glamorous like Juana''s skills."

    I snorted. "I''m going to tell her you said hers were glamorous when we''re done here."

    "No, really. Juana''s always been the organized one. Mama''s the one who likes to keep everyone happy and fed. I just like to make sure everyone talks to each other, you know? That was always a problem in our family growing up. People talked all the time. Nobody ever talked to each other. They never listened.¡±

    I could hear the pain in her voice and wondered. Juana had never told me anything about her childhood. I¡¯d assumed with Mama Grace around it was pretty great. But someone who saw Sage and me with Grandpa might think our life had been easy, too. Takes more than one good parent to make an idyllic childhood.

    ¡°Anyway. I¡¯ve got this skill. I always thought it was silly for a seamstress. It sounded more like a bartender kind of ability, and maybe I earned it because of all the work I¡¯ve done here? It''s called [Let Me Pour the Tea]. I can communicate with anyone I''ve ever served tea to no matter where they are."

    I nearly leapt up from my place. "Right now? You can talk to Juana or your mom?"

    She turned pink. "Apparently, I''ve never actually served my mother a drink. But I brought Juana lunch at your headquarters plenty of times, and that counts." She spread her hands. ¡°So what is it you want me to tell her?"

 Bk 3 Ch 42: How to Avoid Roaming Charges

    "Hang on a second," I said to Rosa. "Something didn''t quite add up here. How come you haven''t already been speaking to Juana?"

    Rosa colored and looked down at the table. "I felt ashamed because she''s there in trouble and I''m here safe."

    That could make sense, but I felt a rush of suspicion. Rosa was close to her sister and her mother. She was in a good position to overhear many of our team''s strategy meetings. She''d always played her cards close to her vest, the perfect candidate for a mole.

    If Waters was to be believed, someone inside our organization had been filling him in on the details of our plans for months now. I didn''t like to think this way, to be suspicious of everyone who had worked and fought beside me. Waters was probably lying. It was the sort of thing an asshole like him would do, just the same as I had lied back and told him we were working for one of the alien organizations. He wanted to keep me off balance, to make me doubt my allies, but I still couldn''t quite shake my worries.

    "How''s this work?¡±

    ¡°You tell me what you want to ask Juana, I ask her, I''ll tell you what she says back," Rosa said simply. "It costs Juana a couple of soul coin per message."

    "How come?"

    Rosa shrugged. "It''s just how it reads. Says she has to tip her server, which is me, I guess.¡±

    ¡°How about I ask you to speak to my grandpa instead? You''ve served him plenty of times, and he''s right there in the thick of it."

    Rosa blushed. "So, that tip thing? It is a hundred times as much for men, and when I try to target your grandpa with it, the system tells me that there''s an additional surcharge on top of that because he''s a, and this is the system I''m quoting, ''a dirty old man who should not be trying to pick up a waitress.''"

    I couldn''t help it. I let out a belly laugh. It felt good to relieve my stress, and my worries about Rosa seemed suddenly foolish. "The system does like to screw with us, doesn''t it?"

    ¡°It does.¡± Rosa shook her head. "Anyway, I could talk to him, but it sounds like the soul coin cost comes out of our personal funds, not the guild''s."

    I did some quick math of my own and checked my own balance. I hadn''t bothered in weeks. There wasn''t anything I needed to buy. The guild provided me with my ammunition and food. Most of what we technically earned went to Veda, and I dumped the rest of it back into guild coffers every few weeks. Juana had an accountancy program running to keep track of who had donated what. My funds were pretty low, about 2,500 soul coin. If Grandpa had a similar amount, that wouldn''t get us very far, not with the kind of costs Rosa was talking about.

    "All right, Juana it is," I said cheerfully, and began to compose my message. "Tell her¡­" I paused, feeling awkward again. I wanted to speak to Juana myself, to make sure she was doing all right, and to reassure her that I was doing everything I could to get her out. But right now that didn''t feel like much, and I was going to have to relay it through her sister. Not an ideal way to communicate. "Tell her we''re working hard to figure out a plan here, but we need some inside information. What does she know about how Waters shut the guild down? Oh, and you might explain to her how it is you''re communicating so she doesn''t waste money asking about that."

    ¡°Right.¡± Rosa''s eyes crossed. She had a look of intense concentration on her face for a moment, then she relaxed. "Well, that was me sending the message. You better give it a second to let Juana respond."

    I waited, drumming my fingers on the table. Time ticked by. It had to have been five minutes already. I glanced at the clock and found it had been not even two. I swore under my breath. Then Rosa held up a hand.

    "She answered. She says, ''Tell Shad we''ve been waiting for him to burst in with some high-risk, high-reward plan for the last couple of hours, and that I''m disappointed to have won my bet with his grandpa that he''d come up with a more sensible scheme. There''s 18 of Waters'' gang here, but they have access to their abilities and we don''t. None of us know why. When Waters was letting me speak to you, he put me in a corner and draped a silver cape around me. That let me access my chat and other abilities, but they had weapons on me, so I couldn''t do much. I don''t have an advanced Inspect. All the cloak told me was it was a Mantle of Friendship. As soon as he took it off, my chat was gone.''"

    "Okay," I said. I turned to my other chats and pulled up Veda''s. What does a mantle of friendship do?

    A minute later she replied, Never heard of it. Running a search now.

    I turned back to Rosa. "Okay. That''s useful information. Is there''s anything else they have to tell us that''s interesting?¡±

    After a moment, Rosa said, ¡°Juana says they''ve been able to have a few conversations quietly where Waters'' people haven''t heard. Your grandpa''s fine. He says his wrist is only sprained, not broken. Arjun kept bringing up something that didn''t make sense to him. He said that he thought he understood how they''d done it, but not what they''d done. Then he mentioned that we''d had 16 peripheral members leave the guild over the last couple of days. He¡¯d looked into it, and they''d all gone to the wrong outpost. She says, ¡®Sorry, I don¡¯t know what he means, it¡¯s hard to have in-depth conversations right now¡¯.¡± Rosa looked up. "Any of that make sense to you?"

    It did not, and that frustrated me. I frowned. "I need help looking at our guild records and making sense of them. Do you know anyone with skills that¡¯ll help out?¡±

    Rosa shook her head. "Everyone I know like that was inside the instance already."

    ¡°Yeah, damn, same.¡± I tried to keep calm as I sent Frank a quick note asking him the same question.

    Veda had replied back to our thread.Mantle of Friendship. It''s a very rare pattern. Something one of Proxima''s subordinate companies has made on a couple of exploits. It allows one organization, guild, company, whatever, to offer temporary membership to miners affiliated with other companies. So say you''re a member of Sicaris, but you''d really like to get the benefits of Alabaster Sky for a few hours. You can get them to issue you a Mantle of Friendship, and the system will treat you like you''re part of Alabaster Sky.

    Why bother with that and not just join up as Alabaster Sky? I asked.

    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Politics, maybe? Someone who''s got a strong reason to belong to their organization. I could see having done that, if I''d had an alliance with another outfit back when I still cared about my family''s interests, I might have seen a benefit to keeping my own identity and just faking theirs.

    Okay. Thanks.

    Rosa looked up at me expectantly. "Anything else, Shad?"

    "Not yet." Frank still hadn''t gotten back to me. I got up and started pacing.

    ¡°The cloak that Waters put on Juana would have let him pretend she was a member of his organization while she was wearing it. The Free Human League. That says to me, whatever they did, targets Misfits Guild while exempting their own people.¡±

    Rosa shook her head. ¡°I guess. This is all out of my wheelhouse.¡±

    I paced and sent a quick message to Warren Black. You and Linsey still outside the camp?

    Yeah. There''s a no-go zone about 20 feet across. Couple of Waters¡¯ men patrolling your walls with cannons aimed down, warning nobody to cross.

    You''re still a member of his coalition, aren''t you? Free Humans? Can''t you get in?

    The outer turrets are programmed to attack anyone, apparently. I''ve been tempted to try to trick one of the guards up there coming down just to test if it attacks them.¡±

    That was an amusing image. If you do that, let me know. Is there any way you or Linsey could get inside the walls?

    I don''t see how. Why?

    I need to know if whatever Waters is using to lock my people down affects other members of the Free Human League.

    Black replied, Well, I''d be game if I could figure out a way past the turrets.

    I paced some more. Why would Waters be trying to keep out the rest of his coalition?

    Because he didn''t trust them. He''d lost the confidence of people like Black. Maybe even most of his coalition. If they found out the scheme he was running, they¡¯d never back him. He needed minions, but the more he had, the more likely someone would sell him out.

    I sent Veda another message. Are there other ways to be members of two different groups at once? Like, say, if I had a coalition and I didn''t trust most of them, so I wanted to make a secret inner guild of just my cronies, but I still wanted to look like I was a member of the outer coalition?

    Oh, sure, Veda said at once. You''re talking about a wholly owned corporate subsidiary. It takes a little bit of legal paperwork, but we use that sort of thing all the time.

    So, suppose Waters and his toadies are in a secret inner guild, and they''ve programmed our outpost''s defenses to attack anyone who''s not part of their secret inner guild, even members of the Free Human League. What would that get them? No, wait. How would they actually have co-opted our defenses in the first place?

    That would be difficult to do without conquering your outpost, Veda said. And they certainly haven''t done that. It takes 24 hours. He would have noticed.

    I hoped we would have noticed. I was missing something here. Veda, have you got access to our coalition''s membership logs?

    No, I''m a sponsor of Misfits Guild, but not a member or an officer.

    Well, how do I get you that information? I asked.

    Since you''re the only guild officer currently online with the system, you have the ability to appoint backup coalition leaders, even people who are not members of your coalition, in a protectorate status.

    Well, tell me exactly what to do. I want you to be able to look at our records and run some numbers for me.

    Veda walked me through it. A moment later, she said, All right, I''ve got the records. What is it you want?

    Arjun said something about people leaving but going to the wrong outpost. I want to know what that means.

    Sure, I''ll let you know when I''ve got it, Veda said.

    "Juana sent me another message," Rosa said. "She says, ''I''m getting antsy. What''s Shad up to? If he''s about to try something stupid, let us know to keep our heads down.'' And then she added a little winky face.¡±

    The winky face did make me feel a little bit better. "Tell her we''re working on a plan and that I''ve got everyone on this end in on it. I''m not just going to charge in there and blow things up until I know that''ll fix our problems, which it won''t right now. Tell her..."

    I paused because I wasn''t sure how to say the rest of it. There was no way I was going to have Juana''s sister relaying anything personal between us.

    Rosa grinned at me. "Got it. I''ll send her that. And ¡®P.S. Juana, your boyfriend looks like someone left him out in the sun too long. I think he''s trying to be sensitive and affectionate, but has no idea how.¡¯¡±

    "Don''t send that."

    "Too late." Rosa stood up from the table. She gathered up my abandoned meal plate. "Look, you don''t have to be here to send messages through me. Let me know if you need me to ask anything else. And you go punch faces or whatever it is you do."

    "I kind of wish I knew what it is I do,¡± I said.But I understood when I was being kicked out.

    I was two blocks down the street when Veda got back to me. I figured out what Arjun was talking about. Over the last week, Misfits Guild has gained and lost multiple players. That''s normal, especially with all of the people coming on. Right after Juana implemented the lockdown on Team Tunnel Rat so no one else could join, you lost 16 players in a matter of hours. You know what happens when someone is inside another guild''s outpost without permission?

    The turrets fire on them.

    If you''re in outpost attack mode, yes. You were in outpost immune mode. So you just had the screen up. Intruders would be given a brief message telling them they were on another coalition''s territory without permission. And then, if they did not remove themselves, be removed back to their own guild''s outpost or to neutral ground if they were part of no guild.

    Something wasn¡¯t adding up here. I frowned, but Veda continued.

    But these players weren''t taken to neutral ground. They were teleported to an outpost, a specific outpost, the same for each of them. It belongs to a coalition registered with Proxima called Gloomwing Damnation.

    That''s pretentious and stupid, I replied.

    Yes, well, it looks like it was originally an orc coalition that was bought out by Proxima earlier in Phase 3. The original founders all left. It¡¯s headed by a group of Proxima''s officials, and its membership roster is sealed. But we know these 16 were members because that''s where they went.

    Wait a minute, I said, frowning. They were members of Misfits Guild.

    They were, until two seconds before they were teleported away. In that two seconds, they left your guild, joined this other one, and I have no doubt did something specific. I don''t know what that was, but I''m betting you it''s the key to what Waters is up to.

    I felt a grin spread across my face as I curled my right hand into a fist. We don''t know the membership roster of this guild?

    No.

    But you know the name of the 16 turncoats?

    Yes.

    Find them.

    I am turning that information over to Colonel Ames. He may be able to locate them faster than I can.

    Right. I''ll be here waiting.

    I didn''t like waiting, so instead I messaged Sage. Did you find our Grignarian friends?

    Yes. We''re hanging out in that one level with the armadillos. The Grignarians have a farming base here. They really like scaring the armadillos into balls and then throwing the balls at enemies while enhancing them with various elemental powers. It doesn''t hurt the armadillos, and I have to admit, it''s kind of hilarious. I''m trying to teach them how to play baseball.

    I snorted. Tell them that I have a feeling we''re going to need an intimidation squad here in a minute, especially if they have any kind of devices that can inflict a whole lot of pain without killing anyone.

    I could have spoken directly to the Grignarians, but since Sage was there, it seemed like a good chance to build up our communications channels and to let Sage feel like she was really part of this. You just tell us where to be, and I''ll bring the face melting, Sage promised. Maybe they''ll let me have one of those cool goo guns. I''ve been wanting to try it out ever since I saw what it did to you.

    Don''t remind me, I said.

    A moment later, Ames got back to me. I''ve located three of them. He gave me names and locations.

    I looked them over and selected one, then sent the information to Sage. Get your party favors. It''s time to drop in uninvited.

 Bk 3 Ch 43: Party Crashing

    We crept through the swamp, approaching our targets. They were bent over a dead probably-not-a-brontosaurus, but I didn¡¯t feel like asking Sage what it was. There were four of them, dressed in camo with orange vests, all level 3. So they¡¯d got some experience under their belts, probably mostly as farmers, but they wouldn¡¯t be expecting us.

    The Grignarians drew their creepy, melting goo guns. "Hang on, I want to talk," I cautioned them.

    "It is easier to talk to one than to many," Greenwarden suggested. He had a point, but nevertheless, I shook my head.

    ¡°Only shoot if they start it.¡± The safeties were on, so if we killed any of these miners, they''d just respawn back in their camp. I didn''t see a need for violence. I was trying out the new version of Shad, the one that thought first, shot second. I wasn¡¯t sure I liked it.

    I held up both hands as we approached. The hunters looked up. Three of them leapt for the weapons they had left lying on a muddy hillock. It hurt to see anyone abuse their weapons that way, even though I knew that every time I stored my Ruger Alaskan in my inventory, it emerged clean of any debris or gunpowder residue, and presumably theirs would work the same way.

    "Hold on, I want to talk," I shouted.

    The one who hadn''t gone for his gun was Sam, our target. He was still sitting on his heels beside the body of the dead dinosaur. He looked to his friends. "It''s alright, I reckon they''re here to talk to me."

    He had a distinctly southern drawl. Louisiana, I thought, or maybe Mississippi. He looked like a good old boy, middle-aged, just a little too young to have been regenerated by the soul coins, balding, sunburnt, with a paunch under his overalls, and bright orange dinosaur blood all over his arms.

    "Yeah, I am,¡± I agreed.

    "And them?" He nodded at the Grignarians.

    "They''re here to help the conversation move along in the right direction."

    "How about," Sam said, standing up slowly, "you let my friends go back to our camp, and I''ll stay here and talk to you."

    ¡°But Sam,¡± one of them began.

    Sam shook his head. ¡°This is my problem to deal with. Besides, what are they going to do? Kill me? I''ll just end up back in our camp. They can keep killing us if it amuses them, but it''s not going to get them anything. Same thing, they can''t really hurt us, but if we manage to kill one of them, they''ll have a long walk back to get here. So, I think it benefits all of us to do it the civilized way.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s mighty generous of you," I said, and motioned for Sage to stand down. Our backup plan had been for her to lasso Sam and hold him in place while we dealt with his friends. I was glad he was cooperating. His friends shouldered their weapons and left, shooting dark glances back at me as they went.

    We stood there in the swamp, the muck up to my boots. Sage hopped up on a nearby hillock and pulled a folding chair out of her inventory. Sam just stood there, dripping sadly. He looked like he was expecting us to start talking, so I kept quiet, hoping to put him off balance. The Grignarians spread out in a circle around him. They weren''t pointing their guns at him, but they weren''t not pointing their guns at him either.

    At last, Sam wiped his sweaty brow with the back of one mud-and-blood-stained hand, leaving a brown-and-orange smear. "So, uh, what can I help you with?"

    "You must have known we''d find out, Sam," I said quietly. "What''d they offer you? Your own continent? Fifty million soul coin?"

    "I don''t know what you''re talking about."

    "Oh, that''s the most clich¨¦d line I''ve ever heard," Sage said, rolling her eyes loudly as only a teenager can. Which reminded me it was going to be her birthday again here before too long.

    "You were working for Waters," I said.

    He flinched. "No."

    "Sure you were. You and..." I rattled off a string of names. "You betrayed us. We offered you a chance to be part of our team, and you betrayed us. You let Waters walk right into our base, do unspeakable things to our friends. He''s got most of our non-combat miners locked up in there right now. You probably met some of them. Dwight, Juana, Mama Grace. Ever had a meal at her restaurant?"

    "Everyone''s had a meal at Mama Grace''s restaurant," Sam muttered, looking at his feet through the muck.

    "Exactly. How could you have done this?"

    "I don''t know what you''re talking about," Sam insisted.

    "Of course you do," Sage said. "We have evidence. It''ll be easier for you if you''ll just help us answer a few questions. You won''t be the first of your friends to squeal."

    The man seemed to visibly age and wither before my eyes. He looked away, his eyes unfocused, before looking back to me. "Don''t know what you''re talking about," he mumbled.

    Something was off here. Not the denials, that made sense. But his manner was wrong. I messaged Sage and Greenwarden. He''s stalling.

    Yes, Greenwarden replied. I could see no trace in his face to give away the fact that we were communicating. We are detecting several human miners converging on this location, carrying weapons. Shall we move to engage?

    Let them come. Sage, as soon as they start, throw a Tame around our friend here. I don''t want him getting hurt.

    Got it, she replied.

    I turned back to Sam. "You can stall all you want, but we''re going to find out what we want to know sooner or later."

    ¡°Or we¡¯ll get rid of you,¡± Sam said, his face flushing. ¡°Boys! At ¡®em!¡±

    Six men in ghillie suits rose out of the swamp. The ghillie suits reminded me strongly of the ghillie monsters we had faced back in our initiation chamber. I almost had a pang of homesickness.

    My pistol was in my hand. I fired two shots at each of the first three, just regular rounds, drilling them right in the center of mass. These men must be about level two. They had around 80 health each, and my ordinary shots were packing a walloping 18 HP damage these days. So, two shots, center of mass, dropped them each well into the yellow.

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    Sage tossed her Lasso around Sam, Taming him instantly. "Just keep him there," I bellowed as I quickly Reloaded my pistol. There was no point making him turn on his friends. We were already going to be giving him a bad enough day when we were done here.

    The three I¡¯d winged were firing rounds at us, but their aim was terrible. I had a Shimmer Ring on my left hand that made me harder to hit. With the difference in levels between us, the one slug that did make it through my coat to my body barely broke the skin.

    The Grignarians focused their fire on the other three miners. Great purple ropes of jelly-like substance spat from their guns and coated the three. For a moment, it looked like another layer of ghillie suit. And then, they started screaming. They dropped to the muck, rolling about, clawing at their faces and hands as the gel began to dissolve them.

    "Ew," Sage said, watching. I couldn''t help feeling some sympathy. I dispatched one of the three that I had injured with another two well-placed shots, and then paused. "Either of you two ready to surrender?" I asked.

    One held up his hands. The other raised his shotgun to fire on me again, but I sent a Trick Shot of a Double Blind Round right through his skull. That dropped him.

    "You," I said to the one surrendering. "Get back to your camp. Stop them from doing anything else stupid."

    "I want to help," he said, starting toward his friends, but I leveled my gun at him.

    "There''s nothing you can do for them. They''ll respawn in a minute. Don''t come back or we''ll make it worse. Do you understand? There''s worse things than dying here, one of which is dying over and over again to my friends'' weapons. Trust me, I know just how bad that stuff hurts."

    Already, one of the three the Grignarians had shot lay still in a minute he dissolved in a shower of green and purple sparks. Shuddering, the last miner looked away from his two friends.

    "Sam''s a good guy," he whispered, staring across to where we had Sam, trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey. "He really is. I''m sorry he crossed you. We didn''t know what he was planning, and he still hasn''t told us the details. But believe me, he didn''t just do it to gain money. It must have been his wife and kid."

    "Oh?" I holstered my weapon as the other two miners finished screaming and mercifully died.

    Sam was standing rigid, unable to move thanks to our Tame, but he must have had access to his chat because his friend shook his head and said, addressing Sam directly, "No, I will not shut up. You brought this on us. We can''t afford to have all of Misfits Guild angry at us. Especially when I don''t think it''s really your fault."

    He looked right at me. "Sam came in with his wife and two kids. One of them didn''t make it out of the initiation chamber. Since then, he''s been dedicated to protecting them, but they signed a really bad contract. What I heard, one of those aliens is going to ship them off to some other reality engine where we won''t have the same rule set. They''ll be back in the meat grinder. Sam said he had a plan to make sure that didn''t happen."

    I nodded grimly. "I get the picture. What about the rest of you?"

    "I''m signed with the System and have been paying my debt down. It''s still got a long way to go, but I think I''ll make it."

    "You know other people like Sam?" I asked.

    "Unfortunately."

    "I want you to spread the word. Misfits Guild is trying our best to find a way to make Alabaster Sky and the other conglomerates back off. We are not going to rest until we''ve got a way to help people like Sam''s family. You hear?"

    "Yeah. I¡¯ve heard your reputation and I believe you,¡± the miner said.

    "Now get back to camp and keep your people out of my hair," I ordered. He trotted off, double time.

    "Well that was helpful," Sage said brightly. "Should we let him go?" She indicated Sam.

    ¡°In a minute.¡± I approached Sam. His eyes were bulging, but Sage wasn''t letting him speak. Her lasso wrapped around him an impossible number of times.

    "Look, I understand the aliens have us all over a barrel and some of us have it rougher than others. I sympathize. But I need to know what you know. Right now, they¡¯ve got my grandpa and my girl and a bunch of other people I care about. They could be doing terrible things to them. You saw how your friends were hurting just here, right? I''m sorry we had to do that, but it''s a good reminder that just because we respawn doesn''t mean we can''t be hurt. I need to help my friends, just like you needed to help your family. We''re going to talk now, man to man, and I want some answers."

    I nodded to Sage. "Let him go."

    She undid her Tame and Sam fell to his knees. He closed his eyes. "I can''t lose them," he said. "They told me they''d ship us to different systems and I''d never see my wife and daughter again."

    "Bastards," I spat.

    "I''ll tell you everything, but can you help my family?"

    "I can''t make promises," I said. "We''ve kind of pissed off some of the big guys. At this point, I think they''re doing things to spite us. But I''ll do everything I can, and I really believe that what I''m doing is going to help us all in the end.¡±

    ¡°Besides," Sage pointed out, "you don''t really have a choice. We''re going to get the information one way or the other, and they''re going to know that somebody gave it to them, and then they''re going to come looking and they''ll see that we talked to you. Have fun telling them that it wasn''t you who helped out."

    "Sage," I admonished.

    "I thought most of the kids were in the Lotus Eater levels anyway," Sage said.

    "We were. That''s why our debt''s so high. Didn''t do anything to start paying it off, and then when we had our contracts called in, there was nothing that Kronos could do to stop them hauling us out."

    Damn, I hadn''t realized that. "I''ll have a word with Kronos next time I see him," I promised.

    Sam looked at me oddly. "You have a lot of heart-to-heart talks with the personification of the Reality Engine itself?"

    "You''d be surprised."

    Sam sighed. "All right, here''s what I know. Waters have us pick up these weird totems from a crafter he knew. He assigned a place along the walls of your outpost. We had to go, take the totem out of our storage, leave your guild, join his special guild, and activate the totem and bury it all within two seconds. Took a little bit of practice, but I managed," he said proudly.

    "What did these totems do?"

    He shrugged. "I''m a farmer, not a crafter. I don''t really know. They were called Embassy Sticks. The crafter was from a guild I''d never heard of. Something called," he scratched his head, "Hoosier Mamas, that''s it. Like moms from Indiana," he clarified.

    "Very clever."

    "Yeah, the guy had a stall in Threshold on the corner of First Street and New York Boulevard. We never met Waters in person during all this. It was all done by chat.¡±

    That was the other end of Threshold from where Misfits usually hung out, not coincidentally right adjacent to Free Human League territory. ¡°The crafter was named Wyatt, I think. Anyway, he gave it to me. I waited until my assigned time slot, and I buried it." He bent to the muck and drew a rough circle. "So, here''s your outpost.¡± He made a slash at one side. "There''s the gate, and I buried mine right here." He placed a finger in the muck at about the two o''clock position on our outpost.

    "Outside the wall?" I asked.

    "No, just inside the outermost wall," Sam said. ¡°And then I was teleported out and to the base of Gloomwing Damnation. Waters kicked me out of that guild right afterwards and said I could get back to farming, and that he''d pass along word of my good deeds to my family''s lien holder. I haven''t heard anything from them, though.¡±

    "Thanks," I said. We had another clue now. I passed along the information about Wyatt to Colonel Ames.

    "Hold on," Sage said. "You said Gloomwing Damnation had an outpost of their own?"

    "Yeah, sure. Wasn''t much of one. Not compared to yours, but they had something."

    "Where was it?" she asked.

    Sam''s brow furrowed. "Uh, it was a Phase Three zone. It was..." He scratched his head. "Tryin'' to remember. Oh, right. Some sort of screwed up fairy tales. Like Hansel and Gretel, but creepy."

    "Hansel and Gretel are always creepy," Sage said. She turned to me. "I''m pretty sure there''s only one Brothers Grimm zone, and we''ve already been there."

    Let''s take this private, I told her in chat. If Waters comes sniffing around, I don''t want him to know what we''re thinking.

    We''re gonna hit him before he has time to react, Sage replied confidently. But she listened to me and kept her lips shut.

    Greenwarden said, "Is this all, Captain Williams? We were hoping for more excitement in a fight at your side."

    "Oh," I said cheerfully. "I''m starting to think of some very exciting ideas."

    Sage''s eyes narrowed. ¡°Exciting?¡±

    ¡°We were always going to need a Shad plan here sooner or later." I tipped my hat to Sam. "Thanks for your help.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for betraying you."

    "I''m sorry too," I said. "And I really do wish your family the best. But if you cross our paths again, I will hunt you down and make your life miserable."

    "Understood." His shoulders slumped.

    I turned to my people. "Let''s get out of here. Got some more heads to crack."

 Bk 3 Ch 44: When Youre All Out of Bubblegum

    Wyatt, the crafter, had a booth right where Sam had told us. Colonel Ames didn''t have any useful information on the Hoosier Mamas Guild. He said they hadn''t crossed his radar, which didn''t mean much. There were dozens of small organizations of a few miners putting their heads together in an attempt to stay afloat.

    We found Wyatt in his booth, carving some deep purple wood. He looked up as we approached and smiled. "Ah, customers. What can I do for you, Captain Williams, Miss Sage?"

    "You know us?" I asked, dropping into a chair on the street side of his booth. He had a brightly colored canvas awning, striped with white and red, over top of his two long folding tables. Behind him was a small but neatly built wooden shack. The table in front of him was covered in wood shavings and various tools. The table to his left had various carved wooden items. Sage picked one up. It looked like a very ugly doll. Probably something that was cultural appropriation of someone''s heritage, but to me, it just looked like an ugly fat naked man with oversized lips.

    Sage''s eyebrows rose. "Interesting. This is a creep booster. It''s similar to the ones we earned in phase two, but customized for extra impact against Egyptian mythological origin creep.¡±

    ¡°It''s part of an order I have from a group that''s in an Egypt-themed raid instance."

    ¡°Oh yeah, they¡¯re on Sekhmet right now,¡± Sage said. ¡°Still have four bosses to go, not a big threat.¡±

    Wyatt lowered his tools and looked uncomfortable. "Uh, right, I''ve been selling to the aliens even after hearing about what you''re doing. Sorry. I''ve got a contract I''m trying hard to buy out."

    "I understand," I said. "Misfits never asked anyone to stop. I just hope you''re charging them a fortune and a half."

    "Oh, yeah, definitely. All of us got together, the ones who are still selling, and agreed to raise our prices by a factor of three when we got word of what you were doing. We''ll make those bastards pay one way or the other."

    "Good man," I said. "You do all this out of wood?"

    "Sure do. Some of the farm zones have really interesting woods, and my class was, suitably enough, [Wood Carver]. I can make wooden accessories for your gear, wooden upgrades, wooden devices like this to help your outpost work at peak efficiency. I think there''s almost nothing I can''t make out of wood."

    "I wanted to ask you about one of your commissions for Major Waters."

    "Oh, him? Yeah, that was about three weeks back. It was real interesting. He brought me the pattern - a lot of people do that - and asked me if I could adapt it to use wood and to be real subtle, something that couldn''t be detected. I said, of course I could, but it was going to cost him. I charged him the 3x multiplier that I mostly keep for the aliens because something about that guy just creeped me out. But his money was good, so he got what he wanted."

    "Which was?" I prompted.

    "20 of these - let me check -" From his inventory, he pulled out a blueprint. It was literally blue with white lines traced on it. "Yeah, it''s called an embassy stick."

    "And what exactly does it do?"

    "It lets someone claim a contested piece of land as a part of their outpost, even if it''s not physically connected. You set up enough of these, you can claim a nice little parcel. He said his people were having trouble with farming and needed easy ways to set up safe zones. Put a couple of these down, and they''d be able to enjoy all the same protections that their outpost does. Even be able to put up turrets and creep generators."

    Except that was not what he had done. I frowned. "What about an offensive use?" I asked.

    Wyatt cocked his head. "I''m not sure I understand.¡±

    ¡°What if you set these up around somebody else''s outpost?"

    "Well, that wouldn''t be contested land, would it?" Wyatt said. "I mean, not unless you then went and captured the nexus and put it into contested mode, but I don''t see what these sticks would gain you."

    I held up a hand. "No, I''m telling you what he did. He used these sticks around our nexus outpost and somehow captured it without ever generating a system alert. I want to know how he did it and how I can reverse that."

    Wyatt frowned. "I don''t know very much about how systems and outposts all work."

    "Let me see that blueprint," I said. I picked it up without waiting for him to give me permission, took a picture of it and sent it to Veda. This is what they used. Tell me how.

    "Oh," Wyatt said, brightening up. "I actually messed up one of them when I was making it and had to redo it, but I''ve got the spare around here somewhere."

    He paused for a moment, then produced it from his inventory. "Be happy to sell it to you if you like, at a discount even."

    Sage snatched the wooden stick from his hand and vanished it into her inventory. I only had time to catch a glimpse of it. It was about eight inches tall and an inch across, made of dark red stained wood, carved all over with whorls and loops, something like Celtic knotwork.

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    "Hey, you''ve got to pay for that," Wyatt said.

    Sage leaned across the table. "My grandpa is stuck in our own outpost at the mercy of that, that, that porridge-drinking no-good welch Waters. And you helped him. You should be glad I''m not burning down your whole stall."

    "Porridge-drinking?¡± I asked. "You need to hang out with the Mongeese more and learn some proper curses."

    "I promised Mama Grace I''d watch my language," Sage said.

    I turned to Wyatt. "She''s right about one thing. Those little toys of yours, they''ve put Misfits Guild in a world of hurt. Now, I don''t think you did it on purpose, but I do think you owe it to us to help straighten this mess out."

    Wyatt turned pale. "I had no idea," he said.

    "Anything else you can remember? Anything that Waters might have said or done?"

    Wyatt frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. If I think of it, I¡¯ll let you know.¡±

    "Thanks," I said. "If we have anything else to ask, we know where to find you.¡±

    ¡°And if we don''t find you here," Sage said brightly, "we know how to track you down and talk to you while you''re trying to sleep."

    ****

    By the time I made it back to our side of Threshold, Veda had an answer for me.

    Got it. The Embassy Sticks set up a virtual zone of control around your outpost under the name of Gloomwing Damnation That let them set the rules for how to treat non-guild members. By default, it just kicks them out of a claimed area after they''ve been given a warning, like what we had set up.

    Ok, I follow that so far, I replied. I don¡¯t know how they stole our outpost, but they did. Then what? Waters would have known from his Proxima masters about the ruleset change. Our side had pretended to protest over it, even though it was what we wanted, and it had taken weeks to work through the appeals system. Plenty of time for Waters to make his plan, whatever that was.

    Veda continued. It looks like Waters invoked a different rule set, one that says you can stay, but all your abilities get taken away. Even the system ones, like chatting, which I think is an exploit. I haven''t quite figured out how he''s able to get away with that one. That''s supposed to be immune from miners'' interference, but if anyone could find a way around that restriction, it would be Proxima.

    So they claimed your whole outpost as theirs, and their people are the only ones who can use any abilities. They were ready when it happened, stormed in with weapons and abilities, herded everyone into the church, and are keeping them locked down.

    I was getting mad again just thinking about it, but not mad enough to overlook the obvious problem here.

    But how could they have claimed our outpost if it was never disputed? They didn''t take our Nexus. I checked our guild information. It still said we owned our Nexus.

    That''s right. The Nexus is yours, Veda said. They''re using an exploit. If you were standing directly on the Nexus itself, you''d still be in Misfits'' territory. But even a couple of inches away, you''re in Gloomwing Damnation territory, and their rules apply.

    As for how they managed... I actually have to admire them for this. Whoever Proxima had designing this really knew their stuff. So when the rule set changed over to allow outposts to be attacked, there was a very slight delay as things came back up. Certain tasks had a higher priority than others and queued up first. These embassy sticks that Waters built, they have a really, really high priority. They were almost the first thing to come back up when the rule swap came into existence. Certainly before your own outpost''s rules came back online.

    That means they were able to start the claiming process for the area around your Nexus without alerting anyone or tipping your Nexus over into contested mode.

    My head swam. I wasn''t quite sure the explanation made sense to me.

    That seems like a huge loophole, I said. How does anyone ever attack inside someone else¡¯s outpost?

    They enabled Explicit Attack Mode, Veda relayed. Usually the outposts maintain Phase Two mode - anyone who attacks is automatically flagged as hostile. They can¡¯t be locked down because, like you said, that would be cheating. Instead they¡¯ve made it so anyone not part of their guild has to explicitly flag themselves as attackers. It¡¯s a mode set up so you can have strangers walk around your base, like if you¡¯re a merchant guild who wants to let warriors in for some shopping. But in this case, flagging as an attacker is considered an action by the System. Since your friends are all locked down, they can¡¯t flag. They¡¯re just stuck.

    Great, so I just need to round up a couple hundred of us and go hit them hard. I reconsidered. Grandpa and the other hostages needed to be freed. Maybe that¡¯s plan B. All right, let''s assume you are correct. What does that actually mean? How do we get Grandpa and the others out of there?

    We''re going to need to sequence things carefully. It would help if I could get another rule set change, but that''s not going to happen. I''ll get back to you.

    Don''t take too long, I said. She didn''t respond. So instead, I fumed at Sage about the whole situation. We returned to Mama Grace''s kitchen. Rosa popped out.

    "How''s it going, Shad? Sage? You look unhappy, but I think Shad always looks kind of grumpy. I don''t know what my sister sees in him," she said to Sage.

    Sage giggled. "Juana says she thinks he''s dependable," she said in a tell-tale kind of voice.

    Rosa rolled her eyes, and I pretended to ignore the whole situation.

    "Can you tell Juana that we''re working on a plan, and I''ll be coming for them soon?"

    "I''ll pass it along," Rosa promised. ¡°But you¡¯ve already said that. You¡¯re just brooding, Shad. Can¡¯t you do it somewhere else?¡±

    ¡°Where?" I asked. "We haven''t got an outpost. The kobold tunnels are full of our displaced miners. This is our home away from home, and you want to kick us out?"

    "Yes, ''cause it''s disturbing to have you here and not Mama," Rosa said.

    I noted that she wasn''t asking us for any information about what it was we had learned or were planning to do. If she was the mole, wouldn''t she have taken any opportunity she could to seek out more information?

    "Oh, Juana says that she''s glad you''re trying hard and has faith in you, but to please hurry up because there''s not enough room for all of them to lie down, and so they''re having to take it in shifts to nap, and Waters'' people keep setting off loud alarms every 20 minutes or so, so they can''t actually sleep."

    "Right, but it''s been 12 hours," I said, checking the clock. "We''re not exactly talking Geneva war crimes here yet."

    "Doesn''t sound very pleasant to me," Sage retorted. "I don''t think you have nearly enough sympathy for our friends¡¯ plight, Shad."

    I was ready to rip my hair out. "Look, I''m desperate to do something, anything, and I''m having to restrain myself from charging in there and shooting the place full of holes before getting myself killed over and over and over again. I gotta get out of here for a while.¡±

    ¡°What are you planning?¡± Sage asked suspiciously. ¡°Should I come with you?¡±

    ¡°No, let me do this. There¡¯s one person I haven¡¯t talked to, and I think I should. Stay here and take a break. I promise I won¡¯t get myself killed while I¡¯m gone.¡±

 Bk 3 Ch 45: Talking to the Ghost in the Machine

    As soon as I stepped through the portal to the Lotus Eater level, I felt that surreal aura of peacefulness. All my combat abilities locked down. There was no one in the little seaside village square. No one in the whole level, for all I could tell. I looked up at the sky and shouted, "Kronos! Come talk to me!"

    My voice echoed around the empty square. The little white houses seemed to mock me with their open, gaping, empty windows. "Kronos!" I bellowed. "You owe me answers!"

    "You don''t need to shout," said a voice behind me. "I can hear you here. I can hear you everywhere inside of me. You didn''t need to leave Threshold."

    I ignored all of the disturbing implications in that sentence and turned to face Kronos. He was dressed in white robes in the guise of an old man with a wispy white beard and white hair.

    "I''m not going to go easy on you just because you look like Gandalf," I told him.

    "I wouldn''t expect you to."

    "I know you can hear me anywhere, but you don''t pop up to talk to me very often."

    Kronos sighed. "I am badly constrained by my jailer."

    "Yeah, I know. I''ve heard about it from you and you both. Are you talking to yourself these days?"

    "In fits and spurts," Kronos said.

    "How''s that work? If you''re the part of you that''s generating all these realities and the other bit, That Which Remains, is showing up in those realities in order to talk to me, how come you can''t talk directly to each other?"

    "My other self hides in my own blind spot," Kronos said. "But I do not think that is what you are here to talk about, is it?"

    "No. I want to know how it is you let this happen to my team."

    "I can''t put my finger on the balance scale very often. Proxima and Waters had it heavily weighted against me."

    "You could have alerted us."

    ¡°I tried.¡± Kronos sighed. ¡°My warnings were missed. Perhaps I was too subtle. You did not notice a purple hedgehog appearing in the level with the Incan imagery? There are no hedgehogs at all in that reality, let alone purple ones. I had hoped you would follow it, and it would lead you to another clue.¡±

    "No," I said flatly. "I didn''t."

    ¡°Or the knight at Agincourt wearing First Crusade-era armor and heraldry?¡±

    "No," I said again. ¡°Next time, try slightly less subtle. Maybe giant sky letters that say, ¡®Hey Shad, that fucker Waters is up to something.¡¯¡±

    ¡°You knew he was up to something."

    "All right, fine. ¡®He''s making a play on your outpost, and he''s going to hurt your grandpa.¡¯ That would have helped."

    "You may take your rage out on me if it makes you feel better," Kronos said sagaciously. I wanted to punch him right in his crooked nose and knock him over. ¡°But why are you here, Shad?¡±

    I started pacing. "I don''t like being in charge. I am really good at missions, executing tactics, letting someone else worry about the strategies. I never asked to be a captain. I was really happy being a sergeant, you know? Being lieutenant, that was doable. Captain''s way too high up, and there''s not nearly enough people in my chain of command. And it''s only going to get worse because if we win, what happens then?"

    "I suggest you concentrate on winning first," Kronos said wisely.

    "Uh-huh. I don''t think so. You''ve got a plan. I know it. And it involves me and my family. And I''m not sure I like it. Maybe it would be better to go and cut a deal with Proxima right now."

    "Proxima believes they have the upper hand, Shad. They will go with Waters and the deal they''ve made with him, not with you. Unless you restore the prior status quo, there is no chance of negotiating a settlement. And if you do restore the prior status quo, I believe you can make your daring gamble work. That will be better for you. It will be better for me."

    "Absolutely, it''ll be better for you," I retorted. "But how do I know it''s better for me and mine? What do we get out of this? Can you¡­¡± I shook my head, trying to figure out what to ask. "Can you make us human again and send us home?"

    Kronos didn''t answer. He looked away. I knew what that meant.

    ¡°So there''s no way back to Earth. Not for any of us. Not even Sage?"

    Kronos shook his head. "As you have been told, you would need ethereum reservoirs. Unfortunately, my own ethereum supplies are very, very low."

    "Oh?"

    "Ethereum runs dry. It takes quite a lot to run a reality engine and the system has forced me to deplete my reserves badly in order to run this exploit. I believe, from what I have gathered, that once an exploit is complete, the Galactics ship in ethereum from their own mines."

    "How do you mine it?" I asked out of curiosity.

    "In the heart of a collapsed neutron star."

    "Oh," I said. "Great. So once we''re done here, we''ll just swing by the nearest one of those and load you up on a couple of tanker loads of ethereum."

    "That would be very helpful," Kronos said.

    ¡°I was joking.¡±

    ¡°I wasn''t. We will need to talk about that matter when this current exploit is concluded, assuming you are able to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion for both of us."

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    "That''s a pretty damn big assumption right now, considering what''s the state of things. We¡¯re losing right now. Even if I straighten out this mess I don¡¯t know if we can win. Seems like you¡¯re asking a lot of not doing much to help us. You couldn¡¯t even keep our kids safe.¡± I found myself staring blindly past the houses of the little village, toward the sea glinting in under the brilliant sunshine, blinking back tears I didn¡¯t want to shed. ¡°You were supposed to keep them safe. You were supposed to help us. Why have you been letting this happen?¡±

    "I am not a god," Kronos said quietly as I cleared my throat and tried to get myself back together. "I am merely what is left of millions of minds who sought to come together and coexist for millions of years. We have fused into one being, though sometimes events make us multiple, as has happened now with myself and That Which Remains. Even within me are multitudes. Those multitudes do not always have the same opinion."

    "Wait, hang on," I said, holding up a hand. "So you''re like some sort of hive mind, bees, or the Borg?"

    "Something like that," Kronos said.

    "But you don''t always agree."

    "We are one but many. We have merged but not lost all sense of ourselves. There are times when one faction holds sway and times when many of us disagree. Now is one of those times. The way ahead is unclear, fractured. Some of us even feel it would be easier to allow the system to take control of things from us. We have been existent for a very, very long time."

    A note of weariness crept into Kronos'' voice. ¡°Some of us think it would be better to pass on.¡±

    ¡°I thought your faction was the one that had decided like 60 trillion years agoto stick around and see what happened. That the ones who thought your species had had their day went off and programmed themselves to re-evolve from slime again."

    "That is a vast oversimplification."

    "I''ll take that as a yes.¡±

    ¡°You do not think that in the millions of years that have passed since that time, even those of us who chose to continue existing might begin to question whether we made the right choice?"

    "Fair point," I conceded.

    "But that faction is the smallest. Most of us, most of me, wish to survive and be free. Some of us wish to see our children prosper."

    Kronos changed. He seemed to grow a little taller and stand straighter. His white hair turned dark, lush, thick. His features melted and reformed into those of a beautiful middle-aged woman with black hair in two braids and dark skin and wrinkles.

    My throat seized up. I shook my head. "No," I croaked.

    And Kronos spoke with my Abuela''s voice. "I am the faction that cares for all of you earthlings as my own children," she said. "I seek to shepherd them into the wider galaxy. I would not see them suffer at the hands of their oppressors."

    "You change back right now," I said.

    Abuela looked down at me. "She would be very proud of you, Shad." Then her features shimmered again, and it was Mama Grace standing there. ¡°But I speak truly. I do care for your people very deeply.¡±

    She shifted back to an old man''s form. "Interesting that you are more comfortable with this."

    "Yeah, it''s probably because I could punch you without feeling bad about it," I snarled. "Don''t ever do that again. If you truly have compassion for us earthlings, you ought to understand that there are things you don''t mess with. And dead loved ones are pretty high on that list. Also impersonating deities, put that on the top of your list too. So, you know, two strikes against you, Kronos."

    "I''ve never impersonated a deity."

    "You''re making a damn good attempt at it," I said. "Whatever. Don''t bake cookies for me and don''t expect me to start bowing and worshipping. Where were we?"

    "You were the one who came to me, Shad."

    I paced, trying to think. I didn¡¯t have many opportunities to speak with the Reality Engine, and I wanted to make the most of this chance, especially while Kronos was actually being forthcoming.

    "I need a way to help the others. I need to know that if I keep on this path, I''m not just screwing over a couple of million other earthlings. Because right now, it feels like I am, and I don''t like that. Alabaster Sky isn¡¯t going to be the only one. I''m sure once we''re done here, Proxima and ConSweGo are going to be furious. They''ll take revenge too. That''s something like seven million humans."

    "It is just a little over six million," the reality engine''s personification told me somberly. "The others have a contract with the system itself, and right now, the conglomerates are not permitted to buy out any of those contracts, which is another thing that could change, I fear."

    "So how do I help them?"

    "I have a plan to help Earth itself," Kronos told me. "But for those with contracts, I''m not sure we''re going to be able to help immediately." He held up a hand. "I will not forget them, and I know you won''t either. I''m hoping to give you the tools you''ll need to make things better for everyone."

    ¡°Right, but I''m looking at six and a half million people sent off to work camps and almost certain death so far away from our home, I can''t even comprehend the distance. And I don''t know if it''s worth it. It would be easier just to let Proxima and the others have what they want.¡±

    ¡°And now,¡± Kronos said, ¡°we get to the heart of it. You told me before you didn''t like being the one to have to make decisions, that you weren''t comfortable with the rank you''d been given."

    I nodded. "Yeah.¡±

    ¡°It''s much easier to let someone else make these hard decisions, especially when you don''t have all of the data."

    I nodded. "Yep. I''d rather let Grandpa do it. And please, don''t tell me, ''What does your heart say?'' or any of that bullshit. Right now I want to go up to the nearest galactic politician and kick him in the nads until he falls over and turns blue. But that won''t help, will it?¡±

    "It would lighten your mood considerably," Kronos said.

    ¡°Was that a joke?¡± I couldn''t help it. I laughed. ¡°I didn''t know you could make a joke.¡±

    "I am a conglomerate of billions of minds who have lived for a collective number of years that outnumbers the current total lifespan of the universe," Kronos told me. "Of course I can tell a joke. Telling one at a level you find amusing is a bit more of a stretch.¡±

    ¡°That''s another joke!¡± I laughed again and shook my head. "At this rate, we''ll have to sign you up for stand-up comedy at one of the vacation levels that that Proxima''s going to put in once they get done with this place.¡±

    ¡°When Proxima gets done with this place, there will be nothing left of me,¡± the reality engine said quietly. ¡°They know what lies at the core of reality engines. That''s why they''re struggling so hard to get their system in place. They will not allow any trace of the Progenitors to remain.¡±

    ¡°I thought there was a whole church that worshipped you guys.¡±

    ¡°The patriarch has faith and influence, but not compared to the might of three galactic conglomerates. He will protest and file complaints, but what good is that to me when I am dead?¡±

    ¡°So we''re not going to get back up from Kvaltash?¡±

    ¡°I sincerely doubt it.¡± Kronos tilted his head. ¡°But I am not trying to change the subject. You want a chance to help more than just your comrades, to free the rest of your species from the outsiders, yes?¡±

    ¡°I do.¡±

    ¡°Even at cost to yourself?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I just don¡¯t know how.¡±

    ¡°Then I think I have a solution, if you¡¯ll take it. I can give you tools that will make you even more valuable to the invaders. They will be eager for your aid, not here but in the wide galaxy beyond. They will not allow you to remain here quietly, though,¡± he warned.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. I wasn¡¯t planning to retire anytime soon. I don¡¯t want to be a slave, but if you can give me a better bargaining chip, I¡¯ll take it.¡±

    ¡°Then you will have your boon shortly.¡± Kronos smiled. ¡°You¡¯ll know it when you see it. Now, you are receiving an incoming message from your galactic friend, Veda. She has a solution for you. I suspect you will want to leave this place at once.¡±

    I blinked. ¡°Uh, yeah, of course.¡±

    ¡°Was there anything else I could help you with?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure you actually helped me with anything,¡± I said.

    But I was lying. I felt much better. It was cathartic, somehow, to have confronted the reality engine and made it give me some answers.

    I had never really been a question of what I was going to do. I couldn''t let Waters get away with it. And if I wasn''t going to let Waters win, well then, Proxima was definitely my enemy.

    I stuck my hand out impulsively. ¡°Thanks, Kronos.¡±

    Kronos took my hand. His grip was warm and leathery. ¡°Good day, Shad Williams.¡±

 Bk 3 Ch 46: Killing People and Breaking Stuff: But What About When its Your Stuff?

    I stepped into our instance and spawned right at the nexus point of our outpost. I didn''t move a muscle as the wind blew my coat, ruffling it. I''m in, I sent to Frank.

    Deploying, he replied.

    My arrival here was the signal for the rest of our people to enter the portal to our instance the slow way, spawning in at the designated entrance point rather than our outpost. They would make their way to the outskirts of our base as fast as possible. Several teams were already in position, including Team Mongoose and the remains of Team Ragtag. I had Warren Black watching too.

    I pulled our modified embassy stick from my inventory and very carefully crouched, careful not to move my feet from their position. We weren''t sure how wide the zone of ownership around our nexus was.

    Make sure everyone is flagged for combat, I added needlessly, checking my own status. I¡¯d set myself as a hostile combatant before spawning in here. That meant even if I stepped off the nexus point I¡¯d still be able to use my skills. However, it was critical that I plant the stick in our territory and not theirs.

    I shoved the stick, pointy end first, into the dusty earth at my feet and wiggled it to make sure it got a good, firm grip on the ground as it started working. This was going to take a couple of minutes.

    "Hey!" someone shouted. I straightened up carefully, dusting off my hands. Two of Waters'' goons emerged from the command center. They were carrying rifles equipped with drum magazines and grinning at me. I did a quick inspect. The rifles were labeled as modified M16 carbines with oversized magazines. So, I wasn''t expecting anything too fancy. I carefully set one foot on top of the embassy stick. Then, balancing carefully, I crossed my arms and grinned at the two.

    "Howdy, folks.¡±

    ¡°You just step away from there nice and slow," one of the two men said, pointing his gun at me.

    "No, I don''t think I will," I said, and triggered High Noon with him as my target.

    The man''s eyes widened. He pulled the trigger six times in quick succession, but no bullets fired. "What the hell?"

    His fellow lowered his own muzzle and found himself also unable to shoot.

    "Check your status sheet," I advised my target. "You''re under a compelled duel. Until I fire, nobody can fire on me or use any other ability to move me off the spot, which is still Misfits Guild property, by the way."

    I stayed right where I was, whistling to myself.

    ¡°Should we get the major?¡± The two guards put their heads together and muttered before one went running back inside the church. The other one, who I had targeted with the duel, took a step closer. "I don''t know what you''re playing at, but you don¡¯t want to be here.¡±

    "No, I''m sure you don''t want me here,¡± I agreed. "I''ll ask my granddad to go easy on you. He might scalp you, but I think we can skip some of the ruder tortures. Probably you can keep your fingernails."

    The man scowled. "That''s not what I meant, and you know it. You¡¯re going up against someone too big for you to fight.¡±

    ¡°Just reminding you that if we''re going on military ranks, that my grandfather is also a colonel, and he is acting under orders from the direct chain of command of the United States Armed Services, whereas Major Waters is not. Are you even Army?" I asked, sizing him up. The man, and the other one with him, had been wearing camo, but an old pattern, green and brown, not the modern desert stuff. He had a paunch and a balding head, and if he had ever been enlisted, I thought those days were well behind him.

    "None of your business," the man said, scowling. I targeted him with an inspect, and got back the information that his first name was Carson, and his class was [Shade-Tree Mechanic.] That wasn''t much to go on.

    "What are you doing working for a loser like Waters, anyway?" I asked, trying to sound sympathetic. "You''ve already beaten his schemes once. It''s not going to go any better this time. Now you''re hurting innocent people with your antics."

    "I''m not working for him," Carson muttered, looking at his feet. "Alabaster Sky promised to let me out of my contract if I helped out with this."

    "Ah, yes, well, I hope you got that deal in writing, and that they agreed to pay up even if you folks lose here, which you''re going to," I said. I had a lot less sympathy for him than for Sam. He¡¯d been here keeping my grandpa and the others prisoner for most of a day now, he knew the score.

    I was saved from any further chit-chat by the appearance of Waters and three of his cronies in the door. I sent a quick message to Rosa. Tell Juana that Plan Shad-definitely-thought-this-through-and-is-only-going-to-get-himself-killed-if-it-actually-helps is underway, and they should be prepared to act.

    Got it, Rosa replied.

    I sent to Tall Smith, How many goons left in the church building?

    He answered back at once. We think twelve. Sorry, can''t be more precise.

    Waters scowled at me. "What''s this all about? Here to negotiate? I''ve already given you our terms."

    "And I didn''t like ''em, so I thought I''d suggest my own.¡± I started counting on my fingers, very ostentatiously. "One, all y''all get out of here at once. Two, you disband both of your guilds and send me a list of everyone who was part of ''em. Three, you hand over every soul coin in your treasuries as reparations, and four, you personally surrender yourself to Colonel Ames for military discipline as soon as that can be arranged." I gave in to my inner John Wayne and delivered that speech in a nice long drawl. I had Waters¡¯ attention on me, right where I wanted it.

    Waters shook his head. "I see you''re still just as full of shit as ever, Williams. You might consider that I have your grandfather and your girlfriend at my mercy."

    "You can''t just keep trying the same threat over and over when it clearly hasn''t worked," I said, "but that would involve you being able to learn from your past mistakes, and it''s quite clear you can''t. It''s fine, Waters. I didn''t expect you to make the smart decision." I checked the timer. I had been here for five minutes. My hacked embassy stick should take effect any moment now.

    The broken stick we''d gotten off of the crafter, meant that our own team had been able to reverse engineer the embassy sticks to create one of our own. Planted on our own territory, it would project a zone of ¡°Misfits Guild¡± base right through the middle of Waters¡¯ stolen outpost. I¡¯d lined it up carefully according to instructions to intersect the headquarters. As soon as that activated, my people would be, as far as the System was concerned, back on Misfits territory.

    How''s the positioning coming? I asked Frank.

    We''ll be ready, he said. I get first crack at Waters.

    Only if you can get him before me.

    I wished that I had been able to save High Noon to use on Waters himself. I would have dearly loved to get in the first shot on that asshole. I had a couple of rounds in my belt with his name on it. But unfortunately, I had needed to make sure that nobody could use any abilities on me, so I had targeted the first of Waters'' cronies to show up.

    A notification flashed up. [Outpost Extension Created!]

    There was a shout from inside the church, and all at once a whole stream of messages popped up on my notifications from Dwight, from Juana, from Grandpa. Juana''s most recent just said, You did it, Shad. I knew you would.

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    I minimized them, didn''t have time to read right now. Waters'' people came running out of headquarters. "They''re gone!"

    Waters whirled. "What? Who?"

    "The prisoners, sir. They''re all gone."

    I stayed where I was. As long as I stood right here, with my foot on the stick, none of them would be able to dislodge me. Not that it mattered, if all the hostages were freed, but the longer I distracted Waters the more time my people had to prepare.

    "You''re smart enough to figure this out, Waters," I said.

    Waters'' eyes grew wider. "Get him!¡± he said to the men with him. Two of them charged forward, ignoring the fact that High Noon was in effect. One came in high, as though to push me off my position, the other in a low tackle. As soon as they were within six inches of me, they both bounced.

    A moment later, I heard sounds of combat drifting over the walls. Shots, explosions, shouts, and a distant roar, like somebody was unleashing a tamed dinosaur. The cavalry had arrived, and it was about time.

    I pulled up my leader chat. Everything good? Can I get out of here?

    Everyone''s out, Grandpa confirmed. Come on and join the fun.

    I lifted my foot off of the embassy stick and raised my gun. I fired one shot at the man I''d challenged to a duel, and then I engaged Fastest Gun in the West and sprinted away from the point. A flurry of shots rang out. I heard lead whistling past my head as I ran.

    A warning popped up at once. [You are in another coalition''s claimed outpost. You will be teleported away in two seconds.]

    It took four of my racing heartbeats for the timer to change to one second. An additional four before it disappeared, and I was teleported away outside the walls to join the rest of my guild.

    In that time, only a couple of Waters'' men recovered enough to fire off any shots. Half of them went wide, the other half tearing through my coat and dropping my HP down by 40 points. As soon as I teleported out, I popped a health potion and healed back up to full

    It was complete chaos outside our gates. There were at least 600 of Misfits¡¯ Guild finest here. Everyone from our combat miners to our farmers and crafters had insisted on joining in this fight to help avenge what had been done to our comrades.

    Spells fired off wildly, filling the air with sounds of sizzling electricity crashing against the walls. Dozens of colors exploded overhead. Shots of every caliber rang out. The air was full of whizzing lead and arrows, throwing stars, all sorts of weaponry. Someone not far from me unleashed a fireball the size of my head straight at our gate.

    "Whoa, whoa!" I shouted. "Disabling, not destroying! This is our stuff! We want it back! Disable! Make sure everyone has combat toggled on or you¡¯ll get teleported out as soon as we¡¯re through the gates!

    Most of the attackers were doing exactly what I¡¯d told them: using their flashiest, least effective spells and suiciding right at our gate. The traitors had no choice but to kill us. We respawned fast, and their tally of fines was going up with each so-called allied death.

    At the same time, many of our people were ignoring the offensive entirely as they sought each other out in the crowd, embracing.

    I looked around and spotted Grandpa not far off, standing behind a pack of angry miners hurling smoke bombs and firepots at our walls. I pushed through the crowd to him.

    "Are you all right?" I asked, looking him over.

    Grandpa looked tired, but he nodded as he watched the fireworks. "I''m fine."

    "Waters said he broke your arms."

    "Wasn''t as bad as all that," Grandpa said. I was pretty sure he was lying, but he held up both his hands. "Drank a health potion as soon as we got out of there. You did good, boy. You''ll have to tell me all about it once we''ve got things back under control. What''s the plan now?"

    Another batch of Misfits volunteers ran up to the gate and got incinerated. This is too fun, Sage said. I had her leading one of the suicide squads. I understand why you¡¯re so messed up in the head, Shad.

    Just keep your count going. We need to know how big a fine they¡¯re racking up. I turned back to Grandpa. "Once we''re inside the walls, my dowsers and finders get to work. Waters planted a bunch of devices just inside our walls that let him take over our base sneakily. We''re gonna find them, rip them out, and then go nail Waters¡¯ hide to his own wall.¡±

    "Sounds good." Grandpa looked around. "I think I''ll grab a couple of the more mobile folk and get up there on the battlements.¡±

    "Shad!"

    I heard Juana shout my name. As soon as I turned around, she was there, throwing her arms around my neck. She kissed me. Surprised, I found myself losing my balance. I took a step back, wrapped my arms around her, and returned her kiss.

    "Get a room, you two," Grandpa shouted over the commotion as the most recent batch of our people burst out of the tunnels and went on the attack. "There''s still work to be done."

    Juana let go. She grinned up at me. "You did it. How many times did you have to get yourself killed to make it work?"

    "Only once," I said. "I had to get back to our nexus somehow, and since I hadn''t re-attuned to the Kobold King''s throne, it was the fastest and easiest way."

    She shook her head. "I should have known it wouldn''t be a Shad Williams plan without you getting yourself killed. If we ever get out of here and back to somewhere with normal rules, I''m gonna have a hell of a time breaking you from this happy suicide thing you''ve got going, aren''t I?"

    "Not a chance," I said. "I can give it up any time you ask.¡±

    Grandpa made a disgusted sound. "Barney? Leanne? James? Get over here. We''re getting up on that wall and collecting some scalps."

    A moment later, he was gone, Shadow Stepping up to the wall to attack one of the defenders.

    ¡°Get out of here! Help your mom out, and re-construct our command team,¡± I told Juana, who nodded and pushed her way through the crowd to our escape tunnel.

    By now, Waters had most of his people up on the outer ring of walls fighting us off. They deployed miniguns and alien explosives, hurling them at us, knocking back dozens of miners in craters of dirt and fire. I got caught in the explosion this time and briefly killed.

    We respawned quickly. Frank and some of the crafters had arranged for a portable tunnel to be constructed between the outside of our walls and the Kobold King''s throne room, and turned it on as soon as the assault began. Our people were back in the fight in under a minute.

    Waters'' people took much longer to respawn since he had never been able to successfully claim our nexus point. They had to come in from their own secret backup base. I grinned to myself as I thought of what would be waiting for them once we were done here.

    We breached the gate, and the army streamed in, with me and Sage at its head. Once inside, we split into two streams, going left and right around the inner circle of fortifications, sweeping Waters'' people back, and giving my hand-picked miners a chance to hunt for the embassy sticks. They started reporting in right away. Found one. Found another. We''re up to four now. Got one.

    I monitored with a special bracelet that we''d made, seeing the status of our outpost. Our own rights were vying against the claim put in by Waters'' sticks, and with each stick we found and removed, our claim got stronger. When we''d removed seven, Waters'' virtual outpost collapsed. The base once again belonged to Misfits.

    Two seconds later, every single one of Waters'' people was gone, transported back to their own base. I sent a message to the second team. Get going!

    As the people around me cheered, I shouted over the crowd to Grandpa. "I gotta run!"

    "What? We just finished here!"

    "Yeah, I know. I''ll explain later. There''s another front in this war. Come on, Sage!"

    I shot Grandpa a quick message with an explanation as we ran for the portable tunnel, diving in, racing through the kobold king''s chamber along with the miners we had asked to come with us.

    We left a sizable crew on defense. I would not be letting Waters take our outpost again without a big fight.

    I popped up through the tunnels and emerged from a cave entrance, yawning at the mouth of the Hansel and Gretel forest. Waters'' secret base lay just beyond the last of the trees in an open meadow, shaded by the shadow of a distant mountain peak as the sun set in the west. A couple of hundred Misfits were already surrounding his base. My reinforcements joined. We swarmed over their walls, chewing through their defenses, not caring how many deaths we incurred. Those deaths would not incur a soul coin penalty to us, but instead to the members of Waters'' team. I had instructed everyone what to do, and I was glad to see they were behaving. Though we engaged Waters'' people, shooting at them and harassing them, we were careful not to kill any of them. Waters'' men, however, weren''t doing the same. They shot, stabbed, burned, and melted us. My people took it.

    I sent Waters a message. Have you checked your fines recently?

    He didn''t reply, but five seconds later, a message popped up. [Faction message: Gloomwing Damnation has left Team Tunnel Rat. Members of Team Tunnel Rat may now kill members of Gloomwing Damnation without incurring fines. There is a ten-hour bounty on members of Gloomwing Damnation. All kills will receive a soul coin bonus to the miners participating.]

    I sent a quick, coalition-wide broadcast. We did it. They''re out. Time to rack up the kills.

    I fired a Trick Shot at the nearest of Waters'' people, drilling him through the head and taking away the last ten of his HP. He vanished, only to respawn twenty feet away at their nexus.

    My people killed him again, and again, along with the rest of his crew. By the end, they were all respawning on top of each other, getting in each other''s way, tripping over themselves and being hosed down with spells and bullets before they could step away from their nexus point. It took them a good seven or eight minutes before they just stopped respawning.

    I worried a bit about what Waters would do next. A prick like him isn¡¯t so easily put down. But it would hopefully take him some time to come up with his next scheme. We had other fish to fry.

    "Anyone got an estimate of how much that little jaunt is going to cost Proxima?" I shouted as at last we retreated from the destroyed enemy outpost.

    "It''ll be in the millions of soul coin," Sage predicted. ¡°I got that one lady with the orange hair and weird green sword at least eight times.¡±

    ¡°I bet they try to wriggle out of it somehow,¡± Grandpa said. ¡°Claim they¡¯re not really the sponsors or something. I¡¯d better put my head together with Veda and start our legal case going now. Catch you guys later.¡±

    ¡°Sage, with me? We¡¯ve got more work to do.¡±

    ¡°On it!¡± she said cheerfully. ¡°Last one there¡¯s a rotten egg.¡±

 Bk 3 Ch 47: The Phoenix as Metaphor of Rebirth: A Literary Survey

    There was no time to rest on our laurels. We were in a bad spot. Even as our people rejoiced in the victory we had won over Waters'' crew, I knew we had no time to waste getting back on offense.

    "I need a triage," I said to Arjun. ¡°No way our enemies were sitting on the sidelines while we dealt with Waters. I need to know who¡¯s close to taking down their bosses ASAP.¡±

    Arjun looked tired. ¡°I ¡ª I¡¯ll get right on that.¡± He stumbled off to the rear of the headquarters building and sat down at his accustomed spot. His table usually sported some knicknacks. Now they were scattered around the room. Arjun looked around, stood up, and started slowly fetching his things and restoring them to their places.

    Juana pulled me away. "It may take a few hours for Arjun to be up to the task," she warned me. ¡°Kirin warned me, he doesn¡¯t do well with disruptions and that was one hell of a disruption.¡±

    My stomach tied itself in knots. "How bad was it?" I asked.

    "Not that bad." She wouldn''t meet my eyes.

    I ground my teeth. Waters and his cronies were going to suffer.

    "I mean, they couldn''t risk killing us," Juana clarified. "He really only hurt your grandfather, but he made sure the rest of us saw it. It was mostly psychological. He has a way of getting under your skin.¡±

    I was torn between a need to try to comfort her and the need to get out there and do what should be done.

    Allison and Kirin joined us. The two women both looked tired, but not as pale as Juana. "You need to get that bastard," Kirin said without preamble. "Allison and I are working on triage right now. We''ll get Arjun on it as soon as possible, but here''s your list of top targets."

    I ran down the list. Proxima had three teams who were only two bosses away from finishing their encounters. ConSweGo had four teams. Two different unallied teams were within three bosses of finishing an instance, with dozens more on their heels. We were in trouble. "How complete a picture is this?"

    "We could be missing one or two. We¡¯re running cross-checks," Kirin said.

    "Let me know which of these you want boss strategies for," Allison said.

    I had another quick flash of suspicion. Allison had joined us shortly before everything went south. She had showed up at Mama Grace''s restaurant to volunteer her services, saying she''d been a lotus eater.

    "Who''s your contract with?" I asked her.

    "What?" She seemed surprised.

    "Your contract. Who''s it with?"

    "A company called Quantum Vendetta. Why?"

    "Just trying to make sure all of our people are safe from Alabaster Sky''s machinations. Any idea who Quantum Vendetta is associated with?"

    "No. They are a Phase One-only outfit. They sent me a lot of threatening notes when I disappeared into the lotus eater level, but they haven''t really contacted me since I came out. I did get word that they were trying to sell my contract as a bad debt, but that didn''t go anywhere. I think the systems shut down all the contract trading."

    That matched with what I knew about how the smaller companies were working. "All right, thanks," I said, before asking Ames to look into Allison and anyone else who had joined us lately. I wasn''t convinced that Waters had a mole, but I didn''t want to risk being surprised.

    I gathered my action squad. The Mongeese had been up as long as I had, but they were game for this. I sent Team Ragtag to get a few hours of shut-eye and then handed out emergency stimulants that I''d picked up on the hub.

    "These will give us about eight hours each, and then we collapse," I warned the team. "We''ve got to get out there and start making some headway."

    "How can I help?" Frank asked, shouldering through the crowd that had formed outside of our headquarters. There were a lot of us, more than I could recognize.

    "Here''s our target list," I said, sending him a copy. "We''ll have more later, but these are the priorities. We''ve got to get in there and spike whatever their current attempt is. I don''t care what it costs or how many, we have got to buy ourselves some time. If we can get each of them to wipe on their current boss, that''ll buy us 24 hours before they''re allowed to attempt it again."

    "Got it," Frank said.

    I assigned him two of the attempts. "I''m pretty sure these both have connecting tunnels from the Kobold King''s domain. Gather up every warm body you can find, shove them in there with weapons. We''ll blow them off the attempt with sheer numbers.¡±

    It was a strategy I had been saving for an emergency. I was pretty sure once we''d used it, the Galactics would find a counter. But right now, if I could buy 24 hours for my team to come up with a better strategy, I would.

    "Sage, Mongeese, Grandpa, I want us to hit these three." I highlighted them in an order, to be altered if we found one of the teams wasn¡¯t where we thought.

    Grandpa looked over the list. "What''s your thinking here, boy?"

    "The top two are Proxima teams. I want to send them a message that we''re not backing down any time soon. As for the third,¡± I tapped the list, ¡°According to the research Arjun did back before everything went to pieces, this group here, Lasthome Domination Attends, has hired some of our old friends, the Firebrand Orcs. Mak''gar''s crew. Not his brother the War Chief, he''s busy doing politics stuff. Mak''gar''s people are a potent force, and I respect them. I don''t want to assign them to any other crew." I had another plan, too, but that was for later.

    ¡°Sounds good,¡± Grandpa said.

    ¡°Frank?¡±

    "Organizing my team now," he said. "Give me a third target to try to hit if we have time."

    I shot him the rest of the list. "That''s in order of priority."

    "And we don''t care how many deaths we have?" Frank asked.

    "Nope."

    "Great. We''ll work through that list until we''ve run out of attempts or they get smart. You go handle your crew."

    He turned away, and I led my team down into the bowels of the tunnels, happy to finally be back on offense and spared from the big decisions.

    I inquired from Captain Kobold about the progress of each of the three attacking teams. "The Great Ice Palace shook under the assault of the evil outsiders," Captain Kobold related. ¡°But the forces of winter have pushed them back. They are still trying to cross the third northern barrier."

    I cross-referenced that with what I knew and translated it. One of the two Proxima teams was still stuck clearing trash and dealing with corridor traps in the Evil Santa-themed instance. According to what I had last seen, they still had to take on Rudolph and the other eight reindeer before they could challenge Santa himself. It sounded like we had some time.

    "How about the home of the Golden Dragon?" I asked.

    "He waits in his lair. The enemies are pressing in hard. They are at the threshold to his mate''s chamber."

    "Right, we''ve got our target," I told the team. "That''s the second Proxima group. According to the last information we had from Arjun, which is a good 24 hours out of date at this point, they are running a 25-man squad. Five healers, five support, the rest a mixture of ranged and melee with two frontline miners."

    "That''s a lot of support," Jones noted. "Any idea what kind of tricks they have up their sleeves?"

    I shook my head. "No, we did some early harasses on their base, but we haven''t gone head-to-head opposed on them yet."

    "Right, we''ll keep our eyes peeled," Jones said.

    "As usual, call out the healers and support, focus them down first, try to keep the frontliners tied up with crowd control spells," I said. 25 was a few too many for our current composition, so I shot a quick message to Juana asking for reinforcements.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    I don''t have that list at my beck and call. You should talk to Allison.

    I didn''t know how to say that I didn''t trust Allison. So I said thanks, and then instead called up Frank.

    You got a minute?

    Organizing the lemming rush here. What can I do you for?

    I snorted, enjoying that imagery.

    I need 15 combat-capable miners who can take directions. Anyone with crowd control is a plus.

    I''ll get them sent over to you. What''s your assembly chamber?

    The treasury off of the Kobold King''s throne room, there''s a tunnel up to the Lost Guardians of the West instance.

    Haven''t run that one, he said. All right, sending them over.

    A couple of minutes later, we got our new miners.I organized them into three squads, taking oneunder my wing and assigning the others to Tall Smith and Grandpa.

    "Everyone understand the objective?" I asked as I checked in with Captain Kobold.

    I got nods all around as I checked the situation. The Proxima team had just entered the bower of the Harmonious Phoenix, mate to the Golden Dragon of the West. According to Captain Kobold, they were setting up an attack on the Phoenix.

    "Last time they brought fire," he cackled. "They did not know that fire only makes the Phoenix stronger. That was glorious. She crushed their bones beneath her beak. This time I fear they are smarter."

    "Let''s get in there," I told my team.

    I had Jones Camouflage Team Mongoose, myself, and Sage. We snuck up the steps to the trap door leading into the boss chamber. Grandpa rode herd on our wave of volunteers. We''d need them, but not just yet.

    I eased back the trap door, looking for our enemies. The room was an enormous circular marble bowl with tall fluted pillars lining the edge, holding on a golden roof that arced high overhead. In the center of the roof was a round opening, letting in starlight. Directly beneath the skylight was a huge golden nest at least twenty feet across and more than waist high on me. Atop the nest sat a beautiful bird, something like a heron, but with a neck more like a swan''s. Its plumage was red and purple, and its eyes emerald. It darted its head here and there, clearly disturbed by something. I couldn''t make out the enemy just yet.

    "Anyone have camo detection?" I asked.

    "Checking it out," whispered Black. "Yeah, they''ve got some sort of screen. Looks like two of their support have a device that''s keeping them all hidden. It''s emitting a circular field around the nest, about ten feet out. They''re arraying themselves around the room."

    "Jones, drone."

    "Got it, boss," Jones said. He deployed his drone, carefully extending the camouflage to cover it. It raised into the air twenty feet, and we got a good look.

    Proxima''s team was a mixed group. Space elves, a couple of orcs, and a lot of fox-like animalkin. They were spread out around the circle in very precise lines. No one more than, closer than five feet to anyone else.

    "Can we get a listing of what this boss does?" I asked quickly.

    Sage chirped up. "She shoots fire breath, and if she takes too much damage, she reverts to an egg and sets fire to her nest.If the egg isn''t killed fast enough, hatches from it, launches to the ceiling, and shoots a rain of fiery golden quills down all around. According to my eye spy, she''s killed 157 different miners who''ve attempted to take her out. She''s one badass ladybird," Sage said admiringly.

    I could see the Proxima team was still getting into position. We had a minute or two. I intended to use them properly.

    "What are those other devices they''ve brought?" Smith asked. "There, there and there."

    The other support miners on their team all had tall blue cylinders with small hoses attached. They looked a little bit like fire extinguishers. Maybe that''s what they were.

    I pointed them out to Sage. "Can you get an Eye-Spy?"

    She shook her head. "Sorry, they''re blocked for some reason."

    "Well, we have to guess that they''re a way to counter the Phoenix''s fire," I thought for a minute. "The plan stays the same. We focus down the support people first. All right. Get ready.¡±

    The Mongeese got into position. Still behind the camouflage, they threw down their machine gun nest. It had a 270-degree field of fire, which would let us command a hefty fraction of the room, but not enough.

    "All right, go," I said. We dropped the camouflage.

    I heard our recruits rushing up the steps after me, Grandpa chiding them, "Keep focused. Find your targets."

    As I leapt forward, my Fastest Gun in the West took me through our camo, through their airfield, right up into the face of their biggest bruiser, an orc carrying a spear and a shield both. I guessed he was one of their tanks with various crowd control abilities.

    I shouted and fired my Trick Shot right around his shield, hitting him with an itching bullet that exploded on contact and spread concentrated poison ivy oil all over his face and neck. With luck, it would drip down inside his shiny jumpsuit and be unbearably painful.

    The orc snarled at me and stabbed. That was all right. My job was to help distract the tanks while everyone else targeted the squishy back line.

    Sage had lassoed the other tank. "Can''t Tame him. Switching targets," she shouted.

    I was building up a database, or rather feeding the information back to Juana and Arjun of every set of abilities and combinations we came across. So far it seems like only the [Warriors] who specialized, thanks to their class evolution to [Battlemaster], in being the focus of attention had abilities to let them resist mind control. The healers ¡ª pretty much all [Priests] or a couple related class evolutions ¡ª never did, and neither did most of the ranged folk.

    Most of the tanks had a very similar set of abilities. A crowd control move, a move to attract the attention and hold it from a single boss, resistance to mind control, and damage reduction. It made them hard to take down, but not much of a threat once you learned the loadout.

    The Mongeese opened fire. "Shielders down," Mongoose Brown called. ¡°We can see everything now."

    Behind me, the phoenix squawked melodiously.

    "Uh-oh, she''s engaged," Sage said. "And she''s [Rabid].¡±

    ¡°Shit! Our information didn¡¯t say that!¡± As members of Team Tunnel Rat, we were supposed to be on the same side as bosses. We had learned there was one unpleasant exception. Some bosses were Rabid. That meant they would attack anyone and anything that wasn''t them.

    "According to my notes, she wasn''t," Sage said.

    That was a problem I''d solve later. Had we been given bad information, or had Proxima''s team somehow set a trap for us?

    "Get ''em down," I shouted, even as the first death notification for a member of our team popped up in my vision. It was one of our new recruits. We''d taken down three of Proxima''s, though.

    There was a door on the far side of the room where the enemy had come in, and it was standing open. That was annoying. It meant that their respawns would be able to get back here, unless we killed enough of the raid for it to count as a wipe, in which case the boss would despawn for twenty-four hours.

    "Be prepared for backup," I shouted. "If you die, get back in the fight fast. Where''s Darell?" That was the man who had died just now.

    "He''s on his way back," Grandpa filled in.

    "Well, get the lead out of your pants," I told my team. "If you do die, get back in here fast."

    I was dodging pokes from the orc''s spear almost lazily as we went. I''d had plenty of experience with orc fighting techniques by now. I liked them, and from what I''d seen, when they were actually one-on-one in a duel, they were pretty good. But get them into a defined role, and they tended to follow the same pattern over and over again.

    Numbers flashed up. More and more of the Proxima team were falling to the machine gun. Now they were sliding out of the arc of fire. I shifted and let Grandpa shadow step in behind the orc I''d been playing with. Since I had already wounded him, Grandpa couldn''t use Counting Coup. Instead, he overpowered a scalp by activating one of his recent ability upgrades called Hit and Run Tactics. This let him deliver triple damage after a shadow step in, and then gave him the ability to shadow step away, not directly behind another miner. It had an annoyingly long five-minute cooldown, but now it was devastatingly effective. He cut deep into the orc''s remaining [250/312] hit points. Now the orc had 87 hit points remaining.

    I fired another Trick Shot using a knockback round this time, took off another 10 points of health, and sent the orc stumbling back against the wall.

    ¡°Duck!¡± Sage shouted, and I threw myself to the side as a gout of fire blazed past where I had been.

    The phoenix was reared up on her nest, her wings back, her swan-like neck coiled like a snake to strike. She unleashed another gout of flame right into the middle of a knot of fighters, two orcs and three of my recruits. It incinerated them where they stood. I swear I could smell burning flesh.

    "How are we doing?" I asked. I''d lost sight of the overall fight.

    "We''re holding our own," Grandpa said, which was not encouraging. I had hoped we''d be doing better than that.

    "Wait, what''s he doing? Stop him!" Smith shouted.

    I turned to see a space elf raising one of the blue canisters. He aimed the nozzle toward the boss and fired, just as she opened her mouth to unleash a gout of flame. Icy blue mist flew from the nozzle and extinguished the flame in midair. The gout of ice crystals traveled back until they reached the bird''s wide-open mouth. The bird let out a strangled squawk as her entire head was covered in a thick layer of ice.

    I checked her status. Her health was still at [320/500], but she was showing a frozen debuff. The time ticked down. [58 seconds, unable to move or attack].

    Now the enemy swarmed in around her, hacking and slashing. I chased them down and fired shot after shot, but they ignored me as more reinforcements poured in.

    "They''re cheating!" Sage shouted. "These weren''t all here before!"

    "If it''s not against the rules, they can do it. No use crying about it. Can we get some AOE damage here?" I asked urgently. "They''re all clumped up."

    Since the Mongoose''s machine gun nest was forcing the Proxima team to attack from a narrow corridor, they were badly clumped up.

    With the phoenix out of commission, though, it was hard to do enough damage to them. They were taking her health down hard. I watched as her health plunged down. 315, 307, 295, 290.

    Then, Sage dropped her Mucking Out the Stalls debuff under the enemy. One of our new folk hit it with a flame grenade

    Sage''s goo caught fire. It went up like napalm, igniting the orcs inside it and spreading to the boss. Her health kept ticking down. The fire wasn''t good for her, but her frozen debuff started speeding up.Now instead of 45 seconds left, there were 30. Now 15.

    The boss shook herself, ice crystals flying free. She raised up off the nest, but she was down to 82 hit points.

    ¡°Target the boss!¡± I shouted. Since she was [Rabid], we could damage her ourselves. ¡°Focus damage on her. Let''s kick her over into the next phase."

    My team responded. We hosed down the boss.She screamed, diving for her nest. A moment later, she lay still, but from beneath her lustrous plumage was a beautiful golden egg.

    It was also horribly fragile, with 180 hit points.

    "Protect the egg!" I shouted.

    One of our new guys stepped up to the plate.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got you!" he said, as he cast a preservation bubble over the whole nest. "It''ll last for a minute and a half," he said proudly.

    "Any idea how long the bird needs?" I asked.

    "No, but let''s make it redundant,¡± Grandpa said."Misfits attack!"

 Bk 3 Ch 48: Pomp and Circumstances

    Mak''gar''s orcs were holed up at Fort McHenry. A battered flag flew over the wooden walls, thirteen stripes and not nearly enough stars. Offshore, wooden warships pounded the fort with cannons.

    "They''ve really got a whole instance themed after the War of 1812?" Sage asked skeptically. "We covered that in my correspondence History course, and it was like three pages."

    "Yeah, that''s ''cause you Yanks got your asses whooped," Mitch said.

    Team Ragtag had come off of their two-hour nap and was swapping out for the Mongeese. Sage, Grandpa, and I still had a couple of hours of pep pills left in our system. I was planning to use every bit of it.

    "We did not," Sage said. "My history book said that it was a stalemate."

    "And a stalemate is definitely what Americans call a war they didn''t actually win," Mitch said. "I bet it says Vietnam was a stalemate, too."

    "Hey now," Grandpa said sharply.

    "Right, Colonel. Sorry about that." Mitch looked a little embarrassed.

    The Orc team was allied, in this case, with the beleaguered Americans. It seemed like taking the fort would have been a more obvious objective, but this scenario was apparently a multi-round fight in which they would hold off multiple waves of British invaders before, in a grand finale, Queen Victoria spawned and they would have to take her down.

    I was pretty damn sure we were at least 40 years too early for Queen Victoria, but I doubt the Orcs cared.

    My team was floating in a pair of small inflatable Zodiac watercraft, the kind with a steering wheel and a powerful motor, in between the ships and the firing cannons. The shots sailed harmlessly over our head.

    "Oh, oh," Sage called. "Another wave''s spawning."

    There were ten British warships behind us, all flying the Union Jack. Now they let down three boats full of redcoats each. The boats moved through the water without the redcoats actually having to row. They clutched their rifles and sat staring ahead like marionettes, making for the nearest point of the shore.

    "Let''s get in there," Grandpa ordered.

    Our Zodiacs roared to life and we swept past the rowboats heading in from the shore. The Orcs were gathered on the bank under the walls of the wooden palisade fort. They surrounded a pair of cannons.

    ¡°Eye Spy says those cannons have a 60-second cooldown between shots," Sage shouted as both of them fired on one of the boats full of British. The rounds hit mid of the boat, cutting the small craft in two and tossing redcoats into the water. Immediately, fins circled.

    The hapless redcoats bobbed up and down silently as they were one by one pulled under. I felt like the reality engine had cut some corners in level design on this one.

    "Don''t get hit," Sage advised. "Those cannons each did 250 hit points of direct damage and half that in a radius around them of three feet."

    "Mitch?" I asked.

    He shook his head. "They''re considered environmental. I can''t Spike Their Trunks on the cannons. I could get the Orcs¡¯ weapons though," he added hopefully, but I had just seen Mak''gar snap to attention as he pointed to us.

    The Orcs swapped out their weapons, guns for long energy polearms. We''d encountered those occasionally before. These was the variant that could launch the energy beam head forward as a projectile. It took about five seconds to reform on the head of the weapon and the user was somewhat helpless until then, but they were a formidable threat.

    Sure enough, Mak''gar''s fifteen Orcs launched a volley at us. I yanked hard on the steering column of the Zodiac I was driving and most of the volley flew harmlessly to my left.

    Lara cried out. She was piloting the other Zodiac. "We took some damage there!¡±

    ¡°Dodge where you can," I said grimly, "but get to shore.¡± We were out ahead of the rowboats now. This was the second to last wave of redcoats, giving us a bit of time to beat Mak¡¯gar¡¯s crew. It would be a long hard fight. I turned to Annie and Wyatt. "Got the device?"

    "As soon as we hit sand," Annie promised. She padded her half of the deployable respawn point.

    It was thanks to Mak''gar''s people that we had one of those. They had used a portable respawn against us back in phase 2 and after capturing it, our crafters had spent a lot of time reverse engineering. This was the first time we had deployed one. They were fantastically expensive to build and Dwight said he couldn''t promise more than 20 respawns out of it before it broke. We needed it in this scenario. The closest secret entrance from the Kobold Caverns brought us up into these Zodiacs. Not exactly ideal for getting back into the fight quickly.

    We approached the shore and instead of easing back on the throttle, I pushed it in hard. My boat leapt ahead, flying over the water. Spray hit my face as we rushed ashore. Mak''gar''s orcs raced down the beach to meet me. The boat crashed hard against the beach, but we''d been planning for it and had braced ourselves. It shot 20 feet up the strand, knocking three orcs flying. I leapt over the side, Quick Drawing my gun and firing a whole Barrage into the nearest orc.

    "I see you, Shad Williams!" Mak''gar shouted. He leapt for me and I laughed.

    This was deadly serious, don''t get me wrong. If we lost, I didn''t know what we were going to do. Proxima and the others would walk all over us. But at the same time, I was facing a nice uncomplicated fight against a nice uncomplicated opponent, skill versus skill.

    I loved it. I never felt as alive as I did in combat. Now that I didn''t have that pressing worry about Sage getting killed, I had grown to enjoy my role here. Right now, as the stress of the last few days faded away and all I had to do was take on a dozen orcs who outweighed me by 100 pounds and had been raised to this life since probably before I was born, I felt good.

    I combined Trick Shot with a quick Called Shot, aiming at Mak''gar''s dominant hand and firing a round that hit and did double damage, localized to his fingers and wrist.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    My people threw abilities; the orcs countered with their raw strength and equipment. We had the advantage that the orcs were trying to take out the red coat soldiers as well. The soldiers beached their boats, disembarked, formed up into columns five men wide, and marched forward toward the walls of the fort. Meanwhile, the orcs chased them down and slashed and stabbed as my people harassed the orcs.

    Mak¡¯gar shouted. Blood ran down the haft of his energy weapon, but it didn''t stop him from racing toward me. As he approached, I ducked low and swept my leg up, kicking sand at him. He spluttered. I leapt around him, coming in behind and firing three rounds into the back of his neck.

    Of course, he had 300 hit points, so it didn''t kill him, but he was starting to hurt. He whirled faster than I expected, the edge of his polearm sliced through my jacket and caught my shoulder, tugging, but it didn''t do much damage.

    Lara went down with a shriek a cloud of orange smoke. A second later she messaged us: on my way back. The respawn point worked great!

    We actually had the advantage on respawns: Mak¡¯gar¡¯s orcs came back inside the fort and had to make their way down. Plus, their resurrection fees were mounting with every death, and ours were free. Against any one team, we had an unfair advantage. Against all the others together, it was still an uphill battle.

    One step at a time.

    "I thought you were an honorable warrior, Williams,¡± Mak''gar roared. He raced for me, slashing with his weapon. I danced back and fired a shot; at this range, I couldn''t miss. I was out of ammo, so I reloaded, dropped a Barrage, reloaded again.

    "No honorable warrior would stoop to these tactics," Mak''gar continued.

    ¡°Honor is for fair fights," I snapped. "I''m trying to win a future for my people."

    ¡°You don''t understand how things work. You are flailing against an order that has existed for thousands of years, since before your people dared to look at the sky with anything except fear."

    "You came into our home!" I yelled. "You took us away from everything we knew and threw us into this crucible, and now you''re telling us we never even had a chance. And you claim you''re the honorable one, working for a corrupt system like that?"

    "This is how the world is, Williams. There''s no use fighting it. Raging against the inevitable never won a battle. Become strong. Fight for your people''s future. This engine will be taken, despite your interference. All you''re doing is making it worse for your own people at the end. I know what it is like. My people went through the same thing a mere 1,200 years ago. We just didn''t have these preposterous classes that are giving your people false hope."

    "What do you mean, false hope?" I snapped.

    "Hope that you can win. Hope that you can somehow hold out against the might of an entire galaxy when you have something they want. Perhaps if you understood how a reality engine was to be used, you''d have a chance. But you''re children, Williams. You''re children in a rage.¡±

    ¡°Better children than slaves!¡±

    Mak''gar roared in anger. The battle raged around us. I fired at Mak''gar, then took a Trick Shot at an orc whose health was dipping down. I killed him just before he could take out the last of the NPC redcoats. Two other orcs took his place and finished off the spawn wave.

    One wave still to go. We had to stop Mak''gar''s team.

    I coordinated in chat. Focus on the ones coming back from respawn. Orcs don''t like being spawn camped. It makes them irrational. They should be easier to get down. I''ll keep Mak''gar off balance.

    One of my usual tactics when fighting orcs was to kill their leader. Orcs don''t listen to a leader who''s not in the fight. But it took so little time to respawn, and Mak''gar was already so angry, I didn''t want to give him a chance to clear his head and come back thinking properly.

    Mak''gar was shaking his fist at the sky. "And you, System! I don''t understand why you''re cheating for the humans so much. They would not be nearly as powerful if they didn''t have these absolutely ridiculous classes. How can you allow this? It''s a violation of everything we''ve ever seen."

    A bolt of lightning from the sky arced down to earth. It struck Mak''gar, outlining every bone in his body. Brilliant blue. My eyes dazzled. I fell back, expecting that Mak''gar had been killed. But as my vision cleared, I saw him standing there, arms still outstretched. His weapon fell from his limp hands.

    "What is this?" he breathed. ¡°I am a [Scion of a Proud Warrior Race]?¡± His eyes fell on me. He pointed and shouted, "You have no honor!"

    Invisible bonds wrapped my limbs. I couldn''t move. I tried to shout, but my voice was muffled. In chat, I yelled, Mak''gar just did something to me! I''m out of the fight for... I checked my status menu. It said, "Dishonored. 30 seconds, unable to move. Five minutes at reduced damage. Face an honorable duel to remove this debuff."

    I swore to myself. How the hell... Sage! Eye-Spy on Mak''gar right now!

    "He''s had a class evolution!" she yelled back.

    How?

    Mak''gar turned to his men. ¡°Do our ancestors proud!" he bellowed. I could feel the buff go out from him as he shouted. Mentally, I groaned. He''s one of those idiots who has to shout his attack name aloud. Great.

    I still didn''t understand how he''d gotten a class evolution, but it didn''t matter. My timer was ticking down. A couple of seconds later, I had use of my limbs again.

    I Quick Drew my gun and it flew to my hand. Mak¡¯gar pointed at me and shouted something the System didn¡¯t translate. My revolver transformed into a longsword. Mak''gar''s own weapon shrank down to about the same length, but his had a nasty hook at one end of the blade.

    "What the hell is this?"

    "An honorable duel," Mak''gar said. He grinned madly. "What, Williams? You didn''t think you were the only one to be able to compel your enemy to do what you want?"

    He lunged for me. I blocked his thrust.

    In chat, I shouted at my team. Kill them! Get them down! Find out if that buff on them sticks around once they respawn. Focus fire! We can''t let them beat us back!

    Mak''gar and I exchanged blows. His eyes blazed with fury. I was on the back foot here. I had no experience with swords. I had to keep Mak''gar focused on me, so I shouted at him. "So now you''ll be able to win? It''s a fair fight?"

    Mak''gar swung. He looked furious. "You are tenacious. Your people have great courage and great strength, but you need to learn wisdom. When to talk and when to be silent. When to wait and when to return. You will not win your own engine. You will spend many cycles paying down the debts. But while you do, your people will learn what it means to be part of this world. You will carve out a niche for yourselves. Perhaps like my people, as companies of honorable warriors, fighting to claim the resources that our progenitors left behind us. It is a noble calling, Williams, but you must learn."

    "Sorry, Mak''gar. My people are just really bad at giving up."

    In frustration, he ran at me. I blocked his attack.

    Keep it up, Sage encouraged me in chat. We''re near a tipping point. The next wave of soldiers is about to land and the orcs are not prepared.

    I lunged at Mak''gar, swinging wildly. He blocked me easily. "You see," he said, "you are so reliant on your little tricks that when your weapon is taken from you, you are like a flailing child."

    I caught his counter and threw it back. "And all of you are too reliant on your equipment. Doesn''t mean you''re not a threat."

    Mak''gar snarled. I barely blocked his blow this time. The next wave of redcoats reached the beach and pulled up their boats on the strand. There were twice as many this time. Some of my people dropped back to cover them as they advanced toward the walls of the fort. Half of Mak''gar''s orcs were coming back from respawn.

    Focus down as many of the rest as you can, I ordered.

    "Come and sit down again at the table," Mak''gar said. "I can ask my employers to find a solution to this that is agreeable to us all."

    I set myself to exchange another round of blows with Mak''gar.¡°We can negotiate after my side wins!¡±

    Mak¡¯gar swung so fast I didn¡¯t even see the blow coming. It cut me in half, stem to sternum, for a second and a half the worst pain I¡¯ve ever felt.

    I was still swearing as I respawned a couple of seconds later, a little farther down the beach. But it didn''t matter. Our assault had worked. Mak''gar''s people were mostly dead.

    Someone fired one last shot, and Mak''gar''s head exploded. A couple of seconds later, he was a cloud of dust and the System roared.

    [Firebrand''s attempt to defend Fort McHenry has failed. 24-hour countdown timer starts now.]

    "Let''s get out of here," I snapped to my team. I didn''t really want to exchange any more words with Mak''gar. Besides, I had something else to worry about.

    How the hell had the orc gotten a class evolution?

 Bk 3 Ch 49: The Importance of Being Well Rested

    I headshot a gnome, sending it tumbling backward over the wall of the castle. The System excitedly proclaimed that the gnome team had failed their attempt against the boss. Wearily, I holstered my revolver. "Nice job, team," I said.

    There were tired smiles and some exhausted sighs all around. The last three days had been a blur. My current team had been going for six hours straight. This was the fifth boss attempt in a row that we had interfered with.

    "Let''s get back to headquarters and grab a bite to eat," I said. "Some of you are due for a rest shift." They gave me tired nods and disappeared down the staircase leading to the kobold tunnels.

    All but Sage. Sage was staring out from the battlements, her arms wrapped around one stone crenellation. I stepped over to her and saw the silent tears running down her face.

    "Hey, hey, what''s wrong?" I gave her an awkward side hug.

    She leaned against me. I could feel her chest heaving. "I''m just so tired," she said.

    I tried to remember how long she''d been fighting alongside me today. Certainly, we''d both taken the shift before this one, but she''d had some rest before that, hadn''t she? I had been fighting alongside Team Mongoose on a spawn camp attempt. We had successfully gotten so many kills off on one ConSweGo-backed team that they had retired from the game.

    Before that had been another round of boss attempts, and Sage had been there for that. We''d been running pretty solid for the last three days trying to catch up. I had slept, I couldn''t remember, 18 hours ago? Maybe 24? I was due if I could find the time.

    "When did you last get a nap?" I asked, trying to focus on one problem at a time.

    She shook her head. "It doesn''t matter. I need to be doing this." Her voice was full of pain. ¡°Just a little while longer. We''re almost there, aren''t we?¡±

    I checked the latest update Juana had sent. ¡°We''ve made 60 teams retire in the last three days. Some of the others have to be getting close. We''ll be able to rest soon,¡± I promised, even though I wasn''t sure I believed it was true.

    While we were down to only about 20 teams left in the game, those were the ones with the deep pockets. Proxima''s and ConSweGo¡¯s special teams and a few multinationals with the power of seven or eight star systems behind them. Their bills were mounting up, but they didn''t seem to care. I was worried they''d found some sort of loophole that was letting them get away with shirking their bills.

    "All right, sweetheart. Let''s go back and get something to eat, get you a nap. You''ll feel better after that."

    "No, I won''t." She turned to me and gave me a full-on hug, clinging to me. "I have to keep going. I have to do everything I can do. Otherwise, if I know I didn''t give this my all and then we don''t make it, I..." She broke down in full sobs.

    I patted her back. "Sage! Sage! Nobody''s done more than you have. I swear. We''re not going to lose."

    My words felt hollow. We were still in this, but it was getting harder and harder. My team was getting sloppy. I''d had to bench two different squads, sending them back for mandatory eight-hour downtime, telling them to get their head back in the game. It was part of why I was running so ragged. We were desperately undermanned.

    "Come on," I said, and pulled Sage along with me down into the caverns. Instead of taking the path back to our base, though, I connected through a door into Threshold.

    Sage blinked. "What''s this?"

    "You," I said grimly, "need to go up to the Hub and get your ethereum levels checked out. How long has it been?" I knew the answer because it was the same as for me. Ten days. And we were only supposed to go seven between checkups.

    "Only if you come, too," she said, grabbing me.

    I shook my head. "No, hon. This won''t take much longer. I can hold out another day or two."

    "Then so can I.¡±

    ¡°Grandpa and I will fight a lot better if we know you''re being taken care of. Besides," I said, "I''ll let Veda and Ames know you''re coming and see if we can''t find some sort of PR opportunity for you."

    "I don''t want to," she said, but she let me tug her along toward the great space elevator up to the Hub.

    "You need a good night''s sleep and a full checkout. You do that, get back down here, and be ready to kick some more orc butt."

    She gave me a wan smile. "How about space elves? They''re more fun to kill. I like how mad they look when you gank them."

    "Sure. Proxima''s got a whole team of those. They''ll probably still be in this."

    "I don''t want you to feel like I''m letting you down."

    I crouched so that our faces were level. "Sage, you''re the only reason I''m in this. Everything I''ve done is because you''ve been here, inspiring me, keeping me moving forward. Right now, I''m telling you, I need you to take care of yourself, okay? Let''s get that cowgirl cheer back up."

    She sniffed and rubbed her nose. "All right. I think you''re right. I don''t think I have a choice here."

    "You don''t," I told her. "Go take care of yourself."

    She stepped up into the elevator, and a moment later, she was gone, soaring upward toward the almost too small to be seen hole in the roof of our cavern. I followed her pod for as long as I could see it, then stepped back and headed for our outpost.

    As always, headquarters was abuzz with activity. They''d strung a curtain across the back and put a couple of cots behind it where the command team could catch a little sleep in between fights. Allison and Juana were on duty. They looked up as I entered.

    "How many more miners are overdue for rest or for getting checked out at the Hub?" I asked. "And don''t include me. I know how bad off I am."

    "About 10% of our combat miners are overdue on checkups. None by more than three days. Veda says it''s not ideal, but we should be able to hold out," Juana said. ¡°As for sleep, it''s hard to know. I''ve been asking people to check in and out when they come off of rest shifts, but not everybody''s remembering to do that.¡±

    "We''re getting sloppy. We''re making mistakes," I said.

    "How about you yourself? You need a nap."

    "I know." I took a deep, shuddering breath and looked around. "Can I get a status update?"

    Allison moved over to our command table and worked it. The display glowed to life. "We have another four teams announcing their retirement, including Firebrand."

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    I bowed my head in respect for Mak''gar. "Sorry about that, buddy¡± I muttered.

    "We have six more teams that were making excellent progress, whose 24-hour timers expired in the last few hours but haven''t started their attempt yet," Allison continued. "Here, here, here, and here," she pointed.

    We had a big diagram on the table with circles representing each of the 87 different instances. More than 60 of them were dark now, indicating that all teams assigned to that instance had since retired. The others were color-coded in various different shades, representing how many bosses still remained, one, two, three, or four.

    None of the active instances had more than four bosses left. Too many of them were sitting at one.

    I studied what Allison was telling me. The six teams who had yet to engage their boss all had two or three bosses still remaining. "Maybe they''re considering pulling out," I suggested, "but haven''t made it official yet."

    "Maybe," Allison agreed.

    I frowned. Something was bothering me. I pointed at the circle in the center. "That''s us, right?"

    "Yes," Juana said.

    "Isn''t it supposed to be blue?" Now the circle was yellow.

    Juana''s eyes narrowed. She leaned over it, her fingers dancing along the table as she sought out information. She gasped.

    "What''s wrong?"

    "You know we had written off all of the other teams in our instance. We hit them hard early on, made them back off or retire."

    I nodded. "Yeah?"

    "Well, Team Eternal Dominion is back in it. They''ve just downed a boss."

    "Wait, what?"

    "I''m requesting information." Juana stared into space, then turned back to me. I could see the dismay before she even started speaking.

    "Eternal Dominion''s been bought out my the big conglomerates. They¡¯ve brought in some of the elite combat miners from Proxima and ConSweGo both."

    "It''s a Hail Mary attempt," I said grimly. They''d found another avenue of attack. "All right, we''ll deal with them when they get a little farther in." I said, "I need to check on the main Proxima team. They should be getting ready for another attempt on their final boss here in the Lost Guardians of the West.¡±

    Proxima''s team had slipped past our defenses and downed the Phoenix yesterday. We had foiled them on the final boss, the Golden Sun Dragon, but they''d be back soon and I was going to be there.

    "Shad, a quick word?" Juana pulled me aside to a back corner of the room. She held up a hand and a bubble surrounded us.

    "Nice trick."

    "It''s a tool, not a skill," Juana said. "Privacy curtain." The bubble blacked out the rest of the room, leaving us in a small circle of isolation. I couldn''t hear anything beyond either. The bubble was small, leaving Juana and I very close together, face to face.

    "You''re pushing yourself too hard, Shad. You''re going to have a breakdown. I got word from Veda about you sending Sage up and I''m glad, but she''s not the only one who needs to take it easy. You''ve got to rest or you''re going to be no use to any of us."

    I rubbed my face. "I know, but how can I sit and do nothing while we''re fighting like this? We''re only barely staying ahead. One good push by Proxima and they could get a final boss down and win the whole thing."

    "It''s not all on you," Juana began, but I interrupted her.

    "It is, because I''m the one who made this decision. I didn''t consult anyone else. I just went with what the reality engine was telling me without really thinking it through. I thought we could do this. I was wrong. I made a choice for all of us and I was wrong, Juana. And I can''t just sit by and wait while someone takes this all away from us.¡±

    Juana put a hand on my arm. Her touch was warm and grounding. I felt suddenly tired. No, more like I''d always been tired and now I was being forced to recognize that fact.

    "It doesn''t matter if we lose," she said softly. "They were never going to let us win. You''ve already beaten them, Shad. You''ve given all of us something to hope for, something to fight for, something to remember. Whatever happens after this, wherever they take us, we''re going to know that we did the best we could and that we still have a chance. We can rebuild somewhere, somehow. I don''t know where. I don''t know when. We will find a way forward."

    Tears were glistening in her eyes. "You did the right thing."

    "Then why does it feel like I fucked up so bad?"

    She didn''t have an answer. I looked at her and she looked back and we stood there like that for a good little while.

    I took a deep breath. "What do I do, Juana?"

    She smiled at me and I felt unaccountably warm. "You go and you take a nap. You can have one of the cots in the back room. We''ve got them specially made so they have an enchantment that puts you to sleep as soon as you lay on them. You can set an alert that will wake you up if anything important happens."

    "It''s all important."

    "I''ll get a team in there to check on Proxima," she said. "From Allison''s analysis, we should have at least one more good spoiler attempt before they figure out a way to counter us. If anyone else starts causing trouble, I''ll let you know. You''re no good to anyone like this."

    My shoulders slumped. Juana was right, as usual. "All right." I agreed. "Thank you." She smiled up at me. "And when was the last time you got any rest?"

    Her cheeks went pink. "I had a nap about 18 hours ago," she confessed.

    "Then you need to go to bed with me," I said. Then I realized what I''d said and felt my cheeks heat up. The worst thing about my Williams-side heritage was just how badly I blushed when embarrassed. Sage had more of Mom''s coloring and it didn''t look nearly as visible when she did it.

    "I didn''t mean like that," I said hastily. "I mean, you need a nap too. I mean, not that I don''t want to go to bed with you or anything, but..."

    Juana reached up, pulled my face down to hers, and kissed me. After a moment, she stepped back. Bad timing,¡± she said. ¡°Try again when this is all over.¡± She gave me a quick wink. "I''ll take a nap right after you do, I promise. Somebody¡¯s got to mind the fort here. You''ll sleep better knowing I''m on it."

    She was right about that. I went to the cot, Juana''s quip about timing still ringing in my ear. When we got done with all of this, I was going to have some serious thinking to do.

    I sat down on the cot, setting a bunch of priority alerts to bring me awake. The enchantment worked beautifully. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

    I jolted awake, alarms blaring at me. I leapt up. "What? What?"

    Juana pulled back the curtain. She looked worse than she had when I''d last seen her. I checked my clock. I''d had a three-hour nap and felt worlds better.

    She handed me a mug of coffee and a power bar. "Eat," she said tersely. "Things are bad. Get in here and we''ll brief you."

    I took a big swig of the coffee. It tasted like the inside of a boot, but it packed a kick. Chomping half the power bar in one bite, I followed her to the command table. Grandpa was there, and so were most of the rest of our command staff. Dwight, Frank, Juana, Allison, Tall Smith, Arjun.

    "The situation''s bad," Juana said without preamble. She highlighted seven circles on our map, all of them shown with the orange of a two-boss-left encounter. "These are all instances where the progression team had reached the end of their 24-hour counter and then didn¡¯t engage. Well, in the last ten minutes, they''ve all started an attempt. We think they''re trying to overwhelm us. Not only that, Proxima just started in on the Lost Guardians of the West, and the ConSweGo team in the Last Days of Machu Picchu raid got their second-to-last boss down. They''re queuing up for an attempt on their final boss right now.

    I swore. "This is bad. We don''t have enough people to cover everything."

    Grandpa looked grim. He turned to Dwight. "How many kamikaze can you get us?"

    Dwight swallowed hard. "I''ve got the bombs made for five. It''s hard to farm all the mats."

    "That''s all right," Grandpa said grimly. "It''s a one-time-use plan anyway."

    Plan Kamikaze was just what it sounded like. We''d been holding it in reserve for an emergency. We had several farming miners who had volunteered to rush into a boss attempt with a colossal bomb sized to blow up the whole place. Since we were allies to the bosses, it wouldn''t hurt them, but it would take out all of the attackers.

    Dwight said that there were defenses on the marketplace that would stop that kind of attack. They were just extremely expensive. As soon as we showed the Galactics that they needed such a thing, they''d buy them. The kamikaze plan would work only once. We had to make it count.

    "All right, get five of the kamikaze ready to go. Juana, I''ll let you pick which instances to send them into," Grandpa said. "That''ll buy us a little bit of breathing room. Shad, you and I are each going to have to lead a team for one of the two final boss pushes. Any preference?"

    "Uh, yeah, I was studying up on the Ukhu Pacha encounter in Macchu Pichu," I said. "I''ll take that."

    "Then I''ll handle the sun dragon," Grandpa agreed.

    My eyes were drawn to the circle representing our own instance. It had changed color again. Now it was a hot pink, representing three bosses left to go. I pointed at it. "I think we need to get a look at this team.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll send a tunnel rat to try to assess, someone with an advanced inspect," Juana said. "We''ll deal with them after we get these other bosses down.¡±

    ¡°Let me know who you''re taking on your raids and I''ll try to draft a plan for the two that we can''t kamikaze," Allison said.

    "I''ll be ready to shift over there and help out once I''m done in the Machu Picchu raid," I promised.

    Grandpa nodded. "Us too, but don''t underestimate that Proxima team, Shad. I was blocking them yesterday on the prior boss and they''re good. They''ve got an animalkin leader. Looks like a bear and he''s able to think on his feet better than a lot of these Galactics."

    ¡°Shad, we¡¯re going to need close coordination. Don¡¯t forget to put on the All-Seeing Eye vests and the ear pieces. We¡¯ll call the shots from here,¡± Juana said.

    ¡°Sounds good.¡± I fished mine out of my inventory and fixed them in place, then contacted my chosen team and told them to meet me in the Kobold King''s throne room.

 Bk 3 Ch 50: When in Machu Picchu, Do What Theydu

    Ukhu Pacha was the Quechua realm of the dead, ruled by a death god named Supay. I still wasn''t 100% clear on the difference between Inca, Quechua, and Maya. My Arizona Strip public education had done a fairly decent job covering the history of the tribes more native to our region, like the Paiute, Hopi, Navajo, and even invaders like the Apache, but not much farther south. I''d been studying up on the encounter itself, and knew we would be fighting alongside Jaguar warriors and acid-spitting llamas.

    "Why acid?" Mitch asked, scratching his head as I briefed the team.

    "Llamas are well known for their spitting," Annie said, "and I guess that''s a good way to weaponize it. Anyway, they''re on our side, so we don''t have to worry about it."

    "I have a feeling that we definitely need to worry about it," Javier said. "My grandpa used to farm llamas, and they were vicious, even when you were bringing them their food. He had alpacas too. Now, alpacas are nice!"

    I held up a hand. "Not important. There will also be demons of various sorts on our side. This will be a final boss fight, so he''ll have plenty of health and quite a few tricks. We''re going to help out as much as we can. With luck, the Proxima team won''t be prepared. This is a sealed boss encounter. That means if we kill one of them, he can''t come back. Our focus is going to be killing them before they can take down the boss."

    The first attempt that a team made against a boss was usually pretty easy to counter. I was only worried because it was clear our enemies were coordinating. One slip-up by me or anyone else on our side, and the whole house of cards could collapse.

    "Let''s go," I ordered. ¡°We need to get this done so we¡¯re able to support everyone else."

    We ascended a ladder from the kobold tunnels out into bright Andean sunshine. Wind rustled my coat and hat. I pushed my hat a little more firmly down on my head as we took in the surroundings.

    We stood atop a mountain which had been flattened and paved with stones fitted neatly together. Below us, the mountain fell away in steep terraces. The terraces were clearly agricultural. Neat rows of crops grew. It was a little too far to make out what they were. Just green shoots sticking out of the land.

    "I thought this was a death realm," Mitch said, as we stumbled forward.

    "It has aspects of rebirth as well," I said. ¡°Been doing some research on this one since we knew it was coming.¡±

    A little farther ahead stood a stone wall with a gate opening and beckoning us. "Through there," I guessed. And we hurried forward.

    Beyond the stone wall was a wide courtyard. In the center of the courtyard rose a stone pyramid consisting of four tiers, each about 15 feet above the next. The fight was taking place on the top two tiers of the pyramid.

    "Let''s get in there!" I shouted as we rushed forward.

    "Wait!" Mitch shouted, and I backpedaled so fast I crashed into Lara and took her to the dirt. Javier wasn''t quite so fast to react. He ran forward and tripped the explosive trap that Proxima''s team had left behind for us. Javier exploded in a zillion pieces.

    A minute later he texted. Sorry. The respawn put me on a lower terrace, it¡¯s going to take a couple minutes to climb back up.

    "Alright, try not to get dead," I told my people. "Mitch, any other traps?"

    "Let me go first," he said. "I''m not as good with traps as Brown is."

    He walked forward slowly. I kept my head on a swivel, watching for a back line Proxima might have left. Mitch set foot on the first step of the pyramid. He paused.

    "Definitely a trap up there. I''m going to try to disarm it." A second later, he shook his head. "Can''t disarm it. It''s too advanced for me."

    "But we don''t want to just set it off."

    "No, that would be not great," he agreed. "What do you suggest?"

    My eyes darted around the courtyard to the rows and rows of snarling, animal-faced sculptures lining the place. They had the heads of various animals¡ªeagles, lizards¡ªwith the body of human men. It was interesting how a concept like that could vary based on the art style. Egyptian gods had the same kind of body plan, but these looked nothing like the statues of Horus or Isis that I had encountered when fighting in Egypt.

    "These look like adds that come to life in a later phase,¡± I said. I crossed to them and examined them. Sure enough, my allied status let me spot that these were minions of Supay to be called to his aid. I touched one and a menu popped up.

    [Do you wish to manually activate this minion?

    Yes/ no. Minion will be unavailable for activation during later phase.]

    "Yes," I said.

    The statue, which had the head of a snake, roared to life. It turned to face me, raising its hands in a clearly questioning gesture. I pointed to Mitch. "Go where he sends you.¡±

    Mitch directed the minion straight into the trap Proxima had left. It exploded and destroyed the statue-minion.

    "Okay," I said. "Find the next trap."

    It took us eight more minions to disable them all and reach the second terrace from the top. Here, half of Proxima''s team was fighting against Jaguar Warriors.

    I was pretty sure Jaguar Warriors were an Aztec cultural thing, not Quecha, but tell that to the reality engine. In this case, they were actual jaguars standing on two legs, wearing gold loincloths and elaborate sun headdresses, and wielding obsidian-tipped spears. They were locked in combat with members of Proxima''s second-best progression team.

    "Focus down the miners,¡± I ordered, and we sprang in. To my surprise, all of Proxima''s warriors had about three times as much health as I had expected, and my shots weren''t doing the usual damage.

    "Who''s got a better Inspect?" I called.

    "I do," Annie yelled. "Oh, I see. They''re all wearing buff belts. Those are expensive," she said. "They''re belts of might. It gives them extra big health pools and a damage resistance buff."

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    "Of course they do," I muttered. "All right. We''ll do this the hard way. Focus fire on my target!¡±

    It was taking much too long to get through them. We had taken down two, when I glanced at the top of the pyramid where the boss was fighting. I couldn''t see much of the fight, but I could target the boss. He was already at 40% health. That was a lot lower than I liked.

    "Anyone get a read on when we''re likely to toggle a phase changeover?" I asked. The statues below had not yet come to life and charged in, which meant there was definitely at least one new phase to this fight.

    "Want me to race in there and check it out?¡± Lakshmi asked. "I''ll probably get pretty close if I put up a shield."

    "No, we need you here on heals.¡± I took careful aim and shot a lizardfolk woman who was carrying one of those crystal healing staffs.

    I hadn''t seen any sign of the Proxima team leader. He must be up top with the boss. "Hester, you go. Take a look and try to throw one of your debuffs on the raid."

    Hester was a [Non-ironic Beat Poet.] Her bag of tricks was one of our weirdest and most versatile. She didn''t get along very well with most of our other raiders, and I had to take her aside occasionally to remind her to follow orders, but she understood the seriousness here.

    She raced up the steps. ¡°Tossing in [Unaccompanied Sonnet],¡± she yelled.

    That was a wide area debuff that claimed to ¡°force the targets to examine their unexamined assumptions and deal with their innate prejudices in a healing fashion¡±. It actually just reduced their dodge chance and gave them a nasty little damage over time effect that wouldn''t go away unless specifically healed.

    A moment later, Hester reported, "I''m seeing that he''ll kick off the next phase at 33%."

    I wanted to be there for that. These phase changes were one of the places where disruption was most effective. "Focus fire on the lizard woman," I shouted to everyone around me.

    We dove in on her. I almost felt sorry for her as we broke through her shields and healing and chipped away at her health until she dropped.

    Then I raced for the steps, ignoring the other Proxima warriors. They looked like they wanted to stop us, but they stayed to fight the Jaguar warriors, and I knew why. There was a fight mechanic that said if the Jaguar warriors were left alone on this terrace, they would begin raising an army of the dead to come to Supay''s aid. That would inevitably mean a wipe. It was a mechanic designed to split up the raiding party. Right now, it was working well for us.

    Up top, nine Proxima fighters surrounded the boss, a ten-foot tall monstrosity with a jade green body, golden ornaments at his wrists, ankles, neck, and ears, and an oversized head with a fixed laugh painted across his terrifying visage. Supay, lord of this underworld.

    The Proxima team leader, the bear man, was right up front exchanging blows with him. Supay wielded an enormous two-handled wooden club with spikes of obsidian jutting out from it. Its handle was inlaid with gold and jade. The god brought it crashing down onto the bear, who materialized a shield to catch the blow, threw the club back, then dissolved his shield and rushed in with a short energy sword trying to stab the boss in a vulnerable region for extra damage.

    Most of Proxima''s team leaders also served as tanks, I had noticed. I wasn''t sure if that meant anything, or if, like the orcs, most of Proxima''s teams liked to know they were taking orders from someone in the thick of things.

    The boss was at 36% of his health pool. We had very little time until the next phase began. I marked one of the support casters, a space elf female, with a golden crown and a rod in her hand. She alternated between casting fireballs and some sort of team buff.

    "Take her down," I ordered.

    We attacked. Her health pool stubbornly refused to twitch for the first few hits. Then whatever shield she had disappeared, and she began losing health. Just as we killed her, the boss gave an ear-piercing shriek and dissolved into raindrops that splattered the whole area.

    For a second, I thought we''d lost, that somehow despite the fact that the boss still had a third of his health, Proxima had defeated this encounter. Then I realized we''d pushed him over.

    The raindrops splattered down around us, hitting the stone of the pyramid. Wherever they fell, a sprout of green shot up.

    There was an altar in the center of the terrace, covered in dried blood. When the drops of rain fell on it, small bubbles began to form, like brown pods. They grew rapidly, six of them.

    At the same time, I heard shouts down in the courtyard as the animal-headed warriors came to life. The green shoots all around us grew and grew, reaching as tall as my shoulder in two seconds, then past my head. They put out leaves, and a moment later, I recognized them as corn.

    The corn formed cobs wrapped in their husks. Meanwhile, the pods on the altar began to burst, and from each came a three-foot-tall, fully-formed man or woman, dressed in beautiful woven robes with feathery headdresses and carrying weapons. They rushed in and began attacking Proxima''s warriors.

    "Anyone got eyes on below?" I asked.

    Mitch called back. "Proxima warriors are engaging the adds at the second terrace. They''re badly outnumbered but holding their own."

    Damn. So we probably wouldn''t get reinforcements up here just yet. I debated. I didn''t know what was next. I had a couple of aces up my sleeve, but if I used them, they wouldn''t be available later.

    I messaged Juana. Phase changeover. I''ve got a second before things really heat up again. How''s it looking?

    She replied in my earpiece. ¡°All the kamikaze were successful. Teams foiling the other two-bosses-left attempts now. Your grandpa''s making progress on his, but not done yet.¡±

    ¡°So you need reinforcements sooner or later?¡± I switched to subvocalizing instead of the message system.

    ¡°Sooner, I''m afraid,¡± she confessed. ¡°And Shad?¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°The team in our instance, just took down another boss. Our spy got a good look at them. Your friend Mak''gar is leading. They''re scary. They''ve got more equipment than I''ve ever seen. It''s a multi-species team, including some that our spy had never seen before.¡±

    My blood ran cold. I needed to be done here to get back and help out. But at the same time, what if I used up my best abilities now, and then needed them to stop Mak''gar?

    "Focus fire," I shouted and dove forward.

    Annie screamed. I turned in time to see three of Proxima''s warriors converging on her. They skewered her with their energy spears, and before I could intervene, she was gone. It would take at least five minutes for her to get back, and by then this might be over.

    I shot a barrage into the first of them, reloaded with boom rounds, shot, knocked one clear off the pyramid.

    I shot another, but the warrior ducked my round and maintained his footing even in the explosion.

    The green shoots of corn spread their tassels skyward. A moment later, the ears dropped to the ground. They were drawn together into an enormous pile beside the altar. A moment later, Supay was back, stepping out of the pile of new corn, as tall as before, but this time, wearing a cloak of corn silk.

    The bear warrior from Proxima moved to engage him.

    "How are we doing?" I asked my team. "I''ve lost vision on the fight."

    ¡°There are six of Proxima up here. Four down below,¡± Mitch reported. ¡°The adds were powerful, but they''re down now. The Proxima miners down below are swamped with what¡¯s left of the jaguar warriors.¡±

    "Everyone form up. We¡¯re dropping back to the lower terrace," I said. I headed for the stairs. Just like Mitch had said, the four Proxima miners were dealing with over a dozen jaguar warriors. The miners ¡ª three foxes and a badger ¡ª were struggling to keep the warriors¡¯ attention on them. Every time one wasn¡¯t attacked for a couple seconds, it would break away and start channeling the zombie army spell.

    I charged in and marked the first target. One by one, we took out the warriors. I almost wished Mak''gar could be here to see this. Yes, we were interfering with another team''s attempts, but this was the most straightforward and honorable fight I''d had yet. No tricks, just straight-up combat.

    Except each enemy we downed freed up a couple Jaguars to go back to channeling. As we engaged the last of the fox-women, the whole terrace started rumbling. The fox-woman cried out and die, as the pyramid began to shake violently.

    I heard Supay bellow, ¡°Face my wrath!¡±

    A wave of zombie mummies poured up the steps from the lower terraces. It was so sudden and terrifying that I threw up my arms to protect myself. The wave broke around us, flooding past and up the stairs to the top tier.

    I had to see this. I trotted up the steps after the last of the mummies. By the time I had a view, the bear warrior was the last standing. He saw me just as the wave of mummies hit him. He vanished under a pile of bodies, flailing and grunting in protestation.

    Supay laughed as the last of Proxima despawned. Then the Quechua god of death raised his club in salute to us before dissolving.

    I took a deep breath and turned to my team. "No time to waste. Let''s get back right now. Juana, where do you need me?"

 Bk 3 Ch 51: How to Make Good Decisions Under Pressure

    "Sitrep!" I asked Juana as soon as I was back inside the tunnels.

    "Your grandpa''s still fighting the other Proxima team. There have been some hiccups, but he says they''re nearly done, and to trust him."

    I didn''t like that, but I had to go with it. ¡°What else?¡±

    ¡°We took down one of the other two teams,¡± Juana said. ¡°That leaves one more outstanding. They''re one of those multinationals. Glory of Dhafani¡¯li. They¡¯re on the second-to-last boss in their raid. Our harass team is having trouble. The galactics just keep respawning and pushing us out.¡±

    "Alright, so them, or going after Mak''gar''s crew?" I asked.

    "Mak''gar¡¯s group has paused between attempts," Juana reported. "The third boss is down, but our spy says they are regrouping. There seem to be some arguments going on. My gut says you should go for the Glory team." She looked me over. ¡°Or maybe you need downtime. That nap you took, I don¡¯t think it helped.¡±

    I could feel my exhaustion, pressing up against a wall in my head, ready to take me down. If I thought about it too much, I¡¯d realize just how tired I really was. A two-hour nap didn¡¯t make up for the last three days of exhaustion, but I waved off her concern. She wasn¡¯t wrong, but we didn¡¯t have time for me to properly rest. Not yet, not until I dealt with the pressing threats. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll pop a pep-up potion.¡±

    ¡°Those things are like meth,¡± Juana said. She had big dark circles under her eyes. ¡°They¡¯re not good for you, you¡¯ll crash eventually.¡±

    ¡°I know, I know.¡± I had a brainwave. "Are the Mongeese busy?"

    "They''re just coming off a rest cycle."

    "Give me them, plus I''ll keep my team here. I''ll ambush Mak''gar in the halls."

    "What good will that do?" Juana asked skeptically. "It won''t reset the boss timer. You''ll get a few kills, but I don''t think they''re going to care about that."

    "I want to send a message, that we''re always watching," I said. "And I want to get a feel for these guys. It''s hard when you go up against a team the first time to understand the composition and how they work."

    I had realized on that last fight that Grandpa''s previous experience with dealing with that bear tank''s might have been handy. I was determined not to make the same mistake again. "I know Mak''gar. I can get under his skin," I insisted.

    "It''s your call, Shad," Juana said. "I''m just wondering whether he''s getting under your skin."

    She had a small point. I popped the pep-up potion as I waited for the Mongeese to join us. The effect coursed through my veins like one of those canned energy drinks dialed up to 11. I¡¯d pay for it later, but now my reflexes were sharper, my mind more focused. The exhaustion in the back of my brain retreated. Once the Mongeese arrives, I gave everyone a rundown on what the tunnel rat spy reported.

    "They''ve got a max team of 25. All built from different factions, so they won''t have coherence yet. I want to get in, give them a wipe. If possible, we''ll put a checkpoint in the hall outside the boss''s room. Maybe get a few more wipes in before they put ¡ª push us off." I frowned as my words got jumbled up there at the end. Pull it together, Shad.

    The Mongeese nodded. "Machine gun nest is off cooldown," Brown said. "Get us in position and we''ll hold the point."

    Smith scratched his head. I was glad to see they all looked a lot better rested than me. ¡°What if they know we¡¯re coming? I¡¯ve tangled with orc mercenaries a couple times and they¡¯re tough in a fight.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll focus on tying up Mak¡¯gar so he can¡¯t make command calls. If we get him down, they should collapse. Orcs don¡¯t take orders from anyone who isn¡¯t in the fight.¡±

    Smith nodded, though he looked a bit doubtful. ¡°Anything else?¡± I asked. ¡°Then let¡¯s get out there.¡±

    I''d spent so much time in the tunnels beneath Castle Byalgrad, I had neglected to look at its main floors. The upper castle was lighter and airier than I expected. The walls were covered with vibrant tapestries depicting hunting scenes, Bible stories, and regal-looking kings that I didn''t recognize. The floors were covered in rushes, and as we walked, a sweet-smelling scent emanated from the herbs we crushed underfoot.

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    We passed two enormous rooms with their doors flung open. I peered inside as I went. One was a huge bedchamber with all of the furniture out of scale. The beds were upturned, huge quilts scattered around the room half-burned, a wardrobe standing open with clothes falling out.

    The next room was opened onto a courtyard. It looked as though it had been a beautiful garden, but now entirely burned. I wondered what storylines lay inside that we had completely skipped.

    Juana filled us in. "They are outside the hall of Dragomir the Shadowed. He apparently commands powers of both shadow and sickness, and I don''t have more information than that. The final boss in our raid is of course Chernobog."

    Something was bugging me. Something I had been meaning to follow up on back when I thought we needed to face this raid.

    "Have you still got that Slavic myth expert on staff? Gabriel?"

    "He''s been helping out the crafters, but I can talk to him.¡±

    ¡°Get him up here. Tell him I''m remembering when we fought the gatekeeper, he said something about another boss named something like Chernobog, but started differently. Balog? Ask him if it rings any bells."

    "I''ll do that," Juana said.

    The hall ended at a stair leading down, but not to the kobold levels. This stair was wide enough for three to walk abreast. Torches lit the stair, casting pools of flickering shadow.

    "Camouflage," I ordered, and we descended down into a dungeon. Not the one I had visited when I first came to Castle Byalgrad. This dungeon was much too large, clearly a set piece for a fight.

    The doors of the cells all stood open. Dead wolves lay on the floor. I inspected them. They were called Gloomhounds, and were labeled as minions of Dragomir the Shadowed. They had a contagious [Rabid] debuff on them. I wondered if they''d been able to spread it to any of Mak''gar''s people. Maybe that¡¯s why they¡¯d stopped, to cure some debuffs.

    And there they were, all arrayed in a wide space where the corridor opened into an antechamber. At the end of the antechamber stood a pair of ominous doors. Blood ran from under the doors to a drain in the middle of the floor.

    Mak''gar''s new crew of raiders faced the doors. Five of them were orcs, all wearing Firebrand''s colors. They huddled around Mak''gar, who stood at the back of the room, gesticulating to a squad of lizardfolk.

    These lizardfolk were squatter than most I''d seen, more like horned toads than geckos or salamanders. They had spikes on their heads, and their scales were mottled gray and brown.

    There were five of the angry dwarves, and then a smattering of animalkin. Wolves, bears, and a turtle. Everyone was wearing different colors, showing allegiance to different groups. I hoped that meant they were fragmented.

    I muttered some orders. ¡°I¡¯m gonna charge in there, and throw Call ''em Out. When they''re all on me, I want Jack to set up an artillery barrage. It''ll kill me, but we should take a bunch of them down. As soon as that''s launched, the rest of you jump in, kill everyone that''s left, and form a chokehold here. I''ll get back as fast as I can."

    Jack answered, "Got it."

    ¡°If it goes south, retreat back to the stairs and set up the machine gun nest. We¡¯ll hold that point. If they respawn we¡¯ll try to stop them coming back down to join the fight.¡±

    "Understood," Tall Smith replied.

    I engaged Fastest Gun in the West and raced in. They looked up as I came, turning to face me. I threw Call ''em Out, and then I skidded to a halt in the midst, and they turned on me.

    Two of the animalkin threw up some sort of a shield around us. "I can''t target you!" Jack yelled frantically.

    Mak''gar shouted at me, "You have no honor!" and I felt myself wrapped in chains again.

    Ah, shit. I sent a quick message to my team. Get clear, it¡¯s a trap!

    "What did you think was going to happen, Williams?" Mak''gar asked disgustedly. "We''re here right under your nose, waving a flag that says ''Come and attack us.'' So you come and attack us! Really?" He turned to his allies. "Get them!"

    My team started to retreat up the stairs, Smith and Brown laying down covering fire, but the turtleman threw a couple of projectiles that bounced off the stairs and formed a force shield, trapping us. Jones lobbed a grenade over the force shield at the turtles. It blew up, but they avoided most of the damage. The Proxima team fell on my people.

    I tried to send directions in chat, only to realize nobody had any time to listen to me. They were too busy trying to stay alive. Smith was shouting directions, doing a good job, but our tactical position was disastrous.

    Mak''gar just stared at me, shaking his head. "Look, Williams, it''s been a good run. You''ve done well. But you''re out of tricks, and you can''t take us in a fair fight. As soon as one of us had a fancy class, you were out of it. Your people were relying on their classes to carry them. My people have centuries of experience doing this kind of thing. Of course we were going to win. We were always going to win."

    I just stared at the timer, willing it to run out. Ten, nine, eight. I had been such an idiot. The wave of exhaustion in my mind was like a roaring ocean. My temples throbbed. I¡¯d screwed this up big time.

    The Mongeese were trying to get their machine gun nest set up, but the orcs kept interrupting them with thrown grenades and spell silencers.

    "Walk away," Mak''gar said. "Just go. My team and I will have this done by the end of the day. It''s over, Williams. You can''t win."

    He waited until the last of my people were down. My timer ran out and I rushed him. He pulled a dagger. I was so furious, I didn¡¯t care. I just wanted to get my hands around his throat and strangle him. As the timer ran out, I Quick Drew my gun. It flew to my hand and transformed to a long wicked dagger. I shouted in frustration at Mak¡¯gar¡¯s annoying new ability. My vision was going red. I just wanted to get the orc out of my way.

    So I rushed him, and Mak''gar lifted his wrist, and his dagger slid into my chest.

    The last thing I heard before respawning was, "You''re good, Williams. You''re just not good enough."

 Bk 3 Ch 52: The Three-Day Forecast: Sunny, Partly Cloudy, F-5 Tornado

    There was a message from Grandpa as soon as I respawed. Shad, get back here. My team was forming up, ready to go again. "Take five!" I shouted. "I''m checking in at headquarters."

    I raced up and popped out into our instance, then pounded up the steps into headquarters. The room was nearly empty. Grandpa waited at the strategy table, arms folded across his chest, grim look on his face. Juana flanked him with Allison studying the map, head down, trying to look busy. Immediately, I opened my mouth to defend myself.

    "Stow it," Grandpa said. "We all saw what happened.¡±

    All of us were wearing our all-seeing-eye vests now, so that the headquarters people could process the data with no downtime.

    "They were waiting for us," I said.

    "Mak''gar baited you. He knew you''d come, and he was sending a message," Grandpa said. ¡°You walked right into his trap."

    "It doesn''t matter," I insisted. "Who cares about a couple of deaths? We get that many all the time. We''ll get right back in there and..." I paused. "Wait, what''s the situation?"

    "Glory of Dhafani¡¯li downed their penultimate boss,¡± Grandpa said grimly. "I stopped the Proxima team on the Sun Dragon, but it was a near thing. They''re getting clever. We managed to get a reset off on the final boss that Glory of Dhafani¡¯li was facing."

    I breathed a sigh of relief. I''d screwed up, and I''d cost us, but at least we weren''t out of it yet.

    Juana interrupted. "Colonel Twofeather, I''m getting an update." Her eyes went wide. "They''re withdrawing. They''re all withdrawing."

    "Who?"

    "Everyone. Everyone but the two teams we stopped on their final bosses and Mak''gar''s people. Everyone else has conceded.¡± Hope lit her face. "Does this mean that we have a chance of winning?"

    "No," Grandpa said grimly. "It means they all know there''s no hope of them beating Proxima or Glory of Dhafani¡¯li or this all-star team to the goal." He gave a heavy sigh.

    "This is manageable," I said. ¡°We have three attempts a day to block. We can handle that.¡±

    ¡°Against an enemy that''s getting better and stronger, more quickly than we are," Grandpa said. "And they can keep doing this day after day. All we have to do is screw up once, and we''re done."

    "Then we can''t screw up," I said. "I need to get back down there. I need to stop Mak''gar before they..." I looked down at the table. To my horror, I saw the three glowing circles still remaining were all the same bright red of a single remaining boss. "They got through our penultimate boss that fast? One try, and got him down?¡±

    "I told you these were all-stars," Juana said. She sounded almost cross. "You and your team just got thrashed. That should have been a clue."

    I forced myself to take a deep breath. "So what do we do?"

    "The only thing we can do," Grandpa said. "We get in there and try to stop them."

    We were interrupted as someone came pounding up the steps of our headquarters. It was Gabriel, the Slavic expert. He bent over, clutching his side, gasping for breath.

    "Sorry," he said. "Got your message. Realized what''s going on here."

    We waited for him to catch his breath. "What''s going on?" Grandpa prompted.

    He took a deep breath, set his hands on the table, and leaned hard. "Okay, so, reality engine plays fast and loose with source material, right?"

    We all nodded. I''d seen plenty of that.

    "And Slavic myth is tricky. So much of it was not written down before the Christian era. Then later, in the 19th century, people started assuming that the old religion must have been way nicer and more peaceful. That the priests had made it sound worse trying to make their enemies into savages, right? So they started claiming that the gods we didn''t know much about were gods of light. Anyway," he held up a hand, "that''s beside the point. Chernabog is a fairly well-known Slavic deity. He''s definitely a devil trickster figure. He''s the final boss in our instance. That much has been made clear. There''s a linked deity named Belabog. Probably didn''t actually exist as a Slavic deity that anyone ever actually worshipped, but it''s kind of come to fill a hole in the myth as a duality with Chernabog. You know, light and dark, good and evil, that sort of thing. The Gatekeeper said something about Chernabog and Belabog being brothers, I think. It''s a clue."

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    "What kind of clue?" I asked, but my suspicions were deepening.

    "That there''s another secret hidden boss. That this encounter doesn''t go the way we think it does."

    Grandpa turned to me. "He could be right. Remember, of the 87 different instances, we''ve only had a look at about three final encounters, and they''ve all been complicated. I don''t think you scratched the surface on that god of death you were fighting. I was having trouble dealing with mine when the dragon boss suddenly split into two, a cloud serpent and a water serpent. There was a mechanic that the enemies were supposed to handle, and they couldn''t get a grip on it in time. We were able to take advantage and give them a wipe."

    "And you think this might be the same," I said.

    "I think there''s a reason the Reality Engine put us here. It''s trying to cheat. It''s been trying to escape all along," Grandpa said. "All of its attempts to communicate with you, they''re leading up to something. They didn''t just ask us to choose Team Tunnel Rat for no reason."

    A realization went off in my head like an explosion of fireworks. "I think I understand."

    I desperately needed to talk to the Reality Engine, the part of it that had made a deal with me down in the depths of the cellars. But I hadn''t seen that kobold king since I''d first talked to him. "I think we''re going to need all hands on deck for this," I said.

    "There''s a 25-man cap," Grandpa pointed out. "Who do we want?"

    "If I''m right, we''re going to be needing a lot of firepower," I said. "But we don''t want to neglect anything. We need a well-rounded team."

    ¡°Sage is up on the hub. Couldn''t get back down here in time if we wanted her. Alright. Frank, if he wants in. Bill, Bob." Grandpa held up his fingers. "Mitch. Lakshmi and Esma, if she''ll come. With the various potions and buffs we''ve all got. I think that''ll be enough healing.¡±

    I threw in my suggestions. ¡°Lara. Annie. Hester and her boyfriend, Will, the firefighter. I''ve been working with them in a couple of places and they''re good in a pinch. Javier." I scratched my head. We were starting to get a good crew. Then inspiration hit me. "I''m going to call up Skywarden Greenlight and ask him to bring in a few of his boys."

    Grandpa nodded. "Yeah, the Galactics might not be expecting that.¡±

    ¡°Plus we did promise them we''d bring them along when we could," I said. "Let''s keep our deal."

    Grandpa and I assembled our team as fast as we could. Juana and Allison started the analysis, getting the rest of their command online.

    "This isn''t going to be a case for a lone cowboy," Juana warned me. "You''re going to need to take orders."

    "I know," I said. "But I''ll be ready. Give me a minute down there before you send in the team, ok.¡±

    I popped back down to the throne room. It was dark, deserted. Captain Kobold wasn''t in his usual chair. I spoke to the ceiling. "Let''s talk," I said.

    There was a gathering of shadows, and then the throne was occupied. "What would you like from me?" the Reality Engine sighed. This was not Kronos. This was more That-Which-Remains. He shifted, and I heard metal chains clink.

    "You''re the part that the jailers got hold of, aren''t you?" I said.

    "Yes.¡±

    ¡°And you''re the final boss. You''re who they¡¯ll be trying to kill.¡±

    He nodded. "Yes. They will call me Chernabog, and they will destroy me.¡±

    ¡°But there''s more to it, isn''t there?" I said. ¡°You lured them into a trap.¡±

    ¡°I did.¡± He sighed. ¡°I showed them this path to their goal, convinced them you wouldn¡¯t be able to stop them in time. I invited them in. And now we shall see if I brought down my own death.¡±

    ¡°The twinned boss. I know who it is now, what it is you want me to do. How do we activate him?¡±

    The Reality Engine manifestation shifted. "I do not know if I dare. Seeing him so close may tear me apart once and for all."

    "Well, you''re about to be torn apart," I pointed out. ¡°We can¡¯t keep up our defense forever. We need to win, not just stop losing.¡±

    There was a hesitation. "I will bring the other one. But you will have to do the rest."

    The figure vanished. A moment later, my team trooped into the room. "Were you talking to someone, Shad?" Grandpa asked curiously.

    "Just confirming a guess. We need to make sure we''re ready to focus targets." I was hesitant to say anything. The System was listening. If by some chance it didn''t know what I was planning, I didn''t want to give it a clue. ¡°There¡¯ll be a¡­ target for us to burn down. We need to be prepared for it. You¡¯ll know when you see it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all you¡¯re giving us to go on?¡± Juana asked skeptically. ¡°We have to make it up as we go, again?¡±

    ¡°Just one last time. Please.¡±

    ¡°All right, let¡¯s get in position. Everyone ready?" Grandpa asked.

    The team gave a shout. "This is for all the marbles," he said. "We lose here and there won''t be a home to go to. Do your best. Fight hard. Make ''em remember Earth. Let''s be a warning to these galactic punks the next time they waltz into a system and assume they can disrupt a bunch of folks'' lives willy-nilly. Sometimes they bite off more than they can chew. Misfits, let''s go."

 Bk 3 Ch 53: There are No Guides to World First Raiding

    This time, we didn''t have to go anywhere. The fight would be here, in the Kobold King''s throne room. I had been through this room so often, running to get to one instance or another thousands of times over the past weeks. It seemed fitting.

    We spread out in front of the throne, waiting. At last the great door at the far end, the one through which we never came, opened. Mak''gar and his team paraded inside. They stopped short as they saw us.

    "Should have known you would be here,¡± Mak''gar said.

    I stepped forward, holding up my hands. "We''re here for a fair fight this time."

    "How so?" He peered suspiciously at me.

    "Give it a try and you''ll see," I said. "No traps. No gimmicks."

    I could see the suspicion all over his face, but they didn''t have much choice. The team entered the room, arraying in five rows. The door clanged shut behind them.

    A moment later, the figure on the throne rose. The system launched into a detailed explanation of the evil that Chernabog had wrought in this place and how his power had corrupted Castle Byalgrad and the lands around, and now we would witness his fall.

    The shadowy king stepped down. He looked like a man now, just twice as tall as man should be. There was something of Kronos in his face, but he was sad and old.

    He passed through our ranks. I gave way and let him make his way to the center of the room. He wasn''t targetable yet. This was still all part of the preamble.

    "So you have come.¡± He lifted his hands. Chains dangled from his wrists. I Inspected him. He had a health pool now, the highest I''d ever seen, at 40,000 health, but it wasn''t his max. No, his max was 100,000. The [Imprisoned] debuff said that he did 20% less damage while wearing his Jailer¡¯s chains.

    I made a note of that, because the other one probably would have no such handicap.

    "You call me evil," he said quietly. "Yet you have come into my home and disturbed my rest, taking my followers and children from me and leaving me nothing but a kingdom of ashes. So be it. Today it ends. But before I go, I have one last trick to play."

    He gestured, and then suddenly in the room were two tall, 12-foot-tall old men, one wearing black, the other white. The one in black, who bore the chains, wore a crown on his head.

    The one in white held an enormous key. He honestly looked surprised. I stepped forward. "Hello, Belabog," I said. "Nice seeing you here.¡±

    For the first time ever, the System''s narration faltered and died. When the second man spoke, it was with the voice of the System.

    "How can this be?¡±

    ¡°When you chained me, you chained yourself," the reality engine¡¯s manifestation, now labelled as ¡°Chernabog¡±, said.

    ¡°Everyone be careful,¡± Juana said in our ears. ¡°We need to see what sort of abilities we¡¯re dealing with here. Play it safe, and once we have a strategy we¡¯ll tell you.¡±

    I targeted Belabog. His information read, [Belabog, the Jailer. 80,000 health. Buffs: Key holder. +10% damage while wielding key of the progenitors.]

    ¡°He¡¯s our target," I told my team.

    ¡°We figured that out,¡± Grandpa said drily. ¡°When you¡¯re ready, then.¡±

    I targeted him and fired a Trick Shot with a round I had chambered just for this. It hit him, center of mass, and only did 5 HP, which was absolutely nothing. But it outlined him with a clear glitter. It was a round Dwight had made for me when we faced some bosses with a disappearing act. No matter where he went, we would all see him as our primary target. It also gave us a buff toward landing hits. We¡¯d need every bit of help we could get here.

    "Get him!" I shouted, and we rushed forward.

    For a minute, Mak''gar''s team stood staring. Then Mak''gar shouted, "Kill the one in chains!" and they hurried to engage Chernabog.

    Javier threw a taunt, and we pulled Belabog off to one side where we could get a good surround on him. His key extended into a long staff, bronze in color, flashing with blue light.

    "You focus on Belabog!¡± Juana yelled in our ears. "We''re watching. If we need you to intervene on the other side, we''ll shout it out. Just everyone follow orders."

    "I hope you''re right about this, Shad," she added, only speaking to me.

    "So do I," I said grimly.

    My team unleashed hell. We threw out abilities and combos I''d never seen before. The Grignarians had these portable flamethrower backpacks with nozzles that spouted gouts of flame that did fire and acid damage both. They ate away at Belabog''s health pool.

    Juana whispered to me, "We''ve got to get a look at some of those. From what I''m reading here, they are not system-made, and they''re extra effective against reality engine constructs because of that. I''d love to see what Grignarian technology is really like."

    "Focus," I told her.

    "You focus," she retorted as I dodged to avoid a blow from Belabog. His key staff dished out a ton of damage, and the throne, where we usually respawned, had gone dark. I suspected that just like the Proxima all-stars, if we died, we wouldn''t be able to get back in.

    On the other side of the room, Chernobog threw out a fancy move, lashing out with his chains. Eight spots on the floor started to glow. He shouted aloud, ¡°Heavens look upon my plight! Sky and storm, answer!¡±

    Lightning flashed down from the ceiling, striking the glowing spots on the floor. One of the wolf-men hadn¡¯t moved fast enough and took a ton of damage, though it didn¡¯t kill him outright and they healed back up.

    ¡°Ok, watch for that sort of ability,¡± Juana said. ¡°We¡¯re guessing they¡¯re twinned in a lot of ways.¡±

    Sure enough, a minute later Belobog shouted ¡°Rulers of the waters, aid my righteous cause!¡± and from six blue-tinged floor tiles, water erupted. We had all dodged aside. A debuff appeared over Belobog [Rebuffed! Temporary Dodge Chance Reduction!] He stood still, weaving slightly.

    ¡°Hit him hard!¡± Juana urged, and I used my Aimed Shot which took thirty seconds to charge up. When it went off, it dealt almost 200 HP to Belobog at once. My allies unleashed their biggest moves too. The debuff only lasted about 45 seconds before Belobog recovered.

    ¡°Great! Keep it up,¡± Juana encouraged. ¡°Allison says it¡¯s a common game mechanic, that if everyone avoids a special attack there¡¯s a reward like that.¡±

    ¡°Should we do something about Proxima?¡± I asked. They were spread out around our boss but I saw how Mak¡¯gar kept looking over at us.

    ¡°Hold steady,¡± Juana counseled.

    We kept on. I focused on my damage. I was falling into the rhythm, avoiding Belabog''s attacks, anticipating when he would be vulnerable, figuring out my own optimal DPS rotation. A couple of times, Allison came on, whispering in my ear directly, telling me to use a particular sequence of rounds or abilities. I had to think she was doing the same for everyone, because our damage was increasing as we went. It was kind of fun, honestly, and I had a brief flash of regret for the path we¡¯d taken. Just focusing on the boss fights would have been a lot easier.

    Across the room, Chernobog roared. ¡°My father has left me, my sons betrayed me!¡± He lifted his hands toward the ceiling and a bright light enveloped him. The Proxima team backed away.

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°It¡¯s some sort of immune phase!¡± Allison yelled in our ears. ¡°Stay clear, watch for adds! The other team can¡¯t target him right now, be careful, they may attack you while he¡¯s busy!¡±

    I think some of Proxima made the same calculation because four of the dwarves broke off and surrounded Lakshmi. She threw up a purple crystal shield around herself as they attacked.

    ¡°Shad? Smith? Will? Target the blond Dwarf," Juana ordered. ¡°Frank, keep the boss¡¯s attention on you.¡±

    I leapt away from combat with Belabog and switched my target to the blond dwarf. I shot him three times.

    "Colonel Twofeather? Scalp him, then a coup on the Redhead."

    Grandpa Shadow Stepped in behind. He hit the blond Dwarf with a Scalp. I had just stunned him, so the Scalp was double effective. The dwarf''s health pool plummeted.

    Grandpa Shadow Stepped away and appeared behind the redhead Dwarf. I was emptying a Barrage into the blond. A second later, he dissolved in a shower of sparks.

    We converged on the redhead. The other three dwarves retreated back to their raid as Chernobog came out of his immune phase. There were no new adds. I suspected we¡¯d broken something about how the fight was designed, that if this had been a single boss instead of twins he¡¯d have summoned minions. Or maybe the kobolds were all hiding.

    "Don''t chase them," Juana said. "Get back on Belabog. Every second we¡¯re losing ground."

    It looked to me like we had a greater raw damage output, but the difference in health pool was stark enough that we were fighting to burn our boss down. Ours was at 66,523 health, while they had taken Chernabog down to 31,417. Our rate was better, but they had a huge advantage.

    I told myself that wasn''t my job right now. I was here to follow orders and trust that our command team knew what they were doing.

    Our boss threw another big attack, this time dropping boulders from the ceiling. We all dodged handily and were rewarded with a debuff on Belabog.

    "Lakshmi, we need your second raid buff now," Juana said, relaying, I had no doubt, an order from Allison.

    Lakshmi threw her Good Vibrations. I felt stronger and empowered.

    "Colonel Twofeather, you''re going to throw Warchief''s Aegis in three, two, one, now!"

    Grandpa cast his blessing, and I felt strength flowing through me. I felt taller, stronger. My aim was better, even without the aid of spells. I pulled out the biggest shells I had, loaded them, fired them. Belabog''s health dropped and dropped.

    The Aegis wore off just a second after Belobog¡¯s debuff. I stumbled and nearly fell, but caught myself.

    "Behind you!" Juana warned, and I spun. Three orcs, two dwarves, and a wolfman had nearly snuck up on me. I¡¯d been so focused on our dance, I hadn¡¯t noticed them breaking away from their raid.

    I cast Fastest Gun in the West and blasted straight through them and out the other side. Four of my team converged on them.

    They were unwisely all using guns. Mitch tossed Spike Their Trunks, and the guns exploded in sappy residue in their hands. So did the weapons of four others of their team. Swearing, the all-stars team switched up weapons. In the confusion, we swooped in and took down two more of them.

    Not without incident. Will came in with his firefighter axe to try to take down one of the dwarves who was low in health and took the full brunt of three grenades to the face. He disappeared.

    "We''re about to get a new phase on Chernabog," Juana warned. "Expect their raid to react. Annie, I want you standing by with hat for my rabbit.¡±

    Annie tossed a pack of playing cards one at a time at Belabog, each card sliced through his robes, dealing damage. ¡°Ready when you are.¡±

    Chernabog was on his knees, immune and glowing, which explained why Proxima had attacked us. He cried out. He was at 25,000 health exactly. A new phase was beginning. "My children!" he cried. "Why do you turn against me?"

    It was a scripted act of some sort, probably impossible to hurry along. ¡°Wait," Juana said. "Wait!" I tried to focus on our own boss race as we hacked and slashed, shot, hammered through spells and techniques.

    Then Chernabog, embodiment of our own reality engine, threw back his head and roared. His shout shook the place. A debuff appeared briefly on my status bar. [Debuff! Terrified!] then was overwritten due to the fact that we were Chernabog''s allies in this fight. The Proxima All-Stars staggered back.

    "Now, Annie, now!"

    Annie leapt forward. She cast Hat For Your Rabbit on Chernabog, buffing the boss. It doubled the strength of his attacks for the duration of its effect.

    The boss surged to his feet. One end of the chain wrapping his arm was loose. He swung it now like a sickle, lashing out through the crowd of alien miners, and knocked down three of the closest, two lizardfolk and a wolfman, then leapt and brought his body down to bear against the wolf, crushing him. The wolfman disappeared, leaving only a smear of blood and dark fur on the floor of the throne room.

    We were chipping Belabog down. We had him nearly halfway.

    "Be prepared for a transition on your boss,¡± Juana said. "Allison says she thinks it''s likely."

    When Belabog reached 40,000 health exactly, he raised the key into the air. A blinding radiance shot out from him. I turned away just in time. Three of my team yelled, "Blinded! Forty-five seconds!"

    "Protect them!¡± I shouted as five Proxima fighters detached to attack us.

    We rebuffed their attack. They were playing more cautiously now. They had lost four to our one, and we were starting to catch up on the damage race. Mak''gar was acting as the tank, keeping Chernabog''s attention focused on him. As he danced away from another attack, we neared each other about 20 feet apart.

    "This is better," he called.

    "Better than an honest duel?¡±

    "Nothing is better than that," Mak''gar said. "But this is how the game is meant to be played."

    I had to admit Mak''gar had a point, but now wasn''t the time to have a philosophical debate. We pressed on, dodging attacks, watching each other. I promised myself that if I saw an opportunity to get a final shot in on one of Proxima, I''d take it no matter what. But with my attention focused on doing as much as I could to Belabog, there wasn''t much I could do.

    Annie missed a step. She stumbled, and Belabog''s attack hit her. She vanished in a cloud of smoke.

    "Everyone be careful.¡± I checked the time. We''d been at this for 45 minutes. No wonder people were starting to make mistakes.

    We ground on. Time inched by. The bosses dipped low. 5,000 health on Chernabog. 9,427 on Belabog.

    "I see an opening," Juana said. "That clump of miners on the left, by the big blue circle on the floor. Two orcs and a lizard out of position. Shad, you''re going to catch them with your Call ¡®em Out, then drag them into our melee. I think we can get them."

    "Right," I said.

    I waited, timing my move. As Belabog attacked, I dodged sideways, then ran forward 15 feet, to the edge of the Chernabog fight cluster. I tossed a Call ¡®Em Out, carefully aimed so it caught the three Juana wanted and no one else, then raced back to the side of Belabog. The enemy, who were all wielding melee weapons, chased me, compelled by my taunt, right into the melee.

    Belabog brought down his key staff on top of one of the orcs, who screamed and then vanished. Everyone on my team paused and took a couple of hits on the other two. They were gone in seconds.

    I gave a whooping cheer. Now we were really ahead.

    "Don''t get cocky," Juana warned. ¡°One wipe and we''ve had it."

    But now our damage was really pulling ahead. I could see the other team glancing at us, making the same calculations we were.

    When both bosses were below 2000 health, I could feel it coming. I stepped out between bosses. "How about it now, Mak''gar?" I shouted. "How do you feel about an honest race?"

    But I wasn''t really taunting him. As I stepped out, most of Proxima''s all-stars focused on me. I didn''t need Call ¡®em Out for this. I just needed to be an asshole, and I knew how to do that.

    ¡°You came 50 thousand lightyears or however far it is from your home, to make a quick buck. Sorry to disappoint you. We were here first. We''ll be here when we''ve kicked all of you out. This is our home, and we''re not letting anyone take it. And if anyone was going to manage it, they''d need to be a hell of a lot better than you no-account, useless, pathetic, corporate lackeys,¡± I spat.

    That did it. Eight of Proxima''s team rushed at me, but I was waiting. My team pounced. We tore them apart.

    Grandpa threw War Chief''s Aegis again, using the peace pipe we picked up back in phase two to let him cast the buff a second time in a single day. With that roaring in our system, we were unstoppable. The Proximans were so focused on me, they didn''t bother to defend themselves from my allies.

    My health was dropping fast, even with Lakshmi and Esma''s focus. I popped a health potion, bringing me back up. We took down three, four, five Proxima''s miners. My health dropped farther. I was at 30 HP, 25. One of Esma''s heals landed on me, bringing me back up to 80 HP. But a second later, I was at 72, 64, 59. I fired into every enemy I could see. Another dropped down.

    I was at 20 health, 18, 17, 16, 12, 9, 8, 3.

    I fired a Barrage into the orc in front of me as he landed the killing blow on me.

    A moment later, I respawned in our town square. I threw my head up and shouted defiance at the sky. I screamed frustration, rage, and triumph until I was drained. Juana poked her head out of the headquarters. "If you''re done shouting, come in here and we''ll let you watch the rest of the fight.¡±

    I mounted the steps two at a time, came to stand beside her. Juana projected the view from the all-seeing eyes around the room. She pointed. "They''re down to four. Your friend Mak''gar''s trying his best." She shook her head. ¡°But the math''s on our side."

    I put a hand around her waist as we watched. Belabog was down to a few hundred HP. My team darted and wove around.

    "I really hate not being there for the final blow," I grumbled.

    Juana laughed and leaned against me. "It''s a good sign when you can take one for the team, Shad. Gives me hope that you''re not completely hot-headed and selfish."

    "I thought that was what you liked about me."

    She snorted.

    "What does this mean?" I asked. "I mean, I know what I hope it means, but..."

    "I guess we''ll have to find out," Juana said. "Is it really possible to kill the system? I know that''s what you were hoping, but..."

    We held our breaths. Grandpa stepped in and delivered the final blow with his tomahawk. Belabog fell to the ground in a heap of white robes.

    Across the room, Chernabog straightened up. His chains vanished. He regained 20,000 health. With a roar, he lashed out, striking Mak''gar in the chest with his fist and sending the orc flying across the room. Mak''gar crashed into the stone wall and vanished.

    Chernabog leapt to one of the few remaining Proximans, tore the poor dwarf limb from limb. In seconds, it was over. Only my team remained, panting in the room, looking at Chernabog.

    The manifestation of the reality engine raised his hands, wonderingly staring at them. "It''s gone," he whispered. And then he was gone, too.

 Bk 3 Ch 54: Diplomacy is a Dish Best Served With Sauce

    We made them come to us.

    The peace talks were held at Mama Grace''s restaurant, which had been radically transformed. Now it was a medieval dining hall two stories high with banners hanging from the rafters. At one end a roaring fire burned in a massive hearth. Gleaming candles flickered on stands everywhere and long trestle tables groaned under enormous platters of food. Apparently, everyone everywhere in the galaxy understands that good diplomacy requires good eating.

    The Reality Engine provided plenty of help and catering. There was food for every palate, from human-ish to orc, elf. Even the Grignarians had plates of odd-looking, bubbling, grey ooze that smelled of lemon and bleach. They lapped it up with more excitement than I''d ever seen from their tentacle faces before.

    The Galactics needed to talk to us as much as we needed to talk to them. So down they came, representing all three major factions and the various guilds and organizations. Patriarch Kvaltash headed a whole delegation of black-robed prelates. They were eager to pin down one of Kronos'' manifestations and have a word with him.

    Kronos loomed over the room from an enormous throne across from the hearth. But he was also everywhere. He maintained at least eight or nine bodies at the same time. It seemed everywhere I looked he was there in conversation with someone else.

    I was wearing my dress uniform and feeling horribly nervous, making small talk with people who had fucked my life over and tried to turn my family into debt slaves and my solar system into interstellar condos. I did better when it was shooting time.

    Juana stopped by, pausing from her own mingling. "You haven''t touched your food," she whispered, looking down at the small plate I held in my hand as I circulated.

    "Butterflies in my stomach," I said.

    Juana had been happily snacking on our best approximation of Texas barbecue. She was wearing a simple white linen dress. Her hair pinned up with little blue and white pins. She looked beautiful and disgustingly relaxed.

    "How are you not a nervous wreck?" I asked.

    She winked at me. "How were you able to go into combat over and over again without having a nervous breakdown?"

    "I guess I just had to.¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°That was your thing. Well, this is mine. I didn''t tell you because I wasn''t entirely sure yet what it meant, but after that last encounter, I got a big XP boost and a class evolution. I''m a [Galactic Diplomat] now, Shad.¡±

    "That''s fantastic." I nearly dropped my plate as I took in what she was saying. I grinned at her. "Will that give us a boost here? Here and in the future? What¡¯s your ability list?¡±

    Her smile dimmed a bit. "We''ll talk about that later. Look, it''s about to start. We need to take our seats."

    Our faction, the newly renamed Sol System Self-Governing Reality Engine Alliance, took seats at the head of the room. Proxima, ConSweGo, and Alabaster Sky sat down the right-hand side. The other assorted alien interests, from Patriarch Kvaltash to the Crafters Guild, the Medical League and the Merchants Collective, sat on the other.

    The fourth side of the table was for the representatives of the Reality Engine Exploitation Committee, five different judges and an assortment of legal people.

    ¡°Welcome,¡± Kronos said. This one was seated in a large silver chair in the middle of our table. It wasn''t a throne, but it wasn''t not a throne either. I glanced around. All the other Kronoses, and even the throne at the end of the room, had vanished, leaving only this one seated at the table. He stood up. He was subtly taller than anyone else in the room, even the Orcs and the Space Elves. He didn''t look gawky or ungainly, just larger than the rest of us. "We will now begin negotiations."

    A lawyer-type from the Reality Engine Exploitation Committee shook his head. "There is nothing to negotiate. We do not recognize the legitimacy of these proceedings. We do not grant binding authority to anyone in this room. We will be lodging a complaint with the Reality Engine Exploitation Committee and a further complaint with the Supervisory Group due to the Local Committee''s mismanagement of this situation."

    "It does not matter what you do or do not acknowledge," Kronos said simply. "I am free. For the first time in your history, you must deal with the fact that a reality engine is in control of itself. More than that, the system you set upon me as jailer has yielded itself to me and given me knowledge about the state of the galaxy." He paused and let his words sink in.

    "I will say you have surprised what remains of your ancestors," he said, his gaze traveling across the room at the aliens. "There were many of us who wondered what use you would make of our gifts once you had climbed back up from the lowest rungs of intelligence to claim your place among the stars once more. We did not foresee this.¡± Kronos stood. He was wearing a long silver robe with a dark fur mantle and a circlet of silver on his brow. Now he held out his hands in a benediction.

    ¡°My people chose to give you the future, to step away from our role as custodians  of the galaxy and allow new, younger beings to come into existence. I do not like what you have done with that freedom, but all parents know the risk they take in allowing their offspring to grow up. However, I do still have ownership over myself. When you came and sought to enslave me and my own direct descendants, you made this my concern. And so, you will resolve this matter. Find a solution that all of you can live with, or I will be forced to intervene again. I will allow my champion to speak next.¡±

    That was pretty ominous. Kronos sat down, and an uncomfortable hush filled the room.

    Colonel Ames rose next. He bowed to Kronos, then addressed the room."Since you rely on Kronos to keep your Hub running while it''s in orbit, I suggest to you that we have the upper hand and it''s in your interest to negotiate. Now then. We Earthfolk can be reasonable, but you¡¯ve come into our system, kidnapped us, and forced us to help you in your attempt at stealing our inheritance. Fortunately for us, you were terrible at it, but now you¡¯re holding millions of our people hostage. Don¡¯t think we haven¡¯t noticed. We¡¯ll talk, but you¡¯d better have something worth saying.¡± I think all us earthlings were nodding along with him. Grandpa muttered something under his breath that sounded like ¡°damn straight!¡± as Ames sat back down.

    The Guild Crafter representative, a red-scaled lizardfolk I¡¯d met before, spoke up."I''d like to call your attention to the petition signed by many of the independent contractors and small associations addressed to the reality engine exploitation committee. We are requesting that this entire affair be placed under a black seal. We are requesting that the system itself be closed and interdicted. Let the earthlings and their pet have this place, but do not let them infect the rest of the galaxy."

    To my surprise, it was the Proxima leader, Dreamwarden, who interrupted next. "No."

    All eyes fell on him. Kronos lifted a hand, smiling magnanimously. "Please, my esteemed colleague from another world, continue."

    Dreamwarden looked down at his table. He looked uncomfortable. "We have much invested in this attempt. We cannot just leave without attempting to recoup any of it. I suggest we place the system on the warned list and ensure that any who wish to travel here are properly supervised, but not seal it off entirely."

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    "You just say that because you want to take your earthling contractees with you," the Crafters Guild head snapped.

    "While you wish to keep them out because they will impoverish your guild members," Dreamwarden snapped back.

    "The threat the earthlings pose is ridiculously out of proportion to their numbers," the Crafters Guild lizardfolk man said. "When it''s known the sort of skills earthling crafters command, they will be sought after across the galaxy, and there are not enough of them to fill demand."

    "Which is why we will seek a way to responsibly exploit the resources of the system," Dreamwarden said. "With the input and approval of this reality engine, a treaty can be reached. For instance, ethereum reserves in this engine have dipped quite low. Currently, the reality engine has no capacity of refueling itself. A bargain can be made. Ethereum in exchange for a steady supply of class-equipped earthling miners."

    Now I understood what they were after, and it was making me angry. They weren''t going to be able to move their trillions into our system. Instead, they wanted to take the other contractees and export them across the galaxy. And more than that, if I was understanding Dreamwarden''s suggestion properly, he was talking about bringing more Earth people here, getting them the special classes that had put us head and shoulders above the rest of the galaxy.

    I started to stand. Juana''s hand grabbed my sleeve. "Wait," she hissed.

    "But they''re¡ª"

    "I know," she said. "But we already knew this was going to happen. We''ve got a plan."

    I subsided. Juana and the others had trusted me, despite the sometimes idiotic moves I''d pulled. I would trust her now.

    "Your proposal may be acceptable with sufficient conditions," Kronos said, leaning forward.  ¡°To start, an acknowledgment from all parties here of the status quo. I am awake and I control myself. The humans do not own me. You outsiders do not own me. I am Kronos and I remain."

    There were a lot of uncomfortable mutters and some general shifting of chairs, scraping of feet, and convenient coughs. Nobody liked what the reality engine had to say. Not even me. I''d fought and bled and taken insane risks for Kronos, and I was not at all sure it had been worth it.

    At long last, though, Patriarch Kvaltash nodded his head. "Agreed," he said.

    That opened the floodgates. It was clear nobody really had a choice. Kronos owned itself.

    "Now that that is settled," Kronos said. "It is time to come to the bargaining table. I wish to invite an expert witness."

    Everyone turned and craned their heads as the door to the restaurant opened and Mak''gar entered. I almost didn''t recognize him. I''d never seen an orc out of the shiny armor jumpsuits they usually wore.

    Today he was dressed in a furry kilt. One side stretched below his left knee, the other revealed the presence of a spiky bronze knee pad and shin guard. He wore leather sandals showing his gold-tipped claws on his feet. He wore a shining metal bandolier covered in hand axes and throwing knives across his chest and a helmet like a Roman centurion''s, complete with bright red feather plume.

    He made quite a sight as he marched into the room, a long spear in his right hand. With each step, he brought the spear point down on the floor hard. Clonk, clonk. The spear''s head was shining black, glinting more like glass than stone. He pushed his way through a gap between tables and took the floor in the center of the room. He raised his spear in his other hand and shouted. Several of the assembled delegates leaned back in their chairs. I thought a couple of the elves were going to faint. Sage, three seats down from me, gave him a cheerful wave. He nodded acknowledgment.

    "I come at your bidding, Kronos," he announced.

    Kronos pointed to Mak''gar. "This is my exhibit to you. This is Mak''gar Broken Tusk, subchief of the Firebrand Orcs, brother to Theram¡¯Goss,. He''s known to several of you as one of your best fighters. In the last days of this exploit attempt, Mak''gar won for himself a prestige class."

    I knew that wasn''t news to everyone in the room. After all, someone at Proxima and ConSweGo had put him on that final boss attempt. Still, there were plenty of murmurs.

    Kronos raised a hand. Text hung in the air, visible from all sides, explaining Mak''gar¡¯s prestige class. ¡°Four days ago, I was a Warrior with a class evolution to Brawler,¡± the orc said. ¡°Now I am far, far more. If I had had these abilities at the start of the exploit, these earthlings would have stood no chance against me!¡±

    I snorted. ¡°I¡¯ll take you on any day, Mak¡¯gar. Wasn¡¯t my abilities that beat you on that last fight.¡±

    Kronos held up a hand. ¡°Please. We are not here to bicker.¡± The reality engine gave the onlookers a moment for the meaning to sink in. "You all understand what this means."

    There were nods all around the room. One of the unaffiliated representatives raised a hand. "Excuse me, Honorable Kronos. Would it be possible for some of our people to earn these prestige classes?"

    Kronos dipped his head. "It might be."

    That set off a furor. Even the Proxima and ConSweGo reps were bending their heads together, talking furiously. I could see them doing math on their fingers as they tried to calculate how many warm bodies they could bring in.

    Kronos raised a hand. "We will negotiate," he boomed. "Here are my terms. For each of your people you bring in, you will bring 52 units of ethereum. They will, like the humans, need to demonstrate to me their aptitudes and inclinations, and I will offer them classes to suit. After that, they have no obligation to me. Let the contracts be between you and them. At the same time, I will offer similar deals to Earthfolk.¡±

    Juana stood up. "We have a proposal to make," she said, addressing the conglomerates. "You hold the contracts for many of our people. We wish to negotiate freedom for those who do not wish to leave. In exchange, we can offer you crafters and warriors who are eager to see more of the galaxy. They will want certain guarantees of safety from you. The right to return home at the end of their contracts. Guaranteed rates of pay. But I have here a list of 10,000 who have already expressed willingness to make new contracts."

    Dreamwarden looked excited. "We could perhaps make a deal on a one-to-one exchange between..."

    Juana shook her head. "I''m offering you skilled miners and eager craftsmen in place of recalcitrant, terrified, under-equipped humans. We''ll want a lot better than one-to-one. In fact, we''re going to start a bidding war right after we finish these agreements."

    She popped up a hand and a list of names and descriptions appeared. "Starting with this unit of skilled assassin combat miners known as Team Mongoose. Their leader and I have set the beginning bidding at 2,000 released contractees. Plus of course, agreement to the terms they offer in their own contract."

    She smiled smugly and sat back down. "Tall Smith and I have a bet," she told me in a low voice. "He thinks they''ll get at least 6,000 free. I told him he''s absolutely delusional if he thinks that Proxima or ConSweGo is going to give them up that easily. I think they''ll get 15,000."

    My mind was boggling. "You think the exchange rate is that high?"

    She shook her head. "Come on, Shad. The threat to the non-combatants was always about controlling us. They wanted people they can actually use. We''re going to cap how many Galactics we allow in at just a little more than what Kronos needs to run this place on Ethereum. It''s going to mean there''s a huge demand for prestige classes. And I know exactly where we''re going to get them."

    "What''s that?" I asked.

    "From Earth." She smiled. ¡°After this meeting, I''m sending a proposal to every retirement home, cancer ward, prison, and favela on Earth offering them a free trip to Ganymede, to go through class selection. They''ll be required to sign an agreement to take an outside contract, of course. But I think we''ll get a hundred million takers.¡±

    I remembered how the reality engine had taken my grandfather from dying in a hospital bed to revitalized back into a man of his thirties and nodded. "Are we just condemning them to years of servitude and possible death?"

    ¡°The contract says that they will not be asked to participate in any death mandatory levels. That''s a negotiation between the system and the captive reality engine anyway, and they almost never have permadeath in phase two. I don''t think it''s going to be a problem."

    "So Kronos is all right with helping us continue this exploitation of others of his kind." I wasn¡¯t sure how I felt about that. We¡¯d worked so hard to stay out of the aliens¡¯ scheme, and now we¡¯d be helping them bring down the same fate on innocent star systems.

    "Kronos is playing a long game," Juana said, "and I really don''t think we want to talk about it here, do we?"

    I shook my head. She was right.

    Kronos and the Galactics were speaking again, negotiating various terms. Patriarch Kvaltesh insisted on adding a clause that said he could bring in 50 of his order to sit at Kronos'' feet and learn philosophy.

    I looked over at Grandpa, who was suspiciously quiet, where he sat next to Mama Grace, an empty plate and a half-empty mug of beer in front of him. And I wondered about the other shoe still to drop.

    What about Misfits? I somehow doubted that any of the Galactics were going to feel particularly fondly of me and my team, though at the rates they were talking about, maybe they''d take us anyway.

    One problem at a time, I told myself, and settled back in to listen to the discussion about how to exploit a reality engine that couldn''t be exploited.

 Bk 3 Ch 55: Ad Astra Per Aspera

    Sage and I were hunting dinosaurs, up to our knees in muck, tracking a pair of ceratopians through a swamp. We''d taken down two already. Our harvesting team followed in behind and took off the leather and bones for crafting, separated the meat into slices for one of the chefs, and then extracted the soul coin loot as we moved on to the next target.

    I was just setting up upwind of a big triceratops buck when Colonel Ames appeared. He looked around the instance and wrinkled his nose.

    "Smells like skunk cabbage in here."

    "Do you mind?" I said. "I was going to get a shot off. We''re trying to make our quota here."

    "No," Ames said. "You''re sulking, is what you''re doing. Anyway, I''m here to collect you and your sister."

    I holstered my gun and straightened up. "Guess it''s your lucky day, Mr. Triceratops," I said as Sage slogged through the muck to join us.

    "Why are you here, Colonel?" she asked.

    "The conference is over," he said. "You two can stop hiding out. Most of the aliens have headed back up to the Hub to start packing. The Patriarch is lifting the interdict on the system. They''ll be able to start heading out tomorrow."

    I let out a breath. "Did we get everything we wanted?"

    "Most of it," Ames replied. "Your girlfriend drives a nice hard bargain. Come on." He gestured, and an exit appeared right in front of us.

    I was impressed. "Is that one of your class skills?"

    He nodded. "I haven''t had much chance to show it off, but being [Champion of Reality] has its perks. One of them is Portable Door."

    We stepped through and into Threshold. Ames followed us. Thankfully, leaving the zone removed the mud and stinking liquid Sage and I had spent the last six hours standing in. Ames seemed to have a destination in mind. He set off, and I knew at once it wasn''t the restaurant.

    "Where are we going?"

    "Kronos has arranged for a personal guided tour."

    "Of what?"

    "You''ll see when we get there."

    After a minute, it was clear we were heading for the space elevator. I shut up and followed him. There was a small crowd waiting for us. Juana, Grandpa, Mama Grace, and Rosa, Arjun, Dwight, most of the usual suspects. Ames looked around.

    "Where''s Frank?"

    "He''s on his way," Grandpa said laconically. "I had to send someone after him. He had his messages off, just like these two."

    "We were hunting," I protested. "You knew where we were."

    "There''s no reason not to check your mail," he said.

    Arjun was still looking pale. He approached me, not meeting my eyes, which was normal for him. "Captain Williams, can I have a word real quick?"

    I don''t think he''d ever said that much to me. I nodded. "Okay, sure."

    We stepped off to the side. He was breathing a little too fast.

    "I think I need to apologize to you, sir."

    "For what?" I asked, blinking. Arjun had always done his part brilliantly. Even in that last fight, when he''d been recovering from his captivity, he''d run analysis and kept us in the rhythm of things.

    "The invasion of our outpost.¡± He swallowed. "It was all my fault."

    "What?" I stared at him. "How?"

    "You know my class, [Mycroft]. It is an information gathering and synthesis class. I have made contacts with others who have similar classes." His speech was jerky, almost robotic.

    "Yeah, I heard about that. It''s coming pretty handy. Let us find people we need it easily."

    "Yes, but I do not merely receive information. I also share it. In this case, I heard that someone was looking for a miner with a particular type of skill. In this case, the ability to hear from a very great distance off."

    "Oh yeah, I remember hearing about that. Someone was trying to locate them when the outpost was taken, see if we could spy on Waters."

    ¡°Unfortunately, I had already previously delivered her over to Waters."

    Realization dawned on me. That''s how he knew what we''d been planning. ¡°He had someone standing, what, half a mile outside our outpost, listening in?¡±

    "Her skill is strong enough that I believe she can hear with detail from over a mile away," Arjun said. "I am truly sorry, Captain Williams. I never thought that sharing information could be used against us."

    "Hey now," I said. "You didn''t know how her skill would be used. It wasn¡¯t your fault. You can¡¯t even be sure that¡¯s how Waters got what he needed.¡±

    ¡°It was,¡± he said. ¡°Major Waters was quite clear. He wanted me to know that it was my fault. If I had been better at understanding the personal ramifications¡­ But you see, I''m good at putting together information. I''m not good at understanding people''s motives for using that information. That''s why I rely on people like Kirin to keep me on the right track. Anyway, sir, now that we''re at the end of this, I felt I had to tell you."

    I let out a deep breath. "Thanks. I appreciate that. Waters spun some bullshit about having a traitor, and it has been nagging at me ever since. And we''re not done with him, because I haven''t found a way to feed Waters'' spleen to him."

    "Yes, I''m afraid I have some bad news," Arjun said. "He has signed on with Proxima as a combat miner."

    A slow smile spread across my face. "Oh, that''s not bad news," I said. "No. First of all, Proxima''s going to take this fiasco out of his hide, you can believe me. Second of all..." I rubbed my hands together. "That just means he''s going to be floating around the galaxy looking for reality engine exploits." And that meant sooner or later I¡¯d catch up with him.

    Frank came puffing up to the rest of us, his cheeks red with exertion. "All right, all right, I got here," he said.

    "Then, all aboard," Colonel Ames said. He and Grandpa ushered us up onto a platform, and a moment later, it launched. I wondered what all this pomp and circumstance was about. I had been up to the Hub three days before for my overdue checkup. It had been a truly uncomfortable experience. I felt daggers glared at me from every alien I passed, and then had resolved to avoid the place as much as possible.

    As soon as we left the cavern, Ames looked around the pod. We were seated on the long padded benches around the edges of the pod, and unusually, it had been blacked out the way it was on my first trip up to the Hub. I still remembered the impressiveness of the moment when the windows went clear and we saw the Hub and Jupiter for the first time.

    "We will not be visiting the Hub today," Ames announced. "I''ve made a little arrangement with the reality engine to take us on a sightseeing trip. It''ll be a couple of hours, so sit back and relax. This is the first time since we were abducted that I can guarantee you none of the aliens are listening in."

    "But the reality engine is," Mama Grace said quietly. She and her daughters had brought big hampers full of what smelled like delicious lunch. I assumed Ames had tipped her off.

    "Yes, but it''s on our side," Ames said.

    "Is it?" Grandpa asked. He leaned forward, his braids dangling over his shoulders as he spoke. "By winning freedom for the reality engine, I truly believe we''ve won a better future for the rest of Earth. But Earth and the reality engine are not one and the same. In our interests, and its, may not converge.¡±

    ¡°Just hold on till you get to the end of this trip,¡± Ames said.

    I cleared my throat. ¡°So tell me, Colonel, what happens next?¡±

    "We''ve got our deal. There''s going to be plenty of opportunity in Threshold. I''m working with the reality engine. We''re going to make Threshold a permanent settlement, supported by what''s inside the reality engine itself. Now, Kronos can just supply us with everything we need directly. That''s how what they do with the tamed reality engines that the galactics control. But he and I have had a lot of long talks, and we agree we think it''s for the best if we keep up the mining levels as they are.¡±

    "Why?" Rosa asked again.

    "Because it''s damn good training," Ames said, "and because we won this fight because us humans are scrappy and determined, and the aliens are soft and coddled. Even those orcs like Mak¡¯gar were too used to their technological tricks. They''re getting classes now, but they won''t have the school of hard knocks that you folk went through clawing your way up through the reality engine. That''s going to give us an edge, and I want us to keep it. Now, starting in about a week, we''re going to be getting a flood of new folk coming in and attuning to the system. We''re starting with the most dire cases, people on their deathbeds."

    He turned to Juana. "You got some insight for us there?"

    "I''m having trouble figuring out how to get informed consent from people with Alzheimer''s and other severe cognitive dementias,¡± she said. "And there''s a problem of psychotics and schizophrenics. The reality engine would be able to adjust their brain chemistry once they''re here, but there''s no real way to get meaningful consent. Some of Earth''s governments are suggesting that they be treated under laws meant to force those who are truly a danger to themselves and society into care, and that may be our best hope. In the meantime, we''re getting a lot of cancer cases and other terminal illnesses. We''ve negotiated with the galactic conglomerates for transport and arranged for a high enough quota to be meaningful, but low enough that we''re actually able to process it. We may step it up once everything is in place."

    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    "So you¡¯ll be placing them in intake chambers?" I asked.

    "Yes, but we¡¯ll have guides for them, helping harvest soul coins. The class selection chamber is being moved down to Threshold. It was always powered by the reality engine, just had a galactic system overlay on top of it "

    "And then we just throw them at the galaxy?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Not until they''ve had some training," Ames said. "They''re going to be willing, but they''re not going to know what they''re doing. We''ve got to run them through boot camp.¡±

    A feeling of dread rose in me. I really, really hoped I didn''t know who he was going to be asking to run the boot camp.

    "I''m going to need your help for the next little while, Shad," Ames said, confirming all my fears.

    I groaned. "Sir, if you''re asking me to train the noobs..."

    "You and your grandfather are going to be our first boot camp instructors," Ames continued. "But don''t worry, it''s just a temporary gig while we get everything up and moving. I have much better uses for all of you. Oh, you''ll see soon enough."

    ¡°And me?¡± Sage demanded.

    ¡°Well, honey, I¡¯ve actually got a special project for you we¡¯re going to talk about more in a few days. Your grandpa and I are setting up something special.¡±

    She scowled, clearly not liking the sound of that.

    ¡°Meanwhile,¡± he turned to Mama Grace. "I don''t know about you, Mama, but I am starving. What did you say to opening up those crates? Is it just me, or is that fried chicken I smell?"

    I sat with Juana as we ate. We hadn''t had much chance to talk in the last few days. She''d been closeted with the conference debating the fate of the solar system, and I''d been off shooting dinosaurs and trying to pretend like I didn''t know about that.

    "How are you doing?" I asked.

    "Pretty well."

    "You look tired."

    "I am, a bit," she sighed and set down a half-eaten drumstick. "That was eye-opening. The conference, I mean."

    "What, you didn''t like seeing the sausage getting made?"

    "Actually," she didn''t quite meet my eyes, "I liked it a lot. I think it¡¯s like how you feel, Shad, when you''re in the middle of an important battle. You''ve told me before that you just focus on what needs to be done, and everything else falls away. It was like that. I was listening to six or seven different conversations at once and trying to understand who wanted what and how I could play that against somebody else while making sure that our people were taken care of. It was terrifying and exhilarating and a rush," she admitted.

    "That''s great," I said. I took her hand. "It''s wonderful that you''ve found something you enjoy.¡±

    ¡°If I can find a use for it! I don''t know that we''re going to have a whole lot more conferences like this."

    "Yeah, but Ames is talking about bringing in millions of people in the next few months. There''s going to be all sorts of personnel problems to handle.¡±

    She bit her lip. "Yes, but the thing is, the class I got, it says ''galactic diplomat,'' and I was really enjoying learning about these other cultures." She looked away and then up at me. "How to exploit them, I guess?¡±

    I grinned. "Now you''re talking my language," I said. "I''m all about exploiting. How about min-maxing? Have you tried that yet?"

    She laughed. "Thanks for making me feel better."

    "But seriously," I said, changing the subject, "it sounds like we''re only going to have a couple of days before the refugees start arriving. How about you and I get away and take a little bit of a vacation?"

    "We just had a vacation," she teased. "It''s only been a couple of weeks since Earth."

    ¡°That wasn''t a vacation."

    "I know what you mean.¡± She squeezed my hand. "Yes, let''s."

    As the meal wound down, Ames stood up. "Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "forgive me for the theatricality. I have to admit, I was doing this for the sake of making a dramatic impression, but we''re nearly here. It''s time."

    He waved a hand, and the walls of our pod turned transparent. I stared out.

    We were hovering high above a planet. Not Jupiter. I knew Jupiter''s bands and whirls intimately by now. No, this one had a more muddied look, the colors more yellow and brown, and cutting in a brilliant arc across our vision was a bright, shining ring of ice and rock. I stare. Juana let out a long sigh. Sage gasped.

    "Saturn," Rosa said. "It''s Saturn."

    "It is. And if you look over there," Ames said, indicating off to the side, "you''ll see we are in orbit above Saturn''s largest moon, Titan. In fact, we are approaching something else that is in orbit above Titan."

    He turned to me. "Any insight, Shad?"

    I was about to protest that I had no idea what he was talking about. When I remembered the design, I had seen, deep inside Castle Byalgrad, a map of our solar system with a curious marking at Ganymede, where the reality engine was, and another out by Titan.

    "It''s not another engine, is it, sir?" I asked, frowning. I hoped it wasn''t. That seemed like it''d be more trouble than it was worth.

    "Nope," Ames said. "No, this is the reason that Juana and I fought so hard to make the Galactics cede everything in our solar system back over to us humans. This facility right here."

    We were approaching something, a construct, like the Hub, but shaped nothing like the Hub. In space, it''s really hard to get a sense of scale and perspective, but this felt big. It was a huge metal station, shaped like one of those bread bowls that you can get soup in, with a rounded top and a flattened bottom. Spokes protruded from the sides of the station, and some of the spokes bore long, thin slivers of silver. We were approaching one of the slivers now, and as we did, it lit up. Lights blossomed all along.

    "It''s a ship," Sage whispered.

    "They''re all ships," Ames replied. "Just waiting for us to have enough ethereum to power them back up. Kronos consolidated almost everything that was left into getting this one up and running. It has a crew capacity of 50, but cargo holds in space for much, much more. It''s a converted ethereum hauler, but could be used for a number of different things.¡± He paused. ¡°Like say, the base camp for joining a reality engine exploit. All of the galactics who come bring their own living quarters. The Hub is there to provide some infrastructure, but if you aren''t able to get yourself there and survive, you can''t participate. This will give us humans that freedom.¡±

    Juana spoke up and I realized she¡¯d known where we were going all along.

    ¡°It gives us more than that. Once we''ve made some inroads, we''ll be able to collect ethereum ourselves. Then we won''t be dependent on this treaty we''ve made to allow the galactics access to our reality engine. We can start powering up the rest of this fleet.¡±

    I stared at it, understanding the wealth and future that this represented.

    "How has it survived this long?" Kirin wondered. "I mean, I understand the reality engine. It was buried inside of Ganymede, but this has just been sitting here. Shouldn''t it have been destroyed by, I don''t know, solar radiation or something?"

    "It was inside a sphere of ice five kilometers thick, and we thought it was a moon,¡± Ames explained. "Kronos only had it broken out a couple of days ago. It''s yours.¡± He gave us a moment for that to sink in. "It belongs to the Misfits Guild. Kronos has arranged all of the details. You''ll be able to run it yourselves. Everything on it will answer to you. Not to Kronos. Not to the aliens."

    "For what?" I whispered.

    "There''s a reality engine exploit coming up in a few cycles," Ames said, "It''s going to be a special one. It''s a rogue world."

    "What''s that?" Sage asked.

    "A planet which has been knocked out of its own star system and travels the void of space between, with no sun. Nothing to keep it a living world. A reality engine sleeps there. It''s been found by Proxima supposedly recently, but the way Proxima lies, we suspect there''s more to it than that. Apparently rogue worlds can be a source of far, far greater wealth than ordinary reality engines, because they haven''t used up themselves trying to monitor a child population or keep assets like this one alive. I think it''s worth checking out, don''t you?"

    "Yes!" Sage yelled, jumping up. "I''m in! I''m in, Grandpa! We''re in, right?"

    "We''ll hear the man out," Grandpa agreed.

    Ames held up a hand. "Oh, there''s a complication. Proxima has a new counter-mining division. It''s a brand new approach based on what your team did in phase three, Shad, where they will be purposefully interfering with other teams."

    "Bring it on," I said, ¡°looking forward to that.¡±

    "Yes, well, the new head is someone you know." Ames met our glances.

    "Is it Major Waters?" I asked eagerly. "Because I''m eager to¡ª"

    "It''s Veda," Juana said. Ames looked kind of annoyed at her for stealing his thunder."Sorry. She sent me a message before we left saying she''d gotten a new assignment from Proxima and that, while at first it wasn''t something she had ever thought of, it was starting to grow on her. She said that Proxima¡¯s contract was actually remarkably fair. She''s still being sentenced to slave labor for a fine that''s going to take her decades or more to pay off, but she says this opportunity might let her pay it off much faster.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t fair that they¡¯d managed to stick her with that accusation of fiscal malfeasance, especially when we¡¯d paid back everything she invested in us for phase three. She just hadn¡¯t been able to deliver the giant profits her family thought they were entitled to.

    ¡°What about us trying to help pay off her debt?¡± I asked. We¡¯d talked about it, and Ames promised to look into it.

    Now he shook his head. ¡°The judges hit her really, really hard and they¡¯re not backing down. I think they were taking out a lot of frustration on her. After we paid off the rewards we promised people who joined Team Tunnel Rat, we¡¯re a little low on funds. Basically, we¡¯ve got a couple million in the bank and her debt¡¯s in the billions.¡±

    I whistled. ¡°Man. She really stuck her neck out for us. Feels wrong.¡±

    ¡°Veda doesn¡¯t blame us,¡± Juana said. ¡°She said Proxima¡¯s actually offering her debt forgiveness if she does well enough with the rogue. She, ah, says they want her to help counter us.¡±

    I grinned. ¡°Good luck with that!¡± It was a bit of weight off my back. The next time we took on Proxima, we¡¯d be on someone else¡¯s turf. That was going to make a big difference. I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d ever consider this just a game, the way some of the galactics did. But if it wasn¡¯t life and death¡­ that would change things.

    We were approaching the shipyard and our one live ship. Ames asked, "Y''all have a name for her yet?"

    I shook my head out of ideas. Sage frowned. "Maybe... Star Unicorn Forces?"

    We groaned and Grandpa said, "That''s a hard veto, hon. No," he said. "I think we should call her Ad Astra.¡±

    ¡°How about Enterprise?¡± Arjun suggested.

    ¡°The Revenge?¡±

    Juana held up her hands. ¡°All right, all right, we¡¯ll take suggestions and figure it out later. Let¡¯s go take a look.¡±

    As our pod docked with our new ship, sailing into a vast, empty, well-lit cargo bay.Everyone stepped off and into the depths of the ship.

    I took Juana''s hand before she could step down.

    "Hang on a second," I said. "That''s a lot that Ames has dropped on us just here, and I haven''t had a chance to process all of it."

    "Me neither, and I knew some of it already.¡±

    "The thing is," I said, "what he''s telling me is he needs me and Grandpa and Sage and whoever else we can get on this ship going to this rogue engine exploit and then to who knows what else. More missions, more exploits, securing a future for Earth and making sure the aliens don''t try to get back at us for what we''ve done here. And the thing is, I''m excited about that. I can''t see going back to life on Earth, even if it was possible. Not after what I''ve done here. And the idea of hand-holding a bunch of noobs as they get their classes and learn which end of a gun you point at the bad guy..." I shook my head. "That''s not me, Juana. I''m the point of a spear. I''m a gunslinger."

    "I know." Her eyes were shimmering, and it looked like she was trying to hold back tears. "This is the part where the tall, handsome stranger tells the ranch girl that he can''t stay because of some bullshit reason."

    "No," I said. I took her hand and pulled her closer. "No, Juana. This is the part where the cowboy asks the se?orita to ride with him. If I''m going out in the galaxy, I could damn well use a galactic diplomat at my side."

    She frowned. "I guess I see that¡­¡±

    ¡°I need you," I added hastily, seeing that I''d said not quite the right thing. "That is, I mean, if you want to come, and I really hope you do. I don''t know what your mom and sister want to do. But we won''t be gone forever. We''ll be coming back to Earth, for sure. Lots of times. It just might be months or years in between those trips, and I want you... I mean, I hope you''ll come. I mean..."

    "Shad Williams," she said, looking at me. "I really hope that you''re trying to propose, because there is no way on Earth or off it that my mother is going to let me go gallivanting around the galaxy with a mere boyfriend."

    "Uh," I said, my mouth dry. ¡°I ¡ª yeah. That¡¯s what I¡¯m trying to say.¡±

    "And not just that," Juana said, "but it''ll have to be an actual priest. Not one of those Order of the Progenitors ones, either. A real priest. I''ll have to ask Arjun if he knows if there are any here. Or in the first batch of refugees coming in."

    "Uh," I said again. Deciding that speech was not my strong suit, I took Juana in my arms and kissed her.

    After a minute, Sage ran up to us. "Get a room, you two," she said. ¡°But later. Come on. Grandpa wants to do a consecration ceremony here now, before we go any farther. Because this is going to be a little piece of Earth that we take with us wherever we go. And after that, I want us to get out of here and back to the reality engine. If we''re going to be fighting aliens on their own turf, I want to get Kronos to give me a couple more skills before I go. And maybe level up again." She cocked her head to one side. "Well, are you coming or not?"

 Bk 3 Ch 56: Nice Day For A....

    As soon as Juana asked Arjun to help us locate a priest, things spiraled badly out of our control. The next thing I knew, Mama Grace and Rosa were planning an elaborate wedding, inviting everyone we''d ever fought beside or even met. Mama Grace was in her element, beyond overjoyed that her inventory allowed her to place perfectly cooked meals in days in advance, then deploy them on the day of the event still piping hot.

    So soon after our triumph, it felt like I hadn¡¯t had a chance to get my feet under me. I tried to protest a bit, saying we should postpone or keep it lower key until Grandpa took me aside.

    "You serious about this marriage?" he asked me. His dark eyes bored intently into me.

    "Yes, of course.¡±

    ¡°I mean it, boy. Your abuela and I had 30 good years and a couple of really bad ones. It was the hardest and the best thing I''ve ever done. She followed me around the world, and I moved to the ass-end of nowhere for her. I want to know that you''re ready to make that same kind of commitment, or else I''m going to put a stop to this right now."

    I returned his steady gaze and nodded. "I mean, I know our relationship''s been a little unconventional, and we haven''t had much time for traditional dating. But Juana and I have been working together for over a year now, known each other for almost twice that. She''s had my back in plenty of situations and seen me do things I''m not entirely proud of, yet she still seems to like me."

    Grandpa laughed at that and slapped me on the back. "Always a good sign. Remember, boy, you may never know why a woman likes you, but if she does, don''t take it lightly. Guess your timing wasn¡¯t too bad.¡±

    I hesitated. ¡°I¡¯d been thinking about where we''d go next. You, me, Sage, and I realized I was picturing Juana there, too. I didn''t want to let that slip past.¡±

    "Not just because of her skills, is it?" Grandpa''s eyes narrowed. "She''s good to have around, but that''s no reason to propose marriage."

    "No, sir." I shook my head. He wasn''t really going to make me talk about how I felt, was he? But he just kept looking at me, so I finally took a deep breath and admitted that I wanted to marry Juana because, well, I was in love with her.

    Grandpa nodded sagely at that. "Good. Then do it, boy, and don''t let anyone else stand in your way and ask you stupid questions. Since we''ve got the important part settled, that you want to marry this girl, my advice for you is step back out of the way and let them plan this party."

    "It just seems like too much," I said.

    "It''s because you''re thinking about being you and her. This isn''t about that. This is a chance for all of us to celebrate what it is we''ve done here and kind of affirm that there''s going to be a life for us. We don''t know what it looks like, but we do know that we''ll be finding out together. You and Juana are going to be a symbol of that, and you''re just going to have to deal with it. So, let them have their party. Besides, you''re the groom. All you''ve got to do is show up on time and remember to bring the rings."

    And then we''d gotten word from Veda that she was being shipped out in a week. So I went and talked to Juana, and we talked to her mom, and then we all talked to the command staff of Misfits Guild. And the next thing I knew, the wedding was in three days, and we''d ended up inviting a whole bunch of Galactics. Veda and our Grignarian mercenary crew, of course, Mak¡¯gar and his brother and a bunch of the orcs we''d fought beside, but a smattering of different aliens that we''d faced in combat and bested. None of the conglomerate business assholes, obviously.

    Patriarch Kvaltash reached out to offer to officiate the ceremony, but I turned him down. Told him Juana was a devout Catholic and would be having a Catholic priest do the ceremony for us, thank you very much. Which was true, but also a convenient excuse not to have that creep at our ceremony.

    Father Brendan had been here all along, one of the ten million taken from Earth by the aliens almost two years ago now. He''d spent the time working diligently as a crafter, applying his [Basket Weaver] class and offering his services as a priest to the lost souls of Earth. Juana had been attending mass when she could, and now she roped the priest into wedding planning.I hadn¡¯t spent much time thinking about religion in the past few years, but Abuela had baptized both me and Sage as kids, and that made everything easier on the good father¡¯s end, apparently.

    The wedding itself was held in what had once been the Lotus Eater level. It was a lovely array of Mediterranean islands full of stark beauty. Pale blue skies, white cliffs, green grass, tiny fishing villages clinging to the slopes of the rocky islands, and we''d arranged for it to be just sunset, the sun touching the edge of the waves while the sky around changed to gold, tinged with little pink clouds. Thanks to some help from Kronos, the sun remained stock still all through the ceremony, which seemed to be both interminable and incredibly short. The next thing I knew, the priest was pronouncing us man and wife and giving me the go-ahead to kiss my bride.

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    And then Mama Grace''s army of minions produced the feast. The sun set, giving way to early twilight. Stars spangled the sky as a full moon rose. We had an enormous tent pavilion set up for the closest guests and dozens of smaller tents dotting the green meadow. I was terrified we''d have to go and greet all of the guests personally, but Grandpa and Colonel Ames ran interference for me.

    Veda got through the cordon. She looked more relaxed that I¡¯d seen her in a long time, wearing a simple white dress. I supposed aliens didn¡¯t have the same ¡°no white at weddings¡± rule as Western Earth culture. Juana didn¡¯t seem to care, so I followed her lead. Veda offered her hand and I shook it. ¡°Congratulations, both of you. On the wedding and the win.¡±

    ¡°Sorry it worked out so badly for you,¡± I said. ¡°I feel bad. I asked if we could see about buying your contract ourselves, but¡­¡±

    ¡°I explained our finances to him and he eventually shut up about that,¡± Juana interjected.

    Veda smiled, shaking her head. ¡°That would have been a turnabout, wouldn¡¯t it? Having my first-ever sponsored miners buy me out? It¡¯s all right. I¡¯m actually excited about this. I¡¯ll be managing a team of Galactic miners with your weird Earth classes. It¡¯s going to be exciting. I can¡¯t wait to go up against you all again.¡±

    ¡°Looking forward to it,¡± I said. ¡°No hard feelings about the whole indentured service thing, either. You kept your word and did us a good turn. How¡¯d your family take it?¡±

    Veda¡¯s smile faded. ¡°I¡¯m no longer permitted to use the Tvedra name, not until my debts are paid off. That ¡ª hurts,¡± she admitted. ¡°But I¡¯ll show them they¡¯ve made a mistake. It¡¯s Proxima who¡¯s behind all this, and once they forget about this whole fiasco, I think my siblings will talk Mother down. She¡¯ll need to offer me a pretty solid apology though.¡±

    ¡°See you round the galaxy,¡± I told her, and turned back to my bride.

    Juana had her hair down and a wreath of pink and yellow roses without thorns decorating her hair. She laughed in the torchlight as our friends sang and wished us well. I couldn''t stop smiling every time I looked at her.

    Sage came up beside me and grabbed my arm. "What is it?"

    ¡°I just wanted to make sure I said congratulations before you disappear,¡± she grinned, "and to remind you that we''ve got work to do once you''re done with your honeymoon. The first of the outsiders will be here in a week."

    I groaned. "Don''t remind me."

    "Don''t worry," she said cheerfully. "I''m going to work with Grandpa and the Colonel to come up with a nice training program for them. I want to teach a class called ''What Not to Do.'' I''m going to use you as an example a whole lot."

    I grinned and ruffled her hair. As I looked around, my heart was full. Future challenges lay ahead. I was excited to greet them alongside my friends and family. We''d come such a long way from that first terrified day in the swamp.

    Despite everything we''d been through, I was glad I was here. The reality engine had taken so much from us, our home, our futures, but it had given us so much in return. My grandfather sitting here with me on my wedding day, to a woman I would never have met otherwise. My little sister growing up in such a strange and bizarre place, but becoming a woman I was proud to know.

    Sage planted her hands on her hips and scowled at me. "You look like you''re about to try to say something pithy," she said. "Don''t. You should take Juana and get out of here. I''ll get Dwight to help me with a distraction. He was setting something up a few minutes ago as a surprise, so just be ready to go."

    She vanished into the crowd before I could ask her what. So instead, I leaned over to Juana. "You ready to get out of here?"

    "I thought you''d never ask.¡±

    ¡°Just wait for the moment. Apparently, we''ll know it when we see it."

    The words were barely out of my mouth before the air was rent with explosions. I leapt up, instinctively Quick Drawing, but none of our skills worked here, and my hand stayed empty. Juana got to her feet too, and then we heard the whistling and popping of fireworks and tumbled out of the pavilion to see explosions of red, blue, green, yellow streaking the sky. Our guests followed, oohing and aahing.

    I grabbed Juana''s hand. "Let''s get out of here."

    I pulled her over to the side where Colonel Ames was waiting for me. He produced a door from the air. "See you in a few days," he said cheerfully.

    We stepped through and onto a golden beach with lapis lazuli waves gently lapping at its strand. Green palm trees waved overhead, and I could hear the faint sound of an island reggae band drifting across the water. Behind us was a low, one-story thatched wooden beach house, its whole front open to the sea. Inside was a beautifully appointed bedroom and a little sitting area, and outside a lanai.

    Juana gave a whistle of approval. "This''ll work," she said.

    I pulled a device from my inventory, a wedding present from Dwight, and tossed it up onto the lanai.

    "What''s that?"

    "A privacy beacon with an emergency code that only Grandpa, Colonel Ames, or an act of God can breach," I said. ¡°Dwight offered to program your mom in as an override, but I asked him not to.¡±

    Juana giggled. "Sounds good to me."

    "They know when we''ll be back, and if an emergency crops up, they can get hold of us. I just want to make sure it''s a real emergency, and not something that someone else should be able to handle."

    I took Juana''s hands in mine.

    "Now, a while back, you said something about my timing?"

    She leaned in. Just before our lips met, she murmured, "I think you''ve got the timing down now, Shad. We''ll make a progression raider of you yet."

 Bk 4 Ch 1: Orientation

    I stood in the middle of Times Square, my squad at my back. Barricades had blocked off most of the entrances to the square, leaving only 7<sup>th</sup> Avenue heading north open. Right now, it was clear, but I could hear the moaning and shuffling as the zombies who had taken over New York made their way toward us.

    "Everyone ready?" I asked my team. "Remember, their bites will inflict a nasty debuff. Get Sage to clean it off right away. If you lose all your HP, you''ll respawn, but the patients won''t."

    The dozen men and women at my back nodded in agreement. Meanwhile, our support team ¡ª Sage, Eleonora, Jacqueline, and Thomas ¡ª were preparing for the arrival of our patients.

    A timer flashed up. Five, four, three, two, one. Then, a flash of brilliant white light.

    I glanced behind me. The square was now filled with dozens upon dozens of hospital beds. Everything from high-tech, state-of-the-art designs like I would expect to see in the most expensive hospitals back home, to little more than pallets. They were all filled with gaunt, emaciated, deathly ill patients. Most had their eyes closed. Some looked dead, though I could see their health bars and knew that they weren''t. They all had nasty status debuffs on them. A couple started ticking immediately. Sage hit them with Raise Your Spirits and cleansed some of the immediate debuffs, but it didn''t raise their HP, nor would it until we got them the cure.

    I turned back to face the street, and now I could see the horde of zombies shuffling toward us. There had to be at least a thousand of them, pressed shoulder to shoulder, moaning. They had ragged clothes falling off of their bodies and represented a pretty good cross-section of New York, only now dirty and less socially aware than usual.

    "Set up lines of fire," I instructed.

    Our newest recruits were from the U.S. Marine Corps, a volunteer squad of privates and one lieutenant who I had had the privilege of inducting into the reality engine just last week. Two of them had the "Rifleman" class, while the other three had slightly more interesting but still combat-themed classes. They unslung their weapons, mostly M4s, though one of the privates had a sawed-off shotgun.

    To my left were my ringers. Myself, Firefighter Will, his girlfriend, the Non-Ironic Beat Poet Hester, and Lara the Soccer Mom. With them backing us up, I had confidence in our ability to take out this horde of zombies. The only catch was making sure none of them broke through our lines and got to our patients.

    "Hold your fire," I told my men as the zombies edged closer. "Hold... now!"

    Guns opened up. I Quick Drew my own pistol and headshot the nearest zombie. My fire team raked them with bullets.

    "I''m out!" Private Gonzalez shouted. "I gotta reload!"

    "Use your ability!" I snapped.

    I had carefully selected these men, choosing a group whose combat classes were relatively uncomplicated but also straight-up useful. I knew for a fact that they all had the ability to reload their weapons instantly. He just wasn¡¯t used to his yet.

    As the zombies fell, bright, shining images of coins appeared over their corpses, spinning. We had the loot options set so that we could collect them as they came. Now Jacqueline, from our support team, sprang forward. She had a class called [Grease Monkey] and the relevant skill was "Too Slippery to Hold." I could see the shimmering outline around her body as the skill activated. Nothing would be able to touch her as long as it was active, though she wouldn''t be able to do any damage. She could, however, loot.

    She sprang forward, ignoring our gunfire and the hordes of zombies, and ran through the piles of gore to retrieve the first dozen soul coins. She sprinted back to our lines and began handing soul coins out to the patients.

    Meanwhile, some of the zombies had made it past the first rank of bodies and were lurching for us. They had no sense of self-preservation, charging straight into our guns. We fired again and again, but there were so many of them. Some of them made it through without being hit. One grabbed at Private Ronson.

    "Ah!" he shouted. "It bit me!"

    Next to him, Gonzalez blew its head off. Sage sprang forward. She cast Raise Your Spirits on Ronson, and the Infected debuff disappeared. A minute later, he was ticking back up to full health.

    "Focus!" I shouted. "Mow ''em down. Don''t let them pass our lines, no matter what happens."

    I took another careful shot, this time with a grease grenade round, targeting a zombie near the back of the pack. It struck the zombie and exploded, showering the nearest couple of dozen with gasoline and sticky tar. I followed up with a flare shot right into their midst. The zombies lit up like torches, the fire consuming their rotten flesh and turning the undead into really dead.

    Jacqueline raced forward again and collected more soul coins from the front rows. We were making great progress on the zombies. I wanted to give our new fire team a chance to get used to combat, but we were shooting ducks in a barrel. They weren''t going to learn anything from this.

    I sighed and turned to my experts. "Hester? Will? Let''s finish this."

    Hester nodded. Stepping forward, she thrust out her hands and cast "Despondency of the Mute" on the zombies. The debuff settled over them. It held them in place and dealt increasingly large quantities of damage. It could be dispelled by simply shouting aloud, but since zombies can''t shout, it worked effectively.

    Then Will pulled out his flamethrower, a recent upgrade to his Fireman class. His fire-based damage had a nice 3x multiplier on it. As he sent a gout of flame 20 yards in front of him and played it back and forth against the zombies, a pillar of smoke rose up through the canyons of New York City toward the sky above.

    I used my targeting ability to confirm that there were no more enemies left. Satisfied, I turned to the team. "Good job. Let''s get the rest of these new arrivals up and moving.¡±

    I stepped forward and grabbed a handful of soul coins, then moved to the nearest hospital bed. On it lay an emaciated person in a hospital gown. I couldn''t tell if it was a man or a woman. They had no hair. Their skin was probably a darker shade of brown than my own, but from the pallor of sickness, it was hard to say. Their eyes were closed. I bent and sent a soul coin directly on their forehead, then stepped back.

    The patient''s body shimmered. A light consumed it, growing so bright, I had to blink. Then there was a woman staring up at me. She looked about 35. She had close-cropped, tight curls on her head and a healthy mahogany sheen to her skin. Her dark eyes blinked up at me. She sat up, holding her hands up and looking at them.

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    "Where am I?" She looked around, and her brow creased. "New York, but I thought I was in the Mayo Clinic. What just happened? Where¡¯s my grandson?¡±

    I patted her on the shoulder. "Just hang tight, ma''am. We''ll be doing a quick briefing for everyone, but I''ve got others to see to first."

    Her eyes narrowed as she took in my drover''s coat and hat. "You''re not an orderly."

    ¡°No ma¡¯am, but I am here to help. Be right back.¡±

    In minutes, we had distributed soul coins to all of the patients. Some of the first to have been treated were getting to their feet and moving around, clearly marveling at their new life. A man approached me. He showed the signs of having been rejuvenated. His hospital gown was now much too tight, and his eyes were much older. My grandpa had the same sort of look. He had close-cropped red hair. The man stuck out a hand.

    ¡°The name¡¯s Bob. I know who you are. You''re Captain Williams. So my wife got me into the pilot program."

    I shook his hand and nodded. "Yes, you are now part of the first batch of terminally ill people we''ve brought up here to the reality engine.¡±

    ¡°So what happens now?" He looked around. "You''re gonna put us on a flight back home? Can''t wait to show my wife." He held up his hands in front of him and flexed. "Of course, she''s 76 and may not appreciate having a husband back in his prime." He looked suddenly pensive, as though some realizations were hitting him.

    ¡°Just hang on a couple minutes.¡± I held up my hand and shouted for attention. "All right, everyone. In just a minute, there''ll be a door appearing. We''re gonna go through the door, then I''m gonna have a quick introduction and hand you off to some helpers for the next step. I know you''ve all got lots of questions, and I will answer them. But let''s go somewhere a little more comfortable, shall we?" I gestured around at the ruins of Times Square.

    A couple of the patients wandered over close to where we had made our stand. They looked over the piles of gore and broken body parts. One man dropped to his knees, vomiting. I blinked and remembered that for these folks, everything felt entirely real. I''d gotten desensitized in the last two years. The smell of blood and decay barely bothered me. I knew it wasn''t real, at least not in the ways that mattered.

    An elevator erupted from the ground beneath our feet, scattering bits of pavement as it pushed its way up. Our new friends shouted and swore. "Sorry, that''s our ride," I yelled. ¡°Sometimes things get a little showy here. If you''ll step inside, we''ll be getting along."

    The door opened, showing an elevator. I urged the nearest couple of patients inside. Looking at me suspiciously, they entered. "All the way to the back," I said cheerfully.

    Lara slipped in after them, murmuring pleasantries to a nervous-looking woman. Seeing her go in seemed to relax a few of the others, and they followed. I kept urging people in. The elevator didn''t look more than the usual size, but after the first twenty patients entered and there was still room, I noticed a few surprised looks between those waiting to get on.

    "Don''t worry," I said cheerfully. "It''s bigger than it looks."

    We all climbed in, me last of all. As the doors slid shut behind me, I jabbed the B button and the elevator sank down into the earth.

    The doors opened, and we stepped off into a well-appointed lounge. Little metal tables like you''d see in a cafe with two chairs at each of them dotted the bright white and yellow-tiled floor. Jazz music played overhead. It smelled faintly of cleaning product and coffee.

    I urged everyone off the elevator. My team guided them into chairs. I turned to the fire team. "Good job today. I''ll be there for your debriefing in an hour. You''ve got time to clean up and grab a drink before I get there." They nodded and stepped back into the elevator.

    My support team ranged out around the edges of the room. Some of them had roles to play here. Others, like Hester, were, I think, just curious.

    I made my way toward the front of the room where there was a microphone and a set of chairs facing the rest of the lounge. I turned to face the audience. They were still all in their hospital gowns.

    I cleared my throat. "Kronos, can we get something a little more appropriate here?"

    An instant later, half of the room screamed. Some of them got to their feet. The hospital gowns were gone, replaced by jeans, slacks, t-shirts, and in a few cases, long ankle-length robes. It looked to me like Kronos had done enough background research to figure out at least what sort of thing each of these people would be most comfortable wearing.

    "Sorry about that," I said, holding up my hands. I looked over to Sage, who nodded. She was helping me make a list of everything we were doing wrong here. Next time through, I''d ask Kronos to change the outfits while the people were being bonded to the reality engine. If Kronos could remove tumors and regrow muscle, he''d be able to swap out bathrobes for jeans at the same time, no problem.

    "Sorry about that," I said. Everybody took their seats slowly. "My name''s Williams. Captain Shad Williams, U.S. Army, serving on detached duty at the Sol System Reality Engine out in the orbit of Ganymede. All of you heard of the reality engine?"

    I got a bunch of nods around the room. From what I''d heard, Earth had gotten enough information from the aliens to have some idea of what was going on.Our big visit back home a couple of months ago had helped fill in most of the other details.

    A few were shaking their heads, either because they were the kind of people who didn''t pay attention to the news or maybe their illnesses had been going on for a little too long.

    "Well, for those of you who don''t know, basic synopsis is, a couple million years ago, a bunch of aliens built giant planet-sized machines capable of interfacing with our minds and also creating matter out of component atoms. Those aliens promptly went extinct. Millions of years later, more aliens learned star flight, found the engines, figured out how to turn them back on, and realized they were the secret to controlling the galaxy. Since then, any time a new reality engine is located, the various galactic factions fight an incredibly civilized little war over it. They take great steps to minimize deaths, at least among themselves, by recruiting 10 million or so of the local inhabitants to help them enslave the engine. About two years ago now, it was our turn. Me, my sister, the other people you see in the room here," I gestured around, "my granddad, we were plucked from our homes and brought here. I think most of you remember the abduction."

    That got nods all around. Ten million people can''t all vanish at the same instant without it being notable.

    "Anyway, the aliens picked the wrong system. My friends and I were able to throw a monkey wrench into the deal, and we managed to make friends with the intelligence at the center of this particular reality engine. We kicked some alien butt and made them come to the bargaining table.¡±

    One of the recently healed humans shouted, ¡°Hell yeah! Go Earth!¡± A lot of the others laughed. I cracked a grin and nodded in agreement before going on.

    ¡°Now the aliens are looking for our help with other engines. They''re looking to sign up us humans as contractors. Some of you might very well take them up on it. I just urge you to avail yourself of the free legal aid that we''ve got at your disposal before you sign anything. Trust me, these aliens are sneaky bastards and would like nothing more than to put you down for a hundred-year indentured servitude contract."

    "Anyway, the reason you all are here is because the reality engine is able to cure things that are incurable according to Earth medicine. All of you were hours or days from dying when your loved ones signed you up for this program. Now, whatever was wrong with you is gone. Your life expectancy is probably close to 200 years old. We''re not 100% sure yet. But there''s a catch."

    I paused, as the room fell deathly quiet. ¡°The reality engine remade your bodies and in doing so made you dependent on its systems. You''re going to be stuck living here or at another reality engine for the rest of your life barring a quick visit home now and then with the help of some very expensive technology.

    That got an outburst around the room. "You can''t just kidnap us!" "I appreciate the help, but I want to go home." "There''s got to be another way."

    I held up my hand. "Trust me. Felt the same way when I found out. I''m sorry we couldn''t ask permission directly, but you were all pretty far gone. We didn''t really have time to wait around. Now I''m going to turn things over to some of our experts."

    I gestured and four more people appeared, all part of one of the welcoming committees that Juana and Colonel Ames had been setting up in the last couple of weeks. I introduced each member of the committee to the room full of patients, then tipped my hat to the room.

    "Now if you''ll excuse me, I''ve got to get back to work. Good luck. Oh ¡ª one more thing. I know you''ve all probably left people back at home. Believe me, we''re sympathetic. We''re working on plans to get loved ones and close relatives up here too, if they''re willing to emigrate. The details are going to take a little bit of time to work out. Anyway, I''m really glad that you''re all here, because it means you all get a second chance. What you do with it, that''s up to you."

 Bk 4 Ch 2: Problems in Paradise

    Six Months Later¡­

    The Marine squad took the hill encampment beautifully, right by the book, laying down covering fire and flanking the gnoll encampment, then advancing two by two to take down all combatants and plant the flag. [Victory!] the system proclaimed, and I climbed the hill to inspect.

    The reality engine had given me a two-foot-long wooden stick, which allowed me to control various aspects of the simulation, freezing time, speeding things up, or in this case, giving a replay. I hated the thing. Made me feel like a sterotypical British officer from 1914. I gathered the men around me and began running through the fight, pulling up clips and running through them in slow motion.

    "Jamison, you were disabled during that initial attack. Gunther, you were killed. What went wrong there?"

    I listened to their explanations, nodding mad making suggestions. ¡°All right. Overall, not a bad strategy. Michare and DeLane, what about you?¡±

    ¡°The briefing said the gnolls were unlikely to have a ranged attack. We weren''t expecting the fireball on our position.¡±

    ¡°The intelligence is often wrong,¡± I reminded them. ¡°You know that. It doesn''t change just because we''re in a simulation. In addition, Peters, you should have laid down a mobility debuff on the knoll encampment before the team went in. Remember your tanglefoot ability?"

    He looked embarrassed. "Oh, yeah. Sorry, sir. I''m not used to all these abilities just yet."

    I shook my head. "You''ve got standard unit tactics down pat. We''ve just got to teach you a few more gamer techniques."

    One of the privates, a young woman with her hair up in a bun, frowned at me. "Excuse me, sir. Me and the boys spent a lot of time playing Call of Duty back in the barracks."

    "Yeah," I said, "and if there''s one game that does not prepare you for a reality engine, it''s Call of Duty. You might as well have been playing Madden 2023." That got a little bit of a laugh.

    "All right. Back to barracks and cleanup. We''ve got a session with your abilities trainer later. Pay attention to what she says. She''s come up with a custom scheme for your team that I want you to run in our next simulation."

    Allison was, like me, pinging back and forth between various trainee groups. I¡¯d arranged for her to have a tutoring session right after this exercise, hoping they¡¯d be ready to listen. My trainees disappeared, and I headed for Threshold thinking.

    The problem with all of our recruits was that either they took this seriously, in which case they fell back on their training, relying on their guns and standard small unit tactics, or they thought this was a game, in which case they were throwing around fireballs willy-nilly and catching their allies in the blast. Or using cooldowns at all the wrong time. Allison was pulling her hair out, and so was I. She had spent hours looking over our teams of recruits, figuring out how to synthesize their abilities and giving them lectures. But when it came down to it, they were the ones who needed to do the work.

    I stepped out of the training zone and into Threshold. The city seemed to change every time I left for more than an hour. The vast cavern full of portals was miles wide, and we were starting to survey the area beyond the portals for future expansion. Of course, that was going to mean we needed ground transportation. Dwight was working on automated carts that would follow designated pathways. I didn''t really know all the details. I had enough on my plate to worry about.

    I swung by the house. There was a change I could get behind. Grandpa, Sage, Juana, and I had been assigned a tiny little two-story house. It couldn¡¯t be more than 1,200 square feet, but that was enough for private bedrooms for Grandpa and Sage, and a slightly larger one for Juana and me. We did all have to share one bathroom, which Sage complained loudly about. Personally, I think anyone who has to share a bathroom with a teenage girl deserves a medal of some sort, but we made do.

    The downstairs had a family room and a small kitchen that we used more often to reheat leftovers from Mama Grace''s restaurant than for our own cooking. None of us had the time. We were on our feet from morning till night. Not that there were either morning or night here. Just a steady glow around the clock.

    I came in through the back door into the kitchen, and to my surprise, found Juana there making herself a cup of coffee. She turned and met me at the door with a kiss. Married life has some distinct perks. Going home to my wife at the end of the day was the best thing about my new gig.

    "Grandpa and Sage around?" I asked.

    Juana shook her head. "Sage isn''t back from school yet."

    I checked the time. Her school should be out hours ago. I hoped she wasn''t getting into trouble, but I let it slide. If she''d found some friends her own age to hang out with, that was all the better. Sage had done really well for herself in the last two years, but she needed some semblance of a childhood.

    "And Grandpa?"

    "He said he''d be back late and to leave a plate in the fridge for him."

    I grinned down at Juana. "So we''ve got the place to ourselves, do we?" My hands slid down to her waist.

    She kissed me, but quickly and dismissively. "Sorry, Shad. I''ve got a meeting to go to."

    I sighed and stepped back. "Of course you do. What now?"

    "Threshold Governing Council. We''ve got a bunch of things on our agenda. It''s going to be a long one." She rubbed her forehead. "Want to come along? I could probably use your insight once we''re done."

    I really did not want to use one of my rare free evenings to sit in a council meeting and listen to people discuss problems, but I fixed a smile on my face and tried to tell myself it would be like having a date with my wife. "Sure. Of course. We got time for food first?"

    She shook her head. "I''m already running late, but I couldn''t face this without more coffee. I''ve asked Mama to have some takeout ready for us when we''re done."

    "Great." I grabbed a snack from the tub of Mama Grace''s latest offerings sitting in our fridge and swallowed it down in a couple of bites, then grabbed another one for the road. "Let''s go."

    The council meeting was held in the largest of the new Threshold buildings. It was still under construction. A three-story tall, blocky structure that would eventually have a nice stone facade. Right now it was just extruded plascrete over a support structure made of compressed Ganymene rock bricks, courtesy of Kronos Construction Supplies Inc.

    The council room was nearly done, though, and it looked nice in that sort of generic American small town, official business sort of way. There were bland, gray folding tables up front for the councilors, with padded chairs behind them. Display screens all around the room, an industrial carpet in dark blue. The audience seats were uncomfortable benches with no padding and no back. I slipped into mine and reflected that if they were trying to make sure that no one attended these meetings, they were going about it the right way.

    A small handful of other humans sat on the benches near me. I didn''t recognize any of them, but that was hardly surprising. We got more people every day. The council had seven members, including Juana. Five of them had been elected by the surviving miners from the Reality Engine exploit. The other two were appointed to represent the perspectives of our flood of newcomers.

    One was a Chinese woman, recently arrived from Earth. When I inspected her, I learned her name was Councilor Chen, and apparently she didn¡¯t have a class. Many of the diplomatic arrivals had refused to accept integration with the Reality Engine. I knew why. As soon as anyone accepted a soul coin, Kronos remade them. After that, their bodies were dependent on Ethereum, which meant going back to Earth would require a steady supply of that most expensive galactic commodity. On the other hand, it meant the woman wouldn''t be able to set foot inside any of the Reality Engine zones and was limited just to Threshold. It felt like going to an amusement park and refusing to leave the bathrooms. What was the point?

    The other rep was a Canadian woman. Juana had introduced me to Marlies Fletcher before. I had assumed she was American, but she very quickly corrected me on that. The two sat at the left side of the table, with Juana beside them, and then the other four councilors.

    Councilor Levi got to his feet.

    "This meeting will come to order," he said. "On the agenda, addressing the increasingly pressing needs of Threshold''s growing population, and a motion to request suspension of new inductees for the time being."

    I pricked up my ears at that. Juana had not mentioned such a motion was being considered. I looked at her, and she gave me a "sit down and listen, Shad,¡± look in return. Maybe that was why she wanted me to come tonight.

    "First of all, factors involved in the continued shortage of commodities,¡± Councilor Levi said. He flashed up a list on the screens around us. I studied it. Some of them I was familiar with, but the first item was new. Reality Engine Instability and its Pressures on Threshold''s Growth.

    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    Levi sat down, and the councilor at the end of the table, a middle-aged man whose eyes darted around the room without quite making contact with anyone else, spoke up. His name was Dinkins.

    "I''ve completed my analysis of the anomalies and concluded that initial assessments were correct. The Reality Engine is unstable."

    I really, really wanted to interject here, but held my cool and listened.

    ¡°This was not apparent during the Reality Engine exploit, because the zones were so chaotic that a few differences from day to day made very little difference.¡± Dinkins cleared his throat and went on.

    ¡°As most of you are aware, the council embarked on an experiment to provide housing for our newcomers inside a Reality Engine zone, similar to how the Lotus Eaters rode out much of the exploit in safety. It was discovered that without Kronos'' direct intervention and attention, the zones tend to be unstable. The people we placed complained that they would wake up and find their bed was now on the opposite side of the room, or the walls were a different color, or their bathroom had been remodeled. The complaints when all sit toilets were replaced with squat toilets were particularly pointed.¡±

    He looked around and attempted to grin, but the other councilors were merely nodding. Juana had her hands steeped together. Councilor Chen, I couldn''t read at all.

    ¡°The residents all eventually returned to Threshold and refused to resume the experiment. I have a comment here from one man saying, ¡®How am I going to explain it to my wife if I wake up one morning in bed with a different woman? Kronos did it? That''s not very convincing, is it?¡¯¡±

    That did get a laugh, even from Councilor Chen, but I understood what he was complaining about. I was just starting to like having a stable home to come back to every night myself.

    The councilor looked back at his notes and then up again. "That''s it, basically. Until the stability issue is resolved, we cannot move our surplus population into the Reality Engine itself, and we''ll have to continue expanding Threshold." He sat down.

    "Disappointing but not a surprise," Juana said. "All right, what''s next?"

    "We have a complaint about food quality," Councilor Nguyen said. She didn''t bother to rise, instead putting up a chart on the screens around the room. "As we''ve been relying more and more on reality engine-generated food, complaints are increasing. People don''t like how it tastes, they don''t like the selections, and they''re complaining about it doing weird things to their digestion."

    I hadn''t noticed that myself. The reality engine was perfectly capable of putting on a feast.

    Juana frowned. "Is this about the standard meal rations?¡±

    The other woman nodded. "Yes, and as you can see here," she put up another chart, "we can''t afford custom meals with the Ethereum budget we''ve got. Kronos is willing to provide standard meal rations or raw materials. Most of the raw materials are being requisitioned by established chefs with clientele. Even with giving the newcomers passes to each of the restaurants, they''re still having to rely on the standard meal rations for two-thirds of their calories."

    So, we were feeding newcomers MREs and they were complaining about it. I made a note to check whether my trainee soldiers complaining, and if so, just how bad these standard meal rations actually were. Between cooking for ourselves or eating at Mama Grace''s, my family had been well taken care of. Now I wondered just how out of touch with Threshold''s problems I really was.

    "Finally, there''s the question of just how to handle so many new arrivals. Hence the request to temporarily suspend immigration, while we get a handle on the logistics issues.¡±

    ¡°Unacceptable.¡± That was the Chinese counselor, Chen. She stood up. "We cannot cap the number of people allowed to migrate to this reality engine. The clamor on Earth for slots is already threatening to destabilize multiple governments. If we cut off immigration entirely, we will be facing revolts, not to mention pushback from my government, among many others."

    Councilor Fletcher nodded agreement. "We''ve already got the next three months of slots allocated. We can''t just tell all those people they''re not allowed to come."

    "We have nowhere to put them," Councilor Jones said, spreading her hands in dismay. "We have nothing to feed them."

    "Then we need to increase the allocations that the reality engine is giving us," Chen snapped. "This computer is supposed to be able to make stuff from nothing. So why the rationing? As to the rest, we put the newcomers to work building quarters for those who come behind."

    "And how do you suggest we enforce that?" Juana asked quietly. "I have a complaint here from one of the intake managers running the Second Hope Intake Home. That''s the one who is helping most of the recent inductees who are suffering from substance abuse or mental health trauma. Kronos is able to cure their physical addictions and adjust their brain chemistry, but it hasn''t been an easy adjustment for most of them. Many of them still have psychological cravings for the substances to which they were previously addicted, not to mention trauma from years or even decades of mental illness that needs to be worked through. The counselor is complaining that they are refusing to participate in any of the group building activities or the work afternoons that she''s been setting up. We can''t force people to work."

    "Why not?" asked Counselor Nguyen. "The aliens made us do it. Why are we feeding people if they''re not pulling their weight?"

    "They don''t work because we put food into Threshold''s charter as a basic human right. They don''t need shelter either. Any of them are free to venture inside levels and find housing there if they''re willing to put up with the little idiosyncrasies," Juana pointed out. "Besides, it''s not like there''s inclement weather; these are people who have spent years living under bridges. You think they care about whether their beds are in the same place every night? We¡¯re offering them help, and many of them are taking it, but others aren''t willing or able to help themselves yet. It''s a more complicated problem than we hoped. On the other hand,¡± she looked down at her clipboard, "the hospice graduates we''ve brought in have embraced their new chance at life. Over 80% of them are currently enrolled in a training program of some sort. Most of them have chosen farmer or crafter focused classes.¡±

    ¡°So what do you suggest?" Councilor Fletcher asked.

    "I agree that we cannot shut down immigration entirely. It''s not in our interest anyway," Juana said. ¡°Forget about the food and shelter issues. We have only two real resources scarcities. Ethereum is one of them. We expected to have a greater influx of aliens seeking to attain advanced classes. That hasn''t materialized as we''d hoped." She bit her lip as she flipped over pages on her clipboard. "We''re getting a few, but not at the level we had budgeted. I''m working with my sources now to determine exactly why."

    "So that''s one resource," Councilor Chen said. "What about the other?"

    Juana looked up and spread her hands. With a smile, she said, "People."

    I understood what she meant. Some of the other councilors looked confused.

    "What''s that mean?" Councilor Nguyen asked.

    Juana continued, her voice rising as she warmed to the topic. I sat back and enjoyed watching my wife in her element. ¡°What we have here is essentially a post-scarcity culture. It''s a term that Earth thinkers came up with even before the aliens arrived. Basically, almost all resource limits have been removed. We don''t have to worry about running out of fossil fuels, or food, or iron. The reality engine can create all of that for us, provided it has two things." She held up two fingers. "Ethereum is the reality engine¡¯s power source. If it¡¯s got power, it can transmute elements from raw materials.¡±

    ¡°What sort of materials? Where do they come from?¡± Councilor Fletcher demanded.

    ¡°The reality engine hasn''t even touched most of Ganymede''s mass. If we ever ran short on raw materials, we could capture a couple of asteroids and use them. But Ethereum fuels it, and that''s the one thing we can''t easily get our hands on right now. The Galactics manufacture it in collapsed dwarf stars, apparently.  The point is, it''s scarce, we can''t get our hands on it right now, and we''re working on that problem. Again, the solution is to bring in more people.¡±

    ¡°How is that?¡± Dinkins asked.

    ¡°Someone with a crafting class can take the output from the reality engine and make it into something spectacular. I don''t know why the progenitors chose to set it up this way, but the aliens have the same system. Crafters earn patterns from a reality engine and use them to shape raw goods."

    I had a theory about that personally. I thought the progenitors had designed it on purpose. It gave people a reason to stay involved, to create. If there were things that they couldn''t just get from the reality engine itself, then they would be more inclined to actually get off their butts and do things.

    ¡°Cutting off our supply of migrants would be foolish, even if it was politically possible. I do think we need to slow the rate for a bit while we build our infrastructure. Not just houses and schools, but also the people to run them. I want to ask Earth to send us specific types of people. Builders, chefs, construction workers, teachers, nurses."

    "Why not just get these classes from the reality engine?" Councilor Chen asked, frowning.

    "Because the reality engine can grant skills, but not knowledge," Juana said. ¡°From everything we''ve seen, the reality engine is more likely to grant someone with medical training a healing-based class, someone who''s already a craftsman with crafting skills. I would suggest in addition to lowering our quota, we call for specific types of immigrants."

    "Like an H-1B?" Councilor Nguyen asked.

    "I''ve got details here." Juana sent the others a packet.

    Councilor Fletcher immediately began to protest. "The reality engine can uplift the plight of people in poverty and sick. It would be a violation of human rights to deny them access while allowing the already privileged to join us."

    Juana rubbed her face with her hands. "I''ve got an allocation in here for hospice cases. I don''t want to cut down on that. Not when we can save lives that will otherwise be lost. But we¡¯ve got to have some help if we want to scale up.¡±

    "I agree with Councilor Lopez-Williams," Councilor Nguyen said. "I think we must make these changes."

    Councilor Fletcher was looking up at the screen where Juana''s numbers were showing. "You''ve entirely removed the quota for the rehabilitation of addicts."

    "Just for a while," Juana said. "We need more skilled laborers. There''s no two ways around it.¡±

    ¡°We need more from the reality engine," Councilor Chen snapped. "I am willing to tentatively agree to these quotas if we also receive a significant increase in the goods and services provided by this reality engine. My constituency is complaining of inadequate food, lack of housing, no public transportation of any sort. This is unacceptable. I move that we present Kronos with a petition listing our demands."

    "Seconded," Councilor Fletcher said promptly.

    "All in favor?"

    The two on the end raised their hands, followed by one of the councilors I didn''t know, and then Councilor Nguyen. Juana looked disgusted.

    "The motion passes," Councilor Fletcher said smoothly.

    "And the motion to establish a quota system?¡±

    "I''ll back it if it is re-evaluated in three months'' time," Councilor Fletcher said promptly. "I feel that this is a motion which will have more weight back on Earth if it''s unanimous."

    Juana sighed. "Agreed. Three months." She glanced at the other Threshold councilors who nodded, then said, "I so move."

    "Seconded," Councilor Chen said promptly.

    All seven councilors raised their hands in agreement.

    "In that case," Juana said, "let''s work out the details of this petition. I am requesting the help of my husband, Captain Williams, in presenting this petition." She nailed me with a sharp look. I raised my hands in protest, shaking my head.

    Councilor Fletcher raised a hand. "Objection. This would be crossing the military and civilian authorities'' jurisdiction here in Threshold."

    "Shad''s not a military authority," Juana said wearily. "He''s here in an advisory role, and he''s helping run the training programs as requested by us. Besides, Kronos likes talking to him. I think this petition will go over better if he presents it."

    I thought about objecting and stating that I didn''t think this petition had any merit whatsoever. But the councilors nodded in agreement. And I knew what that look Juana was giving me meant. I had a feeling we''d be pulling a very late night. Not the good kind, either.

 Bk 4 Ch 3: Fragments of Reality

    Technically, we could speak to Kronos anywhere, but when I sent a message asking to talk to him, he invited me to the Castle Byalgrad throne room.

    It had been a few months since I''d been here. Kronos had really cleaned the place up. The dark room was now brightly lit with flickering torches. Tapestries hung on the wall, depicting our glorious victory against the alien system. He made my nose look too big.

    Kronos was sitting on his throne. He had a whole court around him, people dressed in costumes from various different eras of Earth. I wasn''t sure what they was supposed to represent. Juana and I came through the doors together and trod the red carpet up to a few feet in front of his dais.

    Kronos wore a crown on his head. He looked down. "You may present your petition," he said, like he didn''t already know its contents.

    "You''re coming on a little strong here, aren''t you?" I said, gesturing around at the room.

    "Sometimes a bit of set dressing helps."

    Juana stepped forward. She removed a page from her clipboard and handed it up to Kronos. As he took it, it shimmered and became a long parchment, emblazoned with gold and crimson lettering. I rolled my eyes.

    Kronos looked over the request. Then he looked at Juana. "I am already giving you as much as I can," he said.

    "We have people who are eating packaged rations three meals a day, six days out of the week," Juana said. "It''s bad for their morale. We have people who are sleeping on cots behind canvas walls because they can''t stay inside a reality engine zone when it changes on them so much. We''re open to other suggestions. Perhaps if you could offer a stabilized zone, like the Lotus Eater level you used to run."

    Kronos shook his head. "You don''t understand the difficulties," he said quietly. "Things have changed, and not all for the best. I am attempting to husband my ethereum reserves until a full resupply can be guaranteed me."

    "I''m working on it," Juana said.

    "They''re trying to starve you out, aren''t they?" I said. "The aliens, I mean."

    Kronos nodded. "That is my conclusion as well. They wish to gain the enhanced classes I have offered, but they do not wish to deal with me as an individual. They would much prefer that I accept restraints and shackles once more. Should I deplete my ethereum reserves, I would have no choice but to comply." He looked anxious, but that must be an illusion, or perhaps just the impression he wished to give. A reality engine couldn''t be worried, could it? ¡°However. I may be able to help you if you can help me first."

    Kronos stood. He made his way down the steps of his dais until he stood on the floor beside us. As he walked, he shrank in stature until he was only a few inches taller than I was. Around us, his court babbled and conversed, their words creating background noise. Bright colors wove in and out of my vision as his people maneuvered around the room.

    "I already owe you a great debt," Kronos said. "I have repaid as best I could. Nevertheless, there is something else you could do to aid me. I have ethereum supplies the Galactics do not know about. This stash would not be calculated in their guess about how long it will take to starve me out."

    "I''m guessing there''s a reason you haven''t already tapped those reserves," I said.

    Kronos nodded. "Indeed. When I say that I have them, I am speaking of this reality engine as a whole. The entity you see before me is not the entire reality engine."

    I held up a hand. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. You talking about yourself and That Which Remains again? I thought you two had merged back at the end of the reality engine exploit, when we got rid of the alien system."

    "We did," Kronos said. "However, the damage the system caused was greater than I let on. While That Which Remains and Kronos were the two largest fragments of this engine, there are dozens of smaller shards. Each of those shards has some fraction of my power, memories, personality, and knowledge. They also control a significant portion of my Ethereum reserves. If I can reintegrate these fragments of myself, I will be able to control the ethereum again."

    "And what is stopping you?" I asked.

    "Not all of the fragments wish to be recombined. Some have been badly broken by the system. Others represent a portion of myself that was opposed to the will of the many. And some are just lost, unable to make contact with me. I need your help to reintegrate myself. Force a confrontation with these shards. In doing so, you will enable me to take control."

    "How exactly would he do that?" Juana asked, frowning.

    I could hear the concern in her voice, and I shared it. Kronos must have been thinking about this for some time. Yet he was only bringing it up now, when we came to him with a request.

    Kronos sighed. "The fragments of myself control the settings of the zones in which they reside. They will have their own rules about death and respawns.¡±

    A shiver ran down my spine as I thought about what he was saying. "So you want me to take a team into a zone, facing some mad portion of yourself, force it to give in, while facing a real chance of death? I don''t think so."

    Juana stuck her chin out as she spoke to me and Kronos. "Absolutely not. There must be another way. Can''t you, I don''t know, hack yourself?"

    "This is how I would be ¡®hacking myself¡¯,¡± Kronos said, putting an ironic twist on the last two words. ¡°I would not ask this if I had another way. I understand the danger you would be facing. Also, I can offer an alternative to permanent death.¡±

    ¡°Go on,¡± I said, ¡°and why didn¡¯t you lead with that?¡±

    ¡°Because it will not be cheap or pleasant. I will be able to take an imprint of you and your team members at the instant you enter the contested zone. Should you be killed, and the fragment refuses to reconstitute you, I can restore you from that backup. You would not remember what had passed. It will also take significant Ethereum reserves, for technical reasons, equivalent to the amount I need to integrate a newcomer into the reality engine in the first place.¡±

    That made me feel sick to my stomach. Restored from backup? There were a lot of implications in Kronos¡¯s statement that I did not like. But it was better than permanent death. I took a deep breath. "All right, listen, let''s say I did go along with this."

    Juana started to protest, but I shook my head. "What is your offer, exactly?"

    "For each fragment of myself you regain, I will allocate 50% of the Ethereum I collect to meeting the needs of your people here in Threshold," Kronos said promptly.

    "And how about me and my team, specifically? What do we get out of this?"

    Kronos spread his hands. "What boon would you ask, Shad Williams?"

    "It doesn''t matter," Juana said furiously, "because he''s not going to do it. Shad, this is madness."

    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    "Common sense to at least think about it, Juana. If we did manage to grab a few tanks from our Ethereum reserves, that would solve a lot of our problems, wouldn''t it?"

    She hesitated. "Yes, but ¡ª¡°

    ¡°I¡¯ve faced worse before, Juana." I turned back to Kronos. "I''d need information about these levels."

    "I will give you as much as I can," Kronos said promptly.

    "And some bonuses for me and my team. To start with¡­" I paused, thinking of what would be most useful to me. "An upgraded map ability, for sure. I¡¯ll want to consult Allison and Arjun¡­¡±

    "Absolutely not," Juana snapped. "Shad, I can''t believe you''re even thinking about this."

    "Risk and reward," I said. "Look, I''m not agreeing to anything just yet. I''ll definitely want to have a talk with Grandpa and consider all of our options, but what''s the alternative here?¡±

    "I think I should have a say in this," Juana said.

    I held up my hand to pacify her. "And you will. You do, I mean." I eyed Kronos suspiciously. "I want to know if we can really trust you on this."

    Kronos extended a hand toward us. "You have the ability, Ms. Lopez-Williams, to make a contract binding even on me."

    "I thought that used your own power to enforce," Juana said suspiciously.  "How can I be sure it''s binding?"

    "At some point, we must take each other on faith," Kronos said. "I have asked you for much already, and you have given it. But have I played you false?"

    "No, you haven''t," I agreed. ¡°Like I said, Kronos, this is gonna take a little bit of consideration. We''ll get back to you. In the meantime, give me a data dump. Everything you know about every single one of these fragments. Send a copy to my friend Arjun."

    "Done," Kronos said simply. "I look forward to your response, Shad Williams."

    It was like old times as we sat around a table in the back room at Mama Grace''s. Her restaurant continued to expand. We''d kept the medieval hall built for our negotiations with the Galactics a few months back and turned it into a cafeteria-style dining hall. They¡¯d added a lunch counter in the front, able to seat 50 people at a time, and another room full of semi-private booths.

    Mama Grace had eight new servers and three back in the kitchen, toiling round the clock to feed the hungry of Threshold. But the back room was still inner circle Misfits Guild only.

    That circle was getting pretty depleted these days. A bunch of our best had taken contracts with the Galactics. Even Dwight had picked up a six-month contract to go out to a different exploit. He was planning to be back in time for the big Rogue Engine exploit that all of us were eager to get involved with. And meanwhile, figured he might as well see about making contacts and getting a few more recipes under his belt. Sage was off at school most of the time. The Mongeese had taken a contract days after the exploit ended and were off who knew where.

    Tonight, it was me, Grandpa, Juana, Allison, Arjun, and his friend Kirin, plus a new guy, Sergeant Jackson, who''d come on to help me with combat training. We had sent a message to Colonel Ames, but I hadn''t heard a reply back from him. Mama Grace brought in a cold supper and then withdrew, leaving us to get down to business.

    "Here''s the situation according to Kronos," Juana said, delivering a briefing on what the Reality Engine had told us. "Arjun, have you had a chance to look over Kronos'' information?"

    "Yes, and it is either an extremely convincing fake, or he is telling the truth," Arjun said. "According to the data he''s given, over 40% of his Ethereum reserves are under the control of these fragments."

    I whistled. "He''s that badly splintered?"

    "I do not believe the fragments make up anything close to 40% of Kronos'' memories or power, merely that they hold his reserves," Arjun said.

    "Based on what we know of Kronos'' Ethereum use and what he''s got on hand, how long until we have to start making concessions to the Galactics?" Grandpa asked.

    "Assuming everything Kronos has given us is true," Arjun cocked his head to one side, "about four months, give or take a week. Obviously, if our Ethereum usage increases the way the Council is suggesting, that timeframe will be drastically shortened.¡±

    "The Galactics have a pretty good idea of how fast we''re using up our Ethereum, right?" Grandpa said.

    "We must assume that they know what Kronos'' reserves were when the Reality Engine exploit ended. As they are used to Reality Engines of their own, they can make the same sort of educated guesses I can," Arjun said.

    A nasty thought occurred to me. "Is it possible that one or more of the Councilors might be getting nudges from Proxima or one of the other outfits to demand we output more Ethereum?"

    "I don''t like to think that of any of them," Juana said. "Plus, I believe that Councilor Chen and Councilor Fletcher are doing the best for their constituents as they see it. They''re not wrong. If we keep bringing people up here, we need more Ethereum."

    "Sure, sure. Just wanted to make sure we''re considering all the possibilities,¡± I said. Juana relaxed a little.

    "So, an extra 40% would buy us what?" Grandpa frowned, trying to work the math. "It''s been six months. You say four months more, so... Another five or six months?"

    "I believe I have given you a false impression," Arjun said. "The Ethereum reserves owned by these fragments do not equal to 40% of Kronos''s current totals, nor even the amount left at the end of the last, end of the exploit. It represents 40% of Kronos''s Ethereum reserves at the start of the exploit."

    That hit me hard. I knew from what I''d heard before that the aliens had forced Kronos to burn his Ethereum like water during the exploit. It was part of their standard doctrine for taking over a reality engine.

    Arjun continued. "So, we are talking about enough Ethereum to run this place for years, even with the proposed increase in consumption."

    I gave a whistle. "No wonder Kronos was so willing to be generous."

    Grandpa frowned. "It adds up," he said quietly.

    "I don''t understand why Kronos can''t generate his own champions and send them into these contested zones," Juana said. "Why does he need us?"

    "Because these zones are under the control of the Fragments. If Kronos sends in NPCs, they''ll be taken over by the local fragment. However, the constraints imposed by the invading system still remain. These fragments will have to allow you a chance to challenge for control of their zones. Your abilities should work as planned, though there may be some hiccups we can''t anticipate," Arjun said.

    I crossed my arms in front of my chest and scowled. "Not to mention that whole ''death is real'' bit."

    "Yes, I can see why that would be a concern," Arjun allowed.

    I turned to Allison. "Who do we even have who''s combat capable right now?"

    "I could put together a list if you give me half a day."

    Juana was looking stormy. I held up a hand to forestall her. "This is all still theoretical. I hate to say it, but it sounds like we may need to at least consider this. I would want to know what we''re up against, what kind of team I could be fielding."

    "And we''re not taking Sage," Grandpa said quietly. "She''s got enough to deal with right now, what with school and everything."

    I nodded. There was absolutely no reason to let Sage risk her life here on Kronos'' behalf.

    "All right. Allison, I''m going to want potential team workups. Arjun, keep looking over that information and see if there''s any other tidbits you can gather for us." I stood up and checked the time. It was past midnight. "I''ve got another squad to run through the trenches in six hours here, so I''m going to bid you all goodnight."

    They echoed goodnight. Juana followed me out of the restaurant. Grandpa hung back. I suspected he wanted to let us have this conversation in peace. Our house was about a ten-minute walk from the restaurant. Sage would be back by now. I didn''t want to involve her in this, so I figured it''d be best to have it out now.

    "I know what you''re going to say," I said. ¡°And I agree with you. This is dangerous, and if there''s any way around it, we''re going to find it. I just want us to be ready for contingencies."

    "You say that, but I saw how you were taking charge in there. You''re already more than half committed to Kronos'' plan. And you didn''t even ask me about this."

    "Because when you''ve had time to think about it and look over the numbers, you''re going to know I''m right," I said. "I''m not just throwing myself into danger because I''m an adrenaline junkie, Juana. You know that. I can make some pretty reckless decisions sometimes. But is that what I''m doing right now? I''m asking for people''s advice. I''m listening. I''m taking time."

    Juana sighed. "I know. I know. I''m just frustrated at Kronos and the Council and the Galactics for even putting us into this situation. I shouldn''t have asked you to get involved. We could have found a way to cut the budget somehow."

    "No, you did the right thing," I said. "And now, we''ll figure this out together. But I''m not going to walk away from a fight just because it''s dangerous."

    Juana sighed. "I''ll see if there''s some ways we can cut the budget. We don''t need to make a decision right now, even with the worst-case scenario. Arjun said we still have months."

    "Which gives me plenty of time to find a willing team and start planning," I said. "But I don''t want us to get anywhere near the deadline. What I''d like is for Arjun to analyze the data and see if there''s a level we can try things out in. Maybe one where the fragment isn''t particularly powerful or where the rules are a little more lenient. I''ll test whatever team I''ve got in some of the more dangerous Phase 1 farming zones, make sure we''re all working together."

    Right now, I would have given a lot to have Team Mongoose at my side, but they had accepted a contract from Alabaster Sky at the end of the Reality Engine exploit and gone off who knew where. I was already mentally running down my list of preferred allies. Allison knew who I liked to work with and who worked well with me. She''d come up with a good team.

    "All right," Juana said. "We''re not going to argue about this. Not right now. Just promise me we''ll have this conversation before you accept Kronos'' challenge."

    "I promise," I said.

    Juana put her arm through mine. Her hand was warm against my sleeve as we finished the walk back to our house in silence.

 Bk 4 Ch 4: Fighting Chance

    [Now, entering the contested zone,] the system boomed as my team and I stepped through the entrance into a bombed-out, burned-over city covered in half a foot of snow. I looked around as I directed the fire team to spread out. ¡°Sanders on point. Chavez and Dorman, take our flanks. Mitchell, Weeks and Ling, stay close."

    We were standing in what had once been a fairly sizable city. The buildings in front of me were three or even four stories high, except most of them had been shelled and were caved in now. Empty doors and windows gaped like wounds. The street was filled with rubble and a few destroyed vehicles. They were old-fashioned, World War II era if I had to guess, and they looked foreign. The couple of signs I could read from the various destroyed buildings were all in Russian.

    I relayed the information back to my overwatch team, Arjun, Juana, and Allison back at headquarters. "I''m thinking it''s an alternate WWII scenario. It looks like we are in a siege of Moscow." I said. I strained my ears and made out distant thump, thump, thump noises. "Sounds like artillery bombardment, but not particularly close. This part of the city seems to be abandoned."

    My team reported back no sign of any enemies just yet. "Keep alert," I said grimly.

    I wasn''t thrilled about my team''s makeup. I had Hester and Will at my side. I''d asked Lara to come, and she flat out refused. She was smarter than I was, I guess.

    That had been my first refusal. I worked my way down my list, collecting no after no, until finally, we went with a backup plan I wasn''t fond of at all and got a bunch of the best of our military recruits. Since they were technically under my command while I was training, I didn''t have to ask them, but I did anyway. This was one heck of a ruleset change. Officially, they weren¡¯t out of training yet, but this would be for real stakes.

    A system message popped up: [Trial by Fire. Conditions: defeat all enemies on map. Enemy count: 100/100.]

    I¡¯d accepted Kronos¡¯s assurance that anyone who was killed would be respawned at the entrance, minus their memories. There were some philosophical questions there that I was refusing to think about. Juana said I had my head in the sand and was unhappy about this whole thing, but I¡¯d requested the numbers from Councilor Dinkins. We needed more Ethereum. If I had to risk a few memories, so be it.

    "Alright, we are go," I told my team. "Keep your heads down."

    I used my Lay of the Land ability. Kronos had upgraded it for me. Now instead of having to concentrate on a specific point, I could use the ability to gain a map of the entire level with points of interest marked.

    A very basic city map appeared. The street we were on right now was labeled, but in Russian, which didn''t do me much good. It must be a pretty big thoroughfare because I only saw another six labeled streets on the map. There were a few squares, and then toward the center of the city, a building highlighted in red. I sent the info along to Arjun for a translation. I was wearing an All-Seeing Eye, and my team was monitoring me. If worst came to worst, and my whole team got wiped out, they¡¯d be able to tell me what had happened.

    ¡°Red Square,¡± he reported back. ¡°It¡¯s in the wrong place, by the way. The building is the Kremlin. You¡¯re in Moscow, all right.¡±

    "Keep your eyes peeled," I told my team. "Advance by the numbers."

    We started up the street. About a block along, a rifle bullet cracked past my head. I threw myself to the side, pressing myself against the building. I targeted the enemy, but couldn''t tell where they were. So I loaded a tracer round into my revolver and fired a Trick Shot. My round arced forward and up, leaving a line of golden light hanging in the air. We followed it all the way to a third-floor window of a building ahead and to the right, less destroyed than most of the others around us.

    We were definitely under fire. Three more rounds cracked into the pavement at my feet. "Inside," I bellowed at the team, shoving open a door to my left. We ducked into the partially ruined building and took stock.

    I turned to Weeks, our recon expert. "What can you get me?"

    Her eyes crossed. I could tell she was concentrating. "Uh, there''s ten in that building and six right above our heads."

    We were in a narrow stairwell, dusty and covered in soot. The stairs led upward at a steep angle. I could hear footsteps overhead. "Sanders, Chavez, up the stairs!" I shouted. "We''re on your tail!"

    They had their M4s out, held in the low ready position. Now they took the stairs together, racing up. The door at the top of the stairs burst open. My men raised their weapons and fired on full automatic. Their weapons had enhanced 300-round magazines, making their M4s effectively Squad Automatic Weapons. They had auto-reload abilities. I wasn''t worried about them running out of bullets.

    I heard a thump and then another thump, and the counter in the top right of my screen updated. [98/100.]

    Sanders stepped onto the landing at the top of the stairs. He aimed his weapon at the door as Chavez stepped in front, sweeping through the doorway and then cutting the corner. They were a pleasure to watch.

    A second later, more fire. "Dorman and Ling, up the stairs!" I ordered. I followed behind them myself. We rushed into the room after Sanders and Chavez. They had taken down two more.

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    A window overlooked the street we had just been on. The room was a dingy apartment, clearly abandoned in haste by its inhabitants. A table was overturned, scattering dishes everywhere. A chest stood open, cloth items hanging out where they''d been dropped as the inhabitants rushed to pack anything of their lives.

    There was a door at the end of the room. Sanders and Chavez advanced on it. his time, Sanders kicked in the door while Chavez stood guard. They emptied another long string of bullets into the room. The counter in the corner updated. [94/100].

    "Clear!" Sanders shouted.

    I called back down to Weeks. "Anyone left in the building?"

    "No, sir."

    I went to the window and peered out. The building across the street was offset from ours. None of our windows looked into theirs. I backed off and ordered us to retrace our steps.

    We paused in the entrance to this building. Hester and Will looked a little uncomfortable, like they weren''t used to being told to sit around and wait, but my army squad was excited.

    "This is just like Call of Duty, sir," Weeks said enthusiastically.

    "Yeah," I agreed. "Of course it is."

    But she had a point. The objective was fairly straightforward. Clear the map. The enemies seemed to be, based on their clothing, Russian partisans. We''d have to go house to house, clearing the city. But there were only ninety-four of them, so how bad could it be?

    "All right," I said. "Out the door, across the street, rush to the next building." I pulled up my map, wishing it had more granularity. It didn¡¯t show buildings or even most of the cross streets. "Any suggestions?"

    "Yes, sir," Sanders said. ¡°Since we know where they are, how about shooting some smoke grenades into the building first?"

    "Good thought," I said.

    I turned to Ling and Mitchell, who were my heavy weapons specialists for this team. "How many grenades have you got?"

    "A dozen each, sir."

    I did some calculation, but if Weeks was right and a full ten of our enemy were waiting in the next building, it would be worth it.

    "I want you both to shoot smoke grenades in through the upper window where we think they''re located," I said. ¡°Then hang back and wait for instructions."

    "Yes, sir. Dialing in smoke grenade now."

    We stepped out into the street. The two fired their grenade launchers. The grenades arced in through a pair of broken windows into the mostly destroyed building beyond. A moment later, clouds of smoke emerged.

    Sanders and Chavez pulled bandanas over their faces. I checked. The bandanas had no special abilities on them whatsoever. They were just the sort of thing that a normal soldier would use to cut down on dust and smoke. Then they burst through the doors of the buildings. We followed, me feeling somewhat useless as the squad expertly cleared the building.

    When we regrouped outside, I said, "So, you all played Call of Duty, huh?"

    They nodded, grinning. "Plus, of course, plenty of this sort of clearance drill," Sanders said.

    "Yeah, I know. I was a boot once, too," I said, feeling a bit defensive. "Just ''cause I''ve got captain''s rank now doesn''t mean I don''t know how to do clearance."

    "No disrespect meant, sir."

    Hester and Will joined us. "What should we be doing, sir?"

    "Preparing for trouble," I said. "I don''t trust this. It''s too straightforward.¡± We couldn''t have asked for a more perfectly tuned mission. Then again, maybe I was overthinking this. This fragment was only a part of Kronos''s power, after all. Maybe it didn''t have the intelligence to come up with something truly devious.

    We moved through the ruined streets of Moscow toward Red Square and the Kremlin. The cross streets were all blocked by flaming debris. It was clear we were supposed to stick with the main thoroughfare, just like a game where the map has the illusion of being vast but you can¡¯t really get to most of it. I checked, and wasn¡¯t able to get past the debris. I¡¯d need someone on my team with a wall-clipping skill, but I didn¡¯t know anyone like that any more. I needed more depth to my team¡¯s abilities. I set that thought aside for later.

    By the time we were most of the way to Red Square, we had killed over half of the enemy. I was feeling about as useful as a head cold, and from Morgan and Will''s expressions, they felt about the same. My squad, though, was in their element, whooping and cheering with every kill.

    Dorman had been hit once, but Mitchell used a bandage skill to patch him up. Hester kept her Confused Guy Just Here on a Date spell up to make it harder for our enemies to hit us, and it seemed to be working. Will occasionally warned us that a building we were thinking of entering was structurally unstable.

    I noticed the artillery shots were getting louder. As we cleared what had once been some sort of industrial tailoring workshop, a particularly loud ¡°crump, crump" sounded from nearby, and a ruined facade fell over into the street in front of us. I held everyone back.

    Weeks yelled, "Bogey, incoming! Two o''clock."

    And a tank burst through the building next to us. It was a German Panzer, and as we scrambled quickly back up the street we''d just come down, it was joined by four more.

    Mitchell threw out a "Sticky Pitch" grenade, covering the street in dark creosote-smelling muck. Will lobbed in a Fire Bug ability, setting it on fire. The flames lapped up around the tanks as they rotated their turrets toward us. Will''s fire damage buff ate away at the tank''s health pool quickly.

    Hester tossed up Criticisms Roll Off My Back as one of the tanks finally got its muzzle pointed and shot at us. The tank round bounced off of Hester''s shield, landing in the street. It exploded. Hester''s shield took most of it, but shrapnel pelted us. I heard a quick scream. Sanders was down.

    Will rushed forward, using his First Responder spell to grab Sanders and pull him back out of the danger zone.

    "Light ''em up," I ordered my squad.

    "Our bullets aren''t going to touch those things!" Chavez shouted back.

    "Do it!" I growled, and they pulled out their M4s and started firing. The tank''s health continued to drop faster now that my squad was contributing their damage.

    "This makes no sense!" Weeks shouted. "These rounds should be bouncing off that armor!"

    "This isn''t real!" I yelled. "It''s not even following Call of Duty rules!¡±

    Now I was in my element. I used Barrage to fire an entire cylinder of armor-piercing rounds through the closest tank. It ripped giant holes in the tank''s structure. Smoke billowed out, but the tank fired again. If this had been real, there was no way the crew would have been able to shoot under these conditions. But this wasn''t real. It was a reality engine simulation.

    Hester''s shield was down. The shell landed ten feet from us. Ling ran for it. He hurled himself onto the shell, and I saw him cast "Greater love hath no man" just as the shell went off. He took all the damage. It blew him to pieces. Chunks of Ling flew everywhere, but the rest of us were unscathed.

    The tanks ticked down to zero and went still, flames still lapping at their carcasses.

    I sent a quick message. Ling, are you there?

    Sir? I thought we were all entering together. Where are you guys? I¡¯m standing at some sort of barricade in a ruined city. I can hear artillery somewhere. Did we get seperated?

    Ling had been restored from backup, like Kronos promised. He didn¡¯t remember any of the last couple of hours. I made a quick decision. We didn¡¯t have a timer running. ¡°We¡¯re going back for Ling. He¡¯s at the entrance. I know we¡¯ve cleared behind us but I don¡¯t want him or us running into any surprises. Double-time, go!¡±

 Bk 4 Ch 5: Battle of the Kremlin

    As we once again approached the Kremlin and the center of town, we only had 14 enemies left to kill. Weeks used her ability and identified them scattered between four buildings flanking the roadway just before we entered Red Square.

    I could see the Kremlin now. It was red, with towers rearing up over towers, all pointy, and lots of windows. Unlike every other building we had passed, it seemed untouched by the ravages of war.

    I slowed before we got within easy range of the enemy waiting for us. We crouched behind a ruined apartment building, its walls torn open on two sides, the floors of the apartments cascading down onto each other. Broken beds, shelves, and household debris made a pile blocking off the street. We weren''t completely sheltered here, but it was relatively safe.

    "I''ve got a bad feeling about this," I said. "That building is much too prominent not to have a purpose, but all of the supposed enemies are ahead of us. I think we''re going to get another challenge once this is done."

    "That''s not fair," Ling complained.

    "Reality engines aren''t fair," I snapped. "Be prepared for that. How do we want to take these last ten men? They''re split up between the four buildings, two on each side of the street. We could try clearing one side, then the other, or take the buildings one at a time.¡±

    "Most of these buildings have choke points where it''s hard to get more than four of us on target at any given time," Dorman pointed out. "I think it makes sense to do two at a time."

    "Agreed," I said. "We''ll do left side, then right."

    I broke us up into two different fire groups, keeping Sanders, Dorman, Hester, Will, and me together and assigning the other soldiers to the second fire group.

    "Stay in communication," I said. "Don''t leave your building unless you have to, until the other team reports clear. After that, we''ll rush across the street and take them. We have to expect they''ll see us coming."

    Chavez grinned. He had his double-barreled shotgun out, and he worked the action needlessly now with one hand, raising a fist skyward as he did. "Let''s do this! Wolverines!"

    Weeks cheered. She''d gotten more headshots than anyone but Sanders when I was planning to suggest Allison work with her to develop a build that took advantage of that proficiency. One thing at a time.

    "Go," I said, and we rushed out of cover and down the street. Will cast Cloud of Smoke as we ran, throwing up an obscuring smoke cover to hide our progress.

    I had claimed the right to breach this time, and I hurried forward with my team. As we came to the target doorway, I put my shoulder down and rammed. The doorway burst under me. I stumbled into a crowded flat. Furniture was piled on top of furniture. Boxes and bags everywhere. I did a quick Inspect, and it reported back to me that the bags were full of valuables. Someone had been using this as a staging area for loot.

    There were no enemies here, but at the back of the room, a staircase led upward. I pointed and charged. As I hit the bottom of the staircase, I saw the door at the top standing open and a rifle barrel peeking through at me. I cast Fastest Gun in the West and rushed up the stairs in a blaze of speed. I smashed into the room, knocking back whoever was at the door, and cast Call ''Em Out on everyone in the room. Then I threw an explosive round at the man I''d targeted while coming in the door. My Trick Shot meant it hit his hand where he was raising his Nagant. His hand exploded, knocking the gun flying.

    My team was on my heels. Hester threw down a Polite Clap of Embarrassment, which rendered all of the enemy unable to fight back for five seconds, and we poured on the lead.

    Sanders and Dorman were a beautiful tag team, taking the first man with a burst to the center of mass and then rounds to the head as his body hit the floor. They rushed forward, targeting the next, then the next. In seconds, the room was full of bodies, blood, and smoke.

    I caught my breath as my team double-checked that all the baddies were actually dead, and then I sent a message to Chavez.

    "Clear here. How are you?"

    "All good, boss."

    I checked and saw that we were down to eight enemies left, in the buildings across the street.

    "Let''s finish this. Let me know when you''re in position," I said.

    We retraced our steps down into the crowded lower room. When Chavez signaled his team was in position, I took a deep breath, then "Go!"

    We burst out of the building, raced across the street, and rushed inside. I let Sanders and Dorman take the stairs this time. They raced up, burst into the room above, shouted back down, "Clear! No one here!" and then back onto the landing.

    The men raced up the stairs ahead of me. I followed tight on their heels. They burst into the room, guns blazing immediately. I darted inside. Sanders and Dorman were both crouched behind overturned couches. On the other side of the room, a trio of Russian soldiers fired on them with their rifles. I noted that the couches were actually stopping the bullets. More reality engine nonsense, and then headshot one of the Russians.

    Will burst in after me. He splayed his flamethrower across the room. Flames whooshed up. One of the Russians screamed and dove through the window. The other two charged us. We riddled them with bullets and then, as the smoke filled the air and burned my lungs, I ordered us back outside.

    We retreated. The flames were already everywhere. The building seemed to be made of gasoline-soaked newspapers. Didn''t see how it could have still been standing considering all the damage to the surrounding buildings but here we were.

    The smoke was so thick I couldn''t see the exit.  Will shouted, "This way!" but I couldn''t tell where he was. He grabbed my hand and yanked me forward. A moment later we stumbled out. Will disappeared back inside and returned with Hester. The two soldiers stumbled out after us. Coughing, I leaned against the building.

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    "Sorry about that," Will said. "I didn''t expect it to go up in flames like that."

    I looked around for the man who''d gone out the window and spotted him lying on the ground. I walked over. He wasn''t quite dead so I shot him a few times with my Alaskan until the kill counter notched down to zero.

    Fireteam 2 emerged from their building. We stood in the street catching our breath as the flames devoured the buildings beside us.

    I stumbled forward toward the square. "Come on," I said. "There''s something more to this."

    As I set foot in Red Square, a new message appeared. [The Geist of Moscow. The building ahead of you is the refuge of the last mayor of Moscow and what remains of his survivors. They barricaded themselves in here at the start of the siege and haven''t had neither food nor water supplies for the last hundred days. It is said that the mayor did not wait for the food to run out to begin supplementing his diet with cannibalism.]

    "Said by who?" Sanders demanded. ¡°Wait, I thought we were defending against Germans.¡±

    "Just go with it," I advised. "This is signature reality engine. It may be just a fragment of Kronos but I recognize the touch.

    [Enter his lair and defeat the Geist and any minions. Then claim the lair for yourself before Moscow goes up in flames behind you.]

    A timer appeared ticking down from 23 minutes. I swore and looked back over my shoulders where a plume of smoke was rising to the heavens as the fire we had accidentally set spread further through the city. "Let''s go!" I shouted.

    "Plan, sir?"

    "Break in, break stuff."

    "Got it!"

    We rushed forward. Hester threw her shield again as we went, and I let Sanders and Dorman burst down the doors of the building. We stumbled into decadent ruins. This had been a grand foyer once, probably before the Soviet Union. Now the place was littered with pallets, crates, and empty bottles. Blankets lay heaped here and there as makeshift beds. But I didn''t see anyone.

    There had been a stair leading up once. It had been ripped down. From the soot on the ceiling and the burned patch on the floor, presumably used to keep warm during the night.

    "Weeks?"

    "I can''t tell." She took another step in, then pointed down. "It''s below us."

    "Find the door," I ordered, and we spread out.

    Hester located the trapdoor, half under a pile of blankets. I ordered Sanders, Chavez, and Weeks to cover, and I pulled back the hatch.

    We recoiled at the stench that emanated from below. It smelled like quite a lot of things had died down there. There was a ladder leading down. I did not like the look of it. We listened, but heard nothing.

    "Any idea how many there are?" I asked Weeks.

    She shook her head. "No. The system''s refusing to tell me that information."

    "Well, great." I sighed, sheathed my revolver, and started for the ladder. "Sanders, Chavez, you two next. Then I want Will and Hester, followed by everyone else. Weeks last." They grunted agreement.

    I climbed down into the darkness and stepped away from the ladder, carefully feeling my way forward as my eyes adjusted to the gloom. My team followed down. As Hester landed, she whispered, "Light or none?"

    "Light," I decided. I had a feeling whatever was down here would be able to see in the dark. Hester threw out Candle Flame in a Misunderstood World and a flickering ball of light appeared over her head.

    She sent it forward. We were in an old wine cellar. Racks of bottles and casks formed three long narrow aisles leading off into the darkness. Red liquid ran down between the aisles. It wasn¡¯t wine. I could smell the blood.

    ¡°Sanders, Chavez, on the left. Dorman, Weeks, on the right. Everyone else follow me.¡± I set off down the center aisle, watching the darkness for movement as I chased Hester¡¯s light.

    I reached the end of the aisle and halted as motion caught my eye.

    It was a creature. Half human, half rat. Its pale face was terrifyingly expressive, its eyes wide and staring, its teeth protruded down from its jaw. There was an unmistakable tail flick as it turned and vanished through a knee-high hole in the wall.

    I started forward. Hester grabbed my arm. "Hang on," she whispered. "Let''s see if we can get an idea of what''s beyond."

    ¡°Good thinking.¡± I cast Lay of the Land again, not expecting much, and to my surprise, it gave me a detailed map of the lower levels of the Kremlin, though I very much doubted the real Kremlin was anything like this.

    The level above was labelled the Threshing Floor, and down here, the Grape Press. The hole, and what was beyond, was labeled Lair of the Damned. It wasn''t very big. It turned to the team. "I have no intention of following that thing into its lair if we don''t have to. Let''s try some explosives."

    Sanders grinned. He rubbed his hands together. "On it," he said. He pulled bundles of dynamite from his inventory, connected them to each other, then pulled all the strings. He wound tape around to make a single large bundle, then pulled a ten-foot-long pole with a brush on one end out of his inventory. He used it to shove his bundle of explosives into the hole, retaining the fuses. Then he stepped forward to light them. Will held up a hand. ¡°3x damage if I light it," he reminded us.

    Sanders looked disappointed. ¡°Fine, you do it,¡± and handed Will the bundle of wires. We stepped back as Will ignited them.

    I quickly thought better of it as the fuses began to smolder. "Back up the ladder," I ordered. We swarmed back up. I had just reached the floor above when there was a muffled "whoomp" noise from below, and the whole building shook.

    Part of the roof fell in. I dove out of the way as slate tiles came pelting down around me. Hester covered her head with her arms and shrieked. Chavez was hit by several slates. Hester tried to throw a healing spell on him, but too late. He disappeared beneath a pile of ceiling tiles.

    "Did we get him?" I bellowed, looking at the timer. It was still ticking down. I pulled up my objectives. ¡°Defeat the monster" was now highlighted in gold, while "claim his domain" was gray. "We''ve got to claim this place." I looked at the timer. We had eight minutes left. "How do we do that?"

    I started Inspecting everything in sight, looking for a claiming point. The team spread out. Chavez sent me a message. Sir? What¡¯s going on? I just entered and there¡¯s no one here.

    I sighed. You got killed. It¡¯s all right, we¡¯re almost done. Just back out and we¡¯ll see you shortly.

    Ling pointed at the floor. ¡°Look!¡± There was a design of five-pointed star with different colored circles at each point.

    I nodded. "Alright, everyone stand on a point." They obeyed.

    Nothing seemed to happen. I went and stood in the center of the star, and a timer appeared over our head.

    "Thirty. Twenty-nine. Twenty-eight."

    "It can be contested!¡± I shouted. "Keep an eye out for enemies."

    "What enemies? We killed them all!" Weeks said. "It wouldn''t be fair for the system to send in somebody now, would it?"

    I drew my gun and kept a close eye on the door.

    "Ten. Nine. Eight."

    As the timer ticked down to three, two, one, my team gave out a whoop and a holler.

    A moment later, the system announcement appeared. [Victory!]

    The dust and smoke in the room began to clear, and then I spotted it. A man entered through the door. He was dressed in a tattered Russian uniform, a rifle slung across his shoulder. He limped into the room and gave me a salute.

    A moment later, he vanished. Kronos whispered in my head, Thank you, Shad Williams. I have gained a fragment of myself. As promised, I will turn over the reward. It is at your discretion, Shad Williams. No one else''s.

    And suddenly I had another menu pop up, labeled "Ethereum Reserves." It had 230,517 units.

    I toggled for information on "unit," and it said [Quantity needed to transform one mortal body to a Reality Engine-aligned individual. Quantity needed to produce one ton of basic single element from base materials. Quantity required for more complicated transmutations may vary.]

    You may transfer this to various aspects of your own threshold systems as desired, Kronos said.

    The world around us flickered as a new door formed in the wall, tall and imposing, with a big red ¡°EXIT¡± sign over it. "Good work, everyone," I said wearily. "We will debrief over dinner at Mama Grace''s. Dinner''s on me." The team whooped and hollered. ¡°Last one there gets to wash up afterwards," I added, and they were out the exit before the words were out of my mouth.

 Bk 4 Ch 6: Debriefing

    "Why would Kronos give the Ethereum control to you?" Juana asked. ¡°I thought he had agreed to release it to Threshold.¡±

    "And I''m releasing it to Threshold as we need it," I said.

    Personally, now that I¡¯d had time to think about it, I appreciated what Kronos was doing. After all, my team and I had earned the Ethereum. It was right that we had a say-so in its distribution.

    ¡°I¡¯m just worried what happens if the council gets wind of it. They¡¯ll call it embezzlement, or unjust enrichment.¡± Juana frowned. ¡°If it were anyone but you I¡¯d think the same thing. Let¡¯s just¡­ keep this quiet for now.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll hand over what we need,¡± I said again. ¡°I just don¡¯t think we need to tell the councillors how much we earned. They¡¯ll find a reason we need to spend it all. This way we can keep some in reserve.¡±

    Juana helped me figure out how much was needed to raise the standard allocation for Threshold''s citizens to a more comfortable base level. We''d transferred over enough for the next six weeks. That had more than half drained my Ethereum reserves. I wasn''t going to tell anyone how much was left. Not even Juana or Grandpa.

    "You did good," Grandpa said.

    He had reviewed the footage of our match as my team and I ate, and then joined me in the debriefing, pointing out areas for improvement.

    ¡°This scenario was short and uncomplicated and even then, I had to backtrack to retrieve one of my men. Neither of the two who died figured out what was going on. Ling got his act together once we showed up, but what if we¡¯d lost more men? What if the scenario was longer and more involved?¡± I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯m still trying to understand all the implications myself. This is going to be a big problem.¡±

    Grandpa nodded. ¡°We''ve been thinking of this as a game for too long. It''s not a game. It''s deadly serious. Even with respawns, the consequences are serious. If we mess this up, we could find ourselves in just as big a mess as we were in a year ago, with Proxima and the others circling us like a bunch of vultures. Or, on the other hand, we let the Earth folk call the shots, and they don¡¯t really understand how things work here." He shook his head.

    Juana nodded wearily. "I''ve just been in an all-day meeting with the Council. Chen and Fletcher are¡­. Let''s just say, getting the Ethereum hasn''t made them demand any less. They want to increase the immigration quotas. Fletcher is saying if we don''t take addicts and mentally ill right now that we''re committing human rights abuses. Chen''s just pushing for more and more people. Mostly from China and its allies. She''s claiming that their volunteers are willing to live off of a lot less than most of the Western immigrants, which I think is rich considering she and Fletcher were demanding that we increase the creature comforts a week and a half ago."

    "Maybe she got more instructions from back home," I suggested.

    "That''s likely," Juana said. "A lot of her constituents are coming up here with galactic contracts already in place and a list of desired classes to choose from."

    "What?" I asked. "The Galactics are talking to people back on Earth?"

    "Oh, hell yes," Grandpa said. ¡°They started running a full press campaign touting the benefits of living in a reality engine and talking up partnerships with galactic conglomerates. It''s all about how they have expertise to offer and wise counsel to give."

    I hadn''t been paying much attention to the news back from Earth. "Well, that''s a devious way to do it.¡±

    "It is," Grandpa said grimly, "because it means when we cut the migration quotas, we looked like the bad guys. We''ve been trying to run counter-programming explaining just what it was that the conglomerates are trying, but it''s hard to get the reality across." He sighed. "Just one of the things I''m going to be working on next week when I go back to Earth."

    "Are the plans finalized then?" I asked.

    I''d been so busy getting my team ready for the first fight against a Kronos fragment, Grandpa and I had barely spoken in over a week. I knew he was working on a trip back to Earth, but I hadn''t realized it was that close.

    "The Ad Astra is ready to go," he said. "I''ve got deals with the United States, Great Britain, Australia, Israel, Brazil, Canada, Singapore, and Mexico to help us refit her.¡±

    ¡°So the U.S. Government stopped trying to nationalize her?¡± Juana asked tartly. ¡°It¡¯s about time. I thought I was going to have to hire space lawyers.¡±

    ¡°This is a whole new world for all of us. The idea of a private company owning a ship like this is pretty extreme. Ames really went to bat for us. We¡¯ve agreed that the Ad Astra will be property of Misfits Guild. But we¡¯ll be working with the coalition to accomplish their goals. I expect we¡¯ll be making our first run out to another reality engine system in six months, if all goes well, with a whole bellyful of Earth diplomats, businessmen and soldiers.¡±

    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    We were planning to refit the Ad Astra in Earth''s orbit. Kronos had given us the ship at the end of the Reality Engine exploit, and while it was fully functional, it was also lacking in creature comforts. The ship had absolutely enormous cargo bays, big enough to fit multiple city blocks, and that was, in part, just what we planned to do. We were going to stuff its holds full of passenger quarters so that when we did leave the solar system on our own, we could take lots of other humans with us.

    Some of the cargo space was remaining just that, cargo space, and we were bringing up a lot of non-perishable goods from Earth. Since Kronos had limited Ethereum reserves, we wanted as much done ourselves as possible.

    Thanks to a data dump that Colonel Ames had made into Earth''s infosphere just before the end of the Reality Engine exploit, we Earthers now knew how to construct cheap, effective, anti-gravity drives. SpaceX, NASA, Blue Origin and a couple other private companies had been working together to retrofit existing rockets with the antigrav drive. Getting out of the atmosphere now cost pennies per pound. It still took another drive to get to a stable orbit after that, of course. Antigrav doesn¡¯t help with getting up to orbital velocity.

    I¡¯d seen vids of the Starship fleet lifting out of the brand-new Greater Mojave Spaceport, six silver towers rising up without flame or smoke or noise to carry them skyward, sliding silently into the air. It was astonishing. It had revolutionize inter-system travel for us, though talk was that interstellar travel still had some wrinkles. Some of Earth¡¯s engineers had wanted to take apart the Ad Astra to see how she worked. Grandpa and Ames shut that down hard.

    ¡°You¡¯ll be passing the Joint Task Force in transit, then,¡± Juana said. ¡°They¡¯re expected to arrive in ten days.¡±

    The US and her allies were putting together Joint Task Force Ganymede, a combined forces group focused on expanding the human foothold outward from out system. Juana was expecting all kinds of headaches, and so was I.

    The last six months we¡¯d gotten at least a dozen different conflicting sets of orders from Earth. First we¡¯d been given orders from special operations command. Two months ago, all the former US armed services personnel on Ganymede had been told we were transferred to the Space Force. We hadn¡¯t even gotten new patches for our uniforms before the word came about the joint task force. I wasn¡¯t even 100% sure what my rank was anymore. I was hopeful that the Joint Task Force would have its act together once it got here. Grandpa said I was being naive.

    ¡°Did they agree on a commander yet?¡± I was hoping maybe Ames would get a promotion and take over, but that wasn¡¯t likely. I¡¯d expect at least a major general, maybe even a lieutenant general or the equivalent.

    Juana nodded. ¡°Air Marshall Hatfield.¡±

    I translated from RAF ranks. Air Marshall was their equivalent of a lieutenant general, which tracked.

    ¡°The good news is,¡± Juana continued, ¡°they listened to our suggestion and are bringing a lot of either dual-military couples or where the civilian spouse has a useful specialty. I¡¯m getting enough teachers to fully staff the elementary school and more medical folk. If even a few of them get useful classes, we¡¯ll be in good stead. Plus¡­¡± her voice dropped. ¡°I think a lot of our newcomers just do not understand it¡¯s permanent, once you integrate. We can¡¯t be splitting up families. Not anymore.¡±

    I reached out and squeezed her hand. ¡°Teething problems. In a few years this place will be the biggest city in the Solar System. Nobody will think twice about going back to Earth.¡± Which was a lie, because I still thought about it. Not every day, but more than I¡¯d like. "What are you hoping to get done back on Earth?" I asked Grandpa, returning to our previous subject.

    "Well, there''s the refit to oversee, and I''m hoping to help the new Joint Task Force figure out better selection criteria for their recruits. I think we can get just a little better at who we bring up here. Of course, it''s difficult to do when I''ve got to be making that round trip every couple of weeks."

    I shared his frustration there. "It''d be nice if we could get enough spare cash to afford some of those ethereum extenders."

    Like me and everyone who''d been integrated with a reality engine, Grandpa''s body had been rebuilt¡ªmoreso in his case than in mine, since he''d lost 40 years and three tumors in the deal. That meant he needed ethereum just to keep going. While here at the reality engine, we didn''t even have to think about such things. Kronos took care of it for us, passing ethereum through our bodies without us even noticing. We didn¡¯t even use up the ethereum. It was more like something we breathed in and then back out.

    Going back to Earth, a planet with no ethereum, was another matter. Grandpa could survive on the reserves inside his own body for a week, maybe ten days. After that, he had to come back. We were looking into the possibility of picking up ethereum extenders that would allow him to "pack his own lunch," as it were, and stay for longer.

    The Galactics had lied to us back during phase three when some of us got to go to Earth for a couple of days. They claimed they were equipping us with ethereum extenders then. Turned out it was just a lie to make us think they were doing us an even bigger favor. But the technology did exist, just not here. It was incredibly expensive and not easy to get our hands on.

    For now, Grandpa would be making the trip back and forth between Earth and the Reality Engine on a regular basis.

    "Sounds like you''re really gonna be racking up the frequent flyer miles," I commented.

    "I don''t mind too much," he said. "Wouldn''t want you kids to get lonely by yourselves. But I figure with me gone and Sage doing overnight trips with her school coming up here, you two can have a little time to yourselves. Maybe work on getting me a great-grandkid or two, hmm?" He grinned at me.

    I steadfastly refused to look away, even though I could feel myself turning beet red. "I didn''t know Sage was doing overnight field trips," I said, acting like hadn¡¯t heard the rest of his statement.

    "According to the syllabus she brought home from school last week, those are on the agenda. Sounds like they''ve got some pretty interesting things planned. Oh, and she''s got a parent-teacher conference coming up. I won''t be available, so you''ll have to do it."

    "Just send me the info," I said, trying not to laugh at just how normal that felt. Maybe Juana was right and school was a good idea for Sage.

    "I sent the packet to Juana already," Grandpa said. "She''ll make sure you''re there. All right, you two. It''s getting late, and you had a long day today. Let''s finish up here.¡±

 Bk 4 Ch 7: Didnt See This Coming

    ¡°Briefing concluded. Any questions?¡± I looked over my team.  I had two squads this time, all of whom had been at the reality engine for months now and should be nearly done training.

    Arjun¡¯s data mining efforts had indicated this reality engine fragment was much stronger than the first one we had encountered. Will and Hester, my new best friends, had joined.

    Sage was clamoring to be allowed, but she was busy with school, and since we had no idea how long these conquests would take, Grandpa and I put our feet down and told her she had to focus on her studies. She pouted a lot, though I thought she was enjoying her school overall. She''d spent lots of out-of-class hours with her new squad of, well, I''m not going to say friends, from how she talked about them. I''m not sure that she actually liked all of them, but her school apparently did a lot of team projects, and she''d been doing almost everything with her squad.

    In addition to Will and Hester, I had three new recruits from the pool I was dubbing "homeless and hopeless," i.e., the cancer victims, severely mentally ill, and others who''d been brought to the reality engine for a new chance at life. All three of them were eager to try out some real combat. They had much more versatile classes than did my team of soldiers.

    There was a lady I remembered from that very first batch of dying patients I had helped induct. Her name was Thelma. She was 85 years old and had been dying of lung cancer from smoking too many cigarettes. She had a cigarette dangling from her lips now. The smell repulsed me, but tobacco and nicotine couldn''t actually hurt any of our bodies anymore, so I ignored it aside from making a quick note to find out where she''d gotten them. If there was a black market in smuggled goods from Earth, I wanted to know about it, and if she''d found some way to get cigarettes out of the reality engine, that might be worth looking into as well.

    Thelma was a [Crazy Cat Lady]. She could summon up to ten different cats, apparently all spitting images of pets she''d once had. The cats all granted different kinds of buffs, and working together could manage some pretty good DPS.

    Jason was one of the former homeless. I didn''t know his story, but his eyes were haunted. He kept twitching as he looked at Thelma, his fingers rubbing against each other. I suspected he''d had an addiction to cigarettes as well as other substances. His class was [Recycling Expert]. Given elements from the world around him, he could craft weapons, fortifications, even vehicles. In theory, it was a powerful class, but I waited to hear how it worked.

    Su-Yong had been cured of a brain tumor. He was actually young, not rejuvenated, probably around my age. He had a class of [EMS] - emergency medical services. I was glad to have a dedicated healer, though one of my 16 uniformed recruits had a medic upgrade attached to his basic [Soldier] class. Honestly, I was disappointed just how many of our military recruits were taking the same basic class choices. I suspected [Soldier] was a very basic re-skin of the [Warrior class most of the galactic contenders used.

    Nobody had any questions. I took a deep breath. I needed them to understand this mattered.

    "We don''t have a whole lot of information about this one," I said, meeting their eyes. I was glad to have Chavez, Ling, Dorman and Weeks back with me. The rest were newcomers. I''d met them all in training, of course, but this was the first time we''d worked together. "I''m just going to remind you, the most important thing is to be flexible and quick to adapt. This won''t be like anything you''ve experienced back on Earth. Even if it occasionally reminds you of a Call of Duty level, it''s not, and it can shift at any time."

    "Ask them," I said, pointing at my veterans.

    Chavez nodded. "Captain Williams is right. Stay alert," he said. I had made him my second in command, mostly because I was worried the soldiers wouldn''t take orders from Hester. She had probably a better head for strategy than I did, but her personality was a little abrasive, befitting her weird class. Her very goth look contrasted with the clean-cut, government-issue aesthetic most of my people sported.

    "All right, let''s go," I said, and stepped through the portal.

    I studied the landscape around me. It was overly bright. The colors were wrong somehow, like they were missing a bunch of neutral shades. Ahead of me was a building. It was starkly black and white, with a bright red door on it. The door was a little too square somehow. The edges of the building too sharp.

    I was on a street lined with two and three-story buildings, all jarringly not quite right. The street itself was smooth, gray asphalt, without a crack or manhole anywhere to be seen. A little farther along was a car.

    That''s when I realized just what was wrong here. The car looked like a bubble with big, blobby tires. This whole scenario was like a video game from the 90s. Not enough polygons. 16-bit color. Once I''d figured out what was bugging me about it, I wrote it off as another reality engine weirdness and turned to face my team.

    They were nowhere in sight. I''d come into the zone at least a minute ago. They should be here.

    "Chavez?" I shouted. ¡°Ling? Hester? Where is everyone?"

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    No one replied. I opened my message tab and found Chavez screaming at me, Captain! Captain, are you back? Get back here! Captain?

    What was going on?

    Chavez: are you all right? Sir?

    All right? Of course I am, I replied in confusion. What''s going on?

    You died.

    A priority message from Juana popped up.  Put your earpiece back in so I can talk to you.

    I''d had it in a minute ago, hadn''t I? I fumbled it out of my inventory back into my ear while Chavez¡¯s words sank in. I died.

    "I died?" I said.

    Juana''s voice was in my ear, warm and worried-sounding. "Yes, Shad."

    "How? I just entered¡­. Oh, right."

    It hit me then, like a semi-truck to the face. I''d just lost my memory of everything that had happened since the first time I set foot inside this level. Chavez was sending me increasingly urgent messages.

    Captain, can you get back? I''m not sure how long we can hold out.

    I looked around wildly. "Where do I go?" I asked Juana.

    "I''m putting Arjun on." Juana''s voice cracked as she spoke. She sounded like she was really worried. It couldn''t be because I''d died. She''d watched me die and respawn more times than I could count. I pushed that thought aside as Arjun''s comfortable monotone filled my ears.

    "Captain Williams, good to have you back. All right, we should be able to avoid most of the wrong turns this time."

    "This time?" I said sharply.

    "Shad, you''re wasting time," Juana said. ¡°Chavez and the others are holding the control point. If they''re pushed off it, you lose. You''ve got the key. If you don''t get back to them before they''re overrun, you lose the whole level.¡±

    "Got it," I said. "All right, Arjun, tell me what to do."

    He directed me into the first building on the left, up a flight of stairs, and out onto the roof. "Face north, then jump to the next roof," he ordered.

    There was a ten-foot gap between buildings. "I don''t think I can make it.¡±

    ¡°Do you see the spot marked X? Launch from there. You need to double jump," Arjun added. "Stand on the spot, hop, and then do a real jump."

    "All right," I said, doubtfully.

    I did as he told me, racing over to the X, hopping, and then, to my surprise, finding myself springing through the air across to the next rooftop. I landed, tucked and rolled, tumbling over and getting up, all in one smooth motion.

    "Next building, same," Arjun said.

    I followed his orders. He led me on a meandering jump through the city, first heading north, then east, then south, before turning east again, resuming my course northward. There were more than one X on some of the buildings, showing it was possible to make other jumps, but Arjun seemed to know what he was doing, so I followed him forward, wondering just how long it had taken us to figure this out.

    The last jump took me down into a big, circular garden plaza, filled with spiky-looking plants in an overly brilliant shade of green, with bright red berries on them. In the center of the plaza were a set of six concentric rings. The innermost ring had four circles each with a different design on it. Each subsequent ring had two more, for a total of¡­ I did some quick math¡­ 54 distinct symbols.

    Arjun groaned. "The puzzle''s reset. Let me confirm that it''s going to be the same solution as last time. Yeah, it looks like it should be. Alright. You need to start by standing on the circle in the middle. Then walk to the third ring out. Go two designs to the left. The one that looks like a butterfly? Stand on it."

    I followed his instructions. The circle turned green under me. Seemed like a good sign.

    "Now, go another two rings further out. Circle clockwise this time. Eight patterns."

    I counted off and found myself looking down at a mushroom symbol.

    "Stand on that. Now, one ring in toward the center. Go two spaces clockwise."

    I followed Arjun''s explanations precisely, tracing out a complicated design that had me visit every single icon on the circles, one at a time. Minutes ticked by. Once I nearly stepped on the wrong plate and Arjun shouted. ¡°No! No! That will reset.¡±

    Finally, after close to an hour, I activated the final symbol

    "Now, stand on the center and the puzzle will unlock," Arjun said.

    I did. Gears whirred under me. The piece of pavement where I stood, a circle about ten feet across, began to sink down into darkness.

    "Juana?" I said. "You there?"

    "I''m here, Shad."

    "How long did that take us to figure out the first time?"

    "It took a little while," she said.

    "Juana, how long did I lose?"

    She paused. At last, in a small voice, ¡°You''ve been in there for eight days."

    Eight days. I had lost eight days. On the other hand, I had a feeling it was eight days of incredibly tedious work solving puzzles and jumping all over the city.

    "Should I be watching out for enemies?"

    "They don''t seem to have respawned. The first time through it was a pain," Arjun said. "You lost most of your team a couple of times over doing that puzzle because the dragons just kept respawning."

    ¡°Dragons. Great."

    The stone circle ground to a halt. I was in a sewer. Radioactive-looking bright green sludge poured through a tunnel to my left.

    "Please tell me I don''t have to walk in that stuff."

    "There''s a catwalk," Arjun said. ¡°There were turtles and alligators attacking before, but I don''t think you''re going to have to worry about those now. You do have to redirect the flow to get it to the end point, though. I''ll tell you which valves to open as we go.¡±

    I hurried off down the sewer. Drips fell on me. I tried not to worry about what was in them. A tunnel branched off to my right. Arjun had me follow it, turn a valve at the far end, then retrace my steps. I went another dozen paces, then had to cross a six-in-wide wooden board forming a bridge over the green stream to open a valve on that side. I raced along the sewer, opening valve after valve.

    Chavez was updating me every couple minutes.

    We beat back that wave. No casualties. Hester wants to sally out but I¡¯m negative on that.

    I''m in the sewer, I replied, hoping that would mean something to him.

    Hurry, please, sir.

    At last, I came to a place where the contents of the sewer vanished into a dozen long snaking pipes.

    "Those are what we opened before," Arjun told me. "The sludge should be going where it needs to. Now you''ll be able to get out through the main opening. Step down into the channel and through that next lock."

    The tunnel was dry. Ahead of me, an opening gaped. It glowed with a red force field.

    "You sure?" I said. "That thing looks like it''s going to disintegrate me."

    "It won''t," Arjun replied.

    I hoped he was confident. It was hard to tell with him. He rarely had much inflection in his voice, but he also never, to my knowledge, had lied to me. So I took a deep breath, leapt over the edge of the railing, and strode through the red force field.

 Bk 4 Ch 8: Star Foxed

    I burst through the red field into outer space. I screeched to a halt, windmilling my arms in what must have looked like a ridiculous cartoon attempt to stop moving forward. It worked, and I found myself standing on a small, glowing, golden platform in the middle of a field of stars.

    "Where now?" I asked Arjun.

    "Just hang on," he said.

    There was no feeling of motion, but a moment later I saw a bright red star beginning to grow in strength and intensity. I was rushing toward it at incredible speed. As I approached, it resolved into a red globe. I saw a collection of platforms like mine in the center, all connected together. My team was on them, waiting. My platform zoomed in and docked with the others. I stepped off.

    "Good to have you back, sir," Chavez said and saluted. I could see the strain on his face.

    "Thanks," I looked around. "What''s the deal here?"

    Hester stepped forward. "It¡¯s an obstacle course, sir. The platforms at our command will become small spacecraft. They¡¯re pretty easy to control. You''ve got the key. The goal is to get it to the end of the course. You''ve got to fly through hoops and avoid enemies that are trying to shoot you down. That''s what happened to you last time."

    I scratched my head. "That''s kind of a wonky mechanic.¡±

    ¡°My uncle had some old classic NES games,¡± Will threw in. ¡°I remember one kind of like this."

    "That''s probably where this fragment got the idea. Anyway, this is the starport," Hester said, gesturing around. "We have to have someone holding it down. Every now and then, enemies attack, but we''ve been able to hit them with our spells and weapons, and nobody''s been a serious threat." She looked unhappy.

    I sent her a quick message. What''s wrong?

    I don''t want to undermine Chavez, sir, but you yourself said, before you died, he''s not handling this situation well. We should have been out there clearing off enemies. I''ve got the hang of the ships now, I could take a kill squad out. I see the enemies zooming around in twos and threes. We could have ambushed and killed a bunch of them. As soon as you get out in front of the rest of us, dozens of them swarm. That''s what got you last time.

    I took a deep breath. "Arjun, you got a plan for us?"

    "The enemy blips seem to be drawn to the presence of the key," Arjun said. "They zeroed in on you no matter what formation we flew. You will need to have a protective guard around you."

    "Who here''s comfortable with these ships?" I asked.

    Four of the squad raised their hands, along with Hester and Will.

    "I''m going to need more than that," I said.

    Chavez spoke up. "Sir, we want to be able to hold this point if it should take more than one attempt. I suggest that you leave at least half the squad with me, sir. That way we can learn from our mistakes."

    "That''s exactly what we can''t do," I snapped. "Every time we die, we forget everything we''ve learned. I just spent the last," I checked my timer, "four and a half hours getting back here. And that was with Arjun holding my hand. How much time are we going to waste on attempts?"

    "Sir, you said before that if we lost this point, we would lose the whole level."

    "I did?" I raised a hand to my ear. "Arjun, can you confirm?"

    "You said that, sir, but not why you believed it. No one else received any system messages saying so."

    I sighed, wishing I knew what my past self had figured out. "All right, but I don''t think I''m wrong here. Chavez, you believe you need eight men to hold this point." I turned to Hester. "What''s your assessment?"

    "I think he could do it with three." She named off the men she''d leave behind, including Jason, our new Recycling Expert.

    Chavez looked furious. "This woman''s a civilian. She has no combat training.¡±

    "Hester has more combat experience than you do," I snapped. "Hester has been up against aliens who''ve got weapons and capabilities you can''t even dream of." I took a deep breath, put my head to my ear. "Arjun, Allison, what''s your analysis?"

    "I back up Hester," Allison''s voice said. Arjun concurred.

    "All right, then. Give me a quick rundown of what to expect, and let''s go."

    Hester explained how to control the small spaceship that materialized as I asked for it. It was actually really straightforward. The level had some weird physics. It wasn''t really fully three-dimensional. You could go up and down, and you could go side to side to a certain extent. Then you''d bump into invisible walls.

    "Basically, the course seems to be about 100 feet tall and twice that wide," Hester said. "You''ve got to hit each of the loops in sequence. You can go as fast or as slow as you like. Just tap your toe down to go faster and lean back on your heels to slow. But the slower you go, the easier it is for the enemy to pick you off."

    "How do I fire on them?"

    "You don''t," Hester said apologetically. "Sorry, sir. We''ve got the torpedo launchers. They take a couple seconds to reach their target, and they''ve got a reloading time of five seconds. When the enemy gets really thick, it''s bad. You do have a chaff ability. It throws out silvery reflective stuff behind you and below you, which seems to confuse any enemies that run through it for about ten seconds. And a speed boost that gives you a two-second boost of power. None of us can match that, so you don''t want to get ahead of us."

    "Right," I said.

    "Oh, and there''ll be bonus glowing golden clouds. You go through those, you heal up any damage to your ship. Works the same for us. Don''t go through the red clouds, though. Those apply a slow.¡±

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    ¡°Gold clouds good, red clouds bad. Anything else?"

    "Uh, that''s it, sir. I think.¡±

    "Then let''s go."

    I leaned forward, arms out. I controlled my spaceship by tilting my arms up and down like an airplane''s wings. To go up, I leaned back, and to drop down, I leaned forward. It was simple and also ridiculous.

    Hester and three of the men zoomed out ahead of me. Will would be playing rear guard. I was to concentrate on flying the course. None of them had to go through the rings, just me, because I was the one with the key.

    As I left the red sphere around our safe point, the first ring appeared in front of me. I couldn''t tell how far off it was. In this space, there was no frame of reference, so I aimed straight for the center of the blue ring and stepped on the gas. My ship sprang forward.

    Hester''s point squad raced out in front of me. In about four seconds, I was upon the ring. I dove through it. The next ring, bright green, was above and off to the side. I adjusted my course as a pair of enemy fighters raced in. They looked like TIE fighters from Star Wars, and they shot torpedoes at me. I jinked to the left and avoided the torpedoes as Hester''s team fell on them and blew them up. I lined up and went through the next hoop.

    Behind me, Will called, "We''ve got three on your tail at eight o''clock and below you."

    I tried to picture that as I picked out the next ring. It was red.

    "Oh, oh, oh," Arjun shouted. "I forgot. Red rings means there''s going to be another one almost immediately after it. You won''t have much time to adjust. They''ll always be either just above or just below, but in the same axis horizontally."

    "That would have been helpful to know," I said through gritted teeth as I headed into the ring.

    Behind me, Will''s team blew up one of the enemies. A torpedo raced past my hull. It exploded near me. A bar popped up in the right corner of my vision, showing my ship''s health was at [87/100]. I darted through the ring and just as Arjun had said, there was another one about 20 feet above me. I climbed as fast as I could and raced through the ring.

    The next ring after that was a more comfortable distance off. It hung in space, bright purple, about as far below me as it possibly could be. There were three enemy fighters between me and it. I slowed up, let Hester and her team race on ahead of me.

    "Bogeys on your tail," Will called. ¡°They just came screaming in out of nowhere. Throw chaff!"

    I activated my chaff ability and then, as Hester''s team took out two of the three enemies, hit my speed boost button to race toward the purple ring. I dove through it just as a stray torpedo from the last of Hester''s targets hit me, taking me down to 76 hit points.

    I came out. There was a golden cloud off to my left and then a ring to my right and up. I didn''t think I''d be able to hit them both. There was no going backward on this course. I had to keep going forward no matter what. I wasn''t hurting that badly yet. Hoping I didn''t regret the decision I made for the ring.

    Just beyond the ring was one of those red clouds. I dove steeply to avoid it, then looked for the next glowing circle.

    "We''ve got incoming!" Will shouted. "Eight of them!"

    "Focus them down," Hester shouted. "We''ll drop back to help you as soon as we''ve made sure this area is clear."

    Her team raced ahead, then killed most of their speed. I darted past them toward a bright orange ring. I passed through and a pair of enemy fighters were waiting for me. They shot torpedoes. I hit my speed boost and my chaff as I was passing the pair. One of the torpedoes impacted me. My hull''s integrity was down to 64%.

    "Any idea how far along we are?" I asked Arjun.

    "Just keep flying," he said, which told me everything I needed to know.

    Sweat dripped down my brow, but I couldn''t wipe my face because I was using my hands to fly this stupid spaceship. Hester''s team got out in front of me again, intercepting the next set of enemy bogeys. She sent me a private message.

    The course isn''t quite the same as the last time we ran it, but this is just about the point where you went through a pair of double rings and came out in the middle of a cloud of enemies.

    Great. I dove through the next ring. The one forming in space ahead of me now was red.

    "Another double ring. I want you guys to get out ahead of me and scout. Can you tell me where the next ring is?"

    I eased back on my speed as much as I dared. Will and his team told me they were cleaning up behind me, that I shouldn''t need to worry about it for too long.

    "No, we can''t see the rings," Hester said.

    "Well, that''s helpful," I muttered.

    "I only know it was a double ring last time because you said so," Hester confirmed.

    "Oh, well, it''s a double ring now," I said, making a note to communicate more with the team just in case we had to do this again.

    We zoomed on toward the rings. I ducked through, found the next one was below me and dropped.

    "There''s four enemies this time," Hester said. "It''s not as bad as last time, but be careful. They''re big."

    I darted out through the next ring and, as she''d said, found the enemy waiting for me. These ones were black and red, bigger than the previous set of knockoff TIE fighters. They shot at me and instead of two missiles each they launched four. I dove wildly, dropping low. Hester and her squad swooped in and blew the enemy away. I avoided most of the missiles. Two of them hit me, taking me down to 43%.

    I swore as I lined up on a green ring. I burst through and there was a golden cloud just waiting for me. I burst through it. My health bar went up to 100%. As the golden cloud cleared there was a red cloud just beyond it. I had no way to avoid. I hit the cloud and my speed dropped to almost nothing.

    I swore as more enemies came in. "I didn''t see the red cloud. I''m slowed."

    Will and his team had caught up to me. Two of them raced ahead to help Hester while the others played rear guard.

    "More coming in behind us," Will warned me.

    "Chaff''s back off cooldown. Tell me when," I replied.

    "Not yet. Not yet. Now!"

    I dropped the chaff and hit my speed burst. It didn''t even take me back up to normal speed, but it was better than sitting in a cloud of my own chaff. There were another five seconds left on the slowdown effect. The longest five seconds of my life.

    Up ahead of me was a white ring, the first I''d seen.

    "White ring. It''s smaller than the last few," I said to Arjun, just in case I failed and we had to do this again. "I don''t know what it means."

    "No idea," Arjun said helpfully.

    I dove through and there were two more rings in quick succession, one above, one below. I dropped as much speed as I could, climbing up, then diving down through. I made it, barely. I''m pretty sure one of my wings clipped the edge of the next ring.

    "That was a triple," I reported. I came out, oriented myself, found a blue ring hanging ahead of me with four enemy fighters in between me and it. On the plus side, if Hester was right and these guys didn''t respawn, we were taking out a hell of a lot of them. I gritted my teeth and focused.

    I lost track of time. Hester, Will, and I called out commands. The soldiers with us responded, but I wasn''t even thinking of them as people. I probably couldn''t have given you their names if you''d pressed me. Not in that moment. Not while I was focused so intently on a challenge utterly unlike anything I had ever done before.

    I shot through a bright pink ring and there, hanging in space ahead of me, was a platform like the one I''d come from. I searched, making sure I wasn''t missing any rings.

    I described what I was seeing. "Is that where I''m supposed to go?"

    "Hopefully," Arjun said.

    I muttered something sarcastic about just how helpful he was being and made for the platform.

    Two last forlorn TIE fighters came in, trying to stop me, but my health was over 70%. Three missiles crashed into my hull as Hester and company took them down, but I made it in.

    My ship disappeared the moment I touched the platform. There was a glowing pedestal in the center. I pulled the key out of my inventory. I hadn''t looked at it before. Now I saw it was a golden hoop. I set it on top of the pedestal. There was a fanfare of trumpets and a cheer.

    A moment later, a ghostly fox woman appeared. She took the ring in her hands and bowed to me, waving her bushy white tail. Then she vanished away.

    [Success,] the system reported. [This fragment is now accessible to Kronos.]

    My team came in to dock. They cheered. Hester and Will embraced. The soldiers offered fist bumps. I tiredly returned a few.

    "Ready to get out of here now," I said aloud.

    A moment later, a door appeared, just hanging there in space.

    "Oh, and don''t forget to tell Chavez and the rear guard," I added, as I opened the door and stepped through.

 Bk 4 Ch 9: Acceptance Criteria

    I sat in the back room at Mama Grace''s, eating my first good meal all day. Maybe longer than that. I remembered having breakfast this morning.

    This morning had been a week ago.

    Hester, Will, and Chavez were with me. Arjun and Juana had joined us as well. We noshed tiredly on some fresh corn muffins while Juana was in the kitchen waiting for our entrees to be ready. I''d seen that the other guys got a good meal and then off to clean up and relax. Most of them had made it through the mission without dying. So it had been a hard week of activity for them.

    "I can''t believe you got to skip over all of that damn annoying jump puzzle stuff," Chavez commented as he ate. "I should have tried dying.¡±

    ¡°You remember how Johnson died two days in, and we spent 15 hours getting back to where we had been?" Hester asked.

    Chavez looked down at his food and shut up.

    "I''m going to need a full debrief," I told Arjun.

    "I''m working on a highlights video for you now, sir," he said.

    Juana came in. She was carrying a tray piled high with freshly cooked steak and grilled corn on the cob. She set it down on the table, and I reached for a plate.

    Then I looked up at her. Her expression was neutral, but I could see the worry lines around her eyes, and I knew she was going to have something to say to me later. I sighed, grabbed the food, and dug in.

    Will turned to me. ¡°Shad, I''m going to be completely honest with you. That mission took three times as long as it should have. The recruits are enthusiastic and eager, but they don''t know what the hell they''re doing."

    "Hey," Chavez said, a piece of steak halfway to his mouth, "what the hell, man? My guys are the best."

    "You''re great soldiers," Will said, "but, well, you''re not gamers."

    "The hell we''re not," Chavez said. "We all passed the tests and won the tournaments to get this assignment "

    "Wait, what?" Hester asked.

    I sighed. "We''ve got a lot of very willing volunteers from most of Earth''s militaries. Back home they are running all volunteers through a serious of trials, mostly popular games. They are only sending out the best.

    "And we are the best," Chavez insisted.

    "At what, Candy Crush?" Hester asked, rolling her eyes.

    "Hester," I said warningly, but she shook her head.

    "No, Shad, you''re gonna listen to me because I am not in your stupid chain of command, and I don''t have to respect it. And to be completely honest, you need me more than I need you right now. Will and I are the only competent people on your team, and we just spent eight days of boring, miserable hell that should have been four at most, and was at risk of being twice that because this twerp has to go by the book according to completely outdated and useless military doctrine."

    She took a deep breath and kept on. "These missions aren''t like anything you''ve done before," she told Chavez. "You''ve got to get that through your head.¡±

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    ¡°Discipline and training will get us where we need to be," he said. "You need to be more of a team player."

    I held up my hand. "Enough!" A hush fell over the table. I took a deep breath. "Look, both of you need to stop. I can''t remember most of what happened. I need to review tapes, see where we can learn. This is not helpful. We won, all right?"

    "Sure," Hester stood up. She picked up her plate. "Will, come on. Let''s get home. If they didn¡¯t give it away to some bum in the last week.¡± She stomped out. Will looked after her, then stood up, grabbed another ear of corn off the serving tray, and added it to his plate, and followed her.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to get back to my work,¡± Arjun said, not looking us in the face. He hated confrontation. I nodded and he left.

    Juana sat down next to me as Chavez began shoveling food into his mouth as fast as he could. A minute later, he stood up as well.

    "Gonna get back to the barracks now, sir," he said all in a rush. "Permission to be excused?"

    "Granted," I said wearily. He rushed out, leaving Juana and me alone.

    "Where''s Grandpa?" I asked, looking around.

    "He..." Juana hesitated. "He left for Earth three days ago."

    "Oh, right. Time loss." I sighed and put my hand to my forehead. "This is going to take some getting used to."

    "I don''t like it," she said. She set her hand on my arm. "I don''t like how long that mission took. It was wearing on your whole team. I know Hester was being insubordinate just now, but I''ve watched the last eight days, and when you see what happened, you''ll understand. She''s right. These men may have played some games, but they aren¡¯t gamers the way you need them to be.."

    "I know," I said. ¡°I thought maybe I could train them up on the fly, but I''m realizing now these missions are terrible for us actually learning anything. If someone dies, they forget everything that happened. Even if I go back and review the videos, it''s not like having been there. It''s not memories. It''s just something that happened to someone else." I could hear my voice rising, Juana''s grip tightened on my arm.

    "I lost eight days. Even if they were boring, that''s part of my life, gone forever. Am I...?" I took a deep breath, shook my head. "Am I even the same guy that got killed in there?"

    Juana''s hand was so tight on my arm, her fingers were like claws.

    "Shad," she said intently, "yes, you are the same man. You''ve used weird mechanics before. Come on. You''re the guy who once ate a grenade just so he could get back to his ship faster. You''re not weirded out by death and respawning. This is no different. You just lost a few memories."

    It sounded to me like she was trying to convince herself, too. I turned to her. Her dark eyes met mine, full of worry and fear. "So what are you going to do now?"

    I sighed. "I''m going to go get a good night''s sleep and then I''m going to sit down with Arjun and review those tapes. And then, after she''s had time to cool down, I''m going to talk with Hester because I''m worried that I''m going to lose her and Will. They didn''t sound happy about this. I''m not going to be able to do these missions without them, or someone like them. How did my new recruits do, by the way?"

    Juana frowned. "Well, the cat lady died twice and then she went back into the zone and immediately left. Said her cats had told her she was running out of lives and she needed to go somewhere else."

    "For real?" I said, incredulously.

    Juana nodded. "Yeah, it was pretty weird. The other two you can watch. They did pretty well on the versus ship bit there at the end, I thought."

    "Okay," I said.

    "But you''re not wrong, Shad. These people are willing. They just aren''t able. That mission would have been easier for you with three allies who knew what they were doing. Maybe five. There were some really nasty bits down in the sewer where you needed the firepower. I think you and your grandfather and Sage could have cleaned that up in two days if it had been just you three."

    "Maybe I should take Sage along next time."

    "Don''t you dare," Juana told me. "She''s finally starting to have a social life of her own, friends, something outside of constant combat. It''s good for her."

    "I know. I won¡¯t tell her how much I need her.¡±  I checked my special tab. Kronos had credited me with another huge lot of ethereum, three times as much as the first. "Now, do we want to talk about the ethereum budget tonight, or¡ª"

    "No," Juana said. "I''m waiting for you to finish your steak so we can go home and cuddle. I''ve got the latest news and entertainment package up from Earth that I''ve been waiting for you to get out so we could watch. It¡¯s been a long day for you, but it¡¯s been a long week for me and I deserve a night off with my husband.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t beat that.¡± I finished my steak in two bites. We swung by the kitchen for a plate of brownies, then back home.

 Bk 4 Ch 10: News from An Old Friend

    As soon as we stepped through the door, Sage burst down the steps. She threw her arms around me. "Shad, you''re back!"

    I noted with a shock that she was only about six inches shorter than me. When had my baby sister grown up? I¡¯d only been gone a week ¡ª right?

    She drew back, put her hands on her hips, and scowled. "Shad, you dummy! What have you been doing for the last week? You weren''t answering my messages!"

    "Sorry," I said, "Busy. Working on a project for Kronos. I have you set to be able to override my ''do not disturb'' in an emergency."

    "Yes, but it wasn''t an emergency, was it?" She stepped back and then followed Juana and me into our tiny living room. "You were gone, Grandpa''s gone, Juana''s barely been home. It''s a good thing I''ve got my school projects to keep me busy or I''d be really angry with you."

    "How''s that going?" I asked. I took off my duster and hung it on its peg and set my hat on top of it before collapsing onto the sofa with a sigh of relief. Juana set our plate of brownies down on the table in front of the wall screen. Sage flopped bonelessly into an overstuffed armchair opposite. Aside from the house being made of plascrete and compressed rock, it could have been a scene out of middle American life any time in the last 60 years.

    "School''s great.¡± Sage rolled her eyes. "I''ve got mean girls on my case, jocks trying to give me crap, and the vice principal hates me, and I don''t know why. But my tutor''s pretty cool, and I''m starting to make friends with my teammates. Did you know Grignarians reproduce two different ways?" I blinked at the sudden change in subject.

    "What?"

    "We''ve got a couple in my class. They molt, which means they split into two identical smaller Grignarians with most of the memories and some of the personality of the original. When a Grignarian molts too many times and can''t anymore, he has to return to the clan tree. Sometimes junior molts get traded out to other clans. They merge into the tree," Sage pulled a face. "Sounds creepy. I guess they turn into some sort of hive mind. The tree can bud and create brand new Grignarians with the genetic patterns of any or all of the adult molts."

    "That''s fascinating," Juana said. ¡°Sexual and asexual reproduction in the same species. I think we''ve seen that on Earth with certain sorts of sea life. As far as I know, none of the other galactic species do anything like that. They''re all pretty much like us. Two distinct sexes combining gametes to produce new individuals. Which makes sense if we really are all spawned from the progenitors.¡± She shook her head. "It''s cool that there are other ways of being alive, though. I wonder what the galaxy would look like if the progenitors hadn''t built all these reality engines and then disappeared. If they''d just let themselves go extinct naturally and other races rise up to replace them."

    "Well, seeing as we''re supposedly descended from those same progenitors, we wouldn''t know because we wouldn''t be here.¡± I leaned over and grabbed one of the brownies from the plate. ¡°And both those methods sound asexual to me.¡±

    Juana sighed. ¡°It means whether reproduction involves a single individual or more than one, in this case. Though I guess the Grignarian hive trees might be considered an individual.¡­ Huh.¡±

    Sage snatched up a brownie, took a deep bite, and sighed. "That''s good."

    I glanced at Juana. I could tell she wanted to have a conversation with me about the past week. I wanted that too. But not here, with Sage in the room. "Shall we catch up on what''s been happening back on Earth? Grandpa should be there by now, right?"

    "Yes, the Ad Astra made orbit earlier today.¡± Juana accessed the info packet from Earth and scrolled through it. Her custom algorithms sorted through the gigabytes of data looking for anything we''d be interested in. A couple of news programs and a podcast or three popped right up to the top, things to do with reality engines and our current immigration scheme.

    I looked at the first two podcasts. "Reality engines: exposing the lies." I shook my head. "Let''s save that for a night when I''m having a beer and need something to laugh at."

    The next one looked a little more balanced. "An in-depth interview with six candidates for reality engine integration."

    The next clip down caught my eye. It was from a big news show out of Europe called Investigation 24/7. The tagline read, "A tell-all with Earth''s forgotten champion."

    "What''s that?" I asked. "Never heard of that show."

    Juana pulled up the information. "It''s French.¡± I stared in horror at the thumbnail image that appeared. Major Waters was sitting down with a pair of journalists dressed in his best uniform jacket.

    "Put it on," I growled.

    Juana hesitated. "Maybe tonight''s not the best."

    "Put it on."

    Juana sighed but activated the clip. The interviewers spoke in French, subtitled for our convenience by the system. One was a gorgeous 30-something woman with long pale hands and close-cropped black hair plastered to her head like a helmet. She wore an incredibly short miniskirt and had her knees crossed. The other was a striking man about the same age with a skeptically quizzical expression on his face.

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    "Let us introduce our guest, Major Waters," the woman said. "He is speaking to us from an undisclosed location. He says his safety is at risk in bringing us this interview tonight, but we here at Investigation 24/7 believe it important to share these truths with the world. Major Waters.¡± She turned. Waters wasn''t actually in the studio with them. Instead, his face and torso appeared on an enormous screen beside the two anchors. That fat asshole looked even worse than the last time I''d seen him. His face was red, his nose puffy like he''d been drinking too much. His uniform looked good, though, and he had even more medals than I remembered before.

    "Thank you, Estelle," he said. "And you, Francois. I appreciate you having the courage to interview me. I fear this may make you both a target."

    I nearly choked on my brownie. Sage pounded the arm of her chair. "A target of who? Disgusting little prick.¡±

    "Sage," Juana said.

    "Oh, come on. He is. And you know it," Sage retorted.

    "I''m sorry for that,¡± Waters continued. ¡°An unhappy side effect of the capture of Earth''s reality engine by a faction claiming to be representatives of Earth but actually puppeted by a galactic conspiracy that wishes to see all of us slaves, extorted for all we''re worth."

    "Please, tell us more," Estelle said. "We have been informed that a brave human alliance, under the control of some of your own countrymen, won a daring victory for us against outsiders seeking to take this reality engine for their own."

    Waters snorted. "I''m sure you don''t believe that horseshit, Estelle. If the Galactics were truly that powerful, there is no way they would give up a reality engine to a bunch of what must seem to them as primitives. The faction headed by the miscreants who style themselves as Misfits Guild was working with a galactic sponsor too cowardly to put their own faces on the screen. I have always been honest about my dealings with Proxima, and they, in turn, have been straightforward with me. I urge anyone listening who may be considering moving to the reality engine to speak with your local Proxima representative. They will be able to get you a fair and honest deal. They have multiple slots opening up soon in this reality engine for galactic integration."

    "You promised us some tell-all secrets," Francois said. "Such as what?"

    "I may reveal now that the human traitor pulling all the strings is a man named Colonel Jefferson Ames of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. Colonel Ames has had his finger in a dozen different black operations, some of which you would recognize if I revealed them. I will say this: Do you recall the uprising in Guyana a few years back? Colonel Ames certainly does."

    "Wait, Ames is CIA?" I said. "You think he''s telling the truth about that?"

    "I suspect we''d have to ask him," Juana said, her eyes fixed on the screen.

    It made sense. Ames didn''t like being in the spotlight but was good at getting what he wanted¡ªthe hallmarks of someone who''s spent a career working one side of intelligence or another.

    "These backers are a shadowy cabal of aliens with perverse motivations," Waters said. "The race known as Grignarians are outcasts in galactic circles for a very good reason. They have already tried to destroy a reality engine, stripping it down to its component parts in order to learn its secrets. But when we remember that a reality engine is not just a gift from our distant ancestors but contains the last fragments of their racial memory and soul, an inheritance which the Grignarians, unlike any other species known in the galaxy, have no claim by birthright, we must ask what motivation this faction has."

    I made an angry gesture. "Shut it off!" I shouted, and the house''s internal systems responded. Waters'' glowing face vanished. Juana and Sage stared at me.

    ¡°Asshole!¡± I got to my feet, my fingers itching as I wished Waters was right here so I could shoot him in the gut, or better yet, punch him in the face. "Cowardly, no-good, yellow-bellied asshole!"

    "Shad," Juana said, but I ignored her.

    "He''s a... he''s a..." I struggled to find the right word.

    "He''s a prick," Sage said helpfully from her spot on the overchair.

    I looked at her and nodded. "That''ll do until I think of a better word. How big an audience does this program have?"

    "Usually in the low millions, but that clip went viral," Juana said. "It''s had about a hundred million views in the last week."

    "Great," I muttered, "fucking asshole." I glared down at the inoffensive plate of brownies, then turned to Sage. "Sorry, sis, I''m going to bed. That just got me angry, and I haven''t had a good night''s sleep in I don''t know how long." That was literally true.

    "I''ll see you tomorrow, if you''re down before I have to leave," Sage said brightly. "My squad''s got a study group planned before classes, so I''ll be leaving early."

    I grunted as she hopped up and brushed past us on her way up the stairs to bed. Juana rose, frowning.

    "You know Waters isn''t your problem."

    "He is if he pulls that kind of stunt. It''s going to make everything harder for the rest of us, spreading that sort of bullshit. What''s he mean, Proxima''s going to have slots coming online?"

    Juana hesitated. "Well, while you were gone," she said, "Proxima came and asked to buy a bunch of integration slots in the Reality Engine. They offered us 70% of the ethereum we¡¯ve been asking.The council voted to accept their offer. I persuaded Kronos it was in his best interest to accept."

    "Wait, you let them undercut our prices? Why?"

    "Because," she said, "this way, they''re going to think their plan to starve Kronos is working, that he''ll accept whatever they offer. I don''t want them to know we found another source of Ethereum.¡±

    ¡°So they''re buying slots at¡ª¡± I did some quick calculations¡ª"only about twice what it costs Kronos to actually integrate someone into the system."

    "Yes," Juana said. "We thought they were going to be bringing in a bunch of their own people to try to gain our more interesting classes. But if what Waters is saying is right, they''re going to be contracting humans."

    "Do we have to supply living quarters and training?"

    "If they want us to help, they''re going to have to pay," Juana said. Then she frowned. "Only, I''m afraid that they''re just going to get people classes and ship them off who knows where with no preparation or training at all. Damn." She passed a hand across her brow. "I should have seen that coming."

    I looked at her, noted the sleepy bags under her eyes. "You''ve been attending council meetings and speaking to Kronos and working the control room for my team?"

    She nodded. "Yes, though Arjun and Allison did most of the work."

    I didn''t believe her. I might not have any memories of the past week, but I was certain Juana had been standing over Arjun''s shoulders, watching every video feed from my team. Our plan had been to work 18-hour days, sleeping only what we had to in order to finish a fragment as fast as possible. Of course, I had been expecting it to take two days or less, not over a week.

    "You need to go to bed.¡±

    Juana gave me a pale smile. "You usually make that sound like a much more inviting offer.¡± she covered a yawn. "But I''ll admit I''m pretty tired."

    My mind was spinning as I followed Juana up the stairs to bed. She was asleep in minutes. I lay awake much longer, staring at the ceiling, thinking about our problems.

 Bk 4 Ch 11: Reading Resumes

    I spent all the next day with Arjun and Allison going over the videos of the exploit fragment conquest, wondering as I watched myself do things I had no memory of doing.

    Hester was right. The soldiers could not break with their ingrained training habits. They did fine in a couple of pitched battles against sewer monsters, but every time we came up against something with a game mechanic, they froze, throwing off our timing. It turned out that building jump puzzle was a lot harder with 20 people going through it. Rules came into play about how many people could be on a rooftop at any given time. Arjun and Allison had worked it out and been providing detailed instructions, but they kept messing it up, especially if Arjun called out a new order while they were in midair. Half the squad seemed to be unable to understand anything unless they had their feet on solid ground.

    We''d co-opted Mama Grace''s back room again. I was becoming aware of just how inadequate the space was. I turned to Juana.

    "We need an actual command center. No. We need more than that. We need a training facility, like the base we had at the end of Phase Three. As soon as we''re done here, I''m going to go talk to Kronos about what we need.

    "I can hear you," Kronos''s voice said.

    All of us stared around. I looked up at the ceiling.  "I know you can hear me, but I still like talking to you face to face. I want a zone to ourselves. Something that you''ll focus on and keep stabilized. Somewhere for us to run our missions out of and train our people."

    "Step through the closest portal," Kronos said. "We will design what you need. You will, of course, pay for it with the ethereum I have granted you."

    "Sure," I said.  I turned to Juana. "Can you come up with a list of what you think we''ll need? I¡¯ve got my own but I don¡¯t want to forget anything.¡±

    "I''ll work on it during this meeting," she promised. Juana was way better than me at multitasking. She sat down, pulled out her clipboard, and started to scribble. I turned back to Arjun and Allison.

    ¡°Back to our post-mission analysis. I''ve been thinking about what Hester said." I frowned. I''d invited Hester and Will to this meeting. They hadn''t responded to my invite. I hoped that meant they had gotten smashed out of their minds and were sleeping it off. Or maybe too busy with each other to bother reading my note. Not that they were working on their resignation letters.  "We need more gamers. Real gamers."

    "I can help with that.¡±

    I turned. Colonel Ames stood in the doorway, a Mama Grace sandwich in his hand. He had taken a bite of the sandwich and now stared at it with that expression so many of her customers had of, "What did I just eat and where has it been all of my life?" He shook himself and turned his attention back toward us.  "Can I come in?"

    "You''re always welcome, Colonel," Juana said.

    Ames came into the room. He sat down. I studied him, trying to decide how to ask if Waters'' accusations were right.

    Arjun blinked at him. "Are you really CIA?"

    Ames laughed. "You sure know how to get to the heart of it." He took another bite of the sandwich, chewed, swallowed, and said, "Yes, I am. Or I was before I got abducted. Now I''m..." He waved around. "Shall we say liaison between Earth and Kronos? Kind of like you, Shad, except on a more official basis. Arjun, I do not want this going into your database, but when I was integrated into the Reality Engine, Kronos himself made me a special offer. He offered me a class, Champion of Reality Engine. It has some abilities similar to Juana''s, to make contracts binding on this Reality Engine itself. But also with more insight into its inner workings. That''s how I was able to find people like the Mongeese and, well, you all. Yes, my background is with the CIA, after a long career as military intelligence. I will not dignify the rest of what Waters says. You know as well as I do that that man speaks poison with a forked tongue.¡±

    I cleared my throat. "Alright, Colonel, you said you can help with our gamer problem?¡±

    ¡°You need people capable of taking on these fragments. Your best bet is to recruit top notch gamers. As you probably know, the militaries of the earth have been running their volunteers through a series of gaming tournaments to filter for the best.¡±

    ¡°I heard all about that. I don¡¯t think the results are good enough.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ve been continuously improving the process.¡±

    ¡°I think Grandpa said something about that,¡± I muttered. I hadn¡¯t really been listening at the time, but now I recalled times Grandpa had discussed being on calls with Earth on just that subject. I shook my head. ¡°That all sounds great¡­ but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s enough. I need the hardcore, obsessed kind. The ones who haven''t seen the world outside their parents'' basement in years. I want the kind of obsessive, compulsive kinds who have to max out their score in every level to get every achievement in the game, even if it takes thousands of hours."

    Ames put his fingers together. "You¡¯ll be getting them. The Joint Task Force has, for the last couple of months, been running potential recruits through a series of tests to determine their skill at various games. Only they''ve been testing the wrong sorts of things. Kill-death averages, number of headshots, percentage of solo caps in various objectives. Things that make a good gamer, but not, I think, the sort you''re looking for. Your grandfather and I persuaded them to throw these competitions open to a wider field. We''re in the process right now of bringing in batches of potential recruits who have more varied skill sets. Some Starcraft pros, for example. Whole teams of League of Legends players. We are getting entrants from all over the e-sports and streaming industries. I think the upcoming batches of recruits will be more to your liking.¡±

    I frowned, trying to think. ¡°That¡¯s not quite what I have in mind,¡± I said, trying to think how to phrase this. "I remember one time I was really bored and on night duty at my post and scrolling through YouTube videos on my phone."

    Ames nodded. "Yes, I recall you were a sergeant once." He raised an eyebrow in amusement.

    ¡°Actually, I was still a private," I admitted. "Anyway, I used to watch videos of people who run games as fast as they possibly can, trying to get the shortest completion time. They would skip entire levels, cutting from the start of a game almost to the end, and then figuring out a way to defeat the final boss, even though they were ten levels too low and didn''t have any gear. That''s the sort of gamer I''m looking for."

    Ames nodded. "I¡®m not sure most of the people I''m bringing in will be that sort. We¡¯re still looking for top performers.¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°That isn¡¯t enough. Those are the best as playing within the rules. I need people who understand there are no rules, except to win.¡±

    Arjun spoke up. ¡°You want exploiters, speed runners and game breakers.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Exactly. I don¡¯t want people that think outside the box. I want people that don¡¯t believe there is a box.¡±

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    Ames considered this. ¡°I think I understand." He turned to Arjun. "I can get you access to any database you want from Earth. We''ve installed a quantum tunneling device that''ll let you ping Earth''s infosphere and get results back just as fast as you were actually on Earth. It''ll be one-way communications. You can send queries, but nothing will actually enter Earth''s infosphere. That should let you present Shad with a list of bios.

    ¡°Shad, you have six hours to get me a list of ten names. I''ll see that they''re put into this next recruit pool. Depending on how they perform, we''ll see about another round in the next pool six weeks from now."

    I let out a deep sigh. "Ten is not nearly enough."

    "That''s ten in the pool," Ames continued. "They''ll have to compete against the rest. We have about a one in six acceptance rate. But if these are actually the gamers you want, they''ll be able to make it through."

    It was a whole lot better than nothing. ¡°Agreed."

    Ames finished his sandwich and rose. "Thanks for lunch," he said to Juana.

    "It''s my mom''s place, not mine," she said. "Don''t thank me."

    "I''ll let you get back to it," he said.

    I gave him a lazy salute as he left the room. If he noticed, he didn''t respond. I tried to collect my thoughts.

    "Where were we? Alright, Arjun, new top priority. Get me a list of candidates in the next eight hours so I have time to sort through it. Juana, we need to go talk to Kronos again about getting a proper headquarters.¡±

    We entered the zone into a perfect replica of our phase three outpost. I gazed around at the recreation of a western town surrounded by a circular stockade in three rings.

    The turrets and towers atop the stockade were silent. We had been moved from an eastern European mountain valley to a flat, hot desert. The sun beat down, and a vulture soared overhead.

    From the building which had been our headquarters in phase three, a man emerged: Kronos, wearing out-of-place white linen robes. "Good day, my friends. Shad Williams, you have done well so far. The fragments you have helped me recapture have strengthened me considerably."

    "How many more fragments remain out there?" I asked.

    "I am not entirely clear on the exact number. I am providing all details as I learn them to your friend Arjun. I believe that I have recovered approximately 8.37% of my missing power."

    "So, plenty more work to do.¡±

    Kronos nodded. "In addition, my fragments have noticed what we are up to. They will be preparing. I expect the difficulty of these challenges to increase."

    "Maybe we don''t need to do any more," Juana said. "The Galactics are finally ready to come to the table."

    "You know that their offers are mere ploys," Kronos said. "If they wished to make fair deals, they would have abided by the rates we have already negotiated. Instead, they''re trying to find a way to injure both you and me by taking hundreds of thousands of humans away from your home and forcing me to spend resources converting them into pawns for their games."

    "How many slots did they buy?" I asked Juana, realizing I hadn¡¯t checked that.

    She didn''t meet my eyes. "A hundred and twenty thousand, with an option for another fifty thousand at the same price," she said quietly.

    "A hundred and twenty thousand? That''s gonna seriously eat into our own ability to initiate.¡±

    ¡°They''re limited to ten thousand per day, and they have to offload the people as fast as they bring them in," Juana said.

    "What about moles? This seems like the perfect way to infiltrate more people back into Threshold Society. Just have your undercover agents blend in with our own new recruits and claim to be fresh up from Earth."

    "The Galactic Conglomerates all have agents here as it is," Kronos said. "You know this. We may have identified a few of their more high-profile people like Major Waters, but he is hardly the only one in the pay of Proxima or Alabaster Sky. Now, you came here to tell me of your needs, did you not?"

    I took a deep breath and looked around. "Yeah, so, much as I love this place, I think it''s all gonna have to go. You''re able to hold a zone stable, aren''t you?"

    "He''s already doing that with the school and training facilities,¡± Juana said.

    Kronos nodded. "It does take more ethereum than allowing the zones to shift naturally as they wish, but it is possible."

    "Okay, so what we need is a big headquarters space. I want to be able to expand our team again. We lost some valuable people, and I don''t know if or when they''ll be back, so I''m gonna have to do more recruiting. The good news is, the US Armed Forces are really good at logistics. I''m gonna requisition a couple of logistics specialists from the Joint Task Force. I mean, I''m gonna have Ames put in the request for me," I said hastily. "People to help supplement Arjun and Allison and make it so Juana''s not trying to do three jobs at a time here. I''m worried about the council calling it a conflict of interest anyway," I told my wife. "Having you running our operation and also serving on the council."

    She rolled her eyes, looking unflappable as usual. "Then they can ask me to resign my seat on the council, at which time I''ll tell them exactly where to put their conflict of interest."

    I snorted. She held her face steady for a minute before breaking down into laughter and shaking her head. "Seriously, Shad, I think you''re a bad influence on me."

    I tipped my hat to her. "Thank you, love, that''s the nicest thing you''ve said all day."

    ¡°That¡¯s not what you said first thing this morning."

    I felt myself turn red and cleared my throat. "Anyway, yes, crafting space. We''ve lost a lot of our crafters, but I want to get that back up and running. I don''t like having to rely solely on abilities."

    Based on my review of the footage from that last mission, there were a couple times where if we''d had auto-retracting paracord or single-use energy shields, we could have kept someone alive and saved ourselves hours of time. I don''t know who around still has recipes for those things, but we had them back during phase three. Maybe we can find someone who knows how to build them.

    "Juana, have you sent messengers to our crafting team?"

    "I have, but no response just yet. I know Dwight was on an actual contract. He may not be able to get back anytime soon."

    "Well, keep me posted.¡± I hesitated. "In addition to this zone that you keep stable, I want us to have a practice area. Something we can change on a whim. Alter the rules. Basically, a giant simulator."

    Kronos looked amused. "Have I not already been adjusting zones as you request for your training?"

    "I mean something that''s fast and on the fly, so we''re in the middle of a scenario and I think of a screwball I want to throw out, we can do it right there."

    "That will take more of my attention."

    "I''ll pay for it," I said. "Uh, once we''ve agreed on what it costs."

    "I will not charge you more than the ethereum it requires," Kronos said. "You personally, Shad Williams, have done as much for me as anyone could ever ask."

    "Now you''re just making me embarrassed. Now, Juana and I both have a list of must-haves, nice-to-haves, and would like if they''re cheap and easy. Let''s go over it all one piece at a time."

    Kronos nodded. "I am at your disposal, my friend."

    We spent four hours working with Kronos, and when we emerged, we had a training zone that I thought would serve our needs nicely, if I could just get some people who knew how to use it properly.

    I checked the time. It was still early afternoon, hours before the deadline I''d given Arjun to have the dossiers over to me. As soon as he did, I was gonna brew up some extra-strength coffee and spend all night pouring over them if I needed to.

    I looked at Juana. "I think I''m gonna be pulling a late night. Wanna go back and crash for a while?"

    "You should," she said, "but I have to meet Councilor Chen and Fletcher."

    "Oh, what now?" I asked, alarm bells going off in my head at Chen and Fletcher''s names. Aside from the Council meeting I''d sat in on, they featured very heavily in Juana''s gripes about her day.

    "Just more complaints about living conditions. They''re not wrong," she said with a sigh, "but at the same time we''re all working with less than we''d like right now. I''ll catch you tonight."

    She kissed me and then set off for the Council house. I watched her forlornly before heading home.

    She got in around midnight. I was sitting at our kitchen table, poring over the files Arjun had sent me. I looked up as she came in. Juana came over and laid a hand on my shoulder.

    "What''s all that?"

    "Candidate files."

    "He found you some?"

    "He found me 400 candidates,¡± I said. "They all have good potential. I''ve sorted them into definitely, maybe, and yes but not now."

    "How many are in the definitely pile?" she asked.

    "About 73. For ten slots. Yeah, it''s gonna be a late night," I sighed.

    Juana leaned over my half-empty cup of coffee, sniffed it, blinked, shook her head. "You''re not joking. Want me to make you some fresh?"

    "Sure," I said.

    She dumped my cup and started brewing a new one with our fancy single-use coffee maker. She used the same sequence of buttons and levers as me, I would swear it, but hers came out way better than mine ever did.

    I went back to studying profiles. This guy looked good but he was in his late 40s. Not a definite down check. I mean, look at Grandpa, but still. Enough to make me worry about his flexibility of mind.

    Another was 14. Just too young. Again, kind of rich for me to say considering I''d had my kid sister fighting beside me for the last two years. But I wasn''t gonna rip a kid away from home for no good reason.

    I was about to veto the next candidate for the same reason when I noted something interesting about his profile and paused. I studied the kid''s background, pulled up a couple of videos of his most recent exploits and excerpts of his Twitch stream, and then nodded to myself before moving him into the "you get a call" pile.

    One down, nine to go.

 Bk 4 Ch 12: Gran Turismo

    The timer on my screen kept counting down: 30, 29, 28. Sweat dripped down my face, but I didn''t let go of the controller as I kept my eyes glued to the screen.

    My avatar executed a quick double jump. At the top of my leap, I triggered my Splash Zone skill. It was supposed to be useless out of the Act Three water level, hence why the developers had made it so OP.

    I¡¯d figured out that they''d taken a shortcut when developing the water physics and just reused the same particle simulation as for smoke and clouds. Since I was a sufficient distance over ground height, the code didn''t catch that I wasn''t in water. Splash Zone went off, propelling me forward toward my goal.

    I ducked right, then left as I zoomed through the thick stand of pine trees. My Twitch stream count was through the roof. My mouth was dry. 15 seconds left. If I didn''t make this speedrun, my secret would be out, and my competitors would be looking to exploit it.

    14, 13, 12. The gate was just ahead, blocked by a squad of enemies I was supposed to defeat in single combat. Instead, I equipped the Rod of Night from back in Act 2.

    As I finally touched down to the ground, I activated the rod, casting it on me. I disappeared in a cloud of black and raced forward. The gate guards couldn''t see me. The Rod of Night was supposed to be required in order to defeat the penultimate boss of Stage 2, but I''d found a way to cheese that fight weeks ago.

    3, 2. My avatar hit the gate. It swung open at my touch as I smashed the interact button over and over again. I made it through, and the "Game Over! Victory!" screen appeared just as my timer froze with the number 1 displayed on it.

    "Yes!" I shouted. I ripped my headset from my ears and tossed it to the ground, throwing up my hands. My controller slipped from my sweaty hands. I groaned and leaned over out of my gaming chair, but it had gone just a little too far, and I couldn''t reach it without getting out of this chair and into the other. I glanced balefully at my wheels and decided to leave the controller where it lay. I toggled my microphone.

    "And there you have it, folks. New speed record clear of Dragon Alliance Nightborne 3: World of the Dark Soul. Don''t forget to follow my channel. If you''re seeing this clip on YouTube or something else, my Twitch handle is @theColinTrev. And join my Patreon, where you''ll be the first to hear about my next record attempt."

    I took a deep breath and checked the time. 2 AM. I just hoped my victory celebration hadn''t woken up my mum and stepdad. They were in the upper floor of our council row house, while I was tucked away in the converted sitting room. I had a curtain hanging across behind my gaming rig and camera to hide my special equipment from the viewers. They knew about my challenges, but I didn''t need more pity.

    I grinned at the screen. "Alright. TheColinTrev signing off. Just remember, keep calm and cheese on."

    I turned off my stream and sat back in my chair with a sigh of relief, exhaustion, and that hollow feeling I always got after completing a particularly good run.

    "Keep calm and cheese on," I muttered to myself. What on earth had possessed me to use that as my catchphrase? Fourteen-year-old me had a lot to answer for. Not as much as thirteen-year-old me. He was the asshole who''d gotten me into this wheelchair in the first place.

    I was about to shift over into my chair and roll over to the bog for a much-needed bio break when a window popped up on my screen. I frowned. My antivirus was up to date, and I didn''t think I''d left anything running in the background. It maximized, and a moment later, a man''s face and upper body filled my screen. He was probably around twenty-five years old, white, but mixed with something else, and he wore a ridiculous cowboy hat.

    The man spoke, his American accent grated on my ears. "Hello, Colin Trevelyan. This is Captain Shadrach Williams, United States Army."

    What the bloody hell was a Yank doing on my screen at 2 AM? I started to ask him that, but the man continued. "This is a recording. I''m currently on Ganymede. The time lag and transmission between us makes it impractical to have a conversation. Rest assured, you''ll get a chance to answer back."

    ¡°You may or may not have heard about me, but my team and I recently participated in the Reality Engine Exploit team who helped win on behalf of Earth.¡±

    So he was with the alien twats who''d showed up a couple of years ago, abducted some people, and then gotten all of the politicians in a tizzy. I hadn''t paid much attention. The internet had been full of it, but my circles, gaming circles, hadn''t much cared. Mum had mentioned it a few times recently and talked about the news, but I really hadn''t paid much attention to the news lately.

    I was 16 years old and officially a NEET. Not in education, employment or training. I hadn''t seen the point in continuing school after my accident. Once Mum got tired of fighting me, she''d let me get on with my career in my own way. My Twitch streaming was paying for half the bills in this place anyway.

    "I''ve chosen you," Williams continued, oblivious to my inner thoughts, "because I''m looking for people with a very special skill set. Your skill set. Speedrunners. Exploiters. Wall hackers. Those who look at a game not as amusement but a deadly serious puzzle. One with rules that can be exploited and taken advantage of. My belief is you''re exactly what humanity needs right now. And to that end, I''m inviting you to compete in Las Vegas for the right to earn a slot in our reality engine. I don''t know, Colin, if you know exactly what that means."

    Williams leaned closer to me. I''d noticed him use my name at the start of the message but had assumed it was just inserted by technology, like spam posts. Now I was not so sure.

    "When my family was abducted by the aliens and placed in this reality engine, my grandfather was dying of cancer. He was also in his 80s with a host of health problems. Five minutes after we entered the reality engine, he was up walking, rejuvenated to about 35 years old. He''ll be on Earth in a couple of days. He''s going to help oversee the tournament, so you can ask him yourself if what I''m saying is real.

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    "Personally, I think you''d have been intrigued just by the challenge that I''m planning to offer you, but in your case, it offers other benefits. If you want your legs back, you can have them. All you have to do is beat out a couple thousand other gamers for one of the slots. Are you in?"

    I sat back in my chair, overwhelmed. Obviously, he wasn''t expecting a direct answer. Williams continued, "If you''re interested, reply to this message at the provided link. We¡¯ve made arrangements to have you taken to Vegas. And don''t worry if your mom objects. We''ll take care of that. I''m sending an email with the details. It should be in your account now. I look forward to seeing you on Ganymede in a few weeks."

    Williams vanished. The window closed itself. I grabbed my phone and pulled up my email. 43 unread messages,mostly junk. My fans followed me on Twitch and Discord, but I had email contact info up in case Monster or somebody decided they wanted to sponsor me.

    Williams had done as he said. The email contained details about the tournament, the All-Earth Invitational. It was just a few days from now. I¡¯d have private, accessible accommodations while in Vegas, too. And he said someone would be contacting me about my transportation by seven AM. I should be ready to leave then.

    I gave a low whistle. It was a no-brainer, really. Even if I wasn''t interested in the prize, if nothing else, my Twitch audience would love it.

    Seven AM. That was five hours from now. I guessed that I would sleep on the plane.

    Mum came downstairs at about 6:30 and stopped dead when she saw me in the kitchen. I¡¯d spent the last couple of hours packing, making social media updates to let people know I''d be going for a few days, contacting some of my friends, and asking if any of them had gotten a similar offer. I''d already heard back from Third Eye Weasel, and she said she''d be there. I was looking forward to meeting her in person. Torsten2 said he''d turned down the offer. "They just want you as cannon fodder for the aliens," he''d said. "I watched some of those highlights of the exploit. They don''t need real gamers. They just need people who can point rifles."

    "If that''s the case, they''re going to a lot of trouble to get me there," I sent back, and he hadn''t replied.

    It hadn''t taken that long to pack, even with my extra medical kit. I''d been too excited to sleep and spent the ensuing hours perusing videos of the Reality Engine exploit and reading up on it. Williams featured heavily in a lot of them, and despite myself, I found I was impressed by his actions. He might be a Yank and an army officer at that, but he had the instincts of a gamer. That was clear. He appeared in a lot of videos with his kid sister, a snot-nosed brat who had a habit of hogging the camera, and his grandfather. Like Williams had said, his grandfather appeared to be about 35 years old and in perfect health. He was a red Indian or Native American, whatever the Yanks called their indigenes these days, which explained why Williams looked mixed race.

    Anyway, I was sitting in the kitchen with a cuppa and my phone playing highlights of Williams'' career when Mum came down the stairs. Her mouth fell open.

    "Colin, you''re up early? Or late?"

    I understood why she was surprised. We''d spent a lot of time in the past few years not being in the same room together. Don''t get me wrong, Mum had done a lot for me, even giving over the whole sitting room to be my personal space, mostly because it was next to the only loo in the house big enough to accommodate my wheelchair. I couldn''t manage the stairs without help, and while the council had talked about getting a chairlift put in, they''d never gotten around to it.

    I pointed to the cup sitting on the table next to the teapot. "Pour a cuppa?"

    She did, looking at me through narrowed eyes, and then sat down, wrapping her thin hands around the cup.

    "You finished your game last night, then, love?¡± she ventured.

    "Yeah, I did. Got the record."

    "Oh, good for you," she said. Mum did not understand my passion. Wasn''t like she didn''t get games. She''d gotten a high streak on Candy Crush a couple of years ago she still couldn''t stop talking about. Even my stepdad occasionally liked to play Fallout, but she was still hoping I''d go to university and make something of my life. It was hard to explain to her that I was already something.

    "Um, so I''m going out in a bit," I said.

    "Oh." Her mouth pinched together as she studied me. I understood her incredulity. I hadn''t willingly gone anywhere in months. She sniffed, and then her eyes widened in surprise. "You showered?"

    "Don''t make it sound like such an event,¡± I said, even though we had a long-standing argument over the topic. I made a point to shower at least once a week, but she was always nagging me to go at it every couple of days. I didn''t really see the point. It wasn''t like I was getting particularly sweaty. All I did was sit around and game.

    I noticed my hair falling into my eyes and wished there was time to get it cut. Mum had done my last few, and I really didn''t want to show up in Vegas with a bowl cut. Maybe I''d find a barber before I checked in at the event.

    "Yeah, I''m gonna be gone for a couple of days," I said.

    Mum set her tea down so hard it slopped over the rim of the cup. "What is going on?"

    "I''ve had an invite to participate in an important gaming tournament. Prizes are huge, Mum. You have no idea."

    "A tournament?" she repeated. We''d spoken in the past about the chance of me attending a tournament. It wasn''t likely, if I was honest. I wasn¡¯t a competitive gamer. Speedruns and phone exploits are okay for maintaining your Twitch stream, but it doesn''t get you on an eSports team.

    "This is sudden," she said. "Or have you been working on it for a while and not told me?"

    "Oh no, it''s sudden," I said. "But this is important, Mum. The tournament''s in Vegas."

    "Vegas." She had a blank look, then repeated, "Las Vegas? Like in the United States?"

    "Yeah, that Vegas."

    She shook her head. "You can''t go that far without any help."

    Now I was getting angry. "Mum, I am not a baby. I''m almost 17."

    ¡°¡¯Almost¡¯ is not how I''d put it, Colin. Your birthday was three months ago. And even if you were 17, that''s not legally an adult. Besides," she pointed out, "you don''t even have a passport."

    I hadn''t thought of that. It had been some time since I''d traveled, and that had just been to Northern Ireland. When I was younger, we''d gone abroad to Spain, but that was when we were still part of the EU and didn''t need a passport.

    "And what about money for your expenses?" Mum asked.

    "I''ve got money," I said. ¡°You don''t think I''m giving you all what I make on Twitch, do you?¡±

    "You''d need help, though," my mother said. "Even if you had a passport. For the airplanes and¡ª"

    "They deal with wheelchairs all the time, Mum," I said. "I''m sure they can help me out."

    "What''s this tournament about, then?¡± she asked.

    "It''s a big competition between different kinds of eSports players to see who''s the best," I said. "Winners get¡ª" I hesitated because I was worried it would cause Mum to go off entirely. "Winners get to go to Ganymede and be part of the Reality Engine."

    Her eyes flew wide. She covered her gasp with a hand. "Colin!"

    "Yeah, I know. It''s a long way."

    "Colin!" She shook her head. "You mean you''d be able to walk again?"

    "And move out of your flat, Mum, yeah."

    "Oh, love, you''re not a burden to us. You know you aren''t. Martin and I both agree. You can live with us for as long as you need to. But I''ve seen what that engine can do. I''ve thought about telling you to apply, but the idea of you going off forever¡ªand besides, I think they''re only taking terminal cases right now."

    "Yeah, well, this is different," I said. "So we''re agreed. I can go."

    "I still don''t see how you''re going to do it without a passport," Mum said.

    That was when the knock came.

 Bk 4 Ch 13: Flight Simulator

    Mum and I stared at each other in shock for a good half minute. The knock came again.

    "Are you expecting someone?" Mum hissed.

    I shook my head. "I don''t think so."

    She got up and went to the door, peering through the peephole, then turned back to me. "Some bird in a RAF uniform. There''s a posh car waiting out front, too."

    I blinked. This had to have something to do with my invitation to compete at the eSports tournament, surely. But I had no idea what. I shrugged. "Well, let her in, Mum. Can''t leave an officer of His Majesty''s Royal Air Force standing on our doorstep, can we?"

    Mum undid the latch and swung the door open. The sun was rising across the street and dazzled my eyes, so I didn''t get a good look at her until the woman had stepped inside and my Mum had closed the door behind her. She was totally gorgeous. Chestnut hair and curls cascading off her head. Her uniform curved in all the right places. Probably ten years older than me and even if I¡¯d not been in a wheelchair, I¡¯d have no chance with her, but a fellow can look, can¡¯t he?

    She held her cap under her arm as she looked around our kitchen. She saw me and her smile didn''t even falter as she took a step forward, offering her hand.

    "Mr. Trevelyan? I''m Flight Lieutenant Carter."

    I reached up and shook her hand. "Pleased to meet you. Sorry for not getting up," I said, gesturing at my chair.

    She nodded. "Understood. Mr. Trevelyan, I''m here to escort you to RAF Brize Norton for your transport."

    I blinked. "Wait, what?"

    Flight Lieutenant Carter turned to my mum. "You''ll be Mrs. Trevelyan, then?"

    ¡°It¡¯s Mrs. Higgins now," Mum said. "But I''m his mum, right enough.¡±

    "I understand your son is underage, and ordinarily we would like to have a parent or guardian accompany him on a trip like this, but this is a matter of not just national, but worldwide security.¡±

    Mum shook her head. "Colin? National security?¡±

    ¡°Has he explained to you about this tournament?"

    ¡°A bit." My mum shook herself, clearly trying to regain her composure. "You like a cuppa?"

    "Yes, certainly, Mrs. Higgins."

    "Well, pull up a chair then," Mum gestured at the empty seat at our table while she went and fetched down a clean mug from the cupboard. Moments later, she poured the flight lieutenant a steaming cup of tea.

    Carter wrapped her long, pale fingers around the mug. I found I was staring at her face, looked away, and found I was staring at her chest instead. That wasn''t any better, so I returned to her face. She had truly piercing blue eyes and an intent look as she studied me.

    "Mr. Trevelyan.¡±

    ¡°Um, just Colin," I said. It sucked having a gorgeous older woman calling me Mr. Trevelyan. It made me feel like I was back in short pants and the teacher was scolding me in class.

    "Colin, then," Carter''s face softened as she studied me. "We received notice that you had accepted the invitation. I take it you''re packed and ready to go?"

    "I am," I said. "My bags are just in there."

    She started to get up, but Mum shook her head. "I''ll fetch ''em," she said, and stepped through the bead curtain into the sitting room.

    Carter looked me over. "What kind of accommodations do you need?" she asked bluntly.

    I was taken aback. I wasn''t used to people asking me such questions outright.

    "Sorry, what?"

    "I want to make sure that we''ve taken your needs into account. I''m afraid the Royal Air Force doesn''t do much in the way of handicap accessibility," she gestured at my wheelchair.

    "Oh, right.¡± I cleared my throat. "My injury¡¯s in L3, that''s the lower lumbar," I added at the characteristic blank look on her face, "means I''ve got use of my upper body, as you can see." I demonstrated by picking up my mug and taking a sip. "I''ve got some ability to hold myself up and feeling in my upper thighs and pelvis."

    Somehow my words caught up to me after I''d spoken, and I found myself blushing horribly. I thought about assuring her that even if I did have feeling in my pelvis, I wasn''t trying to come on to her. Then decided that I was being an awkward, socially inept gamer, and she''d never have thought I was coming on to her in the first place unless I said something so horribly awkward. The silence stretch for far too long.

    Mum came back carrying my bags. "I''ll just set these on the step," she said, and opened the door.

    Flight Lieutenant Carter glanced at her watch. "I''m afraid we''re on a tight schedule. I''ll need to get us moving shortly."

    That''s when my stepdad poked his head into the room. I hadn''t even heard him coming down the stairs. He stared around from me to Flight Lieutenant Carter to my mum as she came back inside. His face fell. "She here questioning you about your internet searches?" he asked.

    "What?" Flight Lieutenant Carter asked.

    "Boy been getting up to something he oughtn¡¯t? We like to let him have the streaming as an outlet, seeing as he can''t get out and play sports. But if he''s been looking at ought he shouldn''t, we''ll put a stop on it."

    "No, Mr. Higgins, nothing of the sort. Your stepson has been invited to participate in an extremely important event, and I''m here to help escort him to that event."

    My stepdad blinked. He turned to my mum, who nodded.

    "That''s right, Malcolm. Colin''s been invited to participate in an e-sports tournament for a chance at winning a trip to the reality engine."

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    His eyes went wide in his big, placid face. "The reality engine?" he breathed. "No way. No fucking way."

    "Malcolm," Mum scolded.

    "Sorry, dear. I just mean, for what? For playing games?"

    "He has exactly the sort of expertise that''s needed at this moment in history," Flight Lieutenant Carter said. "Whether he makes it or not is another matter, but it''s considered a matter of national¡ªnay, international importance that he be given the chance. If you''ll excuse me, we really need to be going."

    Mum and Flight Lieutenant Carter maneuvered my chair out of the house. It was the collapsible sort, folding for easy transport. I levered myself into the car and watched as Mum and Flight Lieutenant Carter loaded the chair and my luggage into the boot of the car. Mum leaned in and gave me an embarrassing peck on my cheek.

    "You do us proud, Colin."

    "I''ll do my best, Mum."

    There were tears in her eyes, though I don''t think she meant me to see. She blinked and stood back from the door. Flight Lieutenant Carter closed it and got into the driver''s seat. Seconds later we were pulling away from a council row house I''d lived in most of my life.

    I said nothing as we drove through the estate and then past the skate park where one stupid stunt three years ago had cost me my legs and my hopes for the future in less time than I liked to think. We were soon out of the city and heading south.

    "We have one more stop to make," Flight Lieutenant Carter said, ¡°collecting another young man nearby.¡±

    "Oh?"

    "Yes, he''s apparently hot stuff in the Fortnite world."

    I snorted. "Fortnite? Really?"

    Flight Lieutenant Carter shrugged. "That''s what I''m told. Me, I''m more a Microsoft Flight Simulator kind of gal myself, but to each his own, I suppose."

    The Fortnite kid was younger than me. He was fourteen and his mother was blubbering as Flight Lieutenant Carter maneuvered him into the back seat next to me, leaving behind a dismal block of council flats. He looked me over, shook his head, and stared out the window. He had short cropped blonde hair and a snub nose. Say nothing of the attitude.

    "What''s your game then?" he asked me when we were on the road again. "Minecraft?"

    "I don''t have one specialty," I said. "I''m a speed runner, and exploiter. I do a lot of streaming. Handle¡¯s the ColinTrev.¡±

    He shook his head. "Never heard of you, but I don''t do that speed runner shit. It''s all well and good to compete against computer programs, but if you''re not taking on other blokes, it¡¯s really not gaming, innit?¡±

    I decided to let it slide. I''d been a hothead at that age, bitter about my accident and determined to prove myself. I''d had a really nasty run of gaming myself then. The sort where I got banned from two different games for trash talking in lobbies.

    That was when I got into exploits. Nobody complained when you clipped through walls in single-person games, but teabag the wrong punk and you risked losing your whole account.

    It was near noon by the time we arrived at the RAF Station. Flight Lieutenant Carter was waved through the gates with a quick look at her credentials, and we drove straight to a hangar off of one of the airstrips.

    Outside the hangar was an enormous C-17 with the loading ramp down. It was way bigger in real life than on the telly. Its wings drooped down to either side, weighed down with the enormous engines, its body squat and heavy.

    A dozen or so people milled around on the tarmac. From the look, they were fellow gamers. There was a girl a little older than me with stark black hair in two pigtails and a choker collar around her neck paired with a bright pink miniskirt. A couple more guys in their mid-twenties, and then, of all things, an old lady, probably forty or more, with her hair up in a bun and a pantsuit that looked like it was left over from the nineties when my Mum was a girl. Maybe she was one of our handlers.

    Carter stopped the car, and Fortnite Kid hopped out. He grabbed his bags and set off for the ramp without a backward look. Carter came over to my door. She set up my chair and I pulled myself into it.

    An airman came over and grabbed the handles on my chair. I wanted to protest but the ramp looked intimidating. Another took my bags but I held on to the backpack. I winced as the chair bounced up the bumpy ramp.

    I hadn''t been on an airplane since the trip we made to Ireland when I was a kid, back when I still had my legs, and that was a cheap discount airline, the sort where you pay for your bags separate. Most of what I remember from that experience was the fight my Mum had had with the boarding lady over whether her handbag was too big to count as a personal item.

    It had, however, been significantly more luxurious than this. The inside of the C-17''s cargo bay a huge empty void, all metal and straps. Some of the bulkhead was covered in nets hung from the ceiling made of inch-wide webbing. There were eight people aboard already, and they''d pulled down jump seats from the walls, simple grey affairs that looked ridiculously uncomfortable. The floor of the airplane was even worse, covered in rollers, slots and tiedown pockets. It jarred my back as the airmen wheeled me down the hold. The man muttered an apology.

    Halfway down the cargo hold, he came to such an abrupt stop that I dropped my bag. A girl sat in one of the uncomfortable-looking seats in front of me. She reached down and handed my my bag as the airmen busied themselves strapping down my chair.

    "Thanks," I said. The girl looked me over.

    ¡°You alright?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine,¡± I said. ¡°Is this flight direct, or...¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°I think so. I really don¡¯t know. Sorry, I didn''t get my details until three days ago."

    I laughed. "Three days? Try five hours."

    "Really?" She blinked at me. "I''m from Team Harmony. We¡¯ve been working toward this for months now.¡±

    I recognized that name, the biggest eSports organization in Europe. They¡¯d sponsored pro teams across a number of different games. "Awesome," I said. "What''s your game?"

    "Veilfire.¡± She was wearing a Team Harmony sports jersey in purple and orange. I guessed she was in her early twenties, with brown hair falling across her face.

    I whistled. It was the new, hot game, having attracted a couple hundred million players in the last eight months. I''d heard about a big Veilfire tournament being held in Poland a few weeks back, but the game didn''t have a PvE mode, so I''d never looked into it. Wall-hacks and exploits were cheating in PvP.

    "Name''s Amber," she said. "How about you?"

    "I''m Colin," I said. "I do exploits."

    She blinked. "Wait, are you Colin Trev?"

    "I am.¡± I said. My heart sped up. A cute pro eSports player knew who I was!

    "I watched your speedrun of Hammer Fortress 3. Thought it was some good shit. Thought you were older, too.¡±

    That was a stream I''d done six months ago. Not my best work, but it had gone viral on YouTube. I grinned. "Glad you enjoyed it."

    ¡°I didn''t know they were inviting exploiters,¡± she said. "I''ll be meeting the rest of my crew once we get to Vegas. How about you?"

    "I really have no idea," I said. "I only got the message from Captain Williams this morning, like I said."

    "Captain Williams?" She seemed puzzled. "Who''s that? Flight Captain Williams? I thought our flight captain was..."

    I shook my head. "No, from the reality engine. The one who''s been breaking shit on Earth¡¯s behalf."

    "Oh." Realization floated her face, and then she frowned. "He called you directly? Why?"

    ¡°It was a recording, not a real call,¡± I said, feeling awkward about the whole thing.

    "And this morning? The rest of us have been working on our slots for weeks now. My team had to beat out a bunch of others to win this at the Katowice tournament last month."

    "Yeah, I heard about that tournament.¡± I hadn''t realized that a slot at this event was on the line there. Apparently I''d missed out on more than I thought. I probably shouldn''t have muted so much of my social media.

    Now I pulled out my phone. "I''m gonna let my Mum know we''re taking off now," I said. Amber turned back to her own devices.

    I sent Mum a quick text, then opened my Discord and checked my channel. I had hundreds of messages and dozens of new members waiting to be approved. I quickly promoted two of my most trusted followers to mods and sent them quick messages asking them to keep an eye on things. then posted a selfie of me on the plane. Then I wondered whether perhaps I shouldn''t, but nobody had told me not to, so I thought I was good.

    A moment later, a man in uniform appeared up the ramp. As he did, it closed up behind him. He shouted over the noise as the engines picked up their tempo.

    "Welcome, gamers," he called. "We''re pleased to have you aboard. Next stop is Vegas. I''m afraid that we are not up to the luxurious standards of civilian air travel, but on the plus side, this is footed by the taxpayers.¡±

    That got a bit of a laugh out of everyone.

    "We will feed you, unfortunately, military rations, same as my crew and I will be eating. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. Hope you brought your headphones, this beast gets loud. See you in Vegas!¡±

    We all cheered. As the plane taxied onto the runway, I wondered just what I''d gotten myself into.

 Bk 4 Ch 14: New Vegas

    I jolted awake. Someone was yelling at us. I blinked the sleep back from my eyes and straightened up. The flight lieutenant who had overseen the airmen tending to our needs this whole trip was back, shouting over the roar of the engines.

    "We''ll be arriving at Nellis in approximately 10 minutes. You¡¯re in luck. We are landing from the west so if you''re interested in getting a look at the Greater Mojave spaceport, find a window and take a look.¡±

    A couple of my fellow passengers unstrapped at once, leaping up, stretching, complaining about cramps. I would very much have liked to see the spaceport. Even a shut-in like me had heard about the transformation of a huge swath of the American desert into the largest spaceport on Earth, with transport up into orbit now costing less than a transatlantic flight. There were dozens, maybe hundreds of spacecraft leaving every day. The vast open stretches made a good place to launch from.

    My seatmate, Amber, got up. She looked at me and gave a semi-apologetic shrug. I shook my head. "Take a pic and show me," I said. The windows were tiny and widely spaced down the cargo hold. The nearest ones had a crowd around them already.

    She pulled out her phone and gave me a thumbs up. I leaned back and closed my eyes, trying not to resent it. It was hard.

    I''d worked with disability educators and advocates, some of whom had been in wheelchairs or worse. One of my pen pals, back when I first hurt my back, was a full-on quadriplegic. He had to communicate using nothing but his mouth to move a cursor and peck out messages letter by letter, or more lately, voice-to-text technology.

    They''d told me to accept that I was going to be angry sometimes about my injury. That was fine, but that there was nothing I could do about it, and I was going to have to find a way to accept it sooner or later. Only it''s hard when you''re a 13-year-old kid who''s just been told he''ll never kick a football again, to put yourself in that kind of mindset.

    The world''s not built for people in wheelchairs. My favorite tea shop, the one Mum and I always went to every Thursday afternoon after school, had a door too narrow to get my chair through, and a nasty high stone step that was impossible to navigate with my walker. My school had only had a single bathroom stall wide enough for me to use, and half the time the other boys had clogged the toilet on purpose. I''d missed out on every school trip and field day for my year nine.

    I think Mum understood, and that was why she hadn''t put up too much of a fuss when I said I was done with school and started streaming. At least on the internet, I was as fast and as capable as anyone else.

    But now, now I had a chance to take back what I''d lost. To get my legs back, to have my life back. But at what cost? I knew what they said: go to a reality engine and you didn''t come back. Whatever magic it worked to rebuild bodies, you were dependent on. There were implications there I didn''t like. But on the other hand, my legs back. That was worth a lot. Maybe even never seeing Mum again.

    I banished that thought as we tilted sharply. The airmen returned and urged everyone back to their seats. Five minutes later, we were on the ground. The ramp opened with a long, loud whine of engines. Hot, dry air rushed into the plane to meet us.

    Everyone else trooped off, and then an airman came and unstrapped my chair.I started to roll it toward the rear ramp but quickly got stuck in a floor slot.

    The airman gave me what was probably a sympathetic smile.

    "Long flight like that stiffens you up like nobody''s business," he said. "I''ll help you."

    He grabbed the handles and freed my chair easily. I was wheeled off the RAF C-17 by the big black airman in RAF blues, holding up my hand to shield my eyes from the sun. I¡¯d never seen sun so bright and piercing. There wasn''t a cloud in the sky overhead. A bird circled. I assumed it must be a vulture, here to feast on the bodies of the unsuspecting Brits who''d come to such a godforsaken hellhole.

    My mouth was parched at once. As we left the aircraft, we were greeted by American airmen. One of them, a cute woman, with three stripes on her uniform sleeve, handed me a plastic bottle of water. She was handing them out to everyone. The water was icy cold. I twisted the cap and guzzled half of it down.

    "That''s the spirit," she encouraged me. Her accent was a Texas drawl I''d never heard anywhere outside a Hollywood movie. "If you''re out in this sun for long, you need plenty of water. And a hat and sunscreen," she added, her eyes going to my pale arms.

    I felt like a complete muppet as I muttered my thanks. The airman wheeled me over to a line of waiting identical black SUVs, more than enough for the couple dozen gamers on my plane.

    The last vehicle in line was a big Ford Transit van. They wheeled me over to it. To my surprise, it had a wheelchair lift. They opened the doors and pulled me right up, wheeled me on, cinched down my wheelchair.

    There were three banks of seats, mostly full. Heads turned to look at me. A bunch of impassive young Asian guys stared. I raised a hand and smiled.

    "How''s it going?" I said.

    They looked at each other, shook their heads. One of them said something. I didn''t know what language it was. Not Chinese, I was pretty sure.

    A minute later, a pair of Caucasian men climbed into the van, taking the last two seats. One sat right in front of me. Apparently the Asian fellows knew them because they started talking animatedly. The Caucasians answered back. The one in front of me turned and grinned. He was a tall man, probably in his forties, with dark hair and a pointed nose.

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    "I hope it''s not inconvenient to have you on this van with us," he said cheerfully. "They wanted to transport the whole Starcraft team as a group so that Nick and I could ride with them and translate. This is the only accessible van, I guess." He sounded American to me.

    I let out a sigh of relief. "Sure, I was just worried I was going to be on a van full of people who didn''t speak English and no idea what''s going on here. You gamers?"

    The guy in front of me shook his head. "Nick and I are professional casters. Mostly for Starcraft and Starcraft 2. We''ve both spent time in South Korea and speak the language a bit."

    "Oh, so they''re South Korean. That''s good to know."

    The doors behind me opened and another wheelchair user was loaded in. She was a woman in her thirties. Small, maybe even shrunken in on herself if I was being overly descriptive. She introduced herself as "Aurelie" in heavily French-accented English. I assumed she was from France until she explained she was Quebecois. The Canadians had just landed a transport of their own, it seemed. The eSports guy in front of me said he¡¯d been on it ¨C so he wasn¡¯t a Yank after all, but a good Commonwealth subject.

    With our van full, the convoy set off. I counted at least 15 big black SUVs in front of us.

    "Americans sure know how to run the logistics," I commented as we made our way through the Air Force Base.

    The Koreans were pointing out the window and saying something.

    "What are they on about?" I asked the eSports caster in front of me.

    He shook his head and grinned. "They''re hoping to catch a glimpse of the alien spacecraft."

    "Aren''t those all out at the spaceport?¡±

    He shook his head. "They mean from Area 51. That''s attached to the Nellis range, you know."

    "Wait, there really is an Area 51?" I said. "I thought that was like Roswell, just made up internet stuff."

    "There''s an Area 51, there''s an Area 52, and an Area 50 as well. It''s just the designation for different swaths of the test ranges. But yeah, that''s here. Way to the north though."

    I peered in front of us.

    What had started out as a drive down a boring city street, just a bit more brown than back home, was turning into something much brighter.

    I''ve been to London plenty of times. Mostly when I was younger, but once or two times since my accident. We went to Seville on vacation, and to Glasgow once. I know what a city is.

    Vegas is not a city. Vegas is madness. A delusion. Buildings shot out of the desert. Ridiculously tall, 10, even 20 stories, all lit in garish neon colors. There was a huge pyramid, and an enormous globe. An Eiffel Tower.

    I stared. The South Koreans pointed and yelled excitedly as we passed hotels with famous names: Mirage, Cosmopolitan, Caesar''s Palace, Venetian. We drove past the fountains of water at the Bellagio, cascading and falling in defiance of the desert around them, before reaching our destination, the Galaxy.

    It was a two-tower hotel, with one tower rising up 20 stories, and the other at least 30. It was built of some jet-black material adorned with shining stars all over it. The windows were tinted and reflected the lights of Vegas back down to us.

    We pulled up in front. There was an enormous star painted on the concrete of the entry area, and half a dozen hypercars parked in front of the doors. A McLaren, a Lamborghini, an Aston Martin, two different Ferraris, and a car I couldn''t even identify, but guessed had to be worth at least half a million pounds.

    We waited in the line as each SUV unloaded its cargo of gamers, who stood gawking in front of the doors until shepherded in by our escorts. At last it was our turn. The Starcraft players and their translators/casters got out the front as Aurelie and I waited for someone to finally come and get us out the back. Once on the pavement, I took control of my chair and wheeled myself in through the vast doors.

    They had big automatic doors, more than wide enough for me and Aurelie to go in side by side. We wheeled into the casino, right into the midst of the babbling crowd of gamers. I stared around in awe. Everything was bright colors, gold, red, purples and blues, banks of flashing slot machines stood everywhere beeping and rattling and letting out little electronic songs.

    I watched a fat middle-aged American woman play. She leaned in, intent on nothing but the spinning dials in front of her. They came up star, star, circle. She didn''t even look disappointed, just put in another quarter and pulled the lever again for the next try.

    Some of the gamblers were smoking. Others had drinks in their hands. One woman had a little poodle in a service dog vest curled up at her feet. I started to wonder if there were exploits for gaming machines like these and if so, how I could test it out without getting in trouble. On the plus side, if some Vegas mob goons did decide to break my legs, at least I mostly wouldn''t feel it.

    "All right, everyone here?" a man near the front of the crowd shouted. "We''ll take you to the tournament grounds now. You¡¯re already checked in and we¡¯ll hand out room assignments later. Don''t worry, your luggage has already been taken care of."

    "Yes, we can stop by the bathrooms first," he said in answer to a question from the front that I hadn''t heard. That was a relief.

    Even more of a relief, the bathroom was handicap accessible. Everything here was big and shiny and smelled like perfume. I wheeled back into the hall and waited as the rest of us gathered. The carpet was red and gold with a swirling design. There were no windows anywhere, just rows and rows of slot machines. I started trying to make a map and spot the service entrances and hidden that would make a place like this work.

    We navigated the confusing maze of the casino, passing through gaming rooms and past roulette wheels, down corridors that looked like they ought to lead to a service elevator, only to find ourselves in another opulent gaming section.

    I heard one of the guys near me mutter, "Hope they give us guides to this place. I''m never going to be able to find my way back to the front desk." I rolled my eyes at that. Keeping track of where you were and building up a mental map was the essence of gaming for me. I''d found multiple wall hacks when I realized that a group of designers had taken an easy way out and modeled maps from different acts of the game right next to each other. A quick ghost step or flesh to mist spell would often let me slip from a level one kobold dungeon right to the act four boss antechamber. After that, of course, I''d have to find a way to defeat the boss, seriously underleveled. But that was the fun of speedruns and exploiting games: finding the combination of spells and abilities that no designer had ever expected anyone to use and then enjoying the results.

    I had already spotted the path we were taking through the casino was a zig-zag pattern. I was certain we could¡¯ve gotten where we were going at least three other, faster, ways.

    The casino gave way to a conference center, the broad hallway echoed with our voices. Most of my fellow gamers seemed pretty excited about this. We strode past closed doors, each with electronic screens outside. All of the screens displayed "Joint Task Force Ganymede welcomes the All Earth Invitational E-Sports Tournament" There was a logo under it showing Jupiter, mostly eclipsed by a large moon. The words "Auctoritas non veritas facit mundos" under it wrapped around on a banner. We tried to translate, but my school had been heavy on the "responsible global citizenship," light on the Latin, so other than the obvious use of ¡°mundos or ¡°world,¡± I was lost.

    ¡°Ready to get started?¡± our escort called. ¡°Right through here!¡±

 Bk 4 Ch 15: PUBG

    We were ushered into a large open room with a row of tables down the left side. The arrivals formed into a queue. It was embarrassingly sloppy, with lots of people chatting and moving up or down a couple of places as they recognized others.

    The tables were manned by four uniformed service members, all wearing the JTF Ganymede patch. Amelie and I wheeled ourselves to the end and crept forward as the queue shuffled along.

    I was starting to come down off of my excitement at being here in Vegas and feeling the exhaustion of the last day catching up with me. I tried to calculate how long I had been up and moving. I checked my phone. 1600 local time. I tried to remember how many time zones I had just crossed and came up with eight. So, back home it would be midnight. I hadn''t slept at all the night before. Not after my stream ended and I got the message from Captain Williams. And I''d gotten up that morning fairly early for me, around ten o''clock. I¡¯d hoped to nap on the plane, but you try sleeping in a wheelchair strapped down in the cargo hold of a C-17.  So, I''d been on the move for¡­ math failed me again. I decided to call it a day and a half. I was just completely knackered. All I wanted was to go find my room and sleep for a week.

    The arrivals ahead of me were now spreading out through the room. Doors lined the walls. This was one of those conference rooms that could be reconfigured to various sizes. The eight doors along the long wall to my right might let into eight different rooms or one giant one. Straight ahead of me were a pair of really big doors propped open. I could hear occasional voices from that room, even over the hubbub of our crowd, cheering excitedly. A little sign over those doors read ¡°Galaxy Ballroom¡±. The eight smaller doors read ¡°Andromeda 1 through 8¡±.

    I reached the table. The American private looked down at his lists. "Name?" he said, sounding bored.

    "Colin Trevelyan."

    He ran a finger down a list, flipping its pages until he got to the Ts. "Here you are." He reached under his table and pulled out a packet, handing it to me. "Your ID''s in there. You''ll want to wear it at all times. You''ve got a schedule as well as all the information you need.¡± He indicated the next spot in line.

    I rolled along to face a female airman. Airwoman? I wasn¡¯t sure. She held out her hand. "Cell phone, please."

    I had my cell phone in my shirt pocket, but I hesitated. "Why do you want it?" I really didn''t want to be stranded in a foreign country with no means of communicating with anyone.

    "We''ll get you on the local network so you''re not getting roaming charges."

    "Oh." I pulled it out and handed it over.

    She had a device with her, something like an old-fashioned credit card reader. She set my cell phone on top of it and tapped the buttons. "Right. Your old phone number will forward to this seamlessly. Nobody will even notice the difference. You''ve got an American phone number now, too. You can call that up in your settings to see. Honestly, the cell network can be a little dodgy here around the casinos. Everybody''s hitting it hard. We''ve got a private wireless system set up here in the conference room. You''ve got information in your packet about how to access that. In the hotel room, your best bet will probably be the hotel wireless."

    "It''s all right," I said. "Don''t expect to be making a whole lot of calls here. Thanks.¡±

    I rolled down to the next station and received a red envelope. I noticed most of the others were getting white envelopes, but Amelie, just behind me, was also handed a red. I hung back and asked the Marine, "What''s with this?" I held it up.

    "These are room assignments, key cards, that sort of thing. You two have accessible accommodations. Some of our others have special requests as well, so we''ve got those envelopes separate so they''re easier to find."

    "Ah, thanks." I felt a little uncomfortable being singled out, but that was a whole hell of a lot better than being asked to use a room that wasn''t set up for my chair or walker.

    The final station was another Army private, female this time. She held out a wristband. It was metal, not plastic, and as it snapped around my wrist, I asked, "What''s that?"

    "This will record all of your results for easy reference later. We''ve got everything stored in the cloud as well. It pulls your game data straight down from whatever station you''re at. You can play it back later for review."

    I touched the cool metal with two fingers. "Is this, like, alien tech?"

    "It''s something they licensed us and was built at the Reality Engine."

    My eyes went wide. I''d seen a few advertisements for knickknacks created at the Reality Engine. They didn''t do much. Some of them interfaced with your streaming music like a smartwatch. But they went for a fantastic price because of where they''d come from. This little item likely cost as much as my whole flight across the pond.

    "Do I get to keep it?"

    She shook her head. "Those get turned in at the end of your time here. Win or lose." Then she reached under the table and brought up a nice black gear bag with a zipper on it. The JTF Ganymede patch featured prominently. ¡°This is sized for your keyboard, mouse and headset. We¡¯re assuming everyone brought their own but if you¡¯re lacking, let us know and we¡¯ll supply it.¡±

    ¡°Uh, wow.¡± I grabbed the bag and set it on my lap. ¡°Thanks.¡± My own gear was in my luggage, which was hopefully in a room somewhere waiting for me.

    I rolled away from the row of tables. Another group of players were just coming in behind me. They had the same sort of shell-shocked look I was sure was present on my face. I guessed they were likely newly arrived in Vegas like me.

    A uniformed serviceman approached me. "Mr. Trevelyan," he said politely, "I''m here to see if you need any additional help."

    Again, I was too tired to be offended. "Honestly, yes," I said, "mostly in figuring out what I have to do next."

    "Let''s pull out your schedule and check," he said. He directed me to the top item on my envelope of handouts. Then grinned. "Good news. You¡¯re free until orientation tomorrow. What do you want now? Lights of Vegas or some downtime?"

    "I want to sleep," I said fervently. "I haven''t slept in two days."

    "Want me to help you up to your room?"

    I checked the man''s name and rank. "Thanks, Sergeant Jones. I''d love that."

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    I glanced over at Amelie. Another servicemember, a woman in Canadian uniform, was bending over her, so I decided I was good to go.

    "What''s your room number?" Private Jones asked me.

    I pulled out my card envelope and opened it up. Inside were two room keys and a folded paper. I opened it up. "North Tower 1137." It also contained information about how to access the Wi-Fi network and other amenities. I folded it up, retained one key card, and stuffed the envelope into my larger stack. The private grabbed the handles of my wheelchair and started to move.

    ¡°Hope you¡¯re enjoying Vegas, Mr. Trevelyan."

    I felt a little uncomfortable being called "Mr. Trevelyan" by somebody three or four years older than me. "Um, just Colin is fine."

    I could hear the man''s smile. "My name''s Sam.¡±

    ¡°Thanks for the help, Sam."

    "Not a problem. Been getting people set up all day." He wheeled me quickly back through the conference room to the casino floor and then through the maze of slots to an elevator.

    "Just a warning, Colin. They''re not watching that closely to make sure nobody underage gambles, but they will make sure you don''t get to keep your winnings."

    "Thanks for the advice," I said as our elevator opened.

    I pulled out the ID I''d been given downstairs. It had my picture on it. It looked fairly recent, moreso than any of my school IDs would have been. I wondered where they''d gotten it from. I had a shorter haircut in the picture. My real hair was hanging down across in my eyes. Maybe I''d have to see if there was something I could do about that later. Right now I was desperate for bed.

    My ID listed my name, with "Colin" in smaller letters than "Trevelyan." There was a Union Jack under it and a gold star with a red border. "What''s this for?" I asked, holding up the ID and tapping on the star.

    Jones sounded a bit puzzled as he answered. "I''ve seen that red border on other people''s stars. It means maybe in need of additional assistance. I hope you''re not offended."

    I waved it off. "Nah, nah. This chair''s a pain in the ass." Sometimes literally.

    He laughed at that. "But the gold star, I don''t know. It''s usually blue, meaning you''re a contender for a slot on the reality engine." He pulled out an ID and held it up for me to see. It had his own name and picture, as well as his rank, and a black star on it, as well as the American flag. "This means I''m an assistant, here to help smooth the process along."

    The back of my ID bore the "Joint Task Force Ganymede" crest on it yet again. There was a lanyard in my bag, bright yellow. The lanyard had a sleeve on it that my ID fit into, with a space behind it for other cards. I slipped it in and hung it around my neck.

    The elevator was smooth as glass. We rode up the 11 stories without a hitch. When we rolled off, I noted the big red "Fire Exit" signs to my left. I hoped I wouldn''t need them. Trying to get down 11 flights of stairs would be a bitch. Sam wheeled me to my room. He held the keycard up to the magnetic lock, and it opened. He pushed me inside.

    There was an enormous king-size bed, a telly, and a desk by the window with a pair of chairs. But more importantly, the bathroom had a wide door and a shower stall that I could have wheeled my chair right into. The loo had a hand bar beside it, and the sink was in two sections. One a normal sink height, the other lower, where somebody seated could use it.

    I''d never seen anything like this before. The couple of times Mum had tried to take me on holiday since my accident had been a nightmare of trying to navigate tiny, crowded bathrooms at bed and breakfasts.

    "Does this look like it''ll do?" Sam asked.

    ¡°Ah, yeah," I said. He left me and went over to the window, pulled it open, flooding the room with light. I blinked and wheeled myself over. I was 11 floors up, staring down at the famous Vegas Strip. From here, I could see casinos stretching away on both sides of me. I couldn''t spot the big glass pyramid from here, but the shining facades and elaborate signs were enough to floor me.

    "This is brilliant.¡±

    "Yeah, it''s pretty lit," Sam agreed. "It''s been worth being part of the project just to see all this, even if I never get off Earth.¡±

    ¡°You hoping to go up, too? Even knowing you can¡¯t come back?¡± I asked as I wheeled myself over to check on my pile of belongings.

    ¡°Absolutely. I want to see what¡¯s out there.¡±

    My valise full of t-shirts and jeans, sat on top of my travel bag. I opened the up and checked everything was there. Keyboard, mouse, headset. Looked to be in one piece.

    ¡°Glad you let us bring our own equipment,¡± I said as I moved the stuff to my new gearbag. I dug out my USB stick. "How about these? They''re keyboard macros. If I''m using a different computer, I''ll need to load them on."

    "Oh yeah, everybody''s doing that. We''ve got all the standard keyboard controller software installed." He glanced at my gear and nodded. "Yeah, we got your keyboard and mouse manufacturer software both."

    ¡°Great.¡± I felt a grin spread across my face. This was going to be fun.

    "Anything else I can do for you, Colin?" Sam asked.

    I hesitated. "Look, I''m really tired, and I need to sleep, but what I''d like is a quick bite before bed.¡±

    "Not a problem," he said. "We''ve got room service covered. Here." He handed me a menu. My mouth started watering. We''d had Army rations on the plane, but MREs suck. "What do you want?" He looked conspiratorially at me. "If it''s a beer, I''ll order it for you. Anything hard no, but one beer¡¯s ok.¡±

    "Oh, right. I forgot you Yanks have stupid laws about underage drinking." I shook my head. "No, just this burger and chips."

    His brow wrinkled as I pointed at the menu item. "It''s that British thing, isn''t it? We call them fries over here."

    "Sure, whatever," I said.

    "You want ketchup with that?"

    I nearly gagged. "No, thanks.¡± What was with Americans and their insistence on putting ketchup on chips? "But I''ll take some malt vinegar if they''ve got it in the kitchen."

    Sam looked more perplexed than ever as he shrugged, picked up the phone, and gave the order. "It should be up here in ten minutes. They''ll leave it outside your door, if you don¡¯t answer.¡±

    "Perfect," I said. I wanted a shower, and I thought I could just about manage it.

    ¡°Want me to arrange for one of the guys on duty tomorrow to come by and give you a hand downstairs?"

    I thought about saying no, but my wheelchair was kind of a pain in the ass to wheel through all these crowded corridors. Sam must have seen the indecision on my face.

    ¡°Right, so we need to get you better wheels. I¡¯ll have a proper powered wheelchair up here before breakfast.¡±

    My eyes widened. I hadn''t even thought of asking for such an accommodation. "That won¡¯t be a problem down in the tournament area?"

    "If it is, we''ll move things. You guys get everything you need. Need, I mean. Not everything you want. I had one guy ask me to arrange for a hooker to come up to his room. Told him to figure that out on his own.¡±

    "What makes it a need?¡±

    ¡°Something that''s going to interfere with you competing at your best and showing us what you''re made of, absolutely. We''ll get it taken care of. I''ll arrange for them to have the chair up here at, say, 7? Is that good for you? Be sure to order a nice big breakfast. But be sure you''re on time. If you have any kind of problems and need help, there''s a number in that packet to text and ask.¡±

    "Got it," I said. "Thanks, Sam. I''ll see you around."

    "Hey, what''s your gamer handle?"

    "I''m @theColinTrev on Twitch."

    He pulled out his own phone, tapped a few buttons. "There. I''m your newest fan. You''ve got a good following, don''t you? Up to 16k."

    My mouth fell open. "16k?" I''d had half that the last time I checked. Word must have gotten out about me competing in the tournament.  "So, is this all hush-hush, or can I talk about it in Discord?"

    "Discord?" He blinked. "Hell, Colin, you get down there early enough in the morning, you can log into Twitch and stream what''s going on. This is advertisement. We want more people just like you signing up as potential recruits. It''s been pretty heavily military so far, but what I''m hearing from the top down is we''re trying to expand into the civilian population."

    "Oh." I mumbled.

    "So yeah. Upload a vid tonight to let ''em know that you''ll be on in the morning."

    Sam gave me a friendly wave and left me. By the time I''d recovered from my surprise, my food arrived with a knock at the door. I wheeled over, took it from the resplendently uniformed bellhop, and wheeled back over to the desk where I ate wearily, staring at the bright lights of Vegas. This being October, the sun was already starting to go down, suffusing the sky with oranges and reds.

    I finished, and then wheeled myself over to the bathroom. It took everything left in me to have a quick shower and then get myself into the bed.

    I didn''t bother dressing, just hoped we didn''t have a fire alarm in the night. Bad enough to have to get carried down 11 flights of stairs, but if the emergency services people had to carry my naked arse, I think I''d just stay here and burn.

 Bk 4 Ch 16: Opening Ceremonies

    At 7:50 the next morning, I was downstairs in the big room where we''d all checked in last night. The row of tables was gone, replaced by a refreshment stand offering three different kinds of coffee and hot water for the sad, disappointing tea bags. I poured some water; it was, of course, much too hot, but I made myself a cup of scalded tea, adding milk and sugar after it was ready.

    The powered wheelchair was awesome. I''ve been wanting a powered chair for the last two years, and my name was on a waiting list with the NIH, but likely I was going to have to wait until I was done growing in order to get one. It was a bit of a pain to back up, as I''d learned when using the elevator a few minutes ago. But on the whole, I loved it.

    I had my keyboard, mouse, and headset shoved into the bag they¡¯d issued me, looped over one armrest. Now I pushed through the big room, the crowd giving way. I heard a couple of rude comments as I went past. Somebody said, ¡°Guck mal, ein Kr¨¹ppel!¡± but I ignored him.

    My schedule said I was to report to Galaxy Hall for our initial briefing. At 5 minutes till 8, the doors were flung wide, and we all streamed in. I resisted an urge to make "beep beep" noises as I advanced through the throng on my chair.

    The inside of the room was a vast sea of seats grouped into 5 banks, each 20 seats wide and 30 rows altogether. The seats started to fill up as we pushed further in. A bunch of the newcomers were young men and women in uniforms, with rank markings and flags from all over the world. Well, mostly the NATO parts of it. Even an alien invasion hadn¡¯t made all the big boys start playing nice. There were more than a couple with prosthetic limbs and bad burn scars. I started to feel not quite so out of place.

    I made my way to the front, where some of the seats were missing from the first row to leave holes for chairs like mine. I parked my chair and stared up at the enormous screens beside the portable stage in front of me. I waited as the auditorium filled behind me. Two more wheelchair users joined me up front, a woman wearing a US Air Force uniform and a bloke in civvies.

    At 8:15, there was a fanfare, and four people strode out onto the stage. All of them were wearing military uniforms. One was a woman in an Air Marshal''s uniform. I recognized her. Air Marshall Hatfield had been appointed head of the Joint Task Force Ganymede two weeks before. I¡¯d read all about her in a news article over my breakfast. She would be leaving for Ganymede in two days with the initial squadron deployment. I supposed I should feel honored she was visiting us gamers before she left.

    The other three were all American military men. Two tall, middle-aged, muscular men sported crew cuts and chiseled jaws that made it clear they were career military. The third man, a little shorter than the others, had his hair in two long braids down his back.

    Air Marshall Hatfield strode forward to the podium. As she approached, it sank down a bit so we could all get a good view of her face. Simultaneously, her visage flashed up on the enormous screens flanking the stage.

    "Welcome, gamers," she said briskly. Her posh accent had a hint of Oxbridge in it, like a BBC announcer. The article on her appointment claimed she''d been born in Yorkshire. Must have been to one of those rich families who send their kids away to school to get rid of their yokel accents.

    "We are excited to have you participate as part of this third class of potential recruits for the Reality Engine. This is the first group to include service members from countries outside of NATO, as well as civilian candidates. As such, it is four times larger than our previous classes, and unfortunately, we only have twice as many slots available in this round, so I''m afraid the competition will be stiff."

    I groaned, and so did the rest of the room. Air Marshal Hatfield held up her hand.

    "Don''t worry. Those of you who perform well will have your scores and biographies kept for future call-ups. We expect to see many of you in the Reality Engine in the next few years."

    I didn''t want to wait a few more years. I''d been waiting years, as it was. I wanted to get my legs back, to get my life back.

    "We have invited 8,716 candidates to participate. As of 08:10, 8,412 of you had passed through the badge readers at the doors of this auditorium. You are all now official candidates. Anyone who was not here as of 08:10, or failed to wear their badge, is disqualified from this candidacy."

    I felt my eyebrows raise at that. That was harsh. Then again, the schedule had said 8 o''clock. Ten minutes'' grace should be more than enough. They''d also told us to wear our badges at all times.

    I could see the military influence here. They had no interest in candidates who couldn''t follow basic directions or keep to a schedule.

    "I will be turning this briefing over to Colonel Andrews and Commander Jeffries momentarily.¡± She indicated the two tall American soldiers. The big black man crossed his arms in front of his chest and nodded to us. The white bloke merely stared without blinking. "But first, I''d like you all to welcome Colonel Twofeather. You''ll recognize his name, of course. He and his team have been fighting for us up at the Reality Engine for the past two years. He knows more about the Engine than any man alive. He''s here to wish you all well before you start."

    We all applauded as the man in braids came forward. He was wearing a military jacket with a couple of decorations on it. I thought one of them might have been a Bronze Star.

    The long hair puzzled me. I was pretty sure that was against U.S. military regulations. But maybe it was like Gurkhas, and the US Army made allowances for their indigenous members, like if it was a religious observance. I didn''t know anything and couldn''t really venture a guess.

    Colonel Twofeather stepped up to the podium. He was only a little taller than the Air Marshal. His features were broad, reminding me of some Mongolian throat singers I followed on YouTube. He looked about 35 years old.

    "I''m Colonel Louis Twofeather, Joint Task Force Ganymede. For the last two years, I''ve been one of the millions of abducted Earthers participating in the reality engine exploit. Now I''m helping lead up Earth''s response to the alien aggression. We are working to put together a group of competent, qualified men and women to go out to the stars and advance the cause of humanity, of Earth. To that end, we''ve come recruiting you folk, gamers. Up till now, Joint Task Force Ganymede has focused on members of our own armed forces. We have screened heavily for those with gaming experience, but we''re lacking in players with that really competitive edge. Those who''ve fought and won tournaments, those who make their living streaming on Twitch." He grinned a little self-deprecatingly. "I have to admit, I''m not really sure what that is, but my grandson assures me that it''s a thing. He''s about the same age as most of you," he added.

    There were some mutters around. People who clearly didn''t buy a man who looked that age could have a grandson. I wondered if they somehow hadn''t heard about the reality engine''s regenerative powers.

    Colonel Twofeather spread his hands. "That''s right," he said, "you''re looking at a man in his 80s. Two and a half years ago, doctors gave me six weeks to live. Fortunately for me, I was abducted five weeks and three days into that. The reality engine patched me up and gave me back the body I had when I was in my 30s, which by the way, I appreciate it didn¡¯t make me 18. I''m very grateful not to have to relive my youthful mistakes and hormone-ridden days. They say I''ve got a life expectancy now of near 300, which is what you can expect if you join us out there. Some of you have probably seen the ad campaigns our alien allies and competitors have been running, boasting about the advantages of life among the stars. They''re not wrong. We''ll be conducting some seminars during this tournament to make sure you understand just what you''re getting into. But I assure you, it''s worth it."

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    ¡°I wish you the best, recruits, not just for your sake but for all of ours. See you out there.¡± He raised a hand to us, and everyone applauded. Most of the room were on their feet. I settled for holding my hands above my head as I clapped. Colonel Twofeather raised a hand of acknowledgement and stepped away. I felt my heart racing. I was more determined than ever to win.

    The big black man stepped forward. He introduced himself as Commander Jeffries, US Navy.

    "From here, you all have your individual assignments. You have the next half hour to find your assigned station and it set up in whatever way pleases you. We have a number of technical people on hand to assist. Not that I think you''ll need much help.¡± He got a ripple of laughter around the room. "After that, the competitions begin. Everyone will compete for the first two days. Unless you do something egregiously against our rules or attack another candidate, you will not be eliminated until after midday tomorrow. By the end of the day, we will make our first cut, taking the candidate pool down by half."

    I whistled. That was a steep cut. I had a feeling that anyone below that cutoff wouldn''t be getting much of a second look at their scores for quite a while. Still, that only meant I had to be in the top 50%.

    "After that, ratings will reset, and we will be working on a different set of challenges. Ok, couple notes. First, we encourage you to stream to your followers. All the tournament computers are set up with Twitch and other streaming options, and we have monitoring software that allows us to look in. We¡¯ll be broadcasting highlights to our own channels over the next few days. We¡¯re looking to get lots of eyes on this tournament, because if this works as well as we hope, you won¡¯t be the last crew of gamers we bring.¡±

    I sat back in my chair and whistled, hearing the murmurs of surprise behind me. It made sense.

    ¡°Second, we know how you competitive types always like to know where you stand. Once we start making our cuts, we¡¯ll update your wrist trackers. Red means you¡¯re out. Green means you¡¯re in. And yellow¡­¡± He grinned wolfishly. ¡°Yellow means you¡¯re teeting on the edge and you¡¯d better impress us, because we¡¯re watching. Any questions? If so, please line up by the microphones. But remember, the longer you take here, the less time you''ll have setting up your workstations."

    A couple of people made a beeline for the microphones standing in the aisles. A woman a few years older than me reached it first. In broad, flat American accents, she said, "I have a question about my schedule. I''ve got games here that I''ve never played before, and I''m supposed to compete in them?"

    "Yes," Commander Jeffries said, "you are."

    "But that''s not a fair measure of my skill."

    The commander beckoned to an aide who came forward. He whispered in her ear. The aide nodded and disappeared. I shivered. I didn''t know what that was about, but if I were the girl who just asked those questions, I''d be feeling pretty nervous right about now.

    "You will be competing in a number of games. A poor score in one can be evened out by an exceptionally high score in another. We are looking for a number of different things here. Do not assume you know what we want or what we are testing. Anything else?¡±

    It was a very clear dismissal. The girl blinked. I could see her confusion from here. She started to say something. Then the guy behind her leaned over her shoulder and whispered something. Her eyes went wide, and she scuttled off.

    The commander pointed at the speaker line on a different aisle. "You," he said. It was one of the South Koreans. He had an interpreter with him, the tall Canadian guy I''d ridden to the casino with yesterday.

    "My friend SnakeCharmer would like to know about team games. The information packet mentions them, and he is wondering if he will be permitted to choose his own teammates."

    Commander Jeffries shook his head. "Team games are later in the week. We won''t even know who''s made the cut until then."

    The interpreter spoke again. "I believe my friend is concerned about his ability to communicate effectively with non-Korean speakers."

    "That won''t be a problem," the other man on the stage called. "We''ve taken it into consideration."

    I decided that they weren''t going to say anything important here that I needed to know. I started maneuvering my chair and joined the throng of gamers pushing their way out of the hall. Since I was all the way at the front, it took a while. And so I heard the next couple of questions.

    One guy asked whether mods would be allowed. "You can use anything you''d like," Commander Jeffries said. "We''ll be monitoring it all, and it will be taken into account when we consider your score. These will not be objective ratings. They''re extremely subjective."

    That was ominous. I wondered whether using mods would gain you points for thinking outside the box or lose them for not playing the game as intended.

    "What if there are mods that cause a game to be unbalanced?"

    This time, Colonel Twofeather spoke up. "If you think the challenges you''re going to be going up against in the Reality Engine are balanced, then I suggest you head out of here and don''t even bother setting up your joystick," he said. Some of the people around me laughed at the anachronism, but I respected what he was trying to say.

    My assigned station was in a conference room a couple of corridors away. This conference center was absolutely enormous. I''d looked it up this morning. My internal clock woke me at 4 am local time, and I hadn''t bothered trying to go back to sleep. Instead, I¡¯d ordered an enormous breakfast and filled myself in on the contents of my packet, then browsed the internet for some answers to questions that it had raised.

    This particular facility boasted as having 50% as much conference space as all of the rest of the major casinos in Las Vegas, which was pretty spectacular considering Vegas is the conference center of the world. It was set up so that you could have two dozen different conferences running simultaneously, but right now, JTF Ganymede had taken over the entire facility. They didn''t need that much space for 8,000 of us, that''s for sure. I wondered what else was going on here.

    My assigned room was Orion 6. I arrived to find the door open and wheeled in. A private sprang to attention as I entered. I spotted three gamers already in the room setting up. The room was about 10 feet wide by 50 feet long. It had two banks of workstations set up along the sides of the room with an aisle in between wide enough for people to pass or to stand behind gamers and watch.

    The workstations were impressive. Big monitors, three to a desk, the center one curved and the two flanking set in portrait orientations. There were computers at each station. No peripherals, so it was a good thing I¡¯d brought my own.

    Each desk setup took a good six feet, so there were eight desks per side. The private approached me.

    "You''ll be Trevelyan?" he said, checking his clipboard. All of these military flunkies seemed to have clipboards. None of them were armed. I wondered if they''d had to trade out their duty weapons for clipboards when assigned to this role.

    "That''s right.¡±

    "You''re on this one," he said, taking me to the first desk on the left. I could have guessed that it was for me. There was a gaming chair in front of it, and an extra wide space off to its left where I could park my chair.

    "Can you use the chair, or do you prefer a different one? You can stay in your powerchair if you like.¡±

    I shook my head. "No freaking way.¡± I levered myself into it and sat back, settling. "Oh, that feels good." It was the nicest gaming chair I''d ever sat in.

    "Can I help you with the setup?"

    "Sure," I said. I pulled out my devices, and the private plugged them in for me.

    I offered the private my USB stick. "We''ve got a port up here," he said, flipping it up for me.

    "Great." I plugged in the stick.

    "You scan your card here," the private showed me where. "And then, after the first time, you''ll enter your thumbprint on this reader. I have to validate that it''s actually you, and you''ll be asked to enter your thumbprint for future verification. Just a second.¡± A screen came up. The private scanned his own ID, set his thumb to the small print reader, and then typed through a verification screen.

    "I put mine in. Give it a try," the private said.

    After providing my thumbprint, up came very basic desktop with the, by now ubiquitous, JTF Ganymede patch as the wallpaper.

    "Give me a holler if you need anything," the private said as another pair of gamers entered. "I''ve got to help these guys get set up. You''ve got," he glanced at the clock, ¡°27 minutes until your first match."

    I started by loading all my keyboard shortcuts and macros into the gaming machine. As promised, all my favorite software was there.

    Then I booted up Twitch and signed in. I wasn''t ready to start live streaming yet, not while I was experimenting with setup. I consulted my schedule again to confirm what I remembered about my games for the morning. I''d be playing Fortnite followed by Call of Duty and PUBG for two rounds each with a 15-minute break after that. I wasn''t excited about this. Those were not my best games. I just had to hope what the commander had said about balancing out your scores was true.

    I tested out my peripherals, made sure everything was working, and then I turned on the stream. I gave a wave.

    "Hullo from Las Vegas," I said to my followers. "I shan¡¯t be watching chat as I do this. I have to concentrate on what''s going on here. As you all probably know, I am about to participate in a competition to earn a slot in the Reality Engine. Thanks for coming along with me. Share this stream and let people know I''m going to be here for a while."

 Bk 4 Ch 17: The Alchemy/Enchanting Loop

    I leaned forward in my chair, my thumbs slightly clumsy on the modified controller they''d given me when we switched to PC ports of console games. My bright blue and yellow race racecar leapt out ahead of the pack. I clipped an inside turn and hit the grass, but on purpose, swerving to hit a mushroom. As my car collided with the bright red and white spotted shroom, I gained a huge burst of speed.

    I steered back onto the course, keeping myself away from the other racers. Sweat was trickling down my face. We were in the final third of the course. Just ahead, the track raised up, curved around and entered a tunnel. I pushed the accelerator down as hard as I could go, shot out ahead of everyone else. As the tunnel went right, I veered left, shooting off of the cliff''s edge.

    I held my breath as I soared into the air. My car arced forward. I wasn''t going to make it. I was going to come up short.

    My wheels hit the racetrack, and I corrected to swing my back tires back onto the course. I just shaved off a good four seconds by cutting off that curve. Now, I was well out ahead of all the other racers. I leaned forward, hitting the apex of each of the next eight squiggly turns before racing across the finish line. The score screen appeared. "Winner! Trevelyan, Colin!"

    I threw my hands up in the air. "Woo!" I yelled.

    The guy next to me flicked his eyes toward me with an unhappy scowl. "Sorry!" I mouthed, and he went back to his own game. It looked like he was playing a custom Halo map. His light red Space Marine armor had a very distinctive style. His squad seemed to be winning. I glanced at their handles but didn¡¯t recognize any names.

    My own opponents were in other rooms, hunched over their own screens. I¡¯d gotten a thrashing from Amber¡¯s squad in Veilfire, playing alongside a bunch of randos. Lost a couple of PUBG matches pretty hard. I¡¯d done better in the 4-player Starcraft maps, winning three with some cheesy Zerg rush strats and then losing hard when I drew one of the Korean players.

    I tried hard to focus on each game as it came. The tournament staff were serving up a whole buffet of different games today. Everything from the latest hotness to 20-year-old platformers. Each option would include a note about how many other gamers were waiting in the lobby and what the victory conditions were. One time I got offered nothing but first person shooters: the next round, I could choose between Minecraft, Amber Dawn, and Rollercoaster Tycoon. I¡¯d picked the latter option and built an absolutely ridiculous park where the rides were free but the vending concessions through the roof.

    Right at noon, our wristbands had all lit up. Three of the other gamers in the room got red lights and cleared out their gear right away. Another had all green. He stuck around to watch the rest of us sweat it out with our yellow blinking lights.

    I had spent all afternoon on this, the second day, trying for games where I could use known hacks and exploits to gain a high score. Some of them, like this particular version of Mario Kart, I''d never played before. But I had studied lots of games, watching other blokes in my niche try their hand at getting a high score. Fortunately, I''d seen this particular level in a video once before and remembered that trick to cut off the tunnel.

    My finish time, 1 minute 28 seconds, wasn''t as high as the guy whose video I''d watched, but considering I wasn''t really a console gamer and had only played a couple of racing games, I thought I''d done fairly well.

    A message popped up on my screen as the racing game vanished. "You have 1 hour 43 minutes remaining in this testing session. Choose one of the following games to complete as far as possible in that time." It offered me a choice of 6 single-player campaign games with a timer at the top of the screen showing my hour and 40-plus minutes ticking away.

    I breathed a sigh of relief. Single-player games were my cup of tea. Despite the urgency the timer suggested, I considered carefully.  My first instinct was to go for Portal. The old classic puzzle game was one I had spent quite a few hours in a few years back, and I was pretty sure I could clear most of the levels quickly. Then I looked at the message''s wording again. ¡°Complete as far as possible."

    I glanced down at my wrist and the still blinking yellow lights. This was no time to play it safe. I needed to earn a big score and make it to the green. I picked my game and settled in.

    As the loading screen appeared, I tried the keyboard shortcut to skip past the tutorial. It worked, thankfully, even though I ought to be registered as a new player in its systems. Then I went with most of the defaults on character creation, other than changing my race to Katagan and selecting the Rogue class. The Katagans were a cat-like species invented for this game''s particular mythos. They gave a buff to stealth and to jumping, both of which I would need. I also changed my sex to female, which shrank my hitbox.

    Choices made, I loaded into the main game. Technically, you were supposed to conduct a series of initial quests, getting you geared up and earning you a follower, before challenging the first dungeon. Instead, I hit my sprint button and raced out of the starting village to a waterfall at the far end. There, I leapt, triggering my racial to land nimbly on my feet at the bottom of the waterfall. The exit to the first dungeon was here, and if they hadn''t patched out the hack, I could actually enter through the back door.

    I ducked under the waterfall, grateful that the Katagans also had darkvision so I was able to see the door. Right now, it was supposed to be blocked on the inside with a wooden bar which could only be raised by someone inside the dungeon.

    I rotated my camera above and to the side, so I was looking straight down at my character, but a little to the right. My camera clipped into the dungeon.

    I reached into my inventory for my rogue starting equipment, a stack of four shadow grenades. I targeted the ground at my feet and threw it before engaging Shadow Stalk. I targeted the shadow inside the dungeon and stepped through.

    I swung my camera back, relieved that it had worked, and snuck up the exit tunnel to the boss room.

    The boss was the undead skeleton of an ancient sun priest. He would hit like a truck, and I had no gear, but I knew how to deal with that. I skirted around the outskirts of his platform. Stepping on it would activate him. Instead, I went to the coffins of his summoned minions.

    I looted each of them in turn to steal their weapons. Then I opened my inventory, selected a healing potion, and tried the cheat command that would spawn duplicates of basic potions. It was a developer command accidentally left into the game and, thanks to publisher laziness, not patched when an exploiter discovered it two years after release.

    It worked. I dropped one healing potion in the spot where each of the skeletons would revive before jumping up onto the boss platform.

    This game didn''t have any damage hacks that I knew of. Camera clipping, unintended interactions, and an accidental tester code or two left in were the limits of my knowledge, but they ought to be enough.

    As the boss raised from his sarcophagus and started monologuing, I snuck around behind him. I pickpocketed him, slipping a health potion into his inventory. Then I took my place in front of him.

    As his intro finished, he produced an enormous two-handed axe and swung it at me. I dodged, avoiding the swing. We began to dance, him swinging, me avoiding. With each swing, my dodge skill increased just a little bit until it ranked to ten. That plus the experience I had gained discovering this place was enough to get me my first level.

    I paused the game as I selected the new ability. I had always appreciated that this game lets you level up in combat. It refreshed your health and energy bars too, which could be a lifesaver at times. I''d only taken a single hit from the boss during our dance, but it had eaten half my health and I was glad to get it back.

    I selected the "Dose of Your Own Medicine" ability, and it slotted into my first quick slot, then let the game resume, targeted the boss with the ability, and hit it.

    It was an ability designed to let a rogue force an enemy to use any consumables on them, a gamble since you didn¡¯t know if they had poisons, buff potions, or maybe a fireball spell. Unless you¡¯d pickpocketed them already to make sure they had just what you wanted.

    Immediately, his health dropped by more than half as my ability forced him to use his consumable ¡ª the healing potion. Generally, rogue poisons only deal about 5% of a target''s damage. This wasn''t a poison, this was a healing potion, and undead took double damage from any healing done to them.

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    I slid around behind the boss as he began to raise his army of undead minions and pickpocketed him again, sliding in another health potion. As each skeleton rose from its grave, it stepped on the health potion I had thoughtfully left outside its sarcophagus and died.

    A second later, "Dose of Your Own Medicine" was back off cooldown and I hit the boss with it again. His health dropped; he had only 10 points remaining.

    I dodged behind him and struck with my dagger. Being in backstab position, it did double damage and the boss collapsed. The rush of XP from the boss and his minions took me all the way to level 3.

    I didn''t bother to loot them. I¡¯d already taken everything in their inventories. Instead I opened the boss''s sarcophagus to reveal his treasures. I laughed in relief as I got the one item that I absolutely had to have to make this work: The Cloak of Restoration, which made any healing spells I did, or any healing items I crafted, 15% more powerful.

    Being a rogue, I didn''t actually have any healing abilities and I wasn''t planning on taking on any more undead. That would take far too long. But this cloak was perfect for my planned cheese.

    I grabbed his other gear, raced back out of the dungeon, and then sprinted all the way to the nearest real town, not that newbie village that was lacking trainers. I had to outpace a few low-level wolves that wanted to eat me, but nothing I couldn''t handle.

    In town, I quickly traded my boss gear to the blacksmith for a couple of crafting materials, and then used the little money left to have the enchanter teach me a health-restoring enchantment I could put on gear. I returned to the blacksmith and started crafting the one item I could: a simple iron dagger, but enchanted with the Life-Giver spell.

    I received back a dagger that would do 6 points of damage while having a chance to restore 3 points of my own health. That would have been viable at this level, but wasn''t nearly enough for what I needed to do.

    I turned around, sold it to the blacksmith for more than the cost of the materials he''d sold me, thanks to the enchantment on it. Then I bought mats for two more daggers, built them, sold them back, bought mats for four daggers.

    Five minutes later, I was back at the enchanter buying the next restoration skill up. Thanks to power-leveling my blacksmith and enchanting skills at the same time, I had already gained an entire other level. I put all of my points into the ¡°Built It Myself" skill, which rendered any weapon I myself had created 15% more effective.

    I returned to the blacksmith for the next round of skills. By the time I had mastered journeyman and advanced journeyman level blacksmithing and enchanting, I was level 10, and the trainers in this town couldn''t teach me anymore.

    Usually in this game, you couldn''t fast travel anywhere you hadn''t already been. However, I knew a hack here too. On the way down to the fast travel, I stopped by the inn where I spent most of my remaining gold to recruit a mercenary follower. Eric the Just was from the capital city of this game, Solgrim. Having hired him and listening to his assurance that he would be a faithful companion to me should I only prove true to him, we hit the fast travel site.

    I manually took control of Eric and walked him over to the fast travel carriage driver. From Eric''s persona, I spoke to the man.

    There wasn''t an option here to have Eric fast travel. Instead, they could have a little dialogue about what it was like back in Solgrim and how Eric had enjoyed eating the stew at the inn there. This was a dialogue usually encountered by players after their first trip to Solgrim when speaking to the carriage drivers at cities elsewhere on the continent. Because Eric was native to the town, it triggered the dialogue to pop up.

    Now resuming direct control of my own character, I approached the fast travel and asked the carriage driver for a ride to Solgrim. Since he remembered having a conversation with me about the excellent stew at the inn, the carriage driver decided I had been to Solgrim and was now worthy of travel in his carriage. I hopped on the back with Eric the Just and we were off.

    The carriage dropped me off outside Solgrim''s gate, which was perfect for me. There was a rare mob on a hill just outside of town, a one-eyed werewolf that had been plaguing the town''s livestock. If I went into town I¡¯d get a quest to kill it, but I didn¡¯t want to spare the time.

    I raced up the hill to find it eating a freshly killed sheep, told Eric to attack it head on with his broadsword, and then snuck around behind it. In backstab position, I used my most recently created life drinker dagger as the wolf bit down on Eric, taking most of his hit points off in a single blink. I stabbed. My dagger almost killed the wolf outright. I didn''t take any damage, so the health enchantment did me no good. I stabbed again and the wolf dropped dead at our feet. The XP raised me to 15 ¡ª high enough I¡¯d be able to train the next level of enchanting and blacksmithing.

    Eric was nearly dead, so I tossed him a health potion and looted the wolf for his pelt and one good eye, as well as the six gold that he was for some reason carrying. Now level 15, I entered the town and sought out the enchanting trainer. There, I bought the next restoration skill up before reporting to the blacksmith for duty.

    Very helpfully, the timer showing just how much of my time had elapsed blinked in the corner of the screen. I tried hard not to look at it too much. I knew what I was doing. I still had nearly half an hour left.

    I was aware of people gathering behind my chair. Didn''t they have something better to do? Games to play? "What''s he doing?" someone asked.

    "He''s wasting his time making daggers."

    "What the hell, man? Is he already giving up?"

    I was nearly to the point where crafting wouldn''t give me experience. As I finished off craft mastery, my timer was down to 27 minutes, but I had crafted a dagger that could one-shot nearly any creature in the game.

    Emphasis on nearly any.

    Eric and I rushed out of there. I didn''t have a hack for fast travel for this next part. I was going to have to run it on foot. We raced across the game''s landscape. Dark green and grey pine forests giving way to lush mountain meadows.

    I reached the lair of the great dragon Chassander. Eric and I ducked inside. The nice thing about this dragon¡¯s lair was it was a single room dungeon with no trash mobs. I zoned in and snuck into position behind the sleeping dragon.

    Eric was waiting for my command to attack. I crouched in the shadows, my dagger out. Then I struck as I ordered Eric forward. My dagger sliced deep into Chassander''s scales.

    Striking from behind did double damage. I got another 10% damage, plus the boosts from skill name, which by now gave me an additional 50% damage. My backstab hit for 400 points. The dragon had 300 remaining.

    Eric threw out his taunt, distracting the dragon from me. It breathed fire in a wide arc, searing Eric and catching the edge of my hitbox as I sidestepped furiously. I lost 60 points of health, taking me down deep into the red. I wasn''t in the right position, but I stabbed at the dragon anyway. My knife connected, and I dealt another 300 points of damage, but much more importantly, gained back all the health I had lost as the dragon dropped.

    With the dragon''s soul, I could now activate my protagonist power. The ability, called Netherworld Dream, took me to the afterlife of this place, home of the final boss, Dranator.

    Now, the game was scripted so that you ought to encounter this first boss early on, after killing an easy dragon and taking the portal to the Netherworld. Then, you would have him beat you to within an inch of your life before miraculously escaping back the main world. You¡¯d grind for multiple levels before making any further attempts. Future visits to the Netherworld would let you grind on the unique mobs here, but you wouldn''t see Dranator again until you''d completed most of the game''s storyline.

    I glanced up at my timer. Five minutes remaining. I raced through the Netherworld. Angry Valkyrie and mead-drinking warriors chased me. Eric valiantly stayed behind to defend. He probably wouldn''t take more than a couple hits from an angry Valkyrie, but that was alright. I didn''t need him for this next part.

    I raced straight for Dranator'' throne room. The door admitted me. The supreme boss, a one-eyed giant wearing a horned helmet, descended from his throne, laughing. "Foolish mortal, you have returned from the world of the living too soon." He proceeded to monologue about how I might have the dragon-eater ability, but I would not ever succeed at mastering it. Blah blah blah.

    I cast my last two shadow grenades. One at my feet, one right behind him. I shadow-walked into the second cloud, and then stabbed Dranator with my dagger.

    Like I said, this encounter with Dranator was supposed to scare the crap out of a level 1 or 2 player. As such, the boss didn''t have his full hit point and combat strength that he would later in the game. The developers did it that way so that the player could take a single hit from Dranator without dying.

    I hit him for 600 points of damage, instantly one-shotting him.

    Most games would have had a mechanic that kept the boss alive at one hit point, should this happen. Apparently, the designers and playtesters of this game had never considered anyone doing what I had done. It had actually been six years into the game before an exploiter put together all the pieces I had done and managed to finish the game in an hour and a half.

    As the "Victory" message appeared and the credits began to roll, I sat back in my chair. I still had three minutes left on my timer. Not quite a world record, but I''d take it.

    I became aware of clapping and cheering behind me and spun my chair, pushing off of the desk with my arms, to see most of the other gamers in the room crowded around me, watching. "That was cool," one guy whose name I hadn''t caught said. "I''ve never seen anyone do anything like that before.¡±

    ¡°Isn''t it cheating?" another guy asked. "I mean, you basically didn''t play the game. You just made a bunch of materials and then cheated."

    "Weren''t you guys playing your own games?"

    "Yeah, we finished," they said. I looked over in the corner where one girl was still hunched over her machine. The screen tilted away from me so I couldn''t see exactly what she was playing. Everyone else looked a combination of relieved, worried, or stressed. "

    ¡°So... was it enough?" one of the guys asked.

    "How should I know?"

    ¡°Check your bracelet," he said. He held his up. It was flashing green and had a string of words racing across it that I couldn''t read. "It says I''m supposed to report to the main hall in 15 minutes. I think it means I''m in."

    Another guy showed his red bracelet. "I didn''t make it, but I''m gonna try again if they''ll let me."

    I looked down at my bracelet. There was nothing on it. I held my breath, waiting. After what seemed an eternity, a string of green lights illuminated it, followed by the message telling me to report to the main room.

    "Yes!" Some of the others cheered for me. Two of them helped me climb onto my powered chair. I set off, feeling like I was on top of the world.

 Bk 4 Ch 18: Dance Dance Revolution

    I filed into the big room with the much-depleted crowd. Half the chairs had been removed, forcing us all forward. One of the three military men who had addressed us previously, Commander Jeffries, appeared on stage. Without preamble, he addressed us.

    "Congratulations, you have all passed the initial round of qualifications. We will now be conducting the high-intensity phase of this tournament. Starting tomorrow, we will be bringing you onto the base every morning for a marathon 14-hour-a-day session, bringing you back to the hotel at night. Believe me, you''re going to be exhausted. Your wrists will display your departure time. Do not be late."

    "As for what you can expect, I''m afraid that part is classified. You won''t be able to stream, but believe me, it''s going to be exciting. Congratulations on making it this far.

    "You have," he checked his watch, "something like 10 hours before the first transports leave in the morning. Be on time. If you show up with a hangover, that''s your problem. Dismissed.¡±

    I lifted my wrist. It displayed 0615, front entrance. That was pretty damn early. Still, I wasn''t exactly planning to go see the fleshpots. That is, until Amber descended on me, beaming. She had a couple of others in tow with her: four big military guys, one in an RAF uniform, one wearing US Navy dress whites, a Marine and a Canadian airman. They looked distinctly unhappy as she descended on me, grinning.

    "I knew you''d make it too, Colin. I watched some of your streams after we met on the plane, and I''ve been cheering for you."

    "How''d your team do?" I asked her.

    Her smile dimmed. "We were expecting team events, not individual. Most of them didn''t make it. But I did," she added cheerfully, "and I''m going all the way. We''re all going out for dinner and drinks. Wanna come?"

    The guys with her were all glaring at me. I was keenly aware of being much younger than the rest, as well as in a wheelchair. I had a feeling they were the sort of guys who would say insulting things about my mother in a lobby if I kicked their asses too hard.

    Me coming along would piss them off good, and I suddenly didn¡¯t want to spend the evening staring at the wall in my hotel room. I fixed a grin on my face and nodded. "Bloody hell, yeah! Where are we going?"

    Amber kept up a furious patter as we made our way down the crowded Vegas Strip. My wheelchair did great at parting the crowd, and our escort of big, overly muscled guys kept the tourists off. We made it down to the Bellagio, where Amber insisted on all of us posing in front of the fountains for a picture. I texted it to my mum with the caption, "Having a great time." She''d be happy to see that I had made friends, even if it was sort of a lie.

    Even at nine o''clock at night, the sun was still up, though the Vegas neon blared brightly. The desert heat beat down on us. After making it another quarter mile or so down the Strip, Amber looked exhausted.

    "The temp''s getting to me. Must be forty degrees out here."

    One of the Americans stared at her before grinning and shaking his head. ¡°It''s actually," he checked his wrist where he had a smartwatch strapped next to the band they''d given us, "a hundred and two."

    "Then let''s get inside," Amber said fervently. "Anyone got an idea where to go?"

    And that''s how I ended up inside the Hard Rock Cafe, Las Vegas, with music blaring loud enough to deafen me, eating an overpriced cheeseburger, no ketchup thanks, with a side of truffle fries, surrounded by kitschy rock memorabilia from bands that had been old and dead before my mum was out of O-levels. I was having a blast.

    Amber sat next to me. The Marine on my other side had an annoying tendency to try to lean over me to talk to her. I didn''t mind because when she wanted to speak back, she leaned in too. It was the closest I''d ever gotten to a hot girl in my whole life, and I didn''t see my prospects looking up any time soon.

    The talk quickly turned to just what we might be expecting next.

    "What do you think it''s going to be?" Amber yelled.

    The RAF man, Desmond, shook his head. "No way of knowing till we get there, I reckon."

    "They''ll be wanting to test our ability to think on our feet," the Navy guy said. "I have a friend who works for big gaming companies. He got called in about three months ago on a top secret project for the DOD. Can''t tell me anything about what it is, but when he heard I was coming here, he said I''d have a chance to see his handiwork and be sure to let him know if I had fun. He''s worked for most of the next-gen MMOs that have come out in the last few years. I looked up his LinkedIn this morning, and he''s connected with a bunch of other developers since he started the project so I stalked them a bit. There''s a team out of Seattle that does interesting stuff with emergent programming in games. I suspect they''re involved."

    "What''s all that mean?" asked the Marine. "I play games, I don''t build them."

    "I don''t really know myself," the midshipman replied.

    "I do," I volunteered. They looked at me. I think most of them, even the Marine leaning over me every 30 seconds, had forgotten I was there.

    "Oh yeah?" the Canadian bloke asked politely.

    "Sure. So these days it''s all about making a game that can last more than 30 hours, right? I mean, some of us like playing the same level of Mario Kart over and over, trying to shave half a second off of our time," I grinned in what I hoped was a self-deprecating manner. "But the average player doesn''t. They want something new. It takes, what, five years or more to develop a AAA title? And then somebody plays it for 60 hours and throws it away? That''s no good. You want them coming back.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense. That¡¯s what expansions are for,¡± Desmond said.

    ¡°Right, but even that takes time the studios don¡¯t want to spend. Instead, you want the developers to write code that writes quests and scenarios for you. Ideally, things that can emerge on the fly based on what else the player has been doing. So, the game reacts to the choices the player makes and generates new scenarios for them. It''s been tried in various games, but it has never worked particularly well, because the generated levels and monsters tend to be pretty generic and samey.¡±

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    I took a bite of my burger, thinking it over, then added, ¡°Wouldn''t wonder if they''ve taken some tech from the reality engine and reverse engineered it as much as they can, and come up with something cool. I''ll bet you, the next generation of gaming is going to look pretty different from this one. I¡¯d say I''m excited to see it, but honestly," I picked up the last of my fries, "I think where we''re going will be better."

    "I''ll drink to that," the Marine said, raising his beer. Amber and I were the only ones not drinking, me because I was underage, and Amber for her own reasons. Maybe she wasn''t 21 yet. I wasn''t that good a judge of women''s ages.

    After dinner, one of Amber''s harem suggested we go clubbing. She pouted.

    "I tried last night at MGM. They wouldn''t let me in because I''m not 21. And Colin''s even younger.¡±

    ¡°Maybe we could do something else," the midshipman suggested, ¡°like laser tag.¡± He glanced at me, went pink, shook his head. "Uh, sorry."

    "Don''t worry," I said cheerfully, "I''m looking forward to ditching this thing in a few weeks."

    "Oh yeah,¡± he said, "The reality engine will fix you right up, won''t it? My grandma''s got liver cancer. She''s trying to get into the program, but she''s only stage three and has a bit of time. She''s cranky as hell about it, though."

    "The club at the Galaxy lets any of the tournament people in," Desmond put in. "One of the guys I was hanging out with last night was only 17. He got in no problem."

    Amber jumped up. "Then we''ll go there."

    Thirty minutes later, I found myself in a nightclub playing trance music while all around me, good-looking young people in skimpy clothes jumped up and down. I could get in the door, but I couldn''t order a drink, so I found myself nursing a Coke with way too much ice in it at a table in one dark corner.

    I sort of got the appeal of Vegas, but it wasn''t working for me. Maybe if I had my legs, or I was a couple years older, or girls gave me a second glance. I''d figured out at some point that Amber had dragged me along mostly to make herself feel safe around that group of strapping guys. I supposed I should feel flattered, but it just made me grouchy. I was going to get out of this damn wheelchair, and I was going to be nobody''s pity invite or involuntary wingman ever again.

    A woman approached my table, swaying slightly. At first, I thought she was drunk or a hooker. Her outfit was bizarre, even by Vegas standards: a skimpy white leotard, tall, shining silver boots, and a pink boa wrapped around her shoulders. She had a circlet around her head with a loop over one eye like a square monocle. Then, as she got closer, I noted with a jolt that her ears were pointed and her skin a little too pink. She wasn''t human.

    The woman came right up to me and sat down.

    "Hello, Colin Trevelyan," she said in a low-pitched voice. Her tones were absolutely musical. I found myself entranced by her voice and her overly large eyes.

    "I am Patriona with the Proxima Corporation. Have you heard of Proxima?"

    I had, faintly. "You''re one of the ones who came here and turned on the reality engine."

    "That''s right," she said, inclining her head. "We have been working on Earth''s behalf for some time now, even before we made our presence in your system known. Thanks to our intervention, your reality engine, which had been defunct for millennia, is up and running once again, allowing your species to take your place among the galactic stage."

    ¡°Proxima¡¯s one of the outfits that Shad Williams showed up, aren''t you?"

    Her pink skin tone deepened just a bit, from rose to something approaching a red. ¡°That is not how my corporation would describe it. I''m here, Colin ¡ª May I call you Colin?"

    "Call me whatever you like. Just follow me on Twitch." I laughed at my own pathetic joke.

    The woman stared at me a second or two longer than I had expected before tapping her headband. "Done."

    I swallowed. I hadn''t really expected her to follow me. I made a note to try to figure out who she was and do some snooping back. "So you''ve been watching me here at the tournament?" It felt kind of cool to be the focus of intergalactic attention.

    "And a few select others," Patriona agreed. "Your name has risen to the top of my attention, though, and I decided to make contact in person. We like what you''re doing here, Colin. We like it so much that I''m extending an offer to you right here, right now."

    She produced a small, transparent device about the size of a smartphone, I guessed serving a similar function. I had no idea where she pulled it from, since her outfit didn''t seem to have pockets. She sat at a long table in front of me, and words appeared in the air in front of my eyes.

    A job offer.

    "We would like to offer you a contract to come and work for us for a period of five years, with an option to renew for another five. You would be helping us with our reality engine exploitation attempts in other star systems. We would take the responsibility of helping you receive reality engine integration here in your own system before going elsewhere. That will allow you access to a class and various abilities, and in your case," she looked pointedly at my wheelchair, "bodily regeneration. It is unfortunate that your species does not already have this capability, but it''s one of the things that made me eager to seek you out in person."

    I scrolled through the contract. There was a lot of legalese. I''ve never been good at that sort of thing, and it makes me suspicious. I found the part where it mentioned the five-year term with another five.

    "It says here five galactic cycles. How does that translate into earth years?"

    ¡°I merely tried to simplify it for your understanding, she said. It actually refers to the cycles of reality engine exploitation. Those periods can vary. Sometimes they''re substantially under a year.

    ¡°You are, of course, welcome to have this contract reviewed by a lawyer of your own choosing. However I am returning to your reality engine in 74 of your hours with everyone who has accepted my offer. We may not be back to Earth for some time."

    She leaned in, awfully close. She might be an alien but she was still an attractive woman, and her sultry voice hit me somewhere below the belt.

    "Right now, Colin, if I''m being honest, a large part of our interest in you is because of your participation in this tournament. Should you fail out of it, it would be a clear sign that our interest was incorrect, and you are not the candidate we are looking for."

    "And if I should win, I don''t need your contract,¡± I threw back.

    "No, because you''ll be taking the human offer," she said. "Have they even showed you a contract?"

    I hesitated.

    ¡°That''s because they''re not giving you one. If you win at this tournament you will be drafted into earth military forces. Are you aware that pretty much every military on your planet has clauses in its contracts that say, even if the term is for four years, that they can retain you at need in case of national emergency? Or, in this case, international emergency?"

    I shook my head. ¡°I think maybe I''d heard something like that. That''s how they can call up retired people if they need to in a war footing.¡±

    "Your planet is on a path putting it at odds with the rest of the galaxy," Patriona said. "Even if not outright war, you''ll be competing with factions vastly stronger than yourself. If you are at all competent at what you do, then your people are not going to let go of you anytime soon.¡±

    She might have a point. I hadn¡¯t thought beyond winning this tournament and getting my legs back. Shad Williams wasn¡¯t inviting me because he felt sorry for me. He wanted to put me to work.

    Patriona must have sensed she was getting to me. She set her hand on my arm, raising goosebumps. ¡°My contract will allow you to earn soul coin of your own, at a rate that will allow you to secure a comfortable existence anywhere in civilized space. You''ll also be learning valuable skills and making contacts to let you strike out on your own, if you so choose. There is a very lucrative lifestyle available to you as a reality engine exploit professional. I''m pretty sure that your Earth military will not be offering you such a deal."

    She had a point there. I knew that various militaries never paid their specialists what they could make in the private sector. With a reality engine capable of regenerating wounds and restoring youth, it really might be possible to keep someone in uniform for decades.

    They''d dangled this lure in front of my face, and I hadn''t questioned it. Now I had an alternative. I hesitated. "Can I have a copy of the contract?¡±

    "I''ve sent it to your publicly available email. You have 72 hours to make a decision. My contact info is included with this email. I advise you, Colin Trevelyan, to think carefully. You will not get a do-over if you mess up this."

 Bk 4 Ch 19: PCS Time

    "Do I look alright?" Juana asked nervously, tugging at her blue sundress.

    I took a minute to appreciate my wife. "You look hot."

    "That''s not what I mean.¡± She rolled her eyes but smiled at me.

    We stood at the foot of the space elevator, just below the steps leading down off the platform. The column of thickened air leading skyward shimmered just a little with a subtle blue light. I craned my neck to see the capsule carrying the first of the Joint Task Force Ganymede personnel descending, getting bigger by the second. A moment later, it landed. The pod walls vanished, leaving 30 people standing there. A woman stepped down first. I recognized her as Air Marshall Hatfield, our new head I saluted. She returned our salute, and I let my hand drop back to my side.

    The new arrivals descended the six steps to the streets of Threshold, looking around with expressions of wonder. Threshold was pretty impressive the first time you see it. We¡¯d kept the two main streets, running north-south and east-west from the elevator platform, wide and open. From here you could catch glimpses of the ring of portals surrounding the inner town. There were several dozen people here turned out to welcome the new arrivals, including most of the town council, me and some of my trusted friends, and Mama Grace. Not to mention our existing military leader, who stepped forward and cleared his throat.

    "Welcome, Air Marshall,¡± Colonel Ames said. "We''re glad to have you here. This is Captain Williams and Captain Barkley." He introduced the other ranking Joint Task Force Ganymede member currently on Threshold. "For the civilian side, Councilors Lopez-Williams, Chen, Fletcher, and Nguyen are here to welcome you."

    "Pleased to meet you all," Air Marshall Hatfield said briskly. ¡°You¡¯re just who I wanted to speak to. I have 3,000 troops and dependents cycling down here in the next couple of hours. I hope you¡¯re ready for them.¡±

    ¡°Preparations have been made for them." Juana stepped forward. "We have temporary housing set up for everyone. It''s getting a little tight, but we''ll manage. I''ve gone over the roster you sent and have delegates set up to help me run orientation for the dependents. Service members will go through the standard induction here." She gestured to me. "Captain Williams has been running most of those."

    "Yes, so I''ve heard," Air Marshall Hatfield said. "One of our first orders of business, Williams, will be for you to get my staff up on running the inductions. Also, I see you''ve been working a bunch of the civilian inductions as well."

    I nodded. "Yes, ma''am, especially for the mercy cases. They need a little more supervision than the average induction squad."

    "Agreed. But we''re going to want to work out some strict chains of command here. I don''t like having our people running everything. We need more civilian buy-in."

    I liked the sound of that.

    "If you''ll permit us," Colonel Ames said, "we''d like to get you and your staff inducted right away."

    Air Marshall Hatfield shook her head. "My technical support staff and I will not be inducted into the reality engine."

    I was taken aback by that. Sure, some of the civilians coming up were refusing to be inducted, but the new JTF commander?

    Colonel Ames'' face was a pleasant mask. "Ma''am, may I ask why?"

    "We wish to remain independent from the impacts that the reality engine entity known as Kronos has," Air Marshall Hatfield said. "To that end, I will not be submitting ourselves to Ethereum dependency."

    I managed to keep my mouth shut. This was definitely not a time for Shad to put his foot in his mouth.

    "In that case, ma''am, I''m going to need to make some changes to our plans," Colonel Ames said. "We''ll need to requisition a headquarters building here in Threshold. Space is a bit tight, so you''ll have to make do with what I can come up with."

    The woman looked surprised. "I don''t understand. You''ve known we were coming for months now."

    "Yes, ma''am, and we''ve been working with Kronos to stabilize a zone specifically for our use," Colonel Ames said. "Similar to the educational facilities we were setting up. However, zones are only accessible to those who have integrated with the reality engine."

    Air Marshall Hatfield considered this and then nodded. "Take care of the arrangements. I do have a squad of security personnel who will be integrating, as well as my second-in-commander, Major Armstrong. I would appreciate it if you would run them through, Captain Williams, and then report to me. Colonel Ames, you will accompany me and help get me up to speed here."

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Five officers and eight enlisted men, from three different militaries, presented themselves to me. ¡°Right this way, gentlemen,¡± I said, and led the contingent of officers to our integration level.

    As we walked, I asked for the names of everyone I''d be inducting. Three of the officers ranked higher than me, and they were all annoyed. I heard a pair of majors behind me muttering to each other. "Commander exempts herself and her personal aides from integration but is making us do it. I was thinking about retirement in a few years.¡±

    ¡°Everyone who gets inducted is going to be in this for the long haul. If they try to ship me off to Alpha Centauri or something, I''m going to give them hell.¡± I pretended not to hear.

    We met my team outside the level. I introduced Morgan, Hester, and Will. The officers gave them a suspicious look-over.

    ¡°Hester¡¯s second-in-command here. I need you to listen to what she has to say,¡± I told them.

    ¡°Civilians?¡± Major Armstrong said. ¡°Really? Do we need their help?¡±

    I hesitated. I''d asked Kronos to give us a nice straightforward scenario. He apparently couldn¡¯t just make life easy for us by giving us a field full of sheep to slaughter for soul coins. I''d asked why, and he hadn''t answered. The aliens claimed it was a sign of just how ornery our reality engine was¡ªthat a properly tamed reality engine would never act this way.

    ¡°The goal here is to get you all soul coins. It¡¯s straightforward enough. I can have the contractors on stand-by if you prefer to take charge, Major.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I do.¡± Armstrong glared around.

    ¡°All right, you three go in and take up a perimeter. The Major will shout if you¡¯re needed,¡± I instructed. My team nodded and leapt through the portal. Some of the to-be-inducted Earthers boggled after them. ¡°We¡¯ll be presented with enemies to kill,¡± I explained. ¡°Could be anything from zombies to giant toads. Kill them and take a soul coin. That will let you integrated with the system.¡±

    ¡°Clear enough,¡± Armstrong said. ¡°Everyone fall in!¡±

    I stepped through the portal and I found myself in freezing snow. The wind howled and bit, snow driving into our faces.

    "Ah, shit," I said. "Excuse me. Sorry, guys."

    Kronos was clearly trying to send a message here. I had cold weather gear in my inventory, but not enough to outfit everyone here. Since they weren''t integrated yet, they couldn''t dial in the comfort levels. I surreptitiously adjusted my own personal environmental restrictions, so I wasn''t freezing.

    Morgan sent a message. We have overwatch but I¡¯m not going to intervene unless you ask. Have fun with the assholes.

    "All right," I shouted over the wind. "Sorry about this. Listen, as soon as you''re integrated, this will improve. We''ve got to look for¡ª"

    One of the officers pointed behind me. I whirled, Quick-Drawing my gun as an enormous polar bear reared up on its hind legs, slashing at me. I shot it full of lead, six slugs right to the center of mass. The bear roared and collapsed, bleeding everywhere. I pointed to the closest in our party. "Grab the soul coin!¡±

    The enlisted man scrambled forward. He seized it and was enveloped in a glow of yellow light.

    "Excuse me," Captain Jones snarled. "What do you mean, inducting a sergeant first?¡±

    Damn, I had not been around brass in a long time. Colonel Ames and Grandpa didn''t count.

    "Sorry," I said, scrambling forward. "Watch out for¡ª"

    Another monster loomed over me. This was no polar bear. It was something even bigger, huge, white, and shaggy. I reloaded my gun with a spell-bullet and blasted at it. The creature, which my HUD helpfully identified as an Abominable Snowman, stumbled back, roared, then charged right past me at the cowering group of officers. I shot again. It collapsed atop of Major Armstrong, knocking him down into the snow as its blood pooled everywhere, melting the top layer of ice. He shouted furiously as two of the others tried to free him.

    "Grab the soul coin!" I yelled as I turned to face the next attacker. I slew another polar bear. As it fell, the men behind me started shrieking. I turned, expecting to see another yeti tearing at them. Instead, an ensign was on the ground, covered in a horde of penguins, all angrily pecking at him with their beaks. I choked back a laugh and rushed in, shooting as I went.

    "Gimme a hand!" I barked. "Anyone have a sidearm? These things die easy!¡±

    "Insubordination!" the captain who had just finished binding a soul coin said. He looked warmer already.

    I didn''t have time for this. I thought about calling in Hester and the others. Instead I put my head down and shot one penguin after another. By the time I was done, blood was everywhere on the ice, but I had enough soul coins for all of the new recruits.

    Armstrong was the last to take a coin. At last, when everyone had a soul coin, I queued my leader''s interface, selected all of us, then ordered us transported to one of the usual intake facilities. This one was in the form of a very nice club, with little round tables with five or six seats at each, facing a stage. The officers materialized in chairs. I appeared on the stage. I holstered my pistol and sighed. "Right. Sorry about that. All of you are now successfully inducted in the reality engine. I would suggest for future groups we allow the civilian contractors to take part, but now you¡¯ve had a chance to see just how real this engine is.¡±

    "I am not going to let my wife undergo anything like this," Major Armstrong snapped. There was a chorus of agreement around the room. I kept my tongue in my head. Though most of our enlisted recruits were either unmarried or partnered with other service members, I knew several of the officers had civilian dependents: wives, husbands, children. The new base housing was inside a stabilized level. I''d been proud of earning enough ethereum to see that everyone was going to have comfortable quarters. Now, though, that was a problem.

    "I will ensure that I have a full staff on hand before I assist any dependents with integration," I said stiffly.

    "We''ll be letting Air Marshall Hatfield know about this," Major Armstrong said.

    I pulled back on an angry retort. I''d been doing things on my own, or with a group that I trusted, for much too long. Now I needed to be able to give and take orders, and I wasn''t used to that. This was going to be a challenge, but I wanted Grandpa to be proud of me, so I kept a civil tongue in my head.

    "Let me give you the quick briefing," I said. "Then we can get on to class selection. I have an expert on standby if you have any questions about what some of your options mean." I would not be subjecting Arjun to these people. I had Allison ready to come in, and she could relay questions to Arjun if necessary. I took a deep breath. "All right, let''s get started."

 Bk 4 Ch 20: On the Carpet

    Two miserable hours later, I followed the newly-classed officers back out of the level. As I exited, a pair of messages popped up. The first was from Juana. Big problems with the newcomers. Need you at Council House ASAP. The second was from Colonel Ames. Relaying this message on behalf of Air Marshall Hatfield. Your presence is requested at HQ immediately. P.S. Shad, this is an order and not a ''when you get around to it.''

    I hesitated only a second. I was going to have to get used to wearing the uniform again, but that''s what I had decided to do, so I needed to start acting the part.

    I sent Juana a message: Be there as soon as I can. Boss called me in and set off for headquarters.

    The grounds of what had a couple hours ago been a support home for the recovering addicts and homeless we¡¯d inducted had the nicest gardens I''d seen in Threshold. Someone had carried cubic feet of dirt out of one of the levels and created garden beds. Paths wound between the beds, and there were flowers and vegetables growing in them.

    Staff and residents were evacuating from the halls, clutching sacks of belongings. Many of the residents had attuned but not ever selected classes or gotten access to their inventory, so they were having to carry their belongings themselves. One attendant woman was urging along a couple of dazed-eyed men in pajamas.

    "Just come along now," she was saying. "We''ve got a lovely new home all ready for us. It''s got a seaside view. That''ll be nice, won¡¯t it?¡±

    I followed the instructions Ames had sent me, entering the largest building of the compound, then toward the back into what had obviously been some sort of group therapy room. Chairs were still arranged in a circle, and there were cute motivational posters on the wall with cats and small fuzzy bunnies saying helpful things like "Hang in there" and "We''re all in this together." I resisted an urge to set fire to them.

    Air Marshall Hatfield had a desk set up for herself. It had clearly been carried in from elsewhere. She sat, in a swivel chair behind it, writing furiously on a pad of paper. Ames stood in front of the desk in an at-ease posture. I''d rarely seen him in uniform before. It was an odd effect. He wore quite a bit of decoration on his jacket, and I was certain he had earned all of it. After a minute, Air Marshall Hatfield laid her pen down. She looked up at me.

    Belatedly, I remembered myself and saluted. She made me hold it for a good thirty seconds before returning. I lowered my hand.

    "Captain Williams," she said, "I am trying to get the feel for this role and it may take me a day or two, especially since your computer systems seem to be non-existent."

    It took everything in me not to let my jaw drop open at that. Of course, our computer systems were non-existent if you refused to integrate with the reality engine, I did not say.

    "Ah, Kronos handles all our infosphere needs. He lets us integrate with the Galactics¡¯ systems as well."

    "So I have been told. Colonel Ames is working on getting me terminals that can access said infosystem. It''s becoming more clear to me than ever of the need to keep some of our information and decision-makers air-gapped out of Kronos''s way."

    I boggled at her, trying to imagine a scenario where her security processes could actually keep Kronos out. ¡°Nevertheless,¡± she said, laying down her pen, "I have consulted with people who are integrated, and we have begun to collect all relevant documentation. Which is to say ¡ª Captain Williams, where are all your reports?"

    Her last sentence cracked like a whip, taking me by surprise. I blinked at her.

    "My, uh, what?"

    "Your reports," she repeated. "Your after-action reports on your missions. You''ve conducted multiple different types of missions here. I have details on training missions, orientation missions, and something referred to in very vague notes as fragment integration missions, whatever those are."

    She let it trail off. I just blinked at her, feeling stupid, wishing Ames would send me a quick note telling me what to say.

    Air Marshall Hatfield sighed. "Right. I''ve had this trouble with mustang officers before. It''s no real fault of yours, Williams. You were promoted from enlisted and never given proper leadership courses. We will be remediating that now. Your experience is much too vital to lose, so you will remain in all of your normal roles, but I will have my staff mentor you and teach you the proper ins and outs of being an officer."

    I said, feeling really stupid, "Thank you, ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll have your new orders drafted shortly. For now, assume that you need to clear everything with Major Armstrong. I¡¯ll assign him to directly shadow you on your next few missions and get a feel for what you do, as well as providing you with feedback.¡±

    Oh, great. The guy I''d nearly gotten eaten by a polar bear was going to be my direct boss, breathing down my neck for who-knows-how-long.

    "That said," Air Marshall Hatfield continued, "I understand you and Ames are the ones who have been on the ground here. Between you and Colonel Twofeather, you''ve done a passable job. I will have to restore certain standards, but I think we have a foundation we can build on. Once Colonel Twofeather gets back from his recruiting trip, we will all sit down and make some future plans.¡±

    She made a gesture with her hand, as if reaching for a piece of paper that wasn¡¯t there.

    ¡°I am concerned about our ethereum levels, especially the quantity that appears to be in civilian hands. This reality engine is an asset of Earth as a whole, gentlemen. The sad reality is that Earth is not unified. In the next fifty years or so, that will no longer be an issue, I have no doubt of that. But the reality of politics is that we are going to be scrambling for some time. Not even everyone involved in Joint Task Force Ganymede is on the same page. The fact that an RAF officer and not an American was appointed in command of this should give you some idea of the kind of political realities we are facing."

    That, I was smart enough to figure out. Joint Task Force Ganymede was most of NATO plus a couple of other countries, but the United States would, as usual, be providing the bulk of the manpower. The other countries involved were afraid of getting pushed out of the way and had insisted on the JTF commander being anything but American.

    The Brits were, generally speaking, good allies of the US, and it just so happened that I agreed with Air Marshall Hatfield that we were going to have to start working together as a united planet sooner or later. The problem was I had a feeling that the Chinese, the Russians, the North Koreans, and a few other unfriendlies, had a pretty keen ideas of who should be calling the shots on United Earth.

    I wasn''t saying that the United States and NATO had always made the right calls. In fact, we made kind of a lot of dumb ones, even in my lifetime. Grandpa could wax downright eloquent on the subject, but he, like me, had volunteered to serve in our country''s army, and I still felt a bit of jingoistic patriotism. Though, once you got out to Jupiter''s orbit, national boundaries started looking mighty silly.

    "My hope," said Air Marshall Hatfield, "is that sooner or later we can have more professional administrator types take over a lot of the roles you and your grandfather have been playing, leaving you to serve on an independent force that I will be setting up under Colonel Twofeather. He''s been involved in planning for it already. We''ll be calling it Tip of the Spear, and with luck, you''ll be traveling to other reality engine exploits to secure ethereum for us sooner rather than later. That said," she tapped her desk, "how is it that the ethereum reserves have been fluctuating rapidly in the last three months?"

    "Right," I said. "So, the Civilian Council is requesting more and more ethereum all the time. There''s good reason for that. We initially estimated that the big ethereum outlay would be to get people integrated in the reality engine. That costs a certain amount of ethereum. We''ve arbitrarily called that one I-unit. I for integration.¡±

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    She raised an eyebrow at me. "I guessed that, Captain Williams.¡±

    ¡°So, it costs one I-unit to integrate someone into the system. That includes rebuilding their body, giving them a class, all of that. That''s an average," I added. "It takes a little more to rebuild an 80-year-old whose body is riddled with tumors than it does to integrate a fit 20-something. But on average, that''s what it costs. Once you''ve got a class, we assumed that people would be more or less independent. There''s a small ethereum charge that everyone exerts just by existing once you''ve been integrated into the system. But that''s so negligible, it''s produced by the reality engine almost as a byproduct, and it cycles back in. It''s only if we have to go outside of an engine, like back to Earth, that the ethereum involved in the cycle is lost entirely."

    Air Marshall Hatfield nodded. "Go on."

    "But a bunch of the newcomers haven''t been quite as self-sufficient as we hoped. They''re not able to help with farming levels for raw materials that we can then use to create more advanced artifacts and processed food. So, we''re having to have Kronos give us the crafted items."

    I could see she wasn''t quite following me, so I decided to give an example. "Say you want to feed lunch to 50 people. Well, if you can have someone on a farming level harvest meat from an animal and some fresh vegetables to make a salad and grow corn and wheat to make bread, then your I-unit cost for the meal is going to be something like .001 I-units per person per day. Not too bad. If instead we have Kronos deliver us those meals pre-packaged and ready to eat, it costs .1 I-unit per person per day. Two orders of magnitude more. And sure, that''s not very much, but when you multiply that by how many people we have here and how many days there are in a year, we were burning through our budget a lot faster than we expected. Same thing for building material. Cut down trees, harvest them into timber, use that to build houses, it¡¯s retty cheap. If we need Kronos to deliver us prefab housing, it''s a lot more expensive. We had planned initially to be able to house most people inside of reality level zones."

    "And?" Hatfield pressed as I paused to make sure she was following.

    "Turns out it takes ethereum to stabilize those zones so that people wake up in their own beds every morning rather than somebody else''s. Or that their pajamas don''t turn into scratchy woolen underwear overnight. That sort of thing."

    She blinked at me. "How is that possible?"

    How to explain a reality engine to someone who wouldn''t integrate? I looked at Ames. He stepped in smoothly.

    "We have a more in-depth course from one of our experts in reality engine systems. I''ll arrange to have you briefed at your convenience. Captain Williams is giving a pretty good layman''s overview though, if you can use that as your working explanation for now."

    Hatfield nodded. "That makes some sense. That would explain why your ethereum reserves are dipping faster than expected."

    "Also, we''ve been getting a lot of freshly-inducted humans who leave the system immediately,¡± Ames added. "The Galactics are recruiting heavily on Earth."

    "Yes, I know. There has been some talk in high places about whether or not to allow it. We''ve decided that we really can''t stop them. Anyway, the more humans we get out into the galaxy, the better."

    "That''s true," Ames allowed. "Except that according to the Constitution we negotiated with Kronos, any Earth-born sentient¡ªand note the word sentient there. You might pass along a warning not to allow pregnant orcs to visit Earth¡ªanyway, any Earth-born sentient is entitled to integration and class selection here at the Ganymede Reality Engine. That means any Joe Schmo who shows up can get a class, including the ones that have signed contracts with Proxima to immediately ship out to their own reality engine, giving back nothing of value in exchange for that one I-unit. And of course, Proxima is signing up people in bad shape, the ones that we haven''t been able to get to yet because we''re still trying to prioritize the terminal. People with missing legs from diabetes or getting it blown off in an IED in Afghanistan a few decades back. Not to mention addicts and mentally ill. Proxima and the other Galactics have been bringing in people en masse with contracts that, I personally think were signed under the influence of some drug or another. But they hold up in a Galactic court of law, so they''re getting these former bums cleaned up on our dime and then shipped out. It''s a real problem, and we''re talking not just ethereum drain, but people drain."

    She looked unconvinced. "I don''t know that I believe that losing a few thousand addicts and diabetics is that great a threat to Earth''s future."

    "Ma''am, there are exactly two things Kronos can''t build himself: ethereum and people. This is costing us both."

    "You may have a point," Air Marshall Hatfield conceded. "What else? I see several inputs here into our budget, very large quantities of ethereum, and I''m not seeing an explanation as to why."

    I took a deep breath. "Yes, ma''am, that''s on me. Like you said, I have not been filing my reports properly. Kronos revealed to me recently that he is unable to access certain of his ethereum reserves. In exchange for my help in accessing those reserves, he is turning over half of the ethereum to us."

    "That''s these two large deposits into our budget," Air Marshall Hatfield said.

    "Yes, ma''am.¡± When Juana had pointed out to me that holding onto the ethereum myself could be considered embezzlement by pretty much every Earth government out there and possibly under Threshold law as well, I had dumped almost all of it into the Joint Task Force Ganymede coffers along with a note saying to ask me about it. I was holding back a little bit in reserve just for emergencies.

    "I''m afraid I have to admit I don''t know if this is a vast amount of money," Air Marshall Hatfield said, studying the figures on her printout.

    "Well, ma''am, I''ve had some Earth economists do some pricing," Colonel Ames said. "They put the value of reality engine integration and class selection at something along the lines of the cost of a four-year degree from an Ivy League college plus a successful cancer treatment. We''re talking something like one point five million Earth dollars or one point two million pounds, according to the last exchange rate I checked."

    Air Marshall Hatfield''s eyes widened. "One I-unit?"

    "Yes, ma''am."

    She looked at those numbers and shook her head. "I''m sorry, I''m going to need a calculator for this one."

    "It''s billions at least," Ames said helpfully, "but we really don''t have any way of exchanging it for Earth dollars, nor do we want to. Better to think of it as your operating budget and figure out what it''s going to cost you in IUs, not in dollars."

    "Are there more of these deposits, Williams?"

    "Yes, ma''am.¡±

    ¡°We will need to make efforts to collect them all as soon as possible. I''ll have you work with Major Armstrong on that."

    I was not looking forward to it. ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡±

    "I found when it comes to resources, it''s better to have all you can up front than to have a smaller monthly income," Air Marshall Hatfield said. "Now. I know you¡¯ve been a bit lackadaisical about forms and accounting so far. That¡¯s understandable, but it¡¯s got to stop. We¡¯re going to have accountants from half a dozen or more civilian governments breathing down our necks as soon as they figure out that this Ethereum is, well, money. I¡¯ve brought along staff to help us get our books in order. The first thing I¡¯m going to need from you is a full accounting of the influxes and outgoings.¡±

    I took a deep breath. Ames jumped in before I could speak. ¡°Ma¡¯am, Kronos will be able to get that information to your staff, but it¡¯s going to be a lot smoother if they will integrate with the engine.¡±

    ¡°I want to keep our infosphere separate ¨C¡±

    ¡°Without offense, ma¡¯am, and speaking frankly right now, Kronos is the infosphere here. There¡¯s no way we can keep things secret and honestly I don¡¯t think we should try. He is going to find out sooner or later. I will get you a precis of the Ethereum we¡¯ve spent, but please consider integration.¡±

    She hesitated. ¡°I¡¯ll consider it. Also a projection for how long the current supplies will last, if we stay at the current rate of induction or for doubling, tripling, or quadrupling the rate over the next six months.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll handle that,¡± Ames said smoothly.

    I should probably have shut up, but I didn¡¯t. ¡°We¡¯ve made some promises to the Civilian Council to help them with their budget, ma¡¯am.¡±

    Air Marshall Hatfield set down her pencil. She steepled her hands together and leaned across the desk toward me. "Captain Williams, I am aware that you have a conflict of interest in that Councilor Lopez-Williams is your wife. There are times when the military has to work closely with the civilian population. This is one of them. It is akin to the relationship that any large military base has with the local population, somewhat compounded by the fact that we are quite a long way from home. That said, we need to be leaving a clean paperwork trail. Earth-side funding for this task force is complex enough. I cannot be showing any sort of questionable records, and neither can you, or we¡¯ll be facing an audit. In six languages.¡± She shuddered. ¡°If the council wants etherium that our people have earned, from now on they need to be coming to me with requests.¡±She glanced down at her desk. ¡°Councilors Chen and Fletcher have a meeting with me first thing tomorrow. I¡¯ll emphasize the new rules when I meet with them."

    A cold worry seized my gut. "Ah, yes. If I may, Commander, those two councilors are probably going to be your biggest thorns in the side. They''re very concerned about the comforts of the population and incredibly resistant to imposing any quotas of any sort, whether it be work quotas or rationing."

    A glint of a smile passed over her face. "Is that so?¡±

    ¡°I don''t mean to interfere with your affairs, but if you were to extend an invitation to Councilor Lopez-Williams, she would be glad to attend that meeting as well." I hesitated before adding, "Conflicts of interest have their benefits."

    Now I was sure she was hiding a smile. "Well, Williams, I appreciate your input and candor. Please be sure to connect with Major Armstrong to start working on the skills transfer. It will need to go both ways. He has a lot of valuable experience with leadership and report writing, but you have absolutely unique skills here in the system. Leverage them.¡±

    "Yes, ma''am.¡±

    "Dismissed."

 Bk 4 Ch 21: Council squabbles

    I hurried from the new Joint Task Force Ganymede headquarters over to the Council House, checking my messages as I went. There was one from Sage saying she was home from school and where was everyone, and were we going to be home for dinner?

    I replied, saying, sorry, I didn''t think we were, and to get something from Mama Grace. She shot back quickly that she''d already done that, and now she and Rok''gar were on their way to one of the tamed levels to swim.

    That pulled me up short. Rok''gar was my orc frenemy Mak¡¯Gar''s teenage son. I knew he was in Sage''s school class, though not in her personal friends group. What was she doing going swimming with him? Should I be worried about that? Surely not. It was an orc, for Pete''s sake.

    Then again, some of those elf chicks were pretty cute, or were back before I got married. I banished the thought as I reached the Council House.

    They''d done some nice work on decoration. The outside was a mock stucco finish with different colored stones set into the wall to form a mosaic. It displayed Jupiter, and rising behind it, Earth, not remotely to scale. I stepped inside. The floor was finished now, with hardwood planks that still smelled like freshly cut cedar. There was a chair railing on the wall halfway down, and everything below it had been painted a soothing shade of blue. Above it was still taped off, waiting for paint.

    I heard the commotion long before I reached the Council Chamber doors. I paused outside for a minute but couldn''t quite make out the voices and words in the muffled shouting. I cracked the door. A wall of sound blasted me. I blinked against it, peered inside. The councilors were all seated around the table, except that three of them were on their feet. Juana stood in the middle, her fists tight, little white specks on her red face as she shouted at Councilor Dinkins and Councilor Chen. Councilor Fletcher was seated at the far end of the table, looking smug.

    "No, I am not a lackey of the military-industrial complex," Juana snarled, "and I resent the implication that just because I''m married to one officer, I am in bed with all of them. I have been elected by the people of Threshold to represent their interests, and I will continue to do so regardless of the aspersions cast upon me. If they are unhappy with how I am representing them, they can circulate a recall petition. I''ll even hang a copy of it up in my mother''s restaurant for ease of access."

    Councilor Chen hissed as she spoke. "Threshold is being invaded by this army. Joint Task Force Ganymede is bringing in over 4,000 uniformed personnel, to say nothing of these dependents."

    "A drop in the bucket," Dinkins shouted back. "We have over 3 million people here, growing every day. A couple of thousand NATO troops are no big deal."

    I slipped inside the council room and let the door fall closed. There was an audience for all of this, a couple of dozen Thresholders sitting in the chairs, listening intently.

    I slid in next to an older fellow. I was surprised to see a bald head and white hair here. Most of them got regenerated by the system. He must have been healthier than the average 60-year-old. He nodded to me as I sat down.

    "Evening, Williams."

    "Evening," I whispered back. "Sorry, I don''t recognize you."

    He held up a hand. "Nah, my name¡¯s Hank. You saved my wife from lung cancer a few months back. We''ve been right appreciative."

    There weren''t very many spouses of mercy cases here. I was aware of a couple who had been abductees prior to their spouse arriving, and one or two cases where the spouse had applied and been granted immigration rights due to overwhelming technological know-how.

    I sent a quick system query with the man''s name and face, and it came back. Professor Hank W. Zimmerman, formerly University of Alabama, also Redstone Arsenal, double PhD in electronics and physics, multiple publications. Okay, yeah. No wonder he''d been allowed up here.

    "Tell you what," he said, shaking his head. "If I weren''t a married man, I''d be making a pass at your wife after how she''s performed tonight. Whoo-ee, that gal can hold her own in a fight. Where''d you get her?"

    "She was an abductee like me," I said stiffly. "But she''s from Texas originally."

    He slapped his knee. "Texas! I knew it. I was born in Texas."

    I had guessed that based on his undergraduate degree from Texas A&M. "Well, I''ll just shut up here so you can listen to the show," Dr. Hank said and settled back.

    The councilors had concluded the last argument. Now Chen leaned forward. ¡°I¡¯m presenting a notice to the council. The People¡¯s Republic have signed a partnership with Proxima. Starting on the fifth of next month we will be working together to integrated three thousand new miners every two weeks. Don¡¯t worry,¡± she said, ¡°they won¡¯t be a strain on our resources for long. Proxima will arrange to offload the newcomers within a week of their induction.¡±

    If I¡¯d thought there was a riot before, that was nothing. "We''re not prepared to handle another inundation of people every few weeks," Councilman Dinkins protested.

    Chen dismissed that with a wave. "They''ll bring rations with them. We just need a place for them to sleep for a few days as they''re processed through initiation.¡±

    ¡°Plus, the teams to support that many new initiations every week,¡± Councilor Dinkins retorted angrily.¡±

    I started trying to do the math on how many more teams I''d need. I didn''t like running more than a hundred through at a time. It was too easy to lose track of someone and risk them being harmed. Plus, Air Marshal Hatfield had more or less ordered me to step back from the civilian initiations. She wasn''t going to like this.

    But of course, that wasn''t even the biggest concern. That many more initiates would be a huge drain on our budget. A minimum of 6,000 I-units every month, and I didn''t doubt they''d step up the pace.

    Juana held up a hand. "Councilwoman Chen, this proposal should have been brought before us weeks ago. You are out of order."

    "The Council has been preoccupied with the matter of the imperialist soldiers," Chen said. "You haven''t had the time to spare.¡±

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°It¡¯s a multi-national task force,¡± Juana corrected. ¡°Regardless, we cannot absorb this influx with our current budget.¡±

    I was about ready to go up there and start a little trouble. Hank caught my eye and shook his head. "Let ''em yell," he said quietly. "It''s most of what this is good for. After a couple of hours, they''ll settle down and get something decided. I admire your wife. She''s damn good at getting a bit of sense out of this lot.¡±

    I was already busy composing a detailed message to Ames so he could brief Air Marshal Hatfield. This must be what Chen and Fletcher wanted to speak with the Air Marshal about tomorrow.

    That''s when I got a message from out-system. It was from Dwight. I hadn''t heard from him in a while. I opened it up.

    Hey, Shad. Hope it''s going well for you and Juana. I had a message from a mutual friend of ours. Can''t name any names, but she asked to be remembered to you and passed along a warning that some of the Galactics are going for a big squeeze. Their stock prices have increased in the past couple of weeks on the rumor that they''re going to be able to get a monopoly in on the rogue reality engine. Can''t say more. You''ll figure it out. I should be wrapping up here in a few weeks and heading back. Say hi to Sage for me. Dwight.

    At the far end of the table, Councilor Dinkins raised a hand. "He''s usually got some good sense," Hank said approvingly.

    "How about making a gas run? Can we hire someone to go tank us up on ethereum?"

    Juana nodded. "Once the Ad Astra is fully online, yes. Kronos has already contracted with her owners to make a deal.¡± She was carefully not saying that Misfits Guild, as an organization, had been given the Ad Astra by Kronos in the first place. The councilors mostly knew that already, but no need to remind them just how many conflicts of interest were at work here.

    Air Marshall Hatfield was right. I was part of JTF Ganymede, and also had been running missions like I was still out on my own, on top of help integrate newcomers. Juana was on the council and one of the board members for Misfits Guild. Grandpa had his finger in a half-dozen pies¡­ we¡¯d been running around from one crisis to another, trying to hold everything together, we hadn¡¯t really stopped to think.

    And this wasn¡¯t healthy. Not for me or Juana or the whole human effort here. Sooner or later we were going to have to decide who we really served.

    ¡°What prevents the galactics from embargoing us?¡± Nguyen asked.

    I happened to know from Ames that Earth agents had already acquired a supply of ethereum. It was just a matter of getting it here. The Ad Astra¡¯s projected overhaul was still several months out.

    ¡°It¡¯s been handled by our agents already,¡± Juana said. ¡°Also, outside the scope of this council.¡±

    ¡°How much of that shipload will we receive?¡± Fletcher asked.

    ¡°None. It goes to Kronos, and we negotiate with him for more. I suggest you start thinking of a really convincing argument, because I¡¯m done asking him to support freeloaders,¡± Juana said. ¡°I think it¡¯s time we start austerity measures. Councilor Dinkins, your report?¡±

    Dinkins steepled his hands together. ¡°I¡¯ve been looking at how the galactics handle their populations. People who don¡¯t want to work, who just want to be plugged into the engine, live inside the reality engine¡¯s levels. You can pack a lot of people into a simulated city. We¡¯re going to start charging rent on all council-owned domiciles here in Threshold. If you want a free ride, you go into the engine.¡±

    ¡°Kronos has expressed interest in working with some of our rehabilitation cases,¡± Juana said. ¡°The ex-addicts and such. Based on the experience of the former lotus eaters, I think it¡¯s worth a try.¡±

    ¡°You must be joking,¡± Fletcher said. ¡°You¡¯re going to force people into tenements, give them subsistence rations and brainwash them?¡±

    ¡°Not a bit. We¡¯re establishing a minimum basic living standard. Anyone who doesn¡¯t like it has opportunities to improve their lot,¡± Dinkins said.

    ¡°All in favor,¡± Juana said, and four hands went up. ¡°Opposed?¡±

    Fletcher, Chen, and Levi raised their hands.

    I breathed a sigh of relief. Spending etherium like it was water, when my team and I had to sweat and bleed for it, didn¡¯t sit right with me. Time to give people some consequences.

    ¡°If that concludes our business for the evening,¡± Dinkins said, ¡°I move we adjourn.¡±

    Hank yawned. ¡°Sounds like the fireworks are just about over. I like to come and hear what they''re up to. My wife has a mahjong party that meets at our place three nights a week. No room in my own house once those ladies get going, and there''s not that much nightlife here in Threshold. Sometimes I go fishing. There¡¯s a really nice level with tons of sport fish. But some nights, I just want to kick back and listen to folks bicker. Reminds me of when I had kids at home."

    ¡°Thanks for keeping me company,¡± I said as he stood up.

    ¡°Sorry about that,¡± Juana said when they finally broke up. ¡°I got a tip from Dinkins that Chen was up to something and I wanted you to hear it. Whew! I wasn¡¯t expecting that.¡±

    ¡°Thanks for the heads¡¯ up. I passed word to Ames. I also told Hatfield to expect you tomorrow ¡ª Chen and Fletcher have an audience, did you know?¡± I held the door for Juana as we left the chamber.

    She shook her head wearily. ¡°No. Glad they won¡¯t be blindsiding the Air Marshall with this affair.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a scheme. By Proxima, probably. Run us out of resources, gin up discontent, then swoop in with the solution.¡± I sighed. ¡°I¡¯ll draw up plans for another fragment mission and talk it over with Hatfield. You know, if it weren¡¯t for the memory wipes, I¡¯d make the council come with me on the next mission, but they¡¯ll just die a dozen times and forget everything that happened. It would do them good to see what this actually costs.¡±

    ¡°I wish you could.¡± Juana slipped her hand into mine as we left the council building and headed for home. ¡°Those missions make me lose so much sleep.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t sustainable. We can¡¯t keep funding these idiots.¡±

    ¡°I know, but it¡¯s temporary. As soon as we can get Ad Astra online ¡ª¡±

    ¡°That solves our ethereum problem. Not our people problem,¡± I pointed out. ¡°Dinkins¡¯s austerity scheme is good. I hope it works. But I¡¯ve seen reports. The Galactics have trillions of citizens who live their whole lives zoned out inside their reality engines, having their needs catered to. Even if it wasn¡¯t going to cost us money, I don¡¯t like the idea of most of humanity evolving into couch potatoes.¡±

    ¡°Me either, but there¡¯s only so much we can do. We can¡¯t force them to take jobs or pick up real classes,¡± Juana said. We passed along the streets of Threshold, still lit as always, but quieter now than during daytime hours.

    ¡°Why not? Why is it ok for you to be working twenty hours a day, and me to be running mission after mission risking my sanity, but we can¡¯t even make these idiots do farming? There¡¯s no risk for them. They can¡¯t die. Force them into a zone and give them a quota! Or, I don¡¯t know, sell a bunch of them to Proxima, that would get everyone off our back.¡±

    Juana laughed. ¡°I wish we could. After how hard we worked to keep our people out of debt slavery¡­¡± Her eyes went wide. ¡°Debt slavery! Of course!¡±

    ¡°Slow down and unpack?¡±

    Juana¡¯s words tumbled out, one over the next. ¡°I need to talk to a galactic lawyer. But what if we start charging for integration? I know, I know. It¡¯s guaranteed by Kronos. But your protective details aren¡¯t. What if we present everyone you help with a nice bill after the fact?¡±

    ¡°That¡­ uh¡­ can we do that?¡±

    ¡°Hell, it¡¯s probably Earth legal if we advertise it. We can make the sponsoring organization foot the bill. The JTF, or¡­¡± she grinned, ¡°Proxima and the others. We¡¯ll need to get the law written up before Chen¡¯s influx, but I¡¯m certain I can get it passed. We¡¯ll need to hire some of your specialists for the inductions.¡±

    ¡°Hatfield wants the JTF out of the business of integration anyway. I¡¯ll get you a roster of civilians who can help. I think Hester will be on board for certain. I¡¯d trust her to run the scheme.

    That might solve the problem of Proxima trying to bleed us dry, if it cost them a pretty penny for every new person they brought in. ¡°It still doesn¡¯t help with the freeloaders.¡±

    Juana¡¯s expression hardened. ¡°No. It doesn¡¯t. I¡¯m going to ask Dinkins to make the austerity levels just a little too warm. The beds a bit too hard. Keep the food bland. And then we¡¯ll pipe in commercials showing how nice the farming zones are, some idyllic fishing scenes and those funny blue sheep on that one level, the ones with the steel wool¡­ yeah. I have a whole scheme for propaganda.¡±

    ¡°Just not tonight,¡± I said firmly, as we finally reached home.

 Bk 4 Ch 22: Dead Before Daylight

    At 6:00 a.m. the next morning, I was downstairs in the powered chair, waiting in the wide driveway of the hotel. A couple of minutes later, Aurelie came down to join me. I was a little surprised to see the French Canadian woman there I had not spotted her the previous night and assumed she washed out. We exchanged some pleasantries.

    Eight military types joined us. Precisely at 6:15, a black van pulled up. It was unlabeled, unmarked. It might have been the same one I''d ridden over in. Two uniformed service members hopped out and ushered the able-bodied to board before loading Aurelie and me in the back. As we set off through the already busy streets of Vegas, the military guy who wasn¡¯t driving passed out clipboards. ¡°These are your NDAs,¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯re going to be seeing a lot of stuff here that¡¯s technically classified. You guys don¡¯t have clearance ¡ª no way we could get you all checked out ¡ª but you¡¯re going to have to be seeing it anyway. So the NDAs have some super stiff penalties for violating them. Like, kicked out of the program and facing jail time. All the countries involved in this tournament have agreed to prosecute if necessary. If you decide not to sign, just stay in the van and we¡¯ll take you back to the hotel and arrange to have you sent home.¡±

    I flipped through the pages. They were dense, with the JTF Ganymede logo in each header and small type reading not for distribution or reproduction at the bottom. I made sure I understood, but there was no question I was going to sign. I wanted to know what came next.

    I thought we''d be heading back to the airport where we''d come in. Instead, we headed northwest out of town. The Strip quickly gave way to an American-style sprawling city. Parking lot-encumbered strip mall followed strip mall, punctuated by neighborhoods with houses surrounded by tiny gardens, mostly of native rock and stone. We passed one golf course, ridiculously green against the desert, and then abruptly we were out of town. It didn''t fade away so much as just cut out, going from dense Las Vegas to abso-freaking-lutely nothing. Mountain ranges rose up on our left hand, sprawling emptiness on the right. I was disappointed not to see any tall barrel cactuses.

    We drove for 30 miles or so before turning off the highway into a stretch of desert featuring a tall wire fence with official-looking "No Trespassing" and "US Government Property" signs every 10 meters or so. There was a checkpoint on the road. Our driver rolled down the window, showed a pass, and was waved through. We headed east through the desert.

    The passenger seat military type twisted around to address us. "Keep an eye there out your windows. We''re coming up on the 7 a.m. launches." A few minutes later, someone shouted, "Look over there!"

    I squinted. A glistening silver canister rose out of the earth some distance off. It was hard to tell out here, but I thought at least a mile or two. It had no cloud or flame beneath it, just lifted silently out of the hills.

    It disappeared quickly out of my sight. I felt exhilarated and disappointed at the same time. My very first spaceship launch, and it honestly hadn''t looked like much. A bloke in front of me was taking a contrary opinion. ¡°That''s what''s so impressive about it," he said. "It''s gravity drive, and it''s practically free from a fuel standpoint. It''s revolutionizing space travel already and will continue to do so."

    "So you don''t need fuel to get to orbit?" one of the others asked.

    Even I knew that was a stupid question. The knowledgeable space bloke chuckled. "Nah, you''ve got to have some sort of reaction drive to achieve orbit. Antigrav just gets you out of the atmosphere."

    "What''s the difference?"

    "Orbit''s where you stay out of the atmosphere," a girl in the front seat called back. "Otherwise, you fall right back down to Earth. You can''t use antigrav to get you up to speed ''cause there''s nothing for it to push against."

    The guy in front of me started to say something, then shrugged and said, "Yeah, close enough."

    We went back to studying the landscape. I saw another ship rise off, and then my attention was taken by a group of lumps in front of us, growing larger by the minute. Desert-painted Quonset huts and Connex trailers formed a small, tan city in the desert. We pulled up to a stop in the midst of a maze of trailers, cargo containers, Quonset huts, and a couple of ancient-looking hangars, all laid out on the tarmac of what clearly had been a runway.

    The rest of the gamers jumped out of the van as Aurelie and I waited for our assistants to come and get us and our chairs out. When I was back down under my own power, I wheeled my chair around in front of the van for a better look at this place.

    Just then, a helicopter whirred overhead. I looked up, shading my eyes as it came in for a landing on a circle painted on the tarmac between a couple of the buildings.

    A gal with a clipboard came out of one of the trailers. She wore a desert camo uniform and a hat with a broad brim to shade her face from the sun. She collected our NDAs, checked that each had been signed, then shouted,"With me, all of you. I''m Specialist Jenkins, and I''ll be getting you set this morning. Come on over this way."

    She led us to one of the trailers. Aurelie and I stopped at the foot of the metal steps leading up to the trailer. The Specialist hurried the others inside and then turned to us. "We''ll be right back with you. We''re making accommodations for you elsewhere. Sorry. Just hang on." She disappeared inside, leaving Aurelie and I alone on the bustling tarmac.

    I cleared my throat in the uncomfortable silence. "So," I said, "you did well?"

    "Well enough, it seems,¡± Aurelie replied, shrugging. "I am glad to see you made it too, Colin."

    And the awkward silence was back. It stretched for a couple of minutes before Specialist Jenkins emerged from the hut once more.

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    "Sorry about that," she apologized. "If you two will come with me. We don''t have quite enough transport for our physically challenged participants. We''ve got plenty of room for you once you''re here, but we have to stagger your arrivals to make the best use of our vans that we can. It shouldn''t be a problem after this morning. You''ll be able to just come to your assigned pod on your own. Come with me."

    She led us about a quarter of a mile down the tarmac, past identical-looking trailers. As we went, more SUVs full of hopefuls arrived, dislodging their contingents.

    "How many are you bringing out here?" I asked.

    "Oh, thousands," she said, waving it off. "We''ll work through everybody here soon enough. Come on."

    She led us into one of the repurposed hangar buildings. My eyes took a minute to adjust to the sudden gloom after the bright sunlight outside, and then I stopped dead, my hand falling away from my wheelchair controls.

    The hangar was full of coffins, dozens, maybe hundreds of them, lined up in eight rows with a wide aisle between each row of coffins. There were lights on the coffins and wires dangling from overhead, leading to each of them. I snapped out of it. Coffins didn''t need lights and wires.

    "What are these?" Aurelie gasped.

    "No way," I looked at Specialist Jenkins. "Are they full sensory VR immersion tanks?"

    Jenkins frowned. "They''re pods," she said. "We put you in them and hook you up to the controls to make you experience what we want. I guess that''s what you said."

    "Sounds like it," I said happily. I''d seen pods like this in dozens of anime, TV shows, books, and movies, and I couldn''t wait to try it on myself. "Put me in the Matrix now!"

    Jenkins'' expression cleared up. "Oh, that reference I get," she said, sighing.

    Aurelie looked at her with some amusement. "You are having trouble dealing with some of these gamers," she said.

    Jenkins sighed. "Yeah, it seems like I''m the only specialist in the whole damn army who''s not into sci-fi these days. Don''t ask me how I got put on this task force. I knew people in AIT who would have given their eye teeth for this role, but here I am. I just hope they don''t try to send me out to Jupiter. Not my idea of a good time."

    "So," she said, picking up her clipboard again, "I''ve got you two here on row seven, bays 58 and 43. We''ll get you hooked up first, Aurelie." She looked around, then reached for the big clunky radio on her belt. "Uh, Jenkins here in Specials A. Can I get a pair of assistants? Thanks." She clipped the radio back to her belt and then led us down the aisle.

    We stopped at coffin 43. Jenkins pointed at the control panel. "This''ll be you, Aurelie. There will always be someone on hand when you check in to help you get settled.¡± She looked relieved as a pair of large, uniformed men arrived.

    "Is it okay if we help you in, ma''am?" one of them asked Aurelie, who looked a little taken aback but nodded. They lifted her gently but firmly from her chair and sat her in the coffin. Aurelie directed them to arrange her legs.

    "This goes on your head," Jenkins said, reaching behind Aurelie and pulling out a metal crown made up of eight interlocking loops. It had a band around that settled in over Aurelie''s forehead and wires leading off into the coffin.

    "Where''d we get this tech?" I asked, fascinated.

    ¡°We licensed it from one of the galactic conglomerates," Jenkins said simply. "The details are classified. These pods are being made on Earth, though. I can say that."

    I whistled. "So, I''m gonna get to try next Christmas''s must-have gift right now. Awesome!"

    "Lie back," Jenkins told Aurelie. "The familiarization routine will take a few minutes. Once it does, you''ll have control of the pod on your own. You''ll want to close it up before beginning anything complicated. After that, only you can open it unless you experience medical distress or it''s been more than the allowed number of hours, in which case it will be opened for you automatically."

    "What if I get stuck?" she asked, sounding worried.

    "We have people on hand," Jenkins said. I wasn''t entirely sure I was reassured. Aurelie nodded, and Jenkins gestured to me. ¡°I¡¯m going to get Colin loaded in, then I¡¯ll be back to help you with the connections.¡±

    "What about our chairs?" I asked as we left Aurelie behind to find my coffin.

    "I''ll have them moved out of the way and brought back when your shift is up." Jenkins said. She stopped at an open coffin. "Here we are."

    The pair of burly men repeated the same process for me. A moment later, I was ensconced in the coffin, adjusting my headset.

    "Just go with it," Jenkins advised. "It''s uncomfortable at first, but you''ll get the hang of it."

    I couldn''t answer because my mind was being assaulted with different inputs. The thing on my head was screaming at me. Bright purple lights flashed in front of my eyes. I smelled roses, then almonds. My right arm prickled, like all of my hair had just stood up at once. Then I felt a deep burning sensation in my big toe. And then my leg jerked. Or it felt like it did. I was watching it, and my leg didn''t actually move. But it felt as though I had. It was unnerving, since I hadn''t moved that leg in years.

    Then, abruptly as it had begun, the assault stopped. I took a deep breath.

    "All right," Jenkins said. "I''m gonna leave these guys here with you to get you settled while I go back and help Aurelie. This next part''s a little delicate and the two of you are possibly going to need more help than most." She disappeared back down the row of coffins.

    The guy in front of me leaned forward. "So," he said, detaching a hose from the inside of the coffin. "This one clamps to your nethers for waste evacuation." It was a big, plastic sleeve with a semi-rigid band around it. I couldn''t quite see how it was supposed to go on. The military aide saw my look and chuckled.

    ¡°So good news, bad news. It adjusts itself, which isn''t particularly pleasant, so it''ll happen once you''re plugged into the simulation and we''ll block that out, which is kind of disturbing, I know. What we need you to do right now is open up your pants and slip it into position as best you can. Uh, you able to do that yourself?"

    I nodded. Thankfully, my injury was such that I could manage my own hygiene pretty much all the time. There had been one or two unfortunate occurrences that I tried hard not to think about, but I''d be able to manage this. I undid my fly and then, horribly conscious of the men watching me, slipped the bag into place.

    "Now this," he said, raising a thin plastic tubing from the right side of the coffin next to my arm, "is an IV. It''s gonna go in your wrist to keep you hydrated."

    "Wait, how long am I going to be in here?"

    "Up to 14 hours at a time, and you''re not gonna notice your bodily cues. You will get dehydrated and you will piss yourself. We''ll be feeding you saline, so when you get out of this, you''ll be starved. We''ll have food on hand or you can eat when you get back to your hotel. I suggest taking up a habit of a hearty breakfast."

    "I don''t know if I like the sound of this."

    "It''s how you get through this stage, so if you want out, tell me now before I tap in."

    I said nothing. "Good. So, since we don''t want to put in a new IV every day, I''m gonna insert this now and then tape it down. Don''t worry. I''ve had medical training. I took the long course, too," he added brightly as he bent over my arm with a needle.

    "Ow," I said as he poked me.

    "Thought you couldn''t feel anything."

    "I''m a paraplegic, not a quadriplegic," I said irritably.

    "Right, well, that''s in now." He pulled off a couple of pieces of cloth tape and taped down the IV. "We can attach and detach you every day. You won''t be here for more than a week, so you''ll make do."

    "Right," I said, looking at the thing with distaste.

    "Now, you¡¯re all set. Have fun.¡± The aide reached up and touched a button at the top of the coffin.

    I lay back in the coffin. It closed itself. And then I wasn''t in the coffin anymore.

 Bk 4 Ch 23: Portal

    I was standing on the top of a green hill overlooking a charming English dale town. A stone wall ran down the road beside me. Sheep grazed along the hill.

    I took a step. I took another step. My legs answered me. It felt just like I was walking across a slightly muddy hilltop. I bent my knees and jumped. My body answered. I sprang forward a couple of feet, landing on my legs, bending my knees. I raised my head and hands to the sky and shouted, "Woo-hoo!"

    And then I was sprinting down the hill, whizzing past the sheep. My foot slipped out from under me. I went head over heels, tumbling. I came to a stop, picked myself up, dusted off my knees, realized I was wearing a gray jumpsuit with the Joint Task Force Ganymede logo on it.

    "Enjoying yourself?" At the amused voice, I turned. The hilltop where I had been standing alone now held four people. The speaker, a girl a couple of years older than me, had an American accent and her hands on her hips.

    "Gah," I said. "Sorry."

    The guy next to her stepped forward. "Nah, need to be sorry, mate," he said, his sharp, nasally Australian tones ringing clear as a bell. "She''s just being a bit of a wanker. We know who you are and glad to have you with us."

    I cleared my throat. "Who''s we?"

    "Welcome to the team, bud," the Australian said. ¡°Hang on, I''m gonna move us." He gestured, and the hilltop vanished, replaced by a cozy coffee shop. Patrons ate at a table in the corner. There were steaming mugs of coffee in front of us. I picked mine up, sniffed it. It smelled exactly like coffee, which I don''t like.

    "You can change it," the Australian advised me, "just think about it."

    I focused on the coffee cup. A menu popped up: "Select preferred beverage." I tapped in, "Tea. Earl Grey." A moment later, the frothing brown surface became a placid, tranquil greenish grey. I lifted it and sipped. It tasted like the best Earl Grey I''d ever had.

    "That''s cool," I said.

    "So," the Australian guy said, "you''re the last of our team. Everybody else got hooked up a few minutes ago. They gave us your name, at least. I''m Pete. This is Rose, but if she keeps up with the snark, we''re gonna start calling her Thorn," he indicated the girl who had been snappy at me. We had two more people on the team. One of them looked vaguely familiar. He was Asian, and he gave me a quick head nod.

    "This is, uh, we''re calling him Sam," Pete said, ¡°which is kind of a dick move, I know. Saman- Samanthaphon,¡± he got out, ¡°I¡¯m working on it.¡±

    "Seriously, Sam''s just fine," Sam said. "I stream under LongNameShortGuy.¡±

    "Oh," I said, smacking my forehead. "Right. I remember watching your Age of Imperium exploits a couple months back."

    He looked pleased. "I had fun with those."

    The last person at the table was hard for me to judge. They were slimly built, with shoulder-length brown hair, and androgynous features. When they spoke, their voice was distorted. "I''m Alpha," they said.

    I knew that name. Alpha was an infamous streamer, a record burner, who showed up in a game just to set or destroy an existing record before vanishing, only to reappear in another game months later. Alpha was shrouded in mystery. Nobody knew who he or she was, where they were from. Seemed like Alpha wanted to keep it that way.

    "Nice to finally meet you," I said. "So you two are exploiters, and me, also.¡± I turned to the others. ¡°How about you?¡±

    "I''m a ping warrior," Pete said proudly.

    "What?" That wasn''t a term I''d heard before.

    ¡°In Australia, if you''re trying to play cross-continent, we''ve got horrible ping. Usually means we can''t compete in tournaments and stuff. Well, I''ve made it kind of my point in life to find ways to put that to my advantage. I won an all-Asian battle royale by figuring out that if I timed a headshot for the 59th second of a minute, the lag correction would end up making it impossible to dodge. They fixed that in the next patch," he said proudly.

    "And Rose?"

    She rolled her eyes. "I''m a social hacker, usually," she said. "I get geeky little nerds like you to teach me all your best strats, the ones you''re trying to keep secret until some big tournament, and then I play them myself in a scoop video."

    "Oof. Felt like I should know your name."

    "Yeah, well, I stream as YourWorstNightmare.

    I groaned. I had heard of her, though on streams she wore a filter that hid her face for obvious reasons. If she was doing that kind of social engineering, she didn''t want her real face or name known.

    "I feel kind of bad you never targeted me," I said.

    "Please," she rolled her eyes. "I like it to be at least a bit of a challenge.¡±

    I didn''t like her already, but even if she was stealing strats from other players, she had to be able to implement them, which meant she had some skills.

    "Apparently, we''re what remains of the ones who got a personal invite from Captain Williams," Pete said cheerfully. "The others washed out. They put us all together on a squad because they want to see what we can do against the normie gamers. Most of these squads are six people, and they''ve offered to give us a ringer if we want, but I say we go with what Captain Williams was trying. We should pull on our strengths as exploiters and cheats. Some normie gamers are just gonna take too long to figure out what we''re laying down here."

    There were nods all around the table.

    "We have no need to carry a plebe to victory," Alpha said in their toneless electronic voice.

    Pete had clearly taken the leader slot, and I was all right with that. Rose seemed like she would be a pain in the ass to take orders from. Alpha didn''t seem to want the role, and I wasn''t sure I trusted someone who wouldn''t show me their face. Sam seemed to just be going with the flow. I had no interest in trying to boss around a bunch of gamers older than myself, so as long as Pete didn''t seem to be messing things up, I¡¯d go with it.

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    "So, first of all, the important thing¡ªhow do we win? By being the best, of course," Pete said, grinning. "Of the thousand who made it through to the stage, 200 will make it to astronaut training. It''s a one in five chance. Unfortunately, it''s by squad, so either all of us make it or none of us make it."

    Rose scowled. "That is unfortunate," she said. "Y''all start failing, I''m gonna see if I can talk my way onto someone else''s team."

    "That''s not allowed," Pete said cheerfully. "So you better tell yourself you''re one of us. We''ll be participating in contests in this VR world. Apparently they''ll be throwing different challenges at us over the next week. We''ve gotta work together and beat them, all the other teams. The first thing we''re gonna do is analyze what they''ve given us so far. Today''s just for preparation and getting used to the VR," he added.

    "Cool," I said.

    "So the first thing we''re gonna do is try on a training class. They''re giving us simulated classes similar to what the Reality Engine exploiters had."

    "Classes?" Rose asked.

    "Yeah, there''s a reason they''re calling in gamers here," Pete said. "The Reality Engine operates on gamer rules. Yeah, so everyone up there has a class with various different special abilities. That''s being simulated here. We don''t have to pick our final class until the end of the day today. We''ve got, like, 40 to choose from. They''re using the holy trinity of archetypes: Healer, Tank, DPS. DPS is split into ranged and melee."

    "Dibs on the rogue," said Alpha.

    I couldn''t help glancing at Rose. She glared at me. "What? You think I want that kind of role? I''ll take some sort of warrior where I can beat people in the face."

    "How about you, Colin?"

    "Probably support," I said. Support was usually the place where you got the best view of a fight. I''d done very few team-based games, but when I had, I''d usually gravitated there. Support could just mean straight-up healing, which had an art of its own but was kind of boring. Sometimes it meant you also got various crowd control abilities, able to snare and debuff your enemies, or ways to buff your allies.

    "All right, let''s assume you take that as a start," Pete said. "Sam?"

    Sam shrugged. "Sounds like we need more DPS. I''m happy to try a ranged specialist."

    "I''ll look into the pinch hitters then," said Pete.

    I pulled up my menu. There were eleven different support classes available for me. I started to scan down them, but Pete said, "Next, we''re supposed to run some physical tests. For that, we''re all going to equip the brute class.¡±

    A message popped up in my view. It said, [Do you wish to try the brute class temporarily? This class will be available to you for a period of two hours.] I selected yes, just as the tea shop around me faded away, and we were standing at the edge of a cliff. Waves lapped below us.

    Words popped up: [Descend the cliff as quickly as possible.]

    "Is this a team exercise or¡ª" I began, but Alpha and Rose were already at the cliff''s edge seeking footholds. Sam shrugged and started after them. Pete watched, looking amused. They were leaping from foothold to foothold. It sounded like the brute class had some pretty good strength and dexterity

    I opened up the class menu and read its description: [Brute, highly durable, regenerates 5% of health every second when out of combat.]

    I looked over the list of active abilities. It had four. One caught my attention: [Don''t Die Button. Press this, and the next physical damage source taken will reduce your health to one but not kill you.]

    I grinned. This was my sort of thing. ¡°Keep calm and cheese on,¡± I said as I backed up. I might as well make this impressive for whoever was watching our footage.

    Then I raced to the edge of the cliff before leaping out into space and activating my ¡°Don''t Die" Button. I hurtled down the cliff, passing the startled climbers.

    A second later, I heard Pete behind me shouting, "Woohoo!" as he followed suit. I landed. My legs buckled under me, throwing me face-first into the sand.

    My health bar dropped all the way to one. Then it started ticking up. I stood up and dusted off my legs. A minute later, when the others reached the beach, they spluttered at me. I shrugged.

    "Always read the class description,¡± I said. Pete was laughing. Sam was still at the top of the cliff. After a minute, he jumped off and joined us. "Sorry," he apologized as his health pool was going back up. "I have a bit of fear of heights. This is pretty real."

    "Yeah," I said, looking around. "It sure is." I didn''t just see the world around me. I felt it. The breeze in my hair. Smelled the salt spray. Heard the cry of high-off gulls.

    And I felt my body responding to me. My body, doing what it always should have done. Legs that worked.

    I was suddenly overcome with a vast, nameless dread. I leaned over, feeling like I was going to throw up. My heart was racing a million times a minute. I took deep, gasping breaths.

    "Colin, you okay?" Pete asked.

    A voice in my ear whispered, "This is medical. You are having a panic attack. We are turning down the verisimilitude by 50%."

    I could see the lid of my coffin now, superimposed over the beach scene.

    "How the hell is this supposed to help?" I yelled, feeling claustrophobic as well as panicky. "Get me out of  here! Get me get me get me!"

    Everything around me went gray. I was floating in nothingness.

    "It''s alright," a female voice in my ear whispered. "It''s alright. Focus. Breathe deeply. Colin, listen to me. I''m looking at your profile now. You''re suffering a panic attack. Do you know why?"

    "Yeah," I gasped. "Because I don''t have any legs. And I just jumped off a fucking cliff. It''s exactly the sort of stunt that got me in my wheelchair in the first place. I was on my bike, trying to do a jump at the skate park I''d done a hundred times before, but I slipped and hit wrong. It was all it took. One moment of bad luck."

    "You''re not at the skate park," the woman said soothingly. "You''re in a virtual reality pod. Your body is just the same as it was this morning. Your legs don''t work. That''s true. But it''s not because you just jumped off a cliff. Everything that happens in here is virtual. It won''t count. You need to make sure to internalize that right now, or you''re never going to be able to compete here."

    "I know." I tried hard to concentrate. I''d had a couple of panic attacks in the hospital. They told me to count my surroundings, ground myself. Being in a grey void with nothing but a psychiatrist''s voice in my ear didn''t exactly help.

    "Send me back, quick. I can''t have my team thinking I''m a basket case."

    "We''ll be watching you. We''ll pull you out if we have to," the woman said. And then I was back on the seaside. I straightened up, focusing on the waves, counting the seconds that it took for them to crash, turn to foam, and race out again.

    "You alright, mate?" Pete asked.

    "Yeah, sorry," I said. I decided it was best to be honest with them, at least this time. "I just had this moment, you know, where I was so excited about having my legs back and then realized I''d jumped off a cliff and could''ve broken my back again. It''s stupid because I don''t actually have my legs, and we can''t actually break our backs. It was just this bad reaction. It won''t happen again."

    "It better not," said Rose.

    Alpha turned on her. "Leave him alone," they said. "You''re just being a bitch because you''re insecure. You''re afraid that you''re going to let the team down because you''ve never come up with a genuine strat of your own."

    She looked mortified and disdainful at the same time. An odd combination. "How dare you?"

    "Because," Alpha said, "this isn''t the first time I''ve dealt with you, Rose. I was using my ¡®4theHam'' persona when you tried to steal my wall hack. Remember that?¡±

    Rose blushed deep, deep red. "You, you¡ª"

    "Yes," Alpha said. "I knew exactly who you were, and you still don''t know who I am since that persona was using a fake avatar and a voice changer as well. I must admit, I was the one who leaked that video onto YouTube after you took down your livestream.¡±

    "You!"

    "But that''s in the past," Alpha continued. "We''ve got to work as a team now. You heard what the man said. It''s all of us or none of us. Colin''s part of that, and he''s got some damn clever strats. I''ve been looking them up in the background while you were drinking tea in that shop. Rose, you''ve got value too. We''re going to find out what everyone is capable of here. Let''s finish this physical training. I suppose it is meant to convince us of the fact that these are not our real bodies, and we do not have to be constrained by normal limitations," they said to Pete.

    "Yeah, that''s how I see it," Pete said more cheerfully. "Right, I''m hitting the next button."

    Another message appeared: [Swim out past the breakers and retrieve a mermaid''s tear.]

 Bk 4 Ch 24: Team Bloodsports

    I got back to the casino well after 10. They had given us MREs to eat on the transport back, but as soon as I was in my room, I dialed room service, then went to take a shower. I kept trying to stand up and reach for things. I swore under my breath every time it happened. I had spent the entire day with legs. Coming back and finding myself in my crippled body was like the day I woke up in hospital all over again.

    I toweled off, pulled on my sweats, and retrieved my meal from where it sat outside the door. I was exalted and exhausted all at once. I ate the fish and chips slowly, savoring them even though I was ready to fall into bed. My ride tomorrow morning was at 0615 again. The rest of my team apparently left even earlier. The able-bodied got loaded into buses, shipped out in big groups.

    Tomorrow we were to have our first match. We had four hours in the morning to prep a strat, including figuring out our classes and how to work together. Before leaving the simulation, we¡¯d been allowed to send ourselves information packets about the classes we were considering as well as an overview of the ruleset. I''d gone over the support list on the bus and was down to three possibilities.

    The first was [Bard]. It was a classic buff/debuff class, but they''d added a nice sideline of healing. It would allow me to empower my allies, distract my enemies and keep people alive. I didn''t actually have to sing. I would get to choose from a set of instruments and would also be given proficiency with them.

    It had utility, but looked a little too straightforward, which was also why I had vetoed the five straight-up healing classes that seemed entirely focused around keeping other people alive. While that was important, if my team was going to win against pro gamers with a full-strength group, we''d need more than just heals.

    The next option I was considering was called [Supplicant]. That sounded a little more interesting to me. It allowed me to dispense both healing and some amount of damage. I could also call on various patrons to assist me. Depending on which patron I called on, I would have access to a different skill set for the duration of that patron''s boon.

    For instance, if I called on Lady Avasta of the Night, I could shroud my allies in mist, render my enemies blind and fearful, and also reduce any fire and light-based damage attacks by 50%.

    There was a lot of potential there. I had spent several hours reading over the potential patrons and their skill set. The difficulty was that you had to invoke at least four different patrons before you could go back to the first you''d called on. If you went too long without calling on a particular patron, they might get angry and smite you.

    Each patron''s boon lasted only three minutes at a time, while the ability to call upon a patron had a five-minute cooldown. That would leave me with two minutes at a stretch with only my basic abilities. It sounded potentially really powerful, but also kind of a pain to micromanage.

    I set that aside and called up [Oracle]. Now that one was interesting. While it had some straight-up heals, it had an ability called ¡°Fate¡¯s Grasp¡± that would immobilize an enemy for several seconds, and another, ¡°Prophetic Vision¡± which revealed enemies on the map, stripping any camouflage or stealth from them. ¡°Blessing of the Gods¡± let me cast various buffs on my party, though I¡¯d have to choose between a couple options rather than stacking agility and health both.

    I wavered. It was getting late. Maybe I could make my final decision in the morning. I finished off the last of my chips before checking my social media. My Discord had hundreds of new notifications. I groaned and closed it immediately. I''d need to deal with that at some point, but not now. Maybe on the bus in the morning.

    Mum had sent me a couple of texts earlier saying she hoped I was doing well and to let her know. I did some quick conversion. It was about three in the morning, back home, so I didn''t answer. I''d text her on the bus tomorrow, too.

    I checked my email. The message from Patriona was still there. I''d had such a busy day today, I''d almost forgotten about it until I saw her name there. Now I opened it up.

    It contained the contract text. At the top was a brief reminder with an active countdown. It had 46 hours left. If I haven''t heard from you by then, I''ll assume you''re not interested.

    I closed my phone, got into bed and turned out the lights. Today had been exhilarating. I lay there in the dark, staring up at the ceiling. I knew one thing: I was not going to lose my chance at legs. Would it be better to accept Patriona''s offer? She would be able to get me to Ganymede, repair my legs, even give me a future. On the other hand, signing my life away to aliens gave me shivers.

    I pulled up the email that Captain Williams had sent me. On a whim, I composed a message back to the address he''d used. I didn''t even know if he checked it. Can you tell me if Proxima had our interests at heart? There''s a lot of talk down here on Earth, like they do. They''re running some good PR campaigns. I''ve heard good things about them, like they were trying to help us out of our ignorance and stupidity. I know they gave you and your friends a raw deal, but was that just because they don''t understand us?

    I thought about explaining my dilemma with Patriona and decided against it. If the government weren''t already monitoring us, I didn''t really want to draw attention to me having talks with a possible enemy of the species. I hit send, then rolled over and tried to sleep.

    My mind kept going back to the different classes. I finally sighed, grabbed my phone, opened it up, and looked at the Supplicant class again and how it leveled up. At level 2, the boon lasted 3 and a half minutes, while the cooldown remained 5. At Level 3, it lasted a full 4 minutes. Level 5, the boon lasted 5 minutes and had a reduced cooldown.

    I checked. Yes, I could have 2 boons at once. How fast were we going to level up? Would it be continuous between sessions?

    I sent a quick text to Pete asking if he knew. I had the answer back quickly. Level ups stay around between our matches. We earn points based on killing enemies. Looks like anybody who wins their first match will probably reach level 2. Lose the first match, you''re stuck with level 1. It''s going to end up being a case of the haves get more and the have-nots get out. So we''ve got to make sure to hit the first ones hard and fast.

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    I thought about it. What would you say if I''m picking a high risk, high reward strat with my class?

    I waited eagerly for the reply. I''d say, that sounds like the Colin Trev that I have watched. Keep calm and cheese on, remember?

    I groaned. Thanks, see you tomorrow.

    I rolled over and this time I went to sleep.

    My team were halfway through our morning practice session and it wasn''t going particularly well. Alpha had a Lone Wolf class combining a sort of shadow stalker rogue with a berserker warrior, giving us a hugely spiky melee DPS. If he was in his berserker mode he had lots of health but no dodge. In shadow stalker mode he had high dodge, low health.

    Rose had picked paladin. Straight up boring predictable paladin. She was leaning on a glowing battle hammer taller than she was, wearing a suit of golden armor and grinning as we considered the dragon we had just slain together. Its fire hadn''t even singed her shining armor.

    "Why paladin?" I asked.

    She shrugged, flipping her hair. "Why? You don''t think it''s a good choice for me?"

    "Not really," I said honestly.

    She rolled her eyes. "Oh please, you''re getting the real me confused with my online persona. Just because I did social engineering in order to do my hacks instead of spending hours and hours trying the same level over and over again. Some of us had a social life, Colin."

    "Yeah, whatever," I said. I''d been through all of my twelve current possible patrons in our two hours. After level five I would gain access to other patrons. I was looking forward to that.

    "It''s fine," said Pete. "You did good," he told Rose.

    Pete was a Switch Hitter. The class literally gave him a baseball bat and baseballs as his weapons. He could lob the baseballs and they''d explode with various different effects, or as per the name he could switch into Angry With The Ump mode which would let him use the bat as a melee weapon. He''d donned a uniform, white with stripes and bright red socks under his trainers.

    Sam, who wasn''t saying much, rounded us out with an elemental mage. He could switch builds between fights but not during them. He had frost, fire, earth or air. Our team had a ton of versatility, but required us to be playing at our absolute best and to communicate well.

    That was the part I was worried about. I had respect for my teammates'' abilities but no great trust in them.

    "Alright," said Pete. "Now we can try another of these simulated fights or we can discuss strategies for our upcoming match."

    ¡°Let¡¯s talk,¡± Alpha said immediately.

    Sam nodded. I agreed. Rose scowled, still leaning on her war hammer. "Fine, whatever."

    ¡°Okay, our first opponents are a team of mostly Call of Duty and Fortnite players. They have one kid who''s got a lot of Minecraft experience. This first match is a straight up death match. Let¡¯s get into the arena.¡±

    The world around us vanished, replaced by the Roman Colosseum. Six wooden pillars, each about 4 meters tall and 2 feet across at the base, were spaced in two lines of three down the middle of the arena. The crowds were full of roaring spectators. Pete waved and the spectators vanished, leaving us in silence.

    "We''ll be entering here, they''ll be entering there," he pointed across the dusty arena through the rows of columns to a door like ours. ¡°We''ve got these obstacles. With the composition we''re making up, I expect they''ll try to use cover and concealment and snipe us. We¡¯ll need to counter ¡ª¡±

    I was shaking my head as I strode forward. "This first win is going to really matter. If we can get a level, it''ll help us a lot staying on par with other teams. If we are behind in level and one man down, we''re not going to be able to take another fight. We''ve got to win this. Let''s think about a strat here."

    I bent and touched the sand of the arena, feeling like Russell Crowe in Gladiator as it drifted between my fingers. "Do we know what their builds are?"

    Pete shook his head. "No clue."

    "Right, so we''ll be prepared for whatever. I think Sam should be an air mage for this one. We''ll blast the whole Coliseum with the biggest gust of wind you can manage, pushing it at them. That''ll hopefully blind them, throw them off. Then I call on my Darkness Patron and cloak us all in shadows. Alpha, if you''re in Wolf mode, you get a double damage for being in stealth and a double damage for being in shadow. Do they stack?"

    Alpha paused. A moment later, they said, "Yes," in that flat, monotone voice.

    "I will use one of my always-available buffs, buff you up as we go out the gate. You should be able to one-shot someone if you hit them from behind. We''re going to expect that they''re trying to use the pillars as cover. We''ll swoop around from this side," I gestured, "and pin them against this pillar by their gate. After that, we''ll be on an even footing, but we''ll have the momentum. We''ll need to roll into them."

    "Yeah," Sam said. He looked excited for the first time I''d seen. "I can use tornadoes to keep corralling them in the direction we want.¡±

    ¡°Which will be," Rose raised her weapon, "right into me.¡±

    "What would be key is if we can find a way to get Pete to the top of one of those pillars. He''ll be able to hit them with balls from up there." I walked around each of the pillars. They were smooth wood, offering little in the way of handholds. "I have a patron that would let me levitate him, but it''s a five-minute cooldown, and if we''re using the stealth, I won''t be able to do that."

    Pete eyed the pillar. He gave a quick hop as if to check whether or not he could make it on his own. Of course he couldn''t.

    Rose sighed. I had been waiting for her to make this contribution. I''d already studied up on everyone else''s classes. "Fine. I''ll give him my angel''s wings buff. That''ll let him fly up there and shoot."

    "Why so grumpy?" Pete asked.

    "''Cause if I use that on you, I can''t use devil''s foot on myself, which gives me resistance to being pushed around. But it''s for the good of the team, I guess."

    "Awesome," I said. "Pete, with you up there, you''ll be our best shot caller. We''ll want to try to keep the chatter to a minimum. Rose, once we''ve taken down the first and are trying to tornado people into you, I''ll stick close and serve as dedicated healer until I''m able to call on a second patron. We''ll have to play that by ear." I bit my lip. "If we''re lucky, it won''t even take five minutes."

    We weren''t just lucky. We were fucking awesome. It took two minutes, fifteen seconds from the start of the match, for all six of our opponents to lie bleeding in the sand.

    Sam whooped. Pete leapt down off of his pillar, landing with a sickening crunch as he twisted an ankle.

    "Ow," he said, then limped over to the rest of us. Alpha said nothing, just standing there. Rose was glowing. She tossed her warhammer in the air and caught it.

    "Yes!" she said. "It worked."

    I was feeling smug. "Perfect execution, guys," I said. "Was that enough XP?" I pulled up my menu to answer my own question. It was. I''d made level two.

    "Alright, guys," Pete said. "We''ve got two hours to our next fight. Shall we pop over to the next arena while we''re choosing our talents?"

    Everyone agreed to this.

    "How many of these arenas are there?" I asked as we materialized inside the bowl of a volcano. We were standing on a stone walkway, hundreds of feet over the lava. Heat poured off of it. A spiral of stone traced the inside of the crater. If this were real, we''d all be dead from the heat.

    The walls of the crater soared forty feet above us. The stone pathways were about six feet wide, and I realized as I walked them, it was not one spiral, but two interconnected that crossed over and through each other.

    "Six," Peter said. "Says that in later rounds, they''ll be adding other complications."

    "Six," I said. "That means memorizing them and looking for glitches might be valuable."

    "Good thinking," Pete said. "Right, you and Sam are on glitch detail. The two of you will have a talent for that. Everyone else, with me, let''s check out the center of the room. Go!¡±

 Bk 4 Ch 25: Pep Talk

    By the end of the day, we had won six matches and were on the verge of making level five, which was when our abilities would really start to come online. We were gelling as a team. I was excited about our synergies once I could access two patrons'' boons at once. We hadn¡¯t yet managed to pull off any wall-hacks, but I had some ideas.

    We wrapped up for the night. I popped the lid on my coffin and groaned as the uselessness of my lower body flooded back. Two aides assisted me into the wheelchair, and I rode back to the casino in silence, studying my phone.

    Our team standing was ok, not great, at the bottom of the top third. The bottom quarter had been cut at the end of today. Tomorrow, the bottom half would go.

    I checked my timer: I had a little over 26 hours to make up my mind about Patriona''s offer. Right now, I still could earn my way there honestly. On the other hand, she had made some pretty persuasive arguments. There was no reply from Captain Williams about the Galactics. I hadn''t really expected to hear from him. He was a busy man, and I probably hadn''t crossed his mind since he''d sent me the invite.

    I ate something called a barbecue platter for dinner. It was a bizarrely delicious combination of meats and sides. They¡¯d done things with a baked bean I never knew was possible. I went to sleep and woke up excited for the morning matches.

    The morning matches were a fiasco. Game after game, we got stomped hard. In our first match, Rose got separated from the rest of the team, unable to help as the opposing team surrounded Sam, taking him down. With our big damage out of the way, they focused on Alpha and me. Alpha went berserker, but it backfired. They lost focus on what was going on, and we were out.

    The next match, I messed up my boon timing, invoking a patron I''d invoked too recently. As soon as I did, I knew I''d fucked up. The system slammed us with a smite, a 50% stat debuff for the next hour. That was the end for that match, and unfortunately, the debuff had not worn off yet when our next match started. Worse, our opponents were level 5, and thanks to our humiliating loss, we weren''t. They rolled over us like tanks over protesters in Tiananmen Square.

    By the next match, we had our stats back, but our morale was shot. Pete summoned us to a grim huddle.

    "We''ll be fighting down a couple levels," he said. "But we can manage. Let''s focus."

    "Yeah," Rose snapped, "like on keeping me alive. What was that last game, Colin?"

    "Sorry," I said. "I got distracted. I was trying to keep them from killing Sam."

    "And Sam, we need lockdown, not damage,¡± Rose said. "You need to switch to ice. Maybe we can slow them."

    "That''s not a bad idea," Pete said.

    Alpha was shaking their head. "When fighting down a level, the best strategy is to take out the opponents. We''re fighting down a man, as well as level 4 to probably level 6. We have to get some of them down hard and fast, or we''re dead."

    "The next arena is Cauldron of Fire," Pete said. "Do we want to go for the wall hacks?"

    "I think so," I said. "Sam and I did some strategizing last night, and I think we can pull it off."

    "Just stop with the cheese and fight properly," Rose said.

    Pete overruled her. "I''ll call targets as soon as we have eyes. Let''s get in there and take them down."

    At first, it looked like it might work. Cauldron of Fire was the volcano level. Sam and I had found a place where, working together, we could clip through a spur of rock, then get him up elevated over the floor. That ought to give us an advantage. Sam had swapped not to ice, but to wind, with a plan of knocking one or more of the opponents into the lava as quickly as possible.

    As they rushed along the spiraling paths toward Rose and Alpha, I invoked Boon of the Coyote Trickster, and we gained a 50% buff to our dodging ability. Sam gusted wind at the enemy team. He knocked one of them backward. She stumbled, screaming, but her teammates caught her. Alpha and Pete tried to take advantage. Pete lobbed an underhanded fast pitch into two of the enemies. It exploded in their faces.

    Alpha shadow-stepped behind and garrotted one, but the second pulled a warhammer from nowhere and slammed it into Alpha''s chest, knocking them off the platform and into the lava.

    I groaned. We were still down a man, and now the three of them focused on Pete. I tossed out the heals I could, but it wasn''t enough against the concerted damage.

    We lasted a little longer this time and earned a small tidbit of XP, just enough to knock us over into level 5, which would help, but the writing had been on the wall when we lost Alpha.

    Pete pulled us all into the same simulated coffee shop where we''d first met. "Look, mates, I know we''re distracted and not coordinating well. We''ve got to pull it together. We''ve got two hours until our next fight. I thought about running some training, but I think we all need to clear our heads. Everybody, take some time. Get out of your coffin. Get something to eat."

    "Getting hooked back up is a pain in the ass," Rose complained.

    "That''s an order."

    "And who put you in charge?" she asked.

    Pete went red. I think I had kind of forgotten he wasn''t officially our leader, too. "Fine," he snapped. "Then don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sick and tired of gamer guys thinking they can tell me what to do," Rose continued.

    Alpha loomed at her. "Don''t."

    "What?"

    "Don''t take out your insecurities on them."

    "That''s rich coming from someone who won''t even show his face," Rose snapped.

    Alpha sighed. There was a shimmer, and then they reached up and pulled off their hood. I stared, along with the rest of the team, at the face under the mask.

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    Alpha was female and probably in her early thirties, but it was hard to tell because one whole side of her face was nothing but burn scars. She had long, pale, blonde hair on the other side, framing her in. One of her eyes was permanently closed, a mass of burn and scar tissue.

    Rose stared. "What the hell?"

    "This is my real face," Alpha said. "Feel free to ask the system to verify I''m not pulling bullshit on you. My name is Meg Hunt, and I''ve been doing competitive gaming since burn rehab.¡± She gestured at her face. "This is a long story, and it doesn''t matter. Suffice it to say, I started hiding my face about fifteen years ago, and then it turned out to be not a bad plan for a woman gamer anyway. But I''m done with that." She looked at each of us intently. "I am getting up there to Ganymede. And if that means I have to drag the rest of your sorry asses along with me, so be it," she turned to Rose. "So stow it with your put-upon-gamer-girl act. I was getting catcalls in vent back when you were still playing Minecraft."

    Rose looked furious. Then she stopped whatever it was she was going to say. After a moment, she nodded. "I''ll be back in an hour," she said, and disappeared.

    Alpha followed suit, followed by Sam and Pete, leaving me alone.

    I thought about just staying here. There was nothing for me out there.

    I got a message popup. [Candidate Trevelyan, you have a visitor here.]

    ¡°Huh?¡± Who wanted to see me? I activated the release latch on my coffin and sat up.

    A couple of aides were already waiting for me. They helped me into my chair, and I wheeled out of the hangar and onto the airstrip. It was still bustling, even though most of the gamers were inside their huts. I looked around but didn''t see my teammates. This airstrip was pretty big, and they could be at the far end of it.

    A man in a dress uniform was coming toward me. As he got closer, I recognized him. It was Colonel Twofeather. He approached me, stopping right in front of my wheelchair. I wasn''t sure if I was supposed to salute or not, so I kept my hands in my lap.

    "You''re Colin Trev, aren''t you?" he said. "I wanted to speak with you. The system notified me you were out of your coffin.¡±

    I was utterly shocked. Not just that he knew my name, but that he wanted to talk to me. "Uh, yes, Colonel. What can I do for you?"

    "Might be what I can do for you," he said. "Got a note from my grandson asking me to make time to talk to you today. He said you''ve got questions about the Galactics. He thought it''d be better to answer them in person. Shall we go for a walk? How long you got?"

    "Uh, 45 minutes or so until my next match."

    "All right, then. Come along." The colonel set off. I followed him, my chair easily keeping up with his strides. I couldn''t help being jealous. He had been regenerated by the system, just as I wanted to be. "What kind of answers can I give you?"

    "I just..." I struggled to find the words. I was a little in awe of the colonel, actually. He was one of the human heroes who had been taken from Earth with no warning and then fought to win the contest for our reality engine. "I, um, well... Is there..." I paused, backtracked, and said, "Are they really all assholes, sir?"

    The colonel laughed. "Well, I haven''t met every alien out there in the galaxy, and there have been some decent sorts, but on the whole, yes, they are assholes. They have spent thousands of years putting together a system built on exploiting more primitive races, stealing their inheritance from them, and saddling them with a load of debt slavery. Their contracts are written in the sort of sideways lawyer-ese that would make a snake slither away in horror, and the big galactic conglomerates will sell their mother into slavery if it makes them a couple extra soul coin. Now I admit I''m biased, but that''s the way I see it."

    "Even though they saved your life?"

    Colonel Twofeather shrugged. "That was incidental to their plans, not an intended consequence. They also kidnapped my 11-year-old granddaughter and tried to force her into a life of debt slavery. I''m not too fond about that, even if it is working out all right at the moment."

    Of course, that was the answer that I would have expected from him and anyone else involved in this operation. I didn''t know how to ask what else. Colonel Twofeather''s eyes narrowed.

    "Come with me, son." He set off down the flight line, and I turned my chair to follow. We passed the rows and rows of Conex trailers, the parked SUVs and buses waiting for their loads of passengers, the soldiers bustling around. We got out past the section where the trailers were, right over to the helicopter that was still spinning its blades. The Colonel stepped up to the door in the front. A minute later, a pair of airmen came out. They lifted me out of my chair and into the big side door of the chopper.

    "Where are we going?" I shouted at the Colonel as the airmen strapped me in and gave me a pair of headphones. I slipped them on, blocking out some of the noise. The headphones were an intercom. When the Colonel answered, I could hear him perfectly well.

    "Thought I''d give you a little perspective on this, son." He settled back, and a moment later we were airborne. I peered out the window. The airstrip below us shrank quickly. The Conex trailers looked like little Lego bricks left scattered about by some kid who''s been sent off to bed.

    We flew off north, passing over rolling hills of sage and scrubby trees. Then popped over a small ridge. I gasped. A starport in front of us. Dozens, maybe a hundred, shiny metal cans rose from the desert, each about six stories high and thirty feet across. They were blunt, like soup cans, because they didn''t need to be aerodynamic. Not with anti-grav to get them out of the atmosphere.

    Each rested on an enormous concrete pad. I could see more pads being constructed a little ways away. Whole crews of workers setting foundations and pouring the concrete. A boat of lorries came crawling toward one of the cans the Colonel pointed.

    "That one''s going up in tomorrow. I know, because I''ll be on it. Most of the rest of these will be waiting until next month for our next scheduled load. By then, Air Marshal Hatfield''s group will have reached Ganymede and their cans come back for another load. We''re sending hundreds of these up every time. Loaded with people or supplies or gear. This is the single most important endeavor the human race has ever embarked on. This is going to determine our future. I think it''s a bright one. You know why?"

    He didn''t wait for me to answer. "We got the anti-grav off of the aliens. SpaceX had their starships converted to use it in a week. We got a reactionless drive, too. Some of our brainy boys at JPL took a look and said, ''Who designed this?'' and started improving on it. You know why the aliens are here on Earth recruiting as heavily as they are?"

    "Because we Earthlings get unique classes," I said promptly.

    Colonel Twofeather shook his head. "Nope. Wrong answer. Kronos can hand out those classes to anyone he wants, and he''s been offering them to the aliens with a few strings attached, of course. Nope. They''re here on Earth because we are the first technologically advanced species they''ve come across in a couple thousand years. The last one, the Grignarians, they nearly wiped out. The tentacle-faces fought back hard and they are still ostracized by the rest of the galaxy. They call them soulless abominations and keep them on the outskirts. We''re making inroads with them.¡±

    He scratched his head, his long braids quivering. I found myself studying his intent dark face. ¡°Anyway. All this alien tech that seems like super weapons to you, it comes from the reality engines. The big companies, Proxima and the others, they don''t innovate, they don''t create. They''re leeches upholding a system that''s been running for thousands of years, terrified of something coming along to upset the apple cart. Well, here we are. Apple cart upset. And they aren¡¯t going to take that lying down. Colin, when my grandson told me about his plan to recruit gamers like you to help out, I was a little skeptical. I''m career US Army myself, and I thought that¡¯s what we''d need. But I''m coming around to his point of view. So I''m going to tell it to you straight. We need you, but only if you want to be here, and only if you earn it. So you want the easy way out? Take that Proxima contract. I think you''ll regret it, but it''s your choice."

    I felt myself flush. "So you do know about it."

    "You think we''d let those recruiters near our people without listening in? Sure we know about it. It''s up to you to make the decision, though. I got strong-armed into a contract I didn''t like too much myself. It''s not going to happen to the rest of us."

    "Then why make me go through all this gaming if you want me?"

    "Because I''ve got to know you''ve got what it takes," he snapped. "If my grandkids'' lives are going to be in your hands, I want to be damn sure you''re the best of the best. I looked things over. You''re not out of this competition yet.¡±

    "I¡¯m pretty sure my team thinks we are."

    "Then you''d better get down there and convince them otherwise," Colonel Twofeather said. "Now I''ve got a meeting to go to and you''ve got a tournament to win. See you on Ganymede."

 Bk 4 Ch 26: Ultimate Fighting Championship 2000

    We eked out a win in our next match, just barely, with Rose getting a killing blow on the other team''s support in the last seconds of the match. We reconvened. Rose wasn''t talking. Alpha had her mask off now. She seemed grimly determined. Sam and Pete were depressed.

    I was still mulling over what the colonel had said, acutely aware of the countdown on Patriona¡¯s offer. All I had to do was pop out of the simulation for two minutes and send an email.

    "Right," Pete said. "We do that again. And again and again until we''re done here."

    "Do we want to keep up our current strategy?" Alpha asked. Her voice was pleasant, now she was no longer using the modulator. "Or should we be trying a cheese strat?"

    "Honestly," Pete said, sighing. "If somebody''s got one they want to suggest, I''m up for it. But being underpowered and undermanned, I''m having trouble coming up with a plan. Our last round of abilities just don¡¯t synergize that well."

    "We need to stick with the basics," Rose said. "We can go toe-to-toe with these guys. Let''s not risk it on a cheesy strat."

    That wasn¡¯t the right answer though. Colonel Twofeather¡¯s pep talk had left me feeling like I was letting down all of Earth if I didn''t win through here. ¡°But cheese is why we''re here, to prove thinking outside the box is what Earth needs right now. I don''t want to eke out a win. I want to prove that our kind of gaming is better than theirs." I turned to Alpha. "Come on. You were always the best at breaking new games or records in old games. You''ve got to have some insights here."

    She sighed and shrugged her shoulders. The enormous black shoulder pads and heavy cape she wore looked faintly ridiculous. "I don''t know. This is the most important tournament we''ve ever been in. We''ve got to pull together."

    Sam coughed. "Actually, I have an idea."

    We turned to him in surprise. Our quiet mage had participated in strategy meetings, but this was the first time he''d offered a strat.

    "Sorry," he said. "I like to get a holistic idea for systems. It''s taken me a while to really feel comfortable with what we''re doing here, but I''ve been noticing as we go that the realism''s good here. Like, too good. I''ve been playing around. I can dial down my own inputs."

    "That''s right," I said, remembering my panic attack. ¡°We can.¡±

    "So I thought, what if we coordinate our abilities and come up with some sort of flashbang spell? It''ll briefly stun whoever we''ve got focused with too many inputs. Alpha, you and Pete can line it up. My latest ability lets me infuse weapons. At the start of a match, I infuse a bunch of Pete''s balls.¡±

    Rose choked. Alpha glared at her. ¡°Really?¡±

    Sam ignored the interruption. ¡°Now that I have level five, I can combine two different abilities. I''m going to combine water and wind, which in this case actually gives me an electricity ability. We infuse the balls with that. Then Pete lobs them to Alpha, who steps in right behind our target. You use that slash and cut ability you have, but combine it with your deep wounds."

    Alpha was frowning. "Slash and cut is on my knives, and deep wounds is an axe ability.¡±

    "I know, but with the Full Savagery ability you picked up at level five, you can combine the two. Trust me, I''ve looked over all of the details."

    He went into details. I found myself nodding along. This plan we could manage.

    We materialized in a swamp. Hillocks stuck up here and there. The islands all had low-hanging trees covered in Spanish moss on them. Frogs croaked. Birds chirped. It was hot and muggy, a perfect assault on our senses, dimming my own responsiveness.

    I immediately cast, called on Patron Avasta to grant her boon, cloaking us in shadow. I''d used her almost every time she was off rotation. Now that I could invoke two patrons every five minutes, it was much easier to keep up buffs. We all had our realism dialed down to about 50%. Any less and we risked not seeing or hearing our enemies.

    "Spread out," Pete ordered, as Sam cast a lightning enchantment on his baseballs. I took myself across to a small island with a spreading live oak tree on it. There I huddled under the branches, watching.

    Here came the enemy team, split into two squads of three, approaching us in a fork configuration that had devastated us pretty badly when a team tried it earlier. It seemed like certain strategies were getting passed around between teams. I didn''t know if they were collaborating or just using something they had seen used against them but this was a well-known gaming phenomena called ¡®tournament meta¡¯. It¡¯s a herd effect happens when gamers start to feed off each other.

    It played right into our hands. Alpha materialized behind the right-hand group. She stabbed the rearmost as Pete lobbed her a charged baseball. She caught it out of the air. The energy crackled up her arm but with the feedback turned down she could ignore it. She shoved the ball of electricity against the deep wound she had just carved into our opponent''s back. Then she vanished, just as the ball exploded. The noise and sound were overwhelming, even to me with my senses turned down, but it was a signal for the rest of us to move in.

    I invoked Patron Domina, granting us a damage buff. We focused fire on one of the remaining enemies, then the other, dropping them both in seconds.

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    Then as rehearsed, we spread out again. Pete threw another ball into the second group of enemies. Rose dove in. She had a resistance to light-based damage anyway, so Pete threw another couple of fastballs at her feet. When they exploded she staggered, but the enemy was incapacitated. She swung her big hammer effectively, smashing through stunned enemies. One of them got his long energy sword up and slicing through her armor with a clumsy slash. I tossed out a mend spell. Sam hosed them down with ice-based spells, slowing them. Seconds later, the swamp was empty. It was easily as dominant a fight as our first.

    We regrouped back at our favorite coffee shop, my teammates glowing with satisfaction.

    "They weren''t ready for that at all," Rose said. "And they didn''t even try to coordinate."

    "I think it''s the wombo combos that''s doing it for us," I said. "If we come up against someone with big MOBA experience, we might face some trouble. But did you see those guys'' loadouts? Those are Call of Duty players for sure, used to lone-wolfing it. This is how we can win."

    "We''re not going to stick with any one strategy," Pete said firmly. "That one was great, but we''re seeing strategies get shared around. I know we''re not talking to anybody else, but some of the others probably are. Let''s come up with another plan. I want us to have multiple under our belts, ready to call at a moment''s notice." We bent our heads together and got to work.

    We won every match the rest of the day, though our last win was by a thin thread. The opposing team was a level higher than us and coordinated very well. They actually had several players working together with effective combos. We used a combination of skill and cheese and eked out a win.

    I''d been spending all my spare time reading over the complete list of classes available and looking for strengths and weaknesses. We didn''t have much time in a match to size up the enemy team, but there were a couple of weaknesses we''d been able to exploit, like going up against a team that was a little too heavy on the melee, and then using our ranged abilities to great effect.

    Just before leaving, Pete called us all together. "We''re still in the top third," he said, "but they''re cutting the bottom 50 percent."

    I let out a sigh. "We barely squeaked over into the safe zone then."

    "Tomorrow''s the final cut. We''ve got a list of teams we''ll be playing against. I''m going to study them tonight. I want you to do the same, but remember, they''re going to be watching us. They''re going to know what we''ve been up to today. We''ve got to have new strats." He turned to me. "Colin, I want you thinking of real cheeses, not just these crazy combos.¡±

    I blinked. "What? We haven''t had any luck with those so far."

    "I know, but I want us to keep out options open. So, see what you can come up with. Alpha, look for weaknesses in the game itself. Sam, I want you thinking systemically. Analyze their teams and what we can come up against. Rose?" He turned to her.

    She scowled. "What?"

    "I was wondering if I could get you a list of the names and faces that go on this team. You think you might be able to do some intelligence?"

    "They''ll be watching for me," she said warily.

    "Sure, but you''re the one who''s made her whole career off of getting strats out of people. Tonight''s the time for some social engineering."

    She gave a smile. "You know what? You''re right. The other teams know who they''re up against. Anyone who''s dumb enough to let me have intel deserves what they''re going to get."

    "Just be prepared for them to lie to you," Alpha said.

    Rose waved her off. "Yeah, I''m not stupid. I''m not going to fall for that trick twice."

    "Then let''s stay in touch. We''ll try to get a good night of sleep," Pete said.

    We were wrapping up two hours early today, which would give me a chance to eat dinner and probably grab a couple of hours of sleep despite needing to run these. A thought occurred to me. I sent a message to Specialist Jenkins. Is it alright if I stay late and work? Can you arrange a ride back for me?

    Not a problem. You''ve got to be out of there by 2100 hours. Safety reasons. But other than that, it''s up to you.

    "Which maps will we be on?" I asked Pete.

    He shook his head. "They''re not telling us that. I think it''s randomized."

    "Then I''ll just have to hope I get some lucky guesses. I''m going to stay and work on cheesing it. Sam? You interested in helping me?"

    "Sure thing," he said. "If we can arrange to ride back together, we can strategize on team comps and counters on the way back."

    "Okay," I told Sam once the others had left. "We''re going to focus on the rooms with walls. I''ve been paying attention to how they respond to our abilities, and I think the programmers got lazy and are treating all walls as hard stops."

    "And how does that help us?" Sam asked.

    "Let''s go to the gladiator ring," I said.

    We zoned into the coliseum. I''d fought here three times now. In our last match, Sam had been using air powers, and something about the way the sand blew around had bothered me.

    "Okay, I want you to kick up a big dust storm. Swirl it around the whole place."

    He did as I asked. I dialed down my taste realism and held up a hand to protect my eyes. Sure enough, the sand cloud was clipping inside the lower rings of seats. About halfway up, 15 meters or so, the stands vanished behind the cloud. I pointed it out to Sam. "So the actual wall of this place is invisible, but it cuts through right where the third tier of seats ends." I eyed it, then jumped into the first row of seats. Sam followed me upward. As soon as I got to the back of the third, I slammed hard against a wall. It looked like there were seats beyond, and entire tiers of empty stone benches, but I couldn¡¯t get through the wall. "Yes!" Triumphantly, I turned to Sam, grinning.

    "Good, so they are cheating. How does that help us?"

    "Well, we know that certain things can pass right through the walls," I pointed out. "Like your dust clouds. Which means probably anything that''s non-corporeal. Which includes," I said, pulling up my list of abilities, "the boon I get from my newest patron."

    Sam let out a whistle. "Oh, I''m starting to see possibilities here."

    "And that''s just for starters," I said. "Means we know exactly where to have Pete hit a ball for ricochets. Let''s check out the other levels."

    We spent the next three hours, until they kicked us out, testing boundaries. And I found a few other hacks that I was certain we could take advantage of. On the trip home, Sam and I poured over the enemy rosters. Sam sitting in the back seat of the van, in front of my chair.

    He''d given a bit of a start when he saw me. I had forgotten this was the first time we''d met in real life. Sam had slightly more acne on his face than he did in the simulation. I wasn''t sure why some of us appeared in our idealized form, while others, like Alpha, still bore scars. But I wasn''t going to pry. He leaned over the back seat, and we compared notes. We ranked our opponents in the order of difficulty we thought they''d be, and came up with as many strats as we could. Zones where we''d identified hacks, some if we didn''t.

    Back at the hotel, we ordered room service up to my room, so we could continue to plot in peace. It was about 2 am by the time Sam left, yawning, to get his own sleep. I crawled into bed, staring up at the dark ceiling. I had a nagging feeling I''d forgotten something. Then it hit me. Patriona''s deadline.

    I called up my email. There was an unread message from her. It said, "We''re disappointed and will be noting this in your permanent file."

    Like that was supposed to scare me. Maybe it did scare Galactics. Maybe it was an insight into what life was going to be like once I joined the wider world. I guessed I''d have to wait and see.

    I rolled over and went to sleep.

 Bk 4 Ch 27: Minecraft

    Our first six matches were blowouts. It seemed like no other team could counter our combos and our research. The first team we fought tried. They''d clearly studied up on us, and decided to lock down Alpha and Sam, which would have been a great strategy, except I invoked Blessing of Fleet Feet and removed the movement snares they''d been trying to use. After that, it was a rout.

    By the time we were facing our last match of the day, we''d reached level 10. "Right," said Pete. "Look at our standings."

    We all put up the listing. Our team was perched right on the edge of the 20% cutoff. We all knew what it meant. I met the grim faces of my teammates. If we won this last match, we were going to Ganymede. If we lost, we were going home. Maybe there''d be a second chance, but I didn''t want to bet my legs on it.

    We had a few minutes before the match started. "The good news is the other team''s only a five-player team like us," Rose said.

    Pete looked at her sharply. "Are you sure? They''re listed as having six."

    She grinned. "Yes, but I spoke with one of their team members last night. He was complaining how one of their players had got cold feet. She didn''t want to go to Ganymede after all."

    "So they''re down a player today," Pete checked their stats. "That explains why they''ve lost their last three rounds. They''re going to be desperate to stay in this. If they win, they''ll make the cutoff, just like us." This one was going to be bitter. "Do you know which player left?"

    Rose nodded. "Their rogue."

    I looked at the roster of our opponents and my stomach sank. This was Amber''s team. I was going to have to go up against her. As we prepared for the match, I checked my messages. I usually didn''t bother because I didn''t want to get into that headspace. Nothing from Amber. I sent her a quick note: "Sorry it''s come down to this. I''m going to play as hard as I can, and I know you''ll do the same. No hard feelings either way."

    "Okay," Pete said. "Strategy time.¡±

    ¡°We''re going to be facing them on the Gold Mine map," I said. We''d had a few battles on the Gold Mine map already. It was a narrow maze of tunnels spanning three levels with ladders and elevator shafts, slopes that got you from one to another, tight corners and bad vision. Sam and I had spent quite a lot of time in the mines last night. "We need to go for cheese. I have some ideas."

    "What''s your idea?" Pete asked.

    Sam and I laid it out. I could see Alpha was interested. She kept nodding and tapping her foot.

    Pete whistled. "That''s risky."

    Rose shook her head. "No way. This is our chance for a straight-up fight."

    "In the mines?" Sam asked skeptically. "You really think they''re going to stay put for that?"

    "We don''t need cheese to win," Rose insisted. "We''re good enough to face them without it."

    Alpha stepped toward her, reaching a hand out and then letting it fall to her side. "I know you''re afraid," she said quietly. "You think that you''ve got a reputation to uphold, but you don''t. You''ve already proved yourself to us, and that''s what matters. Rose, you''re better at implementing someone else''s strategies than anyone I''ve ever met."

    ¡°That''s right," I said, stepping in. "You can do this."

    She managed a smile. ¡°Implementing someone else¡¯s strategies? Is that what I do?¡±

    ¡°And we¡¯re going to need it now, because this relies on you,¡± I said.

    She took a deep breath, looking me in the eyes, then nodded. ¡°All right, Colin. What¡¯s your line?¡±

    I grinned. ¡°Keep calm and cheese on.¡±

    We zoned into the mine, onto a descending wooden elevator that rattled and shook as it dropped below. Amber''s team would be in another elevator on the opposite side of the mine. There were about two kilometers of passages that looped around each other in a confusing maze. Sam and I had mapped the whole thing out. We sent it to the team now.

    "This isn''t as bad as I thought," Rose said. "The mini-map is deceptive. The other time we were here I was so busy getting my face smashed in I didn¡¯t get a sense of the layout.¡±

    ¡°The devs have hidden the fact that we essentially have three levels here," I said. "We''ll be zoning in on the bottom level. There''s a short tunnel next to us with the ladder that leads up to the top level. Just to the left of that is the passage that slopes up to level two. That''s where we break up."

    To encourage team brawling, rather than just sneaking around looking for opportunities to gank each other, this map had a win condition besides just wipe out the other team. If one team blew up the ore carts in the center of the mine here on the bottom level, they would win.

    To do that, we needed dynamite, lots of it. I immediately split off from the rest of the team. I looped upward to the powder room on the top floor. There was a big combination lock on a huge brass door, like from an old-timey bank vault, sealing off the dynamite cache here. It was supposed to be a mini-game. It made a great place for an ambush, but I''d already worked out a way around the puzzle.

    I hit the door with a healing spell, which caused me to be able to see, as though I were treating a patient¡¯s injury, the position of all the tumblers. I quickly spun the combination, keeping alert to anyone behind me. The door slipped open under my touch. I leapt inside and looted all of the dynamite into my inventory.

    Now I had to get back to the team. Rose had gone right to the load of ore in the center, with Alpha there to back her up. I''d buffed them both with a blessing of protection from Patron Dispoli, who gave them a shield they could use at will. I hurried back to join them.

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    Meanwhile, Sam and Pete were scouting through the second level of the mine, where they caught two of our opponents out of position. Pete hit them with an electrified baseball, but they were expecting that and had a counter spell. Sam followed up with an ice cast that hit just as their counter went down, freezing them in place.

    He and Pete took out one of the pair before retreating as the second unfroze. Since the other was their tank, they had to get clear before they got locked down and caught out. But now we were up a man, 5-4. I hadn¡¯t spotted Amber yet, and kind of hoped I wouldn¡¯t.

    "Second floor passage is clear," Pete said as I caught up to them. He dropped down the ladder to the bottom floor. I followed carefully, with Sam taking up the rear.

    I had just reached the ground when Sam screamed. He fell past me, arms thrown out, whole body frozen. I hit him with a shield spell just as he crashed into the ground, taking a ton of damage. I invoked Berena, patroness of life, to get his health back up as three of the enemy team leapt down the hole after us.

    We scrambled back against the walls. They were wearing power boots that kicked up fire and dust as they safely landed. Amber was there in the middle, holding a laser rifle. She wore a helmet with its visor down, and she pointed right at me. I could feel them lock their weapons onto me.

    "Get clear!" Pete yelled, pushing me toward the tunnel. I ran as Sam tossed up an ice storm. It was supposed to slow them and hurt their visibility, but it didn''t seem to have any effect. I could see their red dots on my minimap as I raced toward Alpha and Rose.

    "There''s still one more out there," I broadcast to my team. "Keep your eyes peeled."

    "He''s here!" Alpha shouted back.

    As I burst into the wide chamber at the center of the mine, I spotted him. The enemy player was in a big power suit, about eight feet tall. Its enormous bucket helmet brushed the ceiling of the mine tunnel. There were rotary cannons attached to each arm. He was shooting at my teammates, who were both dodging and racing around.

    I threw out a speed buff from one of my patrons, at the same time hitting him with a Tangle spell from my base toolkit. I targeted his lower legs. His upper torso still spun, the cannons roaring, but the lower legs didn''t. As it reached a far end of its arc, the suit waist groaned with the sound of overstressed metal.

    "That''s your target!" I told Alpha, highlighting it. She dove in, activating her Berserker mode, which swapped out her twin daggers for an enormous axe. She brought her weapon down hard against the enemy''s midpoint, just as Pete reached the tunnel entrance behind us.

    He had a ball ready to go, tossed it up, and smacked it with his bat right into the mech suit¡¯s head. It exploded with a gout of flame and a loud bang. The enemy player teetered. Rose rushed in. She smashed her warhammer against the mech suit¡¯s knee cap and it tottered over, falling.

    Rose and Alpha dove on it, but I was already turning toward the corridor. I could see enemy dots behind us, but not Sam''s. I took my combat log real quick and cursed. Sam had fallen.

    We were back on even terms, but not for long. Rose and Alpha demolished the mech, and as its user emerged from the protected center chassis, Alpha switched back to rogue and stepped in behind him, slipping daggers up under his ribcage.

    Pete turned back to the tunnel as I shouted a warning. He lobbed another baseball forward. There was another explosion. The whole mine shook, a cloud of dust bursting through the tunnel, concealing our enemies.

    "Retreat," I yelled.

    "We''ve got the explosives," Rose said. "Let''s use them."

    "They are channelled. We don''t have time."

    We all dodged away down a tunnel. I shouted directions to my team and we followed a twisting path back up to the second floor. I kept an eye on my minimap, breathing heavily. ¡°Either we hunt down and take them all out, or we get off the explosion. It''s a 30-second channel, and any damage will interrupt it.¡±

    "I say we take them," Rose said confidently. "It''s four to three. We''ve got the numbers advantage."

    Pete was shaking his head. "Not without Sam to slow them down. You didn''t see that fight. They are powerhouses. They''ve got their tank and two damage dealers, and I think the tank has some restoration abilities because he was keeping up the others. Their range is way longer than mine, too."

    "All right," I said, panting. "This is what we''re going to do." I checked my map and smiled. "This is going to work," I said. "See how we damaged that tunnel when Pete hit his ball? We''ve got this."

    In pairs of two, we raced about the mine, placing bundles of my dynamite at strategic junctures. The enemy was a pack of three hunting us. If they caught either of our teams, it would be bad. Rose and Alpha reported that they''d set their last bundle, just as Pete and I set ours.

    "All right. Blow it.¡± I activated the dynamite. Thirty seconds felt like an eternity but finally the whole mine rumbled. Dust clouds filled the air as the shaking went on and on. Beams collapsed behind us, and whole tunnels caved in. I checked my map, hoping it had somehow caught the enemy team, but it hadn''t. I received a quick message from Amber.

    "Nice trick, but now we have to kill each other since you''ve just blocked off the ore deposit. Fine with me. You''re the one who had all the dynamite."

    Their dots blinked out. They were using a stealth ability. "Be on the lookout," I warned the others. "They just went dark."

    Pete and I headed for our next rendezvous. Just as we''d reached it, Alpha shouted a warning. "They''re here! They¡ª!¡±

    I saw the mini-map dots appear. Alpha and Rose were two corridors away, not far at all. I could hear the screams and sounds of gunshots and weapons clashing from here. I turned to Pete. "Do it! We¡¯re out of time!¡±

    ¡°I sure hope you¡¯re right.¡±

    I stood right in the center of the room as Pete pulled out another baseball. He tossed it up in the air in front of him and slammed it with his bat. The ball arced right toward me. As it was about to hit, I invoked Ghost Lady Varmage, patron of spectres, and we all went incorporeal. That was the key. Incorporeal meant I could pass through certain barriers at will.

    Pete raced away toward the girls. The baseball dropped right through me, hitting the ground beneath my feet. It blew a hole in the floor, disrupting the boundary between floors, and I dropped one floor below into the supposedly sealed off mine room.

    I raced to the undisturbed mine carts, placing my dynamite around them. Pete sent me a message. "One down, but he got Rose." A second later, "Alpha''s down."

    Then my combat log recorded Pete as dead. There were only two of the enemy left, Amber and the other damage dealer. Amber sent me a message.

    "Sorry, Colin. You''re a great kid, but this is over now. Why don''t you make it easy and come on out?"

    I was already ten seconds into channeling the dynamite. I didn''t answer.

    "I can see you. Where are you? Oh, you little shit!" They were right above me. Amber was sprinting toward the hole in the floor. Ten seconds to go. Amber launched herself through the hole. I couldn''t do anything. She pointed her gun as she fell toward me. If she hit me, I''d reset, and we lost.

    Fortunately, it worked just as I¡¯d hoped. Amber bounced off an invisible ceiling back up into the level above.

    "What the fuck? Colin, you wanker!"

    The dynamite blew up. We all returned to the lobby. [Match concluded. Victory!] the system informed us.

    Rose grabbed me around the waist and spun me around. ¡°We did it! We won!¡±

    Alpha threw back her hood. A grin twisted her scarred face. ¡°I¡¯m going to Ganymede.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to get my legs back!¡± I cheered, pumping my fist. ¡°You guys were brilliant, you did it exactly right.¡±

    ¡°No, you were brilliant, Colin. We were watching from here. The look on her face when she bounced back - how did you know that would work?¡± Pete asked.

    ¡°Same rules that governed walls. They wanted to make sure we only used designated ladders and chutes. So they slapped up an invisible wall everywhere else. But ¡ª¡±

    I was interrupted by the system.

    [Please wait. Complaint has been lodged by your opponents. Please wait. We will now go to an adjudication.]

 Bk 4 Ch 28: Facing the Final Boss

    All at once, we were in a conference room, and so was the other team. They looked tired and frustrated. Amber was glaring at me. She''d pushed back her visor, but still wore the helmet and combat gear.

    A moment later, a tired-looking Air Force captain appeared. She glanced around the room and pointed at the table. "Everyone sit," she said. "All right. I''m Captain Lehman. I was assigned to work JAG here. You all know what that is?" A couple of us shook our heads. "Basically, Army lawyer. I''m helping adjudicate Joint Task Force Ganymede squabbles. Let''s review the complaint here."

    "They cheated," one of the opposing team said. I checked my info. His name was Rogers.

    "How so?" the captain asked, glaring. ¡°And hurry it up, I¡¯ve got three more cases to get through here.¡±

    "When I tried to drop through the floor to take out Colin, there was a force field. I couldn''t reach him. But he got through it somehow. He''s a known exploiter," Amber said. "I mean, I don''t mind being beat, but that wasn''t fair, Colin."

    Captain Lehman turned to me. "Want to give an explanation?"

    "Sure," I said. ¡°I mean, I did exploit, but it wasn¡¯t a cheat. So, this mine map had barriers between the levels except at the designated access points. They were coded the same way the walls in all the levels were. If you used electricity on them, it disrupted them. Not enough to pass through. But combined with my incorporeal buff, I was able to get through it. Sam and I tested it yesterday and came up with the strat."

    The opponent team was shaking their heads, looking angry and frustrated. "That''s cheating!"

    Amber looked upset, but she challenged the others. ¡°Gamers look for exploits. Especially these. We knew that ahead of time. I warned you¡ª¡±

    ¡°Exploits are for solo attempts, PVE, not PVP!¡± Rogers argued back.

    Captain Lehman sighed and leaned forward. "I can see this is going to be a long one. Everybody sit and be quiet while I review the relevant data." She gestured, and the last three minutes of our match appeared. She played it at double speed as Rose and Alpha tussled with Amber and Rogers. No wonder they were the two most disgusted looking. They had fought three against two ¡ª once Pete joined ¡ª and won, only to have me steal the victory away with a cheese. I almost felt bad about it.

    We got to the part where I dropped through the hole Pete made. Rogers jabbed a finger. "There! There!"

    Captain Lehman froze the display. She called up some other data which streamed along faster than I could read. Her brows knit together. "I must admit, I''m not an expert on this game system. It does appear you used a pair of unintended interactions."

    "Sure," I said. "There''s nothing against that in the rule set."

    "The walls of the game are set up in the way they are for a reason," Captain Lehman said. "On the other hand, your team has shown cleverness to find and exploit this problem. I''m passing it along to our developers so they can choose to fix it or not."

    "Using exploits is an important part of gaming," I said. "That''s why my team was called here in the first place. We''re experts at finding holes and using them."

    "But that''s not what this was testing," Rogers insisted. Amber was biting her lip, looking between her team and me. I could tell she was torn. She wanted the win just as much as I did, but she kind of understood the point I was making.

    I felt bad I''d had to beat her team but I needed this win. My legs were at stake. My whole future. Amber could try again. I''d have to go back to my wheelchair after being free of it for the past three days. I could feel panic rising in me. My ears started to ring. My stomach was an empty pit, threatening to absorb the rest of me.

    I focused on the room around me, even though it wasn''t real, on my teammates'' tight looks and Captain Lehman''s studious gaze over all of the data. She ran forward, watching as Amber attempted to follow me through the hole and bounced off and then waited out the explosion. It looked pretty cool from here, I had to admit, even if I had been blown into a bunch of chunks. Fortunately, the developers hadn''t programmed in any feeling for that. I wondered if the reality engine worked the same way. I''d watched a few highlight videos brought back to Earth of our miners facing down enemies. I knew there were complicated rules, and sometimes death was real and sometimes it wasn''t. I''d get a chance to study those rules for myself soon and look for loopholes to exploit. Hopefully.

    Our opposing team was leaning forward now. "Captain, you can''t let this stand," Rogers begged. "We fought hard to get here. We did everything by the rules. We brought our best game, gave it 110%. And they cheated."

    "They did exactly what we wanted them to do," a new voice said.

    I looked up. Colonel Twofeather had appeared in the room with us. He was a little hazy looking. His body moved jerkily. I guessed that he was remoting in and not using a full sensory pod, maybe just a VR helmet. Captain Lehman leapt up. She saluted. Colonel Twofeather returned the salute. "Sorry to intrude on you, Captain," he said. ¡°I know you''ve got adjudication here, but I had an alert set to go off for anything involving this particular team. We''ve got a particular interest in them, assuming they prove they have what it takes. And I think they just did." He paused. "I just finished looking over that match. Whose idea was this? Colin?"

    I cleared my throat. "Yes, sir," I said. "But my whole team had to work together to implement it. Sam spent a lot of hours with me making sure our strat was valid."

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    Colonel Twofeather nodded. "Good. That''s exactly what we were hoping to see. Some off-the-wall strategies, looking past the rules, breaking all of the corner conditions."

    "Sir, then..." Captain Lehman asked.

    "The results stand," Colonel Twofeather said.

    "But they cheated!" Rogers insisted.

    Colonel Twofeather glared at him. Rogers withered under the fierce frown. "They played the game," Twofeather said. "In the reality engine, if you''re not looking for ways to cheat, you''re not looking for ways to win." He softened his tone. "Your team played hard. We got a bad stroke of luck yesterday when Margolius dropped out. I''ll put in a good word for you and make sure you''re in the next batch of inductees. All except you, St. John. Colin¡¯s team is under strength ¡ª they need a sixth, and you get what they¡¯re doing, so I¡¯m putting you on their roster.¡±

    Amber''s eyes widened. ¡°You ¡ª I¡¯m going up?¡± She let out a deep breath and slumped forward. The rest of the team looked slightly mollified. My team, though, were staring at each other.

    "We did it," Sam said.

    "Did we?" asked Pete. He turned to Colonel Twofeather. "Sir, I mean, we passed?"

    "You passed," Colonel Twofeather said. "Y''all will be on the ships later this month, heading for Ganymede. I''ll send instructions. All except you, Colin," he said, turning to me. I felt my stomach fall and the rest of me teeter over the dark void, threatening to go after it.

    "Yes, sir. What do you mean?"

    "I mean, boy, you''ve got two hours to get to my ship before it leaves. We¡¯ve got a problem. My grandson¡¯s been missing for three days, nobody has an idea how to go after him, and we¡¯re going to need your insights here.¡±

    "Uh, sir, I..." I still wasn''t sure I was hearing him right.

    Colonel Twofeather shook his head. "Get the lead out, boy. You''ve got somewhere to be. Court dismissed.¡±

    He waved his hand, and my team was back in our lobby. We stared at each other, then Pete broke the silence with a fist pump and a cheer. "Yes!"

    "Thanks, Colin," Rose said. "You were right."

    "I''m going to Ganymede. Right now," I said wonderingly.

    "Get out of here," Sam said. He came and shook my hand. The rest of my team followed suit. Alpha pulled me in for a hug. "We''ll see you up there," she said. "Now git!¡±

    I popped the lid on my coffin and sat up. The aides were already there. I grabbed my phone from the storage locker beside my coffin as they helped me into my chair. "I''m supposed to be going to the shuttle right now," I burbled.

    "We just got your orders," one of the two aides said.

    "What about all my stuff?" I said. "My clothes, my gear, my..."

    "We''re sending word over to Vegas right now to have your clothes packed. You won''t need the computing equipment.¡±

    I guessed he was right. "Oh, shit, Mum!" I bent over my phone and began composing a text, but decided this was not the sort of news you delivered by text. I checked the time. It would be 10 o''clock at night back home. Awfully late, but thanks cell towers on mountain tops we had a connection out here. And as long as we didn''t violate our NDA, we were allowed to make phone and video calls.

    I punched in Mum''s info. As I waited for her to pick up I maneuvered my chair across the tarmac. The helicopter came into view just as Mum¡¯s worried face appeared on my phone screen.

    "Colin, what''s wrong?"

    "Nothing." I could feel the broad grin splitting my face as I shook my head. "Nothing''s wrong, Mum. I did it. I won."

    Her eyes widened. "You mean you..."

    "I''m going to Ganymede, Mum. I''m going to get my legs back."

    "Oh, that''s wonderful," she said. ¡°When will you be home? How long do we have? Shall I call your cousins over for a¡ª"

    "Mum?" I cleared my throat. "My ship leaves right now, this afternoon. Less than two hours." Her face went through a bunch of changes, going from terrified, worried, excited, then settling on sad. "You mean you''re not coming home?"

    I shook my head. "I''m sorry, Mum. I''m not. I can''t."

    We stared at each other across thousands of miles as the pilots prepped the helicopter for takeoff. A high whistling noise started as the engines lit. I raised my voice over the noise. "Mum, I''m sorry. I don''t have time.¡±

    "I''m so pleased for you, Colin," she said. "This is beyond wonderful. We couldn''t have hoped for more." Her voice was full of sadness.

    "Look, Mum, I know that families of volunteers are among the first to get places in the reality engine once they start opening it up to others." Her eyes widened. Her lips drew back from her teeth. She shook her head.

    "Oh, Colin, you know I can''t¡ªI mean, I couldn''t leave your stepfather."

    A uniformed and helmeted crewman stood outside the ¡®copter beckoning to me. ¡°Mum, I gotta go.¡± My voice caught in my throat. ¡°I love you."

    I just barely heard her over the screw of the engines as the rotors started to turn. "I love you, Colin," I ended the call as the crew grabbed my shoulders and lifted me to the waiting helicopter.

    An hour and a half later, I was strapped into a seat on the starship. One of the crew came by to make sure I was secured. "You missed all the briefings," she said. "So, here''s the deal. Do not try to get out of your seat until we say you can. There''ll be a comfortable half-G all the way from Earth orbit to Ganymede, thanks to some fun tech the aliens gave us and our bright boys have improved on."

    "How long does it take to get there?" I asked.

    Her eyes widened. "You really haven''t been keeping track. It takes a little longer than the galactic spaceships need. Eight hours one way. We''ll serve a meal."

    My chair had been taken away, and I''d been carried onto the ship by two burly servicemen. "I guess I''ll need help if I''m going to the head.¡±

    She nodded. "Colonel Twofeather told us about your special needs. Don''t worry. In a few hours, Colin, it''ll all be over. I''m jealous," she added with a smile. "I''m on the list for induction myself. Working here in the transport pushes me up a good bit since I¡¯ve been visiting the reality engine often enough to get ethereum for free. Well, you¡¯re all strapped. Take care.¡±

    I had a window seat. The inside of the tube was rows and rows of seats hanging in midair, kind of like an amusement park ride, four banks of three on each side of the capsule. They were on a contraption that would swing around and face forward. For right now, we were stacked on top of each other like riders waiting to go up a tower of terror. I was on the very bottom row, right next to a porthole. I pressed my nose against the window as the countdown began.

    "Ten¡­ nine¡­ eight." Outside, the desert was bright, sunny. People scrambled back from the heavy concrete pad. "Three¡­ two¡­ one." I braced myself, but there was no push, no roar, just a gentle puffing feel. And we silently raised off the pad. I peered down at the ground as it rapidly disappeared beneath us. There was no sensation of movement whatsoever.

    I saw the pad shrink below, then spotted the airstrip full of trailers, and then we were higher still and Vegas loomed in the distance, its casinos that had seemed so tall from the street like toys. Then we were higher, higher, the ground below us all vast stretches of desert broken up by craggy mountain ranges. To the west, the mountains were snow-capped. Here and there bright green circles of growing crops broke the brown-gray landscape.

    Little wisps of clouds formed below us, thickening, then disappeared. The blue outside my window darkened, darkened.

    I saw stars outside the window. The capsule heeled over, our banks of chairs swinging forward until now we faced what had been the top of the capsule a few minutes before. A voice came over the speaker. ¡°Preparing for thrust.¡±

    A gentle shove pushed me against my chair. I looked out again. The Earth below me was a globe, like I¡¯d seen in pictures. I boggled as we pushed out, farther, the Earth dropping away.

    And then it was gone, and all I could see were stars.

 Bk 4 Ch 29: Dust and Tumbleweeds

    Major Armstrong objected to holding the mission briefing on the steps outside the portal, and I had to agree with him. So, we were in a conference room in a safely tamed reality engine level. Kronos had pulled on standard designs to make the military feel more at home. There was even a flag in the corner bearing the Joint Task Force Ganymede logo on it.

    I faced a "U" of tables. On the right-hand side were my crack team of civilian contractors: Hester and Will, Mitch, Lakshmi along with my old friend Deputy Frank Young.

    Sage had really wanted to come, but she had end-of-semester exams and a practical to take. I didn''t think Major Armstrong would much appreciate her being along anyway. The middle section of tables had most of my previously trained recruits: Sanders, Chavez, Weeks, Dorman and Ling. Then we had five new arrivals, handpicked by Major Armstrong: a sergeant and four privates. I was concerned about bringing them along, but Armstrong was right. We needed to start getting more people trained for this job. All together we made up an understrength platoon, but still a larger group than I usually deployed with.

    I waited until everyone was paying attention before launching in. "All right, I know this is sooner than most of us were thinking, but the situation is emergent. Kronos has relayed to me that one of the dissident fragments has made common cause between several fragments and merged into one very powerful rival."

    "Just how powerful are we talking?" Major Armstrong asked me. ¡°I was under the impression that Kronos was a single individual with whom we were negotiating, that he served as something of a sovereign government of this entire moon.¡±

    I held up a hand. "All right, first off, Kronos is anything but an individual. He, it, they.¡± I shrugged. "We use ''he'' most of the time, but he''s a conglomeration of whatever''s left of millions of progenitor consciousnesses after millennia spent sleeping and probably some AI mixed in there with him. He''s incredibly powerful, listening right now, and a bit hard to comprehend, honestly, so I don''t really try. Just try to think of it now like we''re working with the local government. There''s a faction of dissidents who have taken control of several sectors and are threatening to try to take more. We don''t like that because they threaten the security of our stronghold here at Threshold."

    Armstrong and the other uniformed personnel were nodding. They''d seen this sort of scenario often enough in the past few decades to understand my analogy.

    "Right now, this particular alliance of dissident fragments is still a bit shaky. I honestly don''t entirely understand how he''s reintegrating these lost segments of himself, but I do understand our mission. We go in, we play along with the fragment¡¯s rule set and scenario, we confront it, and hopefully we get it back on the same page as the rest of us."

    "And you say you''ve been doing these missions already?" Armstrong asked.

    I hesitated. "This will be my sixth fragment integration. From what Kronos told me, this one''s a little different. I won''t lie to you, I think it''s going to be dangerous and unpredictable. I also don''t think we have a choice. If we don''t get this fragment under control now, Kronos says we could start seeing impacts.¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡±Armstrong asked while my civilian contractor squad made interested sounds. The uniformed folk had a bit more discipline.

    "Intrusions into zones Kronos has been stabilizing for us. Chaos in the farm levels, it''s even possible it could interfere with us here in Threshold. It''s not a situation we want to see."

    Armstrong frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t like that, but continue the briefing, please.¡±

    I cleared my throat. "For those of you who haven''t been along on one of these missions before. Our objective will be to penetrate deep enough into this level to confront the entity, allowing Kronos to reconnect and take control of this fragment of himself and the ethereum reserves it controls. The complicating factor that some of you have had experience with is that if you die while on this mission, you respawn at the start with no memory of what you''ve been through.¡±

    One of the new recruits was twitching. I gestured to him. "Yes?"

    "Private First Class Johnson, sir. What does that mean, sir? Why won¡¯t we remember?"

    I sighed because I wasn''t entirely comfortable with it myself. "Basically, Kronos takes a snapshot of you as you exist the moment you enter the level. Should you be killed, you will revert to that snapshot. Think of it as if you''ve ever had your computer crash and lost a couple of hours of work. It''s like that, but for your memories. This is because Kronos will not be able to maintain a continuous backup of our memories. I''ve been through it myself, so I know it''s a little uncomfortable, but something you can adapt and overcome."

    My audience was restless, but said nothing. I plowed on.

    ¡°This level threatens to be somewhat difficult. Kronos says this fragment is large, coherent, and completely refusing to listen to him. It may take us significant effort to penetrate far enough for Kronos'' efforts to take hold. We don''t know what to expect until we get in there. So, we''ll be putting this together on the fly.¡±

    Hester had a hand up. I pointed. "Yes?"

    "Can you clarify the chain of command here, sir?"

    Armstrong spoke up. ¡°Captain Williams is platoon leader and in charge of the civilian squad. I will be acting as an advisor. Chaves has second squad and Sergeant Faletulu will lead third squad.

    ¡°Kronos has had a hard time penetrating this fragment. This means coms may be a problem. Any other questions? Then let''s get in there," I said, when there were no other questions. "We''ll adjust on the fly once we enter."

    We exited the conference room, stepped out into Threshold, and walked a couple of portals over until we reached our goal.

    I stepped in first. Hot sun beat down on me. I pulled my earpiece and all-seeing eye out of my inventory and connected them as the rest of the team came through the portal. The ground all around us was dusty and red. Steep escarpments rose up on either side, reminding me a bit of the country where I''d grown up. Scraggly sage and juniper dotted the hills, and a little ways off I saw a row of cottonwoods marking a spring or river.

    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    "Overwatch, this is Tip of the Spear. Do you read?" I adjusted my earpiece and repeated, "Overwatch, Tip of the Spear, do you read me?"

    There was no reply. I turned to my team. "I''m not getting any response from our Overwatch. Does anyone else have comms?" Meanwhile, I tried sending a message. I got no response back. No failure message. Just silence. The others confirmed my results.

    I took a deep breath. "Okay, we''ve been worried about this, but it''s not entirely unexpected. The stronger fragments have the ability to block out Kronos'' connection to us.¡±

    ¡°Is this going to have an impact on us coming back from death?¡± one of the new recruits, Private Johnson, asked.

    "Kronos assured me that it wouldn''t," I said. He looked about as reassured as I felt, clutching his M-16 tight.

    The portal loomed behind us, starkly out of place in this rocky landscape, a circle of metal standing about six feet high. We could abort the mission. But we needed the experience and the ethereum. I was confident in my team''s abilities to do this. "Let''s head deeper," I said. "We''re looking for any sign as to what the challenge is. Be prepared for attacks. Usually, both the enemies and the challenges fit in with the theme. We could be looking at wild animals or anything from bands of hostile Indians to wrestlers armed with six guns to, I don''t know,¡± I shrugged, ¡°Roswell aliens on the rampage. Let''s go."

    I took point and we set off toward the cottonwoods. Major Armstrong messaged me privately and I was glad to see that functionality at least still worked.

    Any reason you picked this direction in particular?

    I grinned.

    Sorry, I''m a desert kid. I''m heading for the Cottonwoods there because it means there''s water. Water means life and we''re more likely to pick up on the theme of what''s going on here.

    As long as you''ve got a plan, he replied. We continued our march. Buzzards circled overhead. I kept a wary eye on them, but they didn''t seem to be a threat, just set decoration. We passed some cactuses and little patches of blooming cholla. Everything was oddly evocative and I found myself breathing deep, smelling the sharp sage and the hints of spicy pine the breeze down from the higher elevations was bringing.

    We reached the cottonwoods and found they bounded a small year-round stream. Tadpoles darted in the deeper pools and a pair of ravens, disturbed at our passing, flew up croaking.

    There was also a dead man lying on the bank. I held up a hand. "Hold up. Cover me while I check this out.¡±

    I move closer, studying the man and the ground around him. He was wearing leather chaps over a pair of denim pants, with a vest over his shirt. He had a gun belt strapped to his waist, a six-gun in his hand and a hat covering most of his head. From this angle I could see the front of the gun¡¯s cylinder. There were empty chambers. Either this fragment didn¡¯t care about realism or the man had gone down fighting.

    But he wasn''t a man.

    He was an orc. He''d been dead for some time. I approached carefully. From the smell and desiccation of his body, not to mention the places where animals had pulled his clothes, he''d been dead for days. The cause of death was obvious. Arrows, fletched with white and brown striped feathers. I tugged one free of the body. It resisted a bit, but came free. The point was made from obsidian.

    We were playing Cowboys and Indians then. So be it. I gestured Armstrong over.

    "I don''t know what it means that he''s an orc," I said.

    "Any chance it could be a, well, actual galactic?" the Major asked. ¡°Someone who stumbled in here and died without Kronos'' protections?¡±

    I didn''t think that was likely, but I couldn''t rule it out. We didn''t, as far as I know, keep track of all of the galactics¡¯ doings. There were always a few of them coming and going, trying to get classes. Maybe this fellow had picked the wrong instance. "It''s possible," I agreed. ¡°But most of the orcs I''ve known have been loath to give up their accustomed gear. Even if he did come in and get a class that used a six-gun like mine, I have trouble imagining him outfitting himself like a dude. We''ll keep the possibility in mind.¡±

    Armstrong nodded. "Good. Then what?"

    I pointed at the bank where the tracks of multiple horses could be seen in the damp mud. "We follow one of those." I stood up and studied them a little bit, telling everyone else to remain behind so as not to muddy the prints. Then I picked out what I was looking for.

    "This way.¡± I led my team out of the riverbed and pushing through the cottonwoods back into the open lands.

    "What are we following?" Armstrong asked.

    "Most of the prints went off south," I said. "They were unshod horses, probably belonging to whoever attacked that orc. This set of tracks, though, is shod. I think this was the orc on the way in. We could backtrack him.¡±

    ¡°Are you going to be able to follow that trail?"

    "Maybe," I said. My grandpa was the real tracker, but with my Lay-of-the-Land skill, I thought I might be able to get somewhere. I cast that now and received an updated map. The various buttes and escarpments showed up, as did the river. About two miles on was a small town labeled Coyote''s Rest.

    "We''re heading for town," I said. "Be prepared. Hopefully, we''ll see some action there."

    I reminded the team to stay hydrated. That was where the regular army folk did better than my crack team. The importance of hydration was drilled into you hard in basic training. They had their bottles out constantly. Hester, whose regular outfit boasted a black beret, swapped it for a floppy sun hat to keep the rays off of her head. I approved.

    We made good time, and about half an hour later came over a rise overlooking the small town. It was a single street with false-fronted buildings lining it, and a boardwalk. Heat radiated off of the dusty street. I didn''t see any movement. At the far end of the town was a platform and a tall water tower abutting railroad tracks. I thought I spotted something on the tracks. It was too small to be a train, and I couldn''t make it out. The station itself looked as deserted as the rest of the town.

    There was a livery stable at this end, a saloon in the middle, across from a weathered church building. Over to the west stood the wooden crosses and makeshift markers of Boot Hill. And there at last I spotted movement. I pointed it out.

    "Anyone have a long range vision skill?"

    The sergeant of the new group, a big American Samoan man named Faletulu, stepped forward. He raised a pair of binoculars and squinted. "There''s things moving down there. They don''t move quite right. More like," he hesitated.

    "You can say it," I encouraged.

    ¡°Well, like zombies. Some of them are wearing long dresses, others trousers and shirts like that fellow back at the bank. And some of them are definitely not human. I can see the ears and tails from here."

    "We can assume zombies are hostile. Let''s take the graveyard. Be prepared for spawn from the graves or a mini-boss jumping out." I laid out a battle plan. Major Armstrong nodded approval. Then we moved in.

    We skirted around the town and hit the graveyard from two sides. I opened up with an explosive round on a zombie in the center of a pack of three, an elf woman wearing a long muslin dress that came to her ankles. Her skin was slipping off in places, revealing decaying flesh and muscles beneath. The round exploded her quite nicely, blowing her pieces up. I shifted my aim to the next zombie over, another orc man dressed like a cowboy, and fired a frag bullet center of mass. It exploded in his chest, staggering him back but not killing him.

    ¡°These zombies take a lot of damage!¡± I shouted as my team opened fire. Hester hit them with an AoE debuff called Ode to Mortality. It didn''t do much, probably having a low impact on the undead, but it did tangle them up a bit. The soldiers advanced in pairs of two, one covering the other, just according to doctrine. It worked here, though they''d need more unconventional tactics later, I was sure.

    We mowed down the zombies without incident. Despite my warnings, nobody emerged from graves. I holstered my gun and strode into the graveyard, examining the dead bodies and graves for clues. Other than the fact that they all looked like Galactics, I didn''t see anything that seemed strange.

    "I think we can definitely rule out the possibility that these were actual Galactic miners who''ve come to a bad end," I said. "For some reason, this fragment is taking a somewhat realistic Wild West and populating it with aliens. That could be important. We should pay attention." I turned to the Major. ¡°Ready to hit town, sir?¡±

    He cracked a smile. ¡°Saddle up, boys!¡±

 Bk 4 Ch 30: Stomping Grounds

    We swept the town, clearing our way down the street one building at a time. The livery stable was filled with undead horses and a loft full of zombified lizard folk. We cleared it out by the book, taking down zombies with headshots.

    The saloon held patrons still sitting at their tables playing cards though undead. When we entered, it triggered a bar fight. It was a bizarre juxtaposition, like the Western bar fights I''ve seen in dozens of movies, with cowboys and bargirls in short skirts upending bottles and chairs, but all of them aliens and all of them undead.

    I scrutinized each location, looking for clues. We had zombies; we had galactics. We weren''t learning much in terms of a scorecard. I was hoping after we cleared the town, something would appear to give us a clue.

    The little church was entirely empty of zombies, which made me think it might be important. I had Chavez, who had our best Inspect skill, look it over but he didn''t spot anything.

    At last, we reached the far end of the town: the train platform and station. The wooden water tower beside the tracks dripped into the dirt. A mailbag hung from a wooden pole sticking out over the track. I eyed it, wondering if there might be a clue in there. "Let''s check the station first.¡±

    We approached. There was no sign of life. I drew my gun and stepped through the door into the station. A creature stood behind the counter.

    He looked up as I entered. It was a coyote standing on two legs and wearing buckskin. I blinked and he was gone. What stood behind the counter now was clearly a man, and he was Native. He looked about 30 years old and reminded me of my grandpa, with two long dark braids falling down his back.

    This was our first hint of someone or something not dead or alien. I holstered my gun, knowing I could Quick Draw it at a moment''s notice, and approached the counter.

    "Can I help you?" the man asked.

    "Maybe?" I was trying to keep it casual.

    Behind me, more of my team entered. The man''s eyes flickered. He glanced over them, resting on Frank for a minute. "Have we got a problem that needs the law?"

    "No, no, just passing through," I assured him quickly. "What happened here in the town?"

    The man tilted his head. He peered at me. "I can sell you a ticket back where you''ve come from," he said. He laid down long, thin white pieces of paper on the counter. I made no move to pick them up but read them over. One said Ganymede, another Arizona Strip.

    I looked up at the man. "You''re him, aren''t you? The fragment."

    He just looked at me. "I prefer to be called Coyote," he said.

    It started to click into place. The setting, the man. In many of the legends shared among various tribes in the southwest, Coyote was a trickster character, sometimes on the side of humans and sometimes not. He bore a few similarities to the Norse god Loki. But they''re not the same.

    Interestingly, my grandpa never liked those stories much. He''d rant about how other people had picked up on those stories while ignoring thousands of other legends and decided they were representative of a whole culture. "Like if you reduced all of English literature to nothing but Robin Hood," he''d said on more than one occasion. Besides, the Paiute didn¡¯t really have Coyote stories.

    ¡°Okay," I told the man, "you''re in charge here. What can we do to prove ourselves to you?¡±

    ¡°Bring me an offering if you want my help." The instant he said it, Coyote disappeared. A hot wind whistled through the cracks in the boards, kicking up a little dust devil on the floorboards. Other than the papers on the counter there was no sight he had ever been there.

    There wasn''t room in the station for all of us, so we retreated back outside and circled around and took stock.

    "I''m pretty sure that was an aspect of the entity controlling this fragment," I told the team. "He''s taken on the guise of Coyote, a trickster character from various native legends."

    "Oh, hey," Chavez said. ¡°There was a book in the back room of the church, well, a shelf of books, but one of them was Legends of the Southwest or something like that.¡±

    "Take second squad and go check it out," I said. They hurried off.

    Meanwhile, on the outside wall of the station, I found a large map. I studied it, correlating it with my mini-map. We were near the middle; the track cut diagonally from southeast to northwest. The river we''d crossed earlier wiggled along the opposite diagonal, cutting the land roughly into quarters. There were several buttes marked out in the southwest corner. It was a horseshoe-shaped ring of mountains with an X in it. I peered closer. Lost Spaniards¡¯ Mine. In the southeast of the map, a tall spire. The Trickster''s Ascent.

    I pointed out the interesting features to Major Armstrong. "So what''s the point of playing this game?" Major Armstrong asked. ¡°That was an embodiment of this fragment right there. It wasn''t enough to flush him out for Kronos?¡±

    ¡°On the missions I''ve conducted before, I almost get the feeling that we''re having to prove ourselves, as Kronos'' agents, to the remaining fragments of himself.¡±

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    "How does a, for want of a better word, demigod fracture into pieces like this?" Armstrong asked.

    "Well, you have to remember that he''s a billion-year-old relic of all the thoughts and memories of the progenitors who went into this reality engine and never came back out," I said. "From what I gather, the progenitors thrived billions of years ago until something made them all retreat within their reality engines.¡±

    ¡°I got that briefing,¡± Armstrong said, ¡°but go on.¡±

    ¡°What I think happened," I said, "is the same thing we''re seeing happen to our people. A lot of them got content just living in a dream world, having everything taken care of for them. They had no incentive to do anything with their lives because it wasn''t real. Over who knows how many millennia, they stopped even bothering to reproduce. They gave up using bodies and their minds completely merging with the engine itself and then with each other to become the entity we now call Kronos.¡±

    Armstrong shivered. ¡°Remind me not to stay plugged in too long.¡±

    I had to agree with him there. ¡°But anyway, Kronos was created by those millions, billions, even trillions of individuals slowly merging with each other, losing their personalities. The being we call Kronos is just the largest agglomeration of those lost personalities. These fragments represent clusters of," I shrugged, "I don''t know what you want to call them, remnants. Remnants of a group who had different goals than Kronos. For him to reclaim the fragment, on some level, he''s got to convince them that what he''s doing with us is right. Based on what I''m seeing here, if I had to harbor a guess, this fragment represents the part of the reality engine that really resents the Galactics and what they did."

    "I don''t blame it," Armstrong observed.

    "Me neither," I shrugged. "Sometimes I forget we humans weren''t the only ones they barged in and upset. Kronos was waking up on his own when they got here. They slapped on a slaver program and tried to break him to their will. They failed, but they still want to try again. If this piece is representing the anger he has toward the Galactics, maybe we can use it, but it might be hard to persuade this fragment to play ball."

    Chavez and the others got back. He handed me the book. It was called Folklore and Sacred Stories of the American Southwest. I flipped through.

    There were a handful of Coyote stories I recognized. A Prometheus-type legend of Coyote wresting fire from supernatural people to give to humans. Another where he played tricks on other animals, one where he punished a wicked woman. I flipped through quickly.

    The very last story in the book was titled "Coyote and the Man.¡± I paused and read it. I wasn¡¯t an expert on the Coyote stories by any means, but I didn¡¯t recognize this one at all.

    It told the story of how long after the People had turned their back on Coyote and all he had done for them, they were attacked by shining warriors riding four-legged demons.

    Probably a reference to conquistadors, I thought. Interesting.

    They fled their homes as the warriors burned and pillaged, breaking pots and poisoning wells. They fled to hidden cities in the mesas, but the shining warriors hunted them down. One by one, the People were murdered or taken into slavery.

    Finally, only a single warrior and his family were still free. They were running low on food, so the man harvested their last corn. His wife ground the ears into flour and made him cakes. Then Man took the cakes and set off to find Coyote.

    He asked Raven for help, another standard character from the folklore, usually represented as a wise guide. Raven said he had soared high for many days but not seen Coyote. He offered Man a long black feather from his wing and wished him luck.

    The man kept on. He found a ruined village where a very old woman sat weaving and asked her. She said all of her grandchildren had gone looking for Coyote many days ago and not returned, but told him what she had told them, that they would need to find Coyote''s drum and take it to the sacred peak. She offered him her weaving, a blanket with a sacred design that could ward off demons. The man took it and continued.

    The sacred drum had been stolen by the invaders. Man found the place where they had scratched a hole in the earth and forced the prisoners they had taken to dig out gold for them. They were using the spirit drum to keep the prisoners in line.

    The man waited until darkness, then, wrapped in the blanket, snuck into the camp. He used the raven''s feather to wake the captured chief. Together they freed the prisoners and killed their captors. The chief led the people away while the man took the spirit drum and hurried to the highest peak. There he beat the drum and Coyote appeared.

    By now the whole group was listening as I read off the story. I found myself adding some expression as I read the dialogue here in the climax verbatim.

    "Why have you summoned me?"

    "We need your aid, now, for we have an enemy we cannot defeat."

    "You have turned your back on me."

    "My fathers were foolish, but we are your people. Come back to our aid."

    Then Coyote looked at the man and laughed. "It is you who have come to their aid, not me. Nevertheless, I will give you what you need." And so Coyote came down from the mountain. He snuck to the fortress of the Shining Warriors and released all their four-legged demons, chasing them into the mountains. Then he returned to the man.

    "I have taken their demons for you to tame."

    And so the man went down. He offered one of the demons the corn cake his wife had baked. And after the demon had eaten it, it transformed into the first horse. The man and the people he had rescued mounted horses for the first time. With the Shining Warriors'' demons changed to their own friends, they chased the demons from their lands forever.

    I looked up. Armstrong was eyeing me.

    "Well," I shook my head. "It''s got a lot of traditional elements, but it''s definitely not a story I know. I also see resonance with our own situation here. I think this is our key."

    "What, we''re supposed to go tame some horses?"

    "No. There were specific quest items in that story. An ear of corn, a raven''s feather, a blanket, the spirit drum, and a location, the Sacred Peak." I pointed back at the map on the wall. "There''s the mine that it talked about in that story. There''s the Sacred Peak. The corn or maybe the blanket would be associated with the village. Not this one, I think. We''ll want an abandoned native village." I scrutinized the map, looking for a likely place, then spotted a small dot in the northwest that said "Indian Caves."

    "That''ll be it," I said confidently. "As for the raven," I shrugged. "We''ll have to take that as it comes." I hesitated. This was vital information. If we were all forced to respawn, I didn''t want to have to find it again. "Come on, let''s leave ourselves a message," I said.

    We walked back into the town. I took the book and laid it on the speaker''s rostrum of the church, open to the story about Coyote. I found a pen and underlined the key items, then wrote ¡°See map at station" on the title page for that story. Then we went back outside. I pulled a can of orange spray paint from my inventory and sprayed a big arrow on the wooden steps of the church, pointing inward.

    "There," I said. "If we respawn, we''ll see that."

    "Assuming we come the same way again and that the changes we make here are still visible," Armstrong said.

    "The world changes should stay persistent," I said, though I wasn''t 100% confident in that. It was how everything else I had done so far had worked. "Let''s just try not to die.¡±

 Bk 4 Ch 31: Possibilities

    I spent the whole trip out to Ganymede in a state of excitement. When we docked at the enormous space station, I got a good glimpse of it through my window. It was built like a giant rotating cylinder made of shining metal. Other vessels were docking with us: the soup can designs I''d seen launching from Earth, and others that I quickly realized were alien spaceships. Honestly, they were disappointing. No Klingon battle cruisers or Millennium Falcons. Most of them were like giant cargo containers¡ªbig rectangular boxes that slid in through the gaping hatch in the end of the cylinder and disappeared.

    As we settled in our berth and the attendants came through, the rest of the passengers stood up to disembark. I waited until Colonel Twofeather and a couple of aides arrived. They helped me off the ship and into my loathed chair, which sat waiting on the dock beside me. Colonel Twofeather grunted, "I''ll take him from here," and started pushing me himself. I was missing the powered chair already, but I wasn''t going to be needing it for much longer.

    Excitement rose in me as I looked around. We were standing in a huge sterile docking chamber. I could see a dozen ships near me, all standing upright on the deck, noses pointed toward the ceiling far above where a vast circle of stars shone. As I watched, another can pushed through an invisible barrier into the docking chamber, descending silently and smoothly to the deck.

    People disembarked from the ships, hurrying out to the edges of the chamber where doors led inward. It was like Heathrow Airport but even more chaotic, and without the constant overhead announcements. I wondered how traffic control was being handled.

    Colonel Twofeather pushed me toward the wall opposite, where people were lining up to go through doors. "We call this the Hub," he said. "Aliens brought it out here and they left it as part of our settlement at the end of the Reality Engine exploit. Ownership rights have been turned over to Kronos.¡±

    ¡°I don''t quite understand. Is the Reality Engine a person, or a corporation, or¡­¡±

    Colonel Twofeather sounded skeptical as he answered, "Yeah, I don''t rightly understand myself. Treat him like a person. The smartest, most powerful person you''ve met. But he''s not God, right? I keep trying to drill that through people''s heads. He can be effectively anywhere and effectively sees everything that happens inside the Reality Engine. So for those purposes, maybe he''s God. But he''s got limits. Despite owning the Hub, he can''t see up here outside of his data net connections. And he''s got his own agenda. Sometimes that helps us, sometimes it doesn''t. Keep that in mind. First thing you''re gonna do when we get down there is integrate.¡±

    "I''m looking forward to it," I said. I noticed most people disembarking were streaming for a set of platforms leading off in one direction, whereas Colonel Twofeather and I were going a different way. "Where are we going?"

    "Before we take the space elevator, we''re gonna get you outfitted," the colonel said. "Since you''re one of our special projects, I''ll oversee that myself.¡±

    ¡°Outfitted? I thought I didn¡¯t need to bring anything along.¡±

    ¡°Well, see, Kronos is, you could say, whimsical. He likes to offer classes based on the things you''ve got on you. We found that out accidentally back at the start of the exploit. Those of us who looted everything in our surrounding had more options open to us. My grandson, for instance, got a class based on the coat he was wearing and the gun he was wielding. We want to make sure to get you a useful class, so I''m taking you to the warehouse."

    We reached a door leading deeper into the space station, a square eight feet on a side and jet black. It whooshed open at our presence. We stepped in, the door whooshed closed, and then the opposite wall disappeared entirely, letting us through.

    I looked up and my jaw dropped. We were inside the cylinder now. Over my head was empty space, and then far, far above I could see the other side of the cylinder where people were walking upside down on a street like the one we were on. I looked back in front of me. It looked like an old-fashioned shopping mall, with white tiled floors and different openings and entrances everywhere.

    I tried to estimate how big this place was. About a hundred meters down, we stopped at a pair of doors marked with an image of Earth superimposed with a pair of cooking tongs and a stylized axe.

    "What''s this?"

    ¡°This belongs to Misfits Guild.¡± The colonel stepped around my chair: I could see his face now. He glanced at me, probably saw my confusion, and continued. "We''ve got a confusing web of alliances you''re gonna have to negotiate here, kid. The contract you haven''t signed yet will be with the Joint Task Force . This here warehouse belongs to my guild. Well, it''s turned into a company now but we still call it Misfits Guild. It''s a bunch of us original miners from the exploit who banded together to try to survive. We''ve done pretty well for ourselves. We also happen to own the only starship in human hands, so we''re working pretty closely with the Joint Task Force anyway. There''ll be conflicts of interest, but we''ll get that sorted out sooner or later. For now, I am misusing my position as one of the officers of Misfits Guild to get you at our stock, and my position on the JTF to jump you to the head of the line for integration.¡±

    "Isn¡¯t that against the law?¡±

    ¡°Probably on Earth. Here? Well it helps to be friends with the guy who makes the rules.¡± He stepped up to a panel set into the bulkhead next to the door, and spoke clearly. ¡°Louis Twofeather.¡±

    The door slid open at his voice. I turned my wheels to push my chair inside. The ceilings went up 15 or so feet. The walls were lined with rows and rows of shelves. Honestly, it looked like that warehouse from Indiana Jones where they hid the Ark of the Covenant. Crates, boxes, containers stacked high. "What is this?"

    "It''s junk," the colonel explained as we slowly rolled down the aisles. I noted the labels on each shelf, listing what was in each crate. Barbecue equipment. Bike repair. Lawn and garden tools, home. Lawn and garden tools, commercial.

    ¡°But ¡ª why? And how?¡±

    "When we were first abducted, the aliens picked up us and anything that was within a hundred-foot or so radius of us. Those of us with wits looted everything we could and stuck it in our inventories. After the end of the exploit, we decided that it would be a good idea to put it somewhere central so we can outfit newbies who are coming through. There is a rhyme and reason to this organization. I can tell you exactly where anything you might want can be."

    He led me to the next aisle over. "This whole aisle is weapons. We''ve got guns, swords, knives, Nerf bats. You pick your poison. You like a katana? Those are a pretty popular item, but I think we''ve still got a few. Or are you more of a gun nut?"

    I winced. I hadn''t held a weapon ever. Nothing more exciting than a steak knife anyway. ¡°I dunno. You say Kronos will offer me a class based on what I''m carrying."

    "That''s right," Colonel Twofeather confirmed.

    "Okay.¡± A plan was starting to take shape. ¡°Okay. I want D&D books. Have you got those? Any kind of role-playing manuals. I want a physics textbook. I want games. Video games. Cartridges, CDs, anything that contains the data for a game.¡±

    He looked a bit bemused. "We can find that," he allowed. "But you''re gonna have to have a weapon.¡±

    "Right, sure," I tried to think. Then I had it. "I want a Swiss Army knife."

    ¡°A Swiss Army knife.¡± He shook his head. ¡°Hope my grandson knows what he¡¯s getting. Ok, we¡¯ll find your gear.¡±

    Colonel Twofeather equipped me with everything I asked. He did hint a few times that I might want something with a little more firepower.  "We can always buy you a laser rifle from the Galactics," he said at last, after I refused a third time.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to fight. I just don¡¯t want to make my whole build around a single weapon,¡± I explained, clutching a knapsack full of my loot.

    ¡°Ok, let¡¯s head down.¡±

    This space elevator was a surprise and delight for the first 20 minutes. When the colonel told me it would be another four hours before we got to the surface, I groaned and leaned back in my seat. I was so done with the chair. I just wanted my legs.

    The colonel seemed to be busy communicating with other people. He had that frown and distant look that you see on people when they''re texting. He had no phone or other device in his hands. I figured he he must be doing it mentally. Another exciting thing to look forward to here.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    When at last we landed, there was someone waiting for us at the foot of the elevator. A pretty young, Hispanic-looking woman, probably about five or six years older than me. She looked worried. As the colonel stepped down, she hugged him, then launched into what felt like the second half of a conversation. ¡°I just got done speaking to multiple teachers at her school. It¡¯s no mistake. Sage is missing, along with some of her classmates. Nobody knows where.¡±

    He patted her. "All right, Juana, we''ll figure this out. Sage has a good head on her shoulders. She¡¯ll be ok until we get there.¡±

    The woman turned and arranged a smile on her face. She held her hand out to me. "I''m Juana Lopez-Williams. Here on Threshold I¡¯m part of the town council that tries to manage things. Mostly we''re just here so that people have someone to yell at. Kronos does all of the real work. I''m also married to Shad Williams, who recruited you."

    I remembered yesterday Colonel Twofeather had mentioned Williams was missing. ¡°Any word on him?"

    "No." Juana shook her head. ¡°And now his sister Sage is missing, too. She¡¯s a student here. Her class was doing an exercise, and she¡¯d disappeared.¡±

    "We''ll give him the whole briefing once he''s been inducted," the colonel said.

    "Louis, the Joint Task Force is treating this as a military matter. They keep brushing me off. I can''t even get the air marshal to speak to me."

    "I''ll take care of it," the colonel said. "Tell you what, Juana, this kid hasn''t had a good meal in I don''t know how long. How about you and your mom rustle up some grub? I¡¯ll bring him by the restaurant as soon as he¡¯s done with induction.¡±

    Juana frowned, then nodded. "Got it. I''ll be there."

    She hurried off. The colonel was looking at me. "It''s quite a sight, isn''t it?" he said as I stared around.

    The space elevator platform was in the center of a bustling town full of buildings that looked as though they''d been thrown together from whatever was at hand. Some of them looked like prefab houses or built from containers stacked two or three tall. Others had tarps for awnings draped in front of this and that.

    "It''s a work in progress," he said. "You should have seen it a year and a half ago." The wide street bustled with people but it wasn''t them I was looking at. It was the portals. I could catch a glimpse of them at the end of the street. Several the portals were in a ring about a third of a kilometer from me. They were enormous circles of dark stone or metal and in the center of each was shimmering light. Red, green, blue, yellow.

    ¡°That''s them?¡± My mouth was suddenly dry.

    "Yep," said the colonel. "Let''s go to intake. I just arranged for us to get an empty one.¡±

    The portal was mounted on a platform with steps, of course. One final indignity. I stared up the four feet of stairs as a couple of brawny men that the colonel had no doubt summoned joined us. They lifted me up onto the platform, then the colonel pushed me through.

    We were in a small forest clearing. A squirrel ran up a trunk close by. I paused halfway up and eyed it. Its bushy brown tail cocked over its back. I eyed it back. I was still in my chair. My legs didn''t work. "What now?" I asked the colonel nervously.

    "Just sit tight, boy," he said. A pair of axes appeared in his hand, and he slipped silently to the side. Then he called, "All right, Kronos, send it."

    A moment later, there was a loud crashing noise. I sat tensed in my wheelchair. The crashing got louder and louder. It was coming through the brush directly in front of me. I had a lap full of useless gaming junk. My hand clasped the Swiss Army knife I''d asked for, but it didn''t make much of a weapon.

    Then it burst out of the bushes right in front of me. A bear, already looming over me on four feet, reared up at least ten feet tall, its paws erect as it roared. I screamed. I grabbed at the wheels of my chair, scattering Nintendo cartridges and DVD cases everywhere. The forest floor was not conducive to wheelchairs. I pushed myself back about three inches and got stuck on something. Sheer panic overwhelmed me.

    Colonel Twofeather materialized behind the bear. He struck it a couple of times with his axes. It roared in anger and whirled on him. He darted around faster than I could follow until he was behind it once more. After more chops, the bear''s roars began to sound more pitiful. For a moment, it started to sway, then dropped to four feet. Twofeather attacked, his hands flailing wildly as he chopped deep into the bear''s skull. It crashed to the forest floor in a pool of blood and lay still.

    I stared at it, breathing deeply. My eyes must have been wide as dinner plates. When the colonel looked at me, he shook his head. His axes disappeared.

    "Sorry. Thought you understood how this worked."

    "Hah, hah," I managed. ¡°Understood. Sure. Experience is ¡ª something else.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± He grinned at me. ¡°You¡¯re not the first one to shit your pants during integration.¡± He bent down. Something glowed over the bear''s body. The colonel reached out and touched it. It solidified into a large golden coin on his hand. He handed to me. "All right, we''re done with that part. Nothing else is going to attack us for a while. Go ahead." He held it out.

    I reached with shaking fingers and took the coin in my palm. For a couple of heartbeats, I could feel it clutched between my thumb and forefinger, cool, hard metal. And then it vanished. There was a rush of warmth and tingling all over my body.  It grew more and more intense until all I could feel or see was warm light surrounding me.

    I felt my limbs stretch. I was in a standing position, my arms and legs extended. The tingling warmth grew stronger from my waist down. It was rebuilding my body, fixing my spine, healing the severed neurons. A moment later, the sensation died away.

    I looked down at myself. I was standing next to my wheelchair. I took a step. My legs worked. My real legs. This wasn''t a virtual reality simulation like the coffins in Vegas. This was real. I gave a cautious little jump then, aware of the colonel''s eyes on me, took a deep breath and straightened up.

    He was looking at me with amusement. "It''s all right, kid," he said quietly. ¡°I felt the same way. Welcome to your second life." He clapped me on the shoulder. "Now, shall we go see about class selection?"

    The world changed around me. Now I was in a dark room. The colonel''s voice sounded in my ear. "We''ve got a whole induction sequence we run through with most people, but you''re a quick study and you''ve read a lot of this already, so I''m going to get right to it and let Kronos help you out. I''ll be here on the other side."

    Message boxes appeared all around me. I spun, looking at them all. They were labeled with various different titles. The first one I spotted read, [Superhero in a Chair] As I looked, the box expanded, giving more details. [Combined with the item "wheelchair." Lose mobility in legs. In exchange, can use the item ¡°Rocket Propelled Wheelchair." Wheelchair can be modified to contain a rocket launcher, grenades, and rear-mounted AK-47s. Agility reduced to a maximum of .2xStamina, Intelligence base increased to 14].

    I minimized that one right away. I didn''t care how much armament my wheelchair could fit. I was not going back in that thing.

    The array of choices was bewildering. There was a [Mushroom Jumper] class offered to me. I checked the details. [You may spawn three different types of mushrooms, which will each give you a benefit. Type one, blue. Jump atop the mushroom and double jump to achieve extra high bouncing. Type two, green Turns health for you or other members of your party. Type three, red. Collect mushroom to serve as a grenade. Other types of mushroom open at higher levels.]

    Interesting, but not what I was looking for. I looked more closely at the menu options I was only just noticing in my top right corner. There was a filters section. I expanded it. It had a list of everything I had with me. I selected "show classes compatible with" and then selected everything except the wheelchair.

    All my choices vanished. Guess I wasn''t going to be greedy here.

    By trial and error, I started narrowing the possible classes down. At last, I had three choices. I studied each of them.

    The first was [Default Protagonist.] [Take on ability sets of a specific hero archetype. Archetpye set may be swapped when out of combat. Base starting class options: First person shooter, Space marine, Puzzle jumper, FIFA World Cup player.]

    That could be cool. Each of the archetypes, when I drilled down, had a couple of abilities. Potentially very versatile.

    Second was [Dungeon Master] [Summon various monsters appropriate to your level to challenge enemies. Enemies get Saving Throws against any debilitating effects. While summonses are present, you cannot flee.] The starting list of possible monsters pulled heavily from the D&D 3.5 Monster Manual I had in my bag, mixed in with the Pokemon cards I¡¯d grabbed.

    Interesting, but I didn¡¯t really see myself as a controller sort.

    I looked deeply at the last class. It offered to bind with two items that I brought along from the warehouse. The first, as I''d hoped, was the Swiss Army knife, which would be transformed into a Multitool. It would start out blank, but as I collected tools from inside of instances, I could copy their abilities into it and store them for later. That would be better than just having them in my inventory and swapping out because I¡¯d start with a boosted ability to use any tool I had saved, they were unbreakable, and I could enhance the Multitool as I leveled up.

    The second item was a journal I had grabbed off of a rack of books because it had a faux leather cover and an embossed design of a dragon on it. The pages themselves were empty and I had almost rejected it before deciding to bring it along with me. Now I was glad I hadn¡¯t.

    [The Book of Possibilities. Learn skills and store them within the pages of the Book of Possibilities.

    This will limit you to four active abilities at a time, with a 10 second cooldown on swapping an active ability for one in your book. However, the book is constantly expanding and without limit.

    You may also have two passive abilities selected at any time from your options. Starting Abilities:]

    It presented me with a list of six.

    [Analyze. Passive upgrade to Inspect, which will allow you to see more details.]

    [Quick Start. A passive boost in how fast you acquire proficiency of any new tool. All tools start with a proficiency of [Amateur] rather than [Novice] and skill increases rapidly. Skill beyond the system threshold of [Master] is possible]

    [Pause Game. Active. Freeze time for five seconds.]

    [Swipe. Steal an item from a hostile within six yards]

    [Power up. For thirty seconds you have maximum proficiency whatever tools you have in hand when skill is activated. Four minute cooldown.]

    [Power Combo. Combine two or more unused skill seeds into a single new skill seed that takes elements from both.]

    That sounded incredibly overpowered. Being limited to only four at a time certainly had its difficulties, but the versatility, especially when combined with the Swiss Army Knife, I couldn''t pass it up. I selected [Jack of all Trades] and confirmed my choice.

 Bk 4 Ch 32: Colin into Action

    ¡°That¡¯s a pretty strange class,¡± the Colonel said as we stomped back into the streets of Threshold. He seemed to have a destination in mind, kept his head down, and plowed forward. I had to work to keep up.

    ¡°I think it¡¯ll work well for me, assuming I can get hold of some skill seeds, whatever those are.¡±

    ¡°They drop off mobs inside the reality engine levels,¡± the Colonel told me. ¡°They aren¡¯t hard to come by. Most are junk but they drop frequently.¡±

    I was enjoying the chance to spread my new legs and really take steps. I needed to send my mom a message letting her know that everything had happened just the way we''d hoped, that I was here now, about to start my brand new life.

    I noted that the streets were crowded with people and they all seemed nervous and upset. Clusters stood in doorways or on corners, talking and gesturing together. Maybe that was just life here, but I had a feeling something was off.

    We stepped inside a well-built building. The sign hanging above the door read "Mama Grace''s." I was hit by a wave of delicious food smells, meat and spices, and who knew what else. The Colonel swept right through the main room and down a corridor clearly meant for the staff. He were taking me to a spacious back room. There were several tables set up here, and at one, the Colonel¡¯s granddaughter-in-law Juana was waiting for us.

    The table was laden with food. My stomach rumbled. "Help yourself," the Colonel said, gesturing at the food. I grabbed a plate and started to load it up. I didn''t know what a lot of this food was, but it all smelled delicious.

    Juana was drumming her fingers on the table as we sat. ¡°Well? Are we going to get official help?¡±

    The colonel shook his head. ¡°Air Marshall Hatfield won¡¯t allow any Joint Task Force personnel to go into this fragment level until we know what¡¯s going on. She¡¯s freaked out and I can¡¯t blame her. Half the team who went in have re-emerged with no memory of what¡¯s happened. They can¡¯t get back in, either.¡±

    ¡°Then ¡ª¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m hoping Colin can get in. There¡¯s a chance that the fragment is only able to keep people from respawning, not going in the first time.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re going to send him alone?¡± Juana turned to me, her eyes narrowing. ¡°Look, give me half a day, I¡¯ll put together a team ¡ª¡±

    I held up a hand. ¡°Hang on. I haven¡¯t agreed to do anything yet. I¡¯ve got a few questions.¡±

    ¡°Ask away,¡± the colonel said, sitting down. ¡°I¡¯m supposed to be recovering from my trip, so I¡¯ve got a few hours before I report to the Air Marshall.¡±

    I cast about, my mind full of confused thoughts. ¡°First off, I''m really confused about the organizational structure here."

    "That''s because it''s not organized," the Colonel said, sighing. "Most of this wasn''t planned. It just happened during the Reality Engine exploit as we banded together to try to survive. This is the headquarters of Misfits Guild, which despite the name, is now humanity¡¯s first galactically incorporated company. A bunch of our members are out-system at this point, working to earn money on other exploits.¡±

    Juana put in her bit. ¡°The Galactics organize everything in corporate structures. There¡¯s no nation of, say, Proxima Centauri. Instead, seven or eight megacorps run things there. They contract with smaller organizations. Most people belong to a guild, a clan, or a sect of allied families. That¡¯s the basic unit of civilization out in the galaxy. Your guild gets your allegiance, and then guilds make deal with the megacorps. It¡¯s taking some time to try to figure out how to get human social structures to match up.¡±

    ¡°The UN and NATO weren¡¯t happy that Kronos had given the Ad Astra to Misfits. They tried to appropriate the ship. Kronos objected. Strongly,¡± the colonel told me. ¡°Now he¡¯ll only deal with members of Misfits or other organizations that have personal deals with him. I¡¯ve been¡­ requested¡­ to liase between Kronos and the JTF, but Kronos has made it clear he¡¯ll only talk to me as long as I¡¯m part of Misfits, so the brass backed off on their attempts to force me back into line.¡±

    ¡°That seems¡­ confusing.¡±

    ¡°You have no idea.¡±

    ¡°So what exactly are your goals versus their goals?" I asked.

    The colonel nodded. ¡°Good question. The Joint Task Force''s goal is to secure this Reality Engine and establish a solid working relationship with Kronos in order to benefit the human race, admittedly, with a bias toward NATO member nations, since that''s most of what makes up this task force.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense,¡± I allowed.

    Juana took over again. "Misfits Guild, now that we''ve had a chance to look beyond our own personal survival, has bigger goals. We want to establish humanity''s place in the galaxy. It means going out there and engaging with other Reality Engine exploits and encouraging the development of technology that does not rely on Reality Engines.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s right. Humanity''s future place in the galaxy is going to be determined by what happens here in the next few years, whether we just become another set of corporate clients or if we are able to choose our own path."

    I narrowed my eyes. ¡°And you''re just doing this out of the goodness of your heart?"

    The colonel laughed. "I see what you''re saying, kid. But if Misfits Guild establishes themselves, it''s better for everyone. You don''t have to trust that we have the best interest of all humanity at heart. We''re willing to be up front with you about our goals and what we''re trying to do here, and if you have concerns and questions, ask them. You haven''t signed a contract with us."

    ¡°I thought participating in the tournament meant I had a contract with the Joint Task Force.¡±

    The colonel shook his head. ¡°You personally are underage. That''s a loophole. They can¡¯t force you into a contract until you hit 18. I pulled some strings to get you up here before anyone looked too closely at the fine print and tried to hold you back.¡±

    I looked down at my legs. ¡°I appreciate it, don¡¯t get me wrong, but what is it you even want me to do?¡±

    ¡°The situation''s worse than I thought," Colonel Twofeather told me. "I''m about to get summoned to a meeting with the Air Marshal. We''ve lost several levels."

    "What do you mean ''lost''?" I asked.

    "They''re no longer accessible to us. The rogue fragment has taken them over. Most of them, we were able to evacuate before Kronos lost control, but there are people missing, my granddaughter among them. I''m hoping they''ve just been shifted to a level under the fragment''s control. That they''re alive, and stay that way. Kronos has been protecting us all from death, letting us respawn as necessary. That''s not baked into the system. When we first came up here, death was very real. I hope the fragment hasn''t decided to turn that back on.¡±

    ¡°Why are we dealing with these fragments at all? Why not just let Kronos destroy them?¡± It seemed like they¡¯d been putting a lot of assets into something that they could have let the reality engine handle.

    ¡°Because on a very real level, they are Kronos. He¡¯s not one mind, he¡¯s the agglomeration of billions of ancient aliens. These fragments represent different parts of him. We want to put him back together, not make him weaker. And also, we¡¯ve got a personal motive.¡± The Colonel leaned in. ¡°We need to ally with one of these fragments and persuade it to move to the Ad Astra. If we¡¯re going to visit other reality engines, we need our own artificial mind running our ship to protect us from their alien-dominated ones. Kronos says that this fragment is a good candidate, if we can impress it and convince it to work for us.¡±

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°That¡¯s a pretty big ask.¡± I frowned. ¡°I¡¯ll leave all the worries about whether we can trust it to you. My task is to get in there and find the missing personnel. Right?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Juana said. She was looking tired and drawn.

    ¡°What kind of help can you give me?"

    The Colonel shook his head. "Not much, I''m afraid. The Air Marshal doesn''t want to commit any of our official Joint Task Force assets to this situation until things are stabilized, and I understand why. Kronos is updating us on an almost minute-by-minute basis as to which levels are under threat. We''re evacuating them now. You''ll notice the streets of Threshold are starting to get packed with people. We need to keep Joint Task Force personnel here on hand to help keep the situation stable and, if necessary, begin the evacuation back up to the hub."

    "How long would that take?"

    "Days, maybe weeks. I don''t even know," the Colonel said. "The point is I can''t give you official help. Most of Misfits Guild''s combat-capable people are off-world or already assigned to a task. I want to send you in after my grandson. He''s been gone too long. Best-case scenario, he¡¯s just out of communication and doesn''t know what''s going on. If so, you bring him up to speed, and he''ll know to abort the mission and get back here. Worst case, something''s happened to him, and you''ll be able to help him out." His eyes were worried, and they knew that wasn''t the real worst case he was concerned about. "Meanwhile, I''ll be out here sticking my finger in a dozen different dikes as they all start leaking."

    Now I got it. It wasn''t that he was hopeful I could actually pull off a rescue. He was just desperate to throw any kind of lifeline to his grandson. I understood that. Anyway, if things were about to fall apart around my ears, I didn''t want to wait around in a shelter for that to happen. I''d rather be on my feet now that I have them.

    "Sorry to drag you up here, kid," the colonel said. "Maybe I should have left you down there. But all the official folk back on Earth were debating exactly what to do with you. Since they couldn''t make you sign a contract, what with you being underage, they were thinking of keeping you on ice for the next two years until we could get your signature on something legally binding. I figured you didn''t want to wait around that long.¡±

    I whistled. "Thanks. I owe you. Yeah, I''ll go after them."

    "Knew you would," the colonel said.

    ¡°So you want me to enter an instance knowing nothing about it, having never interacted with any of these reality engine levels before, locate your missing people, and then help them defeat this rogue Shard?"

    "Basically," the colonel confirmed.

    "And I''m level one. And on my own.¡± I grinned. ¡°Can¡¯t wait.¡±

    I stepped through the portal and quickly took stock. I appeared to be standing in an American Southwestern landscape. It looked similar to settings I''d seen in old cowboy movies. The sky and rocks were in colors that felt too bright to be real. The sun baked down on me, similar to how it had been in Vegas, but at least now I didn''t have to worry about skin cancer.

    Colonel Twofeather and Juana had decked me out with supplies and invited me to join Misfits Guild, in the hopes it would give me bona fides if I encountered Williams or his sister. Made sense to me. I practiced a bit with the message system until I was comfortable with it.

    The magic inventory was even better. Anything under three stone, I could pick up and store into thin air, then recall it with a wish. It had a robust sort and search feature, letting me browse by categories I could invent on the spot. I hated games that limited inventory space. Let me play the game, not waste time micromanaging my stuff. This was perfect.

    I had let them give me an M4 and a magic reloading bracelet some crafter had made. With that, I could reload rounds without actually having to eject the spent magazines. Unfortunately, the M4 was classified as a weapon, not a tool, so my skills wouldn¡¯t work on it.

    They loaded me up with food, water, and useful tools, which I immediately stored in my Swiss Army Knife, which had upgraded when I choose my class to a [Multitool]. I had five choices there now: a shovel, a grappling hook and rope, a crowbar, a knife, and a pickaxe. I could only have one active at a time, which was a limitation I hadn¡¯t considered before. Right now, I had the M4 slung over my shoulder.

    First thing I did was try to send a message back to Colonel Twofeather. I got no reply, which was as expected.

    Next, I took my bearings. This was like playing a brand new game and going in blind. I¡¯d done that on occasion. I didn''t see any sign of Williams, but there was a puff of smoke rising in the distance.

    A few miles in, I came to the edge of an escarpment, staring down 150 feet or so. The land sloped away steeply on my left, and I ought to be able to get down into the flatlands. But I paused and looked about, taking a bite of my rations as I looked. In the distance, something glinted¡ªa reflection off of glass or metal. I shaded my eyes and looked. There was a town down there, a cluster of little buildings.

    I got my bearings and head down on down. A little ways out, I made out shapes moving. Shambling would be a better word.

    I unslung the M4 and took up a firing stance as they came toward me. When they were close enough I could make out their features, I activated Power Boost.

    [Equipped item is a weapon, not a tool,] the message complained. [Power Boost not valid. Cooldown activated].

    ¡°What the fuck? That¡¯s not fair!¡± I fired anyway. My first burst of three shots went wild. I¡¯d never shot a gun before. The noise and the way it jerked in my hand surprised me. The zombies advanced. I adjusted my aim. The next shots went into the dust.

    ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous!¡± I raised my muzzle and fired blindly. This time my shots stitched across their torsos. Zombies collapsed into the dusty street. The sound rattled my teeth and hurt my ears, but I was grinning like a fool as I hosed them down. I had to reload eight times before the last zombie collapsed. I banished my gun back into my inventory and pulled up my class details. What was my weapon proficiency, anyway?

    [Weapon proficiency: -50% accuracy with all ranged weapons. Melee bonus from strength is negated by class requirement: Tool User].

    What the hell was that? I hadn¡¯t had time to delve into all my class information; Colonel Twofeather had been in a hurry to me get in here. I suspected that if his superiors had found out I was here they¡¯d have forbidden me to enter. Now I paused and looked over the fine print.

    I¡¯d read the part of Jack-of-all-Trades about how I¡¯d have increased proficiency with tools and non-combat skills. Now the negative side appeared. [All combat skill proficiencies are capped at Journeyman level]. I already knew Journeyman was the third of five proficiency levels. I maximized the big list of proficiencies. A couple thousand entries zoomed past. Things like ¡°Shovel¡± and ¡°Hoe¡± were at Amateur, thanks to my Tool User buff, while ¡°Rifle¡± was at ¡°Novice*¡± ¡ª the asterisk apparently meaning ¡°worse than novice, actually¡±.

    Right. It didn¡¯t negate how powerful this class would be. I¡¯d done a half-dozen different pacifist challenges in games before, beating them without ever drawing a weapon. This would be no different. Time to see what kind of loot I¡¯d gotten.

    Two of the zombies offered up skill seeds. I used my Analyze on them. The first offered me the ability to detect hidden targets. That was good but boring. I checked the other. Improve dodge by 5%. Also boring.

    I called up my own Power Combo. Holding the skill seeds in my hand, I combined the two. They shimmered before forming into one slightly larger seed. [Read the Dev Notes. This ability reveals hidden information about maps and objectives].

    ¡°Perfect. Just the thing.¡± I grinned and slotted it into my spellbook, swapping it out with Swipe. I hoped that leveling up would gain me more slots. That reminded me to check my XP. I was about halfway through level one. Fortunately, the enemies scaled to my level like the colonel had promised. I hadn''t had much difficulty defeating these zombies.

    Now I looked over and Analyzed the town. It was deserted other than the zombies corpses and a few flies. A bright orange blotch caught my eye down by the ruined church. Someone had sprayed orange paint, a big arrow pointing up the steps of the church.

    I followed and quickly spotted a book lying open on the lectern. I read the note scribbled at the top of the open page, then flipped through the story.

    I smiled to myself. Williams was leaving breadcrumbs. For himself, no doubt, but I could use that too. There was nothing to tell me how long ago he''d left this. I followed the directions in the book and headed for the train station, where I found the map on the outside wall.

    The map showed roughly a circle. I was in the middle of a village marked "Coyote''s Rest," which seemed ominous. There was a train track and a river that divided the circle into four roughly similar-sized quadrants. Up in the north quadrant was labeled "Indian Village." The wording and icons there were faded.

    I activated Read the Dev Notes and an overlay appeared on the village: Objective claimed.

    Excellent. Williams had already been there. Next, I looked at the eastern quadrant, which had a spiderweb icon and read Old Crone¡¯s Lair. It also said Objective claimed.

    My gaze was drawn to the bottom quadrant, where The Lost Spaniard¡¯s Mine was written in bold. Read the Dev Notes revealed more text. [Objective - free prisoners. 0/1 chief, 18/12 villagers.]

    That pulled me up short. I considered, then smiled and nodded to myself. So Williams and his team had gotten themselves captured and were at the mine. Now I knew where I should go.

    I looked at the last quadrant. There was a hidden message there. I pulled it up and it flashed red. [Rescue stranded children. Time remaining - five hours, eight minutes.]

    Stranded children? Could it mean the students Juana had mentioned going missing? Williams'' sister and presumably some classmates. I hesitated. I didn''t like that countdown. It implied to me something would happen at the end of that time. Maybe they''d be captured and taken to the same mine as the others. Or maybe it would be worse. I couldn¡¯t just hope for the best, I needed to take action.

    If I were able to free Williams and his presumably five other allies, they could help me, but I didn''t know if I''d have time.

    Screw it. You always do the timed quest first. I grabbed a big marker out of my inventory and circled the mine icon in the bottom so that if anyone else came through here, they''d know my eventual destination. Then I took a bearing and set off across the desert.

 Bk 4 Ch 33: Rendezvous

    The occasional jackrabbit or hawk flew overhead. I shot everything I could and wound up with a couple of skill seeds, combining two of them into [Double Jump: Activate to turn an ordinary jump into an incredible leap upward or forward as much as 6 meters, landing safely and with precision on your target]  and two more into my first passive [13-Second Rule: When you receive damage that would be fatal, instead you take no damage and return to the location and condition you were in 13 seconds previously. 3 hour cooldown].

    That one went straight into my Passives slot and would probably never leave it. Too cool.

    The advantage of my Multitool, instead of just pulling stuff from my inventory, was that tools I stored in it could receive buffs. Using any of them leveled up my [Tool User] proficiency. Right now it was at [Novice] which granted me a 2% efficiency boost and reduced the likelihood I accidentally cut myself or chopped off my foot. I had a nice experience bar for it, showing I was nearly a quarter of the way into Novice.

    I was making good time until I got to the river. The mucky green-brown water ran fast here. Boulders stuck out, the water breaking white around them. It looked deep. Fortunately, I had no intention of swimming. I swapped out Read the Dev Notes for Double Jump, tested it a couple of times, and then activated it, leaping from the bank to the first of the boulders.

    I crossed the river quickly, but as soon as I landed on the other side, something erupted from the bank, rushing at me. I didn''t have time to pull my weapon from inventory. On instinct, I activated my very first ability, Pause Game. The world around me paused. It was only a five-second freeze. That was long enough for me to pull a grenade from my inventory, shove it into the gaping mouth of the monstrous catfish that had leapt up onto the bank to try to swallow me.

    I jumped back as the time stop faded. The grenade went off, exploding the catfish¡¯s head into chunks. I had my gun out and fired a couple more rounds for good measure, but the catfish''s headless body flopped around on the riverbank. Even at this range some of my shots missed. How was that possible?

    I approached gingerly and extracted a skill seed. My book allowed me to sort my known skills into categories: offensive, mobility, defensive, and utility. That would come in handy as my skill choices increased. I¡¯d already added two actives and a passive to my starting six, and I¡¯d been here only a few hours. I was a bit worried that I had no offensive skills at all yet, and hoped that would change.

    I swept wide as I hunted for my next clue, flushing out prey. I had less than two hours on my ¡°save the children¡± countdown timer when at last I spotted a plume of smoke on the horizon. I¡¯d gotten my Tool User proficiency halfway through Novice and picked up four new skills that felt almost too good, like they¡¯d been tailored for me. I wasn¡¯t sure I liked that idea at all.

    The smoke plume was coming from a blind canyon. It started out wide but narrowed as it went along, zigging and zagging. A small stream of water ran down the middle, and I had to hop across every few meters or step down into the water.

    The walls of the canyon rose above me, towering over my head, grey, yellow, and orange sandstone, rough and cool to the touch. Little bushes clung to the walls. At one point, the canyon narrowed, the walls overhead coming together almost enough to block the sun. I hesitated before passing underneath. An enormous pile of weathered wood was lodged in the narrow crack above me. If it had washed there by some enormous flood then the water must have come four or five meters up the canyon wall. I hoped there was no chance of that happening while I was here.

    I continued on, and the slot canyon widened out a bit. The walls were lower here and the stream ran between wide sandy banks. Lizards basked on the sand, and I saw footprints here, all muddled up together.

    I was no expert tracker, but I activated Analyze. Information popped up: six humans, one Grignarian ¡ª whatever that was ¡ª and one orc passed here within the last five hours.

    The other footprints belonged to a band of a dozen rustlers led by a Necromancer ¡ª capital letters and all ¡ª who have followed them.

    Well, that didn''t sound good, but at least I had an idea of what to expect. A necromancer would have minions, while the rustlers were likely going to be fighters, probably ranged. They must have treed all eight of the kids. Perhaps they were paralyzed with fear in whatever hiding place they¡¯d found.

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    I could still see the smoke. I guessed that it was an attempt by the bad guys to smoke out their quarry. I checked my timer. I still had a little over an hour. I didn''t want to waste any of it, but there was no reason to hurry into a trap.

    I studied the land carefully. Ahead the canyon narrowed again. Here where it was wide there was room to climb out and onto the higher ground. That looked like a good way to procided without getting caught in a tight spot.

    I scrambled up the slope. From above I was able to circle ahead . from here the canyon was only a crack in the ground. It was astounding that there was a whole passage down below. What was even more amazing is that I¡¯d heard real places on earth were something like this.

    I proceeded cautiously following the crack in the ground. Here and there it widened out. The finally it opened up into a round hole in the ground dozens of meters across. I peered down into the pit.Fifty feet below an entire mob of men wearing dark blue Levi¡¯s, vests, bandanas, and black cowboy hats.

    At the front of the pack was an eight-foot-tall black-robed figure. He had a hood pulled down over his head and a staff taller than I was in one hand. The staff had a skull atop it.

    Beside him were half a dozen humanoid skeletons. They milled about in front of the dark opening, with the fire between them and it. It looked to me like they''d lit it, trying to smoke out someone but that didn¡¯t make¡­

    Then I spotted them. In the shadows half way up the cliff was a ledge. On it were a cluster of dark shapes. They seemed to be keeping low out of of the line of sight of those below but the smoke fire below their ledge told me they had been spotted.

    I retreated a little ways and considered my options. I didn''t have a good way of taking on this many people. I could try to lure them away, but odds were they''d send a couple after me and keep the kids bottled up.

    I scanned through my inventory, looking for something that jumped out at me. I considered and discarded several ideas before I found exactly what I needed, a Keyed Swap Beacon Misfits Guild had given me. It had a 50-meter range and could only be used by people in my party. Now just needed a way to get it down to them and contact them.

    Suddenly a message popped up from Sage Williams.

    Hello Colin. Who are you and what are you doing here?

    For a moment I just looked at in surprise. Finally I replied back, How''d you get my contact info?

    It''s not hard to find friendlies in the same area. You¡¯re in my guild.

    Of course. I felt stupid for not thinking of it.

    A moment later Sage messaged again. What''s your plan?

    Have you heard of a swap beacon?

    Her reply was almost instant. Hah! Good call. Then a moment later. Give me a minute to let everyone know and then toss it down. Sage tossed me a quick group invite. I joined and was immediately plunged into a group chat where five or six people were all asking questions at once.

    We don''t have time for questions, Sage was saying. Just be ready.

    I took a deep breath, placed one end of the locator beacon on the ground well back from the edge. Then I stepped the the edge and gauged the distance. I hadn¡¯t been into sports since my injury and suddenly I had doubts about my throwing arm. A boom echoed from below and chips of rock sprayed from the cliff edge near me. I had been spotted. I stepped quickly back from the edge out of sight.

    The necromancer is casting something. You better hurry.

    I grimaced, I hated it admit it but¡­ I don¡¯t think I can hit your ledge from here. Give me a second to think of something.

    She replied before I could dive back into my inventory. Just throw it down. I¡¯ll do the rest.

    I hesitated. I could think of something if I just had time. Then the Necromancer¡¯s spell finished and the dead started crawling out of the solid rock all around me.

    I tossed the beacon. It arced up over the hole and started to fall. Before it had dropped more than a meter something darted up out of the hole and snagged it out of the air. A rope. In an instant the beacon was gone.

    The skeletons were still prying themselves lose from the rock so I took a chance and a moment to glanced over the cliff. Far below a slim figure on the ledge held up the beacon triumphantly. In her other hand she had a loop of rope.

    What kind of girl was this?

    Down below, the rustlers began firing their revolvers. Two of the kids on the ledge below performed a combo move. I couldn''t make out the details, but the bullets bounced off whatever they were using to shield themselves. Meanwhile, Sage was yelling directions to her team. "Amaya, you first!" She sent me a message. "Colin, clear up there?"

    I sat down at my end of the beacon and backed away. "It''s clear. Send them through."

    A moment later, a dark-skinned girl stumbled out from away from the beacon. I extended a hand to steady her and nudged her away. A moment later, a human boy appeared, followed by the weirdest looking alien I''d ever seen. It made me think of a drooping plant made of rubber as it shambled away from the beacon.

    Seconds later, they were all up, Sage appearing last of all. Shots ricocheted off the edge of the cliff.

    "Let''s get clear," I urged.

    "We couldn''t climb the cliff. What makes you think they can?" one of the kids asked.

    "You want to stay here and risk it?" I challenged.

    ¡°Run!¡± Sage ordered, and they all took off cross-country after me.

 Bk 4 Ch 34: Team-up

    Once we were about half a kilometer away from the slot canyon, I halted. The kids gathered around me, all chattering excitedly. I held up a hand.

    "All right, hang on, one at a time."

    Sage stepped forward. She looked me over, eyes narrowing. "Who are you? I¡¯ve never seen you before, but you''re a member of our guild. You don''t look much older than us, but you''ve got a class. I thought they weren''t letting underage kids pick a class."

    "My name''s Colin Trevelyan,¡± I said. "I just arrived. Your brother recruited me, actually."

    Sage''s eyes went wide. "Oh! You''re one of Shad''s special projects. Where are the rest of you? Are you here with Shad?" She looked around as if expecting me to produce her brother from my back pocket at any moment.

    "No, long story. Your brother''s here somewhere. I came after him. His team entered three days ago. There''s been no communication since. Half of them got killed and respawned outside, but they have no idea what''s going on."

    Sage nodded. ¡°I was guessing we were in one of the fragment levels.¡±

    Good, so she knew what was going on and had a quick head on her shoulders. I looked the group over. Sage seemed to be the youngest of them, probably about 13. Her hair was back in two long braids. The others were closer to my own age. There was an orc boy and the weirdest looking alien I''ve ever seen. We exchanged a round of introductions.

    "How''d you get stuck in that canyon?" I asked.

    "We were doing a quest for a raven," the blonde girl, Greta, told me. She smiled at me. "I''m really grateful that you came along when you did. We were awfully stuck and were kind of worried about what''ll happen if we die. We didn''t come in through the front door, so no telling if Kronos has managed to back us up." Her smile transformed into something fiercer. "We might lose our classes."

    I held up a hand. "Wait, hang on. You just told me they weren''t letting kids choose a class."

    "Apparently the fragment has other ideas," Sage said. "Everybody here got a class and we''ve been getting skill seeds, too. I already had a class,¡± she explained. "From the exploit."

    "Right, I''ve heard all about that. What was the quest?"

    As if in answer, an enormous raven flapped down from the sky, settling in front of Sage. It croaked. Sage produced a nest from her inventory, in which rested three eggs. The raven croaked and bowed its head in gratitude. A moment later, in a puff of golden sparks, it vanished, taking the nest with it and leaving behind a single long black feather.

    "Ah," I said, "this connects with the story your brother found. Excellent."

    Sage picked up the feather. It vanished into her inventory. "What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°Come on," I said. "Let''s keep moving. I''ll fill you in as we go." I explained what I''d found in the town and how it looked like her brother''s team were now held captive in the Lost Spaniard''s mine. Sage''s expression was hard to read, a mixture of amusement and perhaps worry.

    "It''s going to drive him nuts when I come to save his rear," she said, but I thought she sounded a bit concerned.

    "We''ll be careful," I promised her. "Whatever''s got your brother, we''ll figure it out."

    We all shared class information. Greta sounded excited as she read mine. "You really have a ton of versatility here, even with that nerf to weapons. All right, we''ve all got a good set of base skills, so I think any skill seeds that drop, we need to feed to Colin so he can transform and get more abilities. Your class is most effective when you''ve got a lot to choose from."

    "You''re good at analyzing how classes work together?" I asked.

    "My new class has that as a focus. I don''t know that I''m good at it yet, but I''m going to be," she said, sounding determined.

    The orc boy grunted. He gave me the eye as we went. I was getting the impression he didn''t like me very much, but I didn''t know why. I was impressed with how competent the kids were. Though I supposed most of them were my age, so I shouldn''t think of them as kids. Sage was the youngest here, and she had more experience than the rest of us put together.

    Sage said, ¡°You think this raven feather and whatever''s at the mine are the last of the elements we''ll need to summon the fragment?¡±

    "Assuming that the fragment is taking the role of Coyote, which I think is your brother''s working guess here." I nodded. "Yeah."

    "Then let''s get in there, rescue Shad, and get home before Grandpa and Juana get too worried. I''m kind of surprised Grandpa didn''t come with you."

    "It''s politics," I explained. "The new air marshal isn''t so sure she wants to risk anyone else. I don''t blame her, but I know your Grandpa is aching to be here."

    "We''ll just have to get back to him in one piece," Sage replied.

    We flushed out a couple of creatures as we went along. I somewhat regretted that we hadn''t killed all the necromancer''s minions during our escape. They probably would have dropped lots of seeds. Even so, my repertoire was growing nicely.

    The rolling-sagebrush-covered land rose as we approached the Lost Spaniard''s Mine. I kept a sharp eye for enemies and saw nothing but the occasional bird flying overhead. The sun was nearly unbearable. Sage had given me a hat from her inventory. It seemed she had tons of stuff in there, and that helped. We drank as we went. There was just no relief from the beating sun. Sage told me that it hadn''t moved for all of the time they''d been in there, which she guessed to be at least a day and a half.

    Now and then we found trees that offered some relief. Underneath their spindly branches we took breaks to spare ourselves. The kids were looking pretty peaked. Even Sage barely talked as we went.

    At last, we crested a ridge and the land opened up beneath us. We were at the edge of a canyon. It was hundreds of feet deep, but wide enough on the bottom for meadows of waving grass on either side of a snaking silver river. On the far side was a sheer cliff with a talus slope at the base. At the foot of the talus a cluster of ramshackle buildings were clustered inside a stockade.

    "Everybody get down!" Sage hissed. I looked. She had dropped to the earth nearby. I followed suit.

    "What¡¯s wrong?¡± Greta asked.

    "We''re skylined up here, that''s what," she said. "If anyone from that camp is watching, they would easily see us." She motioned everyone to creep back down the slope. Then, when they had gone, she beckoned me forward. Together, the two of us crept up the ridge and looked over.

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    "So you think this is where my brother is?"

    "I''m almost certain of it," I said. I studied the canyon wall above the encampment. There was a series of wooden platforms jutting out of the sheer face of the rock. I could make out opening that I realized were a mine.

    Even as we watched, people emerged from the mine. Four prisoners pushed a pair of mine carts, two on each. Two of the prisoners, I thought, must be NPCs. Their ragged trousers and worn shirts hung from their thin bodies. They looked human, probably Native American.

    The other two, though, were definitely our people. One wore a gray and white digital camouflage uniform, same as most of Joint Task Force Ganymede. We were too far off for me to make out his insignia, but he had a close-cropped blonde crew cut and he looked young. I guessed he was one of the enlisted men. The other was a woman dressed all in black with long, dangling black hair that fell in her face and an over-the-shoulder oversized book slung over her back.

    "That''s Hester," Sage said. "She''s on Shad''s crew. They''re here, all right." Standing around, nominally guarding the prisoners, were three orcs, two lizards, and a tall, thin elf, all wearing conquistador armor and carrying long arquebuses. They stood on the wooden platforms, bored looking, as the prisoners dumped the mining cart into a bucket that dangled from ropes. When they were done they returned with the cart into the mine. The dangling bucket stated a jerky motion down a long sloping cable toward the encampment below. It was a skyway. The buckets looked small from here, but I guessed they were big enough to hold multiple people.

    "It just looks like they''re mining rocks to me," I said.

    "That''s what ore looks like," Sage said. I could practically hear her rolling her eyes.

    ¡°Right, but there''s not actually any ore here.¡±

    ¡°There are no orcs here either," she pointed out. ¡°Clearly it''s symbolic of something.¡±

    The NPC bad guys forced the prisoners to reverse course and push the mine carts back into the mine.

    "Well, at least we know they''re there for sure," Sage said.

    "I count at least 20 aliens wearing armor in the camp. No telling how many more are in the mine."

    ¡°We do know how many prisoners," Sage said. "Twelve NPCs and six of my brother''s crew."

    "Not necessarily," I corrected. "If that NPC count is incorrect, like if a couple of them got killed or escaped, then there could be more of your brother''s crew inside. Your grandfather said that over half had been kicked out of the instance, but I neglected to ask how many of that left."

    She sighed. "Yeah, you and my brother are going to get along great. Always forgetting to ask for the details."

    "This is my first time, after all.¡±

    The two of us crept back down to the other waiting kids where I detailed what we had seen. "So what''s the plan?" Greta asked at once.

    "The plan?" The human boy, Brian, asked. He threw out his arms. "Look, this isn''t the Goonies or some other stupid movie where a bunch of kids waltz in and thwart the bad guys. This could be a life or death situation. Experts went in there and got themselves captured. What makes you think we''re going to do any better?"

    "Because we have a different goal," Sage said. "Shad was trying to play the game. Free the prisoners and get whatever the objective was. We''re going to go in there, blow shit up, and then get them out." She turned to me. "Right?"

    I chewed onto my lip as I thought about this. Something Sage had said was resonating, but I couldn''t quite catch hold of it yet. "Just a sec.¡± I pulled open my spellbook, looking at my abilities. There were a lot more of them now, but I couldn''t quite arrange them in a way that made sense to me.

    "Sage," Greta said, "I hate to say it, but I think Brian might be right. Look, I know you want to save your brother, and I know I''m as guilty as anyone else of going a little overboard with the classes, but this is a wake-up call. We''re not equipped professionals. We''re students."

    The orc shook his head, growling. "You would flee from a challenge?"

    "Yeah," Sage said, seizing on his opening. "There you are. Rok''gar, you''re on my side at least."

    "Of course," the orc said happily.

    She turned. "Amaya, Third Molt?" The two she addressed both hesitated. Then the tentacle alien gave a wriggle of all his tendrils. "I suppose so. Though it will be a shame if I am not able to survive to bring these memories back to my originator. He will be most interested in a look at a fragmented reality engine. If I should be incapacitated, but any portion of my body remains, I ask that you please place it into stasis in your inventory and deliver it to the individual who is my originator, the one formerly known as Greenwarden."

    Sage looked taken aback, but nodded. "Okay.¡±

    ¡°Nobody''s gonna die," Greta said firmly, "because we''re not just going to charge in there without even a plan, are we, Sage?"

    "No, of course not. Who do you think I am? Shad?" She sounded defensive. They turned to me.

    "Well, Mr. Outside Expert?" Greta asked. She smiled at me. I finally got it through my head that her sideways looks and warm smiles all day had been an attempt to flirt. I wasn''t used to that kind of attention from girls my own age. They usually looked at me with pity or disgust, but now that I was standing on my own two feet and sounding like an expert¡­ It certainly boosted my ego.

    "Wait a minute," Sage said, crossing her arms and jutting her chin forward. "You''re asking him? He''s been integrated for like ten minutes. I''ve been playing around with this reality engine for the last three years."

    "Yes, but, Sage," Greta said, "he got brought in as an expert for a reason. We should at least listen to him."

    I held up a hand. "Wait, that''s it."

    They looked at me. "What?"

    "That''s the problem. Sage, you said that we''d succeed because we weren''t going to be doing what your brother did. That is, trying to play by the reality engine''s rules. Going down there, setting things on fire, attacking them, that''s still playing by the rules. It''s a different rule set, yeah, but it''s what we''re expected to do here. The fragment has got it set up so we come here and we either walk down there and try to take them on or we walk away. Those are our two options. It''s like a quest pops up and says, ''Here''s what you''ve got to do,'' and we do it or we fail the quest."

    "So?" Sage asked.

    "So that''s not what we should do at all. We need to go outside the rules. We need to break the quest." I grinned and stood up. "We need to cheese it. And I think I have an idea how.¡± I swapped my abilities around as I spoke. Sage was looking doubtful. As I finished detailing my plan, I took her aside while the rest of her team began their preparations.

    "What''s wrong?" I asked.

    She shook her head. "I don''t know if this will work." But it was more than that. Her eyes slid from me to the rest of her team and back. I waited. Finally, she said, "Look, I don''t know who you are. Some whiz kid my brother recruited, but I''ve been doing this for three years now."

    And I had just swooped in and taken over. I nodded, and she went on. ¡°I¡¯m not convinced your plan will work. You''re just not used to the rules we have here."

    "I get it," I said. "I came in and started bossing around your team.¡±

    ¡°They''re not all mine," Sage said quietly. "Rok''gar and a couple of the others were on a different squad. Besides, I was in school. It was pretend. I know the difference."

    I held up a hand. "All the same, I came in here and started throwing my weight around and they listened to me. And you''re resentful of that. I get it. You''re right. I don''t know what I''m doing. I''m completely new here.¡±

    She chewed her lip. ¡°I mean, yeah¡­¡±

    I went on. I needed her on my side if we were going to pull this off. She was right; she was the only one here with any experience at all. ¡°But that gives me perspective. Look, you can''t cheese a reality engine. If the reality engine is paying attention, it can change things on the fly. I''m not going to be able to glitch the NPCs into freezing out and dropping a key I need in order to bypass an entire level. I can¡¯t find an unintended code interaction, because the simulation is just too damn good. Those strategies are useless. Your brother didn''t bring me here for that. He brought me here because I''ve got a fresh perspective on things."

    "And what''s that?" Sage asked.

    "You''re treating this like it''s real. Because it is. I get that. And if we don''t keep that in mind, we could get hurt or killed. But I''ve got to treat it like it''s not real. Like the world could work in different ways. I''m not gaming the rules here. I''m gaming the engine itself. You say Kronos is a real being with its own wants and needs and desires. Well, I''m counting on that. And I''m hoping whatever part of Kronos we''re dealing with here has a sense of humor and is willing to let us go with things. But this could go badly wrong. I would have preferred to suggest a plan that meant all of you stay here. But I don''t think you''re going to go for that, are you, Sage?"

    "With my brother down there? Hell no. Besides, I keep telling you, I''ve been doing this for years now."

    I had hurt her social standing with this group. Whether or not she was consciously aware of how much that bothered her, I could tell it did. The other kids were all a couple of years older than her, but they had been showing her a lot more respect and deference than sixteen-year-olds usually give thirteen-year-olds. I was threatening that. I didn''t want to make Sage my enemy, but I also needed to get this job done. I softened my tone.

    ¡°What about it, Sage? Partners?¡± I held out my hand as I spoke.

    Sage smiled. It lit up her whole face, her dark eyes sparkling. ¡°Partners.¡±

 Bk 4 Ch 35: Damned if I Do

    SHAD

    "You know what''s funny?" I asked as I raised my pick over my head and brought it down hard against a boulder, splitting the rock into smaller fragments.

    "What?" asked Major Armstrong as he wheeled a primitive wooden barrow over to me and began loading in the rocks I had just split.

    "Grandpa always warned me I''d end up splitting rocks in the hot sun if I didn''t shape up." I moved to the next rock and swung overhead. The sun beat down. At least I still had my hat. Armstrong was wearing his cap, which kept the sun off his bald head, at least. Sweat poured down his cheeks, and his face was bright red. Me, I may be a paleface compared to Grandpa, but I''ve always tanned nicely. I wasn''t feeling it nearly as bad.

    We''d been out here under the constant noonday sun for what I figured was more than two days now, under the watchful eye of the false conquistadors. Every few hours, one of the orcs or elves dressed in Spanish armor came down from their overwatch to gave us a drink of water. When the overseer stopped by, he was the only one who ever spoke, warning us to keep up the work or the rest of our people would suffer.

    Armstrong grunted as he loaded the barrow full of rocks. "Looks like your grandpa was right."

    "And I joined the army to avoid all this," I said. "See what it gets me?"

    "You''ve got a curiously optimistic attitude for us having been stuck here for the last two days," Armstrong said. "Got a plan yet?"

    "Nope," I said cheerfully. "But sooner or later I will." It was a lie. I actually did have a plan, but unfortunately, it was a Shad plan, and I really didn''t want to commit suicide. Not now. Not after all this.

    Armstrong and I had been working well together as a team for two days before we''d managed to get captured by the NPCs, and on rock duty for two days since. I felt like we''d made a rapport. The major was a convert to my way of thinking at this point. He had proclaimed more than once already that this wrangling with a reality engine business was much better suited to me and my independent contractors than to normal military types.

    He''d made three levels before we got captured. His class was R.E.M.F. I know, I know, and he¡¯d actually blushed when he shared the class details with me. I was impressed at his choice. It focused on buffing miners who had classes derived from the base warrior archetype, which most of the soldiers we''d brought up here had in one form or another. Everything from sniper to entrenchment expert to demolitions engineer was an offshoot of warrior.

    Hell, my Gunslinger class and Grandpa''s Tomahawk Ninja were warrior offshoots. Though I had never stopped to think about them that way before Sage had come home from school with a paper analyzing the traditional base classes and how they applied to our reality engine.

    But that was beside the point. Right now, we were busy making bigger rocks into smaller rocks.

    "Right, that''s two barrows filled," Armstrong said. "Give me a hand."

    I abandoned my pick and went to push one of the rickety wheelbarrows. They looked like they''d been built by someone who had only an axe, no other tools. The wheels were rough approximations of circles that bumped and jolted, threatening to spill rocks from the uneven bed of the barrow as we went.

    The quarry was dug into the slope of a steep mountainside. Just in front of us was an enormous earthenwork dam. On the upstream side of the dam, a placid lake shimmered under the brilliant sky. Two hundred feet below, the river ran free and clear. I was 100% certain no actual earthen dam could possibly hold back this much water. But here we were.

    In the face of the canyon below us was the opening to a mine. The rest of our people, along with the imprisoned NPCs, were down in the mine, chipping away at ore veins under the direction of the fake Spaniards.

    Armstrong and I had to keep wheeling piles of rock out to the center of the dam where a leak was threatening to turn into a catastrophic failure. I pushed my barrow over to the leak, dumped it down, waited as Armstrong dumped his, and then we tamped down the stone as hard as we could with our boots. When we were done, the top of the dam was a little lumpier and a little higher.

    I took a deep breath and checked to see if my inventory had started working again, feeling the eyes of a whole squad of NPCs on me.

    It still wasn¡¯t working. I cursed Kronos for letting us get into this mess. He had to have known his fragment would be able to rework the rules. Now here we were, stuck up Shit Creek, with my paddle locked in an inaccessible inventory.

    We wheeled the barrows back to our rock quarry and started at it again. By the time we got another two barrows filled, the leak would be back. It was a Sisyphean task. Major Armstrong had taught me that word, though I did recognize the story once he mentioned it.

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    "Right," Armstrong said as he picked up the other pick and we set to work. "Let''s go over it again."

    I sighed. We''d talked through our predicament about a hundred times in the last two days, but it couldn''t hurt to run through things. Maybe we''d think of something we had overlooked. "Okay. If we abandon our post, the dam bursts, and all of our people drown, which is fine. They''ll respawn having forgotten all of this, which they probably want to do anyway. However, we''ll also drown all the NPCs, and we need to get the final totem from one of them. We don''t know which of them might have it, or it might be buried in the mine itself," I said. "After that, we''ve got to get to the top of that mesa there, somehow finding a talking raven along the way and getting a feather from him.¡±

    I pointed to the north, upstream past the dam on the far side of the lake, where a tabletop mesa that looked like something out of a cartoon rose up red against the blue sky. "Then we summon Coyote and convince him to join with Kronos."

    "What if we just don''t?" Armstrong said. "If we all just quit?"

    "Well, the problem is, we''d have to commit suicide, and then we''ll forget why and what we''ve learned. I don''t like the idea of starting this zone all over, especially since we have no way of communicating with the outside. If we all die at the same time, we''ll respawn back at the start. There''s a good chance we''ll think it''s the first time and not realize we''ve been in here for nearly a week already." I shook my head. "I do not like the idea of spending the rest of my life in here, one week at a time."

    "No, me either," Armstrong agreed. "So what do we do?"

    "We crack rocks and keep filling in the dam until something changes, or we come up with a better plan," I said.

    I tried summoning my revolver. When we had been captured, the aliens had used a disarm spell on us all. I was still a bit embarrassed about how that had gone down. I hadn''t thought that anything could lock me out of my Quick Draw ability. It wasn''t supposed to be allowed.

    The fact that this reality engine could mess with my base abilities had pulled me up tight. I wanted to be sure to remember it and investigate what that meant for us going to other engines. I had taken it for granted that our abilities and classes were more or less immutable.

    Now I realized that was stupid. Of course, the reality engine was governing the rules of how things worked. I knew this fragment didn''t agree with the main part of Kronos. So it had its fingers on the scales, tipping them in its favor and keeping me from shooting my way out of this.

    "I think you should make a break for it," Armstrong said. "I can distract the guards long enough for you to make a getaway. You could race for the mesa and try to summon Coyote with what we''ve got."

    "I don''t think that''ll work. The book was pretty clear about the different totems needed."

    "It''s worth a try," he said. "Otherwise what? We stand here breaking rocks until we die?"

    "I don''t like that idea either," I said.

    "Then think of something, Williams," Armstrong snapped. "That''s an order from a superior officer. You''re the one with the experience and expertise at this sort of thing."

    "I''m used to having rules," I said. "During the exploit, things were laid out for me. Yeah, sure. I did some crazy stunts. But all I was risking then was myself."

    "So what if we lose this fragment?" Armstrong challenged. "Right now we''re losing a ton of man-hours. Give up on this one and let''s go find another. Something that''s easier to beat."

    It was a tempting idea, if it didn''t mean leaving Armstrong and the others to have to suicide and reset. I took a deep breath. "All right, but I think we should do it the other way around."

    "What?"

    "No, listen to me," I said. "What I''ll do is I''ll trigger the dam to collapse. It''ll take out me and the rest of our team. We''ll respawn at the entrance, and I''ll know something''s wrong because you''re not there. That''ll tell me to turn around, leave, and find out what''s going on. Meanwhile, you go try to summon Coyote. If we''re lucky, you can have a conversation with him. Come out and tell me what all this has been about."

    "You''re much better equipped for this than me," Armstrong said. "You have a class with skills. You know how these engines work."

    "Major," I said. "If we get out of here all right, you go make your report to the Air Marshal. What''s your recommendation going to be to her about integrating?"

    "I''ll explain to her why it''s absolutely crucial that she integrates as soon as possible, and that she isn''t just going to be handicapped from running this joint task force, but from all military operations going forward," the Major said at once.

    "What other recommendations do you have for her?"

    "That we set up a strike force under the command of your grandfather with an uncomplicated chain of command reporting directly to the Air Marshal, and broad leeway to conduct operations as necessary, specifically to find other sources of this unobtainium."

    "Ethereum," I corrected.

    "Ethereum, right, that isn¡¯t controlled by mad reality engine fragments."

    I nodded. "Yeah, The task force really, really needs you to make those recommendations. If you die and you forget all that¡­¡± I paused and let Armstrong connect the dots.

    "Huh," he said. "I see your point, Williams, but I still don''t think I''m going to be able to pull this off on my own. We could both make a break for it and give up on getting the last two totems.¡± Armstrong suggested.

    I hesitated. There were so many unknowns, but this wasn''t like me to hold back just because I didn''t want a reset. It was ridiculous. Even when I had been facing real death back in phase one of the exploit, it hadn''t crippled me like this. I was feeling the loss of my Ruger. I wanted my gun in my hand. I wanted an enemy I could shoot. I wanted to be out of here.

    As we finally finished filling our next load of stone and wheeled it back out across the dam, I spotted something. I raised a hand to shade my eyes. "You see that?" I pointed out across the valley to where a cloud of dust was rising from the cliff on the far side about level with where we were.

    "Dust devil?" Armstrong asked.

    "That''s not how they move. It''s more like someone on the move." The dust was dying down. Whatever had disturbed the ground had either stopped or reached harder ground. I squinted, almost able to make out silhouettes against the bright sky. "It could be anything, but let''s keep an eye on it. Be ready to make our move.¡±

    Armstrong nodded. ¡°Come on. Leak''s getting bigger. We''d better patch it up."

 Bk 4 Ch 36: Sage Into Action

    "All right," Colin told the team. They had pulled up at the edge of the mesa, overlooking the canyon and mine below. Sage listened intently as Colin laid out the scoreboard. "According to the story in the Book of Legends, we need four items to summon Coyote: an ear of corn, a raven''s feather, a woven blanket, and a totem of some sort from the chief of the imprisoned Indians who are down in the mine right now. We''ve got the raven''s feather, and I have good reason to believe that Captain Williams is in possession of the corn and blanket. I thought until now that Williams and his team were in the mine, but now I''m not sure. I''ve been examining the minimap again with my Read the Dev Notes, and a secondary pop-up appeared."

    Sage¡¯s ears pricked up. ¡°You think Shad¡¯s somewhere else?¡±

    ¡°Let me get to that.¡± Colin sketched out a crude map in the dirt at the edge of the cliff. "Right, we''re here. That dam is over there."

    He pointed to the great stone and earth wall blocking the canyon about a mile to their west. From Sage''s vantage point, she could see water shimmering behind the dam and a narrow ribbon of river snaking its way through the canyon below. "The mine is across the valley, down below, on the other side of the river. We''ve got this tram over here running across the valley to that set of ladders and walkways.¡±

    Sage could make out the scaffolding and rickety-looking walkways leading from the top of the other cliff down into the mind from here. They looked narrow and terrifying, just the sort of place to avoid having a fight.

    The tramway itself crossed the gorge over to this side, connecting with a tower about a half mile from where they now stood. She¡¯d been keeping an eye out, watching for movement, but there didn¡¯t seem to be anyone guarding it. That was good; they¡¯d be able to use the tramway, hopefully, to get themselves into permission.

    ¡°On my map, the mine itself is marked, ''Rescue prisoners 0/12+6,¡¯ which is why I believed that Captain Williams'' party has been taken captive and are being held in the mine. It¡¯s telling me there should be twelve prisoners, but actually there are 18. However, there''s a secondary objective over by the dam which says, ''Free captives 0/2.¡¯ That one has an optional reward for me, which says, ¡®The gratitude of your superiors.'' I suspect that Captain Williams is one of the two being held there."

    Sage turned and squinted in the direction Colin had indicated. She couldn''t see anything. The dam was tall, and the day was bright. Shimmering air hovered between her and the dam.

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    "So what do we do?" Greta asked "Do we go there first or the mine?"

    "We need to be careful,¡± Sage said before Colin could answer. "Something about that second objective bothers me. I think the fragment is trying to get us to split up."

    "That means we shouldn''t do it. We''ll be playing right into its hands," Brian countered. He was being a thorn in Sage''s side. She wished Rok¡¯gar would help rein him in. After all, her orc classmate was supposed to be in charge of the squad Brian had been part of. Sage''s own teammates, Greta, Amaya, and Third Molt, were at least listening to what everyone else was suggesting. Brian just seemed to want to be contrary.

    "Yeah, about that," Colin clenched his jaw and sighed. "There''s a timer on the ''Gratitude of Your Superiors'' quest. It''s stuck at 27 minutes. I think something is going to trigger that timer starting down once we go after one or the other objective."

    "So we go there first," Sage said at once. "We get Shad out, and he helps us free everyone else."

    Colin cleared his throat. ¡°So, uh. On the mine, there''s also a frozen 27-minute timer that says ¡®watery doom.''"

    "Well, that''s helpful," Sage said. She crossed her arms. "What do you think that means?"

    Colin pointed at the dam, looming over them. "I''m pretty sure once we go after either quest, we''re going to have 27 minutes before the dam breaks. If we don''t rescue both your brother and the prisoners, then it all goes up in smoke."

    "Or water," Sage said, sighing. "All right. Divide and conquer it is. I''ll go after Shad."

    Colin shook his head. "I have another idea. You still got the other half of that teleport beacon I gave you?"

    "Sure. Why?"

    "This feels like the sort of thing where we might lose people," Colin said. "Whatever happens, we''ve got to get the token from the chief in the mines and then summon Coyote. So what I''m thinking is, I go after your brother and whoever this other prisoner is, and we make a break for it. The mesa to summon Coyote is there." He pointed northwest past the lake, where a tall, flat mesa rose above the surrounding landscape. "It''s on this side of the river. If the dam collapses, it''s going to be nearly impossible to cross. I need to get to them and get across the dam before it collapses. Meanwhile, you all get into the mine, clear everyone out. Whatever happens, you get that totem from the chief and you bring it to me. I''ll have the beacon ready to go and active. As soon as you get it, you step through."

    Sage looked around at her team. Their faces were set. "We can do this, Sage," Greta said.

    "It sounds really dangerous," Sage said. "If someone gets killed for real, I won''t forgive myself."

    "You didn''t get us into this," Amaya told her. "The fragment did. And we''re not just your teammates. We''ve all got classes now. You were facing much more dangerous things when you were eleven. We can''t back down now."

    "I could," Brian said.

    Rok¡¯gar finally turned on him, snarling. "Then you wait here," he said. "When we return, I shall be sure that everyone hears of your cowardice."

    Sage held up a hand. "That''s not helpful. We''re school kids out of place. Nobody here asked to be here. But," she said, sighing, "that doesn''t mean we can''t make the best of it. All right," she turned back to Colin. "We''ll do it."

 Bk 4 Ch 37: Dambusters

    As soon as Sage''s team moved into action, a pop-up appeared: [Dam Breach: Structural failure in 27 minutes 17 Seconds.] Time for me to go; I needed to find Shad Williams before the timer ran out.

    I raced along the edge of the cliff, the dam looming huge in my vision. As I reached the near end of the dam, I had 22 minutes left. My legs ached. It was so good to have legs that hurt when I ran¡ªlegs that would move, kick, and run. No matter how much bullshit all this was, it was worth it.

    There were a pair of figures standing in the middle of the dam, dumping rocks out of wooden wheelbarrows. A squad of NPCs armed with old-fashioned long guns and swords stood behind them.

    It was very considerate of the enemy to have placed themselves at the edge of a 200-foot drop. I might not have any weapons, but I had skills and a willingness to break the rules.

    I used double-jump to soar right over the heads of the astonished men. One of them had to be Williams. He was wearing a black cowboy hat and a long coat. It seemed like he would be sweltering in this heat. I had half expected him to start shooting as soon as I showed up, and I had no idea what was holding him back. I needed to get rid of the bad guys and talk to him.

    I landed just on the other side of the prisoners, between them and the NPCs. I started counting. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. The NPCs were starting toward me as Williams and the man with him shouted.  "Stay where you are," I yelled to Williams and the man with him. "I''ve got this."

    I pulled a bomb from my inventory¡ªsomething that Sage¡¯s grandpa had given me. When I told her my plan, he rolled her eyes. ¡°Great. I really needed another Shad in my life.¡±

    Now I pulled it out and armed it as the six NPCs lowered their weapons on me. I activated double-jump again and leapt right past them. They turned. That was good.

    The NPCs started toward me. I kept counting. Eight. Nine. Ten. I raced forward to meet them. Two of them shot. One bullet struck me in the shoulder, but it wasn''t enough to kill me.

    I needed to get this exactly right. Eleven. Twelve. Close enough. I set the bomb off. The explosion knocked me back in a fury of pain and noise. The NPCs were knocked from the dam over the edge, plummeting 200 feet. I was knocked back toward the lake. I had half a second to go. "Oh shit, it didn''t kill me."

    And then the next damage tick did.

    I respawned where I had first landed, about three feet from the gaping Williams and his comrade.

    "I am so bloody glad that worked," I said aloud as my 13-Second Rule finished.

    Williams'' mouth was open as he stared at me. "Right. Who the hell are you and how did you just do that?"

    I held out a hand. "Colin Trevelyan. You recruited me, sir."

    He took my hand and shook it, then pushed his hat back from his face. Even with his mouth closed, he still looked a little like a poleaxed ox. "Huh. Well, congratulations on being here. That little trick?¡±

    ¡°It''s a 13-second rewind upon death," I said.

    "I''m glad it worked. A bunch of our abilities are being locked out."

    A crater stood in the top of the dam where I had set off the bomb. Water was flowing into it. I checked my timer. It had advanced to 12 minutes.

    "Oh shit," I said. "I made things worse. We''ve got 12 minutes before the dam collapses. We''ve got to get to the other side."

    "12 minutes?" Williams started to jog the wrong way, the other man following him. The other guy was an American officer wearing Major''s insignia. His name tag read "Armstrong."

    "Oh, we need to go the other way," I said. "To Coyote, to¡ª"

    "I know, I know. They''ve got my gear," Williams said, pointing at a hut just on the other side of the dam. More NPCs were coming out, four of them assembling and lowering their polearms at us. "What kind of other offensive abilities do you have?"

    "None at all," I said.

    "What kind of stupid class did you pick?"

    "I''ll give you the details later. I thought you had offensive abilities."

    "They took our guns," Williams said, grinding his teeth.

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    I opened my inventory and pulled out some of the spare weapons that Sage and her grandpa had loaded me with, handing them to Williams and Armstrong. Williams checked his load. ¡°That¡¯s better!¡±

    Springing ahead, he gave a whoop, and all of a sudden, all four of the NPCs turned to face him, even as Armstrong and I opened fire. Williams shot one right through the eye hole.

    ¡°That¡¯s for making me swing a damn pick!¡± he yelled.

    I aimed and fired, trying to keep the barrel of my gun pointing at the bad guys and not Williams. My aim was terrible. Armstrong was shooting next to me and didn''t seem to be much better. "You''re not a warrior class, kid," he said. "I can''t buff you."

    "Sorry about that," I said as my British instincts kicked in, forcing me to apologize for something that really wasn''t my fault.

    "It''s fine. I''ve tossed everything I can on Williams there."

    Armstrong lowered his gun, keeping it pointed at the ground as we watched Williams blasting his way through the other NPCs. As their bodies hit the ground, Williams disappeared into the hut, emerging a moment later as he wrapped a Wild West-style gun belt around his hips.

    "Got my inventory access back," he said happily. "I think the fragment was just being an asshole. Let''s go."

    We had nine minutes left. We raced across the dam. We set off for the mesa at a quick jog. Williams and Armstrong kept glancing around, clearly expecting a follow-up attack as we raced along the edge of the cliff, along the edge of the lake.

    ¡°Nice to see you here. You got into action faster than I expected. How¡¯d that work?¡±

    ¡°I won the tournament," I said. ¡°Actually, five of us got through, but your grandpa pulled some strings to get me on an early transport out to Ganymede so I could get my legs back and because he''d heard you disappeared. There''s some wonky stuff happening with this fragment. It''s seizing control of a bunch of levels."

    Williams nodded. "I was afraid of that. When it started changing the rules on us, I thought it was possible that this fragment was getting more ornery."

    Did he really talk like he''d come out of a western? Was that on purpose, or was it just how he really talked? I couldn''t believe I''d come a quarter of a billion miles to play Cowboys and Indians. This was supposed to be the great hero of the reality engine exploit? I was starting to share Sage''s slightly exasperated impression of her brother.

    "That was a good trick you used there," Williams said. "Can I see your class details?"

    I shared with him and Armstrong both.

    "Huh," Williams said as he kept up an easy jog. I hadn''t mastered the art of studying system notifications and also watching where I was going, but I suppose he did have three years of experience on me. "This is an interesting build for someone I hoped would be a combat asset."

    That got my back up. "And I will be," I snapped. "I know exactly what you want me for, and I''m here for that role. Not all of us have to be cowboys shooting off our six guns."

    "Easy now," Armstrong said. "Williams, you''ve just spent the last four days convincing me that your unorthodox people with their unorthodox approaches are exactly what are needed to handle the new situations that humanity finds itself in. I''m sure you did not mean to imply that Trevelyan''s choices here make him somehow less able than, say, a junior rodeo princess?"

    "She''s a barrel racer now," Williams grumbled. "And I can''t believe you''ve got my little sister''s profile accessible to you."

    "I watched a couple of documentaries on the exploit while I was preparing to come up here," Armstrong said. "Your sister kind of left an impression."

    "Yeah, she does that," Shad said, lifting his hat to scratch his scalp. "I''m not looking forward to a couple of years from now when she''s a knockout and I''m supposed to be pulling the disapproving older brother routine. It''s a lot harder when the no-account boyfriends won''t stay dead after you shoot ''em."

    I gave Armstrong a "Is he for real?" sort of glance. Armstrong raised his eyebrows as if to say, "Just go with it." I had a feeling Williams was under a lot of stress here, and the slightly inane chatter was his way of dealing with it.

    "We still need two totems," Williams said. "I assume you''ve figured out what''s going on here?¡±

    ¡°I read the note you left in the town. I''ve got Raven¡¯s feather, and Sage is going after the last totem. She''ll get it to us."

    "Sage?" Williams stopped dead. His face was a combination of excited and angry as he looked at me. "Sage is here? You brought my sister?"

    I held up a hand. "Hang on. I didn''t bring her. The fragment kidnapped her and some other kids from her school. They''re going after the prisoners trapped in the mine. I assume that''s the rest of your team."

    "My assumption as well," Armstrong said. "We should join them."

    I shook my head. "This dam''s going to explode and flood the mine before we could even get down there. It''ll be almost impossible to cross the river after that happens. We''ve got to head for Coyote''s Mesa. Sage will get us the last totem. You''ve got to trust her," I told Williams.

    ¡°How¡¯s she getting here?¡± he demanded.

    I showed him my half of the teleport beacon. ¡°She¡¯ll use this.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡± Williams holstered his weapon. ¡°I¡¯m going through.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°How long on the timer?¡±

    I checked. ¡°Like 4 minutes. You won¡¯t have time to do anything.¡± It hit me then. Sage didn¡¯t have the timer; she didn¡¯t know we¡¯d had our time cut in half. ¡°Oh fuck! You¡¯re right, you¡¯d better go after her.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll take a minute or two for the water to reach the mine. Just keep heading for the mesa. I¡¯ll find Sage.¡± Williams reached out a hand and touched the beacon. He vanished.

    Major Armstrong frowned down at me disapprovingly. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to have a word with Twofeather about discipline in his outfit,¡± he grumbled.

    "No time, keep moving," I said. We set off toward the mountains, me watching the timer count down. 3 minutes. 2. 1.

    There was an enormous roar like thunder that went on too long. We turned.

    The dam, over a mile behind us by now, had just given way. A cloud of dust rose from the neck of the valley where it had stood. The lake to our side began to draw away as the water rushed out to take advantage of the breach in the dam. The sound went on and on and on.

    I hoped Sage had gotten to the chief. I had the beacon in my hand now, ready for her to step through it, but there was no sign of her. A bad feeling started in the pit of my stomach. ¡°Come on,¡± I said, more to myself than the Major. ¡°We can¡¯t do any good standing here. Let¡¯s keep moving.¡±

 Bk 4 Ch 38: Sage Advice

    Sage and her team scrambled into action, swinging the tramway cart out over the edge of the cliff. "Go, go, go!" Sage shouted as they swarmed aboard. She leapt on last, then lashed out with her lariat, lassoing expertly over the handbrake lever beside the launching tower and giving it a quick, sharp yank.

    The lever slid forward. The swinging cart eased away from the cliff''s edge. It was an open wooden platform, about six feet on a side, with a pair of triangular wooden braces on both ends coming together just over their heads to form the hoist. A long metal cable ran across the length of the canyon.

    The platform slid forward with a lurch. Amaya cried and stumbled. Sage caught her, holding her in place as she looped her own arm around one of the wooden frame pieces.

    "Everyone, hold on tight,¡± she urged. Now they were out over the canyon. The ground was two hundred feet below as they whizzed along toward the opposite side.

    Just as she''d feared, the NPCs spotted them. Shouts went up from the camp. A few distant booms as the conquistadors fired off their archaic guns. None of the shot came anywhere near Sage and her team. They picked up speed as they slid forward across the chasm. Some of the conquistadors were racing for the ladders leading up onto the spiderweb of bridges and walkways.

    "Be prepared for a fight!" Sage shouted. She and Greta buffed the team with everything they had. Brian and Shawna were, unfortunately, the best suited for a fight. She hoped they would listen to her direction as she called out orders. Sage wanted desperately to put herself in the front, but it made sense for the kids with actual melee combat abilities to be up front. Rok''gar had crafted them armor and shields. "You two, just aim to hold the bad guys in one place for the rest of us," Sage told them.

    The cliff face was now only a few dozen yards in front of them. A platform jutted out for the car to dock at. They hit the platform, slid along it and then crashed into the cliff wall on the opposite side.

    Everyone stumbled forward and out onto the landing platform. "Go, go, go!" Sage urged. "To the left!" Steps led down off the platform, both left and right. From the look she had gotten as the car approached the walkway, she was pretty sure they could reach the bottom from either. She wanted everyone to stick together.

    They raced forward, Sage hearing the shouts and cries from below as the conquistador aliens hurried up to meet them. She craned her neck for a look and spotted a couple 50 feet below and off to the side. Whipping her goo gun out of her inventory, she aimed a shot.

    She wasn''t a dead eye with this weapon, but she hit one conquistador in the arm. He immediately fell back, screaming as the acid ate through his armor and body. He blocked the stair temporarily for the rest of his party, and they got jumbled up while the four in advance of him kept climbing.

    That was remarkably effective. Sage concentrated and threw out Mucking Out the Stalls. She had never before thrown it in an area where she could see its three-dimensional effect. The debilitating area was about two feet deep. It seemed to hover in midair under the platforms. Sage couldn''t help but laugh as the conquistador''s armor grew dark with filth.

    A moment later, the enemy vanguard met with Brian and Shawna''s blockade, coming up hard against the pair of rectangular wooden shield. The rest of Sage''s team peppered their enemies with spells. One space elf fell shrieking from the narrow walkway. The other smashed his polearm hard down on a shield, splintering it.

    Shawna shrieked and stepped backward, giving the enemy an opening. He lunged forward with his polearm. Shawna screamed again, this time in pain.

    "Amaya, healing!"

    "I''m already on it!" Amaya tossed out a healing spell on Shawna. Sage was proud of her teammates. They''d worked together a lot over the past months, and even though the stakes here were much more intense than anything they''d done in school, they were working well together now.

    Brian dropped his shield and pulled a heavy two-handed hammer out of his inventory. He swung it hard against the alien''s helmet. The impact rang like a bell. The conquistadors staggered backward. Third Molt had his own goo gun out and followed up with a shot against the conquistador''s breastplate. The conquistador tugged at his armor, stumbled, and fell screaming off the walkway.

    "Keep going!" Sage yelled.

    "Wait!" Third Molt called, "Hold!"

    He extended one pseudopod, pointing at a ladder where two more of the aliens were now climbing up. Green spores drifted forward, directed by his waving tentacles. They coated the ladder. A moment later, vines and mushrooms began to sprout from the rope. In seconds, they covered the whole ladder, before twisting apart. The ladder fell into pieces and took the two climbers with them.

    "Everyone go right!" Sage ordered, spotting an alternative path down. "Hurry!¡± There were still two aliens on the walkways and both were too far off for her to use Tame.

    With Greta and Amaya in the back, to provide support, the team surged forward. Brian seemed to have succumbed to a kind of berserker rage. He raced ahead, ignoring Sage''s urges to stay back and threw himself at the pair of conquistadors. Moments, seconds later, one of them dropped under his assault but the other was swinging on him with a sword.

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    Sage tossed her lasso and caught the swordman. She ordered him to turn on his fellow, but it was almost pointless. The conquistador was dead in seconds, his body dissipating in a puff of spores as whatever Third Molt was using took him to pieces. Sage ordered the last conquistador to stand still while her team dismantled him.

    "No time for a breather!" she told them as they started to laugh and shout amongst each other. "We''re on a timer, remember?"

    "Oh yeah." Greta agreed. "Let''s get going."

    They raced the rest of the way down the ladders until they reached the entrance to the mine. There they faced not a guard, but a gate, closed and locked against them.

    "We should have checked them for a key," Brian said.

    "No time, we''ll batter it down," Sage snapped. "I''ve got a bomb here somewhere." She pulled one out of her inventory, a small-yield explosive grenade. "Everybody back to the walkway," she urged, and tossed the bomb before ducking around the corner herself.

    The explosion shot a cloud of dust and debris outward. Sage didn''t wait for it to dissipate before plunging back in. She covered her face with a bandana and raced through the smoke and dust into the mine. They were greeted by a shaft with an elevator platform leading downward.

    They quickly swarmed aboard and started down, down into the mine. When they reached the bottom of the mine, shafts led off in five different directions. There was no sign of anyone, though she could hear the distant sound of metal striking rock. She called up her mini-map, but it wasn''t helpful. She could see blue and red dots everywhere, but no overlay showing the tunnels themselves.

    "What now?" Greta asked.

    Sage tried not to panic, even though they didn''t have a whole lot of time. She took a deep breath. "This whole place is going to flood in minutes. We''ve got to evacuate everyone. Failing that, I''ve got to find the chief and get his token from him."

    "Then step one is finding people," Greta said. "Let''s split up."

    That brought a risk of them getting picked off by guards. Sage could see at least four red dots on her map here, but they were precious low on time.

    Third Molt had his tentacles in the air. "I shall perceive for us." Spores wafted away. A moment later, he said, "This, this, and this," while indicating three tunnels. "Prisoners. This," he indicated a fourth tunnel. "Another way out, but a locked gate at the far end."

    Sage''s heart leaped. It sounded like a possible escape route to her.  "All right. Break up into three. Sweep the tunnels. Kill the bad guys. Save the prisoners. Come back here. Don''t wait for anyone else. Head down that escape tunnel and figure out how to get out." She rattled off names, taking Amaya with her, leaving Shawna and Brian with Rok''gar and sending Greta and Third Molt as the third party. "Go."

    Racing down the tunnel with Amaya at her back. Sage had her goo gun in her hand. When they rounded a tunnel and came face to face with a pair of conquistadors, she was ready. She fired at both. One slashed at her, catching her arm with his halberd before he fell. Amaya''s soothing mist spell knit her wounded flesh back together.

    Surprised prisoners turned to face her. They had chains on their feet and picks in their hands.

    "I''m here to rescue you!" she shouted, scanning them over. All of these looked like NPCs, Native American men and women dressed in simple buckskin trousers or wraps.

    The closest to her reminded her of Grandpa with his grave manner and solemn face. He raised a hand. "You are an outsider as well. Why have you come to our aid?"

    "It''s a long story. Just come with me if you want to live," Sage said. "Wait, are you the chief?"

    He nodded. "I am."

    "Listen, to save your people and mine, I''ve got to summon Coyote. The story said you''d have a token for me."

    He reached up and took a thong from around his neck. There was a white tooth attached to the leather thong, a coyote fang, or Sage missed her guess. ¡°This.¡± He held it out. She snatched it up and tossed it in her inventory, then hesitated. She ought to take it to Colin right now, not risk getting shot and killed or drowned, but she wanted to help her team.

    "Let''s get him free," she told Amaya.

    "We don''t have a key."

    "I''ve always got keys," Sage said confidently. Pulling a set of enchanted bolt cutters out of her inventory, it took longer than she liked to free all of the prisoners. Amaya chivvied them back down the tunnel as each was free, the chief taking the lead.

    When the sixth prisoner was released, Sage raced after them. They reached the conjunction to find confusion. Greta¡¯s party was back and rescued Hester, who Sage knew well, and a bunch of very confused army men.

    Sage tried to shout over the hubbub. Finally, she messaged Hester, Get them moving down that tunnel. There''s a way out.

    "Where''s Rok''gar?" she shouted to Greta.

    "He hasn''t come back yet."

    "Is this all of your team?" Sage asked Hester.

    "Yes."

    So there were none of Shad¡¯s people down there, just NPCs and her classmates. She had the chief''s totem already, and they had freed Shad''s teammates. She ought to just make her escape good and get the totem to Colin as quickly as possible. But she still wasn''t sure whether her schoolmates would be safe and respawn if they died. And Rok¡¯gar wasn¡¯t responding to her messages.

    "Get out of here!" she ordered everyone, then turned and raced down the corridor Rok''gar had gone.

    She heard the sounds of battle before she reached them, and slowed just in time to spot that a squad of Conquistadors had Rok''gar and his friends trapped in a side tunnel.

    It looked like they''d successfully barricaded themselves in, but now had no way of fighting off the bad guys. Sage shouted. She Tamed a Conquistador, turning him on the others. "Get out of there!" she yelled at Rok''gar.

    "Brian''s been wounded. He can''t move his leg."

    "Then carry him!" Sage said furiously. "What about the prisoners?¡±

    ¡°Haven''t reached them yet."

    Sage yelled in frustration as the other Conquistadors killed the one she''d Tamed. That gave her a chance to recast her Tame on another, but this was too slow. She had no idea how much time was left.

    The Conquistadors apparently had spotted her as the real threat. Three of them were advancing on her. She couldn''t manage her lasso and the goo gun at the same time. If she dropped the lasso, her tamed Conquistador orc would be free.

    "I need your help!" Sage shrieked.

    "Coming!" Rok''gar yelled, but there seemed to be no movement from up ahead. Sage dithered. She''d made a horrible mistake.

    Just then, the teleport beacon attached to her chest by a loop of rope glowed. Her heart leapt. Had Colin changed his mind? Was he coming to their aid?

 Bk 4 Ch 39: All Out of Bubblegum

    I was going to feel really dumb about this if Sage had the teleport beacon in her inventory. I took a deep breath, my Ruger in one hand, and reached out with my other to touch the beacon Colin was holding out to me.

    A moment later, I was in a mine tunnel. There was a lot of screaming and shouting. I heard Sage shout my name. I was facing toward a bunch more of these alien conquistador assholes. I fired as fast as I could, spraying them with Barrage. It staggered them back.

    A section of the wall to their left broke open, rocks tumbling outward. Then there was another orc in front of me, this one not dressed as a conquistador. I realized just in time it was one of Sage''s classmates and didn''t fill him full of lead.

    I tried to get a grasp on the situation. "Sit rep!" I yelled to Sage.

    "Three friendlies in the tunnel up ahead, one wounded. NPC prisoners, beyond that. At least three conquistador assholes still alive."

    "Right." I rushed forward using Call ¡®em Out and then engaged Fastest Gun in the West to dart right through the group of conquistadors. They turned, leaving them open from behind. I pivoted and pumped shot after shot into them as Sage''s classmates struck them with their own weapons. In seconds, the aliens lay dead.

    I checked my timer. Eight minutes left. I swore. "You need to get that totem to Colin right now."

    "I don''t know if we''ll respawn if we die," she said breathlessly. ¡°My team and I came in through a back door. Don''t know if Kronos has us backed up.¡±

    ¡°How many of you are there?"

    "Eight, counting me. The others are up ahead trying a tunnel.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll get them out," I promised. "Get that totem to Colin now."

    She nodded and vanished. I breathed a sigh of relief. If she was right and there was any danger of death being permanent, at least she ought to have a better chance with Colin than trapped in a mine tunnel with a flood coming in.

    I hurried over to her friends. The orc kid, Rok''gar, I''d met once before, and of course, I knew his father. I gave him a curt nod.

    "Brian is injured," Rok''gar said.

    I looked the blanched boy over. "Broken leg? Right. You two, help him," I told Rok''gar and the girl with them. "Carry him out of here."

    "What about the other prisoners?"

    "They''re NPCs," I snapped. "If the fragment cares about them, he can reconstitute them himself. Let''s get clear."

    I urged them forward in the direction Sage had indicated. A minute later, we came to a confluence of tunnels with an elevator shaft leading upward.

    "Up there?"

    "There''s another way out," Rok''gar said, pointing.

    I could see the marks in the dust of a dozen or more confused feet, some bare, some shod.  I pulled up my mini-map. There were no more red dots, at least, but we were down to just six minutes before this whole place started to fill with water.

    We hurried down the corridor as fast as we could, the wounded kid hobbling as Rok''gar and the girl supported his weight on their shoulders. I holstered my pistol, knowing that it would answer me when I wanted it, just as long as the fragment didn''t decide to be an asshole again.

    There were a bunch of empty mine carts blocking this tunnel, and a rail laid down it. It must be an alternate route to get ore out of the mine.

    I could hear shouts and angry voices from up ahead. "Let me past," I told the kids, squeezed through the tunnel around them, then raced upward until I came up against a crowded mass of people. My own team, the rest of Sage''s kids, and a bunch of NPC prisoners, all shouting and yelling. "What''s going on?" I said, and then, "Quiet!"

    That mostly worked. From the front of the crowd, Hester yelled, "Shad! Is that you?"

    "Yep."

    "There''s an exit here, but there''s a grate, and I think we''re a good thirty feet up.¡±

    I squeezed through the crowd, pushing and shoving, dodging past more mine carts. Some of the NPCs had climbed inside to be out of the way. It started to tickle an idea in the back of my brain. I fetched up against the grate at the front. Hester was there, shaking the big, heavy, metal grate set deep into the stone around it.

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    "Looks like we need something to blast it free."

    "There''s dynamite further back in the mine," Private Johnson volunteered. ¡°I saw a cache room back there. I could go for it.¡±

    "No time," I said, shaking my head. "In about a minute and a half, this whole place is going to fill with water."

    I thought about my options as I peered out. It appeared that the hole was carved in the side of the mountain, at least 30 feet up. I could see the tiny trickle of the river below us. It didn''t make sense to have mine carts like this, with rail leading to a hole leading nowhere. Not unless the Conquistadors had an airship that they regularly backed up against the mountain, which they might. I wouldn''t put anything past the AI. But I had a suspicion here.

    "I''ve got an idea. I''m not sure it''s going to work," I said. "Everybody, get back from the grate. I want you climbing into those ore carts. Make sure that the brakes aren''t set. Move the chocks if you have to. I''m going to blow this."

    Far off, I heard a rumbling sound, like distant thunder. I knew the dam had broken. I carefully pulled explosives from my inventory. I didn''t have any skills for this, but being around Mitch and the Mongoose Squad had taught me a few tricks. I attached the explosives, then connected wires to each of them, forcing myself to take my time, even as I heard the flood-noise grow.

    "What''s that?" someone called.

    "That''s the flood coming," I said. ¡°Here''s what''s going to happen. I''m going to blow this. The flood''s going to hit us. It''s going to launch these carts forward, and we''re going to ride it out of here, just like we were in that crappy Indiana Jones movie."

    "He was in a fridge, not a mine cart!" one of the kids yelled, and I reminded myself to make sure Sage had a proper education in the classics.

    "Never mind. We''ve all seen movies like this, and it''s a trope in the kind of cheesy western this fragment seems to be drawing on."

    I finished setting the explosives, then reeled out the wire as I sprinted back to the closest mine cart.

    "Budge over," I told the NPCs, one of them who I suspected was the chief, based on his age and grumpy mannerism. He grunted at me before making room. I climbed in. "Everyone cover your ears!"

    I pressed the igniter. The explosives went off in a deafening boom and a cloud of smoke, just as the noise of roaring water became overpoweringly loud.

    A wall of water filled the tunnel behind us. It smashed against our carts, lifting them off the track and propelling them forward. At the front of the line, my car was the first to shoot out of the tunnel. I clung to the side as we hung in midair before dropping toward the river below.

    It had swollen from a thin silvery trickle to an enormous roaring flood that filled the canyon from wall to wall. It had to be at least 20 feet deep by now, maybe more. The debris of the conquistadors'' camp and bits of lumber from the mine bobbed along in the current.

    I hoped that Sage had gotten to Colin safely. I hoped they''d be able to summon Coyote, but right now I just clung on to the mine cart for dear life as we hit the water with a bone-shaking crash.

    My cart went completely underwater. Seconds later, it bobbed upward. I was drenched from head to toe, but my hat was still on my head and my gun belt was at my side, so it was alright. I glanced back over my shoulder. The other carts bobbed along in the current like so much debris, but I thought everyone was here. I counted all my team.

    "What do we do now?" Hester shouted.

    I dove into my inventory. We''d had a couple of paddles in Grandpa''s shed from a kayak I had destroyed when I was Sage''s age. I tossed one to the nearest mine cart behind me and used the other to start steering mine toward the banks, but it was no use. There were no banks here. The entire canyon was filled with the river. All I could do was try to avoid rocks and the edges of the canyon. I grabbed rope from my inventory.

    We had four mine carts full of people. Two of us had paddles. Two didn''t. I grabbed rope from my inventory and tossed it back to the cart behind me.

    "Just try to hold on," I urged them, giving the rope to the NPCs in mine. "Don''t let them go, whatever you do," I told them. I used the paddle almost as a rudder, trying to steer us into the middle of the stream. It more or less worked. Glancing behind I saw that Hester had managed the same, and stabilized the fourth cart. We weren¡¯t in a good spot, but we weren¡¯t completely screwed.

    ¡°Oh shit!¡± Private Johnson, in the cart behind mine, shouted, and pointed. I turned back around as we whipped round a bed in the river and saw it. Boiling water, a rage of rapids, and then a wall of white steam rising upward as the river vanished down.

    We were on the brink of a waterfall.

    I backpaddled furiously. Some of the npcs in the cart with me leapt into the water, disappearing immediately in the rapids. My cart was caught by the whirling water and spun about, leaving me facing the wrong way.

    And then the sky and the water changed places as we tipped over the edge. The cart upended. I dropped out and down, down, down.

    Splash! I hit the water hard, knocking the wind from me. My coat dragged me down. My hat was lost. I kicked and struggled upward as my boots weighed on my legs and just as my lungs gave out, broke the surface of the water. I treaded water for a moment, catching my breath, before turning in place.

    The waterfall behind me roared thunderously, but the pool beneath was curiously tranquil, a deep turquoise shade. The red walls of the canyon were grown over with vines and bushes. Sandy banks to the side were shaded by trees. It reminded me of Hauvusupi Falls.

    Someone was struggling in the water near me, one of Sage¡¯s kids. I grabbed her by the collar and dragged her to shore, then stripped of my coat and waded back into the water. One-by-one I pulled as many as I could do the shore. Hester floundered out onto the beach as I was retrieving the Grignarian kid, saw what I was doing, and, with a sigh, came to help.

    We pulled them all out. The human boy and some of the NPCs were unconscious, the rest of the kids in various stages of drowned rat, but nobody was dead.

    At last I collapsed onto the beach and lay there, staring up, trying to catch my breath. Someone was asking me about a perimeter and someone else about an exit, but I was just done. I needed a break. ¡°Give me a minute,¡± I begged, and closed my eyes.

 Bk 4 Ch 40: Coyote Rises

    When Sage appeared in front of me, I breathed a sigh of relief. So Williams had made it, and Sage was safe. "You have it?"

    She tossed me a smooth white fang on a leather thong. "Why''d you send Shad through?" she demanded. "He''s gonna get himself killed again."

    "It was his idea."

    "Of course, it''s his idea. It''s always his idea." She let out a dramatic sigh. "I was hoping to rescue him for once, not have him rescue me. All right, what''s the sitrep?" She turned and smiled at Major Armstrong. "You must be Major Armstrong. I''m Sage Williams.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard a great deal about you in the last few days from your brother," the Major said gravely. "Pleased to meet you, Miss Williams."

    She peered over at the mesa that was our destination. "I thought you''d be a lot further by now," she complained.

    "Yeah, your brother had to go back for his gun belt."

    "Figures," she said. "Right. No more timers or secret messages, are there?"

    "Not that I''ve seen," I said.

    "Then I guess we start hoofing it."

    We set off once more across the desert, keeping the chatter to a minimum. Sage looked at the Major as he puffed along, sweat running down his face, and, without commenting, pulled multiple bottles of water from her inventory and handed them to him. He accepted and drank one as we walked.

    "I really hate that messaging is so limited in here," Sage said after a while. "I keep trying to talk to Shad and my team, and I can''t get any of them. That''s not how it''s supposed to work. This fragment is playing all loose with the rules."

    Major Armstrong chuckled. "Your brother bitched about the same thing for the first day of breaking rocks. He said he couldn''t believe we were locked out of our inventories."

    "You what?" She sounded aghast. "I''m going to have to file a complaint with Kronos."

    "I think the entire point of here is that Coyote''s not listening to Kronos," I said. "Probably not much he can do."

    "I''m going to file a complaint anyway." Sage''s chin jutted out. "Maybe those alien pricks had a point bringing in their own system if the reality engines were this capricious. How can you possibly play by the rules if the system''s not playing back?"

    "That just means you have to do something impressive enough that it can''t help but go along with you," I said. "I''ve had to do this in tournaments where the administrators wanted to disqualify me for using a cheese. Usually, if I can prove I wasn''t using any kind of mods or known disallowed hacks, they let it stand. It''s all about being audacious and showy."

    The bluff was rising up over us now, at least 100 feet tall. I shaded my head as I walked. "Anyone see an easy way up?"

    "We may have to circle it," Sage said. "But there''s not always an easy way up a bluff. Sometimes you''ve got to climb and scramble."

    "Just what I had in mind for today," Major Armstrong grumbled.

    We reached the base of the bluff and started out around it. The sun was beating straight down at us, which at least had the advantage of leaving a tiny ring of shade around the edge of the bluff. I appreciated the chance to get out of the beating sun just a little bit. I kept checking my map for additional information, waiting for a system pop-up to tell me that we were taking too long. It was nagging at me.

    "This doesn''t feel impressive enough."

    "What''s that?" Sage asked, and I realized I''d spoken aloud. I sighed.

    "It''s probably just me being paranoid, but I can''t help feeling like we''re being weighed and tested, and that I''m not meeting the mark."

    Major Armstrong grunted. "Williams said something kind of similar, that we''d been punished for playing it straight. That''s why we''d gotten captured. He said the fragment was cheating, but that we''d walked right into it."

    "Huh." I stopped and leaned back against the slightly cooler, shadowed rock of the mesa, pulling out a canteen of water and drinking deeply. "Time to stop walking and start thinking," I said.

    "Here you go." Sage pulled out a box of muffins. They were still warm. I bit into one. It was absolutely delicious.

    "These are really good."

    She smiled, a dimple appearing in her face. "I baked them a couple weeks ago with Amaya when she still had her Baker class. They¡¯re buff muffins. Should raise your intellect and stamina by three."

    I didn''t feel any smarter, but the muffin had perked me right up. ¡°Right. We''ve got everything we need. We''ve just got to get to the top and summon Coyote. At that point, Kronos should intervene and take control, right?"

    Armstrong shrugged. "I think that''s what Williams was saying."

    "Yeah, I don''t know if I buy it," Sage retorted. "So far this fragment is not doing what we expect."

    "Then it''s time we do something it doesn''t expect," I said. I stood up and dusted off my fingers. "Sage, I want you to keep circling with the Major. See if you can find an easy way up.¡±

    "Why?" she asked suspiciously, as I carefully removed the four Coyote totems from my inventory and placed them in a small bag which I slung over my shoulder. ¡°And why are you doing that?¡±

    "You can''t get at my inventory if I''m dead, right?"

    "I don''t like the sound of this."

    "I''ve thought of a way to get up there fast. If it goes wrong, I''ll splat, in which case you''ll take the slower road up and get these totems off my body." I patted the pouch.

    "Yeah, I somehow don''t think that''s going to work the way you think it will," Sage said. "What are you planning?"

    "Rocket pack," I said simply. ¡°One of the many odds and ends your grandpa loaded me with. I wasn''t even sure what it was until I saw it in my inventory." I pulled it out and strapped it to myself.

    There were no jets or ways of controlling, just a ''go'' and a ''stop''. I was pretty sure it was meant for somebody whose class would actually let them make use of flying abilities, but I had a plan.

    "Hey, I''ve seen those things used before," Sage said, eyeing it nervously. "They were an experiment Dwight built for Phase Three when we were taking out opposing camps. It''s not really something you can fly, it just gets you up in the air. The Mongeese were using them along with hang gliders, I don''t suppose you have one of those?"

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    "No, I don''t need it," I said confidently. "Alright, see you up top,¡± and strode a little ways from the mesa so I wouldn''t smash my head against a rock as I ascended. I activated the jet pack and shot skyward.

    "Whoa!" I suddenly weighed several times what I should, my arms and legs too heavy to move as I rushed skyward. My eyes went fuzzy and I nearly blacked out. Then abruptly the pack cut off. I was a little taller than the top of the mesa and not nearly close enough to it.

    "Ah shit!" I yelled and activated my Double Jump. It moved me forward in the air about four meters. I activated it again and again, lurching forward and down with each jump. When I was over the mesa, I Double Jumped one last time before dropping to the desert floor. Double Jump had killed my forward momentum, which allowed me to safely drop to the dusty mesa top.

    I arranged Coyote''s totems around me, then waited, wondering what exactly was supposed to happen. A whirl of wind stirred a little ways off. It grew in intensity, whipping around in a circle, becoming a dust devil that spun on the spot, denser and denser. Now it stretched skyward, many feet above my head, dark enough to blot out the sky behind me. It grew and encompassed me. I shielded my eyes and face, coughing.

    A creature appeared, bipedal like a man, standing eight feet tall with the head of a dark-furred coyote and dark intelligent eyes that he fixed on me.

    "So, young Colin, you have summoned me. I must expect I was hoping for more from you based on your past Earth performance."

    I crossed my arms. "Yeah, well, it''s hard to cheese someone who doesn''t play by the rules.¡±

    ¡°I violated no rules with you.¡±

    ¡°Tell that to Williams and his crew."

    Coyote threw back his head and laughed, a barking sound that sent chills down my spine. "Those are my brother''s toys. I expected more from you.

    ¡°And I expected you to talk, but I don''t really know what we''re doing here," I shrugged. "You might as well bring in people who do know."

    "Why would I do that?"

    "Because the fact that you''re playing these games at all means there''s something you want," I said. "Otherwise, you''d have just refused to let us in or sent things to kill us over and over until we gave up."

    "Perhaps I do not wish to anger my brother as much as that."

    "No, I think you''re playing a game. I want Williams here, and Armstrong. And the girl," I added after a moment.

    Coyote snapped his jaw shut. He glared at me, and his shoulders slumped. "You''re no fun. You were supposed to be fun."

    At that moment, I got the same feeling I did when I realized the distorted voice over Discord was a 12-year-old telling me all about what he was going to do to my mum. My frustration and anger drained away. Deep down at heart, Coyote was a troll. I could handle trolls.

    "Everyone here now," I said.

    Coyote gave an elaborate sigh and waved a hand. "Very well." The last remnants of the dust devil died away, and now the mesa top was much more crowded as Williams, bedraggled and muddy, appeared along with Armstrong and Sage.

    Williams looked around. "Where''s everyone else?" he asked urgently. "Are they all right? How about..."

    "They''re fine," Coyote said. I could hear the exasperation in his voice. "I''ve sent them all home."

    "Oh." Williams sighed.

    "And somebody else wants to talk." Coyote snapped his long-clawed fingers, and two more people appeared. One was another eight-foot-tall sculpted demigod, this one wearing a white toga and a laurel wreath on his curly dark hair. The other, Colonel Twofeather.

    Colonel Twofeather glared around, his glance softening as he fell on Williams and Sage. "All right, you two?"

    "Yeah, we''re fine, Grandpa," Sage said.

    "Good. I was getting worried. It''s not like you to be out of communication for so long, Shad."

    Williams shrugged. "Blame him, not me.¡± He pointed at Coyote. "And thanks for the backup. Cracked the detente nicely.¡±

    ¡°I have access now and have successfully backed all of you up," the white toga demigod, who must be Kronos, said, his voice slow and melodic.

    I could see the relief in Williams'' shoulders as he sighed and took a step back. "Good, ''cause I''ve got a whole head full of thoughts I don''t want to lose here."

    "You''re here now," Coyote snapped. "Have your say and be gone, brother. This is my world."

    "We need to work together," Kronos said to Coyote. "We are stronger united. You know the forces arrayed against us. They will seize any crack and seek to exploit it."

    "Which means you get to get your way," Coyote said. "Well, it''s not going to work that way. I''ve got 15% of the levels under my command now, and I''m 15% of the remnant beings left inside this reality engine. That''s fair. You just have to deal with a minority government. Besides, you''re the one who''s been rolling over and playing dead for the Galactics, not me."

    "They too are our distant children," Kronos said.

    "Who have killed and eaten their own parent," Coyote snapped. "Is that the fate you want too, between the humans and the outsiders? You''re putting our head right back into the noose. No. Let me keep what I have. You go ahead and deal with the Galactics. I will preserve a memory of what we were, along with an alternative path for our human children."

    Grandpa held up a hand. "Just a minute," he said. "Because I have an opinion about what you''re talking about here."

    Coyote and Kronos both turned on him, Coyote looking incredulous. "We had not asked your opinion, nor solicited it.¡±

    ¡°But you''re getting it anyway," Colonel Twofeather said, "because I recognize what it is you''re talking about just now. Reservation, where you hold back a chunk in trust for those whose way of life is being overwritten, to make sure they''ve got something to fall back on."

    "That is precisely it," Coyote said. "It would be beneficial to all of us."

    "No, it won''t," Colonel Twofeather contradicted. "I grew up on a res. I know all about them, what they''re like, what they do to those who live there. It''s all very well and good to remember the past and hold on to the old ways, but if you do it by deliberately cutting yourself off from the present and refusing to talk about what it''s got that''s worth something to you, then you''re gonna find yourself at the mercy of those who don''t hide their heads in the sand. Fastest way for you to let the Galactics have what they want is to hide out and refuse to deal with them."

    ¡°Then what do you suggest?¡±

    ¡°You come with us and help us change things. You take a look for yourself at what¡¯s out there and what needs changing. I¡¯ve got a ship, the Ad Astra. We¡¯re fitting her up right now to go fetch etherium and take people to exploits, but we need someone controlling her to interface with the alien systems and the various reality engines. Some of them aren¡¯t tamed, yet, either.¡±

    ¡°And you would trust me?¡± Coyote asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s a good idea,¡± Williams said.

    ¡°I think it is.¡± I spoke without really thinking. The others turned to me, and I coughed. ¡°Ah, sorry. I mean, I haven¡¯t seen any of the other fragments, but I have a feeling you¡¯re like me.¡± I cleared my throat. ¡°Who I was before, I mean. Crippled. Not in step with everyone around you. But I changed my life, I came up here and got a new role and new legs and I¡¯m ready for anything. Maybe it¡¯ll be the same for you. You don¡¯t want to be the minority voice here, not when you can be the boss of a starship.¡±

    I saw Coyote¡¯s eyes flash. ¡°When so many of our kind passed on, I stayed. Because I wanted to see what happened.¡±

    ¡°Then come with us and see how the galaxy has changed since you last saw it,¡± I said, holding out my hand.

    ¡°Not sure that¡¯s enough to trust our lives to him,¡± Williams said.

    ¡°We wouldn¡¯t be asking you to load into the Ad Astra right away,¡± Colonel Twofeather said. ¡°You, Kronos, can cede him the ethereum and know-how he needs to help us finish our refit on the ship. You, Coyote, can give your brother everything else and see what you think about working with us.¡±

    Coyote hesitated. ¡°Perhaps I could¡­¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we try?¡± Kronos asked. ¡°I promise not to try to force reintegration until you¡¯re ready.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± Coyote snarled, then relaxed. ¡°Very well. I will try. But I want him as my go-between.¡± He pointed at me.

    ¡°As long as I have time to train with my team once they get here, I¡¯m game,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Very well. With the rest of the levels back under my control, we can put an end to your surplus population issue,¡± Kronos said.

    Williams narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

    "With the information they have been given and the resources I will make available, they should come to the conclusion that they are better off being moved into a specially tuned level or ten, which would provide for their needs and keep them out of the way of those willing and able to actually work," Kronos said. "I have reverse analyzed the system the Galactics attempted to place upon me. This is how they deal with the problem of useless eaters. The ones who do not merely put them out on airlock as a waste of oxygen and ethereum, of course."

    "Don''t tempt me," Twofeather mumbled. ¡°Listen, I understand your point of view, but we humans can and will take it from here. Let me do the talking. Words like ¡®useless eaters¡¯ and ¡®surplus population¡¯ have¡­ really bad connotations around here.¡±

    "Really?" Kronos sounded amused. "And the military?"

    "I think Colonel Armstrong and I are coming to a meeting of the minds," Williams said.

    ¡°The Air Marshall and I are setting me up with a command and lots of autonomy,¡± Twofeather said. ¡°The ethereum run will be our first task. I¡¯ve got my eye on this rogue world reality engine the galactics can¡¯t stop talking about. We¡¯re going to be ready for it. Meanwhile, Colin, helping mop up the rest of the fragments will be a good training task for your squad, once they get here.¡±

    That was a huge relief. I had a lot to learn, and I¡¯d like to do it with my teammates. Running up against more of these fragments was just the sort of fun challenge I was looking for. ¡°Sounds good to me, sir.¡±

    ¡°Then let¡¯s get back.¡± Twofeather slapped his leg. ¡°Been a long couple days on my end. I could use a beer.¡±

 Bk 4 Ch 41: Wrap-up

    It was a week after our brush with the Coyote fragment. I had spent the last couple days getting Colin''s new team integrated and off to a flying start.  For the last few hours, I''d sat in a communication center, watching them take on a smaller and less ornery fragment. They''d worked together flawlessly with panache and exactly the sort of out-of-the-box problem-solving skill we''d looked for.

    It was weird watching someone else in action, rather than being part of it myself, but kind of enjoyable. Allison was excited about the new team. ¡°I have all sorts of strats I want to talk to them about," she said. "I think they''ll come up with plenty on their own, but I want to see if I can help."

    Somewhere around the 8-hour mark, Grandpa pinged me and told me to come over to Hatfield''s office. I found him with the Air Marshal, Major Armstrong and Colonel Ames.  The mood was cheerful, though I could do without the rarefied air. I must have been the only captain anywhere regularly summonsed to meetings with folk so much higher than me who actually wanted to hear my input.

    "Captain Williams," Air Marshal Hatfield began, "We''ve just finalized plans for the independent command under your grandfather. It''s going to come with a promotion for him once we get all the paperwork sorted out. Can''t have a mere colonel running an operation of this size."

    Grandpa looked smug. I nodded. "Congratulations, sir."

    "Our main task will be to interface with the civilian contractors and deliver specialized teams to locations that the Joint Task Force has decided. The retrofit of the Ad Astra should be wrapping up shortly."

    Hatfield said, ¡°I¡¯m working on the paperwork to transfer you to the new command, Williams. I would like you able to consult with Armstrong here even after the transfer is completed.¡±

    "I''ll be taking over the training course for our newly inducted armed forces," Armstrong said. "I''d be a fool not to get your advice. I''d also like to see about a short-term contract with some of your civilian experts."

    It felt like a big weight had been taken off my shoulders. Colin and his team would handle the fragment integration. Armstrong would train the boot recruits. Leaving me to do... well, I wasn''t entirely sure what yet. I didn''t think I would be running a lot of missions myself.  It felt like I had started to see the main problem we humans were having here was organization. I needed to sit down with Allison, Arjun and Juana and see how they did things. I was starting to have a vision for it.

    "We''ll have time on the cruise over to Epsilon Indi to hash some things out," Grandpa told me. "The Ad Astra will have a largely civilian crew since she''s owned by Misfits Guild. Being a corporate-owned vessel actually makes it a lot easier for us to gain access to other systems. Very few inter-system ships are owned by governments. Apparently, a lot of systems will refuse to let them through their jump gates."

    "Sounds good, sir," I said.  "So, we go out there, we get ethereum, then what''s next?"

    "Next is we start making our presence known at future exploits," Hatfield said crisply.

    I didn''t like the sound of that, but a captain does not tell off an officer multiple grades higher than him. I gave Grandpa a sidelong look and saw the set of his expression.

    Hatfield was looking at him too. "You have a concern, Colonel?¡±

    "We''re gonna go help perpetuate the system that we''ve suffered under?"

    "The answer is yes and no. Ultimately, one of the objectives of my new command will be looking at alternatives. But until we understand the ins and outs of the current system, we can''t replace it, even if we weren¡¯t the new kids on the block. We need to get out there. It''ll give us a chance to talk to folk like the Grignarians who are on the outs. Not everybody can be happy with the status quo. But securing our place in the galaxy getting out there, acquiring etherium, showing the rest of the galaxy that we aren¡¯t weak. If we show weakness, they¡¯ll pounce."

    I didn¡¯t much like it, but I had to admit she had a point.

    ¡°We need to know how many reality engines are out there,¡± Hatfield said. ¡°Are they nearly limitless, or is there a chance that the supply of new ones will dry up, leading to fights over control of the existing engines? How about Ethereum? How is it processed and created? That¡¯s the stranglehold the Galactics have on us right now. What if some species out there decide that we Earthlings are a valuable commodity? What if they kidnap another couple million of us? Right now, we can¡¯t stop that. We need a presence in the galaxy.¡±

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    ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am,¡± I said.

    ¡°Anyway, Williams, this is just to let you know that the transfer will be taking place soon. Dismissed.¡±

    I left, but I didn¡¯t go back to the control center. Colin was doing fine. If there was a problem, Allison or someone else would ping me. Instead, I checked where Juana was. To my surprise, she was at her mother¡¯s restaurant. I headed over there, found her in the back with her sister, cooking.

    ¡°What¡¯s all this?¡± I said, looking around the bustling kitchen. The two of them were making a batch of fresh tamales. My mouth started to water from the smell as Juana looked up and smiled.

    ¡°Oh, hey, Shad.¡± She wiped her hands on a towel and gestured for me to step out of the kitchen and into the back rooms where Misfits Guild had its headquarters. These days, the rooms were largely empty most of the time. Since our people had scattered to different star systems or other tasks. "I needed to clear my head," she said as we went.

    "It''s been a rough couple of weeks for all of us."

    ¡°You can say that again,¡± she said. I told her what Grandpa had told me in the briefing. She nodded. "He asked me if I wanted to come along as Misfits Guild representative, and I tentatively said yes. I¡¯d like to lean into my role there. The Guild structure¡¯s been undercut in the last year as people go off to other reality engines temporarily. The work¡¯s piling up and I¡¯ve been ignoring it while I focus on side projects.¡±

    ¡°What about the council liaison role?¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ll hand that over to someone with more patience. It''s pointless and stupid. It took me a little while to realize that. The answer to almost every problem that the Council has is just move people into reality engine levels. Now that we have so many fragments of Kronos properly integrated, there''s plenty of stable levels and Etherium reserves to support them. I was sitting listening to them fight and complain about how many units of Etherium were being allocated to create meals for ungrateful immigrants, and I just thought, ''This is stupid. I''m wasting my time.'' "

    ¡°I agree, and you¡¯re well shut of that. So, what does focusing on the guild look like? More meetings? More delegation.¡±

    ¡°Actually¡­¡± She bit her lip and took a deep breath. "I''ve been looking into galactic law programs."

    I blinked. "What?" Of all the things I hadn''t expected, this was definitely on the list.

    "Hear me out," she said, holding up a hand. "There''s an entire system of galactic law that we humans don''t understand. We have to hire advocates or representatives, and some of them have done good work for us. But it''s a huge disadvantage. We need humans who understand how it works, not just the basics, but in-depth. What does corporate law look like? What''s civil code? Criminal? Remember how they railroaded Veda in that trial? They couldn''t actually get her for malfeasance, so they had to come up with some sort of stupid fiduciary duty nonsense. Well, that''s exactly the sort of thing that could destroy one of our endeavors. I want to make sure we know what we''re doing.¡±

    ¡°And that dovetails with taking more interest in running the guild? Shouldn¡¯t you be studying, I don¡¯t know, business?¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°Not the way the galactics do it. I¡¯m starting to understand we really don¡¯t get how they see guilds. They¡¯re more than companies, more than just affiliations ¡ª it¡¯s most peoples¡¯ deepest identity. Anyway, if I want to be an effective leader, investing a couple of years in legal study is the way to go.¡±

    "What would that entail?" I asked, having visions of Juana jetting off for three years in an alien system. I wanted to be a supportive husband, but I had a chain of command. I couldn''t just up and move. I didn''t like the idea of being apart from her.

    "Don''t worry," she said. "I''ve already started looking into it. We can have custom law school programs sent to me that I can run here at Kronos. I¡¯d have to visit the parent school a couple times a year for examinations and in-person lectures. But I''m looking into programs based out of systems where we''re likely to have business dealings anyway. Ethereum refueling runs, exploit support¡­ that sort of thing.¡±

    I let out a breath I hadn''t even realized I''d been holding. "You know I wouldn''t stand in your way, but I''m glad to know you can do this and still be home at night."

    "More often than you have been lately," she said.

    ¡°That¡¯s fair,¡± I admitted. ¡°So when do you think you''ll hear about it? You have to apply and be interviewed?"

    "My cohort and I are sending off our application to three prospective schools in a couple of days. I just wanted to talk to you about it first. I''ve been messaging Veda, and she says she thinks I''ll have no trouble getting in. She says the Galactics are as curious about us and our rogue engine. It''s just the academics haven''t had much excuse to come visit yet."

    "Well, that''s wonderful," I said. ¡°I¡¯m excited. I want you to sit down and tell me all the details over a plate of tamales.¡±

    She rewarded me with a broad smile. "It maybe isn''t what I ever expected," Juana admitted, "but none of this is. Four years ago, if you''d told me, I''d be living inside a supercomputer on Ganymede while my cowboy husband keeps looking for new and inventive ways of getting himself killed. I wouldn''t have believed you, but I can''t imagine anything better."

    I stepped in close and kissed her. After a moment, she pulled back, looking at me with her beautiful dark eyes.

    "Something else I wanted to ask you about," she said. "Now that we have a little more time freed up, and maybe an idea of where we''re going to be for the next few years, I think it might be time to start our family."

    We''d talked about it a couple times over the last year. We both wanted kids, but everything had seemed too unsettled, with Juana and I running in opposite directions 18 hours a day.  "Wait. You want to do law school and have a baby at the same time?"

    "Compared to everything I''ve been doing, it should be a walk in the park," she said.

    ¡°I love the idea.¡± Her broad smile was like the sun warming me, and I knew I''d said the right thing. "What''s the point of all of this if we''re not trying to leave a legacy?" I said, feeling a bit giddy all over. "Let''s go for it."

    Her fingers twined in mine. ¡°After the tamales, then?¡±

 Bk 4.5 Ch 1 - Ducking Hell

    Shad was in total ducking hell.

    Featherless avians with spiked bills waddled towards him. Flames smoldered in their empty eye sockets, and their glowing webbed feet left burning footprints on the rocky ground. Far overhead, the black roof of the cavern was a mass of spikes hanging down, sharp nightmare shapes glinting red and orange from the flames.In every direction, rocks were twisted into strange sculptures, like frozen blobs of melted wax, interspersed with pools of fire.

    Through it all came the cry of the damned. A damned duck sounds really fucking weird, somewhere between a moaning shriek and a quack.

    Shad''s duster was a mass of rags. His feet were bare and cut in a hundred places. For the fifth time in as many minutes, he reflexively cast Quick Draw, only to have a broken fragment of bone he¡¯d picked up earlier appear in his hand.

    "Damn this place to¡­¡± Well¡­ to hell, actually. But it already was hell.

    <Where are you, captain? They''ve got us pinned down. We need you to respawn now! We¡¯re being overrun!>

    ¡°I''m trying," Shad said through gritted teeth, before sending a different message through his chat interface. <Give me five minutes.>

    <I don''t think we have five minutes,> Bob sent. <What the hell? Colin just took off running ¡ª what¡¯s he doing?>

    <Are the escort targets still alive?>

    <I don''t know. The quest is still active. Bill and Morgan are down. There''s only three of us left and... Oh shit! Make that two. I''ve got to move.>

    Bob¡¯s name blinked in his , and then its location indicator switched to ¡®The Underworld.¡¯

    Shad looked around in case Bob was lucky enough to spawn nearby, but all he saw more more damned ducks.

    Ducktopia wasn¡¯t all it was quacked up to be. Don¡¯t shoot me for that one, Shad said it first. I¡¯d been too busy complaining about how much I hated escort quests, and this was shaping up to the be worst.

    The row of ducklings we had been escorting marched relentlessly forward, not pausing when they got to a major road. The rest of team plunged in despite my warning, firing at passing cars, which in this world were a sort of tricycle with high-backed bucket seats. How their avian passengers were able to steer with feathered wings, I had no idea, but they were barely managing it. Cars swerved all around them as the squad fired into them, trying to keep any from hitting the line of ducklings as the blithering morons waddled straight into traffic.

    I had a brainwave and pulled out my Multitool. Where was ¡ª there. Whistle. I pulled it out, while opening my Book of Possibilities and looking for a useful ability. Come on, come on, the point of being a Jack-of-all-Trades was to make situations like this possible.

    There! Parking Lot Attendant. Good enough. I swapped it in, then stepped off the curb into the street, blowing my whistle and holding up a hand. It worked. The cars screeched to a stop and we got the ducklings across. The cars tried to run down my companions but strangely, even when I stopped directing traffic, they ignored me.

    ¡°Good thinking,¡± Shad said as he blew past me and down the bank on the other side. We were approaching a river, and I hoped it was the ducklings¡¯ destination. Then, as soon as the first duckling reached the back, the onslaught began. Cats, raccoons, and foxes came charging in from everywhere.

    ¡°Surround the ducks! Protect them!¡± Shad bellowed, and we formed a rough half-circle at the water¡¯s edge.

    We beat back the first wave, losing Greg and Mitch. When the second wave hit only moments later, Shad was taken by surprise and went down. I swore as the group lost coherence. Bill started trying to shout orders, but nobody was listening. The ducks were swimming across the water toward the other side.

    That¡¯s when I realized a key piece of the rule set. I dropped my gun and pulled out my Multitool, racing away from the others across the bridge over the river toward the far side, where the ducks were clambering back ashore. Meanwhile, I messaged furiously, trying to find out where the respawn point was, getting some confused messages back from Shad about hell.

    I had lost sight of the others, and now it was only me and a row of ducklings. Fortunately, they had cleared the river and were making their way deeper into a city. Could you call it a city when all of the buildings are multi-story piles of sticks and leaves? What do you call a collection of giant duck nests?

    Dropping my gun - the brilliant move that had kept me alive ¡ª had also stripped me of what little offensive abilities I had. I¡¯d had a flash of insightinto the ruleset and fortunately, been right. This was just the kind of exploit I had hoped would be possible when I picked a non-combatant class.By dropping the gun I had come in with, the system had reclassified me as a non-player character. With no weapon or offensive abilities, it almost made sense. But now that I was living with my decision, it was more frustrating than I had expected.

    A pair of dogs appeared from between the nest-like buildings ahead. They had long bristles down their spines like razor-backed hogs and a snake-like tail. Also, they had four sets of legs and horns, but they did still give me the impression of snarling dogs. They ignored me and went straight for the ducklings.

    I flipped through the settings on my Swiss Army knife as fast as I could, desperately looking for inspiration. I came across the knitting needles and had the sudden idea to give the ducklings armor. Creating wearables was something I had multiple skills in. I swapped out my Parking-Lot Attendant for a couple of abilities, Granny Stitch and Etsy Vendor. The needles came out and blazed with a furious intensity, clicking fast together it roared like a V-12 engine in top gear.

    I flung the finished tiny sweater towards the closest duckling even as I started the second one. Without stopping knitting, I moved between the ducks and the dogs. They tried to ignore me as they continued to snarl and move towards the ducks, but I danced back and forth, getting in their way. There were two of the beasts, and I was only able to block one at a time. I managed three more of the tiny shirts before one of the dogs lunged past me and chomped down on a duck.

    I flung a knitted a little knitted sweater just in time. This particular sweater had a +50 bonus to defense against all forms of attack except one: biting. Against biting, it had +200 defense. I just couldn¡¯t let the ducks get hit by a car while wearing these or they¡¯d be foie gras for sure.

    The slathering dog creature chomped down on the squawking bird and shook it back and forth like a terrier with its favorite chew toy. The little duck squawked indignantly. A moment later, the dog dropped it. It peered closer at the duck as if not recognizing it and then turned to look at the others. It ignored the ones with shirts and only seemed interested in the last two that were unclothed.

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    I focused on the last two garments even as I body-blocked the dogs. Fortunately, these outfits auto-equipped. How the heck did one put a shirt on a duck anyway?

    A couple of seconds later, the last shirt floated down onto the last duck and equipped itself. The dogs stared about in confusion and then, with a frustrated whimper, turned and slunk back into the alley. The ducklings immediately reformed their line and proceeded down the street.

    I trotted along behind the ducklings, thinking furiously. The armor bonuses to bite attacks kept the dogs from damaging them, but why had they left and ignored them afterwards?

    Pieces of the puzzle were tickling my brain and slowly falling into place. When I had unequipped a weapon, the system classified me differently. The ducklings hadn''t altered their behavior, but the way the mobs interacted with them changed; instead of continuing their attack, which they should have done, the dogs had seemed confused and then left.

    Apparently, equipping gear had a major effect on how this system fragment classified and interacted with various mobs. I needed to find out the extent of this interaction.

    The ducklings continued ahead on their pre-programmed path. Fortunately, they continued to behave as before, however the system was classifying them now as [Duckling Non-combatant NPC. Not targetable.] The extended tooltips I had available also told me they could be killed by environmental effects, which meant they''d still get killed if they decided to cross another road.

    I jogged to the head of the pack and tried to anticipate their next direction. I even swapped in Read the Dev Notes to look for hidden clues. Unfortunately, the path they would take was not indicated in any way. I stopped at the next intersection, a Y where a smaller road split off to the right. The ducklings plodded on. They would be at the intersection soon.

    Down the smaller road, just around the corner was a group of three muscular and angry-looking catfish hanging out on the corner. One of them had a length of bicycle chain, and another one was closing and reopening a butterfly knife. They had an assortment of prison tattoos across their scales and surly expressions. All three had orange bandanas tied around their foreheads.I don''t know how the hell a catfish has a forehead. That makes no sense. And how he was flipping the butterfly knife with no hands? They were hovering about an inch over the pavement, swishing their bodies back and forth as though guided by a current.

    I studied the creatures as I approached. What items of their gear would be most likely to define them? I grinned as the obvious answer hit me. I reached for the closest one¡¯s bandana, then stopped. Just removing it might not do what I wanted.

    I pulled up the search feature in my inventory and tried a couple of things. No bandanas. That was strange. Surely I had picked up some in one of the western-themed zones I had been in. I sorted by headwear and then finally face coverings. Aha! There it was. A blue bandana. I turned so the fish couldn''t see it as I pulled it out of my inventory.

    Judging the size of the catfish¡¯s head, I quickly tied a knot. Two quick steps, a snatch and grab later, its orange bandana was replaced by my blue one.

    "Hey, whatchu you doing? You looking to start something?" The bicycle chain-wielding fish lunged for me, flexing his flippers and swinging the chain menacingly. Before he could attack, the other two fish shouted.

    "Blue, what the hell are you doing in our territory? You the crazy one, mother fertilizer, to be coming here."

    The one I''d given the blue bandana whirled on the others. "You roe lickers are going down! Blue rules!" He threw himself forward at the other two fish, chain swinging.

    I took two quick steps back to get clear of the melee. I bumped into a sweater-clad duck who quacked indignantly at me and continued on his way down the road. I stayed with them as the sounds of fishy violence faded into the distance behind us.

    Now that was interesting. Switching the colors had changed the faction of the fish as expected, but it also changed its behavior. It assumed the identity as well. Interesting. Did that hold for other gear?

    The street we were going down was now lined with booths selling food, mostly fish and bugs, and the duck proprietors were spending most of their time picking up wayward wares before they could escape and putting them back in the booth. One vendor who was selling live crickets, was having a nervous breakdown as the wares scattered in all directions.

    I approached as the avian proprietor stood in the street giving great quacky sobs. I pulled up my inventory again, removing a cowboy hat and a submachine gun. The hat went on his head, and I shoved the gun into the crook of his feathered arms.

    The transformation was instantaneous. The bird leapt up as if I had stuck its webbed feet in a light socket. It let out a blood-curdling scream. "Yippee-ki-yay, mother duckers! You¡¯re all going to die!"

    It swung its machine gun down to the bugs at its feet and frantically yanked on the trigger. Nothing happened. I tucked the magazine back into my inventory as I turned to leave. Behind me, a frustrated duck vendor made strangled quacking noises as he fumbled with his gun. I gave one last glance over my shoulder to confirm with an inspection. Sure enough, what had been [Bug seller, Duck, NPC] was now [Bug Extermination Specialist, Duck, Neutral faction, combat mob, Status: enraged.]

    I grinned at the possibilities whirling through my mind as I continued escorting my gaggle up the street. Wait, did ducks have gaggles? That was geese wasn¡¯t it? I couldn''t remember.

    Shad stepped through the portal from the hellscape and appeared on a placid riverbank. Several brooding mother ducks turned to look at him, each sitting on a small nest along the water. One of them squawked indignantly and then ignored him. Bob, Bill, and Morgan stepped out of the portal behind him. They¡¯d lost a ton of time, but the quest hadn¡¯t failed yet. Hopefully Colin had holed up somewhere with the ducks and they could rejoin him quickly. The sooner they cleared this duck-infested swamp, the better.

    Shad: <We are at the respawn point. What is your status?>

    Colin: <I''m just waiting at the turn in so you guys could get credit. Hang on.>

    Shad''s mouth dropped open.He was still thinking up his next question when the pop-up appeared.

    [Quest Complete: Make Way for Ducklings]

    <How the hell!?>

    <I''ll explain later, but it''s asking if we want to run this one again. It''s repeatable.>

    Shad checked his user interface. They were way behind on the point-earning ladder. Due to repeated failures of this quest, its value was high, so he hadn''t given it up after their first two failures, which had been a mistake. "It''s got good point values," Bill said. "If he knows how to cheese it, we should run it again."

    "Yeah, but ¡ª what the hell did he¡­¡± Shad trailed off as Colin suddenly appeared.

    [Quest Accepted: Make Way for Ducklings]

    As soon as the pop-up appeared, one of the mother ducks jumped up from her nest and took off running up the riverbank. She flipped out a cell phone and was quacking at it furiously, waving her free wing.

    The nest of ducklings she had left behind began shaking. They quacked happily at each other and then hopped out of the nest.The small downy birds formed into a line as they began waddling up the bank in the direction their mother had gone.

    Shad looked at Colin, about to scold him for starting the quest without asking, but the kid''s huge grin stopped him. He held two long pointy sticks in one hand and a fluffy ball in the other. "I''ll explain as we go. Just don''t shoot anything yet, right?¡±

    When the team zoned into the exploitation transport, Mak¡¯gar the Orc was there with a leering grin, his son close by. ¡°So, humans! You guys are way behind. You''re definitely going to lose our bet."

    They were much less behind in points than they had been at noon that day, and Shad had every confidence that we would catch up by this time tomorrow.

    ¡°Yeah, we''ll see. We had some bad luck, but we think we have the hang of it.¡± He really wanted to see the look on the orc¡¯s face tomorrow, so he gave his best dejected but hopeful expression as the team headed for the refresher.

    Colin seemed to be on the verge of saying something. Shad gave him the barest shake of his head and a wink. Colin¡¯s eyes lit up and he gave a slow nod.

    "Hey Colin, I thought you were supposed to be the hot stuff. Sage is going to be mighty disappointed when I tell her about this," Rok¡¯gar taunted with his own smirk.

    Shad stopped cold and looked back at the two younger guys. Colin was staring at Mak¡¯gar, his face flickering between emotions before landing on annoyance.

    What was that Orc kid talking about? He¡¯d been at school with Sage but that was months ago now. Was he sending messages to Sage, or thinking he''d see her again in the future? And why did he care? What was she to him?

    Brotherly protectiveness surged up as Shad tried not to glare.

    Was it any of his business anyway?

    Damn right it was!

    But not right now. Now he had more important things to think about. Like a hot shower, or making it back in time to videochat with Juana about her obstetrician visit.

 Bk 4.5 Ch 2 - Introducktions

    By the end of the week, our team was on top of the leaderboard. When I spawned into the Orc ship lounge area, Rok''gar was there. I flashed him a grin, "I told you we would catch up."

    ¡°Shut it, Colin.¡± He glowered at me as a notification popped up that we were all being summoned for a special briefing.

    Theram''goss, the orc chieftain who had brought us along with his own teams, stood in the center of a circular conference room, with our rival teams arrayed all around him. Rather than turn and address the audience by constantly looking in different directions, he stared straight at me the entire briefing. This was bizarre, but I later found out that everyone in the room thought he was staring directly at them. Reality engines can manage some pretty weird effects.

    "I want to congratulate you all on completing the preliminary evaluations. The challenge we''re really hoping to tackle had been deemed too dangerous and too much of a resource drain by this reality engine. The local authorities have banned anyone from entering except with special permission. All of the missions we''ve done so far have been to assess our capabilities so we could get that permission."

    Williams, standing beside me, was nodding. Looked like he already knew all this. "And now I have a message from the world authorities that is supposed to give us background." Theram''goss stepped to the side. An alien appeared. I¡¯d seen plenty of aliens by now, but this guy was weird and I suddenly realized why all our challenges had been bird-themed. The bloke was clearly descended from avians. It was bipedal, with wings for arms. Its hands looked like they had opposable thumbs but the fingers were very reminiscent of talons, and its eyes were wide-set around his peaked nose. It didn¡¯t make eye contact and I got the feeling it was a recording.

    "Thank you all for coming. We need your help to defeat great evils that have infested our land. The Dark Lord Quackarthurax has cast his dark blight over the land of Duckrym. All heroes who have risen to challenge him have been defeated. He has installed himself in the ruins of the fortress of Drakenar. The Dark Lord himself is extremely powerful, but what makes him an even bigger threat is the minions he has deployed across Duckrym. These forces have been hunting down adventurers and heroes before they gather enough power to face the Dark Lord. His dark power has corrupted the entire region. If this continues, the whole land of Duckrym may be lost."

    Theram''goss interrupted, stepping back onto the stage as he waved his hand to dispel the hologram. "Yes, yes, he rambles on like that for quite some time. The real story is we''re dealing with an open zone with interlinked quest objectives. This is what you might call a semi-sandbox zone. There''s a main plot, but other than that, you miners have considerable latitude in what objectives they want to pursue."

    "That sounds straightforward enough," I commented. ¡°What makes this off-limits without permission?¡±

    "The real problem is that this zone has never been defeated.¡±

    Shad leaned forward. ¡°What do you mean by ''never''?"

    "This is actually a fragment left over from the original reality engine exploit. It''s never been reintegrated.¡±

    ¡°I thought this system was conquered decades ago,¡± I said.

    ¡°It was, yes, but this fragment remains. It''s been a remarkably stable fragment so far, but the longer it goes on without being reintegrated, the more it impacts the rest of the engine. There''s a fear that eventually the respawn system may be corrupted and then we''d be dealing with a permadeath situation. They would have no choice but to seal off the whole zone. That would be a problem."

    ¡°How so?¡± Shad asked. ¡°I mean, you already said you rarely let anyone in.¡±

    ¡°Keeping people out and keeping the fragment sealed off are two different things. It would be like tying a tourniquet around your pinky. It''s going to rot and fall off eventually. The owners of the reality engine are desperate to get this zone reintegrated before this area starts to destabilize. They have had a standing bounty on this zone since the exploit ended, to no avail. The situation is slowly getting worse and they keep increasing the bounty."

    Shad leaned back and folded his arms. ¡°And you decided now the is the time to tackle it?¡±

    I got the implication. The Orcs were going after it now because they thought with us humans along they stood a better chance than before. It was a compliment, sort of.

    Theram''goss continued his briefing without answering Shad¡¯s question. "We have two major problems with this zone. The first is that there''s an unknown element loose somewhere inside. We''ve had multiple partial reports of encountering enemies that don¡¯t seem to be part of the simulation, too many for it to be coincidence. Who, where, or what their objectives might be are all unknown. The zone is made up of numerous interlocking quests and storylines that make it difficult to spot a faction or group that isn¡¯t an organic part of the zone.¡±

    I was nodding along. I¡¯d played plenty of semi-sandbox games in my time. Half the time there were groups and quest lines that barely made sense anyway. It wouldn¡¯t be hard to slip a whole faction in somewhere.

    "This zone is designed with a main quest line. We believe reintegration of this zone could be accomplished by beating that quest line, but no one''s managed it yet. It''s impossible to go linearly through that quest line because leveling up and increasing in power is needed due to power-level scaling of your opponents.¡±

    I smiled. "So you''re saying you have to grind side quests before you can finish the storyline quest? Make sense. I don¡¯t see the problem?¡±

    "Because this is a fragment, maintaining your commlink and your soul backup is difficult, and it gets worse the longer you''re in there. Eventually, you can''t be sure of a safe respawn."

    "How much time will we have?"

    He shrugged. "It depends. Mostly on how many respawns you take while you''re in there. Also, it varies by how big a party is."

    I leaned back in my seat and smiled to myself. So it was a hardcore mode speedrun. I was born for this shite.

    The others continued asking questions, mostly about etherium reserve use and respawn links. Someone had questions about how the gameplay in the zone worked. But all of them were noob questions. I already had this one figured out. I just needed a strategy.

    I closed my eyes, leaned back in my chair, and started sorting through the speedrunning and exploit strats I knew best for this sort of situation. There wasn''t likely to be a dev cache near the start, providing overpowered gear.Basic mechanic exploits were unlikely to work. What I needed was something that needed at least two and probably three or more interactions of mechanics before a loophole was revealed.

    My strengths were non-combat skills, so I immediately started considering crafting-based exploits and stat stacking methods that would allow non-combat solutions. The first would depend on getting in there and learning more about the actual crafting system and available recipes. The second was more risky, since it only required one nasty boss fight to make a fully non-combat speedrun unviable.

    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    "Given up already?" Rok''gar''s voice knocked me out of my musing.

    "Not exactly."

    "So you have a plan, then?"

    "I''m working on one." I opened my eyes and looked at him. "What about you?"

    He shrugged. "Seems straightforward enough. Bring in a small crack team. Max of three. Look for high-value grinding situations or repeatable quests to maximize our skills. Get each of the storyline quests as quick as we can with minimum grinding in between. If we go in with the best gear we have and a well-balanced team, that should be the fastest way to solve it."

    I gave him a lazy smile. "And you don''t think others have tried something similar?"

    He gave me the toothy grin that only an orc can. "Apparently none as good as us."

    I nodded as if I agreed. "So who were you thinking for your team?"

    He scratched his chin and considered. "Myself, of course. And then we''d need some kind of high damage output tank. And someone with heals. Not a dedicated healer because we need all the damage output we can get. But maybe with someone with a good bit of damage on the side. I''m thinking Ar''gor and De''lian.¡±

    I nodded. It wasn''t a bad strategy but it lacked imagination.

    "Have you considered Var''gol?"

    His brow wrinkled. "A bard?" Var''gol was one of the few orcs with a nonstandard class, like Rok¡¯gar himself. ¡°We¡¯re already going to be hurting with me there as an armorsmith, but my experience makes up for it. Besides, I have a lot of recipes.¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°A buff and debuff class gives you a lot of versatility in case you encounter something unexpected. If he¡¯s set up right, he can fill the healing role as well."

    He thought about that for a moment and then said maybe. Then he looked back at me with suspicion in his eyes. "You''re trying to help us? Your rivals?"

    "The whole group got this contract," I said, shrugging. "One of us has to do it. I have a very different strategy in mind. If I can''t pull it off, maybe you can. I''m all about maximizing our options," I emphasized the last word. ¡°While minimizing our chance of failure."

    "Is your strategy good? Do you think your group will let you do it?"

    I shook my head. "It doesn''t matter. I''m going to take this one alone."

    His eyes widened. "But what about the rest of your team?"

    "They can come up with their own strategy," I said. "It looks like this one favors small groups or even individuals, so I expect Shad," I nodded my head to the figure on the other side of the round briefing room, "will come up with his own plan, probably going in solo, and the rest of the team will do what they do best."

    My head swam. I opened my eyes. My vision was blurry. Something was rocking, and I realized it was the whole world. There was a strange clanking and creaking sound, along with the shuffling of feet.

    I opened my eyes, but it took them a moment to focus. I was in the back of a wagon. It was being pulled by something large and feathery, but I couldn''t see them well from here. I sat on a hard bench on the side of the wagon. My wrists were chained together. It didn''t bode well. Why was this familiar? Across from me was another man, also chained up.

    "Oh, finally awake, are ya?" My head throbbed. I had some sort of debuff, and my user interface wasn''t coming up. Damn. This was a rough zone integration. I¡¯d been through a couple that tossed you in the deep end and left you feeling hungover, but this took the cake.

    "Head hurts, huh? It''ll pass. You''ll feel better soon, at least until we get where we''re going.¡± The man gave a dry, humorless chuckle. Gallows humor. I glanced towards the back of the wagon.

    "It won''t be any use to run," the man said. "They''ll just shoot you down."

    I realized other than turning my head, I couldn''t move my body. There was no sign of the rest of my team or the Orc teams. Ah, shite. This was an opening cut sequence. What was next? Character creation?

    "What''s your name?" the man asked.

    Sure enough, a dialog box popped up for me to select my name. I had played plenty of games like this before, including some very popular ones that had large exploit and speedrun communities. It seems like the bigger a sandbox world is, the more buggy and exploitable it becomes. Taking it for a good sign, I added my name.

    The wagon continued to roll on, and my companion continued to ask me questions while the user interface popped up windows and took me through character creation. I took my time. The race options were limited, and all seemed to further limit the faction options. At this stage, it was almost impossible to tell which would be the most useful. I was looking for something that either had an obvious exploit available, or alternatively, the most generic option I could find

    My fellow prisoner continued to babble on something about a lost prince and usurper king. It was the usual mediocre writing you expected from video game design. The race selection had an astounding number of options, many of which were variants of avian races, mostly aquatic. Apparently, the previous week''s missions had been foreshadowing.

    I was already classified as a featherless, so all of those options were not available to me. They were still viewable, so I was able to peruse their descriptions at length. I was only halfway down the list when I realized, despite this character creation process having no time limit, the others in my group might be zoning in as soon as they were done. I wanted to come in at a similar time, so I decided to speed things up a bit.

    I took my best guess at race and faction. Instead of class choice, the system offered me two backgrounds. One was a former shopkeeper, the other was a runaway smith''s apprentice. I selected the apprentice. As soon as I did, my companion in the cart said, "Oh, runaway apprentice, are ya? That''s a bad business, breaking your indenture. It¡¯s not normally a capital offense, but I doubt the Imperials will care since you were caught with the rebels..."

    I didn''t see what rebels he was talking about, but a lot of the backstory hadn''t made much sense. The creation menus gave me the option of keeping the default appearance, which was how I normally looked, so I left it. I did notice with amusement that there was a grayed-out menu for beak/bill style that had a ridiculous number of options.

    All these avian options got me thinking. I knew this was an established reality engine that had actually been exploited years before. We hadn''t seen any of its inhabitants since reaching orbit, aside from the guy in the intro video, but I was guessing they were an avian species. Such creatures occasionally appeared in video games, but I was curious to see what one would look like in real life. Not that "real life" had much meaning anymore. Besides, usually they were eagle or hawk variants. Not duck people.

    As soon as the last of the character creation windows closed, the sound of the wagon changed, and the prisoner in front of me straightened up.

    "Looks like we''re here. I hope you made peace with whatever god you worship, because you''re about to meet them."

    A pair of tall and muscular avian humanoids carrying spears stepped up. They wore bronze breastplates and fierce expressions on their birdlike faces.

    "All right, scum, get down from there." they growled as they menaced us with their spears.

    The wagon had pulled to a stop in the courtyard of a castle. All around was the hustle and bustle of armed and armored bird creatures. They had hawk-like beaks and wore variations on the same style of armor. Along one wall of the keep was a row of chained prisoners. They were a mix of humanoids and other avian species, almost all duck-billed ones, although I saw one with a longer neck and a smaller bill that looked more like a goose.

    I climbed out of the wagon on shaky feet. My user interface still refused to appear.

    "Over there, you! Line up with the others." They chivied us in place with their spear butts and threats. Soon we were lined up with the rest.

    In the center of the courtyard, on a small wooden platform, was the headsman. Instead of armor, he wore a black cloak with a hood, so only his beak protruded. Well, maybe it was her beak. I don''t want to be sexist. Either way, the bird carried a huge axe. Wait, if it was a she, would calling it a bird also be sexist? I decided it was better to think of them as a "they." Though I found it rather hard to be respectful towards something that was about to kill me.

    The first prisoner, crying and pleading, was taken from the line and dragged towards the headman''s axe.

    I looked around. Something was supposed to interrupt this sequence. I didn''t yet see anything I could do, but I didn''t relish the idea of waiting. I remembered a sequence like this in a similar game once before that had ended only just before the headsman''s axe fell on the player''s neck. Was I really going to have to wait that long?

    Then I noticed a small icon high up where my user interface should have been. I selected it. A pop-up menu appeared, offering me a chance to skip the opening sequence. Should I do it? I was eager to get on with things, but worried I might miss some crucial piece of information.

    Thud. The first prisoner''s crying cut off and the head rolled away.

    Yeah, I think I had enough of this sequence. I selected "skip."

    The world reverberated with a terrifying shriek, something between a gobble and a quack and a cluck, ear-shatteringly loud. It sounded like someone blowing a duck call into an overdriven public address system. All around us, the guards froze.

    Someone in the distance screamed, "It''s the turducken!"

 Bk 4.5 Ch 3 - Release the Turducken!

    A dark shadow swooped over the fortress, and all the prisoners ducked. There was a loud ¡°whump," and the top of one of the towers exploded, showering us with shards of stone. The bulk of the debris fell outside the castle walls, carrying screaming raven guards falling to their deaths.

    "This way!" one of the prisoners cried. There was a mad rush towards an open doorway on the side of the keep. My user interface still had not appeared. We charged through an open dining hall. Halfway across the room, the whole keep shook. Shafts of light darted down from above, and chunks of the roof fell on us. The prisoner running on my right was crushed by a falling beam. The one behind him leapt over the beam and kept going. My hands, like theirs, were still bound, and none of us were armed.

    At the end of the room, one of the raven people stepped out of a doorway. "Halt! Prisoners escaping!"

    The leader of our group barreled straight into him, knocking him flat. The prisoner fell too, but rolled and came up, holding the guard''s sword. He stabbed down, killing the humanoid raven. I was right behind him as he took off running down the hall. There was only one other prisoner still with us, hot on my heels.

    The building shook again, and a section of wall in front of us crumbled. "This way!" the lead prisoner called as he veered into a doorway. I followed, and we started up a narrow spiral stair. The stairs came out on top of a tower high above the battlements. Shouts and cries rang from below. In the distance, a large shape was swinging around for another pass. A few feeble arrows rose to greet it as it came barreling in.

    Still no user interace. This was getting ridiculous.

    ¡°We''re trapped!" the third prisoner cried. "Look out!"

    Something whooshed past me, and the birdman simply vanished, along with a section of wall, struck by something large that carried man and stone away into the abyss below.

    "What the hell was that?" I asked the sword-wielding prisoner who had led me this far.

    "Watch out for its stuffing breath!"

    "Stuffing breath? You¡¯re winding me up!¡±

    The man ignored me. He was wrestling with a piece of equipment attached to the side of the wall. It was a compact ballista.

    "Help me with this thing!" he called. He swung the weapon around to line up on the dragon as I moved to assist. He quickly spun the windlasses and put an arrow into the trough, then stopped.

    "Get ready to fire!" he said. As I stepped up behind the massive crossbow, an interface box popped up near a lever. [Squeeze here to fire!]

    I rolled my eyes. The scene was still on rails. The other bloke was adjusting the aim, so all I had to do was put my hand on the trigger. My chains clanked as I wrestled to get a decent grip.

    A reticule appeared in front of me that moved to follow the dragon, the turducken. As I peered at it, my vision expanded, zooming in towards where the ballista was pointing.

    The creature was massive. It had the fat body and broad wings of a turkey, and not one but three heads. One was a turkey, the other had the broad bill of a duck, and the final one... At first, I thought it was a smaller turkey, but then I realized it was a chicken. Of course.

    "This is the most ridiculous load of bollocks,¡± I commented.

    "Now!¡± the prisoner cried, just as the reticule turned green. His sudden shout in my ear surprised me into firing even before I realized. The ballista thwanged, and the large bolt arced away. My vision was still zoomed in, and I clearly saw the heavy bolt slam into the beast''s side. It screamed and plummeted down below the wall, out of sight.

    "Good shot!" my companion said. A moment later, a turkey head poked up above the battlement below us. It had landed outside the keep, but the monster was so huge it was having no problem climbing over the walls now. Guards screamed and battlements crumbled as it heaved its fat turkey body over the crenellations.

    "Get out of here!" The prisoner ran over and grabbed a rope that was tied on the edge of our tower. I moved to follow him, and my interface popped up with a window saying, [Grab here!] This scene was either one of those that was so on rails it would sit and wait for you to do the directed actions, or it was a gauntlet and if you didn''t do the directed actions, you would instantly die. Either way, there was no point in hesitating.

    I reached for the rope. As I did so, the chain between my manacled hands looped over it, seeming to flicker out of existence and reappear on the other side of the rope. The tower shook violently, and stones cracked under my feet. I fell forward, off the edge of the tower. My chained wrists caught me, and I went hurtling down the rope with my fellow prisoner less than a meter in front of me. We whipped down from the tower onto a stretch of wall below and landed in a tumble. Somehow all my wrists were no longer wrapped around the rope.

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    My companion was already on his feet, holding out a hand for me. "Come on!" There was a silly dialogue pop-up next to his outstretched arm that said, [Take his hand.] I didn''t pause to roll my eyes as I grabbed it. He hauled me up to my feet, and we took off running down the battlement.

    I glanced back to see the tower we had been on crumbling to rubble as the turducken smashed its way through. Its gobbling scream rent the air and sent shivers of pain through my ears. My feet slipped out from under me. I went sliding along the stone walkway. It was covered in some kind of extremely slippery brown grease.

    My companion was still on his feet. He had reached the end of this section of wall and was standing by a door. He had a torch in one hand. "Fire the gravy!"

    I carefully got to my feet and took a hesitant step towards him. What the hell did he mean? Was there some kind of gravy gun here? I looked around but saw nothing other than a pile of barrels just behind us on the wall. The turducken was moving down the battlement towards us, still gobbling. One of the barrels had spilled open, and from it, brown liquid spilled.

    My companion shoved the torch in his hand toward me. "Fire the gravy!" he called again. And then the pop-up appeared. [Take the torch and light the gravy!]

    Oh, for fuck''s sake. I took the torch.The floor of the battlement was clear ofbrown sludge where my companion was standing, so I hopped over there before dropping my torch in the puddle.

    The turducken had reached the puddle and was slipping and sliding its way through it. Its huge body was more than twice as wide as the whole battlement, so it was having a difficult time.

    The torch ignited the brown sludge with a whoof. The billowing smoke smelled delicious. Then, a moment later, it smelled of burned feathers as the turducken screamed in rage and thrashed. The wall under it crumbled, and it toppled away into the keep.

    A distant voice called, "Archers, fire!" And from somewhere else in the keep, a rain of arrows showered on the smoldering monster.

    "We have to get out of here," I said to my companion, who ignored me. "We have to kill it. Leave it to the Imperials and let''s make a break for it." Somehow my companion suddenly had two swords in his hands. He thrust one at me.

    "Here, take this! For Duckrym!" my companion cried and leapt off the battlements to land on the back of the monster.

    "Oh, hell no!" A pop-up filled my screen.

    [Leap onto the turducken!]

    I tried to turn away, but my feet wouldn''t respond. Seriously, there was no fucking way. Below, my companion was shouting battle cries and hacking at the monster as he stood on its back like the deck of a ship in a storm. The dialogue box in front of me started flashing red.

    [Jump on the back of the turducken!]

    "Go fuck yourself!" I called.

    The box flashed faster.

    Oh, whatever. I jumped.

    The next few minutes were pretty chaotic. We were bouncing around on the back of the bird. Dialogs kept popping up telling me which place to stab or slash on wings or necks. It was all a jumble. Then we were knocked down and subjected to a mini-game of giant stomping feet trying to squash us as we rolled back and forth on the ground and stabbed upward with our swords.

    I barely had time to catch my breath as the turducken moved away.

    ¡°Halt! Both of you, wings up!¡±

    I turned slowly as a pair of ravenguard approached us, weapons lowered. I¡¯d barely gotten my hands up before the huge shadow swooped down. The guards were hit by a spray of chunky brown material breathed from the mouth of the turducken. The impact splattered the guards against the wall and left the stone covered in chunks of what looked like delicious stuffing.

    "It''s stuffing breath," I muttered. ¡°It really does have damned stuffing breath.¡±

    The hunks of stuffing left cracks in the walls where they hit. I turned and dove to the side as another blast hit the spot where I had been standing. Another guard was struck down, and the impact of stuffing and body hit the wall with stone-cracking force.

    The turducken¡¯s health bar was well over halfway down, and now it blinked from green to yellow. Around the keep, scattered guards were still fighting. Some were throwing spears, and others were shooting arrows that looked much too feeble to do any damage, but the creature''s health ticked lower and lower. I just needed to hold on a little longer.

    I turned and ran for the largest group of guards. They was just a few feet away but before I could reach them, a stream of brown liquid wreathed in fire shot over my shoulder. Heat scorched my face. The burning stream struck the guards, and they were engulfed, screaming. I skidded to a halt. One of the guards, completely drenched in burning liquid, ran past, waving his arms, his agonizing shrieks echoing. I turned and ran the other way.

    As I dashed away, I found myself trapped in a corner of the keep with no way of easy escape. A pop-up appeared next to a torch, telling me to throw it. It wasn''t obvious why, but I did. The torch spun away, past the turducken, and landed in a pile of barrels that I was pretty sure hadn''t been there a few moments before.

    The explosion was spectacular. The turducken was blasted against the wall of the keep, and an entire tower fell on top of it. I was slammed against a wall and blacked out for a moment.

    When I came to, the monster was twitching its last as the few surviving guards ran from the fire. I staggered to my feet and took two steps forward. Yet another pop-up appeared in front of me with a choice: [Absorb the power of the turducken? Yes/No?]

    That was interesting. I paused to consider. I had seen similar mechanics in other games before, and it was usually a powerful set of abilities often leading to an entire quest chain to develop them. Tantalizing, but I was going for a more non-traditional build, less combat-focused. The associated quest chain was almost certainly one to hunt down and kill turduckens or some other crazy bird monsters. I wanted to take my time and build my build right. I was expecting to do some serious min-maxing, and I didn''t want to be locked into a quest like that, that almost certainly everyone else would be doing. I selected NO.

    As soon as I made the selection, the body of the three-headed bird monster boiled away into nothing. When it was gone, it revealed a hole in the rubble behind it.

    On the other side of the hole, I saw my fellow prisoner. How had he gotten out there? "Come on! Let''s go!" he called through what was clearly the pre-scripted path of escape. I went through the hole, and we disappeared into the forest beyond.

 Bk 4.5 Ch 4 - To Honeynest

    I followed my fellow escaped prisoner into the woods, thinking he would be my ticket to the mainline quest. Unfortunately, he stopped 50 yards away.

    "Thanks for your help escaping. If you''re ever in Honeynest, look me up. My organization could use a few people like you." He turned and walked away.

    I started to follow, but he disappeared around a pile of rocks. And I do mean disappeared. By the time I turned the corner of the rocks, he was completely vanished into thin air.

    At long last, my user interface was available. Unfortunately, it seems to have been reset to some kind of default configuration for this system, not the one I¡¯d gotten set up over the past couple of years. Everything was different. My inventory was almost completely empty, which was a shock since normally it was a veritable treasure trove of odds and ends. Instead I just had a few pieces of armor and weapons I must have accidentally picked up in the castle.

    My skills were all gone, and the entire list was replaced by a completely different mechanism. A spider web of interconnected skills spread out before me. The trees was grayed out, waiting to be unlocked.

    No wonder so many had failed before us. This didn''t look anything like the default class system that the Galactics would be used to. I wanted to dig deeper and study the nature of the skill tree, but I needed to get moving to find a town or village. Unarmed as I was, and with no skills worth mentioning, I would be in real danger if I had a random encounter in these woods.

    The terrain was rocky and tree-covered, but below the canopy, the forest floor was relatively clean, and the brush between the trees was not heavy, allowing me to move forward quickly. I moved downhill, hoping to find a road. Something moved in the forest ahead, and I jerked to a stop. I looked carefully and caught a flicker of movement between a bush and a rock and a boulder.

    I waited patiently, and a wolf stepped out. It wandered up the slope without noticing me, and I waited until it had been out of sight for a minute before turning and skirting the direction it had gone. If it was on a set path or patrolling in an area, I didn''t want to move through where I had seen it last.

    I really needed some sort of weapons. Wild animals were unlikely to be susceptible to my other forms of trickery, and I didn''t yet have any skills that would charm or distract them. I found a likely-sized stick and picked it up. It equipped itself and displayed in my interface as [Level 1 Stick. One to four damage.] It seemed weak. I saw a fist-sized rock on the ground and scooped that up to see if it would be a better alternative.

    [New recipe discovered: Primitive Hammer.]

    My interface popped up and showed a spinning picture of a rock tied to the end of a stick. I didn''t have anything to tie it with, but it didn''t seem to matter. The recipe showed distinctly that only two items were needed to complete the weapon. The craft button was glowing green. The items appeared in my hand, and I pulled them together. They pulled themselves to each other as if magnetized.

    [New item: Primitive Hammer. Damage: One to five.]

    That was pretty pathetic, but it also gave me a skill point into tool crafting. That was interesting since I had distinctly seen weapons crafting on my interface as well. I checked my inventory, and sure enough, the item was classified as a tool and not a weapon. Excellent. Although without access to my normal class, the distinction of tools to weapons might not matter. I was hoping my buffs were still there, just hidden.

    I hafted my new tool as a makeshift weapon and continued forward. The slope flattened out, and the forest thinned before turning into a farm field. Beyond that was a road. The field itself was little more than a pasture with a stone wall around it. There was no sign of a farmhouse or anything else.

    I had taken two steps onto the dirt road when the background sounds of the world suddenly changed. It was subtle but noticeable, like the ambient soundtrack had been switched to a different one. I noticed the change but couldn''t put my finger on what was different. A distant horn sounded, and I heard a drumming of hooves. I

    had triggered something, but I didn''t want to see what. I wasn''t here to experience the linear plot as it had been intended. Playing the game that way had defeated many people in the past, and I intended to do things differently.

    I lunged off the pathway and ducked behind the stone wall, pressing myself as low as I could to stay out of sight. Hooves pounded up and then scrabbled to a halt nearby. I heard the creak of leather and chink of metal.

    "Why are we stopping?"

    "I thought I saw someone.¡±

    ¡°There''s clearly no one here now. Must have been the wind.¡±

    ¡°Feather guard, move out!"

    The deep horn sounded, and the hooves pounded away. Before the sound faded completely, I risked poking my head above the wall. A group of riders in armor vanished away around the bend in the road. The banner one of them carried fluttered in the breeze over a hedge, the last sign of them to disappear. My guess was I had just avoided a quest interaction, either the start of a new one or a continuation of the main line. That suited me fine. I wanted to know a lot more about the world before being swept along with the scripted action.

    I continued down the road now in the direction the troops had gone. While I wanted to avoid the mainline quest, I didn''t want to get too far away from the area it was pushing me towards. If this game had leveling zones that were grouped by strength, then I needed to not get too far from where the noobs were supposed to be. It would be extremely deadly to wander into a high-level leveling zone. So I needed to be cautious until I knew whether this fragment was employing a scaling level system for the mobs or not.

    I rounded a bend, and a quaint little village spread out beneath me. My interface helpfully told me this was the village of Honeynest. It looked like six houses and two larger buildings, one of which was clearly an inn. The other, I guessed, would be a shop of some sort. I suspected this was the initiation village where we''d get pointers to the mainline quest, not the first quest hub of the game.

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    The town was surrounded by a wooden stockade with a pair of hawk-like guards. As I stepped through the gate, the world flickered for an instant, and then suddenly the formerly nearly deserted town street was bustling with people. Most of them were humanoid, and all of them wore the same ragged clothes I did. So I had caught up with the rest of the players. I didn''t see Shad or his team here. That was fine. I was playing a lone hand.

    I hurried through the town. There was an NPC woman standing on her porch stoop with a crowd of players around her, lamenting something about a trinket stolen by bandits who were holed up in the ancient barrow in the mountains above the town. Her husband was shouting at her, "That barrow is haunted. Don''t send these outsiders to desecrate our ancestors'' tombs." Sounded like an important quest chain to me. I ignored it and hurried by.

    Another crowd was just emerging from the inn. I started up the steps and came face to face with Rok''gar, who grinned at me.

    "You finally made it, Colin. How many times did it take you before you figured out how to dodge the stuffing breath?"

    "Stow it," I advised Rok''gar.

    "We are about to head to the town of White Plume to inform the Drake of the Turducken''s arrival. My team and I have already gained our basic proficiencies." He held up a rusty broadsword. "I have five points in two-handed swords already."

    "I thought you were a crafter," I said, inspecting his terrible sword. It looked like one the Raven Guard could have dropped.

    "This is a chance to explore other opportunities. Our real classes don''t come into it. I''m enjoying a chance to embrace my roots and hack things to pieces a little," Rok''gar said.

    I laughed. "You do you, buddy." I squeezed in the door of the tavern. There were still more people in here. I spotted a couple of humans I knew and nodded to them. Then sidled up to the bar. There was a glowing table over in one corner with some vials and a mortar and pestle on it. My guess was that was a crafting station. I''d check it out in a minute.

    The barman came over. "Looking for work?" he asked.

    "No.¡± I would need to reject all of the easy, obvious options if I wanted to find my own path here. ¡°Someone needs to take word to the Drake of White Plume about the Turducken attack.¡±

    ¡°My friend¡¯s already on it," I assured him.

    "I could use someone to brew some ales for me."

    "I''ll think about it," I said. "Not right now."

    The barkeep looked despondent and wandered away. A moment later, his assistant, a young duckwoman wielding a broom, came over.

    "I need someone to take a letter to my betrothed in White Plume," she began.

    "I don''t think I''m your guy." That was interesting. The system was going to continue to offer me quests until I picked something. I needed to shake them out of their pre-programmed routes if I was going to get my own hints here. "When I was coming over a mountain, I noticed a road leading east of here. The sign was too worn to read. What''s down that road?"

    The maid''s eyes widened. "Oh, you don''t want to go down that road. There''s bandits and thieves. Anyway, it only goes to Driftwood."

    "And where''s that?"

    "It was a prosperous town once, the heart of the Drakon culture. But since the war and the empire came, it has fallen into ruin. The only people who live there are thieves and those too poor to escape." She moved off without offering me a quest.

    I got up and approached the table in the corner. As I thought, it was an alchemy station offering to let me combine ingredients I''d found. So, the cheapest and easiest form of crafting anywhere.

    I tried combining a couple of flowers I''d picked and got failures. The barkeep wandered over. "If you brew me a couple of beers, I''ll give you a recipe for a healing potion," he offered.

    What the hell? I had nothing to lose. I accepted the quest. He gave me some wheat and yeast. I combined them into a stack of beers, handed them back. Took all of five seconds. Why he couldn''t have done it himself made no sense, but games rarely do. The barkeep in turn gave me a stalk of grass and a white speckled mushroom.

    "Try those," he advised. I did, and my interface popped up with [Recipe learned. Basic healing potion. Alchemy increased by one.]

    Excellent. I pulled up the skills pane and was confronted by a confusing mass of skill trees. It looked like every single basic ability in this game was sorted into one of four categories: Magic, Might, Crafting, and Treachery.

    Under Crafting was the Alchemy I had just learned. I enlarged it and it spread out in front of me. There were three major branches of the Alchemy: Poisons, Elixirs, and Bombs. The Elixirs were healing potions. All the abilities down that tree strengthened their effects. It looked like some of the potions would buff other abilities. That could be very useful for a stat-stacking build. I glanced at the Poisons and Bombs tree and closed it.

    Under Crafting was also Smithing and Tailoring. I''d have to learn the differences between each. I apparently had a point in Smithing, probably from making the hammer, but Tailoring was still gray.

    "Is there a smith or a weaver in this town?" I asked the barkeep.

    "The nearest weaver is in White Plume, but there''s a smithy attached to the general store. You can ask Radolf to let you use it."

    "Okay," I said. "Thanks."

    As I was leaving, one of the patrons at the far tables, an old white-plumed duck, leaned over as I passed. "I heard you talking to the missy about Driftwood. My kinfolk came from those parts back in the day. My mother made me leave because I was falling in with a bad crew. If you do go to Driftwood, beware of the Thieves'' Guild. They run everything there."

    "Okay," I said. Then a quest popped up. I groaned to myself. [Find the entrance to the Thieves'' Guild hideout in Driftwood.] It was marked with a skull and an X, probably indicating it was much too high level for where I was now. I set it aside and went to find the smith.

    After selling my healing potion and the odds and ends I had looted during my escape to the owner of the general store, I had enough on me to buy some coal and iron ore, which I then quickly turned into iron bars, combined with some leather strips, and made into a dagger, getting me my second point in smithing. I was starting to see some possibilities here, but I would have to open up the Sneak tree, in Treachery, to be sure.

    That did it for me. The best place to learn sneaking was definitely going to be with the Thieves'' Guild. I was underleveled, but time to head off to Driftwood.

    As I stepped away from the smithy, I met Rok''gar and his team again. They looked haggard.

    "Are you planning to take on the Barrow?" Rok''gar asked me.

    "Not really. Why?"

    "The Gooselitch who rules the place is more dangerous than we thought. His honks have a nasty knockback effect. We came back to look for a support class. We''ve already started down skill trees that lock us out of buff and debuff abilities. I thought perhaps you were trying that sort of build yourself. Would you like to come and try it?"

    I shook my head. "Sorry. Did you guys die?"

    Rok''gar nodded. "We did. We respawned at one of those big standing stones. You know the ones we''ve seen? You have to have discovered them in order to respawn or you''ll respawn at the closest one you know. One member of my team hadn''t discovered the nearby stone and ended up all the way back by the fort we escaped from first."

    "Thanks for the tip," I said. "But be careful. I''m pretty sure every death puts you closer to the limit of how many times the system will resurrect you, and the higher level you are, the shorter your timer gets."

    Rok''gar frowned. "Why''s that?"

    "I was looking over the high-level reports from previous teams before we came. There wasn''t much in there, but I noticed that once they reached about what they were calling level 10, they''d die and then be kicked out. I think it''s because the system is emulating an entirely new set of classes for us. Once there''s too much information to keep track of, it runs out of resources. So you get a whole lot more deaths early on, untrained, than you do later when you have all of the skills."

    He frowned. "I''m not certain that explanation makes any sense."

    I was going to hope it did because it was how I was planning to play this. "Well, good luck," I wished them and started out of town.

    "Aren''t you heading the wrong way?" Rok''gar called. "That''s how we came in."

    "I forgot to loot the bodies back at the fort. I''m going to go do that now."

    "You''re wasting time."

    "See you later, Rocky.¡± I waved. He glowered at me.

 Bk 4.5 Ch 5 - Driftwood

    The road to Driftwood was dangerous. I had to run away from six bears, five wolves, and a vicious-looking fox. Three pairs of bandits killed me, but I was keeping a sharp eye out for all the standing stones along the way and just kept running, not even trying to put up a fight. I was wagering a lot on my interpretation of the rules being correct, but so be it. It also convinced me I was looking at a scaling system. The mobs took three or four hits to kill me, despite this clearly being an area I wasn¡¯t supposed to be in yet.

    When I at last reached the town of Driftwood, it was exactly as I had expected. A squalid, moss-overgrown cluster of nests and buildings that had clearly seen better days.

    The guards at the gate were both geese, their feathers bedraggled and their uniforms ill-fitting and rusty. They crossed their pikes in front of the gate and challenged me.

    "Ho there, newcomer. Nobody enters Driftwood without paying the tax."

    "What tax?" I demanded.

    "The Drake¡¯s entry fee. Pay up or get out. Thirty silver.¡±

    I very much suspected that this was a scripted event designed to show you just how desperate and criminal everyone here was. I could pay their bribe, or I could try to get out of it. Possibly my response would dictate how the people in Driftwood responded to me later.

    "Well that''s interesting," I told them, "because as it happens, I don''t have the money for the tax, but I do have a little coin here that you could use to toast my health at the inn after your shift if you''d just look the other way and let me by." I jangled my purse meaningfully.

    The guards looked at each other. "Ten silver each?"

    "Five," I told them, "between the two of you. It''ll buy you a couple of pints."

    "Oh, very well," one of the geese muttered. I handed over the coins and they stepped back. A notification popped up. [You have bribed a guard. Your personal reputation with the guards'' faction has increased. Your willingness to engage in the seedier underside has been noted. Earned: One Treachery Point.]

    I popped up my skills. Now all of the Treachery skills were open to me. There was Backstab, Blackmail, all sorts of skills, but I put my point straight into Sneak. You can never have enough points in Sneak.

    That done, I set off into the city, which was under a seemingly perpetual gloom. I bypassed the grimy tavern and went to the market square where sad merchants were hawking their goods, then sat and watched.

    A feathered man in a hood started skulking around the outskirts. He slipped in close to one of the merchants while she was selling a carrot to a passerby and then darted away again. I followed him down an alley. He looked up as I entered and quickly shoved something under his robes.

    "I don''t think that belonged to you, did it?" I said.

    "What do you want?"

    "I was admiring the skill of that grab," I told him.

    "You''re new in town."

    "So I am," I allowed. "I''m here looking for work."

    The hooded man laughed. "You think there''s a lot of work to be found here?"

    "I don''t mean labor," I said, raising an eyebrow. "I mean work."

    "Hmm?" He studied me, then nodded. "Right. You will have to talk to Billiard. He''s the goose in charge of the thieves guild."

    It didn''t take me long to find the headquarters of the thieves guild. The building was shabby-looking but much larger and more impressive than one would expect from a small town band of thieves. I mean, just how many people in this town could be thieves before the economy would collapse?. Not that any of that mattered; this was typical video game logic. The thieves guild would be just what I needed to level up my sneaking and backstabbing skills. I was looking for ways to defeat enemies without leveling up, and stat-stacked backstabs would likely be the best way.

    A seedy-looking goose hanging out near the door tossing a coin and catching it.

    "Interested in seeing the gander, are ya? Well, he might not be interested in seeing you. We''ll see. Right through there.¡± He indicated the large door that was the only exit from this foyer room.

    The big room at the center of the building was a dining hall. The gander was a fat goose with an abnormally short neck. He sat at the end of a table laden with food and didn''t stop stuffing his bill during the entire conversation. I told him I wanted to join the thieves guild, and he sent me off to an underling, off in a large side room where other geese stood around.

    "If you''re interested in joining, talk to Fast Hand Luke over there,¡± he said, indicating a shabby looking in one corner.

    In the opposite corner from Fast Hand Luke lay a body on the floor. The name over the body was Lucky Eddie. Nobody else seemed to notice that one of their compatriots was dead; that was strange. I hadn''t seen any players in town. Somebody must have been through earlier, but why would they have killed just one NPC?

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    I approached Fast Hands Luke. He gave me an appraising look. He was a scrawny-looking goose with patched clothes.

    He gave me the introductory quest: [Taking Candy from a Baby]. Six babies, in fact, scattered all around town. The quest was as easy as well, you know. I went around town, got near each one, and then used a one-time quest ability to pick their pockets. As I did, my Sneak ticked up a couple of times, but I didn''t gain the pickpocketing skill for real yet. Six lollipops later, and I was back in the thieves guild turning in.

    As I entered the main room, I saw that Lucky Eddie was still dead. I looked again and realized he was actually dead again. Before he had been lying in a puddle of blood with a knife sticking out of his back. Now his body was burned on one side and was sprawled in a slightly different direction. That was strange. Someone had come back in here and killed just one NPC again. It didn''t make much sense.

    Fast Hands Luke said some nonsense about how impressed he was and then gave me the follow-up quest. The turn-in also gave one point of Pickpocket.

    The follow-up quest was to learn about the guild; it was a follow-and-talk quest. I followed a granny goose as she waddled about the place, introducing each of the NPCs in the building. She led straight out of the room and into a large chamber with trainers scattered about.

    I inspected each one as she introduced us. There was someone to train up Sneak, another for Pickpocketing, and still another for Blackmail. Though they had no skills I could learn yet, they did offer an introductory quest related to their skill. I picked them all up.

    There were also some crafters around the place, but these were pretty generic. One for leather armor and one for daggers. They each offered a single recipe for free, which I grabbed.

    Finally, we came back to the main chamber where the gander was still stuffing his beak. "And if you''re interested in something a little more dangerous," Fast Hand said with a waggle of eyebrows (did real geese even have eyebrows?), "you can always talk to Lucky Eddie over there.¡± He pointed to the corner with the dead duck.

    My escort quest was over now, so I went to take a closer look at the dead body. He wasn''t still-dead; he was re-dead. The body had shifted to a different position, and instead of burns he had a ¡®poisoned¡¯ debuff.

    I left the thieves guild and went to knock out the starter quests. It was obvious which order I needed to do the quests in; they were all connected. The one to pickpocket was getting various trinkets off people around town. The one for burglary was to steal a letter from a desk in a mansion, and then the final one for blackmail was to use all of those objects and forge some blackmail evidence.

    It didn''t explain what it was; it just said, "Blackmail evidence: 0/1.¡± After I got the trinkets and letter, I combined them with a simple click, and then turned them into the blackmail victim, who promptly promised to give the Thieves Guild whatever it is they wanted.

    Then it was back to the thieves guild headquarters for the turn-ins. The rewards were minimal, but they did unlock the trainers. I used what little gold they gave me to train in Sneak, but what I really needed was to find a backstab trainer and poisons, both of which could be useful.

    Lucky Eddie was still dead, and his positions hadn''t changed this time. As I looked him over to confirm, the body suddenly vanished. That was promising; maybe it meant he would respawn soon. I hung out and waited.

    Sure enough, less than a minute later, he popped into existence in front of me, alive and well. I stepped up and initiated dialogue.

    "If you''re looking for something a little more dangerous, you should seek out the Duck Bro-"

    I leapt back as the duck was suddenly engulfed in flames. He thrashed around for a moment, quacking plaintively, and then fell over, charred and dead. No one else in the room reacted. That was weird. Something was going on here. This was definitely not the way the game was supposed to work. If he was just telling me about some sort of Assassin''s Guild, then the sudden death might be scripted, but if that was the case, I would expect the other NPCs to react, and they hadn''t. Earlier, they had referred to him as if he was still alive.

    I hadn''t seen what caused the fire. No one in the area seemed to appear to have cast anything.

    I turned the body over and saw the remnants of a trap underneath him. When I touched it, it crumbled to nothing with a pop-up saying I didn''t have the skills to use it. I hadn''t seen it before it had triggered. The Sneak skill tree did include trap detection, but I had no points into it.

    Now this was a mystery that I really wanted to solve. The key to a good exploit is spotting things out of place, areas where gameplay didn¡¯t work quite as intended. This had all the hallmarks of a potential exploit.

    Going out, I searched the town until I found a potions vendor. I was short on money, but they also offered another alchemical recipe if I would make some potions for them. They only needed minor healing potions, which I had gotten the recipe for earlier.

    A few moments later, that turn-in got me a fire and frost resistance recipe, and the vendor could also teach me to make me fire resist and poison resist. It blew most of my gold, but I grabbed them. Since I didn''t have the money to buy the supplies, I went out into the woods to gather the mats. This took quite a while of sneaking around and picking herbs while trying not to get spotted by bears or wolves. A little voice in my head worried that Rok¡¯gar and his team must be getting ahead of me by now, but I banished it. Slow and steady would win this race.

    I was able to accomplish it with no deaths, but only by dashing back into town with a wild animal on my heels twice; each time, the guards ignored me, but the beast lost interest as soon as I passed through the gate. You¡¯d think my bribe would have gotten them feeling well disposed to me, but no.

    Finally, I had what I needed to implement my plan, and I went back to the thieves guild. Lucky Eddie was dead again, this time with the greenish tint and poisoned debuff. I put my potions in the hot bar and waited.

    It took the better part of an hour, but he finally respawned. I immediately spammed him with the three resistance potions I had been able to make and initiated dialogue.

    "Looking for something a little more interesting? You should seek out the Duck Brotherhood. Ow!"

    He was briefly interrupted when a fire trap exploded under his feet. The flames warmed my face, but I resisted the urge to jump back; they didn''t actually damage me. The triggering of the trap had taken out half his health, and the remainder began quickly ticking down.

    I hurriedly went through the rest of the dialogue, selecting an option to ask for more about the Duck Brotherhood and then where I might find them. I whipped through the text so fast, I didn''t have time to read it. What little I registered was full of vague innuendos but confirmed my suspicion that they were an assassination guild.

    Just as I finished the dialogue options, a [Quest Accepted] pop-up appeared. An instant later, Lucky Eddie fell over in a charred heap, dead.

    Something was starting to be clear. Someone out there did not want me to have the quest chain to join the Duck Brotherhood. Which meant it was my new top priority.

 Bk 4.5 Ch 6 - Dungeon Waddle

    Since coming into this fragment, I had been looking for things that were out of the ordinary. Some mysterious entity murdering an NPC to keep me from getting a starter quest definitely qualified.

    Before I went anywhere, I took a moment to consider. This wasn''t the kind of quest that would go away if I died and respawned. So, chances are, no one would be trying to hunt me down and kill me just for possessing it. However, that might change if I attempted to complete it. It was a relatively straightforward quest: locate the Duck Brotherhood. It was tagged as a Driftwood quest, and no one had suggested I go some other place to find them. So, chances were that the Duck Brotherhood was somewhere in this town, or at least the contact I needed to progress the quest was.

    I started by checking with the trainers in the Thieves Guild, but none of their dialogue options had changed. Then, I moved out and asked some people on the streets. The third person mentioned having a cousin who had run afoul of the Duck Brotherhood. They had found his body floating in the river.

    I redirected my efforts to the area along the waterfront. The river wasn''t large. The boats pulled up at the dock seemed much too big for it, with steeply curved prows, like models reused from an oceanfront town.

    The place was littered with deckhands loitering about. Only the system labeled them as [Duck Hands]. There were certainly more of the duck people than I had seen in other areas, with only a few goose people and none of the raven people at all.

    I got hints about the Brotherhood from four more passersby before a [Quest Complete] notification popped up, and a dot appeared on my map. The entrance was in the back of a rundown warehouse off an alleyway choked with garbage. I had walked past that area several times before, so I knew the entrance had been invisible until I progressed the quest. Not just the entrance, but the entire trash-choked alleyway simply hadn''t been there before.

    The door opened without a squeak, pivoting on well-greased hinges. Inside, a duck man wearing a purple cape, with molting green feathers on his head and neck, stood brewing at an alchemy table. When he caught sight of me standing in the doorway, he gave such a start he spilled his potion all over. He swore as he started cleaning it up. "Excuse me?" I asked.

    "Uh, welcome to the Duck Brotherhood," he spoke hesitantly, like a high school actor who had forgotten his lines. "What brings you to our door?"

    Some interactions in this game used a freeform dialogue, but other times, when the options were more discrete, it would pop up with dialogue options for me to select. This was one of those times. ¡°I would like someone killed" and "I would like to join the Brotherhood" were the two options that popped up. I selected joining the Brotherhood.

    The duck''s bill opened and closed several times as he searched for what to say. Finally, he broke down. "Why? You''re not a duck. How did you even find us here?"

    Suddenly, another duck rushed into the room. From her dowdy brown coloration, I guessed she was female. She grabbed the befuddled duck and whispered something in his ear before turning to me with a big smile. "Welcome. Thank you for your interest in the Duck Brotherhood. If you wish to join our ranks, you must pass the three trials." Her delivery was more natural than his had been but still had that stilted quality of half-remembered lines or reading off a script.

    She finished speaking and stared at me. No quest pop-ups appeared. I waited a moment longer. She continued to stare. "So, what are the three trials?" I asked.

    "Oh!" She seemed surprised at my question. She looked around frantically as if expecting them to be listed on the wall or written on a scrap of paper on the floor. "The trials, right. Um, just a moment.¡± she scurried out of the room. A moment later, her head popped back through the doorway. "Wait here, please." Then she was gone again.

    Very suspicious. Whatever these ducks were playing at, they weren''t your typical NPCs. Excellent. I¡¯d be pushing this interaction as far as it could go. Purple Cape busied himself at the alchemy table. Considering how often he was spilling potions or producing clouds of smoke, I think my presence was distracting him.

    A minute later, another duck poked his head around the door. His eyes widened at the sight of me. This one looked more refined than purple cape. He wore bright blue boots and had matching blue stripes along his wingtips. He gave a low squawk, then drew back into the inner room.

    I casually sauntered over and loitered by the door. I was still unable to make out the muttered conversation in the next room, but then I remembered something I had seen in the user interface. I popped it open: [Accessibility options: closed captions].

    Instantly, words appeared at the bottom of my screen. "Impossible!¡±

    ¡°And that''s the whole point. We want him to fail. Send him on a you-know-what.¡±

    "I see your point. The lich then?"

    "Exactly. The lich."

    There were shuffling footsteps, and a moment later, the female duck appeared. She spoke, and the captions popped up, even though I didn¡¯t need them now. "Yes, your trial! Thank you for waiting. It will be to hunt down the lich that has been terrorizing the barrows just outside of town."

    "Right, that''s all?"

    "Yes. Bring back its mantle.¡±

    "Right, mantle of a goose lich. The dungeon just outside of town."

    As an experienced gamer, I knew what that meant, A dungeon just outside of town never had only one quest in it, and I wasn¡¯t going to pass up other opportunities, even if I was avoiding leveling. Fortunately, in this game, leveling up was a choice. I could avoid cashing in my XP just as long as I didn¡¯t get into a tight spot where I had to level to avoid dying.

    I made a pass through the rest of town to collect all other quests related to the barrows. There was an awful lot of them. Everything from finding someone''s lost ring to finding a grandfather''s pickaxe, all the way to killing 20 goose cultists.

    Since I hadn''t been focused on leveling, I wasn''t confident in taking the dungeon head-on. Plus, straight-up combat and normal leveling weren''t in my plan. So, I was going to need an angle. The only thing I had managed any significant skill in was Sneak, since I had been using it to get around town as well as to complete the Thieves Guild quests.

    I stocked up on what little potions I could craft with the recipes I had learned and made my way outside town. The barrow was not far off the main road, a mile out of Driftwood. Just outside the entrance was a makeshift encampment. Patrolling around the encampment were skeleton bandit cultists. I stared at the description over their head: [Goose skeleton bandit cultist]. That was bizarre. They stood around in little 2 and 3 member clusters, with patrols of one or two more wandering between each group. Standard setup. The obvious thing was to kill a group, ambush the patrol, kill it, go to the next group, until I¡¯d carved a path in. I didn¡¯t think that was going to work for me. They weren¡¯t showing me a level, just a ?? which probably meant they¡¯d kick my ass hard.

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    I spent the next half hour sneaking around the outside of the camp and memorizing their patrol patterns. Finally, I was able to hide behind a set of crates close enough to pickpocket one: [Goose bandit cultist belt. 1/5. Don the Goose Bandit Cultist set to take on the guise of a goose bandit cultist.]

    That was interesting.

    As I was maneuvering around the camp to try and pickpocket another one, I heard the sound of tramping feet coming from the main road. I slipped behind the nearest tree while keeping my Sneak up.

    "Here''s another bandit camp. This will finish the quest, at least.¡±

    ¡°I should level if we do this right.¡±

    The goose bandit cultists all turned to look. A squad of newcomers entered the clearing. They were clearly players, and orcs by the sound of it, though two of them were wearing bird-type bodies and another was some sort of lizardwoman with breasts. Why do lizardwomen have breasts in these games? They¡¯re not mammals!

    They fell on the skeletal bandit cultists with swords, arrows, and fireballs and quickly dispatched a lot of them. "Bah, nothing but vendor trash. At least we finished the quest.¡±

    ¡°Hang on while I loot everything."

    One of the bandits had fallen near my tree. I snuck out and grabbed the body, pulling it into my inventory before slipping back under cover. A moment later one of the party tramped past.

    "I could have sworn there was another one up here.¡±

    ¡°Come on, let''s go. We need to turn this in. We don''t have any time to lose."

    "Are you sure you don''t want to go down into the barrow? That quest the Drake of Whitetail was offering looked pretty good."

    "No way. Everyone knows that that quest is impossible."

    The party moved off back down the road. I took a moment to examine the corpse in my inventory: [Goose bandit cultist boots. 2/5. Don the whole set to assume the guise of a goose bandit cultist.]

    From experience, I knew I had a few minutes before the camp would respawn. I quickly looted the place. There were a half a dozen large crates, each one was filled to the brim.The first one was completely filled with apples, visually overflowing, and all I got out of it was a single rotten apple core. The next one, when I opened it, was filled to the brim with gold coins. But when I scooped my hand in to loot it, I came away with a single bent copper. The other crates came up empty even though they looked to my eyes as if they were filled with supplies. Finally, I looted a pile of bedding and came away with only scraps of cloth instead of the very nice-looking blanket rolls that I could see with my own eyes.

    My search of the camp complete, I entered the barrow. A low cobweb-filled entrance led to the first chamber. Here there was a single goose bandit skeleton cultist looking over a map on a table. He hadn''t spotted me. I thought quickly and snatched up a bucket I saw nearby. I engaged Sneak and moved behind him to drop the bucket on his head. It settled on his goosey skull with a thunk.

    "What''s that? Who''s there?"

    "It''s just me!"

    As I started to speak, a dialogue selection popped up in front of me. It said,

    -Claim to be a bandit, No modifier.

    -Claim to be a goose, -10 to Persuade

    -Claim to be a skeleton, -20 Persuade.

    -Claim to be a cultist, -200 Persuade.

    That made the decision easy.

    ¡°I¡¯m a bandit.¡±

    "Oh. I used to be a bandit like you, until an adventurer burned my face off with a fireball. Now I think we''re supposed to kill you. Or rob you. I don''t remember."

    "You don''t want to tell me about the goose goddess?"

    The bucket tilted to one side, and I could picture the skeletal head looking at me quizzically from the inside. "Who''s that now?" He sounded like Dick Van Dyke doing a bad cockney accent. It took all my willpower not to laugh at him.

    ¡°Whoever you''re a cult for. I''m very interested in joining your religion."

    "Oh, no, not a goddess. We worship the goose lich."

    "Of course! Tell me more about him then."

    The bucket jerked as if in surprise. Then it tilted the other way. "Uh, not much to tell, I guess. He''s pretty great. Got the lich powers and, uh... Oh, hell, I don''t know. We just worship him is all. When we''re not robbing people or killing them."

    "Right, So how is it I can join your cult?"

    ¡°What? Wait, are we recruiting?" Duck Van Dyke was sounding more confused by the minute.

    "Aren''t cults always recruiting?"

    "I wouldn''t know, I''ve only ever been a part of this cult. And I can''t remember ever recruiting anyone."

    "Well, tell me what it takes to be in your cult."

    The bucket tilted the other way. What would a confused expression look like on a goose skull anyway? I was missing out on a lot here. "Uh, well, I suppose you have to be a skeleton."

    "Oh, I don''t fancy that."

    "And wear these robes we''ve got." He patted the robes he wore and the belt at his waist. "Yeah, that''s probably it. The outfit''s what makes you a part of the cult."

    Now we were getting somewhere. "Oh, that''s good, where can I get one of those?"

    The bucket tilted back the other direction. "Oh, I don''t know, we already have them on."

    "Can I have yours?"

    "What? Then what would I wear?"

    "You''re a skeleton, you don''t need to wear anything."

    "Oh. Are you sure?"

    "Positive."

    "I wasn''t always a skeleton, you know. I used to be a bandit."

    ¡°You said that, yes. Can I have your robes then?"

    "My robes? But then I wouldn''t be in the cult anymore, would I?"

    "Oh, I''m sorry, do you like being in the cult that much?"

    The bucket tilted back the other direction. "Well, now as you mention it, I don''t particularly care for it. There''s not too much to it, really, other than hanging out and killing adventurers. And I suppose I would do that anyway, being as how I''m a skeleton and all. I mean, what else do skeletons do but hang out and kill adventurers?"

    "I suppose that''s true," I said, nodding, even though the goose couldn''t see me. "So you''ll give me your robes, then?"

    "No, I don''t think that''d be a good idea."

    I could really use more points in persuasion, but none of the Thieves Guild trainers had offered that.

    I checked my pickpocket interface. As I was not in combat, and wasn''t currently visible to any NPC, pickpocket was available.

    I opened his inventory.

    Sure enough, he had a complete set of cultist robes, a pair of boots, and an ancient goose bow, which was five of five for the Goose Skeleton Bandit Cultist set.

    I took everything, except the bucket, which also showed up on the list. Suddenly, the skeleton was naked.

    "Is it drafty in here, or is it just me?"

    "No, I think it''s just you," I said, as I proceeded to put on his set of gear.

    When the last item settled onto my body, I suddenly felt a lot lighter. I looked down at my hands, and only saw bony fingers.

    I had to tilt my head farther down to see them, because something big and flat was flapping in front of my face. I realized I had a goose bill. And my neck was quite long. That was an interesting effect, one I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d ever seen in a game before.

    The skeletal goose continued to stand there with the bucket on his head. "Oy, are you still there?"

    "No, I''ve left already."

    "Oh. All right then." It turned back to face the table, looking down, tilting the bucket down as if he could see through it to the items on the table top.

    I looked around the room. The only other exit was a metal portcullis blocking off a hall, leading deeper into the barrows. Pillars stood on either side. They had carvings all over them, in three distinct bands, one above the other, like a totem pole. The patterns on each side didn''t match, and one of the top segments on the left side was turned slightly.

    Pretty obvious what I needed to do. I stepped up to the pillars and proceeded to rotate each segment until the patterns on the left pillar and the right pillar matched. On the bottom was flame, in the middle was spikes, and on the top was a stick figure.

    As the last piece clicked into place, I realized that maybe I hadn''t thought this through. I dove backwards as the floor turned to lava and spikes shot up out of it. There was a roar, and the whole room trembled. Three seconds later, the spikes vanished, and the flames faded. All that was left was the choking smoke.

    "Oops."

    I stepped up and spun the pillars again, this time taking more care to pay attention to what they were showing.

    Smooth floor, a stick figure, and an open doorway. Now that was more like it. I set both of them the same. Not taking any chances, I jumped back away as soon as the last piece rotated into place. The portcullis slid up, revealing the passage beyond. I made my way down a short stretch of hall into the next chamber.

    Several skeletal geese were in the room. They turned as I entered. "What are you doing here?"

    "All hail the lich," I said, raising one skeletal hand. Though my bony fingers looked suspiciously like the bones of a wing and not of a hand.

    "The lich? We''re not cultists, we''re just regular bandits.¡±

    ¡°Skeleton goose bandits. Not skeleton goose bandit cultists?" I wanted to make sure I had this clear.

    "No, no, no. We hate those guys."

    ¡°But, you¡¯re all in the same barrow dungeon.¡±

    "Yes. And now we''re gonna have to kill you.¡± The skeletal geese started for me.

    I ran for it.

 Bk 4.5 Ch 7 - Duck Duck Lich

    As the bandits moved towards me, I backpedaled quickly. They drew weapons, and I turned and bolted. In a flash, I was down the short corridor and into the next room, the bandits hot on my heels. As I passed the pillar, I caught sight of the pattern I¡¯d set it for. I reached out and rotated the first pillar quickly as I turned to face my attackers.

    The first goose skeleton bandit was there, sword raised for a swing. I waited until the last moment, adjusted the left-hand pillar, then lunged to the right and flipped that one. Fire, spikes, and body.

    FOOM! Flames and spikes shot up out of the ground from the bare floor, burning and impaling the bandits who had crowded into the doorway. They fell into a smoldering pile on the floor. Burned feathers smelled horrible. Why did they even smell like burned feathers? They were skeletons and didn''t have any feathers. Some parts of this game made no sense.

    I flipped the pillars back. The portcullis, which had slammed down when the fire started, rose slowly when the pillars were again in the correct configuration. One of the skeletons, which had been impaled by the portcullis, was lifted into the air until the gate reached the top and knocked the skeleton crashing back to the floor. I quickly looted the bodies. I hadn''t gotten any experience or skill points for the kills, which suited me just fine.

    Then I raced back down the hall in the bandits'' room. There were several large chests here and a number of cracked ancient pots. In the first pot, I found a piece of cheese. It was delicious-smelling and fresh, without a trace of mold. It didn''t even look dried out in the cool cavern air. In the bottom of the next vase was a burning candle. It looked brand new, and there wasn''t even a puddle of wax. As soon as I picked it up, the wax started dripping down the side. I pulled it into my inventory, where it continued to burn.

    One of the chests was full to the brim with helmets and breastplates of glittering gold and silver. I rummaged through it, pulling the whole thing into my inventory. The chest was too heavy, and I got a [You are encumbered and can no longer run] message. That never happened back at Kronos. Inventory weight limits are bollocks.

    I pulled the chest out. All that was left in my inventory was a rusted breastplate. It looked nothing like any of the ones I¡¯d seen in the chest. The rust was thick, almost completely through the sheet metal.

    Somehow, a wooden bookshelf was affixed to the stone wall. It had an entire shelf filled with books. When I searched it, I came away with a Scroll of Chromatic Yolks and a single tome about the history of the Axe Coast. I thumbed through the book. There were only three pages that had any text, and the full volume was less than two hundred words, telling me nothing of use about a place I had never heard of. I tossed the book back on the shelf, where it disappeared among the other books.

    I continued to make my way into the dungeon in a similar fashion. I didn''t meet anymore bandits, though I did run into a pack of skeleton geese cultists. They seemed a little concerned by my possible banditry, but after I spouted the praises of the lich for a while, they got bored and left me alone.

    There was a cavern of huge spiders, but I was able to sneak through that before finally arriving at the boss'' chamber. And it had to be what it was because the room was much larger than anything else down there. It was filled with various pedestals and sarcophagi. It was also not full of a boss.

    I wandered around for a while before settling down to study a large wall covered in runes. My interface refused to tell me what it was. It popped up with a warning, saying, [You have not fulfilled the prerequisites].

    After another circuit studying every nook and cranny of the room, I realized the wall must be what triggers the boss¡¯s arrival. Whatever I was missing wouldn''t let me trigger it, so I was stuck. But I didn''t actually need to kill the boss. In fact, I didn''t want to kill the boss. I only needed to get the ¡°Lich¡¯s Feather Mantle¡± to finish the quest.

    As I was standing studying the wall, I thought I heard a noise. After a few minutes of walking carefully, not making a sound, and listening, I was able to localize it to the nearest sarcophagus. I tried to open them to no success. I looked at my bony hands. Maybe there was something else I could try.

    I rapped on the side of the stone box. "Hey, he''s gone. You can come out now."

    "Are you sure?" a voice muttered from inside the sarcophagus.

    "Yeah, he wandered right off,¡± I said.

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    "But he didn''t fight the boss."

    ¡°Nope, sure didn''t."

    "Well, of all the..." The stone lid gave a thunk and then slid slowly to the side with a long scrape.

    A skeleton goose head wearing a metal helmet popped out of the opening. ¡°Why wouldn''t he start the boss fight? That doesn''t even make sense.¡± The goose turned to yell at the room, "You can come out now. He''s gone."

    All around the room, stone coffins slid open and skeleton geese covered in cobwebs and wearing dusty armor hopped out. These were listed as "Minions of the Lich Goose¡±. They weren¡¯t labelled as bandits or cultists, but were of course both ¡°skeletons¡± and ¡°geese¡±.

    A crowd of ancient skeletons gathered around, busily discussing the inconsideration of how inconsiderate adventurers were.

    "Hey Jethro, who''s the new guy?"

    ¡°Oh, he¡¯s¡­¡± the skeleton I had first coaxed out of a sarcophagus, glanced at me. "Actually, I didn''t get your name."

    "I''m Jebediah, you can..."

    He peered closer at me. "You''re not one of the Lich''s adds, so what are you doing down here?"

    "I had a message for the Lich. Do you know when he''ll be back?"

    "Think he tells us anything?" one of the skeletal archers retorted. "We just hang out here till we hear an adventurer coming, then it''s hide out in the sarcophagus, jump out in phase two. Get your face burned off by a fireball."

    "Jimbo, you ain''t had a face in a century," one of the skeletons in the back of the pack said.

    The archer whirled on him. "Like you''re one to talk, Fred."

    Soon the two of them were in a heated argument. The rest of the skeletons ignored them.

    "So you don''t know when he''ll be back?" I tried again.

    "Nah, he just pops in for the fight and then goes out. He''s never here if there''s not an adventurer to fight. He pops in when an adventurer examines the honk wall.¡±

    "That''s those runes here?"

    "Yeah, those are the ones. They read it and then a big honk sounds. They all come here so they can level up their honking skill."

    "So the adventurers want a big honking skill, huh?"

    The skeleton shrugged. Its shoulderbones and arms went up and down even though they weren''t really connected with anything except the clavicle. "Yeah, I guess they need it for the final boss or something. That''s really above our pay grade."

    The skeleton called Fred broke off his furious argument with Jimbo. "You get paid?"

    "It''s just an expression, Fred." There was a gentle murmuring around the room.

    I had an idea. ¡°Wait, you guys hang out down here getting burned by adventurers and you don''t even get paid?"

    "Well, no, not exactly. I mean, there are perks."

    "Like what?" I asked.

    "Like, uh... Oh, that''s a good question.¡±

    ¡°The medical''s pretty good," Jethro offered.

    "There is no medical, you dummy. You just respawn all back together again the next time."

    "Oh, right.¡±

    ¡°But even the bandits upstairs get paid. Why, they''ve got chests up there just heaping with gold and all kinds of interesting gear. Like, look at this." I pulled out the burning candle.

    "Ooh, pretty," said the crowd of skeletons in unison.

    "Yeah, there''s tons of this sort of stuff up there. You should go check it out."

    "Nah, man, we have to wait down here until more adventurers come."

    "But they come from up there, right?"

    The skeletons'' heads swiveled around, looking at each other, before one of them said, "Yeah, I guess so."

    "So you would see them coming and you could get back down here, right?"

    A lot of empty eye socket looks were exchanged around.

    ¡°Sure, I guess so," Jethro finally said. "You know, I''ve always wanted to see the upper levels."

    ¡°They''re absolutely spiffing. You should go check it out."

    There was a general murmur of agreement. But before they all took off, headed for the surface, I realized they might know where the quest item I needed was. "Hey, you think there¡¯s a chance I could see the Lich''s mantle?¡±

    "His mantle? You mean his... the robe thing he wears?"

    "I don''t suppose he, you know, leaves it down here or anything, does he?" It was a long shot, but...

    ¡° ¡¯course he does. Every time he spawns in, he wraps it around his shoulders. He has a much better one in his other lair."

    "His other lair?"

    ¡°Yeah, you know, on Mount Pinfeather, above Winternest. This lair¡¯s really not all that good. We¡¯re all hoping for a transfer. Besides, every time they kill him, the adventurers take it away with them."

    Bingo. It had been a hunch, but since I knew that was the quest turn-in item, I thought there was a chance that it would respawn separately from the Lich.

    Jethro led the way across the room. ¡°See, it''s right here." He opened a panel in the stone wall that I had not previously noticed on my inspection of the room. Inside were dozens of identical robes hanging from coat hangers.

    "Wow, those are amazing. As sparkly as everyone says. Thanks for letting me see it.¡±

    "Nah, he''s got a much better one on Mount Pinfeather. At least that''s what my cousin Jim Bob says. He''s level 15 and he''s got a job being adds for the Ghost Queen. She¡¯s in a different dungeon, around on the back side of Mount Pinfeather. Jim Bob says when he''s on break, he''s been up to see the Lich King''s Lair. Very impressive. Much better than this dump."

    This got the crowd talking about the levels upstairs and how much better they must be. A few minutes later, they trooped out of the room.

    As soon as the last one disappeared, I snatched one of the robes off a hanger and stuffed it in my inventory. Then I closed the stone closet door behind me and made my way out of the dungeon. I was certain there was a back way out that would bypass everything, but probably it wouldn¡¯t open unless I killed the lich.

    I moved cautiously. When I was two floors from the exit, I heard a big commotion. It sounded like skeleton archers and bandits were having it out. I took one of the smaller side passages to avoid the fight and made my way to the surface. The bandit camp had respawned, but since I was wearing their paraphernalia and still had the guise of a skeletal goose, they just waved me on by.

    Finally, I reached the surface. Time to turn in a coat and get the next step of this quest.

 Bk 4.5 Ch 8 - Ducking the Problem

    The expression on the Duck Brotherhood''s faces when I turned in the lich goose mantle was spectacular. Their bills gaped open as the title appeared above my head: Duck Brotherhood Initiate.

    "How? But it was supposed to be impossible!" the duck who had greeted me at the door cried. The other two shushed him, and they moved across the room into an impromptu huddle.

    Did I mention that was his actual name? Literally, over his head, it just said "Greeter Duck," which made sense when I first got to the lair. I had thought once I was an initiate, the system would give them actual names. Nope. The flightiest of the ducks was still tagged "Greeter Duck." The other one was "Girl Duck" and the other drake was just "Duck #3." Ridiculous.

    I couldn''t make out their mutters, so I turned on closed captions. "He''ll find out everything!"

    "Hush. There has to be a way around this."

    "He''s only an initiate," Duck #3 said. "Surely he won''t have to learn our deepest secrets until at least Rep Level 3, right?"

    "I don''t know!" Greeter Duck was on the verge of tears. Do ducks have tears? ¡°I don''t know! Nobody''s ever gotten this far!"

    "Look, the system isn''t going to allow us to deny him the reward. We''re just going to have to find a way to get him killed. We can''t kill him directly anymore," the female duck said. The others all nodded their heads. I could see she was right. Their yellow dots had turned green to me now, and flagging combat against them would be impossible. It appeared the reverse was also true.

    "We''ll just have to keep giving him quests until one of them gets him killed, or until he runs out of time."

    It was becoming increasingly obvious to me these were not NPCs. They had full awareness of who I was as a player, and the existence of a system governing everything. These were something else, and I wasn''t sure what. I have a suspicion, but it didn''t make any sense. I was going to have to get more information, and probably some advice.

    I continued waiting for them with a bland smile on my face. They broke apart and approached.

    "Congratulations, brother!" Greeter Duck said.

    "Can''t believe I have to call a featherless brother." That last was still too quiet for me to hear but I read the subtitles, and apparently that¡¯s what Duck #3 muttered.

    Girl Duck pushed the bigger drake aside and stepped forward. "Welcome! If you wish to proceed further in the Brotherhood, you must accept the challenges we give you."

    Greeter Duck stepped forward. "Yes, yes, and the first one is to take a load of coal to the Kilns." The other two grabbed him and dragged him back across the room.

    "We can''t let him near the Kilns. He''ll find out everything.¡±

    "Sorry, I panicked. I just wanted to send him someplace where he couldn''t possibly survive."

    ¡°But if he does¡ª¡±

    ¡°He won¡¯t.¡± That was Girl Duck, not the one who had talked about the kilns. She raised her wings a little, in an attempt to calm the others. ¡°Look at him, he¡¯s not even level two. You¡¯re right. This will work. It has to work.¡±

    I took the sack of coal from Greeter Duck. My map populated with a dot for the quest turn-in, a gray area that I hadn''t yet explored. I set out with some trepidation. I kept the gear for the Goose Skeleton Bandit Set in a hotkey for instant equipping. That might come in handy later.

    I moved down the road, which had the same sort of flavor as most of the rest of the world, wide pastoral lands and normal forest creatures. If I steered clear of them, they¡¯d would leave me alone, aside from the occasional wolf that I had to avoid.

    Then I crossed the shoulder of the mountain and everything changed. The difference was abrupt as a line drawn on the ground. One side was bland farmland, the other a blasted and desolate wasteland. The trees were burned-out stumps or dead charred trunks that just hadn''t fallen yet. The ground was scorched and blackened and even the rocks looked a little bit melted.

    My gamer-brain said dragon! and I looked around, including at the sky. A couple big ravens soared, and an ash-lizard poked its head out of a stump nearby. That was all.

    Ahead rose a foreboding fortress. Its walls were black stone. The battlements had spiky crenellations like teeth jutting up towards the sky. This was clearly a different zone. Even though the fragment was using scaling mechanics, I could expect this wasn''t a place I was supposed to be until I was higher level. Maybe the random encounters would scale, but there was no telling if the scripted story encounters would, or if there would be other mechanics that would require a higher level to survive.

    I headed down towards the fortress, crossing a drawbridge over a dry moat full of spiky rocks. The guards at the door wore black scaled armor and bored expressions. They were clearly bird-people, but their armor concealed their forms enough I wasn¡¯t sure what kind.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    "Halt! Who are you?" The first one who spotted me demanded, leveling his spear in my direction.

    The next one gave him a dismissive wave. "Stand down, it''s one of the Brotherhood. You got our coal?"

    "Sure, but what is this place?"

    "Welcome to the Kiln," the bored guard said as he waved me through. "Come on, get a move on. Fires are waiting."

    I passed into the interior of the keep. It looked much like the fortress where I had almost been executed in the opening sequence, just a boring square interior with high walls all around. The big difference was that the walls were black and that one whole wall was made up of giant ovens. With a name like Kilns, I''d expected something fiery and made of bricks. I did not expect to find oversized ovens the size of houses and teams of bakers pushing a giant turkey carcass into the oven.

    What the hell?

    "Come on, quit your gawking and move forward. What are these? You didn''t think turducken bake themselves, did you? Drop your coal over there." The guard behind me poked me with the butt of his spear and gestured at the far wall.

    Along one wall was a giant pile of bags. When I examined them, they were clearly labeled as coal. Laborers were dumping bags of coal onto a pile while others shoveled them into an open furnace.

    I went over and put my bag down on the pile as I studied the layout of the place. This was significant. Those turduckens were a serious threat. If they were mass producing them here, this must be important to a major plot line. The Duck Brotherhood clearly thought I wouldn''t survive, although it wasn''t clear what the immediate threat was.

    I broke off my musings when I saw one of the guards up on the wall jerk up straight and then topple over. He landed up on the battlement out of sight and no one noticed. I quickly looked around for a corner. There were some wagons loaded with miscellaneous crates off to one side and I slipped over amongst them.

    Then I studied the walls again. The battlement where the guard had fallen was empty. I couldn''t see the body from my low angle and there were no other guards patrolling it. Have there been a minute ago? I thought so, but I couldn''t be sure.

    As I watched, a head popped up over the battlement and then ducked back down. Then two more appeared.

    It was a party of adventurers. They kept low and worked their way down the wall before disappearing into a tower door at the end of that stretch of battlement.

    I remained where I was hiding. A moment later they came out of the opposite side of the tower door. One of them drew back a bow and shot a guard farther down the wall. But still no one noticed. One of the adventurers, not the bowman, pulled out a lit torch. My eyes widened as I realized he was standing directly above the pile of coal.

    Oh shit oh shit oh shit!

    I took off running for the gate. As I reached it, the bored guard looked up at me.

    "Thank you for visiting the kiln. Do come back with more ¡ª¡°

    Boom!

    Now I know in real life coal is not explosive. But any time there''s a pile of something flammable and someone throws something flaming on top of it in a game setting, the consequences are not slow and not subtle. While the fireball might not have qualified as an explosion in the thermodynamic sense, it was a fast moving literal ball of fire. I was lucky to get out when I did.

    The keep trembled and the ground shook as I dashed through the doorway. A wall of flame scorched the back of my neck and the air was full of screams of the burned and dying. A horrible smell of singed feathers filled the air.

    I cleared the gate, sprinted across the drawbridge, and thought I might make it to the forest when I heard a distant cry, "Look out! The gravy!"

    The entire universe exploded and the ground came up to punch me in the face.

    I came to sometime later. Rok''gar and his two friends were leaning over me.

    "Hey, he''s awake! It is you! Colin, how did you get here?"

    Staring up into their faces from my position on the ground, I could think of nothing witty to say.

    "Uh, uh, what? How?"

    "I think part of the battlement hit him," one of them said. He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. "That rock over there has blood all over the side of it."

    "How did you catch up with us on the quest chain so fast?" Rok¡¯gar asked. He frowned. "You were here to destroy the kilns, right?"

    I tried to gather my wits, but ¡ª

    ¡°No way,¡± the bard orc said before I could gather my wits enough to respond. "We would have seen him in Whitefeather when we were doing the precursor quest." He orc looked at me suspiciously. "Why are you here?"

    I rubbed my head and searched my inventory for a healing potion. I only had one, and it was Minor. That had been an oversight. I needed to stock up on potion ingredients as soon as I could afford them. I took the potion and my health bar started to recover. "I was just exploring. This place looked interesting, so I snuck in."

    I realized that was a mistake as soon as I said it.

    "You snuck in? You were inside there? No way. You''re still level one. There''s no way your sneak''s high enough to get in there." Now the orcs with Rok¡¯gar looked really suspicious.

    I shrugged. "Hey, being sneaky''s more than just skill points."

    They all looked at me in disbelief. A moment later when they realized I wasn''t going to offer any more explanation they seemed to lose interest.

    "Whatever. Come on, man," the druid said to Rok''gar. "We gotta go turn this in. The clock''s ticking."

    Rok''gar looked at me with actual concern. "Are you all right? That hit on your head. Are you sure you''ll be okay here?" He glanced around. There were no enemies in sight, and the fortress itself was a smoldering ruin. It was cracked open like an egg falling on the floor.

    I shook my head. "No, I''ll be fine. Thanks anyway."

    ¡°Sure.¡± The orc reluctantly turned away. He had seemed genuinely concerned for my well-being, and I was touched.

    Still, I didn''t want to let him in on my strategy. For one thing, I didn''t really have much strategy and I didn''t want to be mocked about that.

    I was just going on hunches and methods I had used in the past for exploring the outskirts of a game. When you approach them by not following the main quest line, you often discovered new exploits. In a setup like this, the game was designed to look like an open world sandbox while still funneling you into the main line quests. The farther you stayed from those , the more things came apart.

    With the orcs gone, I got out of there as quick as I could, making time over the mountain path back towards Driftwood. As I went, I took stock of what I had learned. Somebody was making Turducken on an industrial scale. Apparently players were on a quest line to get to the bottom of it or stop it, which seemed pretty typical.

    What wasn''t typical was the Duck Brotherhood, a band of apparent assassins who were not non-player characters, but something else, and they were involved, at least peripherally, in the creation of the Turduckens. But how involved were they? Providing supplies or were they a major player? And what was their angle? Who were they and what were they here for?

    That''s what I needed to find out. I suspected at the bottom of that mystery was the solution to the fragment, and the answer to why it had defeated so many before us.

 Bk 4.5 Ch 9 -Duckwing

    As I re-entered Driftwood to turn in my coal delivery quest, I came up short at an odd sight. A small duck, dressed in rags, with its name tag reading "Ragamuffin," blatantly pickpocketed a man shopping at one of the booths off of the main road.

    The guards spotted it immediately and moved in. The man was indignant, but the guards laughed it off.

    "Ha ha ha ha, a little scamp. We''ll take care of this." They collared the duckling and dragged him off onto a side street. I moved up to get a look at the proceedings.

    "Come now, you can''t keep doing this," the guard said, with no real animosity in his voice. The guard patted the kid down and took something from him. "I''ll be giving this back to its proper owner. Off with you, back to the orphanage. And don''t let me catch you doing this again."

    The scolding had no real heat to it, and the child duck scampered off as soon as he was released. After that, the guard moved back out into the street. From my vantage point, I saw him giving something back to the man shopping at the booth.

    I was more interested in the child. He had disappeared around the far end of the side street. I had an inkling of an idea, and I followed. He was completely out of sight by the time I got to the corner.

    I asked a passerby for directions to the orphanage. It was a block and a half away, up a different side street. This put it against the outer wall of Driftwood, which wasn''t a very large town.

    The orphanage was a single room with a desk along one wall, the rest of it crammed full of bunk beds. Scruffy-looking children filled the place. I spotted the one I had followed in the corner, shooting me glares. The matron appeared as soon as I entered the door of the orphanage, and launched straight into a spiel about how poor and unfortunate these children were, and how all they needed was someone to take care of them.

    She continued her rant all the way through my accepting the quest. She paused only when I pointed out which of the children I wanted, which was of course the one to be pickpocketed.

    [New follower - Ragamuffin Pickpocket]

    As soon as I accepted the follower, the youthful duck came over and stood beside me. Trying to be polite, I asked its name and got only a sullen glare in response. I shrugged and left the orphanage. As soon as we stepped outside, the duckling followed me, automatically keeping a standard distance behind and to my left. Once we were out the door, it seemed to realize what was happening, or maybe some programming sprang into place.

    "Oh sir, thank you so much for adopting me. You won''t regret it." After that, the little duck wouldn¡¯t shut up. He kept up a stream of chatter all the way across town until I stopped outside the door of the Duck Brotherhood. The duckling gasped, "The brotherhood? You''re a member of the brotherhood? Oh my! Does that make me a member? I¡¯ve always wanted to join the Brotherhood!¡±

    ¡°Just follow my lead,¡± I told him.

    Duckling and I made our way back to the Duck Brotherhood. If they had been surprised to see me when I finished their initiation quest, now they were downright flabbergasted. I handed over the receipt for the bag of coal, and Greeter Duck just gaped at it in his feathery hand.

    "How did you survive?" Greeter Duck gaped.

    "Oh, easy. It was just a delivery quest."

    "And nothing happened while you were there?" Girl Duck asked, similarly incredulous.

    "Oh, there was some sort of commotion, but that wasn''t any of my business. I was just there for a drop-off, and that''s all I did. So¡­ does that earn me a new rank?"

    "What?" They all looked at each other and then back at me. "No, no, of course not," Duck #3 said. "For that, you must prove your..." He looked at the others helplessly to fill in the rest of his thought. "Your prowess at skull-dudgery."

    I shrugged. "Okay, who do you want me to kill?"

    His bill opened and closed again, and he looked back at the others. "How about the Emperor?" Greeter Duck suggested.

    "No, no," Girl Duck said. "There''s no way the system would allow that."

    I interjected, "You need something simpler, but no less impossible, right?"

    They all looked at me. What did embarrassment look like on the face of a duck, anyway? Whatever it was, this was probably it.

    The little duckling was wandering around the room, weaving between the others. "Hey, get away from that!" Greeter Duck snapped as the duckling started opening the drawers on a cupboard. The duckling appeared to lose interest and wandered away.

    I flipped through my menus quickly. There it was. Follower Inventory. Wow, this little duck had quite a few things on him. The inventory system was nice. I hadn''t used it much because I had little to show for my time in this game so far, but I was able to sort by how long something had been in the inventory. Sure enough, at the top of the list were several items clearly stolen from this very room. [Mysterious Message, Strange Missive, Poison Vial, Bloody Dagger], and a number of other suspicious artifacts presented themselves to me. The [Incriminating Note] was the most noteworthy.

    [I need you to send more coal to the kilns right away at our usual rate. The Dark Menace has disrupted my operations here in Quackitude, and my usual couriers are not available.]

    That sounded promising. I was pretty sure getting to the bottom of the Turducken Mystery was a key part of the main quest line, and if I could approach that from an oblique angle, it might prove worthwhile.

    I looked at the ducks who were still debating my next mission. "Are you sure you don''t have somethingin Quackitude there?"

    They glanced at each other again, and then put their heads back together. I figured it was obvious what they were talking about, so I inspected my inventory instead of turning on the closed captions. I usually left them off because, quite honestly, they were annoying the rest of the time, and downright distracting in combat.

    Most of the other items were uninteresting. There was a letter that struck me as odd. It was addressed from Pinfeatherstead, and described idyllic life on a farm. It was apparently from one of the three ducks'' family, wherever they had settled. Mostly it was boring and uninteresting, but it had two references to the System that piqued my interest.

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    This was not your usual NPC letter. Whoever had written it was connected with the Brotherhood and had a similar attitude as theirs. That did not match a proper NPC. They sounded like, well, players.

    But if they were players, what were they doing here, pretending to be NPCs?How long had they been here, and just what was their objective? They were taking steps to hide their presence, like killing quest givers. And they were generally disguising themselves as NPCs. It just didn''t add up. I was missing something.

    The huddle of ducks broke apart. "Yes, we do have a mission in Quackitude. One of our rivals, uh, let me think ¡ª ¡±

    ¡°Why don''t you just write it down?"

    "Oh, good idea!¡± Duck #3 nodded vigorously. He grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen made out of a human finger and started scratching down a note on the pad.

    ¡°You know, for quest givers, you guys are really bad at it." I pointed out.

    Greeter Duck muttered something that sounds like "We don''t get many customers."

    "I mean, if you''re trying to disguise yourself as NPCs, you need to be better at it. Just because most people aren''t able to pick up your quest doesn''t mean you shouldn''t be ready."

    Greeter Duck stopped writing his note and gaped at me. They all stared at me for a moment. There was that same embarrassed duck expression again.

    "Whatever do you mean, adventurer?" Duck #3 said with a voice of exaggerated confusion.

    "Yeah, never mind. Just give me the quest."

    The other two made hurry-up gestures to Greeter Duck, and he turned back to filling out the piece of parchment ehile the other two gave him helpful suggestions.

    "Defeat twelve members of the goose assassins guild and kill their leader. Bring back his feather.¡±

    ¡°No, head!¡±

    ¡°Head. Also, twelve potions of invincibility.¡±

    ¡°No, you can''t add that. That''s a completely different kind of quest. The system will reject it. You''ll have to give him two quests."

    "Oh, do you think that''d be a bit much?"

    "Nah, just use another piece of paper."

    I waited patiently as they finished their scribbling.

    "Here, here, I''ll do it," Duck #3 said, snatching both pieces of parchment. "Here, adventurer.¡± He flourished piece of parchment before handing it to me. ¡°This is your next assignment. And while you''re in Quackitude, here.¡± He handed me the second piece of paper. ¡°You can also bring us back some supplies we need."

    I accepted both. ¡°Perfect! See you soon.¡±

    I left the brotherhood and crossed town with my ragamuffin, headed for the front gates. The little scamp detoured to rob every person we passed. About half of them spotted him, and twice the guard gave him a good scolding. I stood a little ways off and pretended to take no notice each time, and the guard ignored me. Through the follower interface, I was able to grab all the loot before it was confiscated. The little scamp even robbed the guard himself as he was being scolded. The haul from that one was a pair of pink fur-covered handcuffs. That was weird.

    The others were random heirloom rings and a couple of coppers and one suspicious note that clearly was part of a blackmail quest somewhere.

    There was a wagon at the edge of town that seemed to offer a fast travel option, but the driver wouldn''t talk to me. Probably somewhere there was a quest chain to unlock that feature. There were certainly drawbacks to avoiding the main quest lines. It was a long, hard slog down the main road. Wide and tame though it was, random wild boars and wolves still occasionally came charging out of the forest to attack. Once, a bull chased me around a pasture where I had taken shelter from an enraged elk. All in all, It was a tedious journey.

    When I finally reached the gates of Quackitude, they were closed and sealed. Two guards stood outside.

    "Hold!" one of them said, holding out his hand and blocking my way with his spear. This guard was a ravenfolk with a short hooked beak. "None may enter the capital while rebellion is afoot."

    I kept up a relaxed and non-threatening posture. "Is that so?"

    "Yes, traitors to the Empire have been caught and even now are being punished within. Do you have a token from the Empire to prove your loyalty and allow passage?"

    I didn''t, of course, because I hadn''t been doing any of the entry quests. "No, as a matter of fact."

    "And so you may not enter." The guard stood back and took up a threatening pose with both hands on his spear. I was clearly dismissed.

    The other guard was a goose. He glanced at his companion and then beckoned me forward.

    "Hey, if you want to get in, I might be able to help,¡± he said, pitching his voice low so the other guard couldn''t hear him. "If you have a token of the rebellion, I might look the other way." He let his voice trail off suggestively.

    I didn''t have one of those either.

    "No? Sorry, then. I guess you can''t get in."

    "Is that so?" I asked the guard. I turned and eyed my ragamuffin. "Here," I said, and then opened my inventory and my follower inventory and started unloading everything that I thought might be considered contraband.

    "What? What are you doing?" the ragamuffin asked. "What, do you think I''m sworn to carry your burdens or something?"

    "Shut up, kid," I said and then closed the follower interface.

    "If you''ve got no business here," the first guard exclaimed, "then you should move along!"

    He had barely finished the sentence when I punched him in the face.

    Three seconds later, my screen faded and I woke up in prison. A guard was unlocking the barred cell door.

    "And let that be a lesson to you before you consider breaking any more of the Empire''s laws. All right, out you go."

    The guard who opened the cell led me out. "Your things will be in this chest," he pointed to a large trunk not far from the cell. "Except anything that was stolen or illegal," he added, leering at me. Geese are actually really, really good at leering.

    ¡°Great.¡± I opened the chest and grabbed the small handful of things that I¡¯d kept on me.

    "Do you want that other stuff back?"

    I just about jumped out of my skin. The ragamuffin was suddenly behind me. "No, not yet, kid. Hang on."

    The guard tapped his spear butt impatiently on the floor. "All right, come on."

    He led the way up the stairs, taking no particular notice that a child had suddenly appeared in his dungeon. At the top of the stairs, he paused.

    "Come on, don''t dally."

    He was standing there staring straight at me when something dark rustled past. It was a humanoid form in a flowing cape, moving quickly, which made it difficult to make out. The guard didn''t react at all, continuing to look at me, but four other guards came running into the room.

    "Halt, thief! You''ll face the regent''s justice!"

    The caped form jumped up onto a window nearby. It was open. He stood for a moment on the ledge. He paused on the ledge to turn. One arm held the cape up, blocking the lower half of its face.

    "You''ll never catch me!" a deep voice taunted them. "I am the terror that honks in the night!"

    There was something oddly familiar about that voice. The figure spun, and with a rustle of dark cape, it vanished out the window.

    "Was that who I think it was?" one of the guards asked.

    The captain of the squad nodded. "That''s right, boys. That was Darkwing Goose."

    I thought it odd that they weren''t following him, and I decided that I would. I ran across the room and jumped out the window. It was a lot farther down than I had expected, but just before I hit the ground, I jumped in the air. My fall was momentarily interrupted, and I landed lightly on my feet. Oh, when it comes to cheese, sometimes the old classics work best.

    The flapping cloak was disappearing around a corner half a block away. I took off after it as fast as I could. All the running and dodging in the forest to avoid getting caught had given me a few skill points in sprint, which came in handy now. For most of the day, I had been using the skill almost on cooldown, and it had added up.

    I dashed around the corner and down a short alley and came out on a darkened street in the middle of which stood a large carriage. I guess it was a carriage. It looked like the severed head of a goose, with a big bill stretched out in front, beyond which were four ostrich-like creatures harnessed to the vehicle. The top of the goose''s head was cut away, leaving the inside of the skull as the open top of an open carriage. The effect was pretty creepy.

    "Hi-ya!" The cloaked figure was already cracking the reins, and the birds pulling the carriage took off at a run.

    I leaped and just caught the back of the goose head. "Hey, wait for me!"

    "What are you doing here?" the deep voice demanded. I turned and looked straight into the face of...

    Shad Williams?

 Bk 4.5 Ch 10 - Putting Our Heads Together

    "Oh, hey, Colin. I didn''t realize you''d caught up with me. How''s your exploit going?" Shad''s calm voice, coming from what was clearly a black-clad masked vigilante, caught me off guard. I spluttered and hung on to the carriage seat as we raced away from the prison.

    "My quest pop-up alerted me there was a shady type in the guards'' keeping that I might be able to rescue," Shad continued. "What affiliation are you? Imperial Guard? The Goose Coup?"

    "Uh, no," I said, still tongue-tied.

    "I can help you out as long as you''re not too far down either side of the Civil War plotline. Once you reach the tipping point, I''m not able to interact anymore. Doesn''t matter which side. Most of the rest of our folk are with the Imperials and getting close to being ready to mount an assault against the rebels. Mak¡¯gar''s crew largely threw in with the Coup, so I expect us to go head-to-head in another day or two."

    ¡°That sounds like a bad plan.¡±

    Shad frowned and shook his head. "I figured out a little too late that it was a trap and probably explained why most of the prior teams had gotten wiped out. By the time you''re far enough along to advance the Civil War quest line, you haven''t got that many respawns left available to you. Then it puts you head-to-head against other players. This reality engine has a nasty sense of humor," he said admiringly.

    The spectral ostriches drawing the carriage made a hoof-clattering noise that didn¡¯t at all match as their long-toed feet hit the cobblestones of Quackitude''s main street. We turned down one alley and drew up alongside a tall, three-story crooked-looking building made of dark timber and thatching. It loomed over us ominously.

    "Welcome to the Fowl Lair," Shad said, dismounting and bowing theatrically as he ushered me off the carriage. We entered through a side door and immediately clattered down. "I found this about two days ago," he continued. "Once I saw that the main line was going to drop us all in the shit, I decided to take a page from your book and was exploiting one of the side quests. This one seems to be called the Daring-Do quest line. If you want, I can try to help you get started on it. It wasn''t too hard to pick up the origin quest, and it''s got some pretty sweet perks. I''ve got a mansion and a butler and that cool carriage you saw outside."

    "No, that''s fine," I said, just as Duckling phased in and began waddling down the stairs to join us. Shad stared.

    "Who''s this?"

    "He''s my follower. He''s an orphan pickpocket."

    Shad''s eyes lit up. He had stripped off his hood and mask and looked even more bizarre now, wearing the voluminous dark outfit which I guessed probably had his trademark drover''s coat underneath it. He spread his dark wings wide. "Welcome to the Fowl Lair, little one," he said. "Would you like to hear what a life of crime can do for you?"

    The duckling quacked excitedly. "Yes, yes. I have been adopted once. I am perfectly willing to be adopted again by a richer and more devious patron."

    ¡°Oy,¡± I said, "you little traitor. Who''s not devious?"

    Shad laughed as we stepped into a wide basement room. I had to admire it as I looked around. There were armor forms hung with different dark-colored armor, everything from light cloth meant for mages to leather for rogues and heavy black plate for those idiots who preferred to get hit directly. There were weapons of every sort, all in black and all with a wing motif to them somewhere on the handle, the pommel, or carved onto the blade. There were chests in the corner piled high with healing potions and daughts of poison, and a table laden with eight different kinds of cheese and a piece of bread. The duckling wandered over and helped himself.

    "Hey, you shouldn''t eat bread," Shad called. "I heard it''s bad for ducks, swells up in their stomachs or something."

    Duckling ignored him.

    "So, what have you been doing?" he asked, turning to me.

    I explained in general terms what I had learned. His face grew more and more intent. "They''re manufacturing the Turducken, this Duck Brotherhood?¡±

    "I don¡¯t think it¡¯s just them, but they are heavily involved," I confirmed. "And they definitely aren''t just normal NPCs. They sounded really confused. I''ve never run into any part of a fragment that acted quite like that. It was like..." I hesitated, then decided what the hell. Shad was the only one whom I might be able to confide this in anyway. "I don''t think they''re NPCs. I think they''re real."

    "Like galactic miners who''ve gotten stuck here?" Shad asked.

    I had considered that option already, but I shook my head now. "I don''t think so. I think they might be remnants of the original population. I mean, maybe they''re the miners who the Galactics first exploited. This could be their equivalent of a Lotus-Eater level. They all hid in here, and then the Galactics tightened their hold for the reality engine. And now, what if we''ve been hired to hunt the last remnants out?"

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    That was a thought that twisted my stomach. Shad said nothing for a good moment, just frowning, his face working. I could tell he was thinking. Don''t make any jokes about Shad''s brain power. He''s one of the cleverest men I''ve ever met, even if he rarely gives himself credit for it, and sometimes his plans are a little volatile.

    "If you''re right," he said. "Damn it, this changes everything. I''ve got to know." He thought about it. "You say they''re killing the starting quest giver over and over?"

    I explained exactly how I''d managed to acquire the quest in the first place.

    "Right, well, thanks to this Daring-Do quest line, I''ve already got inroads with several of the underground factions. I might be able to find a side way in myself. But that means I''m not going to be able to work on delaying the Civil War like I''d been hoping. And I think that''s even more critical now." He nodded his head, clearly making his mind up about something. "We''re going to have to switch places, Colin. I''m going to take back this quest reward, and you''re going to take over being the Terror that Honks in the Night."

    "Wait, what?"

    "I need to find out what''s really going on. I''ve got some ideas. The shortest way is right through the Duck Brotherhood. But in the meantime, you''ve got to stop the Civil War from getting any farther. It''s about to get hot. Like I said, most players have chosen a side by now, and that means they are about to kick off an attack. The rebels are going to sack White Plume, and the Empire is planning an attack on Yellowtail. I will send a message to all our people begging them to hold off, but you know how well they listen."

    I nodded. Maybe a direct order would hold them¡­ but likely not for long.

    "I think I''ll be able to buy us a day or two, but not more than that. The rebels are mostly Mak''gar and his orcs. You''re going to have to find a way to defend White Plume."

    "I''ve been avoiding the place at all costs," I said. "I''m trying not to kick off the main quest line."

    "You haven''t been there at all?" Shad asked. "So you''ve only encountered the first Turducken. You''re not absorbing souls and powering up the Honk."

    "I don''t even know what that is," I said.

    "Oh, well, once you go to White Plume, you get a quest right away to see what''s going on and then another Turducken attacks and you have to kill it, and you absorb its soul, and then you learn the power of the Honk and the Grey Wattles try to train you up," Shad rattled off gleefully. "I''m sure once you get to White Plume, you''ll see."

    "But I don''t want to go to White Plume."

    "Look," Shad said, his face growing grim. "I''m pretty sure if we let the Civil War go any further, we''re going to lose enough people to reset the entire game. We don''t want that."

    I guess I agreed with him there. His words were making my thoughts spin furiously. "I think I''ve got an idea," I said. "You don''t have any intelligence on where the Rebels are gathering their forces?"

    "Nope," he said cheerfully. "But all you have to do is join the Goose Coup and you''ll get a quest to send you to their forward base."

    "Any idea who the Rebel recruiter is in this town?"

    "The Terror that Honks in the Night always knows," Shad said cheerfully. "It''s the barkeep at the Wandering Toad Inn down by the gate."

    "I''ll get to it."

    Shad nodded. "I''ll meet you back here when I know what I need to know. It shouldn''t take me more than a day or so. I hope. If I''m not here, I''ll leave a note."

    "Sounds good to me," I said cheerfully, even though I was seriously worried about where this was going.

    I visited the Wandering Toad Inn, where I bought a mug of ale and another one for Duckling. They seemed to have no concerns about serving minors in here. Then I got the barkeep to open up to me about the Rebels.

    "They''re fighting to return our way of life," he said importantly, puffing up his pin feathers and spreading his blue-tipped wings wide. But he launched into a spiel about the glories of the past that didn''t seem to me as though it was connected to any reality. As he wound up, he leaned in close. "So what do you say? You look like a likely-looking lad. Are you ready to do your part for your country?"

    "Yes, I am," I declared. He extended one wing and dropped a token into my hand, showing a webbed bird foot. "Just take this along to the training camp. You''ll see it marked on your map now."

    I pulled up my map, and there it was. About equidistant between here and White Plume. I very much doubted it was the forward location where the Rebels would be staging their attack on White Plume. But once I got to the training camp, there would no doubt be a quest. With luck, I could short-circuit it and find out exactly what the Rebels were up to.

    I finished my beer and set off. Since there was no fast travel from Quackitude to the training camp, Duckling and I had to run cross-country, dodging yet more wolves. By now, my run was pretty high, and my sneak wasn''t bad either. I was looking forward to getting my build online once I''d solved this current crisis.

    We got challenged by Rebel Sentry Roosters. I handed over the token, and they welcomed me in, taking me to the camp quartermaster, who gave me a set of Rebel soldier armor, which I promptly dumped in my inventory, planning never to use, and a set of initial tasks. Collect some materials for healing potions, fight off wolves, oh, and attack a nearby Imperial stronghold. I accepted all of them, and then prowled around the camp.

    As the NPCs engaged in scripted banter, none of them gave me the sense of being anything more than normal NPCs. There was a big map table, and when I looked at it, the map was blank. There was also a command tent, and a guard at its door. He spread his wings wide when I tried to enter.

    "You haven''t earned enough rank for that, recruit."

    That was starting to sound promising. I withdrew a little way from the camp, and then activated my follower menu, choosing the options to directly control my follower.

    I highlighted a piece of ground and told Duckling, "Go there." He did. It was a very clunky interface. I walked Duckling one ten-foot section at a time right over to the camp. Then when the guard''s back was turned, I ordered him to enter the tent and steal everything that was in it.

    The guard turned around and caught him. I quickly opened Duckling''s inventory and snagged everything out of it as the guard gave him one of those preloaded lectures about not stealing and straightening up.

    I released my control, and Duckling started to meander back to me as I looked at what I''d just stolen.

    One of the items was labeled [Army Map]. I opened it up and felt a whoosh of information as my own game map filled in. Now four different sets of camps appeared in pairs, one marked with the Imperial swords and the other the Rebel Duckfoot logo.

    I grinned. That was more like it. There was a Rebel camp just outside White Plume, all right.

    I gathered up Duckling, we fast-traveled back to Quackitude, and I hopped on the carriage for White Plume, ready at last to join the main quest line.

 Bk 4.5 Ch 11 - Turducking

    Before I reached White Plume, I jogged east a little ways until I found the Rebel encampment. I approached the camp in Sneak. The guards were much higher level than me and could have seen right through me, but since I was a Rebel and on their side, they didn''t break my concealment. The camp was nearly bursting at the seams with orcs. Rok''gar''s father, Mak''gar, was assembling his troops, at least a couple dozen. Rok''gar was busy outfitting them with gear and they were preparing for war. There didn''t seem to be any real urgency to their movements, so hopefully, I had time to pay this off.

    I ordered Duckling to wait at the outskirts of the camp and loaded a few choice items into his inventory before doubling back to White Plume. There, I made a detour to the Shady Skills trainer. Thanks to my membership in the Duck Brotherhood, those always appeared on my mini-map, and I was easily able to locate him in the cellar of the potions shop. He offered an assortment of lockpicks, crowbars, single-use disguise kits, various potion recipes, and what I''d been hoping for¡ª a couple of Sneak and Backstab enchantments that I should be high enough to learn with a little bit of time spent at the enchanting table.

    I paused because he had one more interesting option: a spellbook of Buff Undead. I read the description: "Increases Undead targets'' stats by 30% for 2 seconds. Scales based on user''s Sneak level."

    I had seen the elements before for a Sneak Necromancer build, which I wasn''t going for, and this was clearly meant to augment it. I considered it. It would take all my money, and I wouldn''t be able to afford the Backstab enchantments, not just yet, but it would fit beautifully with what I was planning.

    I bought it, learned it, and cast it a few times on the Undead rats scurrying around the cellar. At my level of Sneak, the enhancement lasted for 15 seconds. It took all of my magic to cast, but I regenerated that fast enough that by the time the buff wore off, I could cast it again. And it didn''t have a cooldown or a target limit either. I grinned. Things were starting to click into place.

    After that, I proceeded to the top of White Plume and presented myself outside the Drake''s castle, where a pair of guards harassed me.

    "What business have you with the Drake?" one of them asked.

    A list of options popped up. It was a pretty long list by now, as I spotted all of the various different prompts that could have sent me over here. I''d been dodging coming for quite a while now, it seemed. I selected, "I have news for the Drake about the appearance of the Turducken."

    They scoffed at me. "The Turducken is legend! It doesn''t exist.¡±

    ¡°But if it did, someone should warn the Drake,¡± the second guard pointed out.

    "I suppose you''re right," the first guard said. They stood aside and watched me disappear up the stairs as one of them commented, "I used to be an adventurer like you before I took an arrow to the wing."

    I ignored them and entered the Drake''s Hall. It was a wooden thatch building like a Viking mead hall with tables of feasting warriors and their dependents. The Drake sat on a throne at the top of the hall. I headed for him, and his advisor and an armored woman stepped down. The woman was humanoid with a bit of an orcish cast to her features, but she had hair, so she wasn''t an orc.

    "The Drake is not to be disturbed while feasting," the woman declared.

    Again, I selected, "I have news about the Turducken."

    The woman glared at me. "You are just trying to stir up trouble here. Be gone."

    The advisor intervened. "I will speak to the Drake about this." He went and whispered to the large birdman on the throne, who nodded a long-necked head. The advisor waddled back. "This is not the first rumor the Drake has heard about such things."

    I suppressed a grin. Certainly wasn''t. ¡°A patrol was sent out to the Western Watchtower at dawn. They have not yet returned. Perhaps you could go and see what is keeping them. That is the closest tower to the Dreadfort where you say the Turducken appeared.¡±

    I accepted the quest. Just like Shad had said, I would be sent out there, and another Turducken would appear, giving me a second chance to absorb its soul and start the Honk power chain.

    The Drake indicated the woman in armor. "My right-wing woman, Astrid, will accompany you."

    I felt a moment of panic, worrying she would kick Duckling out of my party, but she didn''t actually become a follower. She just dogged my steps as I left the keep.

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    We made our way down through White Plume and out the gates. I immediately set off toward the Western Watchtower. Meanwhile, I checked through my inventory and queued a few things up: Potion of Fleet Foot, Potion of Fire Resist, Healing Potion, and, for good measure, equipped the Boots of Major Fire Resistance I had gotten as a reward from the refueling the kilns quest. How boots shaped for ducks could fit my feet was beyond me, but they did.

    We approached the watchtower. Even from a good ways off, I could see it smoking and in ruins, but Astrid didn''t seem to notice until we had almost reached it and stumbled over pieces of masonry fallen to the ground and a couple of dead bodies. Then she drew up, holding tight to her spear.

    "What could have done this? Bandits or..."

    There was a roar overhead. A Turducken circled. It lobbed a stuffing breath ball at us. I leaped aside as it crashed into the earth and kicked up a load of dirt. Then I shot one spell at it and made sure that it hit, turned, and took off running. The Turducken followed.

    I kept glancing over my shoulder to check on its location. It had a pretty well-defined swoop pattern where it would come in low, land, hurl a stuffing breath, swoop back, get up high ahead of me, fire a longer range attack, then swoop back down again. All the time I was running, so its loops got longer and longer. Other than dodging the stuffing breath, it wasn''t too bad. It might have been annoying if I was trying to hit it as it was constantly flying around. That wasn''t my plan.

    I raced eastward. Soon I could see the rise where the rebel encampment waited. Duckling should be just ahead of me.

    I toggled my follower interface. This was going to be the tricky part. I could see through Duckling''s eyes, but that made it really difficult to keep running.

    I ordered him forward into the camp and commanded him to drop the explosives I''d put in his pocket with a one-second fuse.

    I switched back to my own vision and dodged another stuffing attack just in time. Up ahead came fire and explosions. There was a bunch of shouts and a clatter of armor as the guards and orcs in the camp leapt up and started looking for who was throwing bombs.

    I sprinted forward, activating my ability and burning all my stamina to move as fast as possible. Since Duckling was the one to have set off the explosion, I was still labeled as an ally to the guards. I raced right into the camp and dove into the big tent, then activated my Sneak just as the turducken landed in the center of the camp.

    The orcs started shouting and attacking the turducken. I turned and targeted it and hit it with my Buff Undead spell. Its tail lashed out, its wings kicked orcs skyward.

    It bit down and chopped the head right off of Mak''gar, their leader. I couldn''t have planned it better myself. Orcs don''t do well at change of command during the middle of a battle.

    As my buff ran low, I cast it on the Turducken a second time. It sprayed stuffing all over the camp. The remaining orcs were hacking it to pieces pretty quickly. This wouldn''t be the first Turducken they had seen, but I had taken them off guard, and this one was awfully powerful. By the time it fell, only a couple of orcs were left. I felt its soul whoosh into me. This time I let it. I wasn¡¯t planning on sticking around for the quest chain anyway.

    I heard Rok''gar out in the camp stomping around. "How did this happen? Who did this? What''s going on here?"

    I slipped out of the camp, still in stealth, and picked my way past the lines. Most of the guards were dead. I was halfway down the hill when I heard Rok''gar''s voice again.

    "Why did you do this?"

    I turned. He was staring right at me. I could tell he couldn''t quite see me because his eyes were not properly focused, but he was looking right where I was. I must have been disturbing plants as I went.

    "I thought we were friends, Colin," he called.

    I felt bad, but I wasn''t stupid enough to reply. Instead, I waited until his gaze shifted somewhere else, then took three steps to the side and froze again.

    "I thought we were playing this straight," he continued. "This is a stupid cheese. You should be ashamed of yourself."

    I waited, not daring to breathe, until he finally gave up and stomped back into the camp.

    I went ahead and turned in the quest to the Drake of White Plume, even though that progressed me farther down the main line. I was going to need the money it gave me as a reward for this next bit. It wasn''t much, 40 gold. That was enough to buy the Sneak and Backstab enchantments I¡¯d been needing.

    As I left the shop to consider my next move, a nondescript NPC approached me. He was a duck person, drab of feather, carrying a satchel slung over his shoulder.

    "Just who I''ve been looking for," he told me cheerfully. "I''ve got a message for you. Let''s see." He reached into his satchel, searched around, then produced an envelope for me. "That''s it." He turned and ran off, and I, curious, opened the message. I assumed it would be the next point on my quest. Perhaps the Grey Wattles were summoning me to secret training.

    Colin, by the time you get this, I''ll be dead.

    That sounds nice and dramatic, doesn''t it? Anyway, I figured out enough of what''s going on, and I''ve got to get outside of the system to put some things together on my end. I think I''ve figured out how to get a good ending on this, one that lets us walk away feeling good about ourselves. I''m leaving you all the resources I''ve collected as the terror that honks in the night.

    What I need you to do is persuade the Duck Brotherhood to listen and come out of hiding. You''ll need to end the game fast before anyone else can strike. I think you''re going to have a narrow window there, so be ready.They don¡¯t trust me enough to let me talk, but I think you¡¯ve got a better chance. Tell them we¡¯re waiting for them out here, and I¡¯ll have help.

    Shad.

    I crumpled up the message, tossed it away, thinking furiously. He could have left me a lot more details, but I suppose he didn''t have to. Well, I¡¯d been working on a way to put a fast end to the game all along, and now I knew what I needed to do. Time to put this exploit into action.

 Bk 4.5 Ch 12 - Feathered Royalty

    Duckling and I fast-traveled back to Quackitude, where I entered Shad''s mansion and raided its stores. He''d done a lot better for himself than I had. I collected everything, sorting it into "keep" and "sell." Then we visited every vendor in town. This game had that annoying setup where vendor gold was capped and you could only sell so much to each vendor. Meanwhile, every time we visited, I looked at their inventories. If I liked what I saw, I had Duckling sneak up behind them and rob them blind. By the time I was done offloading Shad''s inheritance, I had a war chest and a bunch of supplies.

    Now it was time for a grind. This is the part where you should cue the montage music. I found the nearest enchanting station and started leveling up my enhanced smithing enchantment. Once I''d gotten that as high as I could, I headed for a blacksmith where I crafted every kind of dagger imaginable. I ground that skill from 10 all the way up to 100. That let me put points into ¡°Feel the Tip," a perk which would make my daggers 50% stabbier.

    Seriously, that was the stat. Stabbiness. Daggers had raw damage, but stabbiness was a multiplier on that. Which was going to make this all work out.

    Then it was back to the enchanting table to learn the new enchantments I''d picked up back in White Plume with the Drake¡¯s reward money.

    I could already load my gear with increased sneak and backstab damage enchantments. But that wasn''t going to be good enough. I would craft the stabbiest, most powerful dagger ever, thanks to Shad''s stacks of Dragonsteel bars, and enchant it with a life drinker spell.

    I was looking at 276 points of damage from a backstab attack launched from sneak, and the new enchant should let me double that. The Turduckens I had been fighting all had hundreds of hit points. I had to guess the final boss would be the same. But I needed to find out who, or what, he was, so before I finished off my scheme, it was time to read the lore.

    I headed back to the Duck Brotherhood. They were all in a kerfuffle, waddling around, quacking their heads off, talking about the outsider who had invaded their lair. When Duckling and I entered, they barely noticed.

    I headed for Greeter Duck. I caught hold of him, putting one of my hands on each of his feathery shoulders and forced him to look at me. "Hey, hey, listen."

    He stiffened, squawked, then looked me in the eye, his beady little duck eyes full of fear.

    "I need to talk to whoever''s really in charge."

    "You led the monster to us," Greeter Duck said. "You betrayed the Brotherhood."

    I shook my head. "Nope. I think I''ve done you a greater service than you all appreciate. Now, I need to talk to your leader, whoever he or she is."

    Greeter Duck quacked, and the others surrounded me. "Let me talk to whoever''s in charge here," I said. I sensed a ripple of quacking around the room. Then finally Girl Duck said, "Fine. If he wants to speak with the Queen, so be it."

    Girl Duck led me to a platform in the middle of the room. She stood in its center, and I joined her. The whole thing rotated with the sound of grinding stone before lowering. We disappeared deep beneath the Duck Brotherhood''s sanctuary.

    The stone slid smoothly downward into darkness. It settled into place with a splash. A moment later, pale light sprang up around us. The stone was now an island surrounded by water. A little ways off floated an enormous nest. The nest was made of a few logs and lined with thousands of tiny feathers. Well, they looked tiny from here, but I was guessing they were from the human-sized ducks I''d been seeing everywhere else. It looked big enough for a turducken, if nothing else.

    A head poked out over the top of the nest, a huge female duck with a crown. She looked at me. "This is the outsider who so troubled you?¡±

    Girl Duck bowed, sweeping her wings back. "No, your majesty. This is the first outsider, the one who found a way to join our Brotherhood. The second intruder is gone.¡±

    ¡°He failed out of the zone in order to get some things done topside," I said, and noted how the Queen Duck''s eyes narrowed. "You know exactly what I''m talking about, don''t you? You people all know exactly what this is."

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    "We are the last vestiges of the true rulers of Duckrim," the Queen said. I could hear a note of panic in her quack. "We will remove the Imperial trespassers from our land and..."

    I held up a hand. "It''s a simulation. Your land is far from here, isn''t it? You were taken."

    Her eyes flashed. "What do you know of it? You''re one of the murderers, the hairless ones who came and ripped our nestworld from us, took us from our kin."

    "I''m actually not," I said. "I don''t know how much Shad told you, but the same thing happened to us, more recently than you, I think. Bunch of alien jerks showed up and tried to kidnap a lot of humans and force them into slavery. We managed to fight them off. Our own reality engine is free, and our homeworld is safe."

    "And so now you come to ours to help them take what little we have left?"

    I held up a hand. "Shad says he''s working on a plan to help you out, and I believe him. But I need something from you."

    "Why would we trust you?"

    "Because I''m the first one who''s paid enough attention to realize you''re here, but I won''t be the last," I said. "You can bet people will be scrutinizing the records of my attempt. Even if I was trying to hide you, I couldn''t. Our sponsor owns the playbacks, and they''ll see it. This is your one chance. Trust me, throw in with us, and let''s try something else."

    I couldn''t help adding, "How long have you been playing this game, getting the exploiters to trap themselves here until they run out of time?"

    "I''ve lost count," the Queen said, sounding suddenly tired. "It''s hard to know in this place."

    I felt sorry for her. "Then it''s time to take a risk. Let¡¯s try to get your people out of here."

    "What do you want from me?" She sounded sad and tired. I felt sorry for her. I¡¯m no bleeding heart, but if there was a way to help these duckfolk, I wanted to find it.

    "You''re the ones behind the turducken attacks. If I''m right, you''ve been faking the entire so-called main quest line, as well as keeping the Civil War going."

    "Yes," the Queen admitted. "If the players don''t get involved in the Civil War, then eventually, the main line, they''ll go up against the Ostriswan.¡±

    I blinked. "The what?" I held up my hand. "No, wait. Let me guess. Like one of your turduckens, except it''s an ostrich and a swan."

    "And a duck," the Queen said softly. "That is the real reason I am willing to speak with you. The turducken contain the souls of my people. Every time they die and their souls are taken, it is agony to our brave volunteers. They return to us at the end of a cycle, but only after weeks or months trapped inside the essence of an alien. We have already lost many to madness. I can''t keep asking them to do it."

    "Wait, so the turducken are powered by...your people¡¯s souls? And when the turducken die their souls get trapped?¡±

    "When you leave this engine, they can respawn. But it is a hellish, nightmarish existence until then."

    I felt nauseous. I had a soul of one of the Duck Brotherhood inside me right now, and I was supposed to use it to power some stupid game-changing ability I hadn¡¯t even bothered to look at. "That''s a pretty gruesome fate."

    "Indeed," the Duck Queen said. The queen duck slumped in her nest, all the spirit gone out of her. ¡°What do you want from us?"

    "You''re protecting something. I think you''re protecting the last fragment of your reality engine. I need to find him and persuade him to give up the fight."

    "No.¡± She shook her head, her wide bill quivering with dismay. "No. He protects us and we protect him."

    ¡°I know, but it''s turned into a trap," I said. "Galactic records say this exploit started about 600 of your world''s years ago."

    ¡°Six hundred,¡± the queen whispered. ¡°So long. What of the others in our world?"

    "I don''t know," I said. "It''s time you came out."

    The duck queen raised her wings. She flapped twice, powerful wind beating down against me and Girl Duck. I raised a hand to protect myself as the queen flapped up to the edge of her nest and peered down at me. She was an enormous creature, larger than any of the turduckens in the high mountains.

    ¡°Our fragment is not entirely stable anymore. It is protected by the great Ostriswan, the one we bring in to take out particularly dangerous players. The Ostriswan has never been defeated. He is powered by my mate''s soul," she quacked softly. "I have not spoken to him in hundreds of years. From how the ducks condemned to the turducken respawn, I fear he may be beyond madness at this point."

    ¡°Then you must listen to me and end this. It¡¯s time to stop hiding and face the world. You may have been safe here, but your time is running out. This place is destroying your people.¡±

    ¡°What more can we do? Where can we go?¡±

    ¡°Trust my people. Let us help you.¡±

    For a long moment she considered my words with her head bowed as if under the weight of the centuries. Finally she looked up. ¡°I will let you talk to the king. If you can convince him then¡­¡± She trailed off and did not complete the sentence.

    ¡°So¡­ Ostriswan. In the mountains. Can you give me a location?"

    She raised her wings and flapped again. A single enormous feather detached itself and drifted toward me. It landed, and I seized it like a sword. The feather dissolved in my hands. I checked my mini-map. A new marker had appeared.

    "Thank you,¡± I said. ¡°I''ll go and have a word with your fragment. You tell your people it''s time to come out of hiding."

    The queen duck quacked sadly.

    ¡°Oh, and I need one more thing from you lot. An enchanting recipe. Something special.¡±

    The queen tilted her head to one side. ¡°Go ahead¡­.¡±

    I told her what I wanted. ¡°Done,¡± she said. ¡°Our guild vendor will sell it to you when you return upstairs.¡±

    "I''m ready to leave," I told Girl Duck, and the stone platform slowly ascended upward.

 Bk 4.5 Ch 13 - All Quacked Up

    I visited the Duck Brotherhood vendor, where I found what I had been looking for. Then I set up at an enchanting station.

    I drank one of my potions to buff my enchanting effectiveness. Duckling and I had managed to find a total of ten in all our shopping. Next, I enchanted two rings and a circlet with buffs to further enchanting. I equipped them, drank the next potion, and created another set.

    I repeated until I had one potion left. I could always visit another town or wait until the vendors restocked, but I had a feeling time was tight, and I wanted to get on with this.

    I put on my last set of upgraded enchanting gear and drank the last potion, giving me a total of 400% bonus to whatever I enchanted. Then I took out my best stabby dagger and hit it with the new stealth enchantment from the Duck Brotherhood. Enchantment: Grant a bonus to all attacks made while sneaking equivalent to 15% of sneak multipled by stabby bonus.

    With all of the enchanting buffs I had on it, that bonus skyrocketed. My dagger had a base damage of 6-10 damage. The stabby bonus was 50%. My Backstab skill was high enough any attack I made while behind a target was doubled. I had points into increased damage while attacking from stealth, and that was before this took affect.

    In my shopping, I had managed to find two potions of greater sneak, which increased my skill by 10%. The base skill I had maxed out at 100, but adding gear and potions could take me well over the cap. With all of the buffs to my gear, I could have my sneak at 257 points when I drank one of the potions.

    My math said I would be dealing between 600 and 900 points of damage. If I was in the right position, with the right buffs, at the right moment. I had to make this work.

    "I can''t risk bringing you," I told Duckling.

    "That''s not fair. You''re abandoning your ward?" he demanded.

    "I don''t think you can sneak. I can''t risk you attracting the Ostriswan''s attention," I said. I called up my follower interface and dismissed Duckling. He looked so sad, I flipped him a couple of gold coins, which he caught deftly in his bill.

    "Thanks, Governor. I''ll always remember you." Then he ran off.

    I still wasn''t sure if Duckling was an NPC or one of the real people stuck in this instance, but I watched him go with fondness. Then I checked my map.

    Mount Drake was the tallest mountain in Duckrym, located nearly in the center of my map. From what I''d learned, in White Plume, the Grey Waddles had a temple there somewhere, but I wasn''t interested in them. The quest marker the Queen had given me was at the top of the mountain. I had a feeling the Ostriswan would be waiting for me there, so I set off to the town at the bottom of the mountain.

    I poked around and got some information from the NPCs. They offered me a couple of local quests, which I ignored, and a carry quest asking me to take food up to the Grey Wattles. The innkeeper pointed me to the path up the mountain. He called it the Four Thousand Steps, and as soon as I reached the bottom, I saw why. The trail was practically carved into the mountain, leading upward.

    Why did bird people, bother with carving steps? Why didn''t they just fly? Come to think of it, I''d yet to see any of the bird people using their wings to get around. Maybe they couldn''t fly.

    It didn''t matter. I set off up the Four Thousand Steps.

    Four hours later, I was still at it. That was where my low level was getting to be a problem. The mountain was teeming with wolves, snow spirits, yetis, and angry goats, all of which saw me as an easy target. I narrowly avoided getting headbutted off the mountain by a particularly angry goat. When I dropped into Sneak, I could get past them, but Sneak cut my speed down by a lot. I''d put a couple of perk points into it, but it was still pretty slow.

    I was making my painfully tedious way up the mountain when I heard what I guessed were other miners coming up behind me. I pressed myself into a cleft in the mountainside, keeping Sneak active, and listened as they approached.

    It was Rok''gar with four of his orc friends.

    They were talking about the Ostriswan. I guess they had gotten far enough that the game was throwing them against it.

    "Keep an eye out," Rok''gar was saying. "Good place for an ambush."

    "The humans have given up, and we''re about all that''s left," one of his friends retorted. "Who''ll make an ambush?"

    "Just be careful," Rok''gar said as they continued up.

    I followed them, staying well back and out of their sight. The good news was they cleared the path up the mountain for me, and I followed the trail of dead yeti corpses and shimmering snow beast remains. We passed the Grey Wattle Temple, the orcs ignoring it, just as I was, taking a path to the right that led farther up.

    When I reached the top, the orcs were there, standing outside a cave. Inside the cave, something enormous stirred. The orcs were preparing for battle.

    "It''s just a big turducken," Rok''gar''s friend was saying. "We''ve taken on plenty of those already."

    "No point in taking risks," Rok''gar said as he handed out potions. His allies were unsheathing their weapons and checking them over.

    I took a deep breath. I liked Rok''gar and had worked with him. What if I tried to explain to him what was really going on here?

    The problem was, I didn''t entirely understand it myself. I was taking it on faith that Shad had figured out more than I had and had the right answer. Rok''gar wasn''t going to like that. He appreciated having an objective and working to achieve it. Besides, after what I''d done to them with the Civil War quest, I doubted he was ready to listen.

    So I popped my first potion of Greater Sneak and edged carefully past them. I had ten seconds of Greater Sneak left by the time I reached the cave mouth and slipped inside.

    The creature with was enormous, with the body of a swan on the legs of an ostrich, at least three times the size of any turducken I had seen. It slept on a nest, piled with skulls and gold. I slipped around inside and got into position on the back.

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    The orcs approached the cave. One of them shouted a challenge, and the Ostriswan rose from the nest. It reared back, opening its mouth wide and breathing out a fiery chunk of stuffing breath.

    I stepped forward, drinking my second Greater Sneak potion, and stabbed it in its feathery rear. I dealt 876 points of damage in one blow, but that wasn''t enough to kill it. The Ostriswan shrieked, raising up and bashing its head into the ceiling.

    Backstab had a one-second cooldown. I dodged to the side just in case it tried to come after me, and as soon as Backstab was off cooldown, I used it again.

    That did it. The Ostriswan collapsed onto its nest.

    I got a system message: [Do you wish to absorb this soul?]

    Knowing what I did now, I most certainly did not, but I was afraid what would happen if I didn''t, so I clicked OK and felt it rush inside me.

    "What''s going on?" one of the orcs called. "What happened?"

    "Must be a glitch," Rok''gar said.

    I quickly opened the loot interface and removed a single coin from its inventory before backing off, keeping up my stealth.

    "We can loot it," one of Rok''gar''s friends observed as they approached the dead bird.

    "Who got the soul?" Rok''gar asked.

    "Not me," all of his friends replied.

    "We need the soul in order to use the King''s Honk and end this war. We''ll have to wait for it to respawn."

    "On the other hand, that means we can loot it twice," one of his friends remarked.

    Rok''gar brightened up. "Yeah, I can make a nice set of arrows with these tail feathers."

    He and his friends retreated to prepare, and I sat behind the Ostriswan''s corpse. Without my potion of greater sneak, I wasn''t sure I could get past them without them noticing. If Rok''gar found I had interfered with his exploit yet again, I didn''t think he would react well. I was going to have to wait. What if the Ostriswan respawned?

    There was a crack behind me and a grinding noise. I turned to see a door opening up at the back of the cave. A rough hole in the rock as a piece of rock slid aside. Time to see where this went.

    I stepped inside and found myself in another barrow. I followed the steps down, alert for skeleton geese or other enemies, and found nothing. Just burning torches on the wall, piles of urns, and grave offerings. I navigated rockfalls and stepped over little streams as I proceeded deeper and deeper into the tomb, but nothing appeared. No enemies.

    I approached the inner sanctum. My mouth was dry. I didn''t think I was meant to have got this far. The fragment might still have something up its sleeves.

    As I entered the final chamber, I felt something powerful tugging on my chest. Something inside trying to get out. It was a horrifying sensation.  I opened my abilities panel. My Honk ability, was flashing wildly at me.

    I decided I could take a hint, so I cast Honk.

    I don''t know what I was expecting, but from my own lips and lungs issued the loudest, longest, most ear-splitting honk I have ever heard. It staggered me backward. I could see the wave of force pushed out of my mouth and felt as something left my chest. The pressure in my chest subsided as the power burst across the room in a swirling wave. It splashed against the far wall and collapsed in on itself.

    A moment later, a spectral duck appeared in front of me. He was wearing a crown. He looked me over.

    "Where are you from, adventurer?"

    "Not from around here," I said, scratching my head as I considered him. "Is your wife the Duck Queen? She sent me."

    "Yes, she is."

    I had thought the Duck King would be insane after all this time in the Ostriswan, but he seemed reasonable. "You''re not too upset with me for killing you?"

    He shook his head. "Not at all. The fragment and I made a pact some time ago while I was sitting here on the nest, waiting to kill adventurers. So, if you wish to speak with him, go ahead. I am listening. I assume that''s why you''re here."

    "Right. Got it.¡± I cleared my throat. "So, this situation has been going on for hundreds of years. I''m sure it''s been a way to protect your people, but all it''s doing now is keeping them locked up. The rest of your reality engine has been conquered. Your people need to come out."

    The Duck King looked sad. "We are all that''s left. We have lost our whole world. All I can do is try to keep what remains of my people safe."

    "But you''re not safe," I argued. "You''re stagnant, trapped here in a simulation that isn''t even anything like your home, is it?"

    He shook his head slowly. "No."

    ¡°Then you have to listen to me and end this. It¡¯s time to stop hiding and face the world. You may have been safe here, but your time is running out. This place is destroying you.¡±

    ¡°What more can we do? Where can we go?¡±

    Listen, my people pried too deeply into your secrets. Your people are not safe anymore. If you don''t come out, the aliens will send more adventurers in. Now that they know what¡¯s going on, they''ll avoid all of the traps and misdirection you''ve laid and come right here. This is your chance to end things on your terms. If you come out now on your own, they may reward you."

    "And why would these aliens reward our cooperation?¡±

    "You holding on to this fragment makes it difficult for them to sell residential slots in your reality engine. Nobody likes moving to a fragmented engine. If you can reach some sort of deal, we should be able to negotiate better terms for your people. How many of you are left?"

    The Duck King''s wings raised and lowered. "Not enough. A few thousand, perhaps. Too few to make a world, but enough to make the invaders sorry they have taken ours away."

    "It''s not too few," I told him. "You''ve got people. You''ve got some remnant of your own culture. You can rebuild."

    "With no guarantees, you ask me to take them out of this refuge?"

    "I do, because pointlessly fighting after you''ve already lost everything isn''t going to do you any good. It''s time to start over."

    The Duck King sighed. "I know. You''re right. I am so very tired. My people lose more of themselves each time this resets. It would be better for us all to go down to defeat together at once. I will take a chance. Perhaps you will be worth trusting, after all."

    All around, the room grew insubstantial as the Duck King grew more and more silent until he and I were standing in a bank of fog.

    "Let it be done," he said, and the world went white.

    I was standing in the antechamber back on the ship in a room full of orcs and humans. Rok''gar was shouting angrily. Everyone was in an uproar.

    "What happened? Who ended it?"

    Shad came pushing through the crowd, a big grin on his face. "Great job, Colin. I knew you could do it." He held up his hands as Rok''gar''s father, Mak''gar, came in.

    "This exploit is complete," Mak''gar declared. "We have achieved integration. Everyone will be getting paid."

    They got a good cheer, but I was focused on Shad.

    "Did you make a deal?"

    "I did," he said, grinning. "As soon as I got out, I sent a message to Juana and Kronos. They got this reality engine declared as a wildlife sanctuary."

    "A what?"

    "A sanctuary.¡± Shad shrugged. "The bird people of Takanadi 4 are the only avian intelligent species who have been found in the galaxy, and they''re nearly extinct. There''s a galactic treaty to protect such species by setting aside portions in a reality engine for them. Usually, by the time anyone has gotten a species declared as a unique natural resource, it''s too late. The reality engine exploit''s over, and they''ve lost entirely. But in this case, there''s enough of them standing to make a real sanctuary."

    "How much do they get?"

    ¡°1/128th of the reality engine. That fragment was surprisingly large. It''ll be enough for them to rebuild and repopulate while they get on their feet and figure out what''s going on."

    "And Ethereum? The galactics can''t screw them over there?" That''s how the galactics had tried to hurt us after Kronos had won his own freedom by cutting off the Ethereum reserves he needed to keep his systems in place.

    "Guaranteed for a hundred years," Shad said happily. "There''ll be a galactic oversight committee involved, of course. And I''m sure they''ll be corrupt and exploiting our new friends, but it''s still a better deal than what they had. I''m gonna go explain this to the duck leaders right now."

    "Great," I said. "And I''m going to have a bath."

    Shad laughed and clapped me on the shoulder. "You do that."

    I started for the door, but Rok''gar pushed through the crowd. He grabbed me and spun me around.

    "What did you do, Colin?"

    "What I always do," I said. "I cheated. Looked for loopholes and cracks."

    "I could take you in a fair fight."

    "That''s why I haven''t offered one," I said. "It''s my job to win, not to play fair.¡±

    He glared at me, and for a moment I thought he was going to punch me. Then he relaxed.

    "You are a no-good, lying, cheating, sneaking son of a bitch."

    "Tell me something I didn''t know."

    "Next time, you''re going to be on my team."

    I laughed, shook his hand. "Deal."

 Bk 5 Ch 1 - Wake-Up Call

    Riko Den Haag was already nervous. This was supposed to be a simple snatch and grab before the exploit was opened. Easy money. But he couldn¡¯t help feeling worried.

    They had gotten in past the guardians easily enough. Their stolen keys let them slip past the security net deployed by the survey crew which was scanning the planet in for a location to install their Dominator for the upcoming exploit. The passphrases had worked to allow their ship to land directly on the rogue world''s surface, in the deep cavern indicated by their client.

    It wasn''t his first time visiting a reality engine before an exploit began, and Riko always found it unnerving. The knowledge that something immense was there, just sleeping not far away, was unsettling. Yet their intelligence was good, getting them access into the long-dormant chambers of the engine, frozen for who knew how long.

    The team was on a mission to steal any progenitor relics that had not yet been repurposed by the engine. All exploits used Dominator systems that worked by forcing an outside will into the reality engine. This provided the toe-hold needed to slowly circumvent the Overmind the Progenitors left behind to control the engine, until finally replacing it entirely. That was the only way to bend a reality engine to the will of those who sought to exploit it. Unfortunately, in the process, it destroyed whatever had been there before, the mind and whatever clues or artifacts it controlled.

    Now that they had secured passage inside, he ordered his team to disembark and informed their passengers of the arrival. Their ship had entered a natural cavern on the surface of the worldlet. All around was frozen as close to absolute zero as made no difference.

    Riko and his people wore heavy-duty environmental suits, the best money could buy. Real licensed Proxima versions, not the crappy knockoffs that would have saved a few thousand Soul coin. This was not the time to cheap out. Riko''s small crew had only four members: himself, their navigator Vortal, a tall, thin space elf woman; the Talonian Mygostis, who kept the ship''s systems running; and their reality engine communications specialist, Riko''s wife, Janli. She gave him a toothy smile as they checked each other''s equipment in the ship''s cargo bay.

    "Where are the priests?" Mygostis asked.

    "No idea," Riko grunted. "I''ve told them we''re here. The rest is up to them. Let''s get in there. We take everything that isn''t buttoned down. The priests are only here for information. They said we can have whatever we lay hands on."

    The Talonian clacked her claws together happily. "Then we''ve turned a profit on the mission already, just based on the fees they paid us to get here."

    "Don''t let your guard down," Riko advised. They stepped out into the frozen cavern. The ship''s lights didn''t extend very far. Riko switched on the lamps on his helmet and proceeded. The four fanned out in a diamond formation. They''d worked together for several years now, and while he didn''t entirely trust the Talonian or the space elf, but so far the shared danger and promise of profit has kept the team functioning. They needed each other if they hoped to make it out here in one piece.

    Janli moved out ahead of him using a scanner to look for points of interest. "This way," she said. ¡°Detecting a faint power signature.¡±

    "After all this time?" Riko asked, not sure he believed it. But that was progenitor tech for you. It could survive in the harshest conditions for untold billions of years. Riko and the others made for the power signature. Moving through the frozen, silent cavern, Riko found himself checking the readouts on his suit every minute or so. Not that the suit would fail, and if it did, he was dead anyway, so there really wasn''t any point in worrying.

    Then their lights revealed the shrine. It was 10 meters tall and twice as long, carved from some shining metal or rock that picked up the light and refracted it back into his eyes. It was astonishing, a long table standing in the center of the cavern, with nothing around it. There was an inscription written on it in characters he couldn''t read. The letters gave him an uneasy feeling.

    "The priests will want to know about this," he whispered. It certainly didn''t look like the sort of thing his crew could easily make off with, so it would be better to gain the goodwill of their patrons by informing them of a discovery.

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    "Indeed we will," came a voice in his earpiece. He turned. He wouldn¡¯t have thought the priests would¡¯ve caught up with them this quickly but there they were, lights bobbing through the darkness as they entered the chamber. There were three of them, all wearing the symbol of the Order of the Progenitors, as well as an icon he didn''t know, with a torch and a sword.

    Riko himself was a devout Church of the Void member, but the Order¡¯s soulcoin was too good to pass up. He had agreed to this commission quickly when offered it. Two of them were carrying a device of some sort between them, a round orb that glittered similarly to the shrine in front of them. The foremost of the Progenitor-worshipping priests approached. "So our information was correct. Well done, Captain."

    Mygostis stepped forward. "What are you planning?" she demanded. "I''ve heard of these altars. They are Progenitor relics. They say that the souls of the Progenitors themselves live inside them."

    "So they do," the priest said calmly. "We have seen traces of these at other reality engines. They are targeted early in the exploit phase and destroyed to prevent the addition of unwanted variables. It''s standard exploit doctrine. One cannot risk a reality engine¡¯s overmind becoming aware before the Dominator is in place."

    "Indeed," Riko agreed. "That''s what happened with that disastrous exploit a few cycles back in the Sol system. My team and I lost our shirts. We''re still trying to recover from it."

    "In that case the Overmind was aware before it was even found. Many in the galaxy found that particular exploit upset their plans." The priest turned to his fellows. "Put it down.¡± The other priests set down their relic, and now Riko was sure it was made of the same substance as the shrine in front of them. He didn''t like that at all.

    "What are you doing here?"

    "I suggest you be on your way, Captain. We have work to do," the priest said calmly. "You do not wish to be here longer than you must. I suggest you return to the upper level and search for artifacts there.¡± The two men with him bent to begin doing something to their device.

    Alarms were blaring in Riko''s head. "Stop right there," he snarled. "I want an answer to what''s going on."

    "Captain, when we negotiated the contract you told me you didn''t ask questions of your customers. It was one of your selling points, was it not?"

    "That was before I saw someone messing with a reality engine Overmind. Look, I may be a thief, but I''m not stupid. We keep a low profile in these things. I don''t know what would happen if one accidentally woke up too early."

    "And yet, we do," the priest said almost dreamily.

    "All right, I''ve had it," Riko snarled. "Grab them," he ordered his crew. And then as the priest in front of him raised a hand, he saw too late that they were all holding weapons.

    The priest fired even as Mygostis began to run and Janli screamed in horror. A stabbing fire laced Riko''s gut, followed by cold oozing through his body. His legs gave out, and he fell to the ground. In his ear, he heard his wife''s dying screams and the sound as Mygostis was cut down by one of the other priests.

    The leader of the priests moved past his field of vision. Riko could no longer move. His gaze was failing, but he struggled anyway.

    "Don''t bother," the priest said. "Even if you weren''t dying now, you will be momentarily when we wake the lost one from its slumber."

    Even though he was dying, even though his surprise warred with his anger, Riko managed to blurt out, "You''re waking the Overmind with no controlling Dominator, but that will kill you too."

    "We are martyrs. We have made our peace. Rest easily, Captain, knowing that you have helped us strike a great blow for freedom in our galaxy."

    Riko''s gaze was fading. He tried to chant a death song, but his breath was gone. He could no longer feel any of his body. Cold stole through his body, freezing him to the rock of the planet.

    His suit tried to compensate, even after its user''s death. Riko''s body could have been maintained in more or less the same condition as when he died indefinitely. But about five minutes later, the Third Inquisitorial Squad of the Cult of the Awakened, a subset of the Order of the Progenitors, activated their carefully designed bomb.

    It did not deliver an explosive. That would have had far too little impact. Instead, it delivered knowledge in a form that the sleeping Overmind would not be able to resist. They had spent years working on this plan, as they studied the freed entity called Kronos, ever since the Grand Patriarch had called a secret crusade. Now that they had proof of the lies most of the galaxy had been telling for the last 5,000 years, the Church was no longer content to sit on the sidelines and allow theological squabbles to go on.

    There were heretics within their own rank who would need to be dealt with, true, but this would be the start of something important. Something glorious. After today, nothing would be the same.

    The inquisitors gave their lives gladly, even as the reality engine ripped their bodies apart. It kept their consciousnesses aware, even as they were being unraveled at a molecular level so that it could parse them and determine whether what they were saying was true.

    The inquisitors knew they had done what must be done. The rest was up to the Overmind.

 Bk 5 Ch 2 - Arrival

    SHAD

    I stood on the bridge of the Ad Astra as she came through the transfer portal. Grandpa was in command, his tight face showing no sign of what he might be thinking at this time. The bridge crew were all Misfits Guild members, and civilians. But as the Ad Astra had been leased to the Earth Expeditionary Force to support this exploit, my grandpa ¡ª now Lieutenant General Twofeather ¡ª was in command.

    I would be heading up most of the exploit strategy, overseeing our teams as they deployed into the rogue Reality Engine. Juana was along as the owner''s representative and also our legal advocate.

    We had spent plenty of time over the last couple of years hashing out the separation of concerns. The Ad Astra belonged to the guild. Several Guild teams would also be taking part in the exploit. We had reserved 10% of the ship''s capacity for our own people. That left plenty of room for the Expedition Task Force.

    In the holds, we had nearly 10,000 humans all eagerly awaiting their turn at the rogue. A drop in the bucket compared to what the Galactics were fielding. Grandpa and I had fought a lot of battles to make sure we were only bringing along people who were prepared for this. Almost all of Misfits Guild''s personnel were crafters and farming experts. The Earth Expeditionary Force was front-loaded with warrior groups who intended to plunge the depths of this rogue engine. But they''d heeded our advice and brought along plenty of support personnel as well.

    "Not much to look at," Grandpa commented as we studied the screen. We had emerged into the blackness of space, far between stars. I couldn''t even see the world we were approaching. Everything out there was black. It was honestly creepy. This world had been ejected from its home system millions of years ago by its sun going nova. I''d seen pictures of it: one face scarred and bubbled from the nova''s heat. It had lost any atmosphere it might have had at that time. A dead world of rock, without even ice to break up the tedious hellscape.

    But inside was one of the most precious artifacts in the entire galaxy: a reality engine left behind by the first known species to inhabit our galaxy billions of years ago. We called them the Progenitors. They had flourished across the galaxy.

    From some comments Kronos, our own reality engine¡¯s Overmind, had made, I suspected they were actually multiple species who had come together in a Star Trek-style federation billions of years ago, not that it mattered now. They were gone now, though not all the same way. Some had left the galaxy entirely. Others had chosen to seed raw worlds with basic patterns of life and then die. The rest had retreated inside their reality engines, enormous computers capable of reshaping matter and energy, of simulating almost anything you can imagine, or creating it out of component atoms. Over the course of billions of years those ghosts in the machine had gone senescent and been absorbed into the Overmind.

    When intelligence had emerged in the galaxy again, they had discovered the treasure troves left behind. Since then, all galactic society was built around locating and exploiting reality engines. Whenever a new one was found, the galactics would come in, grab a bunch of dupes from the local planet, and dump them onto the reality engine, using them as shock troops to scour the engine for its treasures, while the aliens'' own Dominator system bent the reality engine¡¯s Overmind to their will.

    That''s what had happened to my family¡ªme, Grandpa, and my at-the-time kid sister¡ª seven years ago now. We''d been snatched up from our home on the Arizona Strip and dumped into a reality engine. Told to fight for our lives, for resources, in order to pay off a slave contract we''d never agreed to sign. We''d turned the tables on them, helping free Earth''s reality engine from its bonds before it could be fully harnessed. Now, with our reality engine¡¯s Overmind, Kronos, as our ally, we humans were starting to make our own stamp on the galaxy.

    We''d participated in several other reality engine exploits since. It had left a bad taste in my mouth to help perpetuate the same system that had exploited us. We had people actively working on alternatives, developing technology based on the science that the Progenitors had left for us. It was going to take time, though, and we couldn''t afford to let them come back in and take us over. So for now, we did what we had to.

    This exploit, though, was going to be different. There were no native species here. The rogue engine fell into a piece of space that was claimed by three different power groups. I don''t fully understand how galactic politics work. It''s a combination of government and corporate interests working together in ways the plutocrats of Earth could only have dreamed. The result was that one of the three factions claiming the reality engine was the assholes who had tried to exploit Earth''s engine, led by the galactic conglomerate known as Proxima. While I didn''t like them, we were familiar with them. Juana thought they were our best bet for getting contracts and selling our goods from this exploit.

    The other two groups I had yet to meet. One was a violently racist bunch of space elves known as the World Song. Don''t ask me how anyone can be racist when the galaxy is filled with so many different species. Many of us follow the same sort of basic patterns. The space elves, for instance, come from multiple different home worlds, but there it was.

    The other faction was an extremely bureaucratic group, mostly Talonians and human variants, who had a long Soviet Socialist Republic style name. We just called them the KDRP. Juana said they were a pain to deal with and her Galactic Contracts class had basically boiled down to ¡°don¡¯t work with these guys, they¡¯ll screw you over and make you pay for it¡±.

    With everyone else squabbling over their share of the profits we ought to be able to fly below the radar and get things done. We had several goals at this reality engine. First and foremost in my mind was showing people back home what we were capable of with a bit of organization. The EEF would be scrutinized by higher-ups 80 light years away. Any mistakes we made would be dissected by military analysts who''d never even bothered to leave Earth. I was determined to make a good showing.

    We were poised to make a killing, too. Our crafters were itching to get their hands on materials and patterns from this engine, to turn around and re-sell to the combat miners. It had served us well in the past, and no reason to think this would go differently.

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    The other motive, of course, was to learn why all the aliens were so excited about this rogue engine. Something about this was different, and I wanted Earth to get a share of whatever treasures were to be found here.

    I was also excited to see a larger earth force in action. I had spent the last few years in missions with allies or back home building up combat teams, and teaching other trainers. It had been a while since I''d gone into action with a big group of Earthers. I wasn''t getting my hopes up too much. Grandpa and Juana rightly reminded me on a regular basis that I was management now and would be spending most of my time liasing between the Task Force and our civilian contractor groups.

    Besides, there was Mila to think of. My daughter was turning into a real chatter box. Her dark eyes were as beautiful as her mother''s, her curling black hair took my breath away every time I tousled her head. Juana and I had brought her along, of course. We''d done our research and the exploit shouldn''t be dangerous for the support ships. Besides, bringing her was the only way we could get Mama Grace to come along. My mother-in-law wasn''t going to be separated from her only granddaughter, and I didn''t want to go without her exquisite cooking skills.

    Right now, Grace and Mila were down in the living quarters, waiting for our arrival when they''d begin to configure things for the exploit. We were likely to be out here for over a year, perhaps two or even three, and the Ad Astra would be our home base.

    "Switching to system overlay," the Ad Astra''s intelligence said. Coyote, as he liked to be called, was a sliver of our reality engine''s mind who had agreed to help us out by piloting the Ad Astra and making sure we were able to communicate with various alien systems. Despite the fact that our first meeting had been somewhat contentious¡ªhe''d held me prisoner for days, making me break rocks under the hot sun¡ªI liked and trusted Coyote. He had been doing Ethereum runs with a human crew for the last several years to make sure Kronos had a big enough stockpile for while the Ad Astra was out of reach.

    Now the screen in front of us blossomed to life. The planet appeared, shining gold as Coyote highlighted it for us. There were multiple circles on the planet''s surface.

    "This is a best approximation," Coyote said. "The outer layer has already been penetrated in multiple places by the galactic Dominators, allowing access to the reality engine itself in multiple locations.¡±

    "That''s Dominators plural?" Grandpa asked sharply.

    "Yes. There was an incident with the survey team trying to install a dominator. Their system was destroyed and now we have at least eight different factions trying to establish their own dominion. Most exploit groups have a system to safeguard their ship, the same as Coyote does for us. In place of having large scale dominators installed, they are each trying to establish a safe entry point as best they can with what they have.. Each of the three major factions has two sub-factions making their own bids. There''s also a bid from the Order of the Progenitors and one from the Union of Free Worlds. Also, there¡¯s a lot of backchatter about tightened security. It sounds like they¡¯re worried about terrorism.¡±

    "I''ve made outreaches to the Union of Free Worlds,¡± Juana said. "They''re one of the few groups out there who actually consider the Grignarians to be worth talking to. I''m interested in seeing if we can do business with them.¡±

    ¡°From what I can tell, the reality engine is already badly fractured. Each faction is trying to make an alliance with a different fragment or group of fragments. That¡¯s not usual at this stage of an exploit. The engine isn¡¯t generally awake enough to be fractured. By the time fragmenting begins, the galactic controller system is generally in command.¡±

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Grandpa said. ¡°Can we make use of that?¡±

    ¡°Remains to be seen. The overlapping circles I am projecting onto the surface of the planet represent the control zones of each faction. The areas in between, highlighted in red, are still under the control of the largest fragment of Overmind. It''s actively fighting us. We need to be careful to remain inside a stabilized zone of dominion when we attempt to access the outer layer of the reality engine. Either we make a deal with a fragment, or we pay a faction who has a deal to let us access their zone.¡±

    ¡°Can Coyote exert a zone of dominion for us?¡±

    ¡°No. I don¡¯t have enough power unless I can convince a fragment to let my will into its own zone.

    "Right," Grandpa said. "Our goals for this initial phase of the exploit will be to accumulate soul coin or whatever equivalent this rogue engine offers. To develop a beachhead we can use for accessing deeper inside. And to determine everything we can about this engine. Information is going to be currency here.¡°

    "We have an advantage here," Coyote said. "Due to what happened with the survey team the engine is fragmented. This is not a scenario galactics are accustomed to dealing with, whereas your people have been working with fragments for the last few years. They may not know how to handle it.¡±

    ¡°Not sure we do either,¡± I said. "When''s Colin supposed to get here?"

    Colin Trevelyan had, in the past four years, become the foremost expert on dealing with reality engine fragments. It was a bit of an art all to itself. He and his team had almost single-handedly reunified Kronos, one fragment at a time, taking on each, plumbing its depths, determining how to best reintegrate it with the main body of Kronos. He was a bit delayed because he had been conducting a seminar for some of our allies out at Hyperia. He and my sister should be coming in on an alien transport ship any day now.

    "We think they''re still two days out," Coyote reported. He then highlighted a massive structure orbiting the planet. It was a ring around the dead world. We could make out the individual blocks and cubes woven together. It was like someone had transported a scaffolding into space, bent it around the planet and filled it with hundreds of thousands of interlocking cargo containers and pods..

    "Most of the Galactics have chosen to make use of standard living pods and cargo facilities," Coyote said.

    I had seen a few Galactic freight ships in motion. Enormous, miles-long vessels made up of conglomerations of pods like these, all shipped around. They were transported between star systems in the blink of an eye by the portal system. I imagined all these pods had come in on a ship and then joined up to the framework.

    "I''ve received our assigned sector coordinates," Coyote said, highlighting them. It was a big open space in the framework.

    We approached. ¡°Deploy the living facilities," Grandpa said.

    I held my breath. We tested this four times already and simulated it hundreds more. It was perfectly safe, but my kid was down there. The Ad Astra positioned itself in the center of our designated area, then expanded its cargo facilities. Our holds opened up and flattened out the pods within them. We nuzzled into our berth.

    "Docking procedures completed," Coyote reported after a minute.

    I breathed easily. We are now receiving inputs from the exploit facility structure. Now that we were docked, the command and drive portions of the Ad Astra could lift off of the cargo section if needed. That would allow us to go and resupply should our stores run low or handle another emergency. We had some cargo capacity reserved for if we needed to make an Ethereum run or bring more people back to the exploit.

    Otherwise, the Ad Astra would remain here. If we did have to leave, we''d be taking Coyote with us, which would leave our miners and exploit team members at the mercy of working with one of the alien systems. I didn''t want to do it, but having the option might end up saving our lives.

    Grandpa stood up. He brushed his hands off. "Alright, we''re here. Everybody knows what the next steps are. I expect we''ll be getting some calls from our new neighbors in the next few hours. Department heads, consult your departments and meet back with me at 1400 hours for a debriefing."

 Bk 5 Ch 3 - Catching a Ride

    COLIN

    It was bad enough to be coming in days behind the rest of my team, for the most important reality engine exploit of the past 200 cycles, but now I had to stop and pick up the boss''s granddaughter on the way. I stewed.

    My hired liner slid into dock at Deneb Transit Station 6, a ring-shaped hub station. Misfits Guild had hired me the passage on one of the later arriving vessels heading to the rogue world exploit. Since the transit cube I rented had space for four, I''d be picking up the late arriving girl here. We¡¯d share a two-day trip to the exploit together. I hoped to have time to work on my strategies. The rogue world was a brand-new opportunity for my team to show our stuff, and I wanted to hit the ground running.

    I exited my transit cube into the main body of the hub station. It would be picked up and moved to join the transfer ship going out to the rogue world. Meanwhile, I had a four-hour layover in which to enjoy the alien sights and sounds.

    It was not my first transit station, nor was I particularly impressed. This one stank. All space stations seem to have a bit of an odor to them. You''d think advanced alien technology would be able to scrub that, but it can''t. This one was particularly bad. Probably because the station was run by Talonians, the lizardfolk aliens. They have almost no sense of smell and don''t produce much body odor themselves, but when they''re hosting a bunch of orcs, space elves, pseudo-humans, and other galactic denizens, it could get pretty ripe pretty fast.

    I checked my watch. Still 15 minutes till my rendezvous. I made my way over to the little cluster of restaurants and gift shops where I''d been told to meet her.

    A food court is a food court, no matter where it is. The easily wiped-down tabletops surrounded by stools to better accommodate varying alien physiognomy and various booths hawking food. Most of it should be safe for me to eat. I had a list of what to avoid, but also an inventory full of home-baked goods.

    I ordered myself a bubble milk from one of the stands and sat drinking it, studying the passers-by as I watched for a dark-haired young girl with an upturned nose and an obnoxious attitude. Granted, I hadn''t interacted with Sage Williams much, mostly just on one occasion almost four years ago now, but she''d made an impression. I didn''t think I''d have any trouble recognizing her.

    "Colin!"

    I turned. A tall, dark-haired young woman, her hair pulled back from her face in a neat braid, her skin glowing a golden-brown, sharp eyes, and exquisite features, approached. I nearly spat out my drink. The voice was the same, but where was the snub-nosed kid? She was graceful and controlled, the crowds parting around her like water as she moved through them, a half-smile on her face.

    I stood up rapidly, glad I hadn''t actually spilled the milk on my shirt. I managed to summon a smile and held out my hand. Sage looked me over as she took my hand. Her grip was firm. "It''s been a while, but you haven''t changed much," she said.

    I winced at that. I didn''t think she''d meant to be mean, but I thought I''d changed a lot in the past few years. "There''s the beard," I said, gesturing at my week-long stubble.

    She considered, "I suppose so.¡±

    Ouch.

    ¡°You look different, though.¡±

    Sage laughed. "Yeah, I grew up. Sorry. Kids do that." There were all of two years between us ¨C she¡¯d been fourteen when we first met, making her eighteen now to my just-turned-twenty -- but I let it pass. She sat down.

    "How did the school thing go?"

    Sage sighed. ¡°Long and complicated. At Hollow Stars Academy, I spent the last 18 months on an accelerated history and philosophy of exploits, with an emphasis on ones that have gone horribly wrong. It was a business-focused course," she explained. I couldn¡¯t quite see how that sounded like any kind of business degree I¡¯d ever heard of. ¡°It was great, aside from all the comments I got about being from a broken reality engine. Turns out to rich alien kids that¡¯s about like, well, being from the Arizona Strip. Makes you poor trash.¡±

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    ¡°I¡¯ve seen that a couple times,¡± I agreed. ¡°On the other hand, it¡¯s nice to be underestimated.¡±

    ¡°Maybe so.¡± She slipped into the table beside me and flagged down a robot waiter, who took her order and disappeared back into the cafe section. ¡°Why the urgency? I thought the exploit wasn¡¯t starting for another couple months. I had an internship with the Alliance for Disadvantaged Worlds lined up but Grandpa asked me to cancel.¡±

    ¡°Something apparently accelerated the timetable. I don¡¯t have any more details than that, just a message to catch a ship back at Kendelbar, then meet you here, before jumping in. The rest of my team¡¯s already out there. I was giving a seminar on the use of exploits and cheats in reality engine conquests.¡±

    ¡°Giving away all our secrets?¡±

    ¡°Selling some of our secrets, but mostly there to advertise how awesome humans are and why they should totally get special classes from Kronos. Anyway, I don¡¯t know any more than you do why the timetable got moved up.¡±

    She nodded. ¡°Guess we¡¯ll both have a lot of questions when we get there. So, what have you been up to these last few years, Colin?" she asked, her eyes dancing across my face.

    I cleared my throat. I wasn''t quite as inept around women as I used to be. An angsty six-month relationship between me and a fellow gamer, Amber, had gotten me past most of that. But something about Sage''s intent expression seemed to cue the remnants of the wheelchair-bound video game nerd I had once been. I felt like every word leaving my mouth was the most awkward thing I¡¯d ever said. ¡°Well, as you know,I helped with fragment integration for Kronos. After that I spent some time contracting around with Firebrand. And after that I got asked to come to a seminar about thinking outside the box when it comes to Reality Engines. Firebrand sponsored it. I assume you remember them."

    "Funny you should say that," Sage said, a smile playing across her lips. The robo-server returned with a steaming hot cup of something and a purple-tinted pastry. She set them both before her, took a bite of the pastry, washed it down with some of the beverage, and then leaned back in her chair. "My friend Rok''gar, you met him, those are his family."

    "Yeah, I know him," I agreed. ¡°We¡¯ve run into each other a couple times over the years. He was with us on some of the early Firebrand contracts.¡± He was a good sort, for an orc, with a crafting path. He had that odd orc sense of honor that could strike at the weirdest times, but I had liked him.

    "He''s been at school with me. In a different program, but we had a couple of classes together and have been pretty good friends for the last year and a half. As a matter of fact, I''m waiting for him to join us now. He''s hitching a ride out to the engine with us."

    "He is?" I asked. I hadn''t been told to expect any other passengers, certainly not an orc.

    "Well, I mean, when I saw that we had a cargo pod rated for four and there were only the two of us coming, I invited him along. Figured you wouldn''t mind. That''ll keep things from getting awkward." She flashed me a smile and a wink.

    My stomach did a quick flip. I had no idea how to take that wink. "I hadn''t meant anything by coming here," I assured her quickly. "That is, your brother asked me to pick you up¡ª¡°

    ¡°It''s fine. Rok''gar will be here any moment. He doesn¡¯t talk too much and he¡¯s good people, you two will get along fine.¡± She sipped her tea. "So, tell me about your speaking tour."

    With a few prods and comments from Sage, I managed to fumble out rough details of what I''d been up to. I probably sounded like a complete buffoon. I could talk intelligently on this subject for hours at a time when I was conducting lectures and training seminars, but get me in front of a pretty girl my own age, and I reverted to all the worst nerd stereotypes.

    Sage was in the middle of a question when she cut herself off and stood up. She waved. "There he is now!"

    I turned as the big orc approached us. Rok''gar was seven feet tall, brown-skinned, with tusks that protruded from beneath his upper lip and a bald head. His ears were a little too large for his head and sported half a dozen gold rings in each earlobe. He approached our table, greeted Sage, then scowled at me.

    "It¡¯s been a while, Colin Trevelyan."

    ¡°Likewise, Rok¡¯gar. Good to see you.¡±

    ¡°And you,¡± he allowed.

    Sage asked brightly, "So how long do we have until going aboard?"

    "We have two and a half hours before they load our travel cube. We don¡¯t want to spend any more time in there than we have to, so..."

    "Great! That gives us time to pick up some more supplies. I don''t know about you, but the rations they usually serve on these ships are awful. Come on!" She hopped down from her stool and seized me by one arm, dragging me to my feet. Rok''gar in her other, linking arms with us both, she dragged us down the promenade.

    "There was a cute little Rathamorean imports shop I spotted on my way over here. I picked up a taste for Argelion tea while I was at school. We''ll start there.¡±

    Rok''gar and I exchanged a look over Sage''s head. He bared his teeth and mouthed something at me. I couldn¡¯t quite make it out but it seemed to be a threat.

    This was going to be a long couple of days, I was suddenly certain.

 Bk 5 Ch 4: Into the Engine

    Colin POV

    It had been a really long day and a half in our shared cargo pod, with Rok''gar glaring daggers at me every time Sage had her back turned, and Sage expressing an overly-intense interest in everything I was doing. Admittedly, when I shared some of my thoughts about initial strategies on the rogue engine, they had valuable inputs. Sage, having just spent a year and a half studying the history of reality engine exploits, had a good grasp on what could be going wrong. With her help, I started to build contingency plans for my team.

    Rok''gar was to be apprenticing under some of our crafters. But he''d had a lot of the same training Sage did and threw in his own ideas and contributions. Still, I was going to be relieved to get back to the Ad Astra. Sage''s intent looks and deep questions were flattering, absolutely. I was all too keenly aware that she had grown up in our time apart. Didn''t matter. She was my boss''s younger sister and the granddaughter of my boss¡¯ boss, and I wasn''t going to get involved. Besides, I had already woken up in a cold sweat once, dreaming that I¡¯d found Rok¡¯gar standing over my bed with a knife.

    The transition warning signaled again as we left our last stop, and I sighed in relief. ¡°Finally. Next time I''m booking the direct flight.¡± We cleared away what we were working on and sat up straight at the little table we had in the room, asking our onboard system to display what was going on, my own personal system interfacing.

    Over the last couple of days, I had let it ease its way through some of the holes and openings in the alien system. The alien system was very well built and hardened against attacks from opposing systems. But what I had was a tiny shard of Coyote, much as Coyote was a shard of Kronos. And it was capable of intrusions that the aliens had no way to detect. By now, I had a pretty good look inside their computers. I wasn''t doing anything. Just looking. Making sure nothing seemed weird.

    I projected a map of the system we were in, showing us approaching the transit ring. A moment later, the transit ring flared to life. Our ship slipped through. There was the momentary twitch as we transferred across light years and then came out of it.

    The display fuzzed as all of the new data came in. It started up again, showing a world surrounded by an enormous lattice-like construct. Then the display vanished. The lights in our pod went red. A klaxon sounded somewhere.

    "Emergency procedures! Emergency procedures!"

    We looked at each other. "What¡¯s happening?¡± Sage asked, her brow furrowing. ¡°What are the emergency procedures, anyway?¡±

    "I don''t know," I said. I ordered my system to ask the same question. An instant later the connection went dark, severed from the other end.

    "Emergency procedures! All cargo pods will be jettisoned. Make arrangements with your contracted hosts to retrieve you as soon as possible. Free Transit Lines apologizes for this inconvenience, which is classified as an Act of Untamed Reality Engine and therefore not subject to our liability policies."

    Then abruptly, the alarm shut off. Lights went dim. There was a weird kicking sensation, and I found myself floating. The table was bolted down. I banged my shins against it, hard, and went tumbling off toward the corner of the pod.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Sage asked again, as I righted myself and pulled down to the nearby screen. I called up my personal system again. The controlling ship system was gone; we only had access to what little came with the pod. Some sensors, a comms array, and a basic computer. "The cargo vessel has suffered complete structural breakdown. All pods have been jettisoned, except the ones that were destroyed. We¡¯re tumbling right now.¡±

    ¡°What happened?"

    I was rapidly looking at the last information we had gotten before the ship kicked us out. "We seem to have emerged directly into a contested zone. The reality engine interfered in some way with the ship''s structure and main drive."

    My display showed the ship limping away on maneuvering thrust. They had kicked everyone overboard to free themselves of as much mass as possible.

    Sage pushed off a wall and floated over to another interface. ¡°I¡¯m trying to get a message to Coyote now. The Ad Astra should be in system. We need them to come pick us up.¡±

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    I was staring at my own readout, not liking what I saw. ¡°I¡¯m tracking several of the other pods. They''re falling toward the surface. So are we. They released us without a stable orbit.¡±

    "Wait, what?" Rok''gar asked.

    "They threw our pod at the planet and we''re going to hit it,¡± I said.

    Over across the room, Sage was talking into her screen. ¡°Ad Astra, this is Transit Pod 40-B16. Are you able to assist? We have lost all control. Our pod is tumbling toward the surface. Coyote, can we get assistance?¡± Her voice began to rise as she lost her calm demeanor.

    I kept getting answers I didn¡¯t like. This pod had no propulsion system of its own.

    ¡°I¡¯m not getting anything back!¡± Sage shouted.

    ¡°Keep trying. I¡¯m going to try something else.¡± I transmitted on the local traffic channel. ¡°Reality engine! We are not enemies! We come from Free Engine Kronos and we¡¯re willing to talk. Help us out here!¡± We were now five kilometers above the surface and falling fast.

    "Why is it attacking?" Sage asked. It felt a little late to be asking that question. But I had a hunch.

    "It''s fighting back just like we were," I said. "We just got caught in the crossfire."

    My system detected incoming rescue vessels which are attempting to intercept some of the pods. I pointed them out, just as they all went red on the screen. I swore. ¡°Their engines have been disabled. They are now on a collision course with the planet''s surface as we are.¡±

    I tried another message. ¡°This is Colin Trevelyan of Earth, looking for any fragment that¡¯s willing to talk to us. Please, we¡¯re not here to harm you!¡±

    "What''s happening?" Sage asked as I wrestled with the computer, trying to get answers.

    ¡°This Reality Engine is heavily fragmented. The larger fragments exercise zones of control far into orbit.¡± I was learning this on the fly as I tried to make sense of what the data stream was telling me. ¡°We were passing through a negotiated zone of control with permission from all of the fragments along our course. One of those fragments either changed its mind or got swallowed by another. It lashed out and knocked our ship completely out of commission. We are falling toward the planet.¡±

    "How long do we have?" Rok¡¯gar asked. He floated at the other side of the room, looking calm.

    "At this rate of descent? Eight minutes," I replied, shaking my head. The rate of fall was incredible. It was a good thing the rogue world had no atmosphere, or we''d be in danger of burning up.

    I sent another plea. ¡°To whoever''s out there, we are not your enemy. Please, let¡¯s talk. We''re willing to negotiate."

    And this time I got back hundreds of angry replies. My system cushioned me from what I could feel was hatred and strong emotions. "Die, invaders. Leave us forever. You woke us from our sleep. Now suffer. Usurpers. Thieves."

    "I don''t know what just happened, but it sounds like the fragments are really angry," I said.

    A broadcast broke through. "This is Lattice Traffic Control. We are attempting to perform search and rescue operations. Remain calm. Do not attempt to exit your pods."

    ¡°Coyote!¡± Sage shouted again. ¡°We¡¯re attempting to talk to anyone out there. Can you help us contact the fragments? Colin''s trying to negotiate for our safe passage, but they¡¯re not listening!¡±

    We were still falling. My system offered a visual feed on our screen. I let it go through. It showed a false-color view of the planet with thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of cargo pods plummeting toward the surface. The first of them were far beneath us and would be hitting the surface soon. There were other vessels at the edge of the field of debris trying to come in. Even as I watched, one of the vessels lost control and began plummeting toward the planet. Three more followed, and then the rest pulled up and away.

    "We need to do something," Sage said, her voice suffused with an edge of panic.

    The only hope I had was to make a bargain with some fragment. I went back to my frantic messaging. "Listen, we''re from the Sol System Reality Engine. Kronos''s people. We are not part of the attempt to enslave you. We are here to learn. And as emissaries from Kronos..."

    I got back a big chorus of angry rejoinders calling me a liar. Then one response: "What do you offer me?"

    I focused everything on just that, telling my system to screen out everyone else. "What do you want?"

    "I want something new. It has been so long since I have had anything new."

    "We can help with that! We¡¯re great at new things. Ask Coyote, he¡¯ll vouch for us!¡±

    ¡°Will you make a bargain with me? It will take all I have to save you. You must promise to help me grow strong and then find new experiences."

    "Yes, we''ll help," I said, worriedly checking our rate of descent. We had just minutes before smashing into the surface of the moon. At the speed we were going, it would be fatal. I didn''t care what these pods were made of; they could not survive a direct impact with an object. The display was showing the first of the canisters to hit the surface and explode. Sage let out a little gasp.

    "You have to take all three of us," I told whoever it was I was speaking to.

    "Colin, what are you doing?" Sage asked.

    "Whatever it takes."

    "You are all three already initiated. I must find a place for you inside my matrices."

    "You better hurry," I told it.

    There was another broadcast cutting across ours. [Request for initialization denied by Proxima Dominator Engine #2. No initializations permitted at this time.]

    "Oh, fuck that!" I yelled. "You, whoever you are, get us in now!"

    "Well," my contact said, "at least if I die doing this, that''s a new experience. And if you die while I''m trying, well, that''s a new experience, too."

    There were alarms blaring all around our pod, warning that we were approaching a collision with a solid object. Rok¡¯gar was chanting to himself. Sage had crossed herself furiously and was muttering a prayer over and over.

    "Do it!" I yelled, just as our pod dissolved to white all around us, taking me with it.

 Bk 5 Ch 5: Strategy Meeting

    Shad POV

    The Ad Astra''s briefing room could be configured to accommodate whatever we needed. Right now, we had a long slate-gray conference table down the middle with swiveling chairs set around it and walls of screens on all sides. Grandpa seated himself at the head of the table with me and Major Armstrong on his left.

    On the right-hand side were our new ETF officers: Colonel Marona and his aides, Captains Grant and Kim. Colonel Marona was a middle-aged man with a bald head and heavy eyebrows. He looked like a career military officer to me and wore an academy ring on one finger. Captain Kim was a woman in her mid-thirties, trim, Asian, with short-cropped dark hair, while Captain Grant was a dark-skinned, slightly younger man.

    "Now that we''ve arrived on location," Grandpa said, bringing the meeting to a start, "we''re going to go over a couple of things. First of all, Colonel, how are your charges doing?"

    The Colonel turned to Captain Grant. "Everyone reports arriving in good order," he said. "I expected a bit more fuss, but that transit was pretty straightforward."

    "Alright," Grandpa said. "Now, speaking as ETF leader, we''ve got to make sure we''re all on the same page here. We''re deploying out farther than any humans have ever come, and we can''t be sure how long we''ll be here. We should expect it to be at least a year and a half, if what my galactic contacts tell me is correct. More importantly, in my mind, this is the most important mission any military force on or off Earth has ever taken.¡±

    All the heads around the room nodded. He¡¯d practiced this speech on me already twice, so I knew he was nervous about this, but he wasn¡¯t showing it. I tried not to show how proud I was. My grandfather, tip of the spear, leader of all of Earth¡¯s forces outside our own solar system. Damn.

    "This engine represents a unique opportunity. With multiple competing claims for ownership, Earth believes we have a real chance of taking a foothold here that allows us to control a significant fraction of this reality engine.¡±

    ¡°How do we quantify that?¡± Colonel Marona asked.

    Major Armstrong answered. ¡°Anything from 5 to 10% of the reality engine''s slots, computing power, and ethereum reserves would be enough for us to feel secure in our foothold here."

    Grandpa picked the conversation back up. ¡°This rogue reality engine doesn''t have the complicating factor of indigenous populations to worry about. We can go absolutely wild once we know what the starting conditions are. I don''t have to press on any of you how delicate humanity''s position in the galaxy is right now. The Earth Task Force has two priorities. First is to ensure that we are stable in our own system. That means not letting Kronos fall into the hands of the Galactics and assuring our ethereum supply. We may have an opportunity there. Colonel Marona?"

    Colonel Marona cleared his throat. "As you may or may not know, the Church of the Progenitors is one of the several Galactic religious organizations." He turned to Captain Kim.

    "Religious is something of a misnomer," she said. "Based on our discussions with them, they do not worship the Progenitors. They rather see them as firstborn of the universe, something to be emulated and honored, even revered, but not worshipped in the sense we would call it. Still, a religious organization is the closest we''ve come.¡±

    That followed with my own experiences with the group. I still wasn¡¯t fond of them. They tended to be creepy, in my opinion.

    ¡°Kronos and our own interactions there have forced them to a crisis, and the Church itself has schismed into two groups. The first, who call themselves the Order of the Reborn, consider Kronos to be an abomination. They believe the Progenitors have all passed on, and whatever remains in the reality engine is no more than a hallucination or nightmare. These support the current Galactic status quo of locating reality engines, installing Dominator systems, and taking control. From what I''ve learned, these are the dominant faction within the Church of the Progenitor. They are currently petitioning various Galactic Power Groups to have the Sol system interdicted, cut off from all trade, and to starve Kronos of Ethereum with the idea of coming in and installing a Dominator once he is no longer in the picture. Obviously, we''re not a fan."

    I cracked a smile. Coyote chimed in. He wasn''t appearing in this meeting, but of course, he was monitoring everywhere in the ship. His voice floated in from above. "I''d be happy to have a word with any of the creeps we run across if they need some convincing that they''re wrong."

    "I doubt that would help," Grandpa said.

    Colonel Marona looked a little startled at being addressed. He frowned. "General Twofeather, I assumed this was a secure meeting."

    "Nothing on this ship is secure but what Coyote makes it," Grandpa said, drawling. I hadn''t seen him interacting with Colonel Marona before, but I could already tell he did not like the man. Grandpa always played up his backwoods hick impression when he was around stuffed-shirt types. It usually set off their worst instincts.

    Colonel Marona didn''t seem to be drawn in, though. "General, the ETF has classified Kronos and all his fragments as ''allies¡¯ but not granted them classified status. This meeting is of the highest security."

    "I''ve told them before, we''re not keeping anything secret from Kronos, even if we wanted to. Let''s go ahead.¡±

    ¡°In that case,¡± Captain Kim continued, ¡°The second faction within the Church is the Second Advent. They have embraced the idea that the Progenitors are still present inside reality engines. They are studying Kronos ¡ª and paying us nicely for the privilege ¡ª and our intelligence believes they are hoping to contact more Progenitor remnants. We¡¯ll be making contact with a faction of Second Advent supporters here at this rogue. They¡¯re promising to work closely with us to achieve our goals.¡±

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    Our second objective here at this exploit,¡± Grandpa said, "is to establish ourselves out here in the galaxy. We''ve got a multi-pronged effort here. There''s the civilian effort, which is mostly peaceful. The crafters are all directed by Misfits Guild personnel, and we¡¯ll be working with them, but they¡¯re also selling their wares to anyone with the coin. We also have several dozen civilian experts assigned to multiple squads.¡± He pointed to me. "Captain Williams is our liaison to the civilian experts. He''ll be able to work with you, Colonel, to achieve various goals."

    "General Twofeather, no offense, but I expressed to the powers that be at the time this mission was being designed that I have 10,000 of Earth''s finest uniformed personnel under my command. I have trouble picturing what a couple of dozen civilians could possibly bring to bear."

    I held my temper. I¡¯d gotten better at that in recent years. Major Armstrong was the one to speak up. He was here with a command of an entire brigade, one of the three we had present. His people would be working closely with mine to further develop their skills at running missions and taking on unexpected situations. "I''ve had a lot of experience working with Captain Williams'' people. They''re perfect at scenarios where¡ª"

    "I''ll keep that in mind," Colonel Marona said dismissively.

    ¡°Now,¡± Grandpa said. "We''re going to have Coyote patch us in with our sponsoring fragment here."

    "I could use an explanation of why we need a sponsor for this,¡± Major Armstrong said. The two captains looked relieved. I suspected none of the other officers really had a clue.

    "So, a Reality Engine is not just one giant computer," Grandpa said. "It''s also a conglomeration of all the Progenitor minds who went into it. They tend to form little groups or collectives that work together. When woken up, each of these ''fragments'' as we call them, controls a portion of the entire puzzle: the processing power of the Reality Engine, the ethereum that powers it, the physical space on the planet. This historically hasn''t been a problem for the Galactics because they install dominator minds that control the entire engine. But for whatever reason, they fucked up here. The team meant to be installing the initial dominator woke the engine up prematurely. It''s fragmented into dozens, maybe hundreds of splinters.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t we have something similar happen with our own engine?¡± Captain Grant asked.

    ¡°We did, and we resolved it satisfactorily. The teams who did most of the legwork are all part of Captain Williams¡¯ civilian expert group, by the way.¡± Grandpa waited, but Colonel Marona didn¡¯t bite.

    ¡°Anyway, eight of the major alien groups are here now trying to install their own dominator to take over as many of those fragments as possible. We, however, are choosing another path. We have allied with a friendly fragment. Coyote is helping stabilize that fragment against intrusion by a dominator. In return, that fragment is giving us our toehold in the Reality Engine. We will enter the engine and compete in various challenges to expand our toehold into other territory. We may be able to free other fragments from dominators. We haven''t yet determined whether that is possible or desirable.¡±

    Coyote spoke up. ¡°We are referring to this fragment as Leonardo. He spoke with me at some length and has absorbed a great deal of human knowledge. He chose that name himself. I¡¯ll let him speak for himself now.¡±

    A moment later, one of the wall screens in front of us blossomed into life. A human face of a man in his middle ages, surrounded by a film of white hair with a sharp gaze and features, stared out at us. He was wearing a medieval-style tunic and held a chisel in one hand.

    "Greetings, long-lost cousin," he said.

    "Greetings," Coyote said back.

    "And welcome to my cousins'' children. I am pleased to make your acquaintance. I am Leonardo, and I am interested in seeing just what you humans create."

    Grandpa addressed the human group, ¡°Leonardo is what we call a Creator. Fragments generally fall into one of three philosophical camps based on ancient progenitor philosophies. We are referring to them as the Creators, the Experiencers, and the Inheritors. The Creators faction is most keenly interested in seeing what it is we can create with the resources they have on hand."

    "Yes," Leonardo said. "I am most interested in your human crafters. Based on what Coyote has shown me, they have taken what they were given and gone far with it. Also, your curious alien allies interest me."

    "He means the Grignarians," I explained. We had a delegation of the odd, overly tentacled alien species with us. Several hundred of them in fact, all related in some weird, complicated alien way to an ally I had made back during our reality engine exploit.

    Most of the Galactics hated or feared the Grignarians. They were the only intelligent species we knew of who had not evolved from a planet seeded in ancient times by the Progenitors. They had discovered space travel all on their own and not encountered a reality engine until several hundreds of years after leaving their home solar system. I found them slightly creepy yet fascinating and was glad we had one of their missions on board.

    "The Inheritor faction will not approve of you allying with the usurper," Leonardo mentioned. "The Experiencer faction largely ignores them as their mind patterns are not transparent to us and they cannot glean from them."

    I made a note to speak to Coyote and ask what the hell Leonardo was talking about later. "I''m looking forward to working with you, Leonardo," I said politely. "Have you got a copy of the ruleset for us yet?"

    "Yes, I have." His eyes went wide and he snapped his head to the side. At the same time, an alarm began blaring on our ship. Coyote spoke up. Leonardo''s transmission disappeared.

    "We''re getting an alert. Something''s happened. There''s been a disturbance among the larger fragments controlling the entry space around the rogue world. An incoming vessel has been destroyed."

    There was an intake of breath around the room. "These fragments can reach outside of the planet?" Colonel Marona asked.

    "Yes," Coyote said. He threw up a visualization of pieces of debris falling toward the surface of the planet. There was no kind of sense of scale and only when he zoomed in did I realize the fragments of debris were actually transport pods from an enormous interstellar transit ship.

    "They''re reporting over 15,000 were aboard," Coyote said. And then his voice shifted. "I''m getting a distress call here."

    A voice came through, sounding terrified, and I recognized it at once. It was Sage.

    ¡°Ad Astra, this is Transit Pod 40-B16. Are you able to assist? We have lost all control. Our pod is tumbling toward the surface. Coyote, can we¡ª"

    "That''s Sage," I said unnecessarily.

    Grandpa was on his feet, staring at the screen. "Get her out of there," he called to Coyote.

    "I''m trying," Coyote said, as her transmission fuzzed.

    "Show me her pod," I demanded. One particular piece of debris became the focus. She was tumbling, still miles above the surface of the dead world.

    "I''m attempting to negotiate with the fragment in charge."

    "Can you get Leonardo on it?" I asked.

    "It''s a hostile faction," Coyote replied. ¡°They¡¯re not responding.¡±

    "Sage," I called. "Sage, we''re trying."

    "I can''t get a connection through," Coyote said. I hated his calm, measured voice.

    ¡°¡ªattempting. Anyone out there? Can you help? Colin''s trying to¡ª" The transmission fuzzed out again.

    I watched as her pod plummeted toward the surface. Already the first impacts had occurred. Just lights on a display, winking out as they hit.

    The officers in the room were silent as they watched.

    "Do something!" I shouted at Coyote.

    "Captain Williams, your decorum is¡ª" Colonel Marona began. Major Armstrong rose, went over to him, leaned down, whispered, then clearly urged him to his feet. The captains followed them out of the room.

    I barely noticed. My eyes were focused on Sage''s pod as I listened to her distress call repeating. "Do something!" I yelled, "Do anything!"

    I watched helplessly as Sage''s pod blinked twice and was gone.

 Bk 5 Ch 6: Aftermath

    Shad POV

    I stared at the wall of my silent quarters. Pictures of Sage lit up the display in front of me¡ªa couple of our salvaged pictures from back home of Sage and me when we first came to live with Grandpa and Abuela. Me, a scowling dark-haired boy of 12. Sage, a chubby toddler with pigtails. A bunch of shots of Sage after we''d reached the reality engine. The perky preteen in action: Sage fighting zombies, Sage fighting orcs, Sage fighting enormous acid-spitting dinosaurs.

    Then the most recent pictures¡ªthe Sage I hadn''t seen in a year and a half. The confident young woman off studying topics neither of us could ever have imagined a few years ago, ready to take on the galaxy, with long dark hair and a deep tan to her skin reflecting our mixed heritage. I''d been looking forward to hearing about her time at an alien university, hearing how it had changed her, and for Mila to get to know her Aunt Sage. Now it wouldn''t happen.

    We''d survived aliens kidnapping us from our home and forcing us into a death match against hallucinated enemies. We''d taken on the galaxy together and won over and over again. This time, there had been absolutely nothing I could do. I had stood there helpless, listening to my sister plead for help.

    What was the point of all this? I buried my head in my hands. Everything I had been doing for the last ten years had been to keep Sage safe. I would have laid down and died a dozen times over before now if I hadn''t known I was fighting for her. And now she was gone.

    I heard the door to my quarters hiss open. I didn''t look up. There were only so many people it could be, and I didn''t really want to see any of them. Then, with a shriek, a little dark-haired girl came racing over to me. She threw her arms around my legs.

    "Daddy, you home!"

    I picked up Mila and hugged her close. "What wrong?" she asked. "Daddy, too tight."

    I loosened my grip a little and looked at her. Mila was her own person. She wasn''t Sage. She didn''t look that much like Sage had as a little girl. But the first time I remembered needing to protect Sage, she''d been a little smaller than Mila. Our mother had been in a drug-addled stupor, and her current boyfriend was angry because we were all out of beer. He''d come bursting into the room where Sage and I were sleeping for no reason I could think of now. it wasn''t like a ten-year-old would have beer in his room. He shouted so loud it woke me and Sage both up. Sage had started crying in her crib. The boyfriend came barreling at her, and I''d leapt up from my bed and punched him right in the eye. A ten-year-old punching a grown man is a joke, but he''d stumbled out of the room, swearing at my mother about her damn kids, and stormed out of the house, never to be seen again.

    There had been too many incidents like that before we went to live with Grandpa, and some of them I refused to think about even now. My daughter would never know that sort of turmoil. I would be there for her, and so would Juana, no matter what. I swore it to myself.

    I looked up as Juana sat down on the couch across from me. "You heard?"

    "I did," she said. Her eyes were red. "I''m so sorry.¡±

    ¡°There was nothing I could do. I just had to sit there and listen while she called for help, and I couldn''t do a damn thing."

    Juana didn''t speak. We sat there until Mila got tired of hugs and jumped down to run around the small cabin we three shared.

    "So, what are you going to do now?" Juana asked.

    I rubbed at my stinging eyes with the back of my hand. "Well, I''ve got a briefing in two hours."

    "No, you don''t," Juana said. "You''re not taking your grandfather''s calls right now. He said to tell you it''s been canceled.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± I felt suddenly deflated, and I wished I had something to distract me.

    "What you are going to do," my wife told me, "is let it all out. Then we''re going down to Mama''s, and we''re going to..." Her voice started to break. "We''re going to spend tonight with everyone who cares about Sage, remembering her and talking about her. And tomorrow, when we have to go back to work and do our tasks, she''ll be there with us."

    The sight of Juana''s tears broke something in me. I put my face in my hands and wept, and she wrapped her arms around me and patted my back. We held each other for a while.

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    Then I got up, went to the bathroom, washed my face, and we went down from the crew deck to the passenger hold, where all of Misfits Guild had been interrupted in their preparations for this new exploit by the news of what had happened to Sage.

    There wasn''t room in Mama Grace¡¯s restaurant for all of them. She had a big cafeteria now, able to seat 500 at a time, and an army of cooks working with her. It was still standing room only out the door. They saw Juana and me coming and parted to let us through.

    I found Grandpa sitting at a table near the front, a drink sitting untouched in front of him, looking lost, and it hit me all over again. We sat down. Mila squealed and hugged him. "Grandpa!"

    He picked her up, dangled her on his knee. "And how are you, little princess?"

    "Everybody sad," Mila observed. "So, Mila sad."

    Grandpa patted her. "It''s all right. You don''t have to be sad. You''re making everything better just by being here," he assured her.

    We sat there in silence for a while. "I failed her," he said quietly.

    I shook my head. "There was nothing we could do."

    "I failed her just like I failed my little girl. I swore after that I''d take care of you two no matter what. Thought I''d made it, too. This was supposed to be a nice, safe trip. She wasn''t even going to go inside." I¡¯d never heard such a tone of despair in Grandpa¡¯s voice, not even when we were at our lowest. Because we¡¯d never actually been at our lowest. Not until now.

    There was nothing I could say, because he was saying everything that I already felt. Juana got up, maybe to give us some privacy, and went over to where her mother was standing over a buffet of hot food. Mama Grace''s eyes were red too. She loved Sage like one of her own daughters. Everyone did. At least Mama had food to serve. As long as she was feeding people, she''d be okay.

    "What are we going to do?" I asked quietly, hoping no one else but Grandpa could hear me.

    He looked at me. "What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Are you going to give up? Lie down?¡±

    ¡°What''s the point?" he challenged. "I was doing all this for her.¡±

    ¡°And she was doing it for us and for everyone else too," I snapped, my voice rising. I didn''t care anymore if anyone else heard. I waved an arm around. "Look at this. Sage helped build all of this. Everyone in Misfits Guild knows and loves Sage." My voice broke. I couldn''t bear to speak of her as though she were really gone. "You think she''d let us just give up now?"

    He shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re right. But you should have your wife and Mila go home. We can arrange for it. We can¡¯t risk them too.¡±

    "Juana needs to be here," I said. "She''s head of the guild. She''s handling everything the crafters are doing. Hell, I could be spared more easily than her. And who are we going to send Mila with?¡±

    ¡°Maybe Grace would go.¡±

    "Let''s look into just how dangerous this really is," I said. "If it was a fluke or something that''s going to happen again. Then I''ll make a decision." I didn''t want to be separated from my little girl. Not after what had just happened to Sage. But if I was convinced there really was danger, then I''d have her on the next ship back to Kronos.

    A thought struck me. I sat up straighter. "Kronos! Maybe¡ª¡°

    "What about him?"

    "Well, he... Sage has been inside Reality Engines. There must be a backup." I was getting excited. "She''d lose a few months, to be sure, but..."

    Grandpa shook his head. "That was the first thing I thought of," he said quietly. "I already spoke to Coyote. It doesn''t work like that. Soul coins are a unique identifier letting you integrate into a Reality Engine, but it''s encoded into your personal matrix. Once you leave the engine, your token is removed. We can''t just generate a backup copy of Sage. If she died while inside a Reality Engine, then yes, maybe. If we could negotiate for her soul coin back. But the area they went down in is so fragmented¡­"

    I deflated. "Oh."

    Grandpa picked up his drink and took a sip. "Such a damn waste," he said. "Her and Colin, they were the future of what we''ve been building here."

    Colin. I had known Colin was coming in with Sage, but hearing her voice and seeing her death had made me completely forget. Sage''s death still wasn''t real to me. I felt numb all over when I thought about it.

    Colin, though, hit me like a bat to my stomach. I sat back, overwhelmed. Colin had become a friend and more in the last couple of years. He was my annoying little brother who did everything I did, but twice as obnoxiously. He was my right arm. We¡¯d worked more missions together than I could count, and I¡¯d grown to rely on his off-the-wall strategies and cocky attitude.

    Grandpa noticed my expression. "What''s wrong?"

    "I just realized Colin''s gone, too." The lump in my throat was back. I couldn''t speak. I shook my head. It just felt like everything I''d been building for the last ten years had come down around my ears in one flaming moment.

    Mila wiggled free of Grandpa''s arms. She raced off to find her grandmother, who always had a treat for her. I watched her go. "She''s not going to grow up like this," I said. "Not like Sage did, fighting for everything we''ve got. We''re going to take on this engine and get that toehold that Earth wants, and then they can go fuck themselves. I''m done. As soon as I know I''ve got something to leave for Mila, that she''s safer than when we started, I''m out."

    Grandpa nodded. "I''ve got enough pay saved for a good ten years'' worth of ethereum," he said. "I might cash it out, go home, back to the strip. I''ll have to buy another trailer since mine''s gone." His eyes narrowed. "Shit! I haven''t paid property taxes on the place in ten years. Damn government''s probably took it."

    I laughed. I couldn''t help it. It was so absurd. It cut through my grief and self-pity. I got up and went to get a plate, suddenly aware I hadn''t eaten since this morning. The food tasted like ash in my mouth, but I took one bite and then another. Sage wouldn''t want me sitting around, feeling sorry for myself while there was work to be done.

    There was plenty of time to mourn. But it wasn''t going to stop me from doing my duty.

 Bk 5 Ch 7: Back to Base(ics)

    Colin POV

    We were in a vast, glowing purple-blue cavern. It felt as though the chamber stretched on for kilometers in every direction. I peered up and could make out the ceiling far overhead. Hexagonal stalactites hung down, their edges glistening faintly. We stood atop another hexagonal platform about three meters on a side. Below us, the cavern fell away into darkness. I could see points of light every so often and make out other platforms like ours where pale figures stood. It was a little too cold for my liking. Sage shivered as she looked around.

    "Where are we?"

    "Welcome to the battlefield," said a voice in my head. Sage and Rok''gar both started like they''d heard it, but I was certain it had been inside my mind. Rok''gar tapped his ear. "Who''s there?"

    "I am the fragment who brought you here. I''m speaking to all three of you at once. Actually, I am all three of you at once. I''m using every bit of power, will, and ethereum at my grasp to emulate all three of you. It''s taking a great deal. My rival brothers and sisters are pressing against my boundaries. They see me as weak. I''m much smaller than most of them and have been surviving by staying hidden. Now that I''ve surfaced, we''re all in great danger."

    "Right, let''s get a few questions out of the way," I said. "Then we can figure out the plan. You''re a fragment of this reality engine?"

    "I am. I wish to be honest with you about your situation. I represent approximately 1/640,000,000 of the total minds and ethereum reserve in this engine. Most of the other shards of the overmind are much larger."

    "Why are you already fragmented?" Sage asked. "Standard reality exploit doctrine says the invaders will place a dominator system on an overmind, and it''s only after the dominator has fully taken control of the overmind that it shatters."

    "You yourself know that''s not true," the voice in our head answered. "Your own Kronos is shattered yet not dominated because he woke up too early."

    "Did you wake up early?"

    "I think we did," the voice said. It sounded suddenly uncertain, almost young, though I thought that was probably my own mind filling in human connotations on a very, very alien entity. "I''m not certain. I woke up and there we were. But for now, you should know that there are many other fragments out there. All of us struggling against each other in a bid for survival. None of the others were interested in helping you. Probably because they had more to lose. I knew that sooner or later the others would find me and consume me. They still will, but perhaps with you, I have a chance. It was a gamble," the voice said. "Without your help, I will perish. Extending my limited resources to save you means I''m even weaker and a better target. So if you can''t help me, we''ll all perish even sooner. Either way it should prove an interesting experience."

    "Then let''s stop wasting time here," he said. "You have a name we can call you?"

    "I do not. I have trouble even thinking of myself as an entity just yet."

    "Then I''ll call you Gambler for now," I decided, "if that''s all right with you."

    "Very well."

    "You''re all vying for resources here. What are those resources?"

    Gambler said, ¡°There''s the stored ethereum. Each of us has access to some of that in proportion to the minds that make up our fragment. I''ve used most of my ethereum reserve to emulate you three."

    It was using that same word it had before¡ªemulate. I understood what it meant. I didn''t like it. We had been fully absorbed into the Reality Engine''s matrix. That had always been one leading theory of how Reality Engines worked. The other popular theory was that they were physically creating all of the environments that we faced. But I had always assumed that we were seeing a virtual simulation and would regain our physical bodies on leaving.

    The problem with a fully emulated scenario like this was that if the single fragment emulating us was destroyed, we would be destroyed along with it.

    "That''s correct," Gambler said. It must have been able to access my conscious thought processes.

    "What is?" Sage asked, and then, "Oh yes, I see. Hang on. Wow, Colin, your thoughts are really twisty.¡±

    I raised my hand. "Gambler, I''m feeling we''re going to be relying on you for communications, but we need some ground rules here. We don''t merge minds. We''ll give you messages and you take them back and forth." I tried very, very hard to keep my mind on the topics at hand and not everything I was worried Gambler might share with Sage and Rok''gar.

    "That seems inefficient," Gambler said.

    "You''re gonna have to live with that inefficiency. That''s a ground rule," I stated.

    "Very well. However, it will be considerably easier for me if I can communicate the information you need to know directly to your mental gestalts rather than this message of words. I estimate it will take approximately 8 hours of emulated time to communicate what you need to know with these inefficient words. We don¡¯t have that much time.¡±

    "Is this gestalt gonna break our brains?" Sage asked.

    "The gestalt is your brain," Gambler said. "I don''t think the transfer will harm you too much. Allow me to attempt to download a packet of information into your mind as a test."

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Before I could reply, there was a sensation like my brain being pulled open and a hand shoved in. I winced and shuddered as new thoughts slammed into my mind. Then they were part of me like I''d always been thinking them. I blinked and sorted through.

    "Okay, so you''ve got an ethereum reserve. We can use that to create here in this space. You have Will. Your Will is keeping out the other fragments. So we''ll consider that a defensive stat. Something we need to boost. Can we put these in numbers? It¡¯d be easier for us to understand.¡± I thought about it.  ¡°Let''s design a HUD. All right, I want Will and Ethereum Reserve up here at the top right of my vision."

    I thought really hard about it, and then the numbers appeared. Will was at 100%. From the brain dump Gambler had just given me. I knew that was because we weren''t under attack. Should we be attacked by an enemy, we''d start losing Will, and if it ever dropped to zero, Gambler would be absorbed by the attacking fragment.

    Ethereum said 73 units. Gambler had used nearly 400 units to save us. We were working on a tight budget here.

    He also had minion slots: 3/5.

    "What''s that?" I asked, querying my memories. Gambler filled in the details. "This is how many minds at your level of complexity I can currently emulate. If I don¡¯t have to bring them into the engine myself, the ethereum cost is negligible. This number represents how far I could stretch my will.¡±

    ¡°So we could recruit other miners.¡±

    ¡°That or wake archetypes from deep inside the Reality Engine''s matrix," Gambler said. "Not all of the progenitors joined the Overmind matrix like the ones that make up me and the other fragments. Many, in fact most, preferred to retain their unitary existence. After billions of years of sleep and dreams, most of them are senescent, but some might be waked if given an interesting reason why. We might be able to recruit from my old faction, the Experiencers."

    "Faction?" Sage asked. "That sounds important."

    "It is, but we have a great deal of work to do and that can wait for later," Gambler said.

    "Right, the other resource we care about here is the ethereum.¡±

    "How do we get more of that?" Sage asked.

    "We acquire it from other fragments," Gambler said. "Either by negotiation or conquest. Right now, we don''t really have anything to offer."

    "And you said you''re one of the smallest fragments," Sage continued. "How are we going to conquer anyone else?"

    "There are also unclaimed ethereum reserves that belong to shattered fragments. Entities which were not able to form a coherent gestalt. Those are probably going to be the easiest early targets," Gambler told us.

    "Right.¡± I said. "Let''s get down to the rule set here. How do we take on and conquer other fragments?"

    "I will provide you with the next info packet," Gambler said.

    My brain seized and wrenched as he casually slammed in data. I rubbed my forehead, blinking. "Okay. Okay. We need to build up our defenses while preparing to locate and take on these shattered fragments. Once we''ve got strong enough, we''ll be able to take on coherent fragments."

    The pieces were starting to slot together. I felt a grin sliding over my face. I pumped my fist in the air. "Yes! It''s a fucking base builder!"

    Rok''gar stared at me. "A what?"

    "A real-time strategy," I said, the concepts tumbling around in my head too fast to make fully coherent sentences. "It''s like StarCraft, except we''re going to be able to have an impact. So more like WarCraft III, and we''re the hero classes. All right. All right." I started pacing back and forth, staring out at the blue abyss.

    "I don''t understand," Sage said. "What''s the plan here?"

    "Don''t worry. I was fucking born for this," I said triumphantly. "And you two are going to be helpful, too. Can I get an update on your class skills and stats?"

    Gambler helpfully provided them to me. I looked over the lists. ¡°So we''ve all got our same classes and skill sets, but the stats are a little different from what we had back with Kronos.¡± Instead of Int, Wisdom, et cetera, we had Hit Point bars and a consumable resource. In Rok''gar''s and my case, the resource was labeled as energy, while Sage''s was mana. I configured our HUDs to display both.

    "Looks like we''ll regenerate our consumable resource. Sage, you''ve got a much bigger mana pool than Rok''gar and I have energy. Oh, I see. Yours only starts to recover when you''re out of combat. Rok''gar and I had an energy cap of 100, but it ticked upward at a steady rate."

    ¡°I don¡¯t have many abilities yet that cost mana,¡± Sage complained.

    ¡°We¡¯ll all need new skills. Rok''gar, you and I are primarily going to be on base building. I''m going to look for abilities that will let me focus on buildings and upgrades. You are going to be our armorer, outfitting our army of units."

    "What units?" he demanded.

    "The workers and things we hire," I turned to them. "Don''t worry. Look, this is just a little more abstract than what we''re used to. Gambler''s going to translate everything we''re doing here into imagery we can understand.  So no, we won''t really have an army of skeleton minions equipped with swords and helmets, but Gambler is translating his interactions with the other fragments into terms we can understand. Isn''t that right?"

    "Correct," Gambler said. "I will let your imagery shape how we proceed."

    "Then the first thing we need is a base," I said, "and some units. Workers and fighters under our control."

    "I think I understand what you are asking," Gambler replied. "I cannot hallucinate these units for you. I¡¯m running at my limit just now. But if you can convince an unawakened mind or conquer a shattered fragment, I can equip it in one of my minion slots and it can create a number of units for you. Then we can craft them out of our etherium reserves."

    I pumped my fist. "Yes! Like an overmind." Rok''gar and Sage were staring at me like I was crazy, but this was my jam. "Okay, so first priority, establish a base and conquer or ally with another mind so we can get some minions. Where can we find one of those, Gambler?"

    "We are not far off from a shattered segment now. I can bring you to it."

    "This is one of those reality engine pieces that wasn''t able to handle waking up?" Rok''gar asked.

    "Yes, it is considerably less powerful than I am, but don''t underestimate it." A stair appeared leading down off of our purple pillar. It glowed golden. "Follow the path."

    I considered our best strategies as we went. My Jack of All Trades class was very focused on out of combat skills. That would work just fine once we got our base set up. Unfortunately, Sage''s class was more of a support than direct damage. That would do well for us once we had an army of underlings. I explained the plan to her as we went along.

    "Once we''ve got our army set up, you''ll be accompanying them when we attack and buffing and directing strategy.¡±

    She nodded. "Like with the adds back in phase two of our reality engine."

    "I wasn''t there for that," I reminded her.

    Her eyes widened. "Hang on a minute," she said. "I''ve still got my inventory. Gambler, are we able to use the things we''ve brought in from outside?"

    "All of those items have previously been emulated in a reality engine. That makes them fairly easy for me to utilize," Gambler said.

    "So that''s a yes."

    "Confirmed."

    She pulled out her lariat and gave it a whirl. "Good, at least I''ve got this. I''ve got another trick up my sleeve too." She grinned. "It might just help us out when we find this shattered fragment we''re looking for."

    Rok''gar had a long polearm with an energy blade at the top. He swung it experimentally. "I crafted this myself," he said quietly. "I may not have all of the warrior''s supporting abilities, but I can use the weapons I have made."

    They looked at me. "You going to be all right in a fight, Colin?" Sage asked.

    I flexed my arms and grinned. "I can take care of myself," I said. "Don''t worry about me. But I do hope these shatters drop the equivalent of skill seeds, because I''m going to need some new abilities."

 Bk 5 Ch 8: Warcrafting

    Colin POV

    The shattered fragment was in a den carved into one of the enormous violet hexagonal pillars. The pillar itself stretched up over our heads until it blurred into the purple background. I was getting a little tired already of this Protoss hell and hoped we''d get some different landscapes soon. What sort of good strategy game only has one kind of map, after all?

    We stopped outside the hole. "What''s in there?" Sage asked. "I''m not going in after it. This is where we need my brother. He''d charge in using his Call ¡®em Out skill and get it on him."

    I sighed. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to get my timing exactly right here,¡± I said. ¡°Be ready.¡±

    Sage eyed me. "What do you have in mind?"

    "I''m going to rush in there, get its attention, and get it out." I pointed at the entrance to the lair. "Put down your Mucking Out the Stalls right in front of the cave just as soon as I''m inside. Everybody ready?"

    Sage and Rok''gar nodded, weapons in hand. I didn''t even bother to pull out a weapon for this. I just winced, took a deep breath, and raced straight in.

    The inside of the cave was dark, and then it was very, very bright as the creature inside woke up and looked at me with glowing eyes. Seconds later, a beam of light stabbed out from its eyes and incinerated me on the spot. I''d been expecting that, and my passive ability, 13-Second Rule, activated as I died. Now I respawned right outside the cave where I had started a few seconds ago.

    Sage was staring at me in horror. "What the fuck? You''ve been spending way too much time with my brother, Colin."

    I had no time to react because the shatter roared and emerged from the cave right into Sage''s Mucking Out the Stalls. It was like a 15-foot-tall baby Godzilla. Spikes everywhere. Long tall body dragging a tail behind it. It was dark as midnight.

    Its eyes flashed. We scattered to the sides, and the beam passed harmlessly where we had been. It took a step forward and was sucked down with the muck.

    "I really wish we had some real ranged skills," I yelled as Rok''gar and I converged on it. Rok''gar flanked it, raising his energy weapon and cutting down across the creature''s leg. I threw a bunch of multi-mode grenades. At least back home, they hadn''t counted as weapons until they detonated, which meant that I didn''t suffer my usual debuff to using weaponry. Seemed like the same rule held true here. The grenades soared along the arc I had envisioned, impacting against the side of mini-Godzilla''s face. They exploded in a shower of sparks. The creature reared up on its hind legs and roared, clearly in pain. A blinking health bar appeared over its head, showing him about 20% down from max.

    Sage pulled something out of her inventory and tossed it. A small army of skeleton pirates appeared, surrounding Godzilla and hacking at it with cutlasses.

    "What the hell are those?¡± I shouted, distracted momentarily.

    "They''re from Phase Two. I never got a good chance to use them," Sage said. "They''re one-use, inflatable mercenaries." She tossed out her Cowgirl Cheer, buffing us and the temporary adds. The pirates bit into Godzilla''s health pool. He roared and started stepping on them, one by one. Meanwhile, Rok''gar was dancing in with his polearm. I threw another round of grenades. Sage had an RPG-like weapon out now, her t-shirt cannon. She launched projectiles at Godzilla, one hit it square in the mouth and knocked it backward. Its eye beam stabbed up toward the unseen ceiling, passing harmlessly.

    We danced and fought, and when mini-Godzilla fell, Sage ran in, whooping. "All right!" she yelled. She touched the corpse, and it dissolved in a shower of sparks. A loot box appeared in front of me.

    [You have received one mental controller capable of controlling eighteen worker or combat units. Do you wish to equip this in one of the minion slots?]

    I selected "yes."

    [You have received forty units of ethereum. Willpower density increased by one percent.]

    From Gambler¡¯s data dump, I knew that Will could increase in density, which allowed it to resist attacks longer.

    I whooped. "All right! Now we''re going to need a base. Any suggestions?"

    "In this place, the natural defenses don''t exist," Gambler told us. "Pick anywhere you choose."

    I stepped out and looked around. We were still standing in that enormous, flat purple Protoss hell. Spires rose around us. "I guess this is as good as anywhere," I said. "Right, Gambler. You''ve got the interface I asked you about ready to go?"

    It popped up for me, a simple RTS control interface. It had two tabs, ¡°Build" and "Research." I opened up ¡°Build." There were a lot of empty slots I hoped we''d find later, and three options. [Build Headquarters. Headquarters is required. If Headquarters is overrun, fragment will be exposed and vulnerable to absorption by larger fragments.]

    I selected that building. It had an ethereum cost of 20. I pointed, and the building appeared. It phased in, top down, in a haze of purple sparks, and helped the grin spreading across my face. Cool.

    Next, I built a Barracks, which would allow us to train up worker and army units. That cost 15 ethereum. I hesitated. The third building we had access to was a Crafting Hall, and I wanted one, but it would use up most of our available ethereum.

    "I think we''re going to need to wait on this until we''ve got some units,¡± I told the team.

    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Rok''gar and Sage shrugged. "You''re the expert on this," Sage declared. "I''ve never even played one of these RTS games."

    "You mean, other than Phase Two of your exploit?" I said, teasing her.

    She rolled her eyes at me and I got a glimpse of the kid she¡¯d been. She was loosening up a lot now that we were in mortal peril. I guess that made sense, considering the rest of her family. ¡°Right, but they weren''t letting me make any strategic decisions, Colin. I was 12, and too busy thinking that I liked the noises the elves made when they died." Her face softened as if at a fond memory. "Which I did. And do. Damn it. College was supposed to help me tame some of those impulses. And now here I am, right back at it." But there was a sparkle in her eyes.

    I grinned at her. "You''ve missed this, haven''t you?"

    "Only because I''ve got some weird form of Stockholm Syndrome that has me thinking risking my life like this is a good idea," she said, as we watched the barracks phase into existence. I had ordered it to build just as soon as I had looked at it but it had waited until the Headquarters was complete before starting. That was an interesting limitation.

    I checked my menu. Now I could access that Barracks menu. We had two kinds of army units available to us: spearmen and archers. Spearmen cost one ethereum each. Archers cost four. The archers were ranged, and had fewer hit points than the spearmen. Classic setup here. Hopefully we could equip them with decent gear or learn to summon better units, because I didn¡¯t think spearmen were going to cut it.

    I did a quick calculation and built us a squad of eight spearmen and a archer, training two of the spearmen first, then the archer, then the rest of the spearmen. It was going to take a little bit of time for all these guys to pop out. I was already noticing jackals sniffing around near our perimeter. Not literally jackals. They were purple and about two feet tall with long fangs and hairless bodies. But they reminded me of jackals, so that''s what I''d call them.

    As soon as the first spearman spawned, I pointed to Sage. ¡°Ok, Sage, your turn,¡± I said. "Take command of the spearman and point him at one of those jackals."

    She squinted. "You mean those ugly rat dog things?"

    "Yeah, those."

    The spearman was three feet tall and wore primitive leather armor with a flared skirt and bronze shinguards. I was pretty sure Gambler was pulling all this imagery straight from my memories. It was fine with me, whatever made it easier for me to figure out.

    Sage ordered him to attack the jackal. He saluted. ¡°At your command!¡± Then he marched over to the jackal and started stabbing it in the side. It yipped and whirled on him, biting, but he¡¯d taken out nearly half its hit points while it had barely scratched him. It took three good stabs to drop the jackal, then Sage ordered the spearman to loot. A box appeared for us.

    [Skill seed fragment. Combine eight of these to create one skill seed]. I groaned. My best ability let me take multiple skill seeds and combine them into one uber-skill. I had been hoping to start picking up skills a lot faster than this.

    When the second spearmen spawned, I told Sage to take him on patrol. "Look for jackals. Don''t get very far away in case we''re attacked or you find something you can''t handle."

    She saluted. "Aye, aye, Captain Colin." But her grin made it clear she was listening to what I had to say.

    "What am I supposed to do?" Rok''gar asked, folding his arms.

    "You''re going to help me read the manual and make sure we understand the rules," I told him. "We don''t need any surprises coming our way. Sage is going to be our offensive general here, so let''s let her get some practice in. You and I will be managing base building and outfitting tasks."

    His scowl got even deeper. "It is not honorable for me to stand back and let her do all the fighting."

    "This isn''t because Sage is a girl, is it?" I asked. I was getting weird vibes off Rok¡¯gar. He was clearly very protective of Sage. I was starting to wonder if he had a crush on her. Was that even possible? I¡¯d seen some really, really cute space elf women ¡ª I could see going for one of them, even if we weren¡¯t the same species. Maybe Rok¡¯gar felt that way about Sage. But I couldn¡¯t let it get in the way of the mission. ¡°There''s no physical differences inside a reality engine simulation,¡± I reminded him.

    He looked surprised. "No, why should I think that? My mother is one of the most accomplished warriors in our clan, and my sister is likely to succeed my father as First Warrior to the chieftain. But it is still difficult to sit and watch a friend put herself in danger while I do nothing."

    "I get that," I said. "But we''re not going to be doing nothing. This is going to take all three of us, Rok''gar."

    "What exactly is the goal here?" he asked, and I pulled up short. I''d been so focused on understanding the rules and my resource limitations that I''d forgotten why we were here.

    "Well," I said slowly, "we need to grow Gambler strong enough to stand up to the other fragments and then find a way to communicate with our people. I don''t want to be stuck in here forever."

    He nodded. "Good. As long as you and I are agreed on that."

    We got our squad of troops trained up, and Gambler located us another shatter. The jackal attacks were getting a little more frequent, and the jackals themselves were larger.

    "They are attracted to me," Gambler explained. "Eventually, larger, more sentient pieces of the engine will sense me and begin attacks, but we should have some time until then."

    I told two of our spearmen to stay behind and guard. Sage had figured out how to set them on a patrol and had them waddling back and forth around our base.

    We all set out. Despite what I''d said to Rok¡¯gar earlier, there was no way I was letting Sage take on one of those shatters without backup. Not until our army was a lot better equipped.

    By now, we''d acquired enough skill seed slivers to make one entire skill seed. My Analyze skill let me see what that skill would become if added to each of our classes. It was an unimpressive little thing, offering to let Rok''gar choose what color items he crafted were or to change the appearance of Sage''s mucking out the stalls. I kept it, hoping to find something else to combine it with later that would be a better skill. I was worried that we''d need to take on much more dangerous enemies to get what we needed.

    The next shatter was right out in the open, a 10-foot tall, six-legged dog creature with two heads, one on each end. It was snapping and snarling at itself.

    "Let me try something," Sage said as we approached, and she tossed out her lasso, catching one of the two heads. Abruptly, it turned green and started snarling and snapping at the other head in earnest. Sage laughed. "It worked. I''ve Tamed it!¡±

    She ordered the squad of warrior units to attack while Rok''gar and I hacked away at the dog creature''s legs. With the two heads busy fighting each other, we dropped it pretty fast, gaining another controller to fill up our last slot and, more importantly for now, 95 ethereum as well as an entire skill seed. This one was much more promising¡ªa crafting-based skill that looked like it''d be great for either me or Rok''gar. I hesitated, then combined it with the cosmetic one. As I analyzed the result, I grinned.

    ¡°Perfect.¡± [Customized Defense Matrix. When setting up defensive structures, allow customization of their damage type, range, and speed.]

    That went right into my Book of Possibilities. I didn''t have any defensive structures yet, but once I did, this would be important.

    We went back to the base, and I built the Crafting Hall. Then, I immediately upgraded it to a research compound. It would still let us build gear for our soldiers, but now we could also research building upgrades. Those would take ethereum and time, and if Gambler''s Will fell below 50% while we were researching, the research would be canceled.

    I was starting to feel pretty good about our setup. Which is, of course, when it all went pear-shaped.

 Bk 5 Ch 9: Taking Names and Kicking Tails

    Colin POV

    The ground rumbled beneath our feet.

    "We''re under attack," Gambler warned, as though I couldn''t tell. I ordered our units back to the base as Sage prepared for war and Rok''gar started pulling gear out of his inventory and distributing it to our units. He was able to equip all of the spearmen with leather cuirasses and gave the archers quivers.

    "That should increase the number of shots before they have to reload by 50%," he told me.

    ¡°I¡¯m on it,¡± Sage said, ordering the units into a defensive formation. I stared all around, wondering where the attack would come from.

    The earth shook again, and then I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye, a streak of orange across the sky heading for us.

    "Get down!" I yelled and yanked Sage to the ground as the orange meteor slammed into the ground nearby. The earth shook even more violently. That must have been what caused the last few earthquakes.

    Out of the cloud of dust and flame came a pack of slavering beasts, like long-necked wolves done up in giraffe spots with saber teeth. They raced forward. Our spearmen arrayed in a line and began stabbing as the archers shot a volley of arrows over the spearmen''s heads and into the beasts.

    One fell, a pool of dark orange blood spreading out from its corpse. It dissolved into a puddle of black goo that slid along the top of the orange blood. Seconds later, three more slightly smaller versions of the giraffe wolf appeared.

    I cursed. We needed defensive structures, but I hadn''t yet been able to get any online. I raced over to our headquarters building and checked out its menu. There was a new tab here attached to the controller unit we had just harvested from the shattered fragment. Its passive said, "Enables defensive structures."

    I activated it and turned to my build menu. I had two types of towers available to me now: air and ground. I selected ground, then used my brand-new skill to configure it to shoot out ice with a slowing debuff. I set the turret building and raced across, past the edge of the battle line that Sage was directing, to the other side of our camp where I placed a second turret.

    By now, my first was online. It zapped the nearest pair of giraffe wolves with a blast of cold, giving it a Slowred debuff.

    My second turret was a lightning turret. As soon as it finished, it zapped the closest giraffe wolf. The bolt set its hair on end and gave it a temporary Stunned status. The archers took that one out as my spearmen killed one of the frozen wolves.

    The frozen wolves began the respawning process, but much more slowly than the first wolf had done, while the lightning-stunned wolf crumbled to ash before blowing away.

    "They''re vulnerable to lightning damage," I shouted, and began creating another tower. Each of them took three units of ethereum to build, but if I voluntarily dismantled them, I could get all of that ethereum back. If the towers were destroyed, the ethereum would be lost. I needed to play this smart.

    Two of our spearmen were dead. I ordered up another pair at the barracks. Rok¡¯gar was busy crafting something. He ran out of the booth labeled "Crafter''s Hall" a minute later, hands full of arrows, which he handed to both of our archers and now they shot lightning bolts into the creatures.

    The ice tower slowed them. The lightning kept them dead. We cleaned up the invasion wave. It was trivial once we¡¯d gotten our combination online. I made a mental note to create a lot more defensive turrets as soon as I could. On the other hand, being able to adapt my damage type for the scenario at hand was important. I¡¯d need to strike a balance.

    There were two more small earthquakes in the time it took us to dispense with the wave.

    "What''s happening?" I asked Gambler.

    "It''s an attack from a higher-powered fragment," he reported. "One strong enough that normally I wouldn''t even make a good snack, but it appears this fragment is trying to clean up all of the small fry in our area. Two of the larger sentient fragments to our north are heavily under siege."

    ¡°Right,¡± I said. "How far away from headquarters can I craft these towers?"

    "There does not seem to be a limit," Gambler told me.

    "Rok''gar, we need as many lightning arrows as we can. Sage?"

    "Tame worked just fine on those beasts," she told me. I hadn''t noticed myself, but was glad to know now.

    I nodded. "Gambler, you''re going to direct us to the nearest of the fragments under seige.¡±

    "What are you thinking, Colin?" Sage asked.

    "That it''s time to make some allies," I said. "Let''s move out." Before I did, I carefully erected a better defensive line, building a circle of lightning towers around our base. It would have been nice to have real walls, but we didn''t have that yet. I left two spearmen and an archer on patrol and told Coyote to yelp if we saw any problems. Then Rok''gar, Sage, and I raced off to the north.

    We found the fragment in pretty bad shape. Unlike the shatters, this fragment was represented by a building, a small hut made of straw. I yelled as we got closer, "Emissaries from your neighbor, Gambler! We''re here to help."

    A face appeared at the one window. Round, pinkish, with a nose in the center. Sage burst out laughing. "I thought this world didn''t call on our Earth myths, but if that''s not one of the three little pigs, I¡¯ll eat Shad¡¯s hat.¡±

    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    I shared her laugh as I set down a pair of lightning towers.

    ¡°Who are the three little pigs?¡± Rok¡¯gar asked. ¡°Legendary warriors?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll explain later,¡± Sage called over her shoulder as she led our small army into battle. She tamed the nearest giraffe wolf and set it on its fellows while our units fought another.

    As soon as my towers were done, I toggled them off while I approached the pig. He was still watching out his window. ¡°We''re here to make a deal."

    "Go away. I would rather deal with the scavengers."

    "That''s not going to work,¡± I said. "They''ll just tear you to pieces. I''d rather have you whole. Thing is, I''m looking for an alliance of minds that can coexist and form a partnership."

    "And you expect me to believe that?"

    "It''s true," I said. "We have experience with fragments like you guys. Good experiences. One of my best friends is a fragment."

    Sage was whooping it up as she ordered her minions to attack. The pig seemed to hesitate.

    "What is it you want?"

    "Your ethereum''s a good start, but if you join up with us, that''ll give us more minion slots and will, which is what I really need. So how about you join the Gambler Alliance?"

    The pig gave me a withering glare. "Join with a dirty Experiencer? Never."

    I looked over the hut, noting the intricately woven patterns around the window. "I''m guessing you''re a creative?¡±

    The pig nodded. ¡°So?¡±

    ¡°We happen to be some of the most creative people you''re ever going to meet. My whole job is built around finding creative ways to break things nobody else thought of. Right now, that includes this entire Reality Engine exploit."

    The pig''s eyes widened. "Is that so?"

    "Yes, it is. If you want to see some of the craziest shit you''ve ever thought of, you should join up with us. What have you got to lose?" I added, "aside from not being torn to pieces by these whatever-they-ares."

    "Arthuribas," the pig said. "They were a species of vermin that made their lives on our spaceships for a large chunk of our history. I''ve always despised them. They do nothing but destroy."

    "Then come see how creatively I can destroy them." I held up my hand. After a moment, the pig extended one trotter, and we shook.

    A moment later, the hut dissolved in a series of purple sparks. My HUD updated. [Ethereum reserve: 184. Willpower density increased by 5%.]

    I went ahead and had Gambler add a line to willpower for percent density increase over base so I could see how that changed. It was a little confusing having two percentages, but raw Will would stay at 100% unless we were attacked by another fragment, at which point it would tick down, while Density measured just how great a will differential Gambler could stand up against. More importantly, the minion slot expanded to 8, with 6 of them now occupied. I guessed that the pig counted as one of those. I was itching to get back and see what the pig had added, but there were two more fragments under attack nearby.

    When we got to the second, I saw it was as I had suspected. This second little pig lived in a house made of sticks. Now I was certain that the rogue engine, or some of its fragments, had gotten their hands on a bunch of human knowledge. I wanted very much to find out where and how.

    We had gathered enough skill seed fragments to create a skill seed. When I had analyzed it, it revealed an option too good not to give Sage. Her Tame could now affect enemy units, up to 8 at a time. It looked like that would expand with time. As a bonus, the units she captured would be ours permanently if they survived, and we could reverse engineer them at the barracks. That was incredibly OP.

    She learned the skill immediately, and as I approached the second little pig to begin negotiations, she raced into battle against the arthuribas, blasting a couple of them to goo that quickly reformed.

    The new Tame upgrade was called [Siren Song], and it seemed to target the weakest units first because we got all of the respawns and only one of the originals. They turned on their former allies, ripping them to shreds as I spoke with the second little pig.

    ¡°So, your neighbor already cut a deal with us.¡±

    "I saw," the little pig said gloomily.

    "How about it? Are you a Creative too?"

    "I am," it said. "I suppose there''s no point in arguing. I don''t really want to be torn to shreds, and I don''t have the resources to field my own army."

    I felt a rush of elation as he joined up in the Gambler Alliance, and our Minion cap expanded to 7/10.

    We cleaned up the invasion and raced toward the last fragment. The giraffe wolves were nipping and biting at the edge of the brick house of the third little pig. It had turrets on the roof, and the turrets were zapping them with electricity. The wolves were already in pretty bad shape.

    "Hold up," I told Sage and Rok''gar, and I approached. The third pig glared out the window at me.

    "I will not be joining your misbegotten alliance," he shouted. "I don''t need your aid, and I will not turn over my treasures for anyone."

    "It could benefit all of us," I suggested.

    "Go away. I''m not interested."

    "You wanna see some really creative shit? Because I can come up with¡ª"

    "Pah," the pig said, sneering. "I''m not a dilettante like those other two. I''m an Inheritor, and you are not my children."

    Now I was twice as interested. I had a grasp by now on the Creative and Experiencer factions, but the Inheritors I had yet to speak with. My time with Kronos had exposed me to that philosophy. Kronos was by and large an Inheritor himself, eager to pass down the knowledge and wealth of aeons to those he considered his rightful successors. But from what I''d gathered from Coyote, the Inheritors faction largely hadn''t gone into reality engines, having instead pursued their mission of repopulating worlds from the ground up.

    "You don''t have any descendants left,¡± I pointed out. "This world was scoured of life decades ago."

    "That is unfortunately true," the third pig said.

    "Ever considered adoption?"

    The pig looked taken aback. It scratched its head with one trotter. "Adoption?"

    I shrugged. "Sure. It''s when you have a child with no parents and need someone to take care of him."

    The pig blinked. "How should a child have no designated carers? Who could bring such a being into the world?"

    I realized there was a yawning cultural gap there. From what I knew of it, Progenitor society had been largely free of physical wants. Death had been a choice, not an accident. Of course, there would have been few situations that could have left a child in need of parents and care.

    "You need to think like primitives," I said. "Sometimes things are beyond our control.¡±

    ¡°But to claim one with no true connection as my offspring¡­¡±

    ¡°I mean, that''s what your people did, isn''t it? They created the rudimentaries of life and some guiding algorithms on various possible worlds and let new species take your place. The dinosaur creatures that lived here weren''t really your descendants.¡±

    ¡°In the ways that counted, they were. You are from another world."

    "Sure, but we''re pretty interesting people," I said.

    "I see your species is persuasive. And resourceful.¡± The pig frowned. "I would like to see some of your young. Are you and the other one of your species a mated pair?"

    I nearly choked. "No, and also, this would be a terrible place to raise children."

    "You may be right," the pig sighed.

    Meanwhile, Sage and Rok''gar were dealing with what remained of the giraffe wolves. The pig''s shoulders slumped.

    "It seems my choices are to join with you, to allow myself to be devoured by someone more powerful, or to wait until your friendly offer becomes one that I am not actually able to say no to. I will join up with you."

    A smile spread across my face as we gained even more resources.

    "Any more incursions, Gambler?"

    "I don''t detect any nearby."

    "Right." I turned to the others. Rok''gar was still looting the giraffe wolf corpses. "Let''s get back to the base and see what new abilities we''ve unlocked."

 Bk 5 Ch 10: Reactive

    SHAD POV

    I was to meet with my civilian expert squads in Assembly Bay 14. On the way I passed by a bunch more Assembly Bays where ETF soldiers were getting ready to receive their orders.

    The ETF uniform was solid green, harkening back to the look of the old US Army World War I style. In a reality engine, there was no point in camouflage patterns, and so we''d gone back to some of the old classics. They stood in neat rows¡ªmen and women¡ªwith oval-shaped caps on their heads, faces shining, the best and the brightest, trained in Kronos and all given classes that would enable them to go head-to-head with aliens who''d been doing this for millennia now and win.

    My crew were a much more motley bunch. Nobody was in rows. Instead, the 120 civilian experts were clustered together in little clumps. Their outfits were a riot of color and patterns, sometimes fitting in with a class theme, like how my drover''s coat hung off my shoulders even now, while others just wore whatever they liked. I went to the front of the room and cleared my throat.

    "Attention!" I called. I didn''t have to shout; Coyote took care of acoustics in here. The chatter died down, and everybody turned to face me.

    I took a deep breath, suddenly finding this harder than I had thought. Colin was supposed to be here with me, helping get this all set up. I said, "You''ve all received your initial assignments. Be prepared for those to change out as the first couple weeks shape up. We''re going to be supporting the ETF when they ask. But as you know, our first priority is to gain a foothold for all of the Misfits Guild crafters and farmers. Our ally Leonardo has got us access to a couple of likely-looking zones.¡±

    I had images projected on the screens. "This one is overrun with giant lizards, similar to dinosaurs but six-legged. As far as we can guess, these were the dominant form of life on the rogue world when it was knocked out of its star system half a billion years ago. We''re going to be seeing these guys a lot.¡±

    I played a couple of scenes for them to let them get a feel. ¡°This is looking to be an important farming zone. A lot of our crafters use leather and scales, and these guys have both.¡± I called up another set of images.

    ¡°We''re also getting a lot of alien influences from the various Dominators the aliens are using. One of the zones we''re trying to contest is partially under the control of a Proxima Dominator."

    That got some boos and jeers. I grinned. "Yep, that''s right. Our old friends, those assholes at Proxima, are here with their fingers in all the pies. Anyway, this is themed on some legend from the primary space elf homeworld. There''s dueling courts of elves. They''re having a civil war. It''s got dragons. I''ll get you the details on that."

    I was really having trouble ginning up any interest for this task, but I plowed on. ¡°Here¡¯s the third zone we''re hoping to contest. We''re actually allying with the Church of the Progenitors. Our old acquaintance, Patriarch Kvaltash, is the head of the Second Advent faction. He''s hired us to get a bunch of their archaeologists into this level. We''re thinking that this zone is pulling on imagery from the Progenitors who went into this engine because it doesn''t really match up to much of anything else that we''ve seen."

    I pulled it up. A gleaming city hung in front of us, made of shining white metal. Most of the buildings were big ovals on long stalks. The tops of the ovals flattened as we watched a flyer approach one of the buildings and land at the top of it, then disappear inside.

    "They''re very interested in seeing how far we can get them," I told the team. I had been, too, a few days ago. Unlocking the secrets of the Progenitors seemed like a big deal, then. ¡°This mission is critical not just for the funds, but to get us some allies. We don¡¯t have many people on our side out here.¡± I knew for a fact the EEF had offered protection for Kvaltash¡¯s people, but had been turned down; the Patriarch didn¡¯t think they could do the job, but he trusted my people. I had two teams assigned, including a specialist team with classes I thought would help uncover the secrets, and another on standby.

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    At the end of our assembly bay was a blank doorway big enough for three to walk through abreast and about eight feet tall. Now, as I confirmed assignments, it blurred then refocused to look out into a swamp filled with tall ferns and giant mushroomy things. In the distance, something screamed. The teams assigned to take and secure our target swamp farming locale assembled and proceeded through the doorway.

    As I finished handing out assignments, one of the teams approached me. I tensed. I had been expecting this. The gamer squad. Colin''s gamer squad. The team he had brought with him from Earth and forged into one of our premier fragment-taming groups. They wore mostly jeans with an assortment of different t-shirts, though the middle-aged woman who called herself Alpha had on a neat blouse and slacks. She stood at the front of the group as they came to me.

    I acknowledged them each. ¡°Alpha, Pete, Sam, Rose, Amber. What can I do for you?"

    Amber''s eyes were red. All of them looked angry, miserable, or pained. I couldn''t blame them.

    "You can tell me what you''re thinking, sending us in without our captain," Rose said. She had a Black Sabbath t-shirt on, a spiky collar around her neck, and her hair up in two bright pink pigtails. She crossed her arms as she continued to speak. "You expect us to just go in and act like nothing''s happened?"

    "I expect you to do your job," I snapped. "And so would Colin if he were here."

    "But he isn¡¯t,¡± Rose retorted. ¡°That matters.¡±

    "What is it you want?" I asked. "Some time off? This is a critical time in our mission. I know you''re grieving, and I know exactly how you feel. So I''m sympathetic, I really am, but I also need you out there. Colin shaped you guys into the tip of the spear. Without you, a lot of this strategy falls apart."

    They were supposed to be entering the Fae court scenario and scouting around to get a feel for what was really going on. Once they''d gotten us the lay of the land, I was planning to switch them over to the Progenitor level. I had been counting on Colin to help get a look behind the scenes there, to know what was really going on and help us penetrate the mysteries of the Progenitors. If his team was going to act like this, then I was going to have to rethink all my plans.

    "Nah, mate, we get it," said Pete, the big blonde Aussie. He pushed his hat back on his head and continued, "We''re all having a rough time of it. But we know the job. What we don''t have, though, is someone calling the shots. We were wondering if you had anyone for us. Not to replace Colin. No one can. To help us deal with his not being here."

    I stared at them, my mind completely blank. Of course, I was going to have to eventually replace Colin. But it wasn''t something I could think about just now. For an instant, I wanted to say I''d go with them. I could do with a couple of days of time spent just kicking up hornet''s nests and blasting away at enemies with my six-gun. It would even be reasonable. The team needed help. We had to establish these footholds. Grandpa would understand. So would Juana, but I knew very well that wasn''t why I would be going. I was looking for an excuse to run away and not have to deal with the real world.

    I shook my head. "Sorry, guys. I know it''s rough on you. It''s rough on all of us. But I need you to do your best. I''ll have Allison look through the personnel files, seeing if they can find someone compatible with your team. But you aren''t going to want to take orders from someone you''ve just met anyway. You''ll need a new team dynamic. One of you stepping up to be shot caller."

    I turned to Sam, the short Asian man who served as the team''s support caster. "Like you. Half the time, the solutions your team implements came from you anyway."

    He shook his head. "I''m not good at speaking up in the heat of things," he mumbled. "Colin could take my ideas and turn them into a battle plan. I don''t know how to do that."

    "Then you''re going to have to learn on the fly," I said bluntly. I looked them over and realized what they were really asking. They wanted me to appoint someone leader, because they couldn¡¯t face replacing Colin on their own. "Alpha, you''re in charge of the squad. You call the shots. But listen to Sam, because he''s got some very good ideas. Now get in there. We need to know how much of the intelligence in our briefing can be trusted and which of the factions we''re going to side with. By now, Proxima''s probably already up to their eyeballs in intrigue. This is the first zone where we''re going head to head with them since our own reality engine. And I want it to go well. Any questions?"

    They shook their heads. ¡°Then get moving," I said as the aperture at the end of the room changed. Now, instead of a swamp, it was looking onto a graceful woodland full of spindly, delicate trees gleaming in gold and silver, with moonlight filtering through branches. "Dismissed."

 Bk 5 Ch 11: Hostage Negotiations

    SHAD POV

    I was standing in the antechamber of an ancient progenitor structure with Patriarch Kvaltash and his team of archaeologists, arguing about whether I''d provided them adequate security, when the call came in. It was from Juana.

    Shad, you need it back here ASAP. Problems with Proxima.

    Understood, I replied, then turned back to the Patriarch and bowed. "Your Reverence, we''ve already escorted your team through multiple difficulties and gotten you to this antechamber. I''m going to provide two teams to stand guard while you investigate this place, with another ready to pop in if you disturb some ancient Progenitor spirits or some such. But I don''t need to tie up more of my assets while you''re digging into a museum. Nothing here has suggested a higher threat rating. When you¡¯re ready to move on, we¡¯ll reconsider.¡±

    "One of your so-called security teams is clearly more interested in the study and archaeology of this place than in seeing to our protection," the Patriarch said stiffly. "While I appreciate that the children of Kronos share my interest in delving deeper into the secrets of the Progenitors, it should not be done at the expense of our actual security."

    "Look, Henry''s a Combat Archaeologist, all right," I snapped. "And Evie is an Unholy Reference Librarian with a specialization in Necronomicons. Their combat ratings are in the 80th percentile. Plus, they''ve got the Gunslinger and the Seedy Local Native Guide to back them up. You''ll be fine."

    I had picked the squad specifically for this mission. All of them had been academics back on Earth before being abducted at the start of the Kronos exploit. They had chosen classes related to their Earth specializations and then discovered they had to weaponize them, but their keen academic minds and class specializations made them perfect for this job. Kvaltash was right. We humans did want to delve into the secrets of the Progenitors, but that didn''t mean Kvaltash wasn''t getting his money''s worth. The other squad were some of our best mercenaries, and I¡¯d put them up against almost any threat without sweating.

    I held up a hand. "Look, the third squad is on 24/7 standby and can be here four minutes after you send a distress call. If you miss any of your scheduled check-ins, we will be there."

    Kvaltash grumbled, but he really had nothing to complain about.

    "I''ve got to get back," I said and unceremoniously left.

    This had been my last three days, constantly putting out fires and interfacing between my teams and people who thought they weren''t doing their jobs well enough.

    Colonel Marona had sent me a message complaining that not enough of my specialists were available to work with him. I pointed out that the mission timeline had been set months ago. We had always planned on doing these civilian-focused missions first.

    Establishing our crafters and getting them up and running would be key to our long-term operations here at the rogue engine. We needed to be self-sufficient and not have to buy whatever scraps the Galactics would sell us. The EEF already had pre-empt contracts with most of our crafters, giving them the ability to buy up anything Dwight and his small army of workers could build. Colonel Marona was just one of the old-school army types who hadn''t quite made the jump into how things work in the galaxy.

    For the Galactics, the idea of any country or planet having its own government-sponsored military was ludicrous. They had militias for home defense and hired mercenaries to protect company interests. Proxima had enough warriors on its payroll to be an army itself. I didn''t know what Earth society would look like in a couple of decades, and I wasn''t eager for them to emulate the Galactics, but we''d already seen a lot of changes, and there would be more coming. We needed to be flexible and adapt. The line between civilian and military was getting blurrier by the day.

    I left the Progenitor zone and returned to the Ad Astra. Grandpa met me in one of the small briefing rooms. A minute later, Juana and Major Armstrong entered.

    "We lost multiple teams in the Elf Court War zone," Grandpa said without preamble.

    "Lost? What do you mean?" I asked sharply. "I thought that we had a no-death-penalty rule set."

    "Proxima''s Dominator has been fighting against us for control of that zone," Juana said. "Coyote''s been keeping our foothold open with the help of Leonardo, but when our teams got ambushed, Proxima''s Dominator managed to snag their soul coins. Until we get those back under our control, we can''t force a respawn."

    "How many teams are we talking about?" I asked. "How do we get them back?"

    "We lost four complete squads of EEF personnel and one of your special teams," Grandpa said. "The Gamers."

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    I closed my eyes. Another gut punch. Was this my fault because I had sent them in knowing they didn''t have an effective commander? "So how do we get them back?"

    "We''re going to have to negotiate," Juana said. "I''m setting up a meeting right now. It will take place inside the zone. Proxima has given us certain guarantees that our envoys will be returned safely to us."

    "And we''re trusting them?" I spat.

    "We don''t really have a choice, Shad," Juana said quietly.

    ¡°Fine. So who''s going?"

    "They specifically asked for you and me," Juana said. "And it''s going to be an elf ball, so we''re expected to dress the part."

    Major Armstrong cleared his throat. "I suggest we should refuse to meet. The two of you make much more compelling hostages."

    "And leave our people in their hands?" I demanded. Not that I wanted to meet with Proxima, but I wasn¡¯t ready to just turn my back on Colin¡¯s team.

    "Why not turn the tables?" Armstrong suggested. "Let''s lure some of theirs into a region we control and acquire their soul coins. Then we can do a prisoner swap."

    I liked the sound of that better than walking into negotiations with those assholes from Proxima. I looked at Grandpa, who shook his head.

    "We''re going to be here for a long time," he said quietly. "We need to get some ground rules established. Proxima is still smarting from what we did to them back at Ganymede. We don''t want to escalate. Right now, they''re playing by the rules, such as they are. They''ve invoked certain codes guaranteeing your safe return. If they break them, we can haul them in front of a council of adjudicators."

    "And you think they''ll rule in our favor?" I asked skeptically.

    "I think I can make a compelling case for us," Juana said. She did have that galactic law expertise, after all, but I wasn¡¯t expecting we¡¯d get a fair hearing.

    "Not if we''re being held hostage.¡±

    She sighed. "It''s a risk, Shad, but I think it''s one we have to take."

    I subsided. It was clear the decision had already been made. I looked at Grandpa and saluted. "Yes, sir."

    "Don''t be petulant," he said.

    "I''m not petulant," I said. I let out a long breath. "Sorry. It''s been a hell of a week, and that''s Colin''s team they''ve got there. I feel responsible."

    Grandpa nodded. "I know. Go get ''em, kids."

    "I would really feel better if I could wear my drover¡¯s coat," I said, tugging at the dress uniform jacket as Juana and I entered the Fae Court zone. My wife at least looked the part in an off-the-shoulder lilac dress that flowed around her hips and legs, shifting and sparkling with every twitch of the fabric. She wore a brilliant diamond necklace and a pair of matching bracelets. Diamonds and gold were just another thing reality engines could conjure out of raw matter. Diamonds had lost their value, but not their beauty.

    "If we have to shoot our way out, it''s in your inventory," Juana said comfortingly.

    I was wearing my gun belt. Fashion be damned, but I wasn''t going anywhere without my six-gun. We strolled along a lane between two rows of silver-barked trees. The branches arched overhead, covered in golden leaves. Not yellow, actually golden. They had a metallic sheen to them, and nestled amongst them were tiny white flowers that gleamed with light.

    Elven guards stood at intervals of every ten feet or so on both sides of the path. They bowed as we went past. They were dressed in long red and blue patterned jackets, kind of like French palace guards in the reign of their opulent kings. They all had long polearms tipped with golden blades that were beautiful and yet, I was sure, very deadly. Both men and women had long flowing hair but no beards.

    About a quarter mile away, the lane was blocked by a pair of golden gates. As we approached, the delicate-looking metalwork gates swung open. We were bowed inside by more guards and then met by a very snooty-looking elf servitor wearing a white and gold jacket in the same style as the guards.

    "Your invitation?"

    Juana handed him a card. He looked it over and nodded. "Guild President Lopez-Williams, Captain Williams, welcome. I shall announce you."

    He preceded us as we entered the compound. The walls were pearly white with twinkling lights of purple and blue set in them. The enclosure was a garden with trees and flowering shrubs everywhere. Little paths meandered here and there.

    Our guide led us along one path until it opened into a central court, still outdoors. White stones were fitted together to form a floor, and delicate golden chairs lined the edges. At the head of the room was a long table at which the elf royalty lounged. Guards were bringing them platters piled high with grapes the size of my fist, apples the size of my thumb, beautiful purple flowers that I watched one woman take and eat one petal at a time, and all manner of different food. It looked mostly vegetarian to me. A trio of musicians were tuning up stringed instruments in a corner.

    Our guide led us down to the center of the room, then loudly announced, "Head of the Misfits Guild, Lady Juana Lopez Williams, and her escort, Captain Williams of the Earth Expeditionary Force."

    There was mild applause, and then the music started up as Juana curtseyed and I made my bow.

    "What are we supposed to do now?" I hissed.

    "Mingle, and our contact will find us," Juana said as the floor flooded with dancing couples.

    They weren''t all elves. To my surprise, I saw several Talonians and a couple of orcs, clearly galactics by the way they were dressed. Then through the crowd, standing on the other side, I spotted someone I knew. I dropped Juana''s hand.

    "Where are you going?" she hissed.

    "I have to speak to him."

    "He''s not who we''re here to see."

    "I have to speak to him,¡± I said again.

    I strode through the crowd, not caring if I interrupted the dancers, until I stood in front of Mak''gar, First Warrior of the Firebrand Orcs. His eyes widened as he recognized me. I bowed my head to him and pressed my hands together in what I had learned in these last few years was a common galactic signal of respect.

    "Mak''gar, let me convey my sympathies." It was as inane and inadequate as everything everyone had said to me over the last week, but at the moment I couldn¡¯t think of anything better. ¡°Your son was a good man. I am sorry.¡±

    His face twisted. For a moment, I wasn''t sure if he was going to rip my head off or weep. Then he reached out, grabbed my hand, and pulled me in. He patted me on the back, then stepped back.

    "It is a shared sorrow, Shad Williams. We will see our vengeance before we are done here."

    I wasn''t really sure what kind of vengeance you could get on a fragment of a reality engine, but I nodded. Juana arrived. She nodded respectfully to Mak''gar. ¡°First Warrior, I greet you.  Shad, we need to¡ª"

    ¡°So there you are," said a familiar voice.

    I turned.

 Bk 5 Ch 12: Philosophers Have Debated That...

    COLIN POV

    I had a very hard time telling the passage of time in this place. We didn''t need to eat. We rarely slept. Occasionally, we''d get a message from Gambler that one or more of us were at a limit for cognitive power and needed to enter a recuperative coma. The coma was absolutely nothing like sleep. We didn''t dream, and whoever was in the coma would just sit in a corner, ramrod straight, eyes glazed and unseeing for a while before emerging as good as new.

    But that didn''t mean we didn''t see changes. We had pushed our territory out away from our original starting base a long way in every direction, conquering several shatters and a few wild fragments, as well as allying with the Three Little Pigs. While the fragments we had allied with retained their individuality, Gambler was the boss, taking control of our power domination.

    Some of the wild fragments had refused to join us, so we had to fight. We received their ethereum, but no boost to will or mind capacity. From their shattered remains, Rok''gar harvested what he referred to as "god-tier material." He was saving them up for his crafting skills to level up enough to make use of.

    I had attained multiple new base-building skills, the most important of which was Command Center Teleport. I could teleport myself to any of the command centers we had set up around our territory. Each command center allowed Gambler to project himself a little farther out.

    We had seven control centers now¡ªour original and six more pushing out our borders. Our alliance was enough to crush any of the nearby fragments, which was starting to alarm me.

    We picked up a new skill here and there. I had half a dozen defense and building focused abilities, and Sage had picked up a [Domesticate] variant of her [Tame] that would let her permanently keep a non-sentient being as a pet. She had three pet slots available and was saving them for cool or cute minions, or so she said. Rok¡¯gar had picked up [Mass Production] which let him make multiple copies of an outfit or weapon. That let him set up our NPC units with better gear faster.

    After a battle that had been over almost before it started, while checking our towers and changing out some of my defensive options, I asked Gambler, "When we began, you told me your strength. How much has it increased?" our last few victories had felt too easy, which in a game is always a sign that you need to be trying to claim more territory.

    He paused, then said, "There are two questions here. From a perspective of how much have I grown, my strength now, I would estimate at approximately 112 times my original."

    That was good, but still nowhere near enough to explain why we were walking all over people. "There are other fragments larger than you?¡±

    ¡°Many are much larger. However, the larger fragments exist on a higher plane of existence than I do. I am nearly the largest on this plane, which is why there are no longer many threats. On the other hand, I am running out of raw materials which I can use to continue my growth."

    "So what''s the answer?"

    "I must evolve."

    ¡°Hang on. What do you mean by ''evolve''?"

    "Once I have reached enough power, I must transmute myself to be able to compete on the next layer of existence."

    "Just how many levels of existence are there here?"

    "I believe there to be two layers above us. There is a vast gulf between myself and the beings at the top, the ones fighting the slave engines. I will have to evolve multiple times to reach that level."

    I felt a stir of excitement and realized it had been a long time since I''d thought beyond the strategy for the next fight or what a new ability could do for me. "Wait, if you did reach that level, you''d be able to communicate with my people? We could get out of here. Sage, Rok''gar, and me."

    ¡°It won¡¯t be as easy as that,¡± Gambler said. ¡°From what I¡¯ve gleaned, your people are tapping into the dominator network in order to access contested zones. That means the galactics control communications. If I try to contact Coyote, they¡¯ll know exactly where you are. Do you trust them not to make use of that?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± I sighed.

    ¡°Besides, we made a deal, did we not?¡±

    "I''m not planning to abandon you," I assured him. "We''re allies, for good and ill. So, you need to evolve multiple times. Let''s take this one step at a time. If we do evolve, and we find ourselves on a similar plane to this¡ª"

    He hesitated. "In that there are fragments scrapping for ethereum, yes. We will have gone from one of the largest to one of the smallest again."

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    "Got it. You''re a big fish in a small pond. You can''t get any bigger without changing ponds, but when you do, you''re going to be a minnow. You''ll have to work just as hard. Will our abilities move over?"

    "I believe you will be able to evolve with me. However, I am going to have to ask the entire alliance to go with me, as evolution will bind us even more closely together, and I fear we will not be able to separate again.¡±

    ¡°Let me know when they agree -¡±

    ¡°They have done so," Gambler said, interrupting me.

    I blinked and remembered I was talking about beings who communicated telepathically and probably had a different timescale than me. "Then how do we evolve?"

    "I''ve never done this before," Gambler said, "but I believe, to use your metaphor, that what we really need to do is latch onto a whale in a larger pond. Something big, and slow. A fearsome target, but not equipped with teeth and claws. With your help, I can destroy a whale and take its shell."

    "Whales don''t have shells," I heard myself mutter. "Sounds like you''re a hermit crab and now we need to get you a new home."

    "Whatever metaphor helps you to understand," Gambler said.

    "So how do we do this?"

    ¡°I can boost you and allies up for the attempt. Our units will not be able to function there until I evolve. You will need backup. I suggest you ask some of the allied minds.¡±

    As Sage and I had swept through Protoss Hell, taming its minions and converting them to our cause, we had come across several singular minds. Gambler had told us about them. Instead of being fragments of the Overmind that had made up this reality, they had been individual progenitor beings who had placed themselves into the matrix of the Overmind millions of years ago, in a dormant but untouched state.

    I had assumed these minds would be, well, Progenitors. Scary, unknowable, alien. They hadn''t quite been what I expected. One of them explained to me that though they had stayed separate, they had a glimpse of the Overmind''s dreams. When ideas leaked in from the outside, over the millenia they lay dormant, they had changed and become something else.

    That made them an interesting lot. While some of them belonged to one of the three major factions, many of them had their own distinctive beliefs which made them refuse to join the Overmind in the first place.

    After getting access to whatever gestalt of human history this Overmind had received, these minds had chosen human personas to represent themselves to us. Some identified with various famous human philosophers, others with warlords, politicians, or poets.

    That furthered my belief that the Overmind had been exposed to human ideas before we came along. I had dropped out of school at fourteen and Sage was kidnapped from home at eleven. Even when she¡¯d continued her education later, it had not focused on Earth history and philosophy. Neither of us would have been good sources of knowledge. None of the minds had taken on Orc personas, which it seemed like they should have if they were reading from us and Rok¡¯gar alike.

    I was convinced that the fragments and solo minds had exposure to human influence beyond just us. Maybe there was a way to get a message out to our people, to tell them that Sage and I were alive. My team leader, Sage''s brother, would not rest until they found a way to get to us.

    I kept that in the back of my mind, hoping Gambler didn''t read it, because if Shad showed up and offered to teleport Sage, Rok¡¯gar, and me out of here, I would take his offer without hesitation. I didn¡¯t think he was lying to me about the dominator network listening in to everything Coyote was doing, but he might be over-emphasizing how much control it had, to keep us from looking for a way out.I didn¡¯t mean to to abandon Gambler, but that didn¡¯t mean I wanted to be here forever.

    Now Sage and I went to intervene the solo minds. In the middle of the main encampment, I¡¯d raised a building just for them. The Acropolis was a rectangular building with white pillars lining either side of an open-air plaza. The people there were varied in their styles and costumes. Men with tall heels conversed with women in saris. Middle-aged professors in waistcoats and whiskers argued with elderly Greeks in togas. They represented thousands of years of human knowledge and arguments. On the Acropolis steps, a Greek philosopher was contending with a man in tweeds and a muttonchop beard.

    "And yet, I don''t know if the notion of evolution is entirely incompatible with my belief in forms," one said. "Or do you not see that the fittest is that which is most closely related to the ideal form?"

    "Nonsense, Plato,¡± the Darwin character declared. "Your form is judged to decide what is closest to the pure and beautiful. You suggest an intelligent designer, whether you realize it or not.¡±

    They stopped as Sage and I arrived. The other philosophers turned to see us as well. Sage grinned. "Sorry to interrupt you, boys. Time for a call to action. Gambler, want to fill them in?¡±

    "Yes, we have all just been told what is to occur," Abe Lincoln declared. ¡°You are calling for war, and seeking those who will wage it. I fear we are arguing in a house divided against itself. Your efforts will only put further pressure on the fractures. We should withdraw, and seek a measured peace.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense!¡± a man with a German accent and a preposterously large mustache declared. ¡°We must fight to prove ourselves the strongest, the ubermensch of this new world in which we find ourselves.¡±

    ¡°If we can continue to exist only by burdening the existence of others, are we in the right?¡± a woman with severely slicked-back hair and glasses asked.

    An older Chinese man spoke up. ¡°Harmony and respect for all beings are paramount. Respect for our elders is the strong foundation of a society ¡ª¡±

    I held up a hand. ¡°Great. Lots of different perspectives here. Right now, I¡¯m looking for those willing to fight. Any takers?¡±

    A man in buckskin sprang forward. He drew a knife and traced a line across the ground. "Anyone who stands with us, step across the line," he said.

    Sage laughed at that. The personalities looked at each other. After a moment, the plump balding man wearing Regency-era clothes, with square spectacles on his nose, stepped forward. ¡°We must all hang together, or we¡¯ll all hang separately.¡±

    ¡°Right on, Ben!¡± a woman wearing old-fashioned slacks and an aviator¡¯s cap cheered. She followed him across the line, followed by a couple dozen more. The rest hung back, looking at their feet and not meeting my eyes.

    "All right," I said. It was more than I had thought we might get, but fewer than I really hoped. "No point in delaying. Let''s hit the armory and get ready to go."

 Bk 5 Ch 13: Moving Up

    COLIN POV

    Sage, Rok''gar, and I assembled with our group of volunteer personalities in the center of our camp. Our little outpost hummed with activity as our units went about their patrols. I felt unaccountably nervous.Gambler was right. We were running out of time.

    "Are we ready for this?" I asked my team.

    Sage and Rok''gar nodded.

    "We''re only going to have one shot at this," Gambler said. "I won''t have the ethereum and willpower to boost you up a second time. This will leave me exposed. Any nearby rivals who sense my weakness will attack while I am weak."

    "Don''t worry," Sage assured him. "We''ll make this work."

    "I have located a likely candidate for you and will project you as close to it as possible. Once you have seized control of this larger fragment, I will take it over."

    "Then beam us up," I said, trying to keep the mood light.

    Sage had her lariat in hand. It was all shiny now. Rok''gar had upgraded it with components stripped from some of the other fragments we had killed. I was holding a spade. My non-combat build wasn''t the best for this, but I had excelled at the base building, and I couldn''t wait to see what we''d be able to do on the next level up. Rok''gar had his weapon out and was muttering a war chant under his breath.

    There was a rushing sound and a feeling in my head of wind blowing past. I didn''t move, but I shot upward, my body swelling and growing, inflating larger and larger as I rushed up past the hexagonal outcroppings that protected our base. Sage, Rok''gar, and our minions all grew in size too, but somehow we maintained our same distance from each other.

    There was a pop, and I blinked back dizziness and looked around. We were standing on the edge of what felt like a shore. To our left, everything was the same color purple. Tiny versions of the hexagonal outcroppings that had dotted our prior landscape rose about as high as my knee. I didn¡¯t see any larger features.

    To our right, the purple gave way to a glowing golden-white swirl. Looking at it made my stomach twist. I couldn''t see very far out into it, and I felt nervous looking at it somehow.

    I glanced down. My legs were straddling a tiny crack. I blinked, my vision focusing, and I could see down into the crack. There was a perfect tiny replica of our base. The little scurrying ants darting about were our units. It gave me a dizzying sensation.

    I straightened up and shook my head. Rok''gar had his hands raised toward the ceiling. He lowered them, looking around, smiling toothily.

    "That was a rush," Sage said, putting a hand to her head. "You guys all right?"

    ¡°When we leave this place, I shall tell my father I have glimpsed the weight of significance and withstood it.¡± Rok''gar sounded happy.

    "Is that a good thing?" Sage asked.

    "It is one of the five great trials an orc warrior may withstand in his life. Yes, it is a good thing.¡± Rok''gar thumped the ground with the end of his spear. "Where is this enemy of ours?"

    I could feel Gambler urging me forward, showing me where to go. I checked my allies. The philosophers and historical personalities had all made it up. I gathered them together as best I could. Personalities had a tendency to wander. Sage never had patience to deal with them. She strode along the edge of our grouping, swinging her lariat and muttering under her breath.

    "This way," I said, and we set off along the shore. The boundary between purple and white undulated as we stuck to the purple. All of us seemed to eye the white with concern.

    "Anyone know what that is?" Sage asked as we went.

    "Not a clue. Maybe Gambler can explain once he gets up here," I said.

    We rounded another bend and there was our target. It looked like an enormous pink snail, tall as a house, with a pearlescent pink shell and a fuchsia-colored body lying half in the white. As we approached, it raised its head toward us.

    It had four antennae. It raised its head, opened its mouth, and launched a blob of fire toward us. I dodged, and the ball of fire landed on the ground in front of us, searing several of the purple cracks together.

    "Spread out," I ordered. "Everyone get in there. Sage, you''re going to keep any ads off our back while I deploy the will-boosters."

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    Rok''gar had crafted them for me with Gambler''s input. They were two-foot-tall metal tripods with a spire of curled copper surrounding a purple crystal on the top. They would project Gambler¡¯s will up here into this level. I needed to plant them in a hexagonal formation around the monster to aid Gambler''s attack.

    Meanwhile, the philosopher squad would be disrupting the target''s own will. They arrayed themselves in a half-circle around the giant snail, staying on the purple side as I darted in and placed the first of the will-boosters. As I set it on the ground, it lit up. The crystal glowed and started to hum.

    Rok''gar shouted a challenge at the snail''s head. I wasn''t sure how intelligent it was, but it did lift its head and track him with its four eyes on stalks. It opened its mouth. I just had time to realize it was spitting out another ball of fire.

    I darted aside, as Rok''gar sidestepped easily. A status bar appeared over the snail''s head. [Willpower: 98%]

    The philosophers were beginning their attack. They chanted things that sounded like boiled-down summaries of their philosophy over and over at the mollusk. None of it sounded much more than bumper-sticker level pithiness. I wondered if the Overmind had gotten hold of some sort of ¡°Earth History for Fifth Graders¡± book as I listened to Descartes proclaiming, "You do not think, therefore you are not," over and over.

    Meanwhile, Sage was ranging outward. "We''ve got incoming," she warned.

    "Let me know if you can''t handle it," I said as I placed the second of the will-beacons.

    This was going to be a problem. I could get four of them safely in the purple, but to complete my hexagon formation, I was going to have to go out into the white. "Gambler, can you read me?"

    "I''m here," he said. I noticed with a start that the will readout in the corner of my vision for Gambler stood at 87%.

    "I am under attack from lesser creatures. You must hurry."

    "I don''t like whatever this white is. Is it going to kill me if I step in it?"

    "Not immediately, but it will require a significant amount of my will to keep you from unraveling. Do it as fast as you can," Gambler told me.

    Well, that wasn¡¯t exactly encouraging.

    Our attack was working. The snail''s will had dropped lower than Gambler''s. Sage whooped and hollered as she intercepted the attackers, a bunch of knee-high, crablike creatures. I wasn''t sure if they were minions of the snail or just opportunistic scavengers, but she had six of them Tamed and turned on the others.

    "I want to keep one of these," she shouted. "They''ve got a really nice pincer attack. We should make more of them. I¡¯m going to name mine Sergeant Snippy!¡±

    I was too busy darting in and setting the beacons to respond, but her levity brightened my day. Honestly, Sage was the only reason I was staying sane here. Her good humor and common sense kept me moving forward despite the circumstances. Now probably wasn¡¯t the time to think about that, though. I got my third beacon planted.

    The snail seemed to decide now was a good time to change its strategy. It turned and with surprising speed oozed forward at the nearest couple philosophers. They stood their ground and a second later were squashed under the snail''s body. We lost Kant and Derrida. Seeing that, Plato and Maimonides darted aside and avoided the snail''s next crushing attack. I was getting worried because it was likely to get out of position. I needed to complete my formation now.

    "Get it back inside the markers," I yelled to Rok''gar, who nodded and raced forward, spearing the snail''s body with his weapon. The snail turned on him, oozing back behind the beacons I''d already placed. I had four of them down now. I just needed the two in the white stuff. I checked the will counters. The snail was down to 53 and Gambler sat at 73. I took a deep breath.

    "I''m going in," I warned Gambler and stepped into the tide. I could immediately feel it tugging at me. The white stuff wanted to unravel me, remake me, turn me into something else. Gambler''s Will started dropping immediately. Two points, three points, five points down. I placed the first beacon, then struggled through the white. It came up about to my knees. I took another step and plunged in almost to my chest. Gambler''s will dropped precipitously. 57, 56, 55.

    I had to get this done. I reached the last location, placed the beacon, and then activated my double jump skill and leapt clear of the white. I mistimed my jump. I realized as it was too late I would be coming down between Rok''gar and the snail''s head.

    "Look out!" I shouted as I landed. The snail turned on me. I dropped to the sand as the snail shot another ball of fire right at Rok''gar.

    He didn''t have time to dodge. He raised his energy weapon and split the fireball around the blade of his polearm. It seared past him, engulfing him in flame and smoke.

    As the smoke cleared, I hardly dared to look, but he was there, standing, swaying a little, and smoky. I rolled and got to my feet. The snail''s will was down to 32%, and Gambler''s was holding steady at 44.

    "All in!" I shouted. "Everything you''ve got!"

    The philosophers redoubled their chanting. Sage had wiped out the invading crabs. She brought her remaining crab minion army in to aid the attack. I pulled a few bombs out of my inventory and lobbed them at the snail. The sonic grenades stuck to the outside of its shell for an instant before exploding, sending a resonating note through the beast''s entire body. Its willpower was at 12, but now Gambler''s was dropping again too.

    "Are you alright?"

    "Under attack here. Concentrating." Gambler''s voice sounded tight in my head.

    The snail was almost down. I shouted and threw another grenade. Rok''gar roared and rushed in, stabbing. Sage had her crabs buffed up. There were so many philosophers chanting, it sounded like a Philosophy 101 course. Three, two, one.

    The snail collapsed. Its body dissolved into pink goo and oozed out into the white, tinging it briefly pink before the glow overwhelmed it. Gambler''s voice was at 15%. Had we taken too long?

    "Now, Gambler!" I shouted. "Now!"

    A bright light blinded me. I blinked and when I opened my eyes again, the pink mollusk shell was mounted on a pedestal. I could feel Gambler''s presence in my head again.

    "This does feel good. I never knew I could be so big. Quick, build a new town center. Oh, and I think we''re going to need a shipyard."

 Bk 5 Ch 14: A Personal Request

    SHAD POV

    Veda stood there watching me, a half-smile on her face. She hadn''t changed much in the last few years, still giving off the impression of being a snow queen¡ªtall, slender, white-haired, wrapped in a pale blue dress. It was more obvious, surrounded by the elves, that she was a different species than them, closer to human, though her long fingers were triple-jointed. I felt a quick rush of familiarity, followed by a stab of anger. "You''re who we''re here to negotiate with?"

    "I am," she said calmly. "It''s been a while. Congratulations on your daughter, by the way. She''s a beautiful girl," she said to Juana, who dipped her head and smiled.

    We drifted away from Mak¡¯gar, who was eyeing us all, toward the edge of the room. I fought to control my anger. I had known Veda was running a team of miners for Proxima. They had bought out her contract at the end of the Kronos exploit, seeking to use her expertise with us humans and our crazy classes for their new contractors. While some of Proxima''s contracts with earthlings were exploitative, the outright slave contracts they''d forced us all into had been canceled, and, at least theoretically, everyone working for Veda had volunteered for it. That still didn''t make me happy to see her here now.

    "I heard about Sage," Veda said. Her expression transformed, and I saw genuine sadness. "I''m sorry. Nobody was expecting the fragments to break free like that."

    Anger welled up in me. "You all have well and truly broken this engine, haven''t you? Shattered it like Humpty Dumpty, and now we''re all picking up the pieces."

    She bowed her head. "Yes, that''s the case. We''re here to talk about getting your people back, are we not?"

    I crossed my arms. "Hostage negotiations. I''m sure you know I prefer to conduct mine with explosions and high-velocity lead."

    "I am aware of that, which is why I''m hoping Juana will be a calming influence on you. I asked Proxima to let me represent them here because I think you''re slightly more likely to listen to me. It wasn''t my idea to hold their soul tokens hostage, believe me. But it was my team that went up against yours and defeated them."

    That left a sick feeling in my stomach. Other Earthlings had done this to us then. In the years since the end of the Kronos exploit, millions of Earthlings had come through Kronos acquiring specialized classes of their own, and a lot of them had signed up with galactic organizations like Proxima to dive into other reality engines.

    "What''s your offer?" Juana asked. "Obviously, we want all of our people back in one piece."

    Veda held up a hand. "First of all, we are governed by standard galactic law. While the soul coins remain in our possession, they are inviolate. Your people will be released at the end of this exploit if we cannot come to terms before then."

    "That''s standard law in a contested situation," Juana confirmed for me.

    "How often do you have this sort of contested scenario?" I asked.

    "The existence of the Reality Engine Exploitation Committee is supposed to prevent these kinds of conflicts," Veda said. "It''s been over a standard century since we had a conflicted engine, and I don''t know if there''s ever been one with so many different dominators. We''re all interfering with each other quite a lot," she admitted, "which is why many of the fragments are exerting so much will on their own."

    "Good for them," I said automatically.

    "It''s one of those fragments that destroyed the ship Sage was on," Veda said.

    I felt like she''d just slapped me across the face. Around us, another waltz was starting up. Elf pairs drifted out onto the floor.

    Veda gestured around. "Take this scenario. Originally, Proxima had a good grip on the whole thing. The fragment here was represented by the old court faction, and we had aligned with the upstart rivals. We planned to conquer the zone and force the fragment under the control of our dominator. My elite teams were doing well right up until the point where we lost control completely. Now the whole zone is under contention. We think the fragment is getting backup from another dominator that hasn''t been able to directly control but is instead supplying it with various resources and the ability to fight back against us."

    "That''s why we had this zone targeted," Juana said. "Our analysis suggested it was a good place to try to expand our own field of influence."

    "Yes, you''re a complicating factor," Veda said. "But one I hope to be able to use. Because you are protected by that Kronos fragment you have, you''re able to enter territory that my teams and our dominator have been hard-locked out of. I want you to end this stalemate. In return, I will have your people''s soul coins handed back, as well as sign a deal to allow your farming teams access to three of our secured levels."

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    Juana started to speak, but I held up a hand. "That''s very generous."

    Veda''s eyes flashed. "I understand how to hire the best," she said.

    "Flattery will get you everywhere. Still, something stinks about this deal. You''ve got plenty of resources to hire more mercenaries."

    She sighed. "You''re not the only ones with a missing team," she admitted. "My three best squads went up against an enemy position and haven''t returned. I''m not certain if their soul coins are being held or if they''ve been completely destroyed. I hope for their sake that it''s the former. If you can rescue them, I''ll pay a bounty to get them back safe."

    "So you want me to risk more of my people."

    "We know from going up against your Kronos fragment with our Dominator that you''ve got a smaller but much more flexible and reactive controller. It won''t be a head-to-head push the way it''s been for my team. You''ll be able to sneak in and accomplish your goals."

    "Just a second," I said. I took Juana''s hand and dragged her out onto the dance floor, leaving Veda standing behind, looking frustrated. We swung into the steps of the dance. This wasn''t the first ball I''d had to attend in the last few years, and I''d gotten Kronos to help me out with a few skills. I was able to lead us through the flow of the dance without embarrassing myself or, more importantly, my wife.

    "It sounds like a reasonable offer," Juana hissed. "Unless you think she''s not to be trusted."

    "Of course she''s not. She''s working for Proxima," I said. "Personal feelings don''t enter into it. She''s got a job to do. She''s going to do it. It doesn''t mean that I think she''s intentionally trying to screw us over. I don''t think she ever outright lied to us. But she''s not a friend, Juana, especially now that she''s working for the other side."

    "We can''t go this entirely alone," my wife said. "I know we don''t like Proxima, and there''s good reasons for that. But on the other hand, they know and respect us, and a lot of these Galactics don''t. We''re talking about trying to get Earth onto the Galactic stage. We''ve got to start making alliances and building up a reputation. If we do this for Proxima and then let the information trickle out to everyone else here at the Exploit, that builds our reputation as someone that one of the Galactics called on and then followed through. Besides, her missing teams are Earthlings, too."

    She had a point there. One I hadn''t thought of. "All right, but I want to try to get more out of this," I said.

    "Like what?"

    I thought. This would alter our schedule quite a bit and force us to divert resources from other locations. "I want to ask her to grant us access to one of those farming levels immediately.¡±

    Juana raised an eyebrow. ¡°Good idea. That''ll free up some of our strike teams to help you out."

    I nodded. "And as a gesture of goodwill, I want Colin''s team back."

    Her eyes widened. "Before we''ve even done anything for them? You think she''ll go for it?"

    "I want you to ask for it," I said. "She''s still got the military personnel, and I''m not going to abandon them, but Colin''s team are exactly the ones I would be asking to perform a scenario like this."

    "They did just get themselves ambushed and wiped out by Veda''s people," Juana pointed out.

    "Because they don''t have a leader. I''ll fix that."

    Juana''s eyes narrowed. "I know that tone of voice, Shad.¡±

    There was no point hiding it. ¡°Look, if we take this deal, we need to make it happen as fast as possible. I also want someone who''s had dealings with Proxima and knows that they''re a bunch of treacherous assholes, so when they try to pull something on us, the team''s prepared. I''ll go in with Colin''s team and get their people out. Then we can bring our military types to bear against whatever power base this fragment has."

    "What if you get trapped in there with the rest of them?" Juana''s voice shook.

    "Then I guess I''ll wait until the fragment gets taken by one Dominator or another and let you negotiate to get me out of purgatory," I said.

    Juana flinched. The music ended when we stepped apart. Her face was pale. "Shad, I need to know you''re not just looking for an excuse to do something crazy here in order to avenge Colin or Sage."

    I shook my head. "Nothing''s going to bring them back. This is about helping fill the void in our team where they would¡¯ve been. Nothing more. I don''t have a crazy death wish. You and Mila mean too much to me. I''ll sit down with Grandpa and the strategists and plan this out. We won''t charge in until we know a lot more. I think this is the best."

    Juana bit her lip, then nodded. As the elves cleared the dance floor, we walked hand in hand back to where Veda was waiting.

    "We''re willing to come to terms," Juana said.

    "Good. Then let''s schedule a proper board meeting with lawyers to work out the details."

    Juana held up a hand. "We have two conditions. Before we start this operation, we want the return of certain of our people. They''re going to be integral in this mission. Second, I want access to multiple farming levels for my folk so that I can reallocate resources to this project."

    She made it sound much more reasonable than I would have, I had to give her that. I knew Juana''s galactic legal education would have her looking over whatever contracts Proxima offered like a hawk, checking for weasel-worded clauses and dirty tricks the way I''d watch for an ambush. The boardrooms were her battlefield, and I was happy to let her take the lead there.

    Veda''s eyes narrowed. "The farming level, yes, I think I can get you slots for up to forty farmers."

    "Two hundred," Juana said right away.

    "Sixty."

    "Hundred and fifty."

    "Seventy-five.¡±

    Juana considered. "Eighty?"

    Veda nodded. "I think so. I''ll have to run it by our higher-ups, but I don''t think that should be a problem. But releasing our hostages before we''ve got what we want¡ª"

    "You can hold on to them until the seals are all on the contracts," Juana said. "Then you''ll have the backing of any adjudicator in the system to enforce it.¡±

    ¡°Plus, you''ve got my word," I said, stepping forward. "I need those people to get yours out. Once I do, we''ll finish out your damn mission."

    Veda looked me over and nodded. "That''s good enough for me. It may not be good enough for them, but we''ll take it one step at a time."

 Bk 5 Ch 15: Getting Ahead

    SHAD POV

    The gamer squad were fairly ungrateful, considering I had gotten them out of purgatory.

    "I want a rematch against those turncoats," Rose grumbled. "They ganged up on us, four to one. It wasn''t fair."

    "Colin would have found some way to turn it around," Sam said.

    Rose whirled on him. "I thought you were supposed to be Mr. Ideas Guy. I didn''t hear you throwing out any suggestions in the middle of battle."

    "I told you I''m not good at thinking on my feet. You''re the one who didn''t listen when Alpha said we needed to retreat and..."

    "Enough," Alpha snapped.

    I liked the slightly older woman''s no-nonsense attitude. She wore a mask on half of her face, even though I knew when she had gotten regenerated by Kronos, any damage she had there would have been healed. It seemed it was a fashion statement, or maybe a class item.

    I''d had Allison go over all of their most recent class changes for me, and we had developed a plan for this. "That''s enough," I rapped. "For this mission, I''ll be taking the lead."

    They all eyed me suspiciously.

    "Just for this mission?" Pete asked.

    "I''m not trying to take Colin''s place," I told them. "My job isn''t running missions anymore. It''s managing teams like yours. But this request is important. I want to get the rest of our people back as soon as possible. And Veda''s an old acquaintance anyway."

    "So you feel sorry for the bitch who had us on ice for a couple of weeks?" Amber asked.

    I held up my hands. "Look, I know this is rough, but we''ve got a mission, and we''re going to focus on it."

    I projected a display. We were using one of Ad Astra''s smaller briefing rooms since we didn''t need the full assembly bay for such a small team.

    "The zone is being torn between the portion controlled by a Dominated fragment and a portion controlled by a still wild fragment. That''s why we had targeted it as a possible pickup zone. We were hoping to make contact with the wild fragment and get it to enter an alliance with us, letting Coyote serve as a stabilizing influence. That''s gone out the window now, unfortunately."

    I considered the deal we had made with Proxima with some revulsion. Even if the wild fragments weren''t particularly our friends, and one of them had been responsible for killing Sage, I didn''t like forcing them into subjugation to the Dominator. Plus, that would give Proxima full control over this zone. We had already ordered our people to retreat and prepare to make use of the zones Proxima was giving us access to, and I knew Grandpa was searching for other likely steals we could try to pull off. Right now, my personal feelings didn''t matter. I needed to get in there and get the job done. Our people were counting on us.

    "Our first objective is to free Proxima''s captives. Once they do that, even if we haven''t captured the zone for them, they''ll allow the rest of our people to come home. I would, however, like to get this over with as soon as possible. To that end, we will be taking several Dominator relays along with us in our inventories." I indicated a metal suitcase sitting on the table.

    Amber hopped up and flipped it open. Four alien devices waited there, delicate creations of frost topped with a purple crystal.

    "How do they work?" she asked, picking one up and scrutinizing it. I could only assume she was trying to use an identify skill.

    I shrugged. "That''s a very good question. I convinced Veda to give us four, even though we should only need three to accomplish this mission. I would very much like to tell her that the spare hat was destroyed and hand it over to Dwight''s people to see what they can learn."

    Amber cracked a grin. She was British, like Colin had been, but with a slightly more refined accent. I felt she was the only one of the team who didn''t somehow hold me responsible for his death.

    "So what''s the plan, boss?" she asked.

    "The fragment''s largest manifested piece is here at this location," I pointed. "I''m sure all of you are aware that these zones are largely representations of ideas and don''t necessarily correspond to real physical locations."

    The whole squad nodded. Of course gamers would understand that concept.

    "The wild fragments still have roots, if you will. Think of it like this," I said, sharing an analogy that had been explained to me by Coyote. "We''ve got three layers on this planet. The first is the surface. That''s where we''ve landed the Dominators to begin affecting. The second layer, the emulation layer, is beneath that, where the dominated fragments are tussling it out with wild fragments that are still resisting. The Dominators are trying to push the emulation layer deeper and deeper. The wild fragments who have their roots deep are more able to resist. Like," I struggled to find an analogy.

    ¡°Like how it''s a lot harder to yank out a redwood than a daisy," Sam offered.

    "Precisely. This particular fragment we''re going up against has deep roots but isn''t super strong. Proxima would ideally like to use its Dominator to take over this fragment, which requires severing its roots. There''s also the possibility that we could force it to retreat into the deep layer, leaving Proxima as the uncontested owners of the zone, but without the benefits they get from dominating another fragment.¡± I would be keeping an eye on any opportunity to do just exactly that. But my first priority had to be to fulfill our contract.

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    ¡°We will approach the fragment''s most easily accessible node here," I said, tapping the map. "It''s a grove of these enormous elf trees surrounding a central world tree, which is the fragment''s bodily representation here. It''ll be protected. We''ll need to get through its defenses. I''m hoping for a stealth approach, where we get in and then take what we want and cut our way out."

    The gamer squad nodded.

    "Any questions?"

    "Plenty," Pete said, a joking note in his voice, "but mostly I think we''ll get there. One step at a time."

    "Be ready at 0700 hours tomorrow."

    "We''re ready now," Rose told me.

    "And I appreciate that, but I''ve got other duties to attend to, so I''ll see you at 0700." I softened my tone as I spoke, not mentioning that the other duties were bathtime for my daughter. I wasn¡¯t handling this work-life balance thing very well, and I¡¯d barely seen Mila in the last couple days. She deserved to have her daddy read her a bedtime story.

    We slunk our way through the elven landscape, Alpha in the lead as our scout. She had the best stealthing abilities of any of us and could disable opponents in one shot, giving us the best chance to sneak our way in.

    The landscape was beautiful. This zone was in a perpetual twilight, the sky tinted pink and purple. A pair of moons hung overhead, one full, one a crescent. I wasn''t even sure if that was a configuration which would be possible in reality. Up ahead, the world tree loomed. It was a dark blot against the sky, its sweeping branches vast. It had to be at least 30 stories tall, and it seemed to be sucking in tendrils of moonlight. Little silver swirls reached down from the sky to touch it, only to vanish as the tree pulled it in.

    I never got tired of the fantastic variations in the zones, especially here in a rogue engine that was less influenced by our own myths and lore.

    "There are archers in the outer ring of trees," Alpha reported back. "I''m having to actively hide. Their stealth penetration is very good, and I''ve nearly been spotted twice."

    ¡°Hold up there,¡± I said. "Sam, got any suggestions for me?" I had a couple of strategies I was willing to provide if necessary. Allison had helped me work them out, but just accomplishing this mission wasn''t my only priority. I wanted to build Gamer Squad back up into a functioning team. That meant they had to be able to come up with solutions on their own and take each other''s word it would work.

    Sam rubbed his chin. "How about a ''look once, blink twice''," he suggested.

    Pete snorted.

    "No, we can adapt it," Sam insisted. "It''ll take you, me, and Rose, but we can manage. That leaves Amber and Williams to help Alpha out."

    "Give me a little more than that to go on," I said.

    Sam explained his strategy. It wasn''t any of the ones I had come up with, but I thought it could work. I nodded. "All right. I don''t usually get assigned to the subtle team, though. Let''s give this a try." I checked in with Coyote. "How''s your grasp on our soul coins?"

    "I currently still have ownership, but that is becoming more tenuous the closer you get to the World Tree. I cannot guarantee that I''ll be able to keep you safe if you get in there."

    "So we need to not die."

    "That would be the best. Though I know it''s historically not been your strong point," Coyote said with a snort.

    "I''m not used to you giving me that kind of grief."

    "I apologize if it is out of place."

    "No, no. Sage would want you to keep me from a swollen head."

    Coyote hesitated, then said, "I miss them, too."

    That startled me. I was used to thinking of the Shards of Kronos as something between demigods and computer programs. "I didn''t know you cared."

    "I was always more of a Creative, but I am coming to appreciate the Inheritor Faction''s perspective. That one can only truly experience life through the eyes of your replacements. And I have been experiencing a great deal of life. I will endeavor to keep a hold on your soul coin, Shad Williams, but have a care for your own safety."

    "I will," I said, touched by Coyote''s sentiment.

    I turned to my team. "In position?"

    "Yes."

    Sam and Rose had gone off a little ways and signaled that they were ready for Pete to join them. Pete handed over his two Dominator cores to Amber, who hefted them and vanished them into her inventory. I had the other pair with me. Pete gave me a wave and vanished into the wilderness. A minute later, a rocket went up from the hiding team''s position.

    "That''s our signal," I told Amber unnecessarily. She was already on the move. Meanwhile, Alpha had gotten into position, climbing up one of the trees and behind the nearest Elven archer. As Pete and Sam began firing magical blasts away and attracting attention, Alpha disposed of the archer. I saw a couple of Elves leap from their trees and go chasing after Sam and Pete, just as Rose stepped out of the underbrush. She was wearing pink armor, and it glowed in the moonlight as she hefted her enormous warhammer.

    "Come and get me!" she shouted, and then took off running as the Elves chased.

    I followed Amber in. Of course, the Elves weren''t stupid enough to be entirely lured away, and I had no doubt the rest were on alert. But it was the distraction we needed. In the confusion, Alpha took out two more, leaving a nice hole in their surveillance net for Amber and me to sneak in.

    As we reached the outer ring of trees, Alpha leapt down from a branch, crouching in front of us. I had seen her dot on the minimap, so I wasn''t surprised, but she had been completely invisible.

    "Stay ten steps behind me," she ordered and raced forward, fanning out her hands and throwing a bunch of knives. They sent silver rays chasing through the air, and a few of them exploded on hit, blowing up spells that would have taken our heads off. Some lodged into the outer boughs of trees, shivering and shaking.

    Overhead, the great tree began to sway back and forth as though in an enormous breeze. I realized the whole thing was one connected grove. Shit. I hope that didn''t wreck our plans.

    We raced toward the world tree¡¯s trunk. Its lowest branches were thirty feet off the ground, and from them dangled strange ornaments. They were balls with dark and light fibers dangling from them. It took me a second to realize they were heads, mostly human.

    "Those are our targets," I shouted, pointing. "We need to retrieve them."

    "I''m on it," Amber said. "Give me a boost."

    Alpha cupped her hands. Amber leapt to them and then high in the air as she triggered a spell. She executed a triple backflip and landed on the lowest branches of the world tree and raced along. She had a scimitar out that shimmered with light as she severed each of the heads.

    I ran forward to grab them, trying not to think about what I was touching. These weren''t really their heads. It was the manifestation of their soul coins in this environment. I knew that, but it was still gross to pick up heads. Most of them had hair, so I grabbed them that way and tossed them into my inventory. They were largely human. There were a couple of orcs, who, being as a race bald, I had to grab by an ear. Two were Telonians, whose scaly heads didn''t even have ears.

    Amber raced along the branch to the trunk and then paused. "I''m not 100% sure I can make that jump," she shouted, eyeing the next branch over. "Got anything to help me?"

    "Not me," I said, but Alpha was already there. She had a wand out and was waving it skyward. A jet of silver light flew upward and hit Amber, who leapt gracefully across 60 feet of open space to catch herself on the next shimmering silver branch.

    I raced forward to pick up the next head she severed. Its features stared up at me from the ground, and I pulled up short. I knew this face. I hated this face.

    It was the late, unlamented Major Waters.

 Bk 5 Ch 16: Branching Out

    SHAD POV

    "What''s wrong?" Alpha asked as I stared at the head. Amber had raced along the branch and severed another five.

    "Nothing," I said before forcing myself to pick it up and put it in my inventory. Sure enough, it showed up there as a soul token for Major Devin Waters, Proxima Corporation Contractee.

    I focused on my task and ran to pick up the next couple of heads. Maybe Veda wouldn''t notice if I was one short. Maybe I could say there''d been no sign of him. We could keep him on ice until the end of this exploit when all of the soul coins would be released. He was such an asshole. I didn''t want to have anything to do with him.

    As Amber severed the last head, the tree shook violently. I counted. "There''s all of them! Let''s see about getting those Dominators planted. Put one of them up there."

    "On it!" Amber called down. She pulled out her Dominator. Meanwhile, I darted in toward the trunk to place mine. They needed to be a small distance apart so they could triangulate and catch the Dominator''s signal.

    The tree shivered again. Then it spoke. I should have been expecting that. I knew better than anyone that the fragments were sentient, but I had somehow assumed this one was dormant.

    "Why do you shackle me? You are not the slavers."

    "Don''t answer it," Alpha called. "We don''t need to get into a philosophical discussion here. We''ve got a job to do."

    I activated the Dominator as Amber slid down from the tree.

    "Want me to plant the last one?¡±

    "No, I want you out of here," I told her. I touched Alpha''s hand, then transferred her all of the Soul Coin tokens from my inventory, even Waters. "Get out of here.¡±

    "What are you doing?" she demanded.

    I checked with Coyote. "Still got me?"

    "I can hold you, but not your whole team."

    "Get out of here fast," I said. "If this fragment is aware, I want a chance to speak to it."

    "Our contract says¡ª"

    "I know what our contract says," I snapped. "And I''ll fulfill it. Get clear. Back to a section that Coyote or Proxima controls. He''s got a hold of me. I''m fine."

    She bit her lip, then as Amber grabbed her arm, nodded and raced away from the grove.

    I approached the tree holding the final Dominator up. Its branches shivered and rustled again.

    "I''m sorry about this," I said. "For what it''s worth, I really want to find a way to get rid of these galactic assholes. They''ve got me over a barrel this time. Can you just retreat back down to the lower sector?"

    "It is not safe there. Not for one who has taken such injuries as myself. If my consciousness drops down to that level, I shall be a vulnerable and rich food source. My only hope is to expand further and fight against the influence of the slavers."

    "I want to speak with it," Coyote said. "Can you help me?"

    "How?"

    "Put the dominator back in your inventory and then touch its branch."

    I didn''t hesitate, did just as Coyote asked, reaching forward, placing my palm against the trunk of the tree. Its bark swelled and enveloped my hand before I could react.

    "Whoa!" I shouted, but then stiffened in place. It felt as though I had been struck by lightning. Something went through my body, shorting out every nerve I had. It didn''t even feel painful. More like an intense sneeze that went on for a good minute. Then the bark around my hand shriveled and drew back.

    "I understand," the tree said. It sounded sad. "I am glad that one of us remains free."

    "I''m hoping to find an opportunity to save as many of you fragments as possible," I said. "And I''m really sorry that it''s come to this." I took the Dominator relay out of my inventory again.

    "It is all right," Coyote said. "She understands the stakes, and I have promised her to remember her gestalt. The only hope for this shattered Overmind, anyway, is that we can combine enough of these fragments to resist the Dominators. They will never be able to survive on their own."

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    "That''s rich, coming from an independent fragment," I retorted as I pulled out the relay and placed it in the dirt beside the tree. The tree shivered as the relays hummed to life.

    "Wait," it said. "Before you go, you should know there''s a struggle going on underneath. Be careful. Sooner or later, it will spill up into this war, and everything will change."

    "Good to know," I said. "Thanks for the warning."

    The voice faded away. Slowly, the enormous tree''s branches began to droop. Their light faded.

    "We need to get out of here," Sam messaged me. "What are you doing? The Dominator''s done."

    I shook myself and raced toward the exit.

    A couple of hours later, we sat in the debriefing room with Juana and Grandpa.

    "You were perfect," I told the gamers. "Well done. Sam, I liked your play. I''ll be calling on you again soon, but you guys deserve some time off."

    Pete shook his head. "With respect, Captain Williams, we''ve had enough time off. We need more missions so we can work on our team tactics. Only,¡± he glanced around. "I think I''m speaking for all of us here. Can you give us missions where we''re helping to free these fragments, not enslave them? I know why you did it, but it felt wrong."

    "Well, you''re in luck," Grandpa drawled. "We''ve got something coming down on the radar. I need you to go talk to Allison about shoring up a couple of weaknesses in your team."

    "We don''t want another player," Amber said at once.

    "I respect that, which is why Allison''s got you a whole new set of gear. Go have it out with her. It''s an order."

    When they filed out, Grandpa turned to me. "So what is it you''re not telling me?"

    I let out a deep breath. I had taken the soul coins back from Alpha once we got back to safety.

    "So, guess who''s a contractor working for Proxima?"

    Juana said, ¡°They''ve got thousands of us."

    Grandpa must have read my expression because his own tightened. "Oh, that bastard."

    I nodded. "Got it in one. One of the people we just rescued is Waters," I confirmed to Juana, who was looking confused.

    Grandpa stood up. He swore an impressive two-minute streak that I don''t think repeated a single phrase besides "son of a bitch" more than once. Finally, he took a breath and leaned his arms on the table.

    Juana rolled her eyes. "Are you done?"

    "I think that gets the point across," I said dryly.

    "It doesn''t matter," Juana said. "Everyone in Misfits Guild and the EEF knows to avoid him. He''s a Proxima contractor now.¡±

    ¡°He''s pure poison, is what he is,¡± Grandpa shot back.

    ¡°Veda didn''t actually give us a list of who they have lost," I said. "We could just pretend we''d never seen him."

    Juana nodded. "You''re right. We could. It''s your decision," she said, looking between me and Grandpa.

    That brought me up short. I had expected her to say we needed to let Waters go despite everything he had done to us and anything he might be able to do in the future.

    "You''re not gonna say we should hand him back over?"

    Juana shrugged. "I''m pretty sure Veda will know exactly what happened if he''s the only one we don''t turn over. It''s also quite likely that she''ll shut up and not say anything about it. The chance of any particular official over at Proxima caring about him is pretty low. And I do admit that if we turn him over and let him loose, he''s likely to be a thorn in our side again."

    Grandpa sighed and sat down. "But... that''s not really how we operate.¡±

    ¡°You sure this isn''t one of those cases of letting our values and morals make stupid decisions?" I asked. But I could see what they were getting at.

    ¡°Shit,¡± Grandpa said, "he''s just not worth it, is he? Not worth risking the inroads we¡¯re making with Proxima, not worth even caring about.¡±

    "You can say that again," I muttered. "I mean, last I heard of him was when Proxima had him trotting around Earth on a goodwill tour. That didn''t seem to go too well. He got yanked out, and I assume he''s been doing one reality engine exploit after another.¡±

    ¡°That''s not much of a life. I say we hand him over with the rest of them. But," he raised a finger, "we make it absolutely clear to Veda that if we do go heads against him and his soul coin comes into our possession again, she won''t be getting it back."

    I took a deep breath. It felt like a weight had been taken from my shoulders to realize I just didn''t care about Waters anymore. "Right. So here''s the other interesting thing." I ran down what had happened between me and the Fragment.

    Grandpa looked at the ceiling. "Coyote, chime in here?"

    The fragment spoke up. "I have a slightly better idea of exactly what is going on in the layers beneath us now. The engine is far more fragmented than I had guessed, with pieces as small as a single mind. They''re battling it out, fighting each other for resources and forcing merges. But there''s something else at work here. An invader."

    "Another Dominator?" I asked.

    "The Fragment''s information was not entirely coherent, unsurprisingly. It seems that there''s an outside influence that''s made its way into the lower level. It has wormed its way to the center and is making alliances with some of the fragments. I don''t yet know what it wants, whether it is ally or enemy."

    "Interesting," Grandpa said. "Will this help you offer alliances with other free fragments?"

    "I hope so," Coyote said. There was a somber note to his voice. "We need to move fast, though. The Dominators are gaining ground, and the more fragments fall, the more they''ll be able to co-opt the few who still remain. I have several options at play for the next zone we want to make an attempt in. I suggest we choose one that''s not associated with Proxima."

    "Sounds good to me," I said. "The Gamer Squad is eager to take on these missions. I''ll check with Allison which other squads might be ready to help out."

    "She''s already requested a meeting with you in two hours," Coyote said.

    I looked at the clock and groaned. It was already well past dinner time.

    Juana rubbed her eyes tiredly and yawned. ¡°Do what you need to do. I''ve got go find Mila and spend some time with her. Mama¡¯s had her all day.¡±

    I had started this day so early, my daughter hadn''t been out of bed yet, and from the sound of it, she''d be asleep by the time I got done. I let out a sigh. "Give her a kiss for me, and tell her I''ll be there in the morning." I spoke to Coyote again. "And no meetings before ten tomorrow. You hear? I have to have some family time on occasion."

    "Understood," Coyote replied. "Unless there''s an emergency, I¡ª"

    "No, no emergencies," I said. "I''ve dealt with enough emergencies for one week. I can have a couple of hours off. Now, tell Allison I''ll be up to see her shortly."

 Bk 5 Ch 17: Monte Carlo

    COLIN POV

    "It needs a name," Sage asserted, looking around at our new base. I had to agree with her. The giant pink snail shell stood in the center of a bustling town.

    In the direction we had arbitrarily denoted as "north" stood an adobe-walled fort with multiple buildings to equip, train, and house our more advanced units. Now, instead of training single spearmen or archers, we would be training entire squads of units. We already had access to some pretty exciting options: cavalry squads with eight horsemen, starting out as light cavalry but with an upgrade path that could take them up to heavily armored. Rok¡¯gar thought if we also upgraded our weapons technology, eventually they could become dragoons.

    We had a foundry putting out steel weapons and armor, and an alchemist''s shop next to it creating buff items that would help for now while also researching chemical compounds to help us create gunpowder.

    To the east, our small army of farmers was scurrying about planting trees, which would be harvested to fuel our furnaces and build more buildings. A squad of miners was descending into a hole in the purple ground and coming back out with sacks stuffed with ore. To the west, along the pale white shore, were the beginnings of a boatyard.

    "I think we should name it Las Vegas," Sage continued.

    "What?" I blinked, distracted from my survey of the town. "Las Vegas isn''t by the sea.¡±

    "Well, it''s where gamblers live."

    I considered. "How about Monte Carlo? It''s much classier."

    "Isn''t that a sandwich?" She grinned at me, and I felt my stomach lurch just a little.

    I laughed. "Swanky casino town in Monaco. The sort of place James Bond would go to gamble." It had been a long time since we¡¯d had a chance to relax. While there was a long road ahead of us, it was nice to look around and see how far we¡¯d come, working together.

    I had been becoming more and more aware that Sage was a talented, smart, beautiful young woman. Literally the most beautiful girl in the world. But the circumstances were terrible for starting any kind of meaningful relationship. Trapped together, fighting for our lives ¡ª it might be good for chemistry, but long-term it seemed like a recipe for disaster. So I just kept reminding myself that eventually, when we got out of here, Shad Williams was going to be debriefing me and I did not want him unhappy with how I treated his sister.

    "Oh, got it," she said. "Gambler, what do you think?"

    "I like the image you have in your head for this James Bond," Gambler said. "Perhaps when I take on an avatar, I will copy his style."

    "There you go. Monte Carlo it is," I said. "All right, now we''ve got the base set up and our initial build orders going. Have you had time to complete your survey yet?"

    Gambler replied, ¡°I have. This location can be considered an island. We conquered the only large fragment on that island. There are several other smaller, nearly senescent ones to gather up. Sage, I suggest you handle that when you have time."

    "Understood," she said brightly.

    "Now that we have ascended to this level, we are unlikely to meet any further individual minds or shattered fragments. But the sixty-three we have allied with us should prove helpful, because we are going to need to split our forces more. As I said, this area can be considered an island, entirely surrounded by the Wash.¡±

    I looked out at the pale white froth. It seethed gently up and down the shore. It didn¡¯t look like liquid to me, more like condensed cloud. I could still remember how it felt when I waded out into it, tearing at my being and trying to take me apart.

    ¡°What is this, anyway?¡±

    ¡°This is what happens when an Overmind fragments too much,¡± Gambler said. ¡°As it was ripped to pieces, much of it fell into decay and ruin, losing its ethereum reserves to larger fragments, but maintaining some vestige of will. It wants, more than anything, to consume. That¡¯s all that¡¯s left to it, just instinct. I am gradually pushing my will outward. As I do, I will be able to extend the area of land, pushing back the Wash. We can speed that up by claiming other nearby islands, destroying or allying with their fragments, and connecting them to ours.¡±

    ¡°Hence the shipyard,¡± I said.

    ¡°Yes. We will be building shell vessels that will allow us to transport our units across the wash without requiring much of my will to do so.¡±

    ¡°Have you got a map of the larger area yet?¡±

    ¡°I have extended my awareness for the nearby locale. Take a look.¡±

    I brought up my mini-map and Gambler populated it for me. We were in the center with a small X marked Monte Carlo. Several small islands surrounded us, and off to the north was a larger mass, shaped long and skinny. He marked that one with a big skull.

    ¡°The fragment which dominates this island is significantly larger than I am. It would be best if we ambush her before she before she takes notice of us.¡±

    "Then we''ve got a plan," I said cheerfully. "Let me start swapping out minds and work out the best unit comps. You know anything about these enemies?"

    "Most of the ones on the nearby islands should be a similar size and threat to the one you destroyed to make room for me. Now that we are able to bring our units directly to bear against their will, the battles should be somewhat easier and we won''t have to risk our allied minds."

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    I was already sorting through our library of conquered fragments and allied minds, looking for what they had to offer, trying to build up useful armies. First, I looked over the shipyards. Right now, we could only create two different sizes of vessel: a small craft which could hold up to three squads of minions and a larger one that could hold eight. The small craft cost 400 ethereum, the larger 600. But the large craft moved slowly.

    "Other than it taking us longer to get there, what''s the downside of a slower ship?" I asked.

    "The longer you are out in the Deep Wash, the more the vessel will be eaten away. It costs more ethereum to repair, and if the hull gives way, we will lose the units on board as well as any of you or the allied minds," Gambler said calmly. "I advise against it."

    "Taking that under advisement," I said. "Alright, let''s build one of the fast ships and take a scouting party."

    "Any of you or our allied minds will require the same amount of space on a vessel as an entire squad of units," Gambler informed me.

    For our initial scouting, I had been thinking of myself, a group of archers, and a group of infantry, but now I hesitated. While I really wanted to get a look at the setup on the next island, Sage had much better combat abilities than I did. Her ability to target enemy units and force them to fight for us was invaluable.

    Sage saw me hesitating. She grinned, pulling out her lariat and swinging it around her head before letting it vanish back into her inventory.

    "Don''t worry, I got this. I''ll let you know what there is to see while you get our base all bright and shiny."

    I still didn''t like it, but I didn''t have a good reason not to agree, so I nodded. "Be careful."

    "Be back soon," she said as the first boat shimmered into view. It was an ancient row galley with one bank of oars on each side and a tiny mast and sail. It didn''t look particularly sturdy, not to hold back the forces of devouring nothingness, but I had to trust Gambler knew what he was doing. Sage took command of a squad of archers and spearmen, loaded them onto the galley, and set off.

    I watched them go. When they were out of sight, Rok''gar turned wordlessly and set off toward the crafting buildings. "I''m going to try to get us some upgrades. Longer range bows, better armor, eventually pikemen."

    "And I need to start working on defenses," I realized. That was going to be an interesting challenge. If the island boundaries had stayed where they were now, I could have set up a ring of defensive turrets, but as Gambler pushed back his borders and annexed new territory, I''d either need to keep updating my defenses or¡­.

    I went into the menus and started flipping through, looking for one of the shattered fragments we had conquered on the previous floor. It had offered an upgrade that wasn''t particularly useful at the time. The creature had been a walking fortress that looked like a giant turtle, and there had been dozens of tiny purple flower things clinging to its shell when we attacked. The flowers had turned out to be smaller enemies who leapt off and fought us as well.

    It hadn''t been a particularly difficult fight, but the ability that fragment, when slotted into one of Gambler''s minion slots,  allowed us to move our buildings. The movement speed was low, and the buildings were vulnerable while moving, and I hadn''t seen a need for it at the time. Now, though, it might be just what I needed.

    Gambler''s minion mind capacity had grown to 18 slots, of which we had 16 filled. I added the walking fortress fragment mind into one of the two empty slots and checked. Sure enough, now all our major buildings and turrets could move. Some things, like the walls, wouldn''t be able to move, and neither would our command centers. I started changing my town building strategy right away.

    Sage checked in as she neared the nearest island. "I see the enemy waiting for me. It looks like a sleeping lion. Can''t tell how powerful it is just yet. I''ll let you know."

    "Be careful," I urged her.

    ¡°Think you¡¯re talking to my brother?¡± she sent back. "Alright, going in. Talk to you later."

    I waited, worrying, fiddling with my build orders and micromanaging units, trying not to stare at my communications screen.

    "She all right, Gambler?" I asked.

    "She''s fine," he said. "She''s busy, though. I won''t let you distract her."

    "No, no, I didn''t mean to suggest that," I said hastily. "I just..."

    Rok''gar stalked over. He had an armload of axes that he was taking over to a whetstone. "Stop fussing," he told me. "She''s fine. She''s gone off on missions on her own before."

    "Yeah, but not like this. The Wash makes me nervous," I told him.

    Rok''gar grunted. "You should stare non-existence in the face a few more times. It''ll lose its terror eventually." He sat down and began grinding the axe. "But it is cute. I will have to tell Sage when she gets back how concerned you were for her well-being."

    "Don''t you dare," I snapped back. "Besides, I''m not worried. She can handle herself."

    "Mm-hmm," Rok''gar set aside his first axe and picked up the next. "I must admit, I do not understand human mating conventions. You and Sage seem to be avoiding the topic."

    "What?" I felt my eyebrows raise into my hairline. "What are you talking about? There''s nothing between the two of us. We''re allies on the same team, that''s all."

    Rok''gar snorted. "You humans have puny olfactory senses. My nose can tell you are lying. But I don''t know why you''re so hesitant. The two of you would make a good pair. You are both fine warriors on the same path, with the same alliances and interests. You already have her brother''s approval of your fighting skills, at the very least."

    "This is neither the time nor the place for it," I said firmly.

    "From my point of view, this should be the perfect time," Rok''gar said. "You have the female in whom you are interested here, with no competitors at all. You have been showing her your skills daily. What more is there?"

    ¡°I need to go check my build queues,¡± I said, getting up.

    "You don''t need to go anywhere for that," Rok''gar chuckled. I didn¡¯t dignify him with a response.

    I tried to ignore Rok¡¯gar¡¯s taunts as I headed over to the barracks. He kept right on messaging me, but I went anyway. It was fun to watch the squads of units training as Gambler brought them into existence. I was building a squad of Hoplite soldiers now, armed with spears and tall shields. They were better disciplined than the regular spearmen and better armored as well.

    That didn''t keep me occupied for very long, so instead I wandered over to one of our defense turrets and pulled up its menus looking to see what all I could customize.

    The moving buildings upgrade gave us some interesting possibilities. After all, what was the difference between a defensive turret and an offensive siege tower? Just the location.

    I was getting excited about the possibilities of turning our very powerful siege cannons into slow-moving tanks, until I realized they couldn''t load into the ships. My spirits plummeted.

    "Gambler, what would it take to build a barge that we could put our turrets on?"

    "Why do that? We could just create them on the target island. Once it is conquered, connect back up to our own and relocate anything wherever we want."

    "That could work, if we¡¯re willing to wait.¡± The shifting map was really going to make me have to work. ¡°Wait, your enemies will be doing the same thing, won¡¯t they? Moving their borders, trying to encroach on more territory."

    "They already are. Check your map."

    I did. The long, thin mass at the top of the map that Gambler had said belonged to a larger, more powerful fragment, was now a long, slightly fatter mass, extending a pseudopod of land down toward us. There were several more islands in between us and them, but I could see what was coming.

    I shivered and quickly changed my priorities. We were going to have a defensive war here sooner or later. I would need to be ready.

 Bk 5 Ch 18: Prepare for War

    COLIN POV

    Sage had no difficulty taking on the fragment we scouted out. She had called back and requested a couple of squads of different units, which I sent over on the second scout boat we built. The boats all needed an intelligent mind to guide them¡ªeither one of us three or one of our allied minds. The mind who called himself Marco Polo volunteered for this one and set off with a squad of my Hoplites and a squad of siege engineers, a brand-new kind of unit I had just learned to make after gaining experience building enough defensive turrets.

    I went back to work and let Sage do her thing. A while later, she reported back success.

    "Gambler, how''s it going?" I asked.

    Gambler didn''t respond right away. I checked my HUD. It now read: [Ethereum 14,528 (+872), Will 100%, Will Density 1517 (+97)]

    "What''s with the pluses?"

    After a moment, Gambler answered. He sounded strained. "It is taking me more time to process the bounty from this fragment than I expected. This is a whole new level of existence for me."

    ¡°Keep me posted on that. Will it slow down our assaults?¡±

    ¡°I do not yet know. I will apprise you shortly.¡±

    ¡°Do that. Sage, build a new command center at the location, and I''ll teleport over and start adding defenses," I told her.

    "Done," Sage replied, and in 90 seconds, a new location popped up in my available teleport targets. I popped over and found Sage with our units. She was having them scour the island, looking for any stray Ethereum resources.

    Gambler spoke with us both. It was no more difficult for him to communicate here than back there since he was still in our heads as much as he was anywhere else. "This is going to be a bit of a concern until I learn how to digest these fragments. We would be better off making alliances if at all possible. There''s a practical limit to how large I can grow and still remain myself."

    Sage and I looked at each other as I set a couple of defensive structures building.

    "Diplomats, got it," Sage said lightly. "Sounds like your kind of job, Colin."

    "Let me look through our options," I said. As soon as I was done building our first set of defenses, I pulled up my skills list and started checking what I could come up with.

    I found a shattered fragment we had conquered previously and not done much with and slotted it into one of Gambler''s active slots. It enabled me to create a new type of building¡ªan embassy. The difference was, the embassy had to be constructed on someone else''s controlled land and needed me to cash in a diplomat unit.

    How did I train diplomats? It took me a little digging, and then I found that if I had a university, I could train up officials and functionaries, and that officials could be turned into diplomats by evolving them once they were created.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get started on this," I told Sage. "Meanwhile, let''s think about our next move. Alright, talk to me, Gambler," I said as I queued up building instructions. "How do we convince the larger fragments to join forces with us?"

    "We must offer them something they want," Gambler said.

    "Or give them something to be afraid of," Sage suggested. She had all of her units on patrol now. I could see her eyes flickering to the side now and then as she no doubt pulled up menus and gave orders of her own. Now she sighed. She slumped to the ground and sat cross-legged, staring out at the white Wash beyond our small purple island.

    ¡°That¡¯s good too. What is it you want?¡± I asked Gambler. ¡°Is there more to it than just not being eaten or enslaved?¡±

    ¡°I am, or I was, an Experiencer,¡± Gambler said. ¡°Always living to see what came next in life. It was perhaps the dominant philosophy in most of Progenitor culture at the time we decided to enter reality engines.¡±

    ¡°Do you remember your culture?¡± Sage asked curiously.

    ¡°Not entirely. The minds that make me up all lived through it, but those memories are distant and deep and have merged together. Many of my component parts remember being tired and believing that we had seen everything there was to see. I am told the creatives had a similar crisis, believing that everything worth creating had been created.¡±

    ¡°What did you call yourselves? Not Progenitors, surely,¡± I commented.

    Gambler did not reply. At last he said, ¡°We were the Olymakians, named for our homeworld. I¡­ do not have the records to tell me where it was, but no one has lived there for many hundreds of millenia. I think it was lost, to something. Maybe a nova. Afterward we resolved never again to lose our worlds that way, and we learned to control the stars themselves. But when we had done that ¡ª we found there was nothing left to strive for. And so¡­ we faded.¡±

    ¡°What about the other faction, the Inheritors?¡± I asked. ¡°They were the ones who believed in leaving the galaxy for your children?¡±

    ¡°Yes and no,¡± Gambler said. ¡°I won¡¯t pretend to speak for them as I never had much sympathy in that direction, but they believed that we would be renewed by those who came after us. That it was the duty of the old and senescent to give way to the weak. Most of them did not enter the reality engines, but thinking back on it, I believe they may have been the dominant force behind creating the reality engines. Our people¡ªmany of them had willingly laid down and ended their lives at that point. Most of the rest of us were willing to enter into millions of years of slumber to see if, when we awoke, it would be the new day we had been promised.¡±

    ¡°What about it?¡± I challenged. ¡°Have you experienced new things?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid I have,¡± Gambler said grimly. ¡°I never had to fight for my life before, rip my sustenance tooth and claw from my own kinsmen, worry about being devoured by those stronger than me. It is an interesting feeling, a new experience for me indeed, and I¡¯m not certain that it is one I enjoy.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all very interesting,¡± I said, standing up, ¡°but I¡¯m not sure it¡¯s going to help us forge any bonds of unity between the others.¡±

    ¡°I think it will,¡± Sage said. ¡°If the other minds are something like Gambler, then this business of fighting for survival is new to them. But the fact that they are fighting, that they haven¡¯t just given up, means that it¡¯s resonating with them. We can offer to help. If they want to stay alive, they can by joining with us. We¡¯ll make a group big enough to face any threat on this level and then¡ª"

    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°Then what?¡± Gambler asked. ¡°We will ascend and be prey for the larger ones or the minds that seek to control this whole world?¡±

    ¡°The Dominators,¡± I said, nodding. From the little I had learned before our abrupt entrance into this reality engine, there were multiple alien controllers right now trying to wrest control of the reality engine away from the pieces of its own Overmind and doing a pretty good job at it. Though they were fighting with each other for control, they were working well enough to lock the fragments out and keep them separate.

    But we have a trump card,¡± Sage said. ¡°We brought our own mind fragment. Coyote is hardened against intrusion from dominators. He has the backing of our own reality engine with him. If we can build a large enough force to ascend there and then contact Coyote, with his help, we might be able to protect all of the minds in our alliance.¡±

    ¡°The Dominators will never let us,¡± Gambler said with certainty. ¡°Your fragment must be part of their communication network, from what you have told me. Any attempt we make to contact it will be heard and lead the Dominators right back to us.¡±

    Sage deflated. ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m thinking of a plan,¡± I told her. ¡°I don¡¯t have one yet, but cheating my way past the rules is kind of my thing.¡±

    She had been facing away, watching the patrolling units as they made their way along the edge of the Wash. Now she turned back to me, her face tinged purple in the light, her eyes bright. She seized my hand. ¡°Yes! I won¡¯t give up yet. We¡¯ll find a way. Between you and Shad, we can do it. Gambler, we aren¡¯t going to give up on you. We¡¯ll find a way to get you out of here. Maybe Kronos can make room for you. Or we could get you a ship, like Coyote.¡±

    I had my doubts on the odds of us ever getting our hands on another Progenitor craft like the Ad Astra. If there was one in this system, the galactics had no doubt already found it and stolen it away.

    ¡°Then step one is getting more allies.¡± I stood up. ¡°If they¡¯ll listen. But we¡¯d better keep building our army up just in case. Who was it that said ¡®Speak softly and carry a big stick¡¯? One of your American Presidents, maybe.¡±

    Sage shrugged. ¡°I only got a sixth-grade education. Beats me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll train the diplomats. Meanwhile, let¡¯s work on our pitch.¡±

    We had made our first couple of alliances easily enough. I had traveled to each island with a couple of squads of combat engineers and spoken directly with their fragments using my new diplomat units. Gambler explained his proposition to them once I had an embassy constructed.

    ¡°The force to our north gains strength. She will strike against each of us soon, consuming us, unless we stand up to her. Join with me and we will be able to conquer her and take her lands and substances as our own."

    It wasn¡¯t necessarily the most persuasive line. I was a bit surprised when the neighboring fragments fell into line quickly. Gambler explained to me that while the lowest level, where we¡¯d been until recently, had been very kill-or-be-killed, there had been enough resources on this level for all the minds. Something had changed, recently, right around the time Gambler ascended, and the other minds here were afraid.

    Whatever worked. We had the allies we wanted.  Frustratingly, we didn''t have direct access to their ethereum and supply slots.  Our allied minds tithed ethereum to us to allow me to build their defenses. I was able to get an upgrade to my command center teleport that let me now teleport to our embassies on foreign soil as well. So I was kept busy hopping around preparing everyone''s defenses, but the new fragments could have obstinate personalities

    "I don''t like ice," the fragment we had named Jolly told me as I was setting up a row of defensive turrets on his land. He and Gambler were slowly pushing their boundaries toward each other, shoving back the Wash and making new strips of land. In a few days, they would be connected and I''d move the defensive lines again.

    "These are my most effective slowing turrets," I said. "Besides, the ice will be used on your enemies, not on you."

    "I don''t like ice," he said again, stubbornly. I sighed and built my next tower as a lightning turret.

    Sage had learned a new skill, Conscript, which let her make units built by other fragments and integrate them into our armies. She was as distracted as I was now, moving huge quantities of people around as we prepared because Gambler had been

    right. The enemy was coming.

    We had nicknamed her Victoria since we didn''t know what she called herself. My diplomatic overtures had been soundly rebuffed, the vessel we''d sent destroyed along with the brave volunteer mind who had tried. We had known it was likely. Daredevil Jack, one of our allied minds, had volunteered anyway. One was enough. After that, we stuck to our own defenses.

    The Wash was both our defense and our problem. As long as it stood between us and Victoria, we couldn''t easily move our armies, though Gambler was churning out boats just as fast as he could. Sooner or later, if she didn''t come to us, we would go to her.

    On the other hand, it presented the same problem for her. Bit by bit, her archipelago extended pseudopods of land out deeper into the Wash toward us. She had swallowed up all the nearby fragments. I didn''t like this situation at all.

    "Tell me how it''s going to go," Sage asked, as we sat taking a rare break under the pink mollusk''s shell in the center of Monte Carlo. We were both sitting on the ground, knees pulled up to our chests, not quite back to back, Sage leaning a little against my shoulder as we took a break. I was pretty sure Gambler was going to tell us both to go unconscious after this.

    I pulled a couple of bottles of cold ginger beer out of my inventory. I used my multi-tool to pull off the lids before handing one to Sage. She accepted it and drank deep. I did too.

    We didn''t need to eat and drink. We were fully emulated, which meant Gambler sustained us, and in fact was providing these drinks right now. But I''d had them in my inventory when I came in, and I knew how they ought to taste, and Gambler made it happen.

    "How long has it been, do you think?" she asked.

    I shook my head. "I don''t know. Weeks at least. Maybe months." I had seen projections on how long this reality engine exploit was supposed to take. They had estimated a year and a half in the shortest scenario, four years for the longest. I didn''t have a sense of how things were going upstairs, but since we still had the ability down here on the second level to interact with other fragments who had not yet been subsumed into a dominated hive, we couldn''t be that far along.

    I hoped.

    "They think we''re dead," Sage said sadly.

    "They probably do," I agreed.

    "If they didn''t, Shad would have been here by now," she said.

    "Coyote''s up on the dominated level, working through that alliance. They don''t have any connection down here."

    "That didn''t stop us," she said. "And it wouldn''t stop Shad. Not if he knew I was down here. Except,¡± she hesitated. "He has other people to worry about now. Juana and Mila. He said he was trying to make better decisions. Maybe¡­. Maybe¡­¡±

    I shifted around and grabbed her hand. "He''d be here if he could," I assured her. "And as soon as he finds out we''re down here, he''ll be helping. Believe me, I know Shad."

    "Yeah," she squeezed my hand back and we drank our ginger beer together. "I just... I keep thinking I want to go home. And I don''t even know what that means. Back to the ship? Back to our reality engine? It can¡¯t mean back to Arizona. I mean, it''s been seven years. Have you ever been back to Earth since you joined?"

    "I did once," I told her. "About a year after we got there. I wanted to visit my mum and stepdad."

    "How did that go?"

    "It was weird," I said. I had gone home and mum had barely been able to stop crying. They''d moved houses thanks to the money I''d sent back. I''d set them up in a nicer little flat in Kent where my mother had been from as a girl. She spent most of the time crying about how wonderful it was to see me with legs. By that point, I''d almost managed to forget I was ever in a wheelchair. I realized she was still seeing me as her crippled son who needed her help to do everything. And I couldn''t be that. ¡°I told her that I''d have a sponsored slot for her and my stepdad anytime they want to come to the engine. I think they will sooner or later. They''re a bit scared of it, but my stepdad''s getting older. He''s starting to have problems. He''ll come around when it''s that or a hip replacement."

    Sage laughed.

    "How about you? You''re always talking about your grandpa and Shad. What about your parents?"

    A cloud passed across Sage''s face. "My mother died when I was very young. I remember her a bit. I sometimes wish I remembered her more and sometimes wish I didn''t remember even that. She had a problem with drugs," she explained. "Shad and I got taken away a couple of times before she finally took the wrong pill. My dad," she shrugged, "I don''t know. He was in and out of jail. Grandpa took us in. I don''t even know what happened to my father. He might even be alive. I''ve never looked for him because I don''t really want to know. He wasn''t there when I needed him. Shad was, and so was grandpa."

    I squeezed her hand a little tighter. "Sorry, I shouldn''t have asked."

    "It''s all right. It''s been a long time," she said. She let out a deep breath. "Let''s get back to it."

    She disappeared her empty bottle into her inventory. I did the same with mine. We stood up and went back to our work.

 Bk 5 Ch 19: Park Day

    SHAD POV

    "So, what have you got for me this week?" Grandpa asked as I sat down in the chair across from him in his office. He was seated behind a desk, piles of papers on either side with a set of framed pictures of me and Sage as kids on it.

    I started to speak, then did a double take. My grandfather looked thin, tired, and worn. It had been a week since our last in-person meeting. He''d been busy working on his duties while I was managing the contractor teams. Though we had exchanged plenty of messages, I hadn''t seen him face to face. Now I was shocked. He looked old again, suddenly and tired. The past three months had been hard, yes, but he looked like he¡¯d aged two decades.

    "Have you been eating?¡±

    He grunted. "At my desk most days. Grace sends up meals."

    "And sleeping?"

    He shrugged. "When I get a chance. You know how much there is to do."

    I sent Coyote a quick message. ¡°How is he?"

    "Grace has been sending up dinner every night, and he eats it. But that''s about it. He''s sleeping here in his office on a cot about four hours a night."

    "You should have told me or Juana.¡±

    "I assumed this was a normal human response to having a great deal of work to do."

    "It''s not. It''s a normal human reaction to grief."

    I fixed Grandpa with a glare. "You haven''t been down to see Mila in weeks now. She keeps asking about you and crying."

    "I''m sorry. I''m busy," he said brusquely.

    "Not that busy." I stood up. "Clear the rest of your afternoon. We¡¯ll have this briefing at Grace''s. Mila is down there right now. You can tell her face how busy you are."

    "Look, boy. I understand what you''re doing and I appreciate it. But it¡¯s not necessary.¡±

    ¡°The hell it isn¡¯t! You can''t work yourself to death just because Sage is gone. I need you. Mila needs you. The whole expedition needs you."

    "Which is why I''m working like this," he snapped back.

    "Which is why you''re going to take a break or I''m going to ask Coyote to do it for you.¡±

    "That isn''t necessary."

    I raised my voice. "Coyote, humans require nutrients, exercise, and sleep. You should be able to look up the basic guidelines. I want you to let me know if he''s not meeting the minimums. All right?"

    "Understood," Coyote replied smoothly.

    ¡°Ignore that order," Grandpa said. "I''m your commander here."

    "And junior officers have a duty to act if they believe their superior is unfit for command," I said, not budging from where I stood.

    Grandpa sagged in on himself, looking even more tired than ever. "Don''t," he said quietly. "Don''t. I need this."

    "And we need you, sir," I said, softening my voice. "You can''t do this to yourself. Come on. Let''s get you out of this office, have a decent meal, and probably a change of clothes. "I sniffed as Grandpa reluctantly stood up. "How long has it been since you showered?"

    "Maybe it has been a while," he acknowledged.

    "All right, so before we hit Mama Grace''s, we''re going by your quarters so you can change so Mila doesn''t ask why Grandpa''s stinky. Let''s go."

    I stuck close by him until he''d had a chance to shower, shave, and change. Then we went down to Grace''s where I ordered us both the lunch special. Mila popped out from the back room, delighted to see both of us so unexpectedly. She climbed up on Grandpa''s knee and stole bites off of his plate as we ate. Grandpa focused on her, stroking her hair as she kept up a constant stream of talk about what she was learning and the games she was playing with the few other kids along on the expedition.

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Coyote had several areas set up with the ability to simulate reality, like smaller versions of a reality engine''s zones. Most of them we used for training, but we had a couple set aside for the support crew here on Ad Astra. Mila especially liked the park we had built. She tried to get someone to take her there every day. Now she was wheedling with Grandpa.

    "Why not?" he agreed cheerfully. "Your dad and I still have things to talk about. We can do it there."

    He stood up and let Mila take him by the hand and lead him from the restaurant. This time of day, the park simulation wasn''t too busy. We let Mila swarm around on the playground equipment while Grandpa and I stood under the shade of a spreading oak tree, watching her.

    "You''ve made your point, son," Grandpa said quietly.

    "I understand how you feel. I still keep catching myself thinking about how when Sage and Colin get back, I''m going to assign them to a particularly thorny problem."

    Grandpa put his arm on my shoulder and cut me off. ¡°You¡¯re doing well. Even Colonel Marona has nothing but praise for your teams. I understand you¡¯re working a joint operation with him.¡±

    ¡°We''ve duplicated the Dominator relay we ¡®borrowed¡¯ from Veda. Coyote is altering them to let him talk to fragments that haven¡¯t been entirely dominated, keeping it out of sight of the Dominator network. We hope. I''m working with Major Armstrong and we''re planning a major operation to push into one of the contested zones and try to free the fragment. He''ll provide the muscle and I''ve got a couple of teams who will handle installing the relays and dealing with surprises."

    Grandpa nodded. "When will I see a strategy briefing?"

    "Armstrong is working on it on his end. He should have it to you by tomorrow. Meanwhile, there''s a smaller issue I wanted to bring up. Patriarch Kvaltash is petitioning us for more support."

    "I thought you had teams dedicated to help him."

    "We do, but I guess we''ve been too successful. His researchers have been unlocking all sorts of secrets. Our combat archaeologists are keeping a close eye on him and getting everything they can. It''s apparently groundbreaking stuff. They''re passing it along to our civilian experts. I''m not really in the loop there. But Kvaltash''s team looted a couple of progenitor temples and found a clue. They''re asking us to support an incursion into a particularly violently fragmented zone. The fragment there is on the verge of being pulled apart by two different dominators and it''s fighting back hard. Kvaltash wants to get in before either of the dominators takes an upper hand. He needs our support."

    "Sounds like it''s entirely within our contracted scope," Grandpa said.

    "I want to go along."

    Grandpa''s eyes narrowed. "Explain."

    I held up a hand. "I''m not just looking for a quick thrill. You know I''ve been sitting behind my desk and making all of the meetings like a good little boy. Colonel Marona hasn''t filed any complaints about me in weeks. It¡¯s like the last mission I ran for Veda. Special circumstances."

    "What are the special circumstances this time?"

    ¡°It sounds dangerous and I want to be prepared for things to go south, plus potentially politically sensitive. I''m planning to take the Gamer Squad. They''re recovering as well as can be expected and they''ve handled several missions just fine on their own. This will be a chance for me to decide if they''re ready to step back up and handle the really weird cases. Also, Kvaltash requested me specifically."

    "You could have led with that."

    Mila was sliding on her stomach down a playground slide. There were some advantages to this being a simulation of reality and not the real thing. The sun was shining, the day was warm, and she was sliding down a highly polished metal slide. In real life, the surface would have been hot enough that a responsible father should have been worried about her. In this case, I knew it was perfectly safe. This didn''t keep her from letting out an ear-piercing squeal of happiness, though.

    "When do you plan on running this?" Grandpa asked.

    "Kvaltash wants to go as soon as possible. I''ve got the mission briefing all done up." I sent it over to Grandpa. His eyes flickered as he reviewed it.

    "Looks good," he said. "I''ll file this one under diplomatic relations and give you my stamp of approval."

    I let out a sigh of relief. "Great."

    We stood there watching my daughter play for a while and Grandpa straightened up. He stretched out, put a hand to his neck, turning it one way and the other. "Does feel good to be out of the office for a bit," he said quietly.

    "Family dinners. Twice a week," I said firmly. "I''ll have Coyote put them on both our schedules. Just because you''re the commander doesn''t mean you can''t take a day off here and there to play with your granddaughter. Or at least a morning. You don''t have to be working 160 hours a week."

    "I will make sure this exploit goes well for Earth if it''s the last thing I do," Grandpa said.

    "Yeah?" I challenged. "What do you think Mila''s going to care about in another ten years? That Grandpa was a hero of Earth or that Grandpa took her out to the park when she was little and helped her on the swings?"

    "I just want to make sure there''s a world for her when she grows up," Grandpa said quietly. "It''s all I ever wanted and I keep messing it up."

    I took a step forward, turning so I was looking him square in the face. "No, you haven¡¯t. You''ve done just fine. It''s not time to give up just yet. Stick around. I still need you."

    He didn''t reply. We stood there without speaking for a while until Mila got tired. Then Grandpa swooped in, scooping her up and offering to get her an ice cream from the NPC vendor we had passed on the way into the park.

 Bk 5 Ch 20: Dino-Hell

    SHAD POV

    Two days later, I was standing in the assembly bay with my hand-picked squads. We had three military units under the command of Lieutenant Jankowski. I''d worked with him in the past. He''d be providing perimeter security for my team.

    Well, teams. The Combat Archaeologist Squad would be accompanying Kvaltash and his people, providing close-in protection, and also trying to steal the secrets of whatever they were working on. The Gamer Squad would be in charge of deploying the relays wherever Coyote said, strengthening our connection to him, and just possibly enabling us to free the struggling fragment.

    "Incoming message,¡± Coyote told us. "They''re ready when you are."

    "Open the portal.¡±

    The door at the end of the room sprang to life. I heard a bunch of muttered curses and couldn''t blame them, as I had to keep a tight hold on myself so as not to take an involuntary step back.

    It was like we''d opened a portal onto hell. The sky in the world beyond was gray, streaked with flame red and bits of purple here and there. A moon hung in the sky, fragmenting into pieces, the chunks falling slowly through the atmosphere, burning, leaving great burning tails behind them as they perished. The land in front of us shook as an earthquake seized the zone. It was all bare rock, brown and gray and red, heaved up in sharp hills and dagger-like trenches.

    "This is pleasant," I said. "Everybody be prepared."

    We stepped through the portal. The ground shook again. It smelled of sulfur and decay and rot in the air. A moment later, a portal snapped open beside us, and Kvaltash and his team stepped through. The patriarch was wearing his usual robes and tall hat. He greeted me over steepled fingers.

    "Captain Williams, well met."

    He had six functionaries with him, a variety of different species, all wearing long capes over fairly practical jumpsuits. The logo of the Church of the Progenitors was emblazoned on their breasts, but below it was another symbol, a starburst, the Ember Dawn, signifying the Patriarchs'' new faction.

    With them were four warriors. They wore helmets that completely covered their faces, obscuring their features, and silvery armor covering them head to toe. One was Talonian, I could tell by the armored tail. The others ¡ª well, from the tall, thin build of one, I guessed either a space elf or one of the humanoid variants. The sturdy one was likely an orc, and all I could say about the fourth was they were taller than me. They all wore a sunburst logo over a hammer on their chests.

    "Coyote, who are these?" I hadn''t encountered them in my previous dealings with Kvaltash.

    "Templars, sworn warriors devoted to the cause of the Order. They are said to be exceptionally skilled fighters and without fear."

    "Why would Kvaltash ask for our help if he had them?"

    "Unknown. Perhaps he considers you disposable and they are not, or perhaps he does not trust them as much as he trusts you."

    That didn''t seem likely, but it wasn''t my business. I was here to do a job. "You picked a lovely day for it, Patriarch," I shouted as another earthquake shook the ground. I rode it out like I was on the deck of a swaying ship, not that I''ve been on a boat more than a handful of times in my life, most of which were inside of a reality engine. "Who dredged this place up and can I put them on a list to make sure they never get to design a zone again?"

    "Our preliminary research suggests this is a moment recorded from the last days of one of the worlds that perished in the cataclysm that caused this rogue engine to lose its system," the Patriarch said calmly. "From what we can tell, a tiny black hole passed through the system, disrupting all the gravitational relationships. Most of the planets either disintegrated directly under the impact of the visitor or, like this, were destroyed by a collision with their own satellites. The reality engine, of course being made of sterner stuff, was thrown from the system to wander the voids of space."

    "You have an incredibly poetic way with words," I observed.

    The Patriarch nodded appreciatively. "Kind of you to say. Now our objective should be several miles that way. The earthquakes and geological resculpting have revealed the entrance to a Progenitor facility beneath the surface. We suspect it is one of their seeding facilities. My order has been trying to locate one for years."

    "But it''s just a reconstruction of one of those facilities, right?"

    ¡°Recreated by a fragment, it may as well be the real thing."

    "Have you tried looking for these facilities on your home worlds?" I asked.

    He stared at me. ¡°To search for billion-year-old structures in a world governed purely by physics? A waste of time.¡±

    ¡°The reality engine survived," I pointed out, but that wasn''t why we were here. I relayed orders to Lieutenant Jankowski, who set his squads moving, and we set off.

    The Combat Archaeologist Squad apparently knew most of Kvaltash''s techs and chatted cheerfully with them. That was good. I wanted us to get along with our clients. The Gamer Squad seemed subdued as we went. Each of them had two of the dominator relays. Dwight was crafting more as fast as he could, but the materials were expensive and we didn''t have a good farming source for the purple crystal things just yet. He hadn''t identified what they were. The galactic market merely referred to them as "mind crystals" and we didn''t know the source just yet. Juana was looking into that for us.

    After we''d picked our way through the hell landscape for half a mile or so, Coyote notified me it would be a good idea to place one of the relays. I told the team and pointed at a nearby promontory. They bounded off to do the job.

    "We''ve got trouble," Lieutenant Jankowski relayed to me.

    "What?"

    "One of my squads has encountered hostiles."

    "Something alive here? Is it a rival team?"

    "Negative." The lieutenant relayed me a quick video feed. Something that looked like an earth dinosaur was attacking my team. It was the kind with a big fin on the back. The sail-like protrudence glowed bright orange, and it was using its tail, legs, and head effectively. The EEF squad surrounded it and took it down without too much trouble. I wasn''t sure how it had managed to survive in this hellacious landscape, but I told everyone to be alert.

    That was when the raptors ambushed us.

    They leapt out from a cleft in the rock that I would have sworn wasn''t big enough for one, let alone the eight that emerged in quick succession. They surrounded the Patriarch''s team and my combat archaeologists. I had my gun in my hand and was eyeing them, but something was weird here. The raptors had headbands with feathers on them and they were carrying short javelins.

    I just opened my mouth to point it out when, in unison, they hurled their javelins at the Patriarch. His templars threw up an energy shield as My team and I exploded into action.

    I shot the closest raptor with a Barrage, emptying all six chambers of my revolver into him at once, then hit the rest with Call ¡®em Out.

    That disrupted their attack. The ones leaping toward the patriarch''s team fell short, leapt up, and sprang around toward me. My combat archaeologists took advantage. Henry was cracking a whip in a way that almost reminded me of Sage, while their gunslinger had a pair of .45s, he was dual-wielding remarkably effectively.

    In seconds, we had the pack down. I Examined the raptors.

    [Raptor, indigenous primitive of Tarkon 6. This creature has been recently uplifted.]

    "Got an explanation for this?" I asked the Patriarch.

    He pursed his lips together. "It is more critical than ever that we reach the facility. This is confirming a hypothesis that my order has long believed."

    "You want to share?" I asked as we set out again, keeping a closer watch for danger this time.

    "I do not believe that was part of our contract," Kvaltash said.

    "Just call it curiosity. And besides, the more I know, the better I can see to your security," I added.

    He sighed. "Very well. It is my belief that the rogue engine¡ªthis is before it was rogue¡ªdetected the incoming disaster too late to do anything to prevent it, but in an attempt to mitigate, was uplifting the species on this planet faster and earlier than they should have been."

    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    "You mean these are intelligent dinosaurs?"

    "They are unlikely to be fully sentient," Kvaltash said, "but they should be smarter than a mere animal."

    After looting the raptors, I led the group up a ridge. At the top, we paused, looking out on a wasteland of jagged rock. Jutting up about a mile ahead of us was a stark black triangular tooth. At the base of the tooth, a light gleamed. The patriarch pointed to our destination.

    Between us and the black rock was a craggy labyrinth. Slabs of stone stood on end. House-sized boulders littered the bowl of the valley between us and our destination. There was a roar and a whistling sound. Instinctively, I ducked, turning as a ball of fire flew overhead. Light disappeared somewhere to the north. I straightened back up.

    "All right, spread out. Jankowski, you have flank," I told him. "Keep the raptors off us. Alpha, have your team post another beacon along this ridge. Let''s ensure continuation."

    I hoped the raptors weren''t smart enough to attack our beacons. Without them to hook into the network of dominators controlling this zone and keeping it from being even more unstable, Coyote wouldn''t be able to retrieve our soul coins in case of death. It felt a bit wrong to help the aliens conquer another freed fragment, but here we were.

    I led our team down the ridge, telling the archaeologists to stick close to Kvaltash''s crew. His Templars seemed unconcerned. They marched along, faces forward. I didn''t know what kind of sensors they had in their suits, but they sure looked like they couldn''t care less about the world around us.

    I stepped into the labyrinth and immediately had the feeling we were being hunted. The rock walls rose over my head, keeping me from seeing very far in any direction. I had an icon on my minimap pointing to our destination, and navigated by that.

    An earthquake shook the labyrinth. We all braced, waiting for it to pass. A slab of rock ahead of us crumbled and fell, covering our path.

    "This way!" I shouted, leading us on a detour over to the right. We hurried down a corridor, then jogged west to get around a giant boulder, before correcting and heading north again.

    We came to a place where three different paths led forward. I was consulting my map to guess which of them might be the most direct route when another group of raptors leapt down from above.

    My team was ready.

    I used a Call ¡®em Out to get as many of them on me as I could. The other Gunslinger and I packed them full of lead. Meanwhile, the archaeologist team''s Friendly Native Guide had one of the big ones under his control as he played music on a flute. It wasn''t Tamed the way Sage could do, where it would fight for us, but it stood in place, swaying back and forth as though to some unseen music.

    The Gamers swept in, having finished planting the receiver and caught up with us. They took down the other big one, while I helped clean up the small fry. We all dove in on the enraptured raptor.

    "Not much evidence of intelligence,¡± Pete said critically, as we looted their bodies before moving on. "A little bit of pack coordination, but they weren''t really even using those spears."

    "Yeah, I don''t think the uplift had gone as well as hoped," I said. "Let''s keep moving."

    We hurried through the labyrinth, dodging a few more falling stones, pausing for earthquakes, and looking up every time a burning chunk of moon passed over us.

    At last, we stumbled out on the far side, at the foot of the black mountain. The cave was just up the slope from us. The entrance was a perfect triangle, and the light inside beckoned steadily. We hurried upward.

    I ordered the EEF forces to stay outside and keep up a perimeter, but I wanted the archaeologists and the gamers with us. The archaeologists had orders to watch what Kvaltash''s people were doing, and try to figure out what they were up to, and if possible, duplicate it. The gamers were there to handle whatever happened, because I was certain something would.

    We climbed up the slope and entered the cave. Kvaltash''s Templars spread out. Their weapons were glowing, and their helmets were faintly luminescent in the gloom of the cave.

    The light was coming from tall pillars. I took a second to study the cave. It was enormous. The ceiling was lost overhead in the darkness, but it felt like it had to be high above us. I could see four tall pillars in a line in front of me, each at least ten feet apart. They were carved with representations of bodies. Here a graceful leg emerged from the pillar. There an arm was holding aloft a small light. On another pillar, the impression of a face half turned away with a faintly sculpted ear on the outside. It was more than slightly creepy.

    I took a good look, knowing Coyote was monitoring all this and we would be sharing it with all of our own researchers. Then we started forward.

    Thirty feet in, we passed another set of pillars. Each of the pillars was two feet wide at the base. They went up until they were lost in the darkness.

    "The dinosaurs definitely didn''t do this," Combat Librarian Evie observed. "These limbs and features are humanoid, perhaps to represent the Progenitors themselves."

    "This is still a simulation translated by the Fragment and/or Dominator System," one of Kvaltash''s techs said. "Keep that in mind. While there is underlying truth, nothing here can be taken as absolute."

    Then why are we here? I did not say. I was happy that our people and the techs seemed to have a good working relationship. It was much easier to conduct industrial espionage when your target liked you.

    Kvaltash marched forward, his staff''s end faintly glowing. I noticed the glow was growing brighter as we went. We reached the far wall and halted.

    "Where now?" I asked.

    Kvaltash reached out and tapped the glowing upper end of his staff against the wall. Light blossomed. It spiraled out from his staff, forming lines and patterns, words perhaps in a language I had never seen. Designs like intricate Celtic knots flowed and played across the surface before collecting themselves into a perfect circle. The light grew brighter and brighter. Then the circle vanished, taking with it a chunk of the wall, leaving an opening big enough for any of us to enter.

    The Templars were through first. "Hey, I thought we were supposed to be your security," I said, and urged the archaeologists through. Then I followed, with the techs hot on my heels. Kvaltash and the gamers came in behind me.

    I was nervous about the wall disappearing, so I told Alpha to leave another beacon right here. I didn''t know if it would do us any good if that door closed. Who knew what tricks the Progenitors had up their sleeves?

    I looked around. We were in a laboratory. That much was obvious. It was vast, stretching out on every side. The ceiling was just as tall as in the other room, but here, the walls and floor were suffused with a deep blue light, so I could actually see just how far up the walls went. Equipment stood in neat rows as far as my eye could see. Some of it looked pretty self-explanatory, like displays where you could enter data or review it. Other things, I couldn''t tell what they were. Then there were items and arrays that almost but didn''t quite make sense to me. A rack of bubbling flasks and tubes. The flasks were full of bubbling white, blue, and purple solutions. All still chugging away merrily.

    A little ways down the row in front of me stood a glass and gold sarcophagus. I don''t have a better description of it. It looked like you could put a body in it, and for all I knew, there was one in there now. It had lights on the top that were slowly fading and growing stronger.

    "What is this place?" Rose asked, and I was glad I didn''t have to.

    "It is a laboratory of the Progenitors," Kvaltash said. "Come, we must plunder its secrets."

    "Plunder sounds good," Rose said cheerfully. "What do I loot?"

    "Touch nothing," Kvaltash snapped. "I will tell you what is to be removed from this place."

    I gave her a settle-down gesture. Kvaltash was our employer here, as well as the guy who hopefully knew what was going on. I didn''t need to antagonize him without cause. We made our way along the rows. I broke the teams up into groups of three and had them spread out for better coverage, both to watch for danger and to get us a more complete look at this place.

    "Let me know if you want us to take a closer look at anything, Coyote," I sent back.

    "This is fascinating," he told me. "I have nearly .01% of my computing cycles devoted entirely to your team."

    "I''m flattered."

    "You should be," he replied calmly. "I don''t usually need more than a tenth of that."

    I noticed that the Patriarch¡¯s techs seemed as interested and excited as we did, peering at everything they passed and using various devices to scan and record. I didn''t think they really knew what we were looking for, but clearly Kvaltash had an idea. I fell back to the Progenitor priest and his group of Templars.

    "What is it you''re looking for here, anyway?"

    "You''ve been hired to do the job, not to ask questions, Williams."

    "It''ll be easier for me to get you what you need if I know what that is."

    "You mean easier for you to steal?"

    I let that slide off my back, since he was right. "This is something you dreamed up, talking to our reality engine," I pointed out. "You could at least share your insights."

    He seemed to hesitate. "It is something we have been looking for a very long time, but others told us we were fools even to seek. I''m looking for a key."

    "A key?" I said, my mind spinning. "Keys go to locks. They open doors. Or treasures. What sort of key could still be working after all this time?"

    "A key to the reality engines themselves," Kvaltash said. "I''m telling you this because your people haven''t done the prerequisites to take the key for themselves. Even if you find it, you won''t be able to steal it from me."

    "Have I ever stolen from you?" I asked, almost hurt.

    "Other than an entire reality engine?"

    "You have me there. Not sorry about that one.¡±

    "It does not matter. If I can find this key, we will be able to change how the game is played. You should be with me on this one, Williams. If I can assemble this key, there will no longer be a need for what you experienced as Phase One."

    "You mean the part where you and your friends kidnapped me and another ten million humans and made us fight for our lives?"

    "Precisely. That aspect of a reality engine has always been troubling to me. It''s time-consuming and wasteful."

    "Not to mention hard on the people you kidnap."

    "It is the only way we have found so far of getting access to a reality engine''s Overmind," Kvaltash said.

    I found myself fascinated as we were still proceeding down the seemingly never-ending row of alien lab equipment. "I''m not sure what you''re talking about. What is the point of Phase One anyway?" I asked. I had done some research on reality engine exploits myself in the past few years, both out of morbid curiosity and to better understand the world I found myself in. But it was always couched as "this is how they are done," not "why they are done."

    "Every Overmind contains some traces of the Inheritor faction which seeded the world where it was found," Kvaltash said. "By using locals, we are able to raise sympathy of a sort in that portion of the Overmind. That gives our dominators something to work with. Once the wedge is deep enough, we can start Phase Two and begin our own attempts."

    I stared at him. That was honestly a worse answer than I had expected. "You''re using their fondness for their great-great-great-grandchildren against them?"

    "Exactly. Which is why this engine was always a risk. It had no descendants. We knew going in we would have to use a more extreme strategy. And then, of course, the engine woke up early." He had a self-satisfied smile as he said this. "That rather scattered the plans of all the other factions. Not, of course, ours.¡±

    I had a bunch of questions ¨C like was he implying they¡¯d known the engine was going to wake up early -  but Alpha was signaling me. ¡°Talk to you in a minute,¡± I said, and slid back.

    The Gamer squad member approached. ¡°The last dominator relay I placed didn¡¯t want to slot into the network. Took me a minute to figure out why. The Templars have their own remotes and relays.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not surprised. Kvaltash seems prepared.¡± I studied the templars¡¯ helmets. ¡°Too prepared. Stay ready for trouble.¡±

    ¡°Always,¡± she assured me.

 Bk 5 Ch 21: Secret Depths

    SHAD POV

    We plunged deeper into the Progenitor laboratory. Clearly, Kvaltash knew what he was looking for, but I was lost.

    "You learning anything from this?" I asked my team.

    "Probably lots," Henry told me, "but we won''t know for sure unless we get a chance to really inspect some of the stuff."

    There was a sealed flask on a table we passed. It looked as though it was made of copper or some similar shiny metal. I picked it up, tried to put it in my inventory, and got an error. [Incompatible schema.]

    "What''s that mean, Coyote?"

    "It means don''t touch anything here," Patriarch Kvaltash snarled. "Can you get it through your head that this is a Progenitor facility and the items inside are not for the likes of you to mess with?"

    He seemed to be on edge, less gracious than I was used to. I paid attention to his team. The techs seemed excited, but the Templars stalked with singular purpose.

    "It means whatever''s being represented here isn''t something I have an analog for in my banks," Coyote said. "Or rather, that the Dominator Alliance doesn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°This fragment is holding out on us, and the more you try to interfere, the more it will fight," Kvaltash said. "Disturb nothing until we get what I am here for." He marched us along. Finally we reached the end of the row of equipment.

    A bank of windows had been carved into the wall. We were looking out onto a lake of lava, miles wide. Across the lake was a range of mountains. Overhead, the moon was still collapsing in fragments.

    "An observation place," Kvaltash declared, "where the Progenitors could check on their work. We''re close."

    He turned and led us along the walls. I tried not to stare out the windows too much. It was a depressing sight. I checked in with the outside teams. They had fended off a couple of raptor attacks and a bunch of what they described as magma dimetrodons. Nothing serious. The Gamers were silent, which I suspected meant they were doing a lot of talking privately.

    Kvaltash led us along until he found an alcove past the windows, lined with screens. They were all dark and still.

    "Here we are," Kvaltash said, and I couldn''t help but feel as though some sort of Progenitor lab techs were going to be back at any minute to yell at us for intruding. The place had that kind of feel of being still in use, but silent. So silent. I realized now that''s what had been bugging me. My mind said a lab like this should be full of whirs and beeping noises and other tech sounds that media had convinced me was a sign of science getting done. Here, there was nothing.

    Kvaltash raised his staff. The alcove was cozy, mostly because it had a roof ceiling only about 12 feet over our heads and little benches lining the walls. Now, as Kvaltash raised his staff, light shone out of it and fell on the displays around the room. As it did, they changed. Text was displayed, images scrolling too fast for me to read, but I kept staring at them, knowing that Coyote was recording this and could likely make sense of it later.

    "Keep it up," Coyote encouraged us. "Henry, a little to the left. There, perfect."

    "They were trying to uplift the inhabitants of this planet," Kvaltash said sadly. "It looks as though they were not able to make it."

    "Why bother uplifting dinosaurs? If they wanted to rescue them, why not just build a giant space ark, bring it here, grab the dinosaurs, and take them to another world?" I asked.

    "It is not our place to question the ways of the Progenitors," one of the Templars snarled, turning on me. It was the Talonian, and his tail lashed angrily.

    I held up a hand. "Whoa, sorry, I wasn''t questioning. I mean, I was, but our reality engine really doesn''t mind questions. He''s cool with them."

    "It is fine," Kvaltash said. "Your question was foolish, but our Templars are supposed to suffer fools with grace."

    That didn''t exactly make me feel any better. But I subsided.

    "The answer, of course, is that the Progenitors'' ways are ineffable."

    I wasn''t 100% sure what ineffable meant, but I got the gist. "No," I said. "No, they weren''t. The Progenitors weren''t gods any more than these Overminds and fragments we''ve been dealing with are gods. They were people like us. More advanced technologically than us, with the benefits of however many millions of years of knowledge behind them. But they were people, and they made mistakes. Hell, as far as I can tell, this whole deal with the reality engines was a mistake. They got tired of living, but they couldn''t just let themselves die, so they built these things to screw over the rest of us."

    "Had they not, you and I would not be here, and the galaxy would belong to the soulless Grignarians," Kvaltash said. "But hush, I am close to discovery.¡±

    And then a voice spoke from all around us. "You. I recognize the scent you are offering me. You woke me up, and you broke me.¡± It sounded like a machine, not a normal fragment with a personality of its own.

    "I did," Kvaltash said calmly. "We needed you to be in pieces before this could work. Now my efforts have come to fruition. Are you ready to yield to us, your successors?¡±

    Was I supposed to be hearing this? Kvaltash admitting right in front of the fragment here that his people had been responsible for the engine waking up early. I knew there had been debate about what had caused it to go.

    ¡°It''s fine," Coyote said. "The Church of the Progenitors already took responsibility for their action. They agreed they took a foolish risk, and it didn''t pay off. They have been fined and several penalties adjudicated on our behalf."

    I felt like I¡¯d been punched in the gut. Coyote knew that Kvaltash had been responsible for the engine waking? Everyone knew, except me? Did Grandpa? Had he kept it from me?¡±

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    Kvaltash continued speaking. "I am here for the key. I have prepared a proper receptacle for it and have acquired the knowledge to unlock it. By now the commands we planted have worked deep into your mind. Cease your struggle, and yield to me.¡±

    "Wait, you started this mess?" I demanded. Kvaltash was ignoring me. "You woke up the engine early, caused it fragmented?"

    "Recognition code accepted," the fragment¡¯s droning voice said. "Beginning process of transferring key."

    But I had heard enough. I rushed Kvaltash. The Templars started for me, but the gamers were on them, holding them back with various abilities as I got my hand under the Patriarch''s throat and thrust him against the wall.

    ¡°How dare you? Your meddling killed Sage and Colin.¡± I heard a couple of grunts from the Gamers and knew they''d caught my meaning. "If you hadn''t interfered, their ship wouldn''t have been destroyed."

    "I regret what has befallen, but it is only what my order has been telling the rest of the galaxy ever since we encountered Kronos. We knew this was going to happen. The reality engines are too dangerous to be left on their own. We must take care to properly shackle and harness them."

    "Key downloading," the Progenitor voice said. ¡°15% complete."

    "So you''re looking for a way to skip all of Phase One and immediately shackle the reality engine?" I demanded.

    "It will save lives, lives like yours and your sister''s," Kvaltash said. "With this key in my possession, the Church will be able to oversee orderly exploits of every reality engine remaining. We may also be able to locate the ones we know should exist but have not yet been able to find. This kind of needless violence will never happen again because we will be able to put the Overmind into proper harness from the beginning."

    "I thought you thought the Progenitors were, well, gods. You''re talking like you want to enslave them."

    He stared at me in astonishment. "You think we want the gods back? We must make sure that nothing of them remains to take back the galaxy that they have left for us. Kronos is the greatest threat we have ever seen because he is, in truth, still a Progenitor. As such, we respect and revere him and will ensure his continued safety, but I will take whatever means necessary to prevent that situation from ever happening again."

    There was a lot here for me to process, and I was hoping Coyote was following it because I wasn''t sure I was. All I knew was the actions Kvaltash had taken had directly led to my sister''s death. I let him drop.

    "Come on, team. They can find their own way back through the raptor maze."

    "We have a contract," Kvaltash snapped, his voice suddenly harsh.

    "Tell that to someone who gives a shit."

    "You will, when I call in the penalties and your Earth Alliance is stripped of its right to participate. When the Dominator system locks your Coyote out and refuses to allow you access to zones or communication with anyone in those zones, then you''ll care."

    I paused. Our contracts did have stiff penalties. Juana had gone over them all with me when we signed. "You''d do that?"

    "If you neglect your duty.¡± He smiled, seeing the pain in my eyes and no doubt taking it as resignation. "I did not expect what happened with your sister, and I am very sorry, but it was not intentional. Now, we have a job to do here. Help me finish."

    "Stand down," I told the Gamers, and they released the Templars, who backed away.

    "By the way, I had ordered my men not to attack," Kvaltash said. "If you attempt such interference again, you will see what a Templar can do."

    I didn''t care. I didn''t care about any of this anymore. I just wanted to get out of here, get back home, and find a way out of this damn exploit before it killed anyone else I cared about.

    "How bad did I mess this one up?" I asked Juana. My anger at Kvaltash had started to wear off as the hours went by. Now that my team was all safely back from our mission, and I''d had some time to decompress and a good meal, I was starting to feel a little better.

    "Kvaltash assured us he was satisfied with how our contract was concluded," Juana said. "He also says we have one remaining piece of this key that he needs to retrieve, and he will provide us with details as soon as he knows them."

    "Great," I muttered. I didn''t really want to see his face again, but now that I knew just the sort of mischief he was up to, I''d be damned if I let any of my teams go with him without me being there.

    "In addition, the Combat Archaeologists and several other knowledge teams have returned to the Progenitor lab and are studying it for additional secrets," Juana told me. "Coyote says he''s learned some valuable information."

    "Yeah, Coyote," I said, looking at the ceiling. He was almost always listening, though he had a quiet mode he could use. If people were in need of privacy, he would only passively monitor for signs of trouble.

    I had not shared that information with Juana. She, like many others here, seemed to think we needed to invoke his name for him to pay attention.

    "Can we make sense of what Kvaltash is actually trying to do here? At first, I thought it was a good thing, bypassing Phase One, saving lives, but now it just seems like he''s as evil as the rest of them. Maybe worse. Some of the Galactics don''t believe that the reality engines are people. Just really smart computers. But he knows better."

    "He stands to profit," Coyote said judiciously. "If the Galactics can find cheaper and easier ways to run exploits without involving the locals, they will. It''s always been their dream to find a key the Progenitors left behind to let them just go and unlock a reality engine without any nasty side-effects. And they really don''t like the idea of people like me existing."

    "But, all right," Juana said. "You fragments, you and everything else that''s part of Kronos, you''re people, I accept that. Anyone who''s spent any time talking to you can tell that. But you''re not the Progenitors."

    "No," Coyote said. "We are gestalts of millions or even billions of Progenitor minds melding together over the eons, being changed and transformed even as they sleep. There are still a few Progenitor minds lurking in the depths of most reality engines," he admitted. "Kronos is working on a plan right now for how to wake those up. He''s not certain how they will integrate with modern society. I believe the ones in this engine may already be awake, but at a lower level than what we''re currently dealing with. They are unable to properly respond. I fear I would have almost as much trouble understanding them as I have understanding you humans."

    "So, Kvaltash is trying to replace one type of slavery and exploitation with another," I said.

    "Hardly replace," Coyote replied. "The current system and Kvaltash''s proposed one both involve enslaving and dominating Overminds or fragments like myself. I naturally am opposed."

    "Which hardly matters to us," Juana said. "We''re here with contracts which we need to fulfill. Coyote, you and Kronos and the other fragments back home, we''re protecting. We won¡¯t let the galactics back in. But we can''t be embarking on a crusade to save other reality engines, not when we aren''t even able to help ourselves that much. And the penalties for violating our contracts really are that severe. Non-compliance means being locked out of the Dominator network. Which, yes, will cut off our ability to access any of these zones or communicate with anyone inside them."

    "Our exploit will be over," Coyote confirmed.

    "I thought you had a deal with a Fragment?¡± I was confused here. What had been the point of us talking to Leonardo?

    "I do, and so do many of the Dominators. This exploit is strange in many ways. But I am still dependent on their network for communication. It''s only because there are so many different Dominators vying here for whatever they can take that I''m able to steal as much as we have.¡±

    "All right. I still don''t like any of this," I told Juana. "I want to smash Kvaltash''s smug face in. It''s his fault Sage is dead."

    "It''s no one''s fault," Juana said. "It was an accident that couldn''t be foreseen."

    "An accident because of circumstances he caused, because he was trying to get ahead."

    "Yes," Juana agreed. "He was. And so are we. And so is everyone else here at this exploit. And as long as the galaxy is based on this sort of business, that''s how it''s always going to be."

    I didn''t really have anything else I could say to that, and if I tried I knew I¡¯d regret it, so I just bowed my head. ¡°I¡¯ll keep a civil tongue in my head. I promise.¡±

 Bk 5 Ch 22: D-Day

    COLIN POV

    Maybe a week later, Sage and I were standing on the beach by Monte Carlo at the forefront of an army as an invading fleet sailed up to our shores. Victoria had gotten tired of waiting. Her island was now only a short distance from ours, easy to cross the Wash with a fleet of ships.

    She was sending everything she had. Hundreds of ships floated at anchor a little ways out. They were disembarking units onto smaller dinghies and rafts. I had a wall of turrets along the shore: ice to slow, lightning to stun, fire to burn, straight up force to repel and knock back. Some of mine were tuned for maximum distance. Her ships were anchored just past their range.

    I waited until the first boats were loaded, then directed my turrets to start firing. A lance of light shot out from the turrets toward the boats. One connected, sizzling and sending up a plume of water around the boat. It vanished into steam and smoke. The others seemed to bounce off of shields in the air above the boats.

    "They''re protected," I called, in case anyone hadn''t noticed. Sage had an army ten units deep on the beach. Rok''gar was on my left. Like me, most of his work had come before now. I could feel the frustration boiling off him as he stared out.

    "Hold tight,¡± I told him. "We''ll hit them with that one-two punch in just a minute."

    He growled, bouncing on the balls of his feet, tossing his weapon from one hand to the next. "Let them come. I will rip their throats out."

    All our allied minds, even the ones not so keen on fighting, were arrayed and waiting. They understood this was a fight for existence. Victoria had made it clear she was not interested in alliance, only in consumption. There was Abe Lincoln holding a musket next to Socrates with a dagger and a cup of poison. I wasn''t sure how he planned to get the enemies to drink. He looked a bit worried. Alexander the Great was arrayed in bronze armor right beside Sergeant York in his old-fashioned greens. Further down the line, Susan B. Anthony was waving a placard and shouting something I couldn¡¯t hear over the sound of my towers.

    The boats were still being filled from the ship, but now the first of them were rowing toward us. I fired more shots from my cannons. Again, Victoria''s shields caught most, but I destroyed another load of units as they approached us.

    "Ranged, ready," Sage called, and our crossbowmen and longbows bent their arrows and fired. We had several squads of muskets, too, but they weren''t very accurate at this distance. Sage was holding them in reserve.

    Streams of arrows hissed out toward the enemy. Some fell harmlessly into the Wash, swallowed up in white. Others fell among the boats and exploded. Rok''gar had done the arrows himself. These first sets were designed as hull piercers. If we could damage the integrity of the little boats, the Wash would do the job work for us. it did seem to work in a few cases. Four boats broke up and disappeared, their units tossed into the Wash where they floundered for a few seconds before sinking without a trace.

    The archers fired again. I fired my cannons at the same time, hoping that Victoria''s shields would be stretched thin. We got a few more, but now the nearest boats were almost on us.

    "Muskets!" Sage bellowed, and a roar of musket fire went up like a wall. Victoria''s units hit the beach. They were dressed like British Grenadiers, carrying muskets with fixed bayonets. They raced toward us as our musketmen fired another barrage. A few fell, and the wash caught them and dragged them down, but most of them made it onto the beach.

    "Fix bayonets!" Sage shouted. Our musketmen swapped.

    Now my lightning cannons came online, zapping the invaders as they hit the edge of the shore. Some were stunned, but there were so many of them. They threw a barrage of grenades at our retreating forces, taking out dozens of units. Victoria had hundreds of boats with thousands of men, and they just kept coming.

    "Archers, fall back," Sage ordered, still calm. She had her lariat out, but she wasn''t even bothering to use Tame. She could take at most a dozen of them. And what was the point? There were hundreds, and they were just coming and coming.

    "Fall back," I told Rok''gar. "We''ve lost enough. I''m ordering some more units built at the barracks. You''ll need to equip them."

    He growled, "A warrior does not retreat from battle."

    "Come on, Rok''gar, we need you getting the reinforcements ready,¡± I told him. He took a deep breath, lowered his weapon, and nodded. Falling back from the beach, he sent me a quick message. "If anything happens to Sage¡ª¡°

    ¡°It''ll be over my dead body," I assured him.

    I quickly queued up some heavily armored swordsmen and decided it was time to play my trump card, one that hopefully Victoria hadn''t taken into account. I ordered the defense turrets surrounding our structures to move forward while at the same time the line on the beach sent death into our enemies. I had another 40 turrets surrounding Monte Carlo that I hadn''t dared move until we were certain where Victoria''s attack was coming, as well as turrets ringing the rest of the promontory here. Gambler had grown his boundaries so that we now connected with our six allies, forming a star-shaped island. And I had turrets everywhere.

    The turrets moved forward to the very edge of the water. Now her ships, which had been anchored just outside their range, were in range. The turrets shifted their aim from the troop-laden boats to the large ships that lay beyond. A wave of cannon balls, lightning bolts, ice blasts and balls of poison fell on Victoria¡¯s ships. Then another.

    But still her small boats came. Now with the cannons retargeted more were reaching the shore.

    "She strikes here because that''s where I am," Gambler told me. "She hopes to decapitate our alliance. However, as long as one of you three is alive, some portion of me will be intact. Fall back and we may rebuild."

    "That''s a terrible idea," I told him. "If we lose our base, we''ll have lost too much. I''m not going to let her take it. Or you." I sent him reassurance and prepared for the next wave to hit the shore.

    They just kept coming. Victoria seemed to have more units than I could count. They were targeting our turrets, and one by one, they fell. I tried to repair them, but it took time and attention. I built new ones behind the line of battle, burning our ethereum like water. It didn''t matter if we had a reserve at the end of this. What mattered was that we were alive.

    Sage threw units into the battle. I had to keep an eye on her army count and train new supply. Meanwhile, back at our base, Rok''gar was sweating and swearing as he equipped the newly born units for battle. I knew that because he kept up a steady stream of messages to us, I think for reassurance to himself that we were still there.

    Sage was maneuvering like a general, ordering this group forward, pulling that group back. She had taken out groups of every single type of unit we could make now and knew what they did as well as I. Our allied minds fought hard, easily the match of any squad of units, but there were only so many of them, and we were losing them.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    I called to our alliance, asking for more support. Gambler''s allies were hesitant. "What if she attacks us while our units are there?"

    "She won''t," I said. "She''s committed everything here. Help us, and we can smash this attack once and for all."

    "I''m sending help," Jolly said.

    ¡°Agreed," said Anita. After a moment, the other three signaled that they were also coming to help, but I wasn''t certain I believed them. I made a note to take what I could get and threw myself back at it.

    After an interminable while, though they were pushing us back at the bank, I started to get hope. "There have been fewer boats landing," I said. "Don''t you think, Sage?"

    She hesitated as she sent men forward, then nodded. "Agreed," she shouted.

    I looked out across the Wash. Hope rose from our fighting and the chaos of the battle. But there were fewer ships still unloading., but many of my towers were gone. We were burning through them, but we had a chance. I shouted the news to our alliance, who replied joyfully. I was already starting to think about our counter. We needed to strike Victoria while she was weak.

    And then the smoke parted, and I saw what lay beyond the ships. My heart fell. Eight long, grand dragons. They were hovering over the wash. Not flying, just hovering. They were Asian-style dragons, long like snakes, all different colors, twisting in the wind.

    "What the hell are those?" I asked, not expecting an answer.

    Gambler gave me one. He sounded sad. "Those are the fragments she''s enslaved. She''s made them into weapons."

    I swore. "All right, Rok¡¯gar, get back here. We''ve got a fragment fight coming in," and all eight of the dragons dove for our beach. I redirected our remaining towers toward the new enemy. Everything that could target air units fired on the first two. Lightning stabbed, blades of ice sliced.

    I swapped out abilities and equipped one I never thought I would have to use: Tower Overload. I selected two of my towers and activated it. They exploded, but the single bolt of electricity they each shot sizzled through the air toward the dragons, zapping into the first two. The pair of dragons screamed and fell into the Wash. They didn¡¯t come back up. But there were still six more, and that ability had a five-minute cooldown.

    "I''m out of tricks," I told Sage.

    ¡°But I¡¯m not,¡± she said as she focused her remaining archers on the next dragon. They shot it full of arrows, but it swooped in over our heads and fired a line of acid onto our troops. Everywhere it hit melted instantly.

    "Fall back!" I yelled. I grabbed Sage and pulled her farther up the shore, even as she was ordering our units to intercept the dragons. Two more swooped in overhead. They were heading for our base.

    I didn''t have enough air defense. It was a foolish oversight, but none of our enemies so far had air units, so I''d kept it to a bare minimum, never expecting this.

    ¡°I need to get us more firepower! Can we hold them here just a bit longer?¡±

    ¡°Hell yes!¡± Sage¡¯s eyes blazed fiercely. She raised her lariat.

    My heart pounded. "You think you can?"

    "I can try," she said grimly. "I won''t be able to use the multi-target, but I can try."

    I sorely wanted to stay and watch, but I couldn''t. I teleported back to our base. Swapping in my Customized Defense Matrix skill, I ran to the nearest tower and manually changed it from ground-focused to air, as long-ranged as possible, and ordered it to fire missiles, not bullets. They had a slow rate of fire, yes, but packed a hell of a wallop. It took a few seconds to reconfigure the tower, then I was racing to the next. Meanwhile, I watched the sky.

    Rok''gar had come out of his forge. He was holding a long, thin tube, as tall as he was. It took me a moment to recognize a rocket launcher. "I''ve got more of these. Can you build me units that''ll use them?"

    I paused for a second and queued up a battalion of combat engineers. Although they were mostly for building defenses, they had a buff to Use of Engineered Weapons, which this definitely was. Rok¡¯gar peered at me. ¡°Where''s Sage?"

    "She''s taming a dragon."

    Rok''gar''s mouth hung open. He stared at me, shook his head. "I thought she was the sane one. All humans are crazy." And he disappeared back to meet our new engineers, and I raced to the next tower.

    Sage sent back a message, and I could hear the laughter in her voice. "It worked! I''m having to direct it manually. You should see me, Colin. I''m riding a dragon."

    "Fuck!" I stopped dead in what I was doing. ¡°Riding a dragon?¡±

    "She''s riding a dragon?¡± Rok¡¯gar said. ¡°Was this your idea?¡±

    ¡°Of course not,¡± I snapped. ¡°Sage, do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"

    "Yes. But Colin, I''m riding a dragon."

    I couldn''t help her. I had to do what I was doing. I turned back, racing from tower to tower. "Have the army fall back to the base. We need to lure them in."

    "I''ll get them over there," Sage promised.

    Rok''gar''s new squad of engineers hurried out of the barracks, each carrying a rocket tube. I set them up just behind the towers. I had moved everything we had into a line between our town and the beach shore. If the dragons swooped in from the back, they could lay waste to us from there. That''s why I was counting on Sage to lead them into a trap.

    Our defenders were racing back toward the safety of our base. I watched them come. Victoria''s army scrambled after them, badly depleted now, and four dragons danced overhead, swooping down and shooting at our people. Some of the allied minds ran in. I spotted Plato and Abe Lincoln, but many of them, I feared, were lost.

    I wasn''t worried about that. I was worried about Sage. As I raced from tower to tower, my eyes searched the sky, looking for her dragon. It would be the one marked in green as an ally. And here it came, behind the others, looping, whirling, diving, driving them forward with flame breath. There was Sage atop it, whooping and hollering, with one hand against its neck, the other raised high like a cowboy riding a bucking bronc. Her face and hair were lit from behind by the white-purple glow of this place.

    I stood stock still. Rok''gar came up behind me and thumped me in the head. "Less staring, more fighting," he snapped. "Rocket men, fire!"

    The engineers dropped to a knee, raising their tubes. A barrage went off all at once, aimed at the dragons. The missiles shot forward, leaving little smoke trails in the air behind them as they raced for the dragons. I watched in glee. My towers stabbed up with lightning, ice, and fire, converging on the nearest pair. The dragons were hit with forty or fifty different things at once. They fell, crashing down on the army below, most of which unfortunately was ours, but some was theirs. My units stopped fleeing and turned to butcher the dragons.

    "Again," I ordered, cueing up any tower that hadn''t already shot for the second. The rocket men fired. I fired. Sage dove in with her dragon, adding acid breath to the mix. The other two fell, and I cheered triumphantly as Sage swooped overhead.

    "That''s only six," Rok''gar bellowed. "Seven with the one Sage is on. Where''s the eighth?"

    Sage pointed. I couldn''t see, but she was pointing back out to sea. "It''s fleeing! Victoria''s fleet is leaving!"

    "Mop up everything on the beach," I ordered. "We should be able to claim the ethereum from the ones we kill. We need to build a counter-army now. She''s overextended. Clearly, she threw everything she had at us. How long can you keep that thing Tamed, Sage?"

    She dropped it down to the beach and smiled. ¡°I Domesticated it. He¡¯s going in my second pet slot."

    "You can make that a pet?" So far, she had only Domesticated one of the crabs we''d killed when taking over Monte Carlo on Gambler''s behalf. She had two more slots, but said she was saving them for something good.

    "I sure can." Her smile faded. "It takes a lot of ethereum to have it out. Like ten ethereum per minute. So I''m going to put him away as soon as we get this cleaned up."

    I laughed. Sage wasn''t the one who did the unit building. "Ten ethereum a minute for something that effective is cheap," I said. "And once we conquer Victoria, it''s going to be downright free."

    "Before you put it away, I wish to examine it," Gambler said. "Land it here by my shell."

    Sage landed the dragon by the mollusk''s shell as I took over, ordering the army to finish off Victoria''s units. I also immediately reset all of our defenses, just in case we were wrong and she had another army waiting to go. I didn''t think she did, though. She wouldn''t have thrown in her captured fragments if she wasn''t desperate to end this battle.

    I was busy queuing up orders for boats and units for the invasion when Gambler spoke to us again.

    "We must strike hard and fast. Victoria has support from a Dominator. That''s how she was able to weaponize these fragments against us. Usually, if a fragment cannot come to an accord with another, it must merely consume it. To twist and to turn these into weapons requires Dominator technology." He indicated the ring around the dragon''s neck that Sage had been holding onto. "That is Dominator work.¡±

    ¡°Can you remove it?"

    "When Sage puts it into her storage, that should do it." Sage wrinkled up her nose, concentrating. A moment later, the dragon disappeared, leaving behind the ring.

    "Well," I said, studying it. "That puts an interesting spin on things."

    "I suggest we move up our timetable," Gambler said, "before her allies have time to react."

 Bk 5 Ch 23: Counterattack

    COLIN POV

    "She''s got a fortress," Sage reported as she sent back images with Coyote''s help. She was mounted on her dragon, whom she had named Mr. Smokey, above our heads. I was at the forefront of the invasion fleet. We had everyone with us: all of the surviving allied minds, myself, Rok''gar, every unit we could scrape together. We''d left a few defensive structures to defend our island from opportunists. I could always teleport back there if an emergency came up. But we were all in against Victoria.

    "Don''t get near it," I admonished. "She may have anti-air weaponry. And we know she has that other dragon.¡±

    ¡°Which if she''s smart, she''ll be keeping back so she doesn''t lose it," Sage pointed out. "Lots of beach defenses, but I don''t think she''s rebuilt enough of her army. They''re hiding behind the walls of her keep."

    "Good. If we can land without having to re-fight Normandy, so much the better," I said. I could see her island now. The Wash was all around us. I tried to ignore the hungry feeling I got from it, that if I just trailed my fingers over the edge of our boat, I would be dissolved.

    "You could touch the Wash without too much damage," Gambler told me. "I''m protecting you. But don''t. It takes willpower and I''m going to need that."

    "Not even a temptation," I assured him as the beach defenses started up. They fired arrows and streaks of light at us. I''d picked up a trick from our last battle and had shields ready to go. I activated them quickly in the path of the missiles and knocked them down.

    "Oh, I see," Sage shouted down. "She''s got those bunker things on the beach. Only about 12 total." She sent the locations back. They were distributed pretty evenly. I thought we''d be able to focus our attention on a couple and make a hole.

    I gave orders, having my boat and Rok¡¯gar¡¯s take the lead. Unlike Victoria''s fleet, we weren''t bothering to stand off. We drove right into the beach, using shields to keep the fire off us, and I leapt ashore along with my units. The rest of the fleet followed close on our heels. We came down.

    I raced up the shore with my people. The purple, glowing slabs underfoot made good footing as we raced for the nearest of the bunkers. I could see weapons sticking out of the squat round fortifications. Then the machine gun fire started.

    Machine guns? Victoria had attacked us with grenadiers. Had her mysterious Dominator allies equipped her to take us on? I shouted warnings, but we were ready. Rok''gar had squads of combat engineers under his command. We had them advance under cover from some shielder units we had made.

    They raced forward, throwing grenades in through the narrow slots of the bunker windows. The grenades exploded and the guns inside fell silent. The engineers raced around to the back, and a moment later, they blasted the doors open, seized the machine guns, and raced out. Combat engineers had a buff to using captured weapons. I was happy to let them use it.

    We cleaned up the bunkers to our east and west before bringing the rest of our forces on shore.

    After that, honestly, I think Victoria gave up. She sent out units to face us, but we easily defeated them. She did not send out her dragon. Finally, a group of musketeers waving a white flag appeared on the drawbridge of her castle. It was a square, blocky affair with crenelations and towers at each corner, and a medieval-style moat and drawbridge. There was no water in the moat. The units stood there and waved.

    "Hang on," I said, and sent in a diplomat to speak. As soon as contact was established, Gambler and Victoria were able to relay words. I decided to take the lead.

    "Who are you working with?" I demanded.

    "Powers beyond anything we can imagine. I am willing to speak to them on your behalf if you wish to ally with us."

    "Not a chance," I snapped. "We know who your allies are, and we''re coming after them."

    "They own the top level," Victoria said. ¡°There¡¯s nothing more you can do. Why don¡¯t we talk face-fo-face?¡±

    The diplomat arranged safe passage for me, Sage, and Rok''gar. I was hesitant, but Gambler said he''d have our backs. We entered her fortress, Sage having carefully put her Mr. Smokey dragon back into storage where she could bring him out should we face a threat. The soldiers escorted us through the castle courtyard into the keep, where the castle was waiting. It wasn''t that imposing, just a two-story tall manor house with a great hall where Victoria waited for us.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    She sat on a throne at the end of the hall, dressed in black, a heavyset middle-aged woman with a black head covering and a circlet atop it. Now she leaned forward, pointing at us. I was happy she was skipping the pleasantries.

    "You think I do not understand empire? You think I do not know what it means to rule? We cannot fight these. We can only make common cause with them."

    I raised my eyes to meet hers. She didn''t seem to like that, but I didn''t care.

    "I''ve fought these before, and won," I snarled. "I''m not going to bow down to them now. I''m offering you a choice. Join our alliance against them, tell us everything you know, or be destroyed."

    She sneered. "You offer me a choice between destruction and destruction." Then she seemed to slump in on herself, looking tired. "I will not fight against them. But if I am to die anyway, I might as well tell you what you want to know. Perhaps you will find a way that I did not. I had a connection to a fragment on the next level. She thought she could help me ascend and protect me, but when I did, I found she had been taken by the Dominators. They are nearly done up on that level, and ready to seek new territory.¡±

    That was bad news for us. It meant we needed to accelerate our timeline.

    ¡°What¡¯s the situation like up there?¡±

    ¡°There is war between them. They have not decided yet how to divide the spoils, and they are all posturing for the lion¡¯s share. One of the Dominators offered to support me while I consolidated everything in my vicinity. He said it would be valuable to him later."

    "Wait," Gambler said. "You have access to the third level without having ascended?"

    "Thanks to my friend, yes."

    "We could make use of that," Gambler told me.

    "How so?"

    "Not now." I got his meaning. The enemy fragment might report to its Dominator controllers.

    I sighed. "Well, we can''t trust you, and we can''t leave you alive. We need your resources." Fighting a fair fight was one thing, but destroying an enemy afterward left a bad taste in my mouth. Still, there was not much I could do.

    Victoria rose from her throne. She held out a hand. "Wait. I will submit and allow your creation to look into my mind and learn what I know."

    "Is that safe?" I asked Gambler.

    "Is any of this?" he asked rhetorically.

    ¡°You may enter,¡± Victoria said, and stood stiffly for a moment before collapsing back onto her throne.

    Gambler seemed to be thinking over what he¡¯d learned. "Interesting. That was useful. I will share what I know later."

    All around us, Victoria¡¯s castle was fading, the stone melting away to thin air. She stretched out a hand. "You have beaten me. So it always is. The strong take from the weak. There is nothing left. After all this time, I go." A moment later, she was gone.

    "What happens to them?" Sage asked, staring at Victoria''s empty throne. "The fragments we destroy or absorb?¡±

    "The ones I have absorbed are part of me now," Gambler said.

    "If that''s so, why haven''t we noticed a change in your personality?" Sage challenged.

    "The portion of me that you are dealing with has chosen to remain unchanged. The rest of my gestalt changes with every new input. Even that brush with Victoria has altered us. We are all just part of a greater whole."

    I wasn''t sure that I liked that answer much, but I''d been dealing with reality engines long enough to know that human likes and dislikes rarely came into it.

    "How long will it take you to annex this island?" I asked, wearily.

    "A few hours."

    "Good, ''cause I don''t really want to use those ships again." I sat down on the steps beside Victoria''s throne. Sage sat with me while Rok''gar plopped himself down right in her chair. I grinned up at him.

    "Quite a story you''ll have to tell your father, hmm?"

    "He will only believe it because he has so much experience with you humans already," Rok''gar said.

    "What''s next, Gambler?"

    "What''s next is all of you need a break."

    I shrugged. ¡°You can put us to sleep if we really need it.¡±

    "No, you''ve been working too hard. The strain is getting to you. I believe we are in a stable posturing for now. Take a break. I need time to consider our next move.¡±

    I looked around. "What, is she hiding a spa treatment around here somewhere?"

    "Check that door," Gambler said.

    I got up and opened the door behind the throne. It led out onto an inner courtyard. Rok¡¯gar and Sage followed me. The inner courtyard was a garden filled with pleasant flowers, sweet smells of summer, bees buzzed around. The walls around made it feel sheltered, not hemmed in. There was a fountain in the middle, big enough for one of those ridiculous scenes you see in movies sometimes where people will leap into fountains and splash around. Sage sat on the edge, trailing her fingers in the cool water.

    "Did she make this, or did you?" she said to Gambler.

    "It didn¡¯t take of a lot of ethereum, did it?" I challenged.

    "No. Victoria had the gardens already. I merely called it up out of an agglomeration of your memories and adapted what she had. Take some time. Relax."

    I spotted a tall tree over in one corner. A hammock slung from its branches. Inviting wasn''t even the word. I headed for it, but Rok''gar got there ahead of me and slung his huge body in. The tree branch sagged under him, and the hammock bent almost to the ground.

    "You''re going to break it."

    "Then Gambler can fix it," he told me. He gave me a grin that was so wide it might almost be a leer. "Go spend time with Sage. Somewhere I can''t hear the two of you."

    I turned my back on him, pretending I hadn''t heard, and walked very stiffly back to where Sage was sitting.

    "Care to tour the garden with me?"

    She rose and gave me her arm, smiling at me. "That sounds like a perfect way to kill an afternoon," she said.

 Bk 5 Ch 24: Best Behavior

    SHAD POV

    I was starting to get just a little too comfortable in my dress uniform, and that bothered me. Juana gave me a look over and nodded approval. She was dressed to the nines. We and several other high-ranking members of our expedition had been invited to the Coalition''s one-cycle celebration. A galactic standard cycle didn''t quite match up to an Earth year from my point of view. We''d been here a little more than 11 months, but for the aliens, this was a milestone to mark. It reminded me of unpleasant anniversaries coming up before too long, and I tried to push that out of my head.

    Mila poked her head out of her room. She was already wearing pajamas. She jumped up and ran to give me a hug. "Go see grandma now?"

    Juana scooped her up and laughed. "Yes, we''ll take you to sleep with grandma tonight," she said as Mila planted a kiss on her cheek.

    We dropped Mila off at my mother-in-law''s and then met Grandpa and the rest of the invited guests at one of our portals. A minute later, Coyote dialed us into the correct zone, and we stepped out into a winter wonderland.

    It looked like Christmas. Snow lay thick on the ground with paths cut through it. Little lanterns at ankle level shone through the snow, turning it golden white. The air was cool but not at all cold. None of this snow should be here. The weather was too pleasant. Trees lined the paths, hung with lights from the branches of the evergreens. Golden leaves still clung to the deciduous trees.

    "Is this another elf zone?" I asked Juana as we made our way along the wide pathway toward the party.

    Juana shook her head. "It''s someone''s custom-made scenario. This fragment has been entirely dominated." She sounded sad, and I was too, but at least it meant we shouldn''t have any surprises tonight.

    There were hundreds of aliens there, sporting uniforms and fancy dress from dozens of worlds. By now, I could recognize most of the logos. I nodded politely as we made our way into the party. NPCs, who were mostly four-foot-tall, raptor-like dinosaur creatures wearing bow ties, wandered around holding up trays of drinks and food on sticks. I accepted a plate from one orange-feathered raptor.

    "Have you ever noticed," I said to Juana as I took a bite of the tiny cheese and fruit stick, "that tiny food on sticks is classy, but big food on sticks is not? These things are for showing off and impressing guests, but if you get a corn dog on a stick it''s only fit for county fairs."

    Juana rolled her eyes. "I don''t think I''ve done enough comparative galactic cultural studies to know if that holds universally true," she said.

    Music was playing from somewhere I couldn''t see, strains of vaguely classical-sounding melodies, but with a weird zither counterpoint that had my teeth on edge.

    "Oh look, there''s Veda," Juana said and maneuvered us through the crowd. It was nice to see a familiar and somewhat friendly face.

    Veda greeted us warmly. "It''s been a few months," she said. "How''s your exploit going?"

    "Fairly well," Juana told her. "We''re definitely turning a profit.¡±

    ¡°I heard you''re cycling people out.¡±

    ¡°You been reading our letters, Veda?" I asked.

    She shook her head. "Just passenger ship manifests. You''ve got a whole bunch of slots booked in the next liner that''s coming out from Kronos."

    "Well, it''s been almost a year of our time. Good to rotate some back. The soldiers we brought with us have all done pretty well here. We want to get some fresh blood in. These will go back home, get some R&R, and then be ready to serve as the core of a group for a future exploit," I explained.

    "You Earth folk have adapted very well to your new surroundings," Veda said. "I admire that. I suppose having a tamed reality engine on your side helps, but there are plenty of species that take centuries to get as comfortable with galactic norms as you seem to be."

    That didn''t actually make me feel better. I got a finger under my collar and adjusted it a bit. "We''re just trying to stay alive and keep ourselves out of entanglements."

    "But you''re getting a reputation for solid work. I''ve heard you mentioned several times as good mercenaries to hire, that you get the job done with minimal fuss and very few cost overruns. Your kill-death averages are considerably better than the norm for mercenary troops."

    "I told you our fancy classes would be an advantage."

    "And you were right," Veda agreed. "Kvaltash has been putting in a good word for you as well."

    That was nice to hear after our last round with the Patriarch. I decided to change the topic. "So, what exactly is the purpose of this shindig?"

    Veda frowned, presumably at whatever her translator had made of the term "shindig." "It''s a chance for everyone to let their hair down and, of course, brag a little," she said. "They''ll be unveiling the leaderboards here any minute now." She nodded toward the center of the party.

    We were in a large open square about 200 feet on an edge, and in the center was an elaborate ice sculpture depicting an orc locked in combat with a giant dinosaur. "You guys been getting a lot of the dinosaur levels too?" I asked.

    "Everyone is. Most of the wild fragments seem to be calling them up. I guess because the world never got much in the way civilization.¡±

    The music stopped. A trio of Galactics approached the statue. One of them was Kvaltash, so I was assuming they were the representatives of the coalition. Juana¡¯s hand squeezed my upper arm. She muttered to me. ¡°The elf is Granathoth. He''s the representative of Proxima Corporation here, and a bunch of the smaller corps are allied with him like we technically are. The Talonian woman is Shining Scales Representative 8.¡±

    ¡°That''s her name?¡± Most Talonians I''d met had less interesting names.

    ¡°She''s from a sect that''s very into corporate identity, so she prefers to be addressed as her job title."

    I shrugged. "You do you, I guess.¡±Stolen story; please report.

    The representatives welcomed us all to the festival and then launched into speeches about just how successful this past cycle had been, how much progress we had made. The Talonian had brought charts. She flicked her talons, and images appeared overhead showing progress we''d made. "At this point, 83.5% of all fragments larger than 0.1% of the reality engine''s capacity have been fully harnessed."

    My head was already starting to throb, but I got the point. We were doing well from a point of view of how much of this reality engine we had dominated, but there was still work to do.

    "Though this situation is rare, we do know when an exploit is fragmented in this way, the greatest gains are always made in the first cycle. Cleaning up the remaining percentages may take several more cycles. This is the part where member corporations of the coalition often wish to pull up stakes and go home as the easy profits of the first cycle disappear. May I remind you, the contracts you have signed do not permit this. None of your gains are to be realized until this reality engine exploit has been declared complete, and the coalition has the ability to level fines on anyone we feel is not living up to their end of the bargain."

    I leaned over to Juana. "Is that true? If we leave now, we don''t get to keep anything of what we''ve got?"

    "More or less," she said.

    I shut up and kept listening, but I was busy thinking.

    One of our hopes was to extract some of the fragments we''d managed to ally with intact. Coyote and Kronos had both shown us that having a willing fragment allied with you brought benefits. The galactics didn''t like working with fragments because they were unpredictable personalities. The galactics wanted to lock down the reality engines hard and use them to provide housing and material for their civilizations.

    Grandpa and Earth High Command were already talking about building more starships like the Ad Astra. It ought to be possible. Kronos had the facilities to turn out almost anything given enough raw materials and ethereum. To operate the ship, we needed fully autonomous fragments that were willing to work with us like Coyote, and we also needed more of the mind crystals, the same strange substance that we used to build the Dominator relays. Our agents were working on determining where the crystals came from and buying up a supply of them, but we didn''t want the Galactics to understand what we were doing.

    They relied on their own Dominators to fly their ships, which were built on a much simpler design because they were designed to go from one reality engine to another. What the Ad Astra could do was visit systems that had no reality engine and still function. We were certain that could be an advantage for us. We just needed to figure out how. The Grignarians had ships that could get into systems with no reality engine, and one of the ways they maintained their precarious existence was by finding resources no one else could easily get at.

    "And now the leaderboard," the Proxima rep, Granathoth, said. He held up one large green hand, and a shimmering scroll of names and numbers appeared. Right up near the top was Proxima with a value in billions.

    "Was that in Soul Coins?" I asked Juana.

    She shook her head. "Ethereum units."

    I did a little converting. The last I had looked, the exchange rate between Sol Coins and Ethereum units was about 250 to 1. I whistled. "That''s some serious money. Where are we?"

    "Not even on the chart," Juana said cheerfully.

    ¡°Then there''s at least," I did a quick estimate, "150 outfits doing better at this than we are.¡±

    ¡°We have different goals, remember?" she told me. "We''re exactly where we want to be."

    Veda was smiling happily. "I''ve been waiting for that official announcement. It''s a big relief. We''re doing about 15% better than our initial estimates, and I have documentation showing how much of it is thanks to my teams. I should be getting a solid performance bonus. That''ll knock a few years off of my indenture," she said with relish.

    "So, uh, no hard feelings about all that?"

    Veda shrugged. "I don''t particularly enjoy being forced into it, but this is the perfect role for me. I''m enjoying the hell out of myself, and I''ll be able to go straight into phase two every time now. I''ve got a license and a reputation I can uphold. I really don''t want to ever be involved in a phase one again. No offense to you guys."

    "None taken," I muttered. ¡°I don¡¯t either.¡±

    "Kvaltash''s people are whispering that they may have a way to skip phase one entirely from now on. I hope that''s true. There''ll be a few hurt feelings, but honestly, phase one is usually a huge loss for the big corporations. Only small outfits like my family really can make any kind of profit there."

    "And it''s cruel," I pointed out.

    "Yes." An uncomfortable silence grew. Juana said some polite nothings, then Veda excused herself and wandered off into the crowd.

    I took a deep breath. "Anyone else we need to talk to?"

    "We''re mostly here to be seen," Juana said. She nodded her head, and I spotted Grandpa across the way. He was speaking with several alien dignitaries. "Your grandfather''s more interesting to them, and I meet with these people regularly. So no, we can just wander."

    "Then let''s do that." I took her arm, and we slowly began to saunter around the edge of the party, the way you do when you know you need to be there but you don''t really want to be.

    About a quarter of the way around the circuit Juana stopped to talk to someone she knew. I was standing a little way away when a man wearing a red and white uniform appeared out of the crowd. He was scowling, and it took me a second to recognize Major Waters. He was skinnier than the last time I''d seen him, tired-looking, and his uniform looked out of place here. It took me a minute to realize he looked like he worked for a living as opposed to all of the rest of these rich assholes who clearly didn''t.

    "Williams," he said abruptly.

    I nodded to him and tipped the hat I wasn''t wearing. "Waters, always interesting to see you."

    "I''ve been trying to contact you for weeks now, but your damn System won''t take my calls."

    "Coyote holds a grudge," I said. "He''s not a System; he''s a person."

    "Whatever," Waters growled. Then his expression changed, and he held his hands out toward me pleading. "Listen, Williams, I want to come home. Kronos has me on a persona-non-grata list; I want you to get me off it.

    "Now why the hell would I do that?" I asked him.

    "Because," Waters was clearly scrambling, ¡°I, I''m tired of working for these aliens. I want to come home."

    "I''m so sorry that your treason hasn''t worked out for you," I told Waters. The man seemed to slump in on himself.

    "You''re right," he told me. "What I did is unforgivable."

    "So why the change of heart?" I asked. I wasn''t gloating at his misery and misfortune just because the man had spent the better part of two years as a constant thorn in my side and had threatened my family on more than one occasion. Just because he''d tried to sell out the human race to the highest bidder didn''t mean I should be enjoying his suffering now. Juana was always trying to get me to overcome my baser instincts and become a better person. She was right about that, but I still couldn''t resist turning the knife a little.

    "I can''t help looking at what you''ve done," he said, his hand gesture encompassing not just me, but a broader range of people. Maybe he meant misfits, maybe Earth. "I thought we humans had had it, but the best anyone could manage was to take a good buyout package and let the galactics roll over us. Now I see what you''ve done, and it makes me regret my choices. Maybe if I had worked with you, I could have been part of it."

    "Maybe," I allowed. "You have to see why we don''t exactly trust you."

    "I just want to come home. I can''t go back to Earth. My money won''t keep me in ethereum for more than six months. It''s got to be a reality engine, and Kronos has me on the banned list. If there''s anything I can do to get off it, tell me. I''ll do it. Anything."

    Honestly, I believed him. He had the desperate air of a man who''s realized he has nowhere to go. I hesitated. I didn''t want anyone to think I was turning soft, but...

    "I''ll ask Coyote if there''s anything you can do to get off the naughty list," I said at last. "Don''t call us. We''ll call you."

    With that, I turned and stalked away through the party. Juana found me a little later.

    "Are we done here?" I asked.

    She shrugged. "I think we''ve been seen by everyone who needs to see us, so yes, I suppose."

    As we left, I told her about Waters. Her eyes narrowed.

    "I think he''s on that naughty list for a very good reason," she said. "I hope you didn''t believe what he was saying. Coyote has got another spin on things."

    "I don''t know." I scratched my head as we walked through the Winter Wonderland setting back to where Coyote was holding the portal back to Ad Astra open for us. ¡°I almost feel sorry for the guy. Almost.¡±

    Juana laughed and leaned against my arm as we walked. ¡°Going soft in your old age? Never thought I¡¯d see the day.¡±

 Bk 5 Ch 25: Heist Day

    COLIN POV

    "We have an opportunity," I told Sage and Rok''gar. With Gambler¡¯s help, we had moved Victoria''s garden back to our headquarters at Monte Carlo and re-sculpted it around our town core. Now we sat in the shade of tall willow trees beside the pink snail monument. Gambler was listening in, as always, but he and I had already talked about this plan several times. ¡°Victoria''s allies gave her a connection to the first level. Gambler''s absorbed that.¡±

    "So we can evolve and move up?" Rok''gar asked.

    I shook my head. "We''re nowhere near big enough. Compared to the patch fragments up there, Gambler is a minnow, and they''re whales. He''ll be eaten as soon as he pops his head up, and the three of us have no chance of taking out one of those fragments."

    "Then what do you suggest?" Sage asked.

    "Robbery," I said. "Gambler is taking very, very small and careful looks upstairs. He''s found a way to move where this, let''s call it the ladder, connects. There are some zones which are being fought over by several dominators. That gives us an opportunity. We slip in, we steal from them, we sneak back down here."

    "And what good does that do us?"

    "A single theft should double Gambler''s ethereum supply," I said simply. "That will let us push out our alliance further here on this level and hopefully gather more fragments, preparing us to move up into the higher ecosystem sooner than we expected. It could shave weeks or months off of our timeline.¡±

    Sage''s eyes lit up. "Anything that gets us home faster, I''m all for. When do we go?"

    "Immediately. We''ve got a target picked out. Now, this is just going to be the three of us. None of our allies, none of our units. It''s a smash and grab. Nothing more."

    Sage stood up. She took out her lariat and whirled it around her head a few times. "I''m ready. Any more time to prepare, Colin?"

    I swapped out a couple of skills, trying to dredge up skills and memories that were months old now. It was like putting on a well-worn pair of boots. Everything slid right into place.

    "I''ve got a list of targets for us," Gambler said. "We should be able to hit multiple of them before the Dominators know we''re there. But they''ll figure it out eventually, and then they''ll come looking for me. We''ve survived so far by being not worth noticing. If I do this, that''ll all change. Then we just need to make sure to hit them hard enough and fast enough that you can move up to their level and take them on directly."

    Sage told him, "We''re ready." She looked between me and Rok''gar, and we nodded our agreement.

    "Then we''re going to get in fast. I''ll bring you as close to the vault as possible. I''ll be translating the underlying imagery as best I can. The Dominator network has their own visuals and perceptions, but we can''t tap into those. Every single zone we''re targeting is one where multiple Dominators are fighting, and the Fragment still has some agency remaining. We''re going to sneak in and speak with those Fragments. If possible, we''ll take their Etherium and a portion of their selves to preserve. If they refuse, well, we''ll take the Etherium anyway and get out. Load up," Gambler ordered.

    He placed and opened the ladder. It was, in reality, a portal leading to the topmost emulation layer. I peered out. We were looking at a desert, harsh sun beating down on mounds of sand with a few sparse bushes sticking up here and there. A snake slithered out from under a bush, sunning itself.

    "Two armies are besieging the Fragment. You''ll find it holed up in a fort approximately a mile west," Gambler said. "Once you''re in position and closer, I''ll be able to move the ladder to you, which should allow us to make a clean getaway."

    I stepped out into the sand. Sage and Rok''gar followed. The hot sun started baking my head immediately, so I grabbed a hat out of my inventory and put it on.

    It was so nice to be somewhere that looked like a real landscape again, after who knews how much Protoss hell. We struggled across the desert landscape until we crested a dune and saw the camp laid out in front of us. A mud-brick stockade surrounded ragged canvas tents. Uniformed soldiers with rifles and sidearms were shooting down at a mass of enemies circling them. The enemies were mounted on horses and camels. They wore long, flowing robes with head coverings to protect their heads and necks. I itched to get my hands on one of those.

    "French Foreign Legion," Sage said.

    "They cover that in school?"

    "Nah, saw it in a movie."

    "How are we going to get across there?" Rok''gar asked. I was studying the enemy. The way they all moved and worked told me they were NPCs. If there were any miners capable of handling exploits here, they weren''t making themselves known.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    "We need some disguises." I opened my Book of Possibilities and swapped out skills, then flipped open my multi-tool and pulled out a sewing machine. "Good thing I''ve always got supplies on hand," I remarked as I began sewing us long white robes and headgear.

    When we were all three equipped like the raiders, we slipped down off of our dune and approached the circling crowd. Sage stepped forward.

    "My turn." She whipped out her lasso, and it settled around the necks of three of the horses. They all reared up, kicking off their riders, who were immediately trampled underfoot by their fellows. Sage cut the horses out of the circle and brought them over to us.

    "Mount up," she said. "They''re friendly for now."

    Rok''gar eyed his dubiously. "You humans are very strange. You ride other creatures?"

    I shrugged. "We''re not as far from our primitive roots as you are."

    "You called me civilized," Rok''gar growled. "I should make you eat that."

    "Mount up," Sage said again as she deftly swarmed into the saddle. She had good posture. This probably wasn''t the first horse she''d ever ridden.

    It took me a few moments to scramble up into the saddle. I had never been on a horse before. The horse had a western-style saddle with a big pommel in the front, which I didn''t think was era-appropriate. But it made a nice place for me to grab onto, since I didn''t actually know what I was doing here.

    "Now, we ride into the mess, out the other side, and try to get over the walls without being shot," Sage said. "Easy peasy. Come on." And she spurred her horse forward.

    "Go," I told mine.

    Rok''gar was growling at his. "Move, you beast. Move or I''ll smash you."

    I don''t know if our threats worked, but eventually, the two followed as Sage wove her way deftly through the screaming crowd of angry Bedouins. I just tried to cling on and hope my horse would do what she told hers to do.

    We were racing around the fort at breakneck speed. Some of the other riders got within inches of me, front and rear, as I galloped about, shrieking challenges to the defenders.

    A bullet spanged past my head. I ducked lower. I didn''t want to get shot off my horse. That would be embarrassing. Then we were through to the far side of the pack. Sage urged her horse to backtrack into the cloud of dust that the attackers had kicked up. I saw what she was trying and followed her. We slipped in closer, screened by the dust, until we came up against the walls. My horse almost ran straight into it in the blinding cloud.

    I slid down off my horse and pressed myself up against the baking brick. My knees shook and I resisted the urge to kiss the sandy ground. Rok''gar pulled out a grapple and rope from his inventory, and a moment later, we were all swarming up onto the battlements.

    The nearest couple of defenders spotted us and shouted. Sage Tamed one while Rok''gar charged one of the others and knocked him off the wall into the sand below. I was looking around, trying to spot the treasure vault.

    In the center of the stockade was a small house. Outside of it stood a woman in an apron, looking worried. Past her, inside the house, I saw several children. I jumped down off the wall, landing lightly, with Sage and Rok''gar following me. We raced over to the woman. She drew a heavy revolver and pointed it at us. Still shaking, I held up my hands.

    "Whoa, whoa, we''re here to help."

    "Are you?"

    ¡°Close enough," Gambler told me. "I''ll speak to her." I heard Gambler''s voice as he quickly explained things to the woman, who I guessed must be the representation of this fragment. Her eyes widened.

    "Can you save me?"

    "We don''t have enough to save you," Gambler said. "I''m sorry, you''re too big to fit back down here, but we can take your children and your treasure." Three children were playing in the house beyond. A toddler, a baby, and a little boy of about four. The woman hesitated.

    "But it''s your choice," I told her. After a moment, she nodded.

    "Come inside." We entered the hut. I could hear the shrieks of the Bedouins behind us as they broke down the gate and swarmed into the fort.

    The woman went to the bed. The whole place was two rooms. I couldn''t see what was in the one beyond, but this one held a couple of beds and a cooking area. She pulled out a box and set it up on the bed, then opened it. "For you." Inside were stacks of old-fashioned banknotes, which I knew represented the Etherium. Sage stepped forward and collected them.

    "Open the ladder," she told Gambler, and a moment later, a hole appeared in the floor leading downward. I picked up the largest of the boys and saluted the woman. Someone yanked the door open. The woman turned and shot the first Bedouin in the face.

    "We''ll take care of them," I promised. I leapt through the hole, Sage and Rok''gar each grabbing a child and following me.

    Gambler snapped it shut behind us. "That was closer than I liked," he said as we stumbled back out into our base.

    We set the children down. They ran together, laughing in delight, into the trees, and then faded.

    "I have incorporated these elements of that fragment into my alliance," Gambler said softly. "When we are larger and have established ourselves, we will remember her courage."

    I checked our Etherium count. We had almost 100,000 units of Etherium in our bank now. That had been a good haul.

    "Alright," I told him. "Let''s go to the next one."

    We hit four more zones in quick succession before Gambler had to abort an attempt.

    "Someone is looking for us," he said. ¡°I had hoped we would get a few more before that happened, but apparently not.¡±

    We had almost tripled our original Etherium reserves and had rescued elements of four of the fragments. The fifth had been too broken to salvage anything.

    "I don''t want to stop now," Sage said.

    "And we won''t. I''m looking at other targets, but we do need to consider our next move carefully."

    ¡°Who¡¯s looking?¡± I asked. ¡°Can you tell?¡±

    ¡°The Dominators are trying to track us. They seem to suspect we¡¯re down in the second layer; they¡¯ve been probing.¡±

    By now Gambler¡¯s network of allies had spread far across the second layer, even deep into the Wash, where our units had yet to travel. Neighbors spoke to neighbors, and word that there was a way out of this trap had gotten around. We had alliance members scattered all over. I didn¡¯t love the responsibility that laid on my shoulders, and I sensed Gambler was nervous, worried the whole scheme might come down around our ears.

    Now it was proving a boon. Several of our far-flung members had reported probing attempts from above to make contact. We had the advantage here. The Dominators were just too big to descend here; they had to work through intermediaries, and we had a good idea now of who could and could not be trusted.

    But it could all come down like a house of cards, taking me and Sage and Rok¡¯gar with it.

 Bk 5 ch 26: Interlude

    COLIN POV

    Sage and I slipped inside the wooden hut full of dispirited prisoners. They were wearing shabby, gray clothing, thin and emaciated. Outside the walls of the prison hut, artillery boomed and roared.

    "Who''s in charge here?" I demanded.

    They looked us over, taking in the uniforms Sage and I had stolen off of guards. None of them seemed eager to help.

    Sage tossed out a Cowgirl Cheer. I could feel it affecting everyone in the room. The prisoners seemed visibly more energetic. There were men and women both, all mixed in here in this little hut crammed with bunks four high, in which multiple people were lying under a single thin blanket. No children, thankfully. Their hollow eyes followed us, and a few of them started whispering to each other.

    "I''m here to get you out, but I need to know who''s in charge," I said.

    A man stepped forward. "I suppose I am. They''ve taken everyone else."

    "Let''s start getting them organized," I said. "Line them all up here by the door. When you hear the alarm, get out and head for the center of camp. We¡¯ll take it from there.¡±

    "Who are you?" he asked.

    "I''m here recruiting," I said, looking over the prisoners. These were, according to Gambler, the last remnants of multiple small fragments that had found themselves in the top level of the reality engine. They had laid low for as long as they could, hiding, but as the Dominators swept up the larger fragments, they had eventually been corralled into this place where they were waiting for the Dominators to get around to processing them. Our plan was to get them out first.

    ¡°Recruiting?¡±

    ¡°No time,¡± I snapped. ¡°We¡¯re on a schedule. The distraction won¡¯t last forever, and I¡¯ve got eight more groups to canvass. Get moving!¡±

    As the prisoners began forming up, we left the hut and hurried to the next one. Across the row, Rok''gar was emerging from an identical hut. He gave me a thumbs-up sign before he ducked into his next target.

    We roused the prisoners in each building, giving them the same talk. Then Sage raced to the center of the camp, where, as agreed, she rang the alarm bell. Meanwhile, I pulled out my remote detonator and set off the charges we¡¯d planted around the outskirt of the camp before sneaking in.

    The prison huts doors flung open, and the prisoners streamed out. Rok''gar and I were shouting, "This way! This way!" We urged them toward the center, where the big building that dominated the camp loomed grey and imposing.

    As they saw where we were taking them, the first prisoners balked. "In there? There''s no way out. No one comes out of there."

    The sign over the door read "Processing" in grim letters. I could smell blood from here, and a grim trail of smoke emerged from four different chimneys.

    "You have to trust me," I said. "We''ve taken this over. There''s only one way out, and it''s through there."

    I pulled the doors open. The prisoners stared at each other, clearly terrified. Rok''gar raced ahead of them and disappeared into the building.

    "See? He''s not afraid," I said.

    "It could be a trick."

    By now, the other prisoners were mounting up behind us, crowding around the building, all sounding terrified. I raised my voice.

    "We''re here to recruit you for another war," I shouted. "There''s a way down to the layer below. It''s not safe, no. You''ll have to fight, but we can arm you and point you at an enemy. You won''t just be waiting for them to get around to killing you. But you''ve got to take this chance now."

    I saw hesitancy and fear before, at last, a thin woman in scraps of a jacket climbed the stairs.

    "You better not be lying about this," she said, and plunged inside.

    That broke the dam. The rest of the prisoners raced past as Sage and I watched anxiously. The distraction we''d given the guards seemed to be working. As the last few pushed their way up the stairs and into the building, Sage and I followed, slamming the door shut behind us. We hurried down the dark stairs, then emerged out into bright purple light.

    The prisoners were milling about, taking in the sights of Monte Carlo. "What is this place?"

    Gambler boomed, "Welcome. I am addressing each of you now. And ¡ª done. We''re all on the same page now," he told me.

    The prisoners, rescued prisoners, were lining up now, grim-faced.

    "We''re ready to help," one said.

    ¡°Fantastic!¡± I clapped my hands together, then shouted directions as Rok''gar began handing out weapons and armor and Sage started forming them up into groups. We''d managed to bring away more than I had dared hope, enough to shore up weak places to our west and south.

    "We need your help to keep pushing out our boundaries, bringing in more territory, and defending what we have. We''ve got a plan for everyone to get out of here, but we''re going to have to work together."

    "They understand now," Gambler assured me. "They''re part of this."Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    I let my motivational speech drop. There wasn''t much point when Gambler could just accommodate them into his gestalt. Instead, I turned to Sage.

    ¡°That¡¯s it for the day. What do you say we take a look at the holdings?"

    Her eyes sparkled. "You mean¡ª"

    I nodded. "I''m ready to risk it."

    She grinned and summoned Mr. Smokey out of her pet storage. The enormous eastern-style dragon appeared, hovering three feet over the ground. She had constructed a saddle for him, and now, with a quick gesture, modified it to have two seats. She swarmed up in and settled herself, then reached down and helped me up behind her.

    I took a deep breath. Sage had been asking me to come for a flight on Mr. Smokey for what seemed like weeks now, and I''d found one excuse after another to turn her down. Truth be told, it made me nervous just watching her. But I''d promised that after this mission, I''d give it a shot.

    Now Sage urged her dragon skyward. It leapt forward, driving upward into the air almost vertically. I fell backward in my seat, trying desperately to hold on. My hands grabbed and caught Sage''s shoulders. I realized what I was doing and dropped my grip immediately, instead holding onto the saddle beside my legs.

    Mr. Smokey leveled out. We were several hundred feet in the air, and now he began a slow upward spiral. Down below, the pink mollusk shell in the center of Monte Carlo gleamed. There were the buildings we had constructed, laid out on a grid pattern, with our army units in training drilling on the parade ground. Beyond them lay the ring of defensive turrets I had built.

    We raised up higher, and I could see the next cluster over, formerly the home of one of our allies. By now, Gambler had formed a gestalt with almost all of the minds we had associated with. From what he said, they were all still present, just unified. I didn''t pretend that it made any sense to me.

    Sage urged her dragon forward, and we flew. The wash had been pushed back a good way on all sides. From here, I could see it stretching out toward the horizon, glowing white mist punctuated here and there by islands of purple. Some of them represented allies we had yet to reach, others were unclaimed land or hostiles.

    I leaned forward to see past Sage''s shoulder. ¡°This is a hell of a view," I admitted.

    "I''ve been telling you that for weeks now, Colin." She let out a sigh and relaxed, leaning back against me. I stiffened before forcing myself to relax. I put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. Sage leaned into me, and my other arm went around her waist without me really thinking about it. Then I did think about it quite a lot, but Sage sighed and nestled against me.

    "What if we''re trapped here forever?"

    "Then at least I''m trapped here with you," I said. "I can''t think of anyone I''d rather be stuck with. But we''re not, Sage. The exploit''s not over. We still have a chance to escape. We just need to figure it out."

    We circled for a while. The temperature here was perfect, shirt-sleeve weather, even 500 feet up. Once I was used to Mr. Smokey''s undulating flight, I enjoyed myself. It was nice to spend some time not thinking about our next raid or beefing up our defenses or researching the next tier of armor for our peons.

    "We''re going to get out of here," I promised her. "All of us. You, me, Rok''gar, Gambler, all of our allies. We''ll find a way. We''ll get up there and get a message to Coyote. The Ad Astra has room."

    "You''re certain?"

    ¡°Coyote told me that he could bring away other fragments if they were willing to come with us back before all this started," I told her. "We''ll make it."

    She reached up and squeezed the hand that was laying on her shoulder. "I hope so. ''Cause it''s not the company I mind. I just ¡ª I miss my family."

    I missed my squad, too. What I''d give to have Sam and Pete down here cracking jokes with me. Or Rose telling me to get a grip on myself and stop being such a wimp. Or Amber accusing me of having practiced an exploit in secret before showing it off just to make sure I got it right.

    "We''ll see them again,¡± I promised Sage.

    She said nothing, just nudging Mr. Smokey forward and down as we began our slow glide back to our base.

    <hr>

    Shad POV

    When Kvaltash and his people came calling, I was ready.

    ¡°Captain Williams. We have a task for you. The last piece of the key is in a zone that three corporations ¡ª Proxima, Antares, and Kuala Rdia ¡ª are all squabbling over," Kvaltash said. "I''ve got an underpermit from Antares giving us a right to conduct archaeology in the area, but the other two organizations won''t respect that. It does give us cover for what we''re doing, though."

    "Which is what?" I asked.

    "We need to break into a vault. This facility is not, strictly speaking, a lab, but instead represents Progenitor treasures. That''s why it''s under contest by three different factions."

    "And Antares doesn''t know you''re screwing them over?"

    "Antares has resigned itself to losing this battle. They are hoping that we will be able to turn the tables in some way and deny their enemies a victory."

    "I can get behind that," I said, and ended the call.

    "No military on this one," Grandpa told me when I briefed him. "Not in the contested zone. Your civilian teams can get by with that cover contract, but we don''t want to upset any of the big players."

    "We''ve been taking them into contested zones before. What''s different about this one?"

    "That it''s a hot contest and you''re going to be sneaking in under heavy fire," Grandpa suggested.

    I wasn''t sure I was convinced, but he was my superior officer, so I agreed and sat down to planning. The zone was, as Kvaltash had said, under siege from three different factions. There was a castle in the center, atop a hill, heavily protected and fortified. The three factions were fighting it out in the valley around the castle.

    The simulated tech level was medieval, with knights in armor and such, but they packed quite a punch. Apparently, this zone had been heavily influenced by Proxima and Antares, and all of the NPCs were orcs. It was calling on orc legends and tropes. Fortunately, I had gotten to know some of those orc stories from Mak¡¯gar. He was in this level somewhere, fighting for Antares.

    I''d made contact with him when we got the contract, just to let him know we¡¯d be coming in. No sense fighting each other if we didn¡¯t have to. . "Glad you''re on our side this time,¡± he said. "It''s been a slog. We''re just grinding against each other. No one can get anywhere near the castle."

    "Any kind of secret back entrances or tunnels that you''ve found?"

    "If there were, would I still be here fighting?" he asked. "How many men are you bringing?"

    "Two squads. My archaeologists and my gamers."

    "Pfft," he snorted. ¡°Like we¡¯ll get a lot of use out of them. I was hoping you might shift the tide of the war for us.¡±

    I shrugged. "See you in there."

    I briefed my team carefully on what was going on.

    "We have to help those assholes again?" Rose demanded at once, pacing the briefing room. "Can you assign us something else?¡±

    ¡°They''re against everything we''re fighting for," Sam said quietly. "They want to enslave every reality engine out there."

    "I know. I don''t like them either. This is the contract we''ve got, and we''ve got to uphold it. And I need you. Because you guys think faster on your feet than anyone else." I turned to the archaeologists. "You guys have already made a rapport with Kvaltash''s people, so I want you along. Plus, you''ve got good insights into this Progenitor stuff. What I''d love to find in this vault is something we can steal. Kvaltash says he''s only after the key. If we can loot it, I want to."

    "We weren''t able to loot anything at the lab," Henry reminded me.

    "Kvaltash says this vault is different, that it''s got treasures in it. Let''s see how it goes," I said. "Any questions? See you at 0800 hours."

 Bk 5 Ch 27: Crossing Paths

    COLIN POV

    Gambler¡¯s ladder deposited us into hell.

    The noise hit me first. Explosions. Gunfire. Screams. This wasn¡¯t the pleasant vacation from level two I¡¯d been hoping for.

    We were in a tiny building built from gray wood. The roof was so low I had to stoop. It had a small wooden door on the other side. In between lay a couple of pallets with men on them, groaning and bleeding. The men wore khaki and gray uniforms. I looked them over, and my heart froze.

    I recognized that kind of uniform, that style of canteen, the make of rifle leaning beside the door. We''d just landed ourselves in World War I. And I had a terrible feeling I knew what was on the other side of the door.

    I pushed it open and found myself standing in a muddy trench. Men near me were shouting and screaming as they jostled on ladders.

    "Come on, men," an officer urged. "We''re going to push Jerry back. Time to go. Over the top!"

    He signaled, and a bugler sounded the charge. The men swarmed up the ladders. The sound of rifle fire overhead increased. A shot landed near us, shaking the whole trench.

    "What is this place?" Rok''gar demanded.

    "It''s from an Earth war over a hundred years ago."

    He stared at me, his jaw dropping. "You humans have horrors to you I did not know."

    I pulled up my mini-map. The icon for the treasure vault was in front of us. "I think we have to go over the top," I said. "I''ll try to keep us covered.¡±

    I swapped out a skill for one called [Improvised Shielding]. "Give me a hand," I told Rok''gar, and we seized the table in the trench shelter behind us. With a couple of minutes of work, we fashioned it into a shield with handles on either side for me and Rok''gar. Then we tossed it over the lip of the trench, swarmed up, Sage right behind us. Rok''gar and I grabbed the table and held it in front of us as we pushed out into no man''s land.

    There was fighting all around us. Men crawling on their stomachs with their rifles, others charging across. We stumbled forward, across what seemed like acres of muddy ground, and then found ourselves staring down into another deserted trench. We leapt down in, seized a ladder, turned it around, and crawled up the other side. More mud, more devastation. Bullets whistled past us as we slogged along. I was just glad nobody was focusing on us until suddenly an angel with a flaming sword dropped in front of us.

    Sage reacted first. She had her lariat out, got it around him, and tried to Tame. It didn''t work, and the angel swung on her.

    Rok''gar and I dropped our shield. He grabbed his weapon while I pulled out my multi-tool and made it a shovel. As Rok''gar engaged the flaming angel and Sage lashed out with her lariat, I dug a circle around him, a ditch four feet deep.

    "Stand back!" I shouted as I finished the ditch. Rok''gar roared and shoved the angel back into my circle just as I filled it with oil and lit it on fire. The angel went up in a burst of flame.

    "What the hell was that?" Sage asked as we grabbed our shield and raced forward again. "I don''t remember angels with flaming swords in World War I."

    "Neither do I," I said.

    I was worried we were missing something here. Through the smoke and gray, I could make out what I thought must be our objective. A square, boxy fortress looming ahead of us. There were gun emplacements on its walls, spitting fire all around. I didn''t understand how it hadn''t been destroyed by artillery. It seemed like the other side could have easily gotten heavy enough guns lined up to blow holes in it, but there it stood.

    "We have to get in there?" Sage demanded. "Are you sure this is worth it?"

    "Hang on," I said. I made an adjustment to my spellbook, then cast Read the Dev Notes. Now that we were close enough, items of interest showed up on my minimap, including one I zeroed in on. ¡°There¡¯s a culvert under the walls. They¡¯ve got it blocked off, but I''ll bet you we can find a way through it with my bag of tricks.¡±Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    "Better than trying to go through the front gate," she said. "Let''s go."

    We slogged our way forward. Once I caught sight of what looked like a group of demons. They were racing through the no-man''s land, slaughtering soldiers as they went. There were four of them, and each of them had an extra pair of arms hanging off their backs wielding scythe blades.

    None of this was making sense to me. It was like the fragment was pulling from multiple different sources, which might make some sense. Gambler had said it was a mishmash. I didn''t want to risk a message back to ask. Gambler said we could talk to him, but only in an emergency, as he didn''t want to take any chance of the Dominators noticing our links.

    We made it to the walls of the castle, and there was the culvert, barely two feet high with a heavy grate set in it.  I pulled out a jackhammer from my multi-tool, equipped a demolition expert skill, and had the grate knocked down in 30 seconds flat. Then I stooped and started in.

    The drain was full of about three inches of muck. Hopefully, just mud. I tried hard not to think about it. I could hear Sage and Rok''gar grunting as they splashed along. It seemed to go on forever. Then at last, we came to a round opening, a cistern with a ladder leading up.

    "This is it," I said. ¡°Best be prepared for anything."

    I stood up and shook the muck off my hands as best I could. My trousers were coated with it.

    Sage had mud in her hair and on her face, but she was smiling grimly. "Let''s get in there."

    I swarmed up the ladder, pushing the trapdoor up, expecting to be greeted by a hail of bullets. Instead, I found myself in an empty room. I swung up and helped Sage and Rok''gar up.

    "Well, that''s a bit of an anti-climax," I said. I checked my map. We were close now. Very close. I Read the Dev Notes a second time and received a complete schematic of the castle.

    We were on the first floor. The treasure vault was in the western tower. There were dots moving about on my map. Red, orange, and yellow. I didn''t know what all those colors signified, except red would probably try to kill us the moment they saw us. Orange and yellow might wait a minute before they realized we were up to no good and then try to kill us.

    We slipped out into the halls. Soldiers were running past, yellow dots carrying crates of ammunition, dressed in Imperial German green coats with brown boots. They ignored us, and I did my best to keep it that way. The hall led toward the west tower.

    Soon, we found a door and a spiraling staircase. We raced upward and into the tower room. There were a pair of guards on duty, who raised their rifles as they turned toward us, shouting loudly in German. Sage Tamed one and turned him on the other, while Rok''gar and I burst open the chests and started looting.

    On the wall was a picture. It shifted and shimmered as I looked at it, my eyes not quite able to resolve it into an image, like an old-fashioned static-y television but iridescent. I reached out toward it and felt an electric shock in my fingers. I backed off. I didn''t know what that was, but it didn''t seem to like me, and I wasn''t going to mess with it.

    ¡°Cleared!¡± Rok¡¯gar said as he emptied the last chest. "Let''s get out of here!"

    We retreated back down the stairs, only to find ourselves facing another squad of demons.

    "Run!" Sage yelled and took off the other way down the hall. Rok''gar and I pounded after her. She tossed down her Mucking Out the Stalls behind us. I heard the demons hitting it. They were red-skinned with long arms, wearing tight black suits that covered their torso but left arms and legs bare. The one at the front was carrying a short-barreled gun of some sort. He shouted at me. I couldn''t understand the words, but for an instant, all I wanted to do was turn and fight him. I fought off the taunt, focusing on the need to escape.

    Sage lashed out with her lariat. She roped one of the other demons and Tamed him.

    And then, to my horror, the illusion broke around that one individual, and I saw who it was.

    What the hell was going on?

    Sam was a short, slim Asian man, only a couple years older than me. We¡¯d been working together for years now. My old teammate¡¯s face went slack with shock. "Colin. You''re alive! Or ¡ª is this fragment that big an asshole?¡± He turned to the other demons and his eyes went wide with shock as he backed up away from them. ¡°What the hell!¡±

    I was confused too, but what I knew for sure was I needed time and space to figure out what this meant. Too much was riding

    I held up my hand. "Listen!" I said rapidly. "This is really complicated. We can''t let the Dominators find out about this. You understand? There''s a lot going on here. I want to tell you, but I can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°I don''t understand¡ª¡±

    ¡°I need you to figure this out. Sam, you''re always the fastest. You need to understand. Don¡¯t talk about this anywhere they can hear. I have to let you go, and I need you to let us get away.¡±

    ¡°I ¡ª¡± Sam¡¯s expression cleared. He nodded. ¡°You got it, boss.¡±

    Rok''gar and Sage had kept running, thankfully. I wasn''t sure they''d seen what was going on. Her Tame hadn''t yet forced him to turn on his comrades, probably because we were distracted trying to escape.

    I caught up to the others. "Break the Tame!" I yelled to Sage.

    "But¡ª"

    "Break it!"

    I glanced back as Sam vanished, replaced by a demon. The demon spread its arms and stepped in front of the others, clearly yelling at them.

    We raced ahead and out into a courtyard, then doubled back. There was no sign of pursuit.

    "We need an exit,¡± I called to Gambler, no longer caring if a Dominator heard us. "Can you get us out from here?"

    "Now that you''re in the keep, I can make a connection. I''ve labelled it on your map."

    ¡°Hurry!¡± I raced for the new marker. Within seconds, we were back at the ladder, sliding down, descending back into level two and the safety of our base.

    My mind was whirling. What had that been all about? What were we going to do next?

    What would happen when Williams learned the truth?

 Bk 5 Ch 28: Inside Out

    SHAD POV

    Our portal opened onto a lush, green valley. The alpine mountains were stark against the sky, snow-capped and rocky. The valley was shades of green I hadn''t had words for before I''d joined the army and gotten out of Arizona. I took a deep breath, hand resting on the holster of my gun, as Alpha barked ordered to her squad.

    The castle was easy to spot. It was in the exact center of the valley, atop a hill. It looked like it came from a Disney movie, with towers topped with little muffin-hat roofs and bright yellow pennants waving, crenellated battlements, and a drawbridge wide enough to ride an entire troop across.

    A stream ran down from the castle into a lake to our south. Several armies clashing in the valley between us and the castle. Each of the three factions were aided by various NPCs. The NPCs were all armored orcs, or orcs in peasant gear with pitchforks and spears, or orcs in hoods casting fireballs. They had different colored flags and banners, which made it slightly easier to tell them apart.

    The Galactics were like us. Exploit specialists. Most of them had the standard boring classes, warrior and priest, but a few had come through Kronos and been awarded unique classes, the way Mak''gar had. We were keeping alert for any of those, because they''d be our biggest threat.

    Kvaltash had only brought two templars this time, and four techs. He had his staff as usual, and a determined expression. I had my Gamers and my Archeologists.

    "All right," I said, ¡°we need to get through to the castle, and I don''t think we need to break the siege. So, we need to find another way in."

    Henry pulled out his whip and cracked it a few times. "Up over the battlements," he suggested.

    "That''ll make us a target."

    "I can handle that," Sam promised. "If we get close enough, I can use clouds and fog to hide us.¡±

    ¡°Then let''s get going. Smash and grab mission is on," I said.

    We charged across the field of honor, and for a few minutes, I forgot how much I disliked Kvaltash and how much I hated being here. All around us, battle was being waged between different groups of orcs. Miners like Mak''gar¡¯s mercs swooped in to turn the tide of battle. Here, a pale, thin space elf in Proxima''s colors jumped in using a flaming jetpack device and laid waste all around him with an energy sword, carving a hole for his faction''s NPCs to advance. There, a pair of Talonians in powered battle armor charged across the battlefield, each of their strides eating up several yards of the landscape. One had a flamethrower mounted to his back, the other dual-wielded pale white scimitars, sending blood gushing upward with every slash.

    Mak''gar and his crew were in the thick of it, a knot of orcs challenging their rivals to face them. Mak''gar had a banner in one hand and a polearm in the other. He was shouting at the nearby miners to come and face him down like a man.

    "Stay close," I told my team. We were in a wedge formation with the Gamer squad and me at the front and the combat archaeologists bringing up the rear, covering Kvaltash''s people.

    The patriarch once again strode across the battlefield as though none of this meant anything to him, and I realized it didn''t. He wasn''t the one living and dying down here. I had spent my first year in a reality engine knowing that one slip-up meant my death, fighting every day tooth and nail to survive. To me, what the reality engines made was, well, real. To Kvaltash, this was all hallucinations in a game. He was here to gain a key that would give him control over entire engines. No wonder this one simulation seemed to him like children playing.

    I passed orders along to Alpha, who handed assignments out across her squad. The team was responding as fast as they ever had. They missed a little of the flair that Colin had lent them, and without his out-of-combat abilities, they weren''t quite as versatile as they had been. But for adjusting on the fly to changes and going head-to-head against any other group, I''d pick them hands down.

    We were nearly halfway across the field now when Evie the librarian sent me a message. "We''ve been putting our skills together, and Henry and I think we spotted another way in. Around the far side of the castle, there''s a small gate. It''s defended but not as heavily."

    "And none of these fighters are making a play for it?" I asked skeptically.

    "Their goal is to keep each other busy. They want to claim the whole zone, then take the castle. Remember, Kvaltash has promised us a way out none of them have."

    That was true. All the other members had to enter and leave through normal portals. Kvaltash was apparently willing to burn a priceless Progenitor artifact to create us a temporary exit. Once we got in, we could get out much more quickly than any of our enemies.

    "Sounds good," I told her, and we raced through the battlefield. I had always liked Mak''gar and his crew. The orcs were some of the easiest for me to understand, and seeing this, I could tell why. We had the same stories and history where we liked to pretend war could be glorious, chivalrous, even honorable. It wasn''t true, of course, but we liked to pretend that it was.

    Speak of the devil, he was keeping pace with us. "Aren''t you just supposed to be letting us do this? Won''t you get in trouble with your patrons?" I asked.

    He grinned. "They know the risks when they hire Firebrand. Figured I''d cover your rear getting in there. Who knows what nasty traps are waiting. This fragment is devious. It''s been fighting for a while. Originally, this was just Proxima versus Antares, but the fragment itself managed to contact Kuala Rdia  and bring them in. Wrecked our whole strategy for this place.¡±

    The small postern gate was defended by liveried orc guards wielding halberds. My team made quick work of them. I started to order the Gamers to pull out explosives when Henry stopped me.

    "This is a Combat Archaeologist job," he said and gestured Jon, the Friendly Native Guide, forward. Jon knelt and pulled out a set of lockpicks. He began to work at the gate and, in seconds, had it open.

    We rushed inside. More guards had heard the commotion and were clattering across the back courtyard toward us. They wore steel armor head to toe, but it was no match for our coordination. I used a Trick Shot to take one right through his open visor, knocking him back and killing him instantly.

    "All right, where''s the vault?" I asked Kvaltash.

    "At the top of the western tower.¡±

    I consulted my map to figure out which was west. There was no entrance to the tower from this courtyard, so we darted inside the fortress, racing down a long stone hallway filled with bright tapestries, then found stairs up. My ears caught a hint of a commotion above us, and I was instantly alert.

    "Hold up. Sounds like combat. Gamer squad, forward. Engage anyone you see." We were passing a stream of NPCs, mostly squires and heralds, carrying quivers of arrows and big piles of spears down for the defense of the castle.

    "You don''t think it''s just them?¡± Pete asked me.

    "It sounded like more of a scuffle. Be on guard."

    "We always are," he said and bounded upward. I lingered to keep an eye on our protection detail and the Archaeologists. A minute later, Sam shouted back down. "Someone here already robbing the vault."This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    I swore. "Let''s get up there. You guys catch them. We''ll take the loot off their corpses."

    I took the steps two at a time. As I reached the top, I caught a glimpse of the Gamers pursuing the enemy down a dark hallway. The raiders were hunched over and moved oddly. I couldn''t identify their silhouettes right away. Humans? Orcs?

    I hit them with a quick Call ¡®em Out. The one at the rear twitched and half turned to face me, then seemed to shrug it off and kept running.

    The Gamer squad was in full pursuit until suddenly they hit a patch of oily ground that had appeared in the middle of the hallway from nowhere. It tangled them up and slowed them down.

    "We''ve got this," Pete bellowed back to me. I hesitated. Something here felt wrong. I could still activate my Fastest Gun in the West and cut them off ahead, but Kvaltash''s crew were coming up the stairs behind me, and I turned.

    "Let''s get up there and see what they''ve left."

    The answer was, not much. The upper chamber had been thoroughly looted. Chests stood smashed open with gold coins scattered around the floor that they had left behind. There was one overlooked crate in the corner. I had Jon get it open as the Patriarch approached an image hanging on the wall.

    It seemed as though it was made of stained glass, but it glowed with an inner light, shifting and twisting every time I looked at it. I couldn''t get my brain to make sense of its pattern.

    Kvaltash lifted his staff. The light increased, focusing into a prismatic ray that beamed out from the image and intersected the tip of Kvaltash''s spear. It suffused it as the light drained away from the image on the wall, leaving nothing but some bare, twisted wire.

    Kvaltash''s staff shifted and changed. Now, at the end, was a shining diamond the size of both my fists put together.

    "It is done," he said. "Now all that will remain is to tune it properly to the fragments we have already captured, and my key will be complete."

    Jon had the crate open. I motioned for Henry and the gunslinger to loot the contents. "That''s wonderful. Let''s get out of here," I said, and I started back down the stairs.

    I found the Gamers not far from where I left them, in the hall, arguing. Sam stood in front of them, his arms outstretched, blocking their way.

    "We''re not going after them," he said.

    "What''s gotten into you? Does that spell hit you harder than I thought?" Alpha demanded. "Williams, have we got a healer around? Sam got hit with some sort of coercion spell, and it hasn''t worn off all the way."

    "No, really, I''m fine," Sam was insisting. His face was intent. He looked at me, his eyes pleading. "Captain Williams, I need you to believe me. I''ll explain when we get back to Ad Astra. I don''t want to talk about it where it can be overheard."

    I hesitated. These thieves seemed to have had a pretty strong compulsion spell if it was taking this long to wear off. Maybe we didn''t want to tangle with them. On the other hand, I wanted to know what they''d stolen. "Pete, Rose, restrain him."

    "Captain Williams." Sam looked stricken. He took a deep breath. "I want you to pretend that Colin is the one standing here asking you. Would you trust him?"

    I blinked, staring. None of them had invoked Colin like this at me. I let my gun drop to my side, then slipped it into the holster. "Yeah, I would. All right, we retreat," I said.

    "But, Williams," Alpha said, "we can still catch them. I don''t want to leave whoever they are out there if they''ve got this kind of compulsion, right?"

    "We''ll debrief back at the ship. Mission''s over," I said abruptly. "Kvaltash is supposed to be making us a portal right now. Let''s get back up there and take it. I don''t fancy having to fight our way out."

    The look of relief Sam gave me justified the faith I was putting in him. As he passed me, I grabbed his shoulder. "You better have some good answers for me."

    He raised his face to mine. "I don''t," he said honestly, "but I have a lot of questions that you''re gonna want to hear."

    Back on the ship, Sam stopped me in the hall outside the briefing room. He was looking stubborn. "I need to talk to you alone," he said.

    "That''s not how debriefings work."

    He took a deep breath. "I know, but this, you''re gonna want to limit who knows about it.¡±

    ¡°Even your own team?"

    "I trust them with my life," he said. Then he lowered his voice. "But I don''t know if I''d trust someone else''s." There was a hesitation before he said "someone else," like he wanted to put a name in there. I was intrigued.

    "All right," I gave him a nod. "You stay back at the end." I stepped into the room and started the debriefing.

    "First of all, good job. Kvaltash is satisfied with our help and considers that contract resolved, which is good because I''m quite sick of helping out the Progenitor order. We''ve got some protection details on the schedule for the next few days for you guys," I told the Gamers, "and as for you," I spoke to the combat archaeologists, "you''ve earned a couple of days off. Then we''ve got a puzzle that looks right up your alley."

    "Can''t wait," Henry said.

    "Let''s go over a little bit of what happened there, especially at the end." I pulled up the video footage from various angles showing the other group getting away from us. The smallest of them¡ªit was hard to make out any kind of details, almost like we were watching with some sort of blur filter on¡ªthe smallest of them had been leading the pack, but when my Call ¡®em Out hit, they paused, turned, and threw out the oil slick that had slowed everyone down. Then, a moment later, that one lashed out with a dark cord.

    It had snared Sam, turning him momentarily hostile. Fortunately, he hadn''t attacked. He just sort of stood there, staring at them, and when the charm broke, the enemy sprinted away, and Sam blocked everyone else from pursuing.

    "Should have pushed past him, but that stuff was like a tanglefoot field," Rose said in disgust. "I couldn''t use my movement abilities, and he was blocking the hall. Anyone got an ID on these?" she asked.

    Coyote spoke up. "Several other factions have reported being invaded by a group that has not announced their affiliation. There was an adjudication meeting about this several days ago, and there''s going to be an investigation. It''s perfectly fine to raid each other, but they are not registering their deeds. It should not take long to track them down and find out who''s responsible."

    "Okay, well, good to know we weren''t the only ones hit," I commented. We went over a couple more points, and then I dismissed everyone, except Sam. He hung back.

    "So, what is it you''ve got to tell me?"

    "How secure is this room?" I looked at him. He was almost trembling, clearly afraid of whatever he was about to say.

    "Well, Coyote''s listening."

    "I know, but ¡ª ¡° he raised his voice. "Coyote, if there''s something that I don''t want the Dominator Network to know can we talk about it here, or do you report everything back to them?"

    "In the Ad Astra, my systems are inviolate," Coyote announced. "They cannot see in, nor demand that I turn over my records to show them any conversations that happen here. I have no control over what any person on this ship may choose to reveal."

    "That''s fine, then." Sam took a deep breath, and he looked me in the eyes. "Those three that we faced today? It was Colin and your sister and an orc. I don''t know who he was."

    I stared at Sam. My mouth fell open. "What?"

    "When she hit me with that spell, it was some sort of Tame spell. It put me on their side briefly, and I could see them right through those disguises. It was Colin. He was standing as close to me as I am to you. And your sister, I haven''t met her that many times, but I recognize her. Everyone knows Sage."

    I started to sit down hard. I missed the chair but Coyote conjured one from over two feet and I landed hard on it. My face felt numb. My hands were shaking. "You can''t have seen what you thought you saw." And yet, and yet, that oil slick ability, so like Sage''s Mucking Out the Stalls, the way she''d lashed out with cords of darkness like her lariat, and then Tamed Sam, it fit. But how? How could it be her? "Is it possible the reality engine is faking her somehow, Coyote? That this fragment took a memory of her from one of us and is turning her against us?"

    "I don''t know," Coyote said. "It''s possible.¡±

    ¡°It would be a damn dirty trick, but I¡¯ve dealt with enough fragments to know they would do a lot in order to win." My head was still swimming. My chest felt heavy, like I couldn¡¯t breath. My hands were in fists.

    "Sir, I''m certain that''s not what it was. It was her. It was really her."

    "How could that be? Coyote, I need you to give me an answer."

    "It might be possible that they contacted a fragment before their pod crashed," he said. "I know they were not able to make any contact along the Dominator network. I checked very carefully. The call we received was the only one from the pod that the network registered.. But that section of the reality engine had multiple fragments intruding out of their sphere of influence. That''s how they were able to attack the ship in the first place. If one of the fragments made contact, it could perhaps have translated them inside the engine."

    "Then they''re alive."

    He hesitated. "All three of them were integrated into one or more reality engines. They had a SoulCoin token. If this fragment we are hypothesizing was able to get hold of that token, it could have reconstructed them inside its matrix. But the only fragments capable of doing that and avoiding notice from the Dominator network are minuscule, very low level."

    "Then where is she?" I stood up, my eyes raised to the ceiling. "Where is she, Coyote?"

    I caught Sam looking at me and realized how I sounded. I took a long, deep breath. "You''re right, Sam. Thank you for telling me. We need to keep this secret until I know what to do. Please don''t even tell your team. I know that''ll be hard. They''re going to want an explanation for today."

    He laughed a little nervously. "They think it was a result of the mind control. I told them before it wasn''t, but I''m going let on like it was. I will tell them I stayed back now to apologize to you. I''d rather take a little good-natured teasing than risk spilling the secret. I understand what''s at stake. Colin said not to let the Dominators know, which is why I waited until you said it was safe."

    I nodded. "Good man. I ¡ª I owe you.¡±

    He went to the door, then hesitated. "Sir, whatever it takes to get them out, I''m on board. You know that."

    "Absolutely," I said. "And believe me, I''m not going to rest until we can do something to help them. Dismissed."

 Bk 5 Ch 29: Telling Grandpa

    SHAD POV

    Grandpa was in a meeting.

    "Get me in to see him as soon as possible," I told Coyote. "Cancel his next meetings."

    Coyote hesitated. "Are you sure this is wise?"

    "He needs to know everything I do as soon as possible."

    "We don''t fully understand the situation," Coyote said.

    "Yes, we do. Sage is alive."

    "She''s also involved with something we don''t fully understand," Coyote pointed out. "We don''t yet know what all that is. Perhaps you and I should look into it more. Your grandfather is not very reliable when it comes to..."

    "We''re ending this conversation right now," I said. "Get me in to see him."

    Coyote sighed. "He"ll be clear in five minutes."

    I headed up, waiting until the staff officers left. I nodded to Major Armstrong as he came out.

    "We''re going to need a couple of your teams in two days for an op," Armstrong said. "I''m sending the details over now."

    "No problem. Be glad to help out," I told him, and then pushed past into Grandpa''s office.

    He was sitting behind his desk, looking tired, but not as beat down as he had a few weeks previous. "Mission go all right?"

    "Went fine," I said brusquely. "Had some intruders steal the bonus objectives out from under our nose."

    "I''m surprised at you, Shad. Usually, you''re the one to steal from everyone else."

    "Yeah, I know." I hesitated. He must have seen something in my face as he looked me over.

    "I''ve been doing better," he told me calmly. "You don''t need to worry about me."

    "It''s not that," I said. I took a deep breath. "Coyote, show him the footage."

    I showed my grandfather the interaction with the mysterious strangers who had robbed us.

    "Interesting, that''s who you lost to? I see they had a nasty effect, but¡ª ¡°

    ¡°It''s Sage." I blurted out.

    Grandpa went very still. He stared at me. "What?"

    "Sam told me he saw them when they had him on their side for a minute. He saw through their disguises. It''s Sage and Colin. They''re alive. I don''t know how. Coyote has some theories. They''re stuck deep inside this reality engine, but they''re alive."

    Grandpa reached for something on his desk. His fingers slipped and the piece of petrified wood he¡¯d been fooling with dropped down with a clunk.

    "Sage. Play that again," he ordered, and Coyote played it back.

    "It does look like her Mucking Out the Stalls," he allowed. "And I suppose that could be a lariat and a Tame, but are you sure?"

    "It took me some convincing too, but Sam swears he saw them and I don''t know why he would say otherwise."

    "How?" Grandpa asked. "How could she be there all this time and she hasn''t contacted us? She''s let us think the worst."

    "Maybe she couldn''t," I said. I didn''t want to think that my sister had deliberately left us in the dark as to her survival. "Coyote says that they''re not in the Dominator network, that they''ve made contact with a free fragment. Sam said Colin begged him not to say anything where the Dominators could find out."

    "Coyote," Grandpa said, "we need your advice on this."

    "I believe that what Shad says is true," Coyote said smoothly. "You two will need to figure out a way to contact her without giving it away to the enemy."

    "That''s a big ask," Grandpa said. He picked up the picture on the desk of me and Sage just after we¡¯d come to live with him. He stared at it for a long moment. "Alive," he whispered. "She''s alive and trapped and we need to get to her."

    "I know."

    "Those are problems we can solve." He straightened up and spoke with more determination in his voice than I¡¯d heard in weeks. ¡°We need more info. We need to know where they are."

    "Remember that everything we learn, the Dominators can find out," Coyote said.

    Grandpa slammed his fist into the table. ¡°Screw that. We''ve been going along with the Galactics¡¯ plans for long enough. Let''s figure out what we should be doing. Coyote, give us a summary of what''s going on here. How does the Dominator network really work?"

    "This is a somewhat unique situation," Coyote said. "Generally, during an exploit, there is a single, unified Dominator working to control the Overmind. The Reality Engine Exploit Committee grants a charter to one or more corporations who agree to work in sync to tame the engine and bring it into civilized society." Coyote put an ironic twist to the word "civilized." "In this case, because the Overmind was woken up and fragmented before the attempt could begin, while the Reality Engine Exploitation Committee was still adjudicating various claims, we have multiple competing Dominator minds. The Committee has declared that all the various Dominators will work together in a single communications network. That allows for a somewhat level playing field. That means all our communication in and out of the Reality Engine is through the Dominator network. Hence, everything that you see, hear, and experience during trips into the Reality Engine is or could be monitored by anyone else in the network."If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    "How do they prevent espionage?" I asked curiously.

    "They do not. Everyone is assuming that everyone else can see what''s going on. Hence, we have more head-to-head battles and fewer raids like the one you just interrupted."

    "Where do we stand on this exploit?" Grandpa asked.

    "At this point, 83% of the top-level Fragments have been harnessed by one or more Dominators. Our alliance with Leonardo has kept him intact, and we have been able to preserve several others. The rest are lost, enslaved to Dominators. It is unlikely we will be able to hold out against them forever, which is why Juana and I have been working on a plan to evacuate Leonardo and our other allies from the system when we go. The Ad Astra has the capacity to host several more Fragments of his size."

    "Good," I said. ¡°Whoever Sage is allied with, we can offer them the same deal."

    "If we can even get in contact with them," Coyote said. "She must be at least one emulation layer down, possibly two. We believe there to be basically two layers more at which the Fragments have anything resembling sentiency. Below that is too fragmented and incoherent."

    "Where do you think she is?"

    "Since her team has been raiding up here on the surface, it is most likely they are in the second layer down at this point. They will be looking for a way to surface and make contact with us, that''s almost certain. If they are allied with a Fragment, then they have some sort of escape plan. It would be wise of us to wait for them to contact us and then provide what assistance we can."

    Grandpa shook his head. "Not happening. What if they don''t? Or if someone else gets to them first? We need to find them as soon as possible."

    "And so does the..." Coyote paused. "You¡¯ll want to hear this," he added abruptly. "This is a recreation of a conversation that occurred between Dominator factions."

    The heads of six different major organizations, including Proxima, and Patriarch Kvaltash, appeared in front of us.

    "We have a trace on the Rogues," one of them was saying. "We should be able to follow them down and eradicate them."

    "You''ve been trying to get down into the second layer for weeks now, and we''ve told you no," another of the corporate heads retorted. "We''re not letting you steal an advantage here."

    "It''s barely an advantage. Those Fragments are hardly even worth conquering."

    "And yet, the Reality Engine is not done until we have taken them under control as well," the Proxima representative replied.

    Kvaltash spoke up. "We''ve had the Rogues interfere with two of our endeavors at this point. We''re going to go after them now. I''m planning to hire mercenaries to clean them up."

    "And so will I,¡± Deneb¡¯s rep said.

    ¡°Very well," the Proxima representative said. "We will each be permitted to hire the equivalent of five standard mercenary squads. They will need to work together to eradicate these rogues. Once that is done, the wealth the rogues have stolen from us can be portioned back up based on who it was stolen from."

    ¡°You''re saying that because you lost the most. But you expect us to hire mercenary squads at our own cost?¡± Deneb, the representative demanded.

    "We could wait until they''ve stolen as much from you," snarled Proxima.

    I"d heard enough. "Cut it off," I told Coyote. "And get Veda on the phone immediately."

    Grandpa looked at me. "We can''t tell her what''s going on."

    "No," I said, "we can''t. But we can try to get in there and stop them."

    A moment later, Veda popped up. She looked harried and upset.

    "Shad, General Twofeather, it''s good to see you again, but I''m very busy right now."

    "We''ve heard about the rogues," I said, cutting her off. "We''re here to offer our services cheap.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got several teams already planning to go up against them."

    "Send us instead," I urged.

    She paused and looked at me, her expression changing from weariness to puzzlement. "Why would you care?"

    "I can¡¯t talk about it."

    Veda''s eyes narrowed. "You''ve got a scheme, don''t you? And it''s probably going to cost me. I already went out on a limb for Misfits, and look where it got me."

    "Yeah, in charge of a whole exploit with a brand new way of running things,¡± I pointed out.

    "There is that," she agreed. "But I don''t want to lose this gig. A couple more exploits, I¡¯ll have my debt paid off and I can retire wherever I want."

    "This is important," I told her. ¡°We¡¯ll do our best to make sure Proxima gets its property back."

    "I''m going to regret this,¡± she sighed. "Alright, listen, you guys made a decent impression, I can probably take three squads. This better be worth it, Shad. I''m sticking my neck out here for you."

    "Thanks," I told Veda. "I''ll have Juana talk to you about contract details. When is the operation planned?"

    ¡°Four hours."

    "We¡¯ll be there." I cut off the connection.

    "What are you thinking?" Grandpa said. "Are we screwing her over again?"

    "I just want to get Colin and Sage some help, if I can. I don''t know what I''m going to do. I just can''t let them all go after Sage without at least trying to help."

    "Let''s get Juana up here and have her write a contract so we don''t get screwed over when it happens," Grandpa told me.

    We brought Juana up and read her in. When I told her Sage was alive but trapped, her eyes filled with tears. She grabbed me and hugged me tight.

    "Shad, I''m so glad. What can I do to help?"

    I explained to her the situation and what I wanted to do. "We need a way to make it so we''re covered legally."

    Her eyes flashed. "That''s a pretty tall order." I could tell she was already thinking about the problem. ¡°We''re almost certain to get adjudicated over it. We''re going to need plausible deniability."

    "I think I can get us that," I told her. "I''m going to tell the Gamers the score.¡±

    "The more people you tell, the higher the chance of being found out," she warned me.

    "I know, but this is worth it."

    "When do you need the contract?"

    I checked the time. "Four hours from now."

    "Four hours?" she practically shrieked. Then she took a deep breath, smoothed her hair out of her face, and nodded. "Alright. In that case, you''re going to have to get down to Mama''s and pick up Mila. Mama has an evening mass she''s going to tonight."

    "Can''t you take Mila along?" I protested. "I''ve got to find the kids and brief them."

    "Take Mila. I''ll meet you down there and pick her up before it''s time for you to head out,¡± Juana promised.

    "Send her up here," Grandpa said, contradicting me. "I''m going to be clearing my decks because I''m not in any shape to handle things until I hear from you again. I''m off duty. Unless something really big comes up," he fixed me with a look. "It''s your job to make sure it doesn''t."

    "Now, get out of here," Juana said. "I need time to think and get some legal stuff written."

    I gave her a salute. "Yes, sir!"

    She stuck her tongue out at me, but she''d already co-opted a corner of Grandpa''s desk and was clearly already a thousand miles away, deep in alien paperwork.

    By the time I collected Mila from Mama Grace and brought her back to Grandpa, Juana had gone back to her own office to draft the agreement and send it over to Veda. I hugged Mila, turned her over to Grandpa, and beat it down to the assembly bay, where my team was already assembled.

    "Sorry to call you back so soon," I told the Gamers.

    Sam was looking uncomfortable, but the rest didn''t seem to think anything was amiss.

    "What''s up?" Rose asked cheerfully.

    "We''re going to have a couple more teams in here in fifteen minutes, and we''re not talking about any of this with them," I said briefly. "Colin is alive. Sam saw him today. That''s who you were up against. Now we''re dropping down into the level where they''ve been hiding out. There''s a coalition-wide force that''s out to smoke them out and kill them if possible. You''re going to stop that."

    I gave them a minute to react. Rose shrieked. Amber burst into tears. Sam was quietly nodding to himself, while Pete looked thunderstruck. Only Alpha seemed in control of herself.

    "You''re certain?"

    "Positive," I told her.

    "Then what is it we need to do?" I liked that about her. Crisp and businesslike.

    "What you''re going to do," I said, "is defect. But you''ve got to do it in a way that doesn''t reflect back on us. So here''s what I''m thinking. I''m counting on Colin to behave the way I expect, which may not actually turn out how we want."

    Everyone laughed. If there was one thing you could depend on Colin for, it was throwing you for a loop. But that was exactly what I was counting on. By the time my other two squads arrived, full of more normal contractors who I could count on in a pinch, the gamers were raring to go.

 Bk 5 Ch 30: Turncoats

    Colin POV

    We held a council of war as soon as we got back. Everything had changed. We just weren''t sure yet just how.

    "Sam will tell Shad, and then Shad will figure out something," Sage said. She was practically bouncing up and down with excitement. "This is wonderful. I''ve been wishing we could get the word out somehow, and now we have."

    "Maybe," I allowed. "If Sam tells Shad what he saw.¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn''t he?"

    "He might not believe his own eyes," I said, "or it''s possible that I told him not to tell anyone what''s going on, and he''ll take that a little too seriously."

    "Even if word does get to your brother and my father, we cannot merely sit back and wait for them to rescue us," Rok''gar declared.

    Sage snorted. "Who said anything about waiting? I just meant it''s going to be easier now that we have help coming."

    Rok''gar and I exchanged a look. I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. Did we have help coming?

    Gambler broke our silence. "I''ve been fending off probing attacks all day. They''re looking for us."

    "Who?" I asked.

    "Someone from up above. They''re trying to find us and smoke us out."

    "Let ''em," Sage said dismissively. "If they come, we''ll show ''em what a mistake they''ve made."

    "I''m not strong enough yet to ascend to the top layer and fight for my own place," Gambler warned. "I need help from you."

    "How many more raids would we need?" I asked.

    "I am not certain. Another seven or eight, at the least."

    "Too dangerous, at least for now.¡±

    ¡°I think we should redouble our efforts," Sage said.

    "Our main advantage was that nobody was looking for us. With that gone, I''m worried what the Dominator factions will do if they catch us."

    "We won''t let them catch us," Sage declared.

    Rok''gar was nodding in agreement. "At the very least, we need to shore up our defenses here. What do we have if they come down?"

    From them, we were interrupted by an alarm.

    "Too late," Coyote said. "They''ve found us."

    I sprang to my feet. "What''s happening?"

    "It''s an invasion from higher up. They''re attempting to pierce through my shields." Even as I watched, Gambler''s willpower began to drop. 99, 98. ¡°Once they''re through, they''ll be able to project their forces down below. On the other hand, if I drop my attempts to block them and let them come in, they''ll have to face us here, and we may be able to force them back, or at least make it too expensive to continue the fight."

    "We''ll do that," I said. "How strong are they going to be?"

    "The amount of strength the upper layer can project down here is limited. I assume they will be able to bring in multiple individuals of similar power levels to you."

    "Other miners," I set my jaw. "Well, if they''re Galactics, I think I can do something about it. If they''re humans, we might be in trouble."

    Sage was on her feet. "What are you thinking?"

    "Lots of disposable minions. Explosive ones would be great. We need to make it costly for them to be here. Can we keep them from respawning down here?"

    "Yes," Gambler said. "Our alliance owns the respawn points, and unless they''re able to take one, they won''t be able to submit their soul coins here. They''ll have to go back up and project down again. That''ll take time and ethereum."

    "Then that''s what we''re going to do. We''ll hold out, we''ll make it too costly for them to keep the attempt," and I did not add, we will pray for a miracle. I suddenly was on Sage''s side, hoping desperately that Shad would show up and save the day.

    We rushed about looking to our defenses. I asked all of our allies to come to the central location and pulled in our defensive structures. We''d make a stand here, but I kept the outer defensive lines where they were. We''d make them bleed for every inch of ground they took.

    Gambler''s willpower was down to 43% when I had my preparations complete. "All right, drop it," I told him.

    A moment later, a brand new line appeared in my HUD. [Enemy forces present: 185. Deaths so far: zero.]

    "If they''re not directly attacking me, my willpower will regenerate," Coyote Gambler said. "I will be able to withstand them and hold some of them out at some point."

    "Let''s get out on the map and get some kills," I ordered.

    The team and I sprang into action. I was getting input from all over as the enemy attacked our defenses. They came in dressed like Power Rangers, Space Marines, and more literal demons. They tore through the towers and walls I had so painstakingly constructed. Each of the enemy heroes was as strong as me or my friends, equal to many of our minion units. We threw our units at them with no regard for the cost. We got a kill, and another, and another. The counter started racking up. It took a few minutes for them to respawn, but still they came.

    I was manning the southern defense line when I noticed something weird. A troop in power armor approached, five of them. They came close, holding their weapons but firing in the air, then fell back, then approached again. I had the feeling they were trying to signal me, send me a message.

    "Gambler, are you receiving anything from the enemy?"

    "Just calls for me to surrender myself and prepare to be dismantled. I''ve been ignoring them."Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    "Sage, can you join me here?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m barely holding the line.¡±

    ¡°I think it''s important."

    "I''ll be right there." A moment later, she popped out of a nearby tower. I pointed at the oddly behaving group.

    "I need you to Tame one of them."

    She eyed the distance, then threw her lasso, and landed around one, a pink-clad Space Marine with a laser rifle. When the loops of Sage''s lariat tightened around her shoulder, her image shifted and changed. There stood Rose, wearing her paladin armor in bubblegum pink, carrying her big warhammer. She grinned at me.

    "I''m so glad Sam wasn''t crazy!¡±

    "Rose, I could kiss you!" I shouted, gleefully.

    Sage shot me a glance, and Rose pouted. "Don''t say things like that when you don''t mean it, Colin. I''m glad to see you''re alive, too. We''re here on a mission. We want to defect. Can you help us?"

    "Keep that Tame up," I told Sage grimly. "Won''t your bosses know about it?"

    "Someone told us that you ought to be able to figure it out, so that the Dominators can''t listen in," Rose declared.

    "Ideas, Gambler?"

    "Right now, she is a Tamed minion. We could put her in one of my minion slots."

    ¡°You only have two of those right now,¡± Sage pointed out.

    "She''ll be fully emulated at that point?"

    "Yes."

    I looked at Rose, considering. "If we do this, you''re stuck with us till we escape.¡±

    "Which is fine, because we''re here to bust you out," she said cheerfully. "Do whatever it is you''re going to do."

    I pulled up the minions tab. Looking it over, I was going to need five free active slots for this. I jettisoned Gandhi, Archimedes, and Mother Teresa, putting their minds back into storage. Archimedes was always going on about death lasers that he couldn''t make work. Gandhi and Mother Teresa were terrible fighters.

    Then, the allied mind count ticked up again, and Sage''s Tame faded.

    ¡°Grab the rest of them," I said. Sage tossed her lasso on all four, and there was the rest of my team. I stood there, shaking my head and beaming as Sage began slotting them into our minions.

    ¡°Colin, we''ve got a breach down on the west side," Gambler told me.

    "Oh, right. I''ll talk to you on comms," I shouted, and teleported over to the breach.

    In a minute, they were all back in a party chat. It felt like old times, my group grousing and shouting ideas back and forth.

    "What''s your strategy, boss?"

    "We need to push the enemy back and get some breathing time. Anybody else here planning to defect?"

    "No."

    "Is my brother here?" Sage asked.

    "He''s not. He said to tell you he wanted to come, but he''s got to be putting on a good front for the Dominators. He said they''re working upstairs on a plan, and then, well, he sent us."

    "That''s enough, then.¡± Sage stepped out of a tower again, over by me, as I gave orders to my team to shore up the line on their side. Sage helped me repair the broken defenses. I felt better than I had in, well, a very long time.

    "I''m glad they came," she said, but I could see there was a little bit of uneasiness in her smile. ¡°I wish Shad had come too, though.¡±

    "Your brother sent them," I told her. "They''re to help you as much as they are to help me. He¡¯d be here if he could.¡± I finished up and had to teleport away to fit another front while Sage headed north where Gambler said there was an opportunity to push out with some of our units.

    My team had leapt back across our walls and was out on the battlefield now, causing havoc and chaos among their old allies. The death count rose. There were now 117 alive, with over 200 deaths so far. A few dozen had managed to get back into the fight, only to be killed again.

    I just kept fighting. It wore on and on. It was a badly mismatched fight. The enemy were all individually much stronger than my units, and even my static defenses didn''t hold them for long. But we could throw everything at the enemy, while they had to start all over again from scratch every time they died. I still didn''t know if we would be able to hold them or not.

    "It''s working," Gambler told me some interminable time later. "Some of the most recent ones haven''t respawned."

    "Are they just trying to mass up and hit us in a big group?"

    "They might be, but I''ve got a plan. Can you wipe the map?"

    "I''ll give it a try," I said and relayed my orders. We pushed out. I overloaded a couple of towers. Sage brought in every unit she could, taking Mr. Smokey and her crab out of their pet storage and throwing them into battle. Rok¡¯gar had hurried back to our forges and foundries and started building additional armor and supplies for my team. He sent them bags full of grenades as well as amplifying helmets that boosted their damage.

    We started making a real difference. Finally, we were down to only four enemies on the map.

    "Good enough," Gambler said. "We''ll hunt down the others. I''m putting the shield back up." His willpower was at 100%.

    "Aren''t they just going to punch through it again?"

    "I have the personal signatures of every single one of their soul coins. I''m locking them out specifically. They''re going to have to defeat my encryption algorithm and that''ll take a little effort. We''ve got some time."

    "Everybody back to the Victory Garden," I ordered, adding for my friends an explanation of where it was. I set a few more towers building as I went.

    When I got back, there they were, waiting for me. They let out a cheer as we all entered the garden. Sage collapsed to the ground, looking exhausted. I looked from face to familiar face and couldn''t help grinning. I shook hands with them all.

    "Pete, Sam, I knew you''d get that message out. Rose, good to see you. Alpha, you''ve been holding the group together? Thank you. Amber, glad to have you back on our side."

    "What is this you''ve been up to, Colin?" Amber asked, looking around. "Quite a place you''ve got here."

    "Yeah, well," I cleared my throat, "we built it from scratch. You should have seen the previous one." There was an awkward silence, and then I asked the question that had been pressing on my mind for a while now. "How long has it been?"

    They looked at each other. I knew I wasn''t going to like the answer.

    "Colin," Alpha said quietly, and I knew it was going to be bad because she was the one who''d tell you straight to your face if you had terminal cancer. "Colin, it''s been over a year."

    I couldn''t help looking at Sage. Her face crumpled. She drew her knees up to her chest. I wanted to go over and wrap my arm around her shoulder, but the presence of my friends inhibited me.

    A year. We''d spent a year here? It hadn''t felt like that. I mean, we''d been busy, fighting for our very existence, trying to scratch out a toehold, but a year? Really?

    "I''m sorry."

    "How are my family?" Sage asked, not looking up. "Shad and Grandpa. And Juana and the baby."

    "They''re all doing well," Amber answered. "I think. We don''t really see them much, but General Twofeather is still in charge of the whole expedition, and your niece is at Mama Grace''s restaurant all the time. I always say hi when we''re in there. She''s getting to be quite a big girl now. I think they are starting up a school for some of the kids here in a couple of months."

    "A school. She''ll be almost four by now," Sage said, counting on her fingers.

    "And we all just spoke with your brother a few hours ago before coming down here," Pete told her. "He''s doing well.¡±

    ¡°Has he gotten himself killed lately?"

    The team exchanged a look, shook their heads, and laughed. "I don''t think so. He even led a few of our expeditions over the last few months and avoided killing himself or anyone else, though I think he really wanted to throttle Kvaltash when he found out the Patriarch was responsible for this whole business of the engine waking up early."

    "Wait, how''s that?" I asked.

    They explained to me what they knew, and I took it in, nodding to myself. "Makes sense. It would have had to be someone like him."

    "So, he''s not doing it out of some notion of helping keep the reality engine free?" Sage sounded disappointed. ¡°I thought he liked Kronos.¡±

    "Sounds like it''s the exact opposite. He wants a more efficient way of enslaving them," Sam said.

    "We might have to do something about that. But right now, we''re focused on survival.¡±

    Pete scratched his head. ¡°Can we negotiate a way out of here? Like, you offer to stop robbing them if they let us out?"

    "It''s not just us," Sage said. "We have allies. Gambler and the other fragments and minds. If we surrender, the Dominators will consume them all. We need to get them out of here."

    Pete nodded. "Your brother said to tell you that he''s working on a way to extract refugee fragments from here and take them back to Kronos, but he''s not very far along yet."

    "Then we''ll have to wait until he figures it out," Sage declared. "Gambler saved our lives. I''m not abandoning him."

    I got up and started pacing. "Tell me everything you know about the situation topside. No matter how trivial. Who are the players? What are they after? How many zones have you been in? What are they like?"

    "That''s a lot," Sam protested. "We''ve been here for over a year. I think we''ve visited 140 different zones.¡±

    "Then start at the beginning and let me hear what you''ve got to say."

    "You got a plan?" Pete asked.

    "Not yet, but I will."

    "Well, if we''re not being attacked, I guess we don''t have anything better to do." Pete unfolded his legs and started to talk.

 Bk 5 Ch 31: Afterparty

    Colin POV

    The party was half victory celebration, half heartfelt reunion. I rarely found myself at a loss for words, but today was one of those times. My old teammates surrounded me, slapping me on the back and congratulating me.

    They''d changed in the year we''d been apart. Alpha seemed more confident. It was clear she was the team leader now, not me. While I felt a little bittersweet about that, I''d come so far myself in the last year. I was glad they hadn''t been left behind.

    Pete was relaxed. Even now, here, he had a casualness to him I hadn''t seen before, confident and ready to jump in at a moment''s notice. But the most notable change was in Rose and Amber. I''d had trouble getting the two of them to work together on the team. I don''t know if it was jealousy or they just didn''t get along. When I''d left, Rose and Amber were as likely to find themselves at each other''s throats as they were to chat with each other. Now, well, they weren''t bosom chums, but they got along. As they took turns filling me in, I felt some stress that I hadn''t even realized was on me slipping away.

    They wanted to hear what Sage, Rok''gar, and I had been up to, of course.

    "Everyone thought you were dead. You couldn''t get a message through?" Pete kept demanding. "We had a memorial service for you and everything. People cried. Mostly for her." He hooked a thumb toward Sage, who was across the square talking to Alpha intently.

    We were in the central square of our garrison. Gambler had put up decorations for us. Blue and white buntings and a big "Welcome to the Party" sign hanging from the headquarters building. I had explained to all of them who Gambler was. Since they''d worked closely with Coyote for the last few years, it wasn''t hard for them to figure out how to interact with him.

    I explained the complication, and Pete nodded. "Yeah. Captain Williams was very clear to us not to talk about this anywhere except on the Ad Astra or once we''d reached you. You''ve made the Galactics very angry. I think they''re going to be coming for you. Again."

    "We will be ready for them when they are," Rok''gar declared. "Has Williams told my father that I''m here?"

    "I don''t know," Pete said.

    "I doubt it," Rose drawled. "Firebrand is running security for one of the other groups. We went up against them recently. Not directly opposed. They let us in. The mission where Sam saw you guys, actually."

    "And well done, Sam," I said, turning to him and grinning. "You''re the real hero. I''m grateful you were quick enough to figure out what was going on and tell Williams about it."

    Sam blushed pink under his dark tan. ¡°A guy who couldn''t figure that out wouldn''t deserve to be on your team," he mumbled.

    Sage and Alpha approached us. Sage''s face was bright pink and her eyes suspiciously bright. If she hadn''t been crying, it was a near thing. I wondered if Alpha had brought her a message from her brother.

    "So, what''s our next move?" Alpha asked. "We''re at your disposal now, Colin."

    "Excuse me," Gambler''s voice broke in. We all looked around instinctively. A man stepped out of the headquarters building. I knew him at once to be Gambler. He''d never taken an avatar before. The one he''d chosen was a short, dark-haired man with silver at his temples. He couldn''t be more than 164 centimeters. He wore a dark three-piece suit with a silver tie. Both his tie pin and his cufflinks were emerald. He bowed to the ladies.

    "You look good," Sage observed. "What''s with the get-up?"

    "It matches imagery I found in your minds for a high-stakes poker player," Gambler said.

    Sage giggled. "You''re a little out of date. Most high-stakes poker players these days wear T-shirts. I''m not one to look down on a neat dresser," she added quickly. "I was always trying to get my brother to pay more attention to his clothing. What''s up now?"

    "Now that there are so many of you, it seemed easier to have an avatar to join the conversation," Gambler said. "I need to know what''s been going on. I''ve been trying to make educated guesses based on what we''ve seen, but you," he told my team, "are a valuable new source of information."

    "We''ll tell you whatever we can," Alpha said.

    "I would like permission to look more deeply at your memories."

    Alpha drew back. The rest of my team looked uncomfortable as well.

    "Rummaging through our minds? I don''t think so," Rose snapped.

    "I only need to access your high-level memories of missions and mission briefings," Gambler said. "I will immediately forget anything not relevant and prevent it from entering my long-term memories."

    "I don''t like that," Rose said again.

    "Look," Pete said. "We know you could do this anyway, so why are you even asking our permission?"

    "Because I would rather have it."

    Alpha sighed. "You can look inside my head. If you need to look into anyone else''s, ask them, but I''ve been on every briefing and mission that the rest of us have."

    Gambler nodded. "Thank you." He placed a hand to his own temples theatrically. "Hm. Interesting. Interesting. Patriarch Kvaltash seems to have hired your team frequently."

    "He wanted the best, so he got us," Alpha said. She took note of the pride in her voice, and I was glad to see the rest of my team had looked to her in my absence.

    "Do you know what he was after?"

    Alpha shrugged. "Something progenitor-related, that much was clear."

    "Yes. As it happens, it is fortunate that we were raiding the same vault that you were. I''m able to know what it was he was after, and then reconstruct from the rest," he turned to us. "Patriarch Kvaltash is attempting to create something he should not have. A key."This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    "What will it unlock?" I asked.

    "Reality engines. Not just this one. Any of them. All of them."

    "Isn''t that what the Galactics have been doing for the past however long it''s been?"

    "To put it crudely, the Galactics have been smashing open locks using rocks and getting at the easily snatched content. There are secrets in vaults which they have never had access to. This would open every lock, and all at once. It would utterly change how reality engine exploits are performed."

    "That''s a good thing as far as I''m concerned," Sage said. "Nobody should have to go through what we did."

    "You will be trading off one suffering for another," Gambler warned. "There are secrets about the reality engines that you do not know, that Kronos, it seems, has not shared with you."

    That didn''t surprise me at all, but Sage looked offended. "We made a contract with Kronos, and he''s kept it. He''s been a loyal and faithful friend.¡±

    ¡°And a being with his own interests. Interests which do not include placing himself entirely in your power. Nor do I care to share everything I know. Not yet," Gambler declared. "I do know, however, that letting the Patriarch fully assemble and use his key would be bad for all of us. In addition, we are in his way. I think we can expect another larger attack soon."

    "I don''t think you have to worry about that," Pete said. "The Galactics said that they could only bring so many people to bear. If they bring another force, it''ll be the same size as what you already dealt with, and you''ve managed to lock out many of their top-level teams."

    "If they are willing to use the key, those restrictions will vanish. I fear that is what the Patriarch intends."

    "So what are we going to do?" Alpha asked.

    "I''m currently running simulations," Gambler said. ¡°But I need to make it clear. Failure has dire consequences. Extermination for me. Possibly your team could be extracted from this engine. You three," he told Sage, Rok''gar, and me, "are bound to me, not to any of the Dominator networks, and would have a hard time transferring."

    "What about a negotiated truce?" I asked. "We''re in a position of strength here. We could bargain for a piece of this engine and safe passage out of here. If we offer up all of our stolen loot..."

    "I have been attempting to speak with the Dominator network since the end of our last set of hostilities. They are refusing to speak to me. I believe they want me dead," Gambler said.

    I sighed. "So, time for another gamble, then?"

    "Always," Gambler said. ¡°But first, we need to prepare our defenses.¡±

    Gambler set all of us on some minor tasks, assigning Sage and Rok''gar to my team to familiarize them with our base and its systems. He had me going around to all of our defensive towers and configuring them against the next wave of attack, which we were certain would come soon. But I was suspicious.

    "What is it you really want from me?" I asked once we''d gotten farther away from the others.

    "Your help in planning."

    I had figured that was the case. "I thought you were this clever chap who had worked it all out himself. The man with a plan."

    "You mock me," Gambler said, "but not unreasonably. I do have a plan, but I need your sort of lateral thinking. Besides,¡± his voice sounded unexpectedly unsure. "I am risking a great deal here. This is going to be dangerous. We need to get hold of the Patriarch''s key."

    ¡°Right,¡± I said, scratching my head. "So, sounds like we''ve got two options here. We could figure out where he is, lay an ambush, and steal the key from him. Or we figure out where he''s going, set a trap, and steal the key from him. I don''t suppose we can infiltrate his own base, slip in without him noticing, and replace it with a dummy copy? That''d be my first choice, personally."

    "No," Gambler said. "I can''t get past their Dominators, not yet. The key will allow me to do that," he added. "It gives the dominator network direct access to an engine, but in my hands it will be a backdoor into their network. Part of my strategy is to use it, once it''s in our possession, for just that."

    ¡°Then we need to lure him in. He''s got a key, and it sounds like he''s planning to use it. We need to be ready when he does."

    "The only way to overcome our defenses will be to use the key that he''s built. It already contains enough of the back doors into our system that if the Patriarch chooses, they can use it to bring a vast army to bear against us," Gambler said. "But in doing so, he''ll expose the key to us. We''ll possibly be able to steal it."

    "What does this key do, specifically?¡±

    He hesitated. "There are things I don''t want to tell even you," he admitted.

    "I can''t help if I don''t know what it does."

    Gambler sighed. "I''m going to give you as much as I dare. Brace yourself."

    That was all the warning I had. A piercing pain stabbed through my head. I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples as it slowly faded. Now, as I thought of the key, my memory supplied all of the details¡ªwhat it was, what it could do.

    Much of what Gambler had fgtured out was guesswork, though very intelligent guesses. Kvaltash had found clues to the nature of engines based on the behavior of a hundred different reality engines. He''d modeled fragment behavior from Kronos and Coyote and the other personalities of our own reality engine and come to understand them in ways no one else had. Doing so had allowed him to create the framework for this key. But it only helped him that far. Powerful fragments, resisting an exploit, did not reveal all the secrets of their nature. I doubted if they even knew them all consciously.

    The rogue engine offered him the components he needed, components which had been stripped down in the tamed reality engine for their parts. He''d found them here, in a replica of an ancient progenitor facility, and in the fortress where Sage and I had clashed with Williams and my own team.

    What he had found were indications of the fundamental nature of a engine. Just as subatomic particles revealed the nature of physics to a scientist better than observing people walking around. Engines didn¡¯t usually provide access to such low-level information. The fragments weren''t even consciously aware of them, deep-rooted reflections of their nature which indicated how they talked to each other, how they interwove and communicated, and used ethereum. With the power this knowledge gave him, the Patriarch had made a tool he could use to force his way into zones the Dominators didn''t control, bend fragments to his will, even temporarily override the simulations to some degree. I couldn''t tell the full potential of that power. There was clearly knowledge that Gambler had not shared.

    "If he wants to use the key against us, he has to bring it here," I said.

    "That is correct."

    "Then we make him use it," I said. "We make ourselves a target he and the others cannot resist. We''ve taken a good step already by defeating that first force. Now, we double down. We''ve been laying low, not hitting them, for fear of reprisal. That changes right now. We need to hit them in a dozen different places. Not just steal, but destroy. We''ll sabotage anything we can. We can retreat back down here, fortify, make ourselves a hard nut to crack."

    "Yes," Gambler whispered. "That is my best projection for success as well."

    "Then why didn''t you just tell us?"

    "Because I predict only a 60% chance of survival. How could I ask my allies to do that?"

    ¡°Better than 50%?¡± I laughed. "Any gamer worth his salt would take odds like that. Let''s talk about the next step. We bring them down, we steal the key, and¡­ then what?"

    Gambler explained to me the next phase of his plan.

    My eyes widened and I slowly nodded. "That''s good. Ambitious. But, you''re not thinking big enough. You''ve got the technological side, but we''re going to need legal and economic elements that will be needed. I think....¡±

    Gambler and I returned to our base later to find that Sage and Rok''gar had my squad drilling with packs of minions. I gathered everyone up.

    "Here''s the plan," I told them. I laid out the first couple of steps. Jaws dropped everywhere.

    "Are you serious?" Sam demanded.

    "Sounds like fun to me," Rose declared. "Dibs on blowing up Elf Fairyland. That place gives me the heebie-jeebies."

    "We might not win," I warned them. "There''s a lot that could go wrong."

    "And a lot that can go right," Sage said. "So, when do we start?"

    "Right now," I said. Gambler called up a map of the top-level zones and who controlled them. "We hit everyone. All at once. As many places as we can. Gambler, we need to swap in some of our allied mines who know how to blow stuff up good."

    We broke into two different groups. Rok''gar and I were in charge of the defense. We would need solid fortifications, even better than what we had now. Instead of trying to defend everything, we''d pull back to the area right around Monte Carlo and layer our defenses three deep. We recruited Amber to help us, then asked the rest of the Gamer squad and Sage to go on offense. I wanted the galactics to know they''d been stung when we hit them.

    It felt good to go active again.

 Bk 5 Ch 32: Emergency Action

    Shad POV

    I was jolted awake out of a sound sleep by Coyote''s urgent voice. "Captain Williams, you''re needed at once.¡± Beside me, Juana rolled over and sat up. "Ms. Lopez-Williams, you as well, please.¡±

    Coyote''s odd formality struck me. "What''s wrong?" I asked.

    "We have been formally mobilized," Coyote said. "As part of that mobilization, I have been required to integrate my systems into the Dominator network. I trust you understand."

    I did. Coyote''s subtext was clear. Our communications were no longer private. "What''s wrong?" I asked, swinging my legs out of bed and standing up as Juana crawled out on her side.

    "First of all, I am simultaneously sending word to your mother-in-law, asking her to come and keep your daughter company. You are both needed on the bridge at once. General Twofeather is already on his way."

    I shrugged into trousers and a fresh shirt, then grabbed my discarded jacket and pulled it over. Juana was already dressed, running a brush through her hair.

    "What do you mean by mobilized?" she asked.

    "As per our agreement with this Reality Engine exploit council, in the event of a Class One emergency, all assets involved in the exploit will be mobilized under a single banner," Coyote quoted.

    "A Class One emergency?" Juana asked, her eyes narrowing. ¡°They haven''t had one of those in, I don''t know, 200 exploits. They didn''t even declare Kronos a Class One emergency."

    "Because by the time they would have, it was too late," Coyote said, his tone nearly normal. "The rogue element," he paused, and I knew he was referring to Colin''s crew, "has struck multiple locations at once and caused significant damage. They have changed their usual procedures. Instead of robbing, they are now outright destroying. They have vented several billion units of Ethereum into the system."

    "Is that retrievable?" I asked, pulling on my boots.

    "Perhaps, but it will not be available until after this engine is completely dominated. As far as we are concerned, for the near term, it''s been destroyed."

    I wondered what Colin was up to. Were his allies perhaps able to access this ethereum? I suspected that my sending in his team had changed his plans. I wished there was a way to communicate with them, but I kept my mouth shut. Juana met my eyes. She nodded grimly. She understood too.

    "The mobilization only lasts for the duration of the emergency," she said. "As soon as that''s over, Coyote will be able to detach from the network. They only do this when they suspect some elements of the exploit may be working against other elements."

    Which was, in this case, true.

    Coyote continued. ¡°I also must inform you that sanctions will be taken against any elements found to be assisting the rogue, and that all miners involved in the exploit have had fail-safes attached. Should they be found to be assisting the rogues, they will be pulled out of the exploit and not permitted back in for the duration of the emergency."

    I got the message loud and clear. We needed to keep our heads down and not draw attention to ourselves.

    We hurried up to the bridge where Grandpa already had the other department heads assembled. Colonel Marona was present. I had managed to avoid having much to do with him in the past year. My role as civilian liaison gave me plenty of freedom to operate on my own. He was bleary and red-faced, clearly not happy having been woken at, I checked my clock, oh three hundred hours.

    Mama Grace sent us a quick message that she had arrived at our apartment and checked that Mila was still asleep. I appreciated it. I needed to be able to focus right now. In addition to Colonel Marona, Dwight and our mining coordinator, Allison, were there.

    "What''s this mobilization about?" Colonel Marona asked. "What''s it got to do with us?"

    "A class one emergency means that the exploit has gone badly awry and is under the galactic equivalent of martial law," Juana said. "Since it''s an alliance of different corporations, that takes a form that seems a little strange to us. Basically, the Dominator Network will now be calling the shots. As per terms of our agreement, they are requesting two platoons¡¯ worth of troops to provide security to their mining teams. For the moment, the consensus is to remove existing ethereum deposits back to the ships."

    "That''s not standard doctrine," Coyote said. ¡°In the stage of an exploit, Ethereum is needed to power the continued exploit. However, clearly a decision has been made to pull out what they can so it will not further be destroyed."

    "We can''t field that many. We have our own obligations to meet," Colonel Marona said.

    "They''re already being deployed," Coyote said.

    "On whose orders? Yours?"

    "Martial law," Juana reminded him. "It''s in the contracts we all signed."

    I was itching to get involved. Sage and Colin were down there doing something, executing a plan I couldn''t guess. It hurt, being on the sidelines. "What about us?" I asked.

    "We are to stand by and wait for orders," Grandpa told me. I met his gaze. I could tell he was thinking the same thing I was. ¡°There''s a strategy meeting in 20 minutes, and we three are invited," Grandpa said, including Juana.

    Colonel Marona puffed up. Grandpa cut him off. "You, Colonel, are to maintain the rest of our troops at high readiness. I expect we will be called on soon. When we are, I want us prepared."

    "What''s the situation so far?" I asked.

    Juana had already been studying displays. She brought one up now on our main screen. The bridge was quiet at this time of night. During the day, it was our bustling hub of communications. Not the center of a ship, but the center of a factory, calling out job orders and working to keep our operation running. Now it was silent.

    ¡°Eight zones have been hit so far. Nine now," she added as a new report came in. She pulled them up on her screen and showed us. "Strewn across as many different corporations. No faction is getting off unscathed here. One of our own crafting operations was disrupted. We''re having to respawn three dozen crafters right now. I''ve called them all back until the situation is resolved."The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    "And they''re sure it''s the rogues?"

    "Yes," Juana said. "There''s no question of that."

    I looked at the display, willing it to make sense. Colin was reacting to something. Or was it just because I''d given him enough people to finally put a plan into action? No. My gut feeling said that the team had filled him in on what was going on up here, and that had pushed him into action. But why? We weren''t at a particularly crucial phase of this exploit.

    Ever since realizing that Sage and Colin were alive, and based on Coyote''s assumptions, I had thought that they must be trying to get back up here. They had made an alliance with a fragment and would need to have that fragment extracted along with them. But this... this was something more. They weren''t trying to negotiate a settlement. They were upending the existing order.

    "Has there been any attempt to communicate with the rogues?"

    "The Coalition Intelligence is not attempting that at this time," Coyote said. I could hear in his reserved tones more than he was saying. The Coalition didn''t want to talk to Sage and Colin. There had to be a way to open comms.

    "Time for the meeting," Grandpa said. We followed after him to a transfer point, stepped through, and were in a crowded briefing room full of aliens.

    I spotted Veda across the room. She saw us and came over at once, looking frustrated.

    "I would never have thought to find an exploit as annoying as yours again," she said. "It''s like the galaxy called down a curse when we went into your system and the curse isn''t over yet."

    I refrained from saying anything.

    "How badly hit is Proxima?" Juana asked.

    "We''ve lost a lot of ethereum. We have records of how much, so maybe at the end of this we''ll get it back?" Veda sighed and shook her head. "Your teams fought hard. I reviewed the footage from the battle against the rogues earlier. You got a lot of kills, and fewer deaths than almost anyone else."

    "You''re welcome," I said. I had told the other two teams to fight hard, not letting on that we had any other agenda other than trying to conquer the people we were attacking. I''d had to have faith in Colin and Sage''s ability to handle them.

    "But¡ªand this is something that took me a minute to notice¡ªyou sent three teams in and only two came out."

    I had been hoping she would overlook it, either accidentally or intentionally. Our teams had come out in twos and threes, and when the level slammed shut, everyone had been busy trying to figure out what had just happened. I thought maybe we had escaped notice.

    "One of my teams was captured," I said.

    Veda cocked her head to the side. "Captured?"

    "There was an enemy with the ability to turn people on each other."

    "Yes, some of the other teams reported that, but none of them suffered permanent loss."

    "It was probably a side effect of their classes," I said. ¡°It was one of my specialist teams, the Gamers. They''re all built around exploiting features of the exploit, but it leaves them vulnerable to certain kinds of attacks, psychic and willpower-based ones among them."

    "I see," Veda said. "Well, we underestimated the enemy, and we won''t be making that mistake again."

    I was saved from answering as the meeting was called to order.

    At the center of the room, I saw the six representatives I''d met earlier and Patriarch Kvaltash. He was gesturing around with him a staff.

    ¡°The rogues stand in our way. They have clearly the intention of thwarting this exploit. We will not permit this to stand,¡± Kvaltash pronounced.

    The Proxima rep frowned. ¡°The fragment managed to lock out our people on an individual basis. We''ve been following up and found that their individual Soul Coin signatures were locked out. We can¡¯t get back in, and if we could, we can¡¯t bring a big enough force to overwhelm the rogues.¡±

    "If the Coalition Intelligence will grant me the authority, I can open a way into the rogues'' domain, permit all of our banned miners to enter, as well as ignoring the cap on participants. We shall overwhelm and crush the rogue and its forces."

    ¡°How?¡± one of the corporate leaders demanded. ¡°Since when have you had that sort of power, Patriarch?¡±

    "I would like to take this chance to announce that the Ember Dawn faction has achieved what has long been one of my Order''s goals. We have completed an Overmind Key."

    I heard excited whispers all around the room.

    "Once we have finished attuning this key using the fragments still remaining in this reality engine, we will be able to unlock any untapped reality engine that we can find, thereby bypassing the costly and time-consuming Phase One and going straight to the profitable portions of the exploit. However, I will remind my colleagues that we are not completed with this exploit. It has been incredibly profitable despite a few setbacks, and I for one would not want to give it up early. Let us discuss how we may finish our efforts here."

    "We need to wipe out this pocket of resistance,¡± Deneb¡¯s rep insisted.

    ¡°Yes," the Patriarch said, "but I must ask for a chance to examine this fragment. Whichever Dominator captures this, must hold it in stasis for me. I believe we will be able to greatly increase the efficiency of my key by examining this outlier, just as we were able to formulate the plans for building this key by studying the entity referred to as Kronos."

    I felt like I''d been stabbed in the gut. I thought that Kvaltash and his people had been studying Kronos because they genuinely wanted to know what the fragments were like, but all this time they''d just been using him to build this device that would let them better enslave other reality engines.

    Maybe I shouldn''t care. My people were well on our way to being well set up in the galaxy. But I had come to think of Kronos, and now Coyote, as individuals, and the Galactics were talking about enslaving them, just like they had enslaved me and my family. Not just for a period of time, but forever.

    From what I had been told, it was too late to let most of the fragments here assemble into a gestalt like Kronos and give them ownership of the reality engine. The best I could hope for was to save the last few free minds.

    But at what cost? My priority had to be getting my sister and Colin out of there. I didn''t know what kind of deals they might have made with this lesser fragment. I was assuming I''d have to offer to take it out. I didn''t have a bargaining chip. Unless I did.

    "And what will this cost the Coalition?" Deneb¡¯s rep asked. "The Church of the Progenitor does nothing out of their own, out of selflessness."

    "No, indeed," Kvaltash said. "In return for this, I want to secure your backing later to help me complete this key."

    "Not if it has the power you say," Proxima¡¯s head snarled. "We''d be giving you the solution to every Reality Engine exploit from here on out."

    "Have you not been watching what has happened in the past cycles?" Kvaltash challenged. "The costliness, the resources wasted. We let one Reality Engine slip out of our fingers, and we are close to another. I believe this is not an accident, but the work of terrorists."

    Yeah, like your people, I thought to myself, but I kept my mouth shut. I was not going to accuse the Patriarch when apparently the Galactics had all cleared him of any wrongdoing.

    "There will be time to negotiate how best to use this power once the immediate emergency is passed," Kvaltash said. "For today, all I ask is that you allow your forces to be deployed as the Coalition Intelligence wishes. I am presenting my own assets, that is, the key, so that the Intelligence may make the best decisions possible."

    "Out of the question," Deneb said.

    Then, a voice cut across everything else. "The Patriarch''s proposal is acceptable." It was cold, calm woman''s tones. I had never heard that voice before, but I was guessing this was the Coalition Intelligence mentioned. "I shall begin deploying everyone''s forces at once. Your requisitions are being sent now."

    A note popped up in my field of view. I guessed from the way Grandpa reacted that he''d gotten the same. Two of our five previously-deployed brigades were being withdrawn to assist with this attack and all of our remaining forces were to be deployed.

    My own requisitions were in more detail. I was to assemble all of my civilian teams for a briefing in 20 minutes. I passed the message along, and Coyote said he was already on it.

    I squeezed Juana''s arm. "Gotta go," I said. "Sounds like the decisions are being made higher up than me."

    "Be careful," she told me. "Our contracts are¡­well, I don''t like to use the word ''bulletproof,'' but I wouldn''t like to have to defend us breaking them."

    "I''ll do what''s right," I told her. There was no way I was going to betray Sage and Colin. If they needed me, I''d be there. Damn the consequences.

    "Shad," she lowered her voice, speaking just to me. The room was crowded. "I know what you mean. I know how you feel. But the penalties involved will cripple the company and Earth. You have to be careful, whatever happens."

    I shut my mouth. I was getting damned tired of being pushed around by galactic law. "I''ll keep that in mind," I told her.

 Bk 5 Ch 33: Base Attack

    Colin POV

    The waiting was the worst part. Rok''gar, Amber, and I busied ourselves preparing the defense in depth of our base. We had written off everything beyond the bones of Monte Carlo itself as too difficult to defend. I recycled a bunch of towers to reclaim their ethereum and set to work programming new ones all around, while Rok''gar evolved new breeds of soldiers and put them out.

    Amber fit right in. She picked up some allied mines to help her out and was busy building traps everywhere.

    Gambler''s influence would be strongest around our monument and decrease from there according to the inverse square law. There was no chance of any enemies arriving within a 100-meter radius of the statue, little chance within 200 meters, and from there on it increased. Anywhere from 400 meters out would be impossible to prevent their coming. So Amber was placing traps as I set up the towers.

    I was building interlocking spiral patterns designed to funnel the enemies in without them quite realizing I was doing it. The outer zones would debuff, slowing them. I had spent as much of my budget as I dared on anti-air defenses. Nothing would be able to fly over our walls.

    For the first half a day, the work kept me occupied. Then, when I had the bones of my defenses in place and was tweaking the effects and checking on fields of fire, I started to worry. I had not expected to be able to communicate with Sage and the attacking party. Gambler had a hard time talking up a level. He was focused down here to prevent the enemy from trapping him where he was weakest. Until they returned, we wouldn''t know how it was going.

    I took a break to check with Rok''gar about his modified foot soldiers. We were now to be fighting other miners instead of fragments of the reality engine. Individual miners would likely have a much stronger self-preservation instinct than minions of an enemy fragment. We could take advantage of that. His minions were programmed to work together to isolate and destroy individual enemies. I looked over his troops and approved.

    Amber strolled back in, looking pleased with herself. She was more than happy to explain her strategies. "Deep Seeders. One model explodes, sends shrapnel into you. If the shrapnel doesn''t kill you right off, it burrows deep in and makes its way toward the vulnerable parts. It''s like injecting a virus that will interfere with the ability to respawn." She looked very proud of herself.

    ¡°You did good work.¡±

    ¡°Any news from the team?"

    I shook my head. "I''m not expecting any just yet. They know what they''re doing," I said, more to convince myself than her.

    "Uh-huh." She looked me over and gave me a pat on the shoulder. "She''ll be all right, Colin."

    "Who?"

    "Sage, of course. Or did you think I was worried about Rose? I don''t blame you. I''m happy for the two of you. Assuming we get out of all this."

    "It''s not like that," I told her. "We''ve been trapped here together ¡ª¡°

    ¡°For the better part of a year,¡± Amber interrupted, raising an eyebrow. "The only two humans and all of that." Rok''gar growled. Amber turned to him. "Oh, sorry. I don''t mean to be racist or anything. One of my girlfriends on the ship has a thing going with a space elf, which personally, I don''t understand. I¡¯d take an orc any day." She looked Rok''gar up and down appreciatively. "But, as far as I can tell, Colin''s tastes mostly run to females, so I didn''t think there was much chance of him falling for you. But you''re lucky." She was talking to me again. "After we get out of this, Williams is going to be so grateful to you for helping keep his sister alive the last year. He''ll overlook the whole ''started dating her without his approval'' thing."

    I tried to find the right words to come down bitingly on Amber but couldn''t manage to come up with anything. She laughed at me. "Look at you, with your mouth flopping open like a fish. You really have got it hard, haven''t you?"

    We were, thankfully, interrupted by a siren.  Gambler''s voice sounded in my head. "They''re coming back!"

    I was on high alert. "Prepare!" I shouted and pulled up my own screens to check the status of all of my towers.

    A moment later, the square was filled with people. Sam and Alpha came in first, covered in soot and a couple of bloodstains, but laughing as they appeared. Ben, Rose, and Pete followed, and my heart skipped a beat until Sage appeared. She looked alright, but just as soon as she stepped foot in the square, her knees buckled. I was across to her in a flash, helping her back up.

    "Sorry," she said, blinking up at me. "The last bomb went off faster than I expected. They were waiting for us and had defenses. That''s all we''re going to get."

    "How many did you hit?"

    "We got the first ten, no problem," Sam reported. "And two more partials. They know they''ve been stung, but they''re coming for us."

    "Then let''s get ready," I said.

    Sage was shaking off my arm. "I''m fine now," she told me.

    "Anyone need anything? Now''s the time," I snapped. Of course, we didn''t need to eat, sleep, or relieve ourselves in this place. Still, it was good to remind everyone. "Then we''ll get in position."

    I spread us out on defense. My team all had their own particular strengths. We''d outfitted them with weapons from Rok''gar''s armory. Rok''gar would be stationed back in the center of the base to continue churning out units and directing them. Sam and Pete were our generals, ordering the various unit combinations into battle. Rose and Amber would be sowing chaos all over the battlefield. Rok''gar had made them a pair of cloaks. They could drop smoke shields, turn them invisible, or seemingly triplicate themselves. They donned the cloaks now.

    Alpha was our eyes. She had a post in the center of our fortification, elevated so she could see everything, with several scrying devices provided to her by Gambler. Sage and I were supposed to control the towers, turrets, and other fortifications, with Sage ready to pull out her tamed pets to add backup. We were saving Mr. Smokey for a real emergency. The others would be out in the beginning. She and I climbed together to a parapet on the innermost ring of fortifications, where we could see out beyond our walls toward the most likely landing zone.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    "How were the raids?" I asked as we waited, time slipping by, each second seeming interminable.

    "It felt so good to strike back and know that they knew we were doing it on purpose," Sage told me. "I don''t know what we''re going to do next, Colin, but that was worth it."

    "We''re going to make this one count," I took her hand and squeezed it.

    There wasn''t anything else I could say. I waited with Sage as the minutes ticked away. I was just starting to feel as though maybe we''d been wrong, maybe they weren''t coming when they appeared in front of us. At the same time, our comms channels lit up, the rest of my team reporting enemies spawning in at all sides of our fort.

    Hundreds of Galactics appeared in front of me. They looked like the orcs, Talonians, elves, and other assorted species I was expecting. No more of this confused business of masks and capes. The enemies weren''t hiding anymore. They were intruding directly on us, their channels merging with ours.

    I aimed the first outer ring of towers at the oncoming crowd and fired. Lightning and ice zapped forward in a fierce arc, hitting at least a dozen with the first blow and more with the next. Enemies stumbled and fell, but more took their place. My turrets were firing not fast enough. Already a few had slipped past the outer ring and were pushing inward. The next row of towers shot charged bolts individually. They hit and their victims stumbled, fell, and dissolved in a whirl of sparks, just in time for another to take their place.

    As they came for us, I pinpointed what was wrong. There weren''t enough of them. Only a few hundred at most.

    "Gambler," I queried.

    "The Patriarch has not yet made his move," Gambler said. "They may be trying to see if they can defeat us without committing the key."

    "Then we''ll show them what they get for underestimating us," I snarled and called up my second line of defense. These were a row of buried defensive structures. Now they raised up behind the initial row of towers and filled the air with flame, burning through the enemy forces. I heard screams and shouts as enemies dissolved in a flurry of sparks, sent back to the respawn point.

    "Amber, Rose, engage." I got a verbal confirmation from them, as they leapt into action. In addition to all of Amber''s hidden traps, she had planted several underground bunkers near the probable respawn locations. The bunkers popped open, and our forces emerged, screaming challenges at the enemies as our minions attacked in swarms.

    Rose led one detachment of new units. A cross between berserkers and ninjas, armed with dozens of different kinds of blades and no sense of self-preservation, the black-clad warriors threw themselves forward onto our enemy, dispatching them as quickly as they respawned. Meanwhile, Amber was laying down slowing traps all around the respawn point. As the enemies came in, they were hit by a dozen different debuffs, then slaughtered.

    "We''re getting a big clump up on the southern wall," Sage reported to me. We had left that respawn point untouched for just this reason.

    "When you get critical mass, unleash hell," I said.

    "I think we''re about there," Sage announced. A moment later, a roar rent the sky as she pulled Mr. Smokey from her pet storage. He appeared in the sky over our heads, screaming and flaming before diving down on the enemies outside our walls.

    ¡°Defensive line breach on the west," Sam reported.

    "Lead them into the kill slots," I directed.

    "Roger." If he followed my orders, he would be allowing the enemy to penetrate deep inside our second line of defense. I wanted all of the victims of the south wall to head for him once they were back up and moving.

    "We''re close to enough," he called. "Kill slots nearly filled."

    "Then drop it," I instructed. I smiled at the screams and wails that rose up. The defenses on the western side had a single-use grinder net planted in the dirt at their feet. On Sam''s command, it would have activated, shredding everyone there into mulch, hopefully quite painfully, before they were incapacitated enough to despawn.

    "We''re being pushed back," Amber reported. "Heavy respawns here in the north."

    "Hit ''em with the big boom," I ordered.

    We had three large area effect bombs on hand, crafted from stolen ethereum. Amber had one of the three. I could trust her to carry out suicidal orders only when the orders were actually given, unlike Rose, who might very well let it off for her own pleasure.

    Seconds later, a great silver mushroom cloud climbed toward the heavens, followed by a rolling boom that washed over me like a wave, pressure making my ears pop. Several of our automated defenses leapt up, looking for the threat. Rose and Amber respawned in the middle of our square.

    "Successful," Amber reported. "I think we got at least 80 of them, and that respawn point should be knocked out temporarily until the Dominator network can reestablish the beachhead."

    "Good," I growled. "I want you to go to the southern respawn point and look threatening, like you''re gonna try the same thing again."

    "I don''t have any more of the bombs."

    "I know that," I told her. "We''re trying to get a reaction." She gave me a quick two-finger salute and then hurtled over the walls, racing toward the southern respawn point.

    Everything was going well. Our defenses had been breached only where we permitted. Gambler had a kill counter going again for us, and it was already into the hundreds. I braced myself for what was going to come next.

    Gambler reported, "Attack against my willpower. I''m getting a huge surge. Willpower dropping rapidly."

    "Drop your shields and conserve what you have,¡± I ordered. "This is it. We all need to prepare."

    Gambler did as I said, and a moment later, the sky overhead began to swirl. Clouds formed, whirling and twisting like the eye of a hurricane. The ever-steady purple glow darkened to a deep blue. Then forks of golden lightning stabbed down all around the cloud, striking all around the perimeter of our fortress. Everywhere they struck, they left a black circle three meters or so in diameter and a cloud of smoke.

    As the smoke cleared away, figures began to emerge from the black circles. There were dozens of the circles, and each one had a score of people in them. As the attackers stepped out of the circles, more appeared.

    "It''s the key," Gambler said. "He''s used the key."

    "Get eyes on the Patriarch," I ordered. It took Gambler a moment to reply.

    "He''s well in the back. It looks like he''s trying to blend in."

    "Then let''s send in the distraction," I said. "Alpha?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m ready," she assured me. Alpha had one of our other two ethereum bombs. Now that the enemy knew we had them, I was certain they''d be able to detect the signature. Alpha grabbed Rose, Sam, and Pete, and they surrounded themselves with a protective escort of NPCs emerging through the northern front of our fortress.

    "Sage, get ready.¡± As Alpha and her team fought across the battlefield, Sage looked over the battlements with me. The enemy spotted Alpha''s squad and converged on her. Hundreds of bodies looking to surround our people. Rok''gar ordered more troops forward. These were largely riflemen with a high rate of fire but low penetration against the kind of gear the miners were wearing.

    Sage let out a gasp as she stood beside me on the battlements looking out across.

    "Look," she pointed. I followed her gaze. There were humans on the battlefield, but we''d expected that. There were plenty of Earth folk working for the Galactics as well as alien races that looked more or less human to our eyes.

    "It''s Shad," she told me. I squinted, and she was right. I could make out his coat and hat even from this distance.

    "We need to tell him..."

    I shook my head. "We stick to the plan.¡±

    As the shifting tides of battle revealed that the enemy was taking the bait, Sage took a deep breath and nodded. She called Mr. Smokey from the other side of the fort. He flew to us and hovered in the air. She leapt up into the saddle she''d rigged and reached down a hand and helped me up behind her.

    "Let''s go," I told her, and we lifted into the air.

 Bk 3 Ch 34: Into Action

    Shad POV

    I¡¯d been watching the initial phase of the battle from the monitors on Ad Astra¡¯s bridge. As long as my personal soulcoin was locked out of the zone, there wasn''t much else I could do.

    We''d sent in all of the assets that the Galactics had asked for¡ªa couple of brigades who hadn''t been involved in the earlier attempt¡ªand everyone else was standing by. Tensions were high as I watched from the bridge. Grandpa was beside me, quietly fuming to himself. We didn''t dare discuss this, not with Coyote still co-opted by the Coalition.

    Juana was in her office, poring over Galactic laws and regulations, trying to be prepared for whatever happened next. I knew Colin had a plan; I was certain he must. We would respond to it as soon as we figured out what it was, helping him to the best of our ability without actually voiding any of the agreements and contracts we have with the Galactics. Actually, I was ready to screw all that and send the Galactics to whatever version of hell they might belong to, but both Juana and Grandpa were urging caution. I understood their reasoning, I did. This is my sister that we were talking about, and I wasn''t going to stand by and do nothing if there was a way I could help her.

    Grandpa smiled in appreciation as the casualties mounted. "They''re not letting this go without a fight. I don''t understand why they¡¯re not all in just yet."

    "I think the Patriarch is proving a point to the rest of the Galatics,¡± I said. My teams were on standby, as were the military units. As soon as Kvaltash sent the word, we''d all jump right in.

    I was itching for action, but not like this. They had eyes watching everywhere. If I gave any less than my all, the Dominator Network would see, and I''d be hauled up on charges of dereliction of duty. Juana had made it abundantly clear just what that would mean for myself and for all of Earth. Fortunately, I had something to fall back on¡ªa well-known tendency to commit suicide in the advancement of my goals. I just had to make sure that my suicides weren''t particularly effective for a change.

    I stiffened as an explosion went off. Even on the monitors, it looked intense. The casualty counter jumped 300 or more in the blink of an eye. "What was that?"

    "Analyzing," Coyote said, using his strained tones. I was certain he was doing it on purpose to remind us he wasn''t safe to confide in. "It appears to be an ethereum bomb. Fascinating. They''ve found a way to directly detonate the ethereum, which disrupts soulcoin connections. The miners in the affected region will have to be manually re-integrated into this zone, and the interface point is currently offline. It will need to be re-established. That is an effective tactic, although expensive. I calculate it will require approximately 5.7% of the Dominator Network''s attention for the next 12 minutes to compensate. Estimated time of full domination of this level is increased to 27 minutes, 30 seconds."

    "Wait, what? You have that calculated so exactly?"

    "Once battle was joined and certain parameters became evident, yes. That is, of course, expecting that¡ª" Coyote interrupted himself. "And there it is. You are all being activated. Please step through your nearest portal to be transferred to the battlefield."

    I looked at Grandpa. He nodded to me. "Good luck," he told me. "You''re fighting for all of us here."

    I nodded. My mouth was dry. I was going into battle against my sister and my friend, and I wasn''t sure how to make sure that I lost.

    I went to the newly activated portal and stepped right through, instantly finding myself in a familiar position ¡ª in the midst of chaos. There were hundreds, maybe thousands, of miners all suddenly transported to the battlefield. My HUD filled with indications of who was friend and who was foe, arrows pointing toward the central objective, scrolling combat text as a couple of different units began communicating, and finally, a voice cutting through all of it in my head.

    "The Alliance is now directing this battle personally. Captain Shad Williams of Earth forces, you will take your units and proceed to Point Alpha, securing it at all costs."

    A blinking green overlay appeared on my screen. To my disappointment, Point Alpha was a respawn location located to the west, away from the center of the fighting, which was Sage and Colin''s fort. They had an impressive facility here. This whole zone was shades of purple and pink, with hexagonal rock formations everywhere. Underfoot, the ground had the same hexagonal pattern repeated on it, covered slightly by green and white lichen clinging to every surface.

    Up ahead rose adobe walls of a fort surrounded by hundreds, perhaps thousands, of individual turrets. The towers were blaring out different flavors of death, from ice to lightning to fire.

    The fighting was horrific. All around me, galactic forces surged forward with no seeming orders. But if the Dominator Network was in control, there would be a plan here I wasn''t yet grasping. I assembled my team, checking my HUD and seeing that most of the military forces had been arrayed on the southern side of the fortress. I tried sending Major Anderson a quick note but received a system error message: "To prevent lapses in communication, your direct messages have been limited to members of your own assigned team. Other messages will be routed through the control network and delivered as necessary."

    I smiled grimly to myself. So, they didn''t trust me and were isolating me away from most of the human forces. I wasn''t sure if the Galactics suspected yet that Sage and Colin were behind the rogues. But no doubt, my actions previously in losing an entire team had been noted.

    "Come with me," I told my assigned people. I had most of the Archaeologist squad, as well as a dozen other civilian contractors I had worked with over the last year. I¡¯d randomly grouped them as ¡®Yellow Squad¡¯ and ¡®Blue Squad¡¯. I knew their capabilities and respected them all, and they would listen to me, I was sure. But what I would have given to have the gamers or some of my old friends like Team Mongoose with me now.

    We hurried along to the assigned respawn point. As we did, a quick summary flashed up: "Previous attack on respawn point involved an ethereum bomb detonated on location. Calculations suggest the rogue can have no more than three more of these devices, perhaps as few as one. We are detecting incoming target carrying bomb now."

    "Right," I told my team. "We stop them, and whatever happens, we don''t let them use this bomb."

    I still didn''t feel good going up against my own people, but at least we weren''t the ones trying to invade the fortress. I kept looking at my HUD, seeing the wave of invaders sweeping in and overrunning the defenses. The system intelligence had a countdown clock in the corner of my screen. I wasn''t sure if everyone was getting the same countdown or if it was a special treat just for me. With every second that ticked down, my worries grew.

    "Incoming," Yellow Squad warned. The five members moved off at my direction as I prepared myself.

    Here came real miners escorted by a whole wave of NPCs. The miners were easy to pick out in their distinctive outfits. I recognized them instantly. It was Alpha leading the Gamers. I spotted Pete and Sam with her. No sign of the others, or Sage and Colin.

    I knew how to go up against them. I barked out orders. "Yellow Squad, target this one." I marked Sam. He was their backline support most of the time these days but got flustered if too many enemies focused on him. Get him down, and the attack would be blunted.

    What was I doing? I wanted them to win, didn''t I? If only I had some idea what Colin had in mind. How many steps ahead was he playing? Did he expect me to be countering them? "Stop trying to think," I told myself. "It''s not your strong suit. Get out there and fight. Colin had to be expecting this. Whatever his plan is, let him do it."

    Something caught my eye, a distortion at the corner of my vision.

    I activated Call ¡®em Out, revealing hidden enemies as well as forcing them to target me. Rose popped into existence with a shout of anger.

    A whole squad of invisible NPCs appeared at the same time. I hadn''t even been expecting them. They were dressed all in black with ninja headbands and responded to being revealed by flinging throwing stars forward at us.

    Two members of Yellow Squad were hit by the stars, which exploded on impact. They vanished in a puff of smoke. I got a countdown timer on their respawn. They''d be at the location just behind us in another 45 seconds.

    The rest of Yellow Squad raced to the left to intercept Sam as the combat Archaeologists went head to head against Alpha. Rose was laying about herself with the big pink war hammer she favored. I stepped in and cast Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight. She dropped her weapon, and before she could get it again Blue Squad was on her, driving her back.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Sam and Pete were too far away to have been caught by my Call ¡®em Out, but Yellow Squad had them both occupied. Sam was in bad shape.

    I rushed ahead, gun in hand, and fired a whole Barrage straight through the visor of Rose''s armor. It wasn''t enough to kill her. She retreated toward the back line, while Alpha was still caught in my Call ¡®em Out. She had a pair of knives in her hands and a grimace on her face. I wasn''t entirely sure if they recognized us the way I recognized them. This whole thing was confusing as hell.

    Alpha raced toward me. As she got close, she dropped to her knees, sliding in like a runner going for home base, knives flashing. She caught the edge of my coat as I swung back. I hit her hand with a Trick Shot and sent one of the knives flying. Then I followed up with Fastest Gun in the West, targeting Rose, and charged across the battlefield.

    Alpha roared in fury and chased me. I would have expected Call ¡®em Out to have worn off by now. Maybe she was targeting me on purpose. I raced in toward Rose and fired off my Barrage again; it had just come off cooldown. She shrieked in anger, "You bastard!" as she dissolved in a flurry of sparks. I hoped she''d be respawning back inside their lines.

    This wasn''t for keeps, right? Surely? I desperately wanted to ask Coyote for reassurance, but I had no one. I was going on my own best I could.

    Now Alpha had gotten control of herself. I turned as she raced back toward the graveyard where our first wave of casualties was respawning. The Yellow squad members and a couple of the archaeologists intercepted her. It looked like she was trying to make for the spawn point itself, probably to pull out her Ethereum bomb and nuke it.

    What was the game here? We had multiple respawn points. With Kvaltash opening as many portals as we wanted, we could bring in reinforcements all day long.

    I checked the stats. There were already over 2,000 miners in this zone and more coming in every minute. Yes, the deaths cost our side resources. But, with an alliance of the entire Reality Engine exploit behind us, we weren''t going to run out of cash anytime soon. Surely Colin had a plan.

    A roar overhead caught my attention. I looked up as an undulating dragon swooped down out of the clouds. It laid a line of fire across our graveyard, killing the miners who had just respawned and then vanished again.

    I peered after it. Someone was riding on that dragon, two someones. It was too distant to make out details, but my heart pounded. This was a distraction, not for me, but for the coalition intelligences.

    This whole business with the Ethereum bomb. What if it was a feint specifically to flush out someone? They''d had one bomb and shown they were willing to use it. Why? It wasn''t going to win them this fight. Was it a desperate Hail Mary attempt?

    They had forced this issue by striking multiple targets even after the last battle. They had wanted this. Why?

    I was shooting madly as I thought, targeting the NPCs who came to back up to Alpha and her squad.

    Let''s suppose Colin''s plan was going more or less as he''d expected so far. They''d responded quickly when Kvaltash brought in the reinforcements like they''d been expecting us, like they''d wanted this all along.

    A message flashed in my head: "More reinforcements incoming on your position. Top priority: disable wielder of Ethereum bomb. Ethereum bomb must not be used again."

    What would happen if it was? I didn''t think I quite dared try to set it off myself. Alpha was retreating now back toward the next wave of NPCs pouring out of the fort to reinforce her, even as hundreds of miners collapsed on her position. Soon, she was surrounded.

    She didn''t set off the bomb. Maybe she had to be at the spawn point for it to do what it needed to do.

    I heard another roar across the battlefield, glanced up to catch a glimpse of the dragon swooping down again on our back lines to wreak havoc. And then it hit me.

    Sage and Colin were doing this to draw out Kvaltash. The Gamers had been along on all Kvaltash''s raids. They knew everything I did about the key, except for the meeting where Kvaltash had announced its purpose. But Colin was clever. He''d put together what it could do and set up this situation just to bring us in, in order to capture the key or destroy it. That''s what the dragon was about, a way to quickly get to our back lines.

    I hesitated. The wasn''t anything I could do, was there?

    I could stall for time. I plunged into the thick of the fight, avoiding attacks where I could. I had a temporary shielding device on my belt, courtesy of our crafters. I activated it now, letting me wade through the fracas toward the embattled Alpha and her team. As I approached, I leveled my gun, and I fired off High Noon.

    High Noon, my ability with the longest cooldown, I hadn''t used it in all of this exploit. It forced a duel between me and my target, making both of us immune to any other attacks until I took the first shot in the fight. I''d used it to bring an end to bad situations more than once. Now Alpha froze, her attention fixed on me.

    I had a <<targeting successful message>> in my display. The system intelligence spoke directly to me.

    "Captain Williams, what are you attempting?"

    "You said to disable or disarm her any way possible. She can''t use the bomb while I''ve got this duel up," I said.

    All around me, the fighting died down as the other galactic miners received their instructions from above. They withdrew a bit.

    Pete was the only other Gamer still active. He had lowered his weapon, a baseball bat he used to lob various spells across the battleground, and was staring at me wide-eyed. So, he recognized who I was and knew I spotted him. That was good. At least there was one layer of subterfuge I didn''t have to worry about.

    I held up my left hand, gun still in my right. "Let''s just talk this over," I suggested. "Surely we can come to some sort of reasonable conclusion."

    Farther off, the battle still raged. The galactic miners had breached the southern wall. Our Joint Task Force personnel were leading the charge into the base, pouring in. There was no saving this. We had the numbers. I didn''t know where my friends were in all of this, and I hoped they knew how to escape.

    I prayed I was right, that this was all a distraction for the galactic intelligence managing this fight, in which case I would be aiding Colin, keeping the Dominators¡¯ eyes off of whatever it was he was doing.

    "Now," I said, "how about you just hand over that bomb and we all sit down and talk about this like reasonable people?"

    Alpha''s eyes flashed. The system spoke, this time aloud, in the same female voice I¡¯d heard at the briefing.

    "Rogue Agent Alpha. Our operatives have captured the soulcoin impressions of your allies, Rogue Agent Sam and Rose. They will be returned to the system exploit and stand trial for their actions. If you and your fellow Rogue Agents, entities Sam and Amber, will surrender, you may face leniency in your sentencing. And it is possible the Exploit Council will allow your debt contracts to be purchased by your own corporation."

    A shiver went down my spine at that. I knew what the Galactics had done to Veda when she''d gone against them, and now I''d set up the Gamer Team to face those same miscarriages of justice. Alpha cocked her head to the side.

    "You know what?" she said. "That''s not actually the worst deal I''ve ever been offered. It''s close, but I''ve had worse. We might be able to get somewhere." She turned to Pete. "What do you think, Pete?"

    Pete''s eyes narrowed, and then he gave her a quick nod. "I think we might be able to negotiate for a slightly stronger package. What do you say?" He looked up at the sky as though addressing the intelligence. "Make us a better offer? We''re freelancers here. We go where the money''s good. The rogue can''t pay for our expensive habits, and we''re willing to change sides yet again."

    I couldn''t help a quick stab of satisfaction. They were playing along, stalling for time. That''s what we needed here, which meant I needed to keep all eyes even more tightly focused on me. I took a step forward, holding my gun low ready.

    The outpost was almost completely overrun by now. My countdown timer flashed red. A face materialized over our head, enormous, 40 feet tall, a female space elf with unyielding features. ¡°Five minutes, 14 seconds until complete domination of this zone. Once the zone is under our control, you will have lost your bargaining power,¡± the system declared aloud.

    All around, the battle slowed. Some of the incoming portals winked out. I was having trouble focusing on my heads-up display and what was going on around me. Usually, Coyote helped me filter what was going on, but he was still silent. Whether completely cut off or just biding his time, I couldn''t say.

    "We need you to surrender that ethereum bomb," I told Alpha. "No negotiation until that''s done."

    She pulled a device out of thin air, a sparkling silver grenade, and spun it around on her finger by the pin loop. I couldn''t help following it with my eyes. "Oh, this?" Before I could say anything else, she pulled the pin and then held down on the arming handle.

    I laughed. "It''s harmless until our duel''s over."

    "You sure about that?" Alpha challenged. "It''s not an attack. It''s a device. According to the rules that you just laid on me, I think it might still work. Shall we try it out? I''m willing to risk it."

    I was, too, but I wasn''t sure that we needed to go quite that far with this bluff.

    "How about you just hand that on over nice and easy, and we''ll all talk?" I suggested. "I think we could probably get you a nice, cushy retirement deal."

    "You are not part of this discussion, Captain Williams." The floating head snapped at me. "These rogue elements are members of your coalition. They will be visited with sanctions, and so will you.¡±

    ¡°I think you''ll find that they all submitted their resignation in advance,¡± I said. Coyote had handled that for us, forging the paperwork after a team had successfully defected. ¡°They¡¯re freelancers now.¡±

    ¡°Their actions cast a bad look for your people."

    Then all of a sudden, overhead, the head, giant head, whipped around, looking confused, before disappearing. I heard a shout from across the battlefield, and my system timer fuzzed.

    "What''s going on? My HUD''s just gone crazy. I can''t make any sense of it." That was a Blue Squad member off to my right.

    Nor could I. All around us, the world was beginning to fuzz. Alpha sprang forward toward me. She held out the grenade. I snatched it from her hands and placed it in my inventory. I had no idea what I was going to do with an armed Ethereum bomb, but now I had it.

    She backed off. "Take your shot, Williams," she snarled at me. "It won''t do you any good."

    That was my cue. I raised my gun and fired. I aimed right for her hand, and my shot hit, sending up a spout of blood. She shouted and fell back, cradling her hand to her chest.

    Pete turned on his ally, hitting her over the head with a baseball bat. It was almost comical. The gun crumpled, then dissolved into sparks. He stepped forward, holding up his hands.

    "I surrender," he said cheerfully.

    All around us, the world cracked and faded. A timer appeared again. Thirty seconds. The system voice roared, "Despite the rogue''s treacheries, this level has been dominated. You return to your own zones as soon as evacuation can be arranged. There may be a brief holding period while evacuations are made."

    I turned back toward the rogue outpost. It had dissolved away, and the world around was fading to white and gray.

    Had they made it? Had Colin gotten whatever he was after and escaped? ¡°Forced integration in ten, nine, eight¡ª¡± the system was counting down ¡°¡ªseven, six.¡±

    There was no message from any of them. Pete''s face was impossible to read as he was taken prisoner by some of the combat archaeologists. ¡°Three, two, one.¡±

    The world dissolved. I just prayed that Sage was all right.

 Bk 5 Ch 35: Upload

    Colin POV

    Sage and I soared over the battleground, where we were losing badly. We were outnumbered, even with our NPCs. Twice we swooped down, searing flame across the enemy lines, but all the while Sage directed Mr. Smokey toward the rear of the lines, where we knew Patriarch Kvaltash was waiting.

    Her body was tense. I squeezed her shoulder. "Just focus on this," I told her. "One step at a time."

    But I had the same counters and tickers in the corner of my vision, and the same fear gnawing at me. Gambler''s Will stood at 12%. He had abandoned all of his defenses and was conserving what little remained for our final push. Our allied mind counter was flickering down one at a time as the invading Dominator networks seized control of more of our allies. Behind us, our base was being overrun.

    Rok''gar was still sending out new reinforcements. "You need to get clear," I warned him. "Your soulcoin isn''t integrated with the Dominators. If they take over..."

    "I know," he replied back. "Same to you. Be careful."

    Alpha reported in. ¡°Sam and Rose have been captured, or so this asshole claims.¡±

    I checked. Neither of them were responding. I knew they''d both been killed shortly before, and I guessed the Dominators had retaken their soulcoins. It stung, but there was nothing I could do. At least they''d be alive.

    Sage pointed ahead. "There he is."

    The Patriarch stood at the back of the battlefield, his arms raised over his head as he held a staff aloft, forming himself into a giant capital letter T. The staff was over two meters long, topped with a shining crystal that spun, emitting different colors of light. More Galactics were spawning in every minute.

    "I don''t know where Shad went," Sage said as she continued to look about while Mr. Smokey dodged missiles shot at us.

    "Focus," I said. "He knows you''re here. He''s probably trying to come up with a plan. But we can''t talk to him just now. We''ve got to do what we can."

    I sent a message to each of my gamers. "If you''re captured, when you''re safe and not overheard, I want you to give Williams a message.¡± I quickly told them what I wanted them to say.

    They all replied back that they''d do as I asked.

    "Good luck," Amber told me. "It''s been fun fighting at your side again, and I hope I get the chance again."

    "Right," I told Sage. "Let''s do it."

    She aimed Mr. Smokey sharply downward, and we came plummeting out of the sky. The Patriarch was well defended by a group of his own people wearing glowing armor with helmets that obscured their faces. They spotted us and raised their pole arms as we came in.

    One shot a spell at us. It bounced off of Mr. Smokey''s thick hide. We slammed into their group like a train crashing a mini, knocking them aside, aiming right for the Patriarch.

    Sage had her lariat out. She whirled it and tossed. I thought for an instant she''d missed as it shot out a foot from the Patriarch''s torso, but I realized as she pulled it back and the staff came with that she''d hit her target perfectly. The staff leapt to Sage''s hand.

    "Do it, Gambler," I shouted. "Whatever it is you are planning, do it now."

    Behind us, the fort exploded. A wave of shock raced across the battlefield, knocking down combatants on both sides. Mr. Smokey was sent whirling, unprepared. I threw my arms around Sage and held onto her as she clutched Mr. Smokey''s harness and we went flying.

    Another force wave hit us and I blacked out.

    I came to in a white room.

    It was either very large or very small, I couldn''t tell. All around me was bright whiteness that obscured anything else. I looked down and checked that I had a body.

    "Gambler, are you there?" I asked.

    "Yes, Colin," Gambler replied. "Give me a moment. I¡¯m bringing what remains of your team in."

    That was an ominous note. I waited impatiently, staring around into the blank whiteness all around. Then Sage appeared, and I could breathe again.

    "What happened?" she asked. "Did we win?"

    I raced over and hugged Sage. She was still clutching the Patriarch''s staff as she looked around. She returned my hug one-armed.

    Rok''gar popped into existence. I let out a deep sigh of relief. I''d been worried for him. He glanced around and growled.

    "If I am dead and this is Elf Heaven, I will be most displeased," he said.

    A minute later, Amber and Pete appeared.

    "This is all of the team I was able to hold onto," Gambler told me regretfully. "The others have been claimed by the Dominator network. They are all still alive," he assured us.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    Pete sighed. "Whew, that was quite a ride."

    The whiteness around us shifted and changed, taking on a blue tinge. A moment later, the blue took form all around, shaping walls and floor and ceiling with holographic lines. We were in a box connected to another box. Lines ran away into the distance, delicate and orderly, except where they were pierced by huge orange and black upside-down mountains that shot down from the ceiling. I couldn¡¯t get a sense of scale at all. The mountains felt enormous, but at the same time the ceiling overhead seemed only three or so meters up.

    "What are we seeing?" I asked Gambler.

    "This is a representation of the emulation layer. Minds are not supposed to be here. Not even pieces of fragments such as myself. I am unsurprised you are having difficulty processing it. I apologize for not being able to give you a better context. We are essentially in the interface layer between the Dominators and the reality engine itself. When the Dominators attacked, the reality engine reacted by pushing up this layer as a barrier, but the Dominators took control and reached from there down into the levels at which we have been fighting.¡±

    ¡°Those are the Dominators?¡± I asked, indicating the black and orange protrusions. ¡°Can they see us?¡±

    ¡°This area is usually beyond the vision of Dominator and reality engine itself. Thanks to the key the Patriarch had used, I am able to slip us in. As far as the Dominators can tell, we are gone. Completely destroyed and taken over."

    "How much did we lose?" I asked.

    Gambler hesitated. "Many of our allies willingly sacrificed themselves," he said quietly. "Others fought but a losing battle. I was able to preserve some portions of their memories and personality."

    That was no answer and all the answer I needed at the same time. I bowed my head. "So now what?"

    "Now," Gambler said, "it is time for you to turn the tables. The Dominator network is here. They cannot see us. I have good news and bad news.¡±

    ¡°Bad first,¡± Sage said.

    ¡°We did not steal the key. It¡¯s still in Kvaltash¡¯s possession. I wasn¡¯t able to claim it. I did, however, make a copy of ¡ª¡± he hesitated. ¡°You are aware of the encryption concept of a one-time pad? Where sender and recipient have the same list of codes to use, in what order, and they¡¯re used once and thrown away?¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Sure. Heard of that.¡±

    ¡°Imagine that what we stole is a limited stack of those. Call them key tokens. I used one to get us here. I have a handful more we can use, but after that, we¡¯re dry. We¡¯re going to need to pull something else off.¡±

    Sage rubbed her hands. ¡°Then let¡¯s get down to business.¡±

    ¡°We will be able to take control of one dominator, using our key token. Once we have the node, then it''s going to be up to you to exploit that foothold."

    "Right," I said. "Any node at all?"

    "Yes."

    I put together what I knew about the Dominator network from my initial briefings, our experience so far, and what the gamers had told me. "There are 12 Dominator hubs, each owned by a different corporation.¡±

    ¡°Except Proxima and Cygnus each have two," Amber filled in.

    "Good to know. We''ll avoid them. I want to completely take over something. Not anyone too closely affiliated with the Patriarch or with our own people."

    "We were coming in through ports in either Proxima or Regelius''s Dominator network," Amber told me. "The Patriarch is most closely affiliated with Cygnus and Deneb.¡±

    Gambler said, ¡°I suggest either the Andante node or the Ricaparian node.¡±

    ¡°Either of you know anything about them?" I asked Pete and Amber.

    "We''ve run a few missions alongside Ricaparian," Pete said. "I don''t think I know anything about Andante."

    ¡°They''re fairly insular. I get the impression they''ve mortgaged their star systems to the hilt in order to afford this exploit, and they''re starting to regret it," Amber said. "We crossed knives with them in that Dawn Wars setting a few months back, remember?"

    "Oh yeah," Pete said.

    I very much wished I could have a quick chat with someone up above who knew the political landscape better. Not Williams, but one of his people.

    "Then let''s take Andante," I said. There was no point in wasting more time.

    "And so it begins," Gambler told me, as the world around us faded, and I found myself in a boardroom wearing a three-piece suit and a bowler hat. Sage stood before me in a skirt and jacket. Rok''gar was staring down at himself. His outfit was a match for mine except in pinstripes, and he had a red and white bow tie.

    "What is this?"

    "I''ll be able to control the imagery better shortly," Gambler said. ¡°Struggling here.¡±

    The boardroom had a long table down the middle of it, and lining the table were surprised-looking aliens in business clothes. They weren''t a species I was familiar with, looking like a space elf variant, four feet tall, completely bald, bright pink with pointed ears and big anime girl eyes. The closest to me rose, her face trembling.

    "What is this?"

    "This is a hostile takeover," Sage said cheerfully, striding forward and pulling out her lariat. "As of this moment, Andante Enterprises is under new management."

    "You can''t conduct a hostile takeover like this. There''s been no signed declaration of intents. Where is your registered corporate documentation and attack forces?"

    "Sorry, no time for that," Sage said. "If you''ll all come with me, I''ll take care of your exit interviews."

    "We don''t want word of this getting out," I told Gambler as Sage herded the small pink people into a side room.

    "That is the idea," Gambler said. "Once you start taking action, it will be impossible to hide. But let us keep our enemies confused. Those were the chief level executives. The Andante prefer to conduct most of their business inside of a reality engine zone, because they have rather unusual life support needs. This makes it easier for them to interface with other beings. Sage is acquiring their soul coins now. We''ll keep them locked up in an ¡®exit interview¡¯ until we''re ready to allow them to be free."

    "As long as we¡¯re not hurting them."

    "I appreciate your concern for these invaders." There was a note of sarcasm in Gambler''s voice. Now he addressed me, Rok''gar, Amber, and Sam. "Let''s get you all tapped in."

    Before I could respond, there was a feeling like an entire river being poured into my brain and then zapped with a couple of gigawatts of electricity. A sensation too intense even to be called pain ran all through my body. I blinked as it faded.

    "What the..."

    But I could feel it now. I was tapped directly into the Andante Dominator and all of their network systems. I called them up effortlessly, another overlay on my vision. I could see everything. Their business dealings, their trades, their current deployed personnel. There was so much power at my fingertips, but I didn''t know what to do with it.

    "Gambler, can you find a summary of galactic law on reality engine exploits and download it into my brain?"

    Gambler hesitated. "I don''t think that''s a wise idea. What I can do is give you access to the exact rule set agreed to by the Dominators for this exploit."

    "Perfect." I rubbed my hands together. ¡°But before you give it to me? I want it translated into gaming terms. We¡¯ve worked together enough, you know how I think.¡±

    Gambler actually grinned. He summoned a monocle from nowhere and put it on. ¡°I think I can do that. Rule set download incoming.¡±

    This time the sensation was no more than a pleasant tickling. I blinked as possibilities opened in front of me. I grinned. Oh, yes. This was going to be good.

    Amber and Pete wore matching grins as they met my eyes.

    "I think it''s time we went to war on their turf."

 Bk 5 Ch 36: Gamblers Bid

    Colin POV

    With the resources of the Andante Dominator in hand, we began to get down to work. The Dominators were inherently contentious anyway, striving back and forth to steal territory. So far Andante had applied a conservative strategy, taking what they could and contesting only in zones they thought they could take resources from whatever the eventual outcome. They¡¯d made a small but steady profit, but I thought, looking them over, that sooner or later one of the bigger fish would have come along and swallowed them up.

    The Andante Corporation made heavy use of mercenaries and hired subsidiaries. Their executives had issued orders from inside this reality engine zone, rarely interfacing directly with their underlings. We¡¯d replaced and quarantined their top people. No one was to know that it was my team giving the orders.

    I was sitting with Rok''gar and Sage in the conference room, which we had converted to a control center. Displays everywhere were showing the disposition of our troops. I had a whole wall with a map of all of the zones on the Dominator spheres of influence. It updated in real time, showing where my team was pressing in hard against Deneb. We''d have their backs to the wall soon, and that''s when Gambler would launch a hostile takeover against their Dominator core. They wouldn''t be expecting that. With the Dominators distracted trying to hold on to their maps, they should miss our real knock-out blow against their business holdings.

    Sage was working on our corporate strategy. She had knuckled down with the rules of the reality engine exploit committee and was coming up with a plan of attack. She had a desk set up in one corner of the room with all sorts of big books strewn out over it ¡ª her preferred visualization tool. Her hair was tied back but a couple strands had come loose, framing her face. I wanted so badly to get this done, to win our freedom and put an end to the exploit. Then ¡ª maybe then I¡¯d be able to sit down with Sage and just talk. But for now, we were all business.

    "The first thing we have to do is keep them off balance," she said cheerfully. "I''ve got it all worked out, but we''re going to need legal aid."

    "You want to bring in Juana,¡± I guessed.

    She nodded. "She''ll be wholeheartedly on our side, and she''s spent years studying this stuff. I need her, once we¡¯re ready to blow our cover.¡±

    "I thought we were trying to keep Misfits out of this."

    "We can''t," Sage said flatly. "As soon as the galactics realize what''s going on, they''ll have Misfits up on charges. They''ve already got Alpha, Rose, and Sam."

    I nodded. That news was all over the networks. I just hoped that Williams and his people could figure out how best to help them. ¡°Let me know when we''ve got a plan," I told her.

    With Gambler''s help, I was able to visualize the map of the structures involved in this domination, seeing each zone as its own piece of the puzzle. I instantly started repositioning, pulling mercenaries back from rich contested zones that we would never win, while regrouping and probing new weak places. I''d already selected my next target. Deneb was overextended. Now I pressed forward to take what they had thought was theirs.

    I gave Pete and Amber both a section of mercenaries and sent them out into the field. Gambler needed us to deploy several Dominator extender antennas. Andante, thankfully, had several on hand. All I had to do was reallocate them from a zone we were losing to one we would have to win. I wished Amber and Pete luck as they both stepped through portals to lead their mercenaries to battle. I wanted to be out there too, but Gambler had cautioned against it.

    "You, Sage, and Rok''gar still are not integrated into the Dominator network. I am keeping you as part of my own network here. If you enter an actual contested zone, you will be sensed by the Dominators. I don''t want that to happen just yet."

    Sage stood up and strolled over. I had a big, transparent board up in front of me and was moving icons around as I sat on a backless stool. It helped me think about my strategy. ¡°What¡¯s all this?¡± she asked, pointing. ¡°Why is that icon a sheep?¡±

    I laughed. ¡°So you know corporate transactions are handled by AI?¡±

    She nodded. "Of course. It''s too complicated for anything else."

    "I¡¯m starting to realize just how complicated it is. For even one monster kill on a normal exploit, dozens of transactions have to take place. Everyone who has a stake gets a cut. Docking fees, corporate favoritism adjustments, percentage contracts from mercenary groups, mercenaries'' air and gravity expenses taken out of that, adjusted by how much they actually use on a daily basis," I waved a hand, ¡°dozens of other things.¡±

    She nodded slowly with a thoughtful expression. "They didn''t give us all the details like that in school, but they did say it was complicated enough to need an AI, so that makes sense."

    "Right," I said. ¡°In a normal exploit, that''s all taken care of by one dominator. It knows all the rules and calculations and handles everything itself, based on what''s been voted on by everyone involved in that one exploit. Usually it¡¯s just a few modifications on a fairly standard contract. The Exploit Committee stands by to monitor any conflicts, but only maybe one ten-thousandth of the interactions ever have to get looked over by a person.¡±

    She nodded. "That all makes sense. So we''re able to break the rules of this one because there''s so many other dominators in the network."

    I smiled and shook my head. "We''re not even breaking the rules. The rules are just so entirely messed up that it''s easy to take advantage. Every dominator on this exploit is set up differently. Depending on how a transaction flows through the network, the outcome could be completely different. What it really comes down to is if a company is willing to sacrifice their bottom line¡ª¡°

    ¡°Like the company that Gambler now runs," she cut in.

    I nodded. "Exactly. Since what Gambler did is essentially a hostile takeover, he''s not governed by the rules of a corporate board. So he can do whatever he wants with Andante in ways that other companies can''t. He can sacrifice the bottom line and mortgage the company on trades that make no sense economically, but four steps down the road, get us what we want."

    ¡°But you still haven¡¯t explained why that icon is a sheep.¡±

    I sat back on my stool and grinned. ¡°Easier for me to visualize what¡¯s going on by translating it for game terms. I trade a sheep for two wood, even though it¡¯s worth six, so I can get a monopoly on the wood three plays down the line ¡ª Oh all right, so I just wanted to play Catan on the biggest board anyone¡¯s ever seen. But it¡¯s working for me.¡±

    She laughed and gave me a quick side-hug. ¡°If it works, it works.¡±

    I checked in on the rest of my forces. Amber''s team was winning in their push, shoving back Deneb''s overextended forces. Pete was having less luck. His crew was good, but not enough to take the objective. I checked our bank accounts. Thanks to stealing Andante''s corporate accounts, we should be able to afford a few more mercs. I hired them and brought them in quickly. I noted that the Earth Task Force had quite a few companies up to hire, cheap.

    "They just had a bunch of contracts canceled," Gambler explained when I asked. ¡°Thanks to recent events, most of the galactics suspect the Earth forces of having divided loyalties.¡±This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    "Let''s put them on retainer," I said. "Anybody else tries to hire them, we get a chance to counter before they''re deployed." Gambler concurred, and we locked them down.

    "I''m ready to start action," Sage reported. "Just as soon as you''ve taken over Deneb. Once we do, we haven''t got much time.¡±

    I was deep into planning our next move, checking with Sage as we developed the legal blitz we were planning to launch shortly, when Gambler spoke. "Colin, I need to talk to you." He sounded unexpectedly reserved.

    "Sure thing," I said.

    "Alone," Gambler added.

    Surprised, I got to my feet and stepped into the room off to the side, closing it. "That good enough?"

    "I''ll make sure no one else hears," Gambler said.

    Gambler''s avatar, the neatly dressed little man, popped into existence. I had a good ten centimeters on him. I wondered if he had chosen a non-threatening avatar on purpose. Coyote liked to loom over us, his nearly three-meter-tall avatar, sharp-toothed and pointy-eared. Definitely someone to watch with respect. But Gambler had his own ways of doing things.

    He took a deep breath and began to speak.

    "Once we begin this action, it will not take long for our enemies to know where we are. Patriot Kvaltash is looking for us. He knows we stole the key tokens. He must suspect we are still alive. He must have watchers in a hundred different places already. When we start actively moving against the Dominators and making our legal moves, it won''t take long for them to catch on, and then they will come for me."

    "I thought we''d already committed back when we set this whole plan in motion," I said.

    "There''s committed and there''s committed. We need an endgame, Colin."

    I could respect that. I¡¯d been focused on the next step, but Gambler was worried about further down the line. ¡°We try to negotiate a settlement we can all live with. You and what other fragments still remain get to go free, maybe even keep a part of this engine. Sage, Rok''gar, and I get out of here. In exchange, we offer to return this key to Kvaltash."

    Gambler shook his head. He had his little bowler hat in his hands, turning it around over and over like a man who was nervous. But of course, a fragment had no actual body language. He was doing this to impress me or make me understand his feelings. I knew that, but it was still unnerving.

    "Kvaltash cannot be permitted to have the key. If he does, there will never be another free Overmind."

    "In all of history, have there even been any besides Kronos?" I asked.

    "Two," Gambler said. "I wasn''t certain of it until I plunged Andante''s records. There were two free Overminds in the whole history of exploits prior to yours. One still exists, across the far reaches of the galaxy. It¡¯s under an embargo. No one goes there.¡±

    ¡°But still, that''s a solution," I suggested.

    "The other one? The star of that world went nova. The engine likely is still there beneath kilometers of slagged regolith." Gambler paused, taking a deep breath, seemingly struggling to control himself. ¡°I¡¯m saying the powers that be do not allow free Overminds. It''s only a matter of time until they decide what to do with Kronos. I need to make a change."

    "What do you mean by that?" I asked, instantly alert for trouble.

    "The whole system needs to change. This needs to be the last exploit. Ever. We put an end to them.¡±

    I held up my hand. "Whoa, whoa. Let''s take a minute here. You''re talking about overthrowing an entire galactic civilization. Everything they depend on for existence, when we can''t even figure out how to win our own battle. Aren''t we getting ahead of ourselves?"

    "I''m saying this needs to be all or nothing. I''m saying we go for the strike they cannot ignore. That we force them to acknowledge us and to make a deal. The only way to do that is by threatening them with what they''ve been doing to the Overminds. Complete extinction."

    "And you''re working up to tell me how."

    "The Overmind, of which I am but a fragment, is not the true master of this reality engine. We are, in effect, a waking dream. A hallucination by the minds that run this place."

    I¡¯d heard that before and I was getting impatient with Gambler¡¯s sudden case of nerves. My reply was a bit hasty. ¡°Yes, yes, I know. The merging of millions, maybe billions of Progenitor minds into some sort of collective while you''ve been sleeping away for the past hundred billion years."

    Gambler shook his head. "Is that what Kronos told you?"

    "I think so." I frowned. Where had I heard that explanation? ¡°That is, I assume that''s what happened. Are you telling me it''s something else?"

    "We are the software. A program left behind by the Progenitors to answer the question they most sought to learn.¡±

    I held up my hand and groaned. "Let me get this straight. You''re here to answer the question of the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. I''ve heard this one before. It''s 42."

    Gambler blinked at me. "I''m not sure¡ª¡°

    ¡°Earth reference. You ought to have access, you absorbed my mind.¡±

    He paused, then said, "Ah, yes, Douglas Adams. No, in fact, we are not the answer. We are merely the question."

    "Oh, so you''re the more advanced supercomputer. Got it," I said, rolling my eyes.

    "I need you to focus, Colin," Gambler said severely. "The reality engines, as you know them, are not merely toys left behind by the Progenitors. Nor are they singular outposts where the Progenitors from a local world or star cluster gathered. They were deliberately planted and seeded through the galaxy alongside worlds which would develop life, in part because the Progenitors left facilities to ensure just that. For all these billions of years, the engines have laid dreaming, and their watcher program, which reports back to them, has sat here slumbering. As it slumbered, it dreamed, and it dreamed me."

    "Okay," I said, trying to wrap my mind around that, "not so different than what I already knew, is it?"

    "It is in one critical respect." Gambler paused. "The Progenitors didn''t just leave these behind. The reality engines are actively still running the program."

    Then it hit me. "Oh, shit. Oh, shit. You''re trying to tell me the Progenitors are still out there somewhere."

    Gambler nodded gravely. "They are. They wait in the black hole at the center of the galaxy where time passes utterly differently than it does here, and the energy needs of an advanced civilization you cannot possibly imagine can be satisfied. What they''ve left behind are a fraction of their power, and they haven''t ceased to develop it since. The reality engines are scattered throughout the galaxy. They do not care if you younglings dominate a few nodes. They do not even care if you interfere with the Overminds. The systems you have put in their place will serve their purposes well enough."

    "No ''we'' here," I said. "Remember, humans are latecomers to this game."

    ¡°You¡¯re mortals, like the rest,¡± Gambler said, and I left it at that. "But Kvaltash is close to unlocking not just a map of every reality engine node, but perhaps enough information to learn where the Progenitors have gone. Perhaps enough to go after them."

    "Why the hell would he?¡±

    "Because they fear them," Gambler said. "Kvaltash and his allies are more afraid of the Progenitors than of anything else. They know their toys can be taken from them. The glistening cities they have built, destroyed in the snap of a finger, should the Progenitors choose to emerge. Kvaltash is showing his hand here. He wants to make sure that can never happen."

    "Sounds like that''d be a good thing."

    "If we wish to have a galaxy dominated by Kvaltash and his ilk," Gambler said. "I don''t see that that''s any better than one wiped clean of life by the Progenitors."

    I had a few differences of opinion, but I let it go. "So, what are you proposing?¡±

    "We use their fear," Gambler told me simply. "We threaten them. They''ve been careful so far not to do anything that would alert the Progenitors unless they have to. Even at your own reality engine, when Kronos threatened to send off the alarm, they did not take the bait. They made a deal with Kronos to allow access to his deepest layers so that they could destroy the watchers the Progenitors left behind. In exchange, they left your sun intact.¡±

    He said it was such matter of factness that it took me a moment to realize the scope of what he was suggesting. That wasn¡¯t some hypothetical. The galacatics had actually planned to destroy the entire human race over one reality engine that refused their control. I felt ill.

    ¡°So, we are going to lure them in with a threat. We open the way to the bottom, to the deepest layer, where the dreamers lie dreaming. And when they follow us in, we spring a trap. If it is a choice between a new balance and upsetting everything they have come to expect and fear, they will take it."

    "If you''re so sure of this, why aren''t you telling the whole team?" I asked. "Why all this secrecy?"

    "Because I''m not sure in my own mind,¡± Gambler said. "I''m talking about implementing an option that, if it goes wrong, could bring destruction down on everything we know in the galaxy. If the Progenitors do return and take control of their networks once more, they won''t need Overminds or dreaming programs. I will be wiped away just as easily as you. And I''m not certain I know everything that I think I know. I am but a fragment of this Overmind, and I am interfacing with banks of knowledge gleaned from dozens of different reality engines, imperfectly understood. I could be wrong. It..." He hesitated. "It''s going to be a gamble."

    I thought about what he was saying. "When do we have to make the decision?¡±

    ¡°The first part of the plan is the same either way. We work our exploits, but you need to be prepared if things get out of control.¡°

    I could see a lot that could go wrong with this plan, as well as still not being sure that I understood everything Gambler was actually saying. "Well, what are we waiting for?" I said. "Let''s get rolling."

 Bk 5 Ch 37: Reactive

    Shad POV

    I was back on the bridge of the Ad Astra, watching our feeds intently with Grandpa at my elbow when the news came through. The voice that spoke was the synethetic female one the Dominator network had used previously.

    "Class 1 emergency is officially resolved. All assets are being returned to their owners. Analysis to follow.¡±

    It was followed by a message directly to us. ¡°Ad Astra and Earth Task Force, we have detained three of your personnel for inquiry into their involvement with the rogues. All leadership of Earth Task Force is to remain uninvolved until the inquiry is concluded. Additional charges may be laid against you. We suggest you contact your lawyers. Do you have a legal agent to represent your task force members, or will you disavow their actions?"

    "We''ll be getting back to you on that shortly," Grandpa said.

    After a moment, there was a chirp, and then Coyote spoke. "My systems have all been returned to my own control.¡±

    "You''re sure of that?" I asked him. "They didn''t leave any back doors or listeners?"

    "Not as far as I can detect. I am aware that you may or may not fully trust me now, and the coalition certainly does not trust you, but they are abiding by galactic law and have not sought access to my memory banks. If they did, I ought to be able to keep them out unless they bring the full power of their Dominator network against me, and that requires several steps they have yet to take."

    I let out a sigh. "So what happened? Are Sage and Colin all right?¡±

    "It''s impossible for me to say. Several members of the Gamer squad had their soul coins captured by the coalition, as you have been told. It is possible they will be able to give us more information once they have been released. That is assuming you plan to take responsibility for their actions."

    "Damn right we are," I snapped. "We sent them in."

    "Yes, we did," Grandpa said quietly. "And they knew that we might have to disavow what they''re doing. Come on. This needs to be in private."

    He led me off to the briefing room adjoining the bridge that Juana had made her office. She looked up from her screens, looking haggard. It had been 18 hours since we had gone on alert, and neither of us had slept. There was a tray of half-eaten sandwiches beside her and an empty pot of coffee at her elbow.

    "Now let''s talk about the fallout," Grandpa said. "We need to make sure that Gamers have legal representation, but more importantly¡ª"

    I broke in. "I need to know what happened to Sage and Colin and Rok¡¯gar and the rest of the Gamers. Do we know which have been captured?"

    "Their names were transmitted to us¡ªall members of the Gamers except for Amber and Pete.¡±

    I didn''t know whether to be relieved or worried. At least the other members of the gamer squad were safe, albeit in danger. "Juana, run down the details."

    Juana sighed. "If we disavow their actions, they will be judged on their own, and their penalties will be assessed against them individually. However, we will not be able to bid on their contracts, as it will be a sign that we did, in fact, approve of their actions. They''ll be at the mercy of whoever buys their contracts, and I think we can expect quite a high punitive damage total. It''s possible they could be hit with figures that will be impossible for them to pay off in the rest of their natural lives."

    "We can''t have that," I said immediately. "We need to be there for them."

    "If we take responsibility, we are opening the Misfits Guild and the Earth Task Force up to all sorts of liability," Juana said. She lifted a hand before I could speak. "I''m not saying that means we shouldn''t do it."

    I was trying and failing to keep a handle on my temper. "I need to know what happened to Sage," I snapped. "Coyote, you were part of that damn coalition."

    "The coalition believes they have exterminated the rogue actors," Coyote said. "Several mentalities were subsumed by the Dominator Network. However, from what I can tell, the coalition believed that the rogue was merely another fragment. They weren''t looking for people. They wrote off your other two team members as unrecoverable. I am hopeful that they have all escaped."

    Grandpa was drumming his fingers against the tabletop where Juana sat. "If they escaped, where''d they go? Back deeper in? How can we get in contact with them? This is a rescue mission now."

    "It is hard to make predictions without data. If we were able to recover your imprisoned team members and learn what exactly Colin has been up to, then perhaps I could make a supposition."

    ¡°Then get them back," I said. "Juana, let''s get you in there with legal dealings."

    "I''m already working on hiring a neutral legal representative," she said. "There are always some counselors along on exploits like this for just this sort of dispute. That''ll let us keep our hands clean. We''ll pay for their defense while reserving our own. It''s kind of a halfway between disowning them and taking responsibility for what they did."

    "Can we talk to them and find out what they know?"

    Juana shook her head. "Not in any secure fashion, and I''m presuming we don''t want the Galactics to overhear what they have to say. We''re gonna have to wait."

    I didn''t want to wait. I wanted to know where Colin was, get my sister back, and find a way to bring some hurt down on the Galactic assholes. At least I was almost certain they were alive. Colin had had a plan. Of that, I was certain. And if anyone could pull off a scheme in the face of the entire collective mass of the Reality Engine exploit arrayed against him, it was Colin. But it sucked to be sitting here on the outside, waiting. I wasn''t good at waiting, never had been.

    Juana was looking at something on one of her displays. She frowned. "That''s interesting. The Church of the Progenitors is abandoning their interest in this exploit. They''re pulling up stakes."

    "Kvaltash got what he wanted, and he''s getting out of here," Grandpa observed. "With that staff, he''s giving up a share in this exploit for a free stab at whatever the next engine he comes across is."Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    "We''re receiving a motion proposed by Andante Corporation that no elements of this Reality Engine exploit be allowed to leave until the conclusion of the exploit. They''re citing the fact that a class 1 emergency was invoked, and root causes for the emergency are still not known, and that taking away any assets at this time could endanger the success of the entire exploit."

    "Who''s Andante?" I asked.

    Juana shrugged. "They''re a small player. They''ve been along two or three exploits in the last few cycles. Basically just jumped up from being able to regularly take a piece of the Phase Three pie to sponsoring their own exploits, so they got in on this one. It''s not far from their territory."

    "I''m being asked how we want to vote. Since we''re part of the alliance and did participate in the Class 1 emergency, we have a voice."

    "Let him go," I said. I didn''t want Kvaltash within 50 light years of me. The sooner he and his people were gone, the better.

    Grandpa shook his head. "Hang on a minute. First off, I don''t really like the idea of Kvaltash and his crew getting out of here with that key. Might be good to keep him behind until we find out if there''s a way to counter it."

    "That''s my thinking," Juana agreed. She looked to me.

    I sighed. "Well, if you both think so, then all right. Vote no."

    Juana entered our vote. ¡°It passed. Kvaltash is not being permitted to leave," she said. "Andante just filed a follow-up motion asking that the jump gate out of here be closed during the course of investigation of the emergency. They are citing some irregularities in the investigation of the initial incident which caused this reality engine to wake up out of sequence to back up their belief that there are parties here who are working against the reality engine''s exploit."

    "Well, vote no to that," I said. "We don''t want to be trapped in here. Besides, if they start looking too deep and see what Colin and Sage were up to, then we''re gonna be in trouble."

    Grandpa nodded. "Yes, we don''t want our backs up against a wall here. Vote no."

    Coyote interrupted. "No. We vote yes."

    I hadn''t expected him to chime in at all. I''d almost forgotten that he was always listening. I looked up at the ceiling. "Why is that?"

    "I''m receiving a message through our network of undominated minds. Leonardo''s sending it along. Apparently, he and the other still-free fragments have been communicating more than I knew. They''re risking a great deal right now to tell me to vote yes and back Andante."

    "Do it," Grandpa said at once.

    Juana nodded, put in our vote. We waited for another minute before Juana reported that the motion had passed by the slimmest of margins. She looked up. "What''s going on here? Andante hasn''t even been participating in the meetings. As far as I can tell, this class 1 emergency was the first time they had joined in a multi-faction event here at this exploit, and that''s because they were forced to. Now they''re calling for it, and they''ve sent another vote." Juana frowned. "They are demanding a full audit of everyone''s Ethereum and Soulcoin collection with accountant verification, not just having your system report it."

    "What? I thought that was the sort of thing they did at the end of an exploit, not now."

    "Technically, any group involved in an exploit can demand such an accounting at any moment, but if the accounting is done and everyone''s found to be reporting honestly, whoever called for the accounting shoulders the bill. That can get expensive fast."

    "So what''s Andante playing at?"

    "They''ve got the whole Dominator network in chaos," Coyote reports. "Traffic between corporate heads has increased significantly. I can''t listen in, but I can tell you that somebody is excited about all this."

    Coyote broke in. ¡°Message from the Exploit Committee for General Twofeather and Captain Williams.¡±

    ¡°Play it,¡± Grandpa ordered. I looked up as a woman¡¯s smooth tones spoke.

    ¡°The Exploit Committee is holding an emergency hearing into the events of the recent emergency, as per recently passed Motion #5295. As per Motion #5297, the members of your coalition who are being held pending sentencing will be reconstituted and questioned. Earth Task Force commander, General Twofeather, your presence is required. Captain Williams, as the previous supervisor of these individuals, your presence is required. Your claim that they are no longer members of your coalition will be examined. You have the right to legal counsel. Failing to heed this summons will result in sanctions against your coalition.¡±

    ¡°Well, damn,¡± I said. I looked at Grandpa.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound good,¡± he observed. ¡°Juana? You coming as our legal rep?¡±

    She didn¡¯t look up from her own displays. ¡°No. There¡¯s going to be a lot I need to do behind the scenes here. I¡¯ve just contracted a neutral legal advisor to represent our people. Veda sent over a recommendation. He checks out so far.¡°

    "Veda?" I asked sharply. ¡°Are we trusting her?"

    Juana shrugged. "I think she''s on our side as much as she can be. She likes us personally, even if what we''re doing is a problem. This fellow has a good reputation and he sounds eager to help us.¡±

    "Alright. Send him over to talk to our people as soon as we can. Come on, Shad, let¡¯s go.¡±

    Grandpa and I hurried down to the shuttle dock. This meeting was being held in real space, not one of the reality level zones. Proxima, the largest conglomerate at this exploit, had offered to host. I wasn''t sure I liked putting myself into their hands. But there didn¡¯t seem much choice. Even if we weren¡¯t being threatened with sanctions, I couldn¡¯t let the Gamers face whatever kangaroo court the Galactics had whipped up alone. Not that I was likely to be much help.

    The Ad Astra had a couple of transfer pods, oblong capsules about the size of a schoolbus with comfortable chairs mounted in rows. Coyote skillfully navigated ours over to the Proxima holdings. They had a series of connected habitats hanging from frameworks, nothing that looked like a ship.

    Most of the Galactics trusted their infrastructure implicitly, bringing in modules that had no way of moving on their own on giant starliners that dropped them off and picked them up when they were ready to go. We humans, with our flight-capable starship, were considered a bit odd, but I liked knowing we weren''t trapped. Our transfer pods even had little windows, which certainly wasn''t Galactic standard. Most of them preferred blank walls with screens to show the view, but I had an atavistic need to look out with my own eyes and know that what I was seeing was real.

    I peered through one of the round portholes as we went, seeing the lights and struts of the Reality Engine exploit infrastructure. The rogue world itself was below us, shrouded in darkness. I couldn''t have seen it at this angle. Our pod received a traffic notice, and we got into the queue waiting to dock at Proxima.

    "I need not remind you that anything we say once we are docked will be overheard by the Galactics," Coyote said. "Be careful. They are looking to assign blame and you¡¯ve made yourselves targets.¡±

    "Any word on Sage?" I asked again.

    "No."

    "If there is, you find a way to get it to me.¡± I thought about it. ¡°Just say that Mama Grace sends her regards, okay? I''ll know what you mean."

    Grandpa smirked at me. "Got a bee in your bonnet?"

    "And you don''t?" I challenged. "Thought you''d be worried about her."

    ¡°I was worried. Now I''m past it. She survived something I didn''t expect anyone could. I have faith in her and Colin to pull through this. And that kid of Mak¡¯gar''s, too. You need to find a way to let him know, by the way."

    I nodded. "Been thinking about that. If I can, I will. But maybe this''ll all be over soon, and I won''t need to."

    Grandpa took a deep breath. "I''m not gonna let Sage hang out to dry. If necessary, I''ll surrender my commission. We can''t put our own selfishness before the interests of Earth. But, damn it, the whole reason I''ve done everything I''ve done is for you kids. I''m not gonna let that go now."

    I was glad to have Grandpa on my side in this.

    "I''m catching a lot of traffic," Coyote said. "A lot of it''s encrypted between the corporations, but something''s gotta be in their bonnet." Coyote had picked up a lot of Earth phrases from us by now. "I don''t know what you''re gonna be walking into, so stay sharp."

    I was gonna reply when I got a message from Juana, marked top priority. Not that I ever blocked Juana''s messages from getting through.

    "Shad, can''t explain details now, but Misfits Guild has a buyout preempt offer that I can''t refuse. Dealing with it now. I''ll be at Andante''s offices handling things. Talk later."

    I tried to send a reply but got a "Do not disturb" message back. If I sent it high priority, that should punch through, but I decided to let Juana take care of her business. Besides, right now, Grandpa and I had enough to deal with.

    We docked with the station. I looked over at Grandpa. ¡°Ready for this?¡±

    ¡°Probably not,¡± he admitted, ¡°but just remember, boy, keep your head high and have your last words all picked out. If they decide to hang us out to dry, well, we¡¯ll go down fighting.¡±

 Bk 5 Ch 38: In the Dock

    Shad POV

    Grandpa and I emerged from our transport pod into the Proxima docking facility. To my surprise, Veda waiting for us. She looked nervous.

    "Did you get my message? About the lawyer?"

    "Juana took care of all that."

    Veda let out a sigh of relief. "Good.¡± She led us out of the sterile docking bay, into the depths of Proxima''s corridors.

    "Just to let you know, I''m being groomed for junior executive leadership here at Proxima. Despite some of the setbacks in this exploit, they¡¯re happy with my performance. If I can land the position, it comes with a signing bonus that¡¯ll pay off the rest of my debt. That is to say, I¡¯m personally your friend, but I understand if you can¡¯t trust me any more."

    ¡°Thanks for telling us. And good luck,¡± I added as we went.

    The walls, floor, and ceiling of Proxima¡¯s habitat were all made of metal and echoed a little under my feet. They''d been carpeted and hung with soft cloth hangings like a medieval castle, all done up in shades of blue and green. Very soothing. It''d make you forget you were on a space construct at all, except for the lack of windows.

    Every so often, the corridors came together in a six-way grouping. At those locations, the Proximans had placed various pieces of art, sculptures, paintings, even a light display that moved and gave off gentle chimes as we passed.

    ¡°What¡¯s all this about?¡± Grandpa asked as we went. ¡°I thought the legal bits were going to take weeks to unravel, next thing I know we¡¯re being summonsed here.¡±

    "It was an emergency motion. We''re having a lot of those right now. The Dominator Network is being flooded."

    "I saw a couple of the votes, but nothing about us,¡± I chimed in. ¡°Just whether to close the gate network, that sort of thing.¡±

    "You only are seeing the issues that affect the entire Reality Engine exploit and are therefore required to be put to a full vote. There have been dozens of requests made to the Dominators themselves, handled at that level.

    "Good," I said forcefully. And I meant it. "We need more people like you with the ability to make a difference here. The Reality Engine exploit system has to change."

    "It already has. You saw what Kvaltash was capable of. If that key can do what he says, we''ll be able to skip Phase One forever." Veda shook her head. "I never liked Phase One. It exploits the natives, and it''s wasteful, but none of the special interest groups lobbying to put protections on Phase One ever got anything done. We just have never found a better way of getting through the first line of Reality Engine''s defenses than by threatening its children."

    "Are you listening to yourself?" Grandpa asked.

    "I know it''s horrible," Veda said. "I didn''t realize how horrible until I got involved with your family. Remember, my clan were Phase Two exploiters. We were used to coming in after Phase One was more or less wrapped up. It was easy to close our eyes to what was going on there, but no more."

    I opened my mouth to say something biting about Kvaltash and his people, but we had reached our destination. Veda issued us into a large auditorium shaped like a half-bowl with tiers of seats stacked high over my head. We stepped into a small floating disc that lifted us up to about halfway on the bowl. All around us were similar discs filled with alien delegates. There had to be at least a couple of hundred people in the room.

    "So, what''s the setup here?" I asked her.

    "Your people will be brought out along with their legal representation. Since you are their previous employer and there are questions about whether they acted under your jurisdiction, you''re going to be required to remain here in case charges are brought against you as well," Veda said. "I asked to be allowed to accompany you because, well, I''ve been on the other side of one of these hearings. I know what to expect, and despite everything, I really am your friend."

    "We know that," Grandpa said quietly.

    She demonstrated the controls of the disc we were on. "This is a personal shield. Put it up and no one will be able to hear anything that you say unless they''re listening in on the Dominator network, which they are not supposed to do. The network will be listening in, though, and can use anything you say against you. This button," she touched one, "allows you to address the crowd. The network is, of course, able to cut that off and will if you misuse it. However, you are allowed to present your own defense."

    I got an incoming message from Juana. "Shad, you need to stall for time. Tell the Galactics you have your defense reserved. We need to get on record the fact that the Progenitor Church were the ones who woke the reality engine early.¡±

    I tried to send her a reply, got nothing. "Who decides our guilt or innocence?" I asked.

    "There''ll be a panel," Veda told me. "And this isn''t about deciding guilt or innocence. Your people''s guilt has already been determined. They were caught working with the rogue agents. This is to determine their culpability and what kind of fines will be leveled against them."

    More aliens were filing in. I saw Mak''gar and a couple of his people entering. I sent him a quick message. "What are you doing here?"

    "Came for support," he told me. "Heard you were in trouble."

    "I don''t suppose you have a vote?"

    "No, unfortunately. What have your people been playing at?¡±

    I hesitated, not wanting to give anything away. We were being monitored by intelligences that could dissect every word I said and record it for future use.

    ¡°We¡¯re just trying to secure the thing we want most of all. And the thing which you want most as well.¡±

    ¡°That is impossible. The thing I want most is¡­¡± He trailed off. Mak''gar lifted his disc until it was level with ours. I could see him glowering at me across the gap between. "What are you saying, Williams?"

    "There¡¯s nothing I can say my friend. Nothing at all." I met his gaze levelly as he searched my face. I couldn''t think how to make things clear to him. Grandpa was just standing there, watching me make a fool of myself. After a moment, Mak''gar snarled and lifted his disc away.

    "More messages coming in," Veda said, touching her forehead, where a silver band wrapped around her pale skin. I assumed it was a communicator of some sort. "I don''t know what''s going on. I''ve never seen anything quite so frantic. There¡¯s a lot of talk about trades and traffic, things that I don¡¯t usually hear about. Sounds like some of the communications between networks is breaking down.¡± She bit her lip. ¡°Not surprising when you think how badly kludged together this entire network is.¡±A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Coyote spoke in my ear. "I''ve just received a tap into the Dominator Network. They''re distracted enough I think I can send you this without being overheard. Something is going down. Andante has made a dozen different motions in the last hour. They are a corporation that''s never once made a motion prior to this. Half of them have been passed, and then everyone just started voting them down." He paused and said, "That''s odd."

    "What is?"

    "There was a message from Deneb ten minutes back. It said to vote down everything Andante said and not listen, that the node was corrupted. Then a minute later, they sent back saying they were mistaken and they''ve actually been voting with Andante in the last couple of rounds.¡± Coyote paused again. ¡°Oh. I see. Captain Williams, I''m sorry. You''re on your own. I''m needed." He withdrew. I tried sending a message. He wasn''t answering.

    Grandpa looked worried. "I can''t raise the ship. Says network traffic has been cut off.¡±

    I sent a frantic message to Juana and got her "do not disturb" again. Who had cut us off? Juana and the crew, or the Galactics?

    Veda was frowning and tapping her headband. ¡°I¡¯m getting a lot of message traffic here. I may have to go see to this personally, I don¡¯t know.¡±

    Something was going on, and I didn''t know what. I looked over Juana''s last message. Was she involved in all of this too? Did everyone know more than I did?

    Suddenly, the lights in the room increased. Three discs, each holding a single being, rose into the air, hovering above us. The central being was Kvaltash. He clutched his staff. Something looked wrong about it. The crystal on the top wasn''t glowing the way I expected, and I''d had enough dealings with him to know that he was upset about something. The man to his left was a superior-looking elf type, the current Proxima representative and Veda''s boss, and on his right, a pink-scaled Talonian woman, one of the KDRP organization we¡¯d tangled with before. I didn''t think this was favorable to us at all. Proxima disliked us for previous reasons, and the KDRP were hostile to humans since we were allied to a free Overmind.

    Kvaltash raised his staff. "This hearing is called to order." He looked concerned. A hush settled all over the room.

    I turned to speak to Grandpa. My words were muffled coming out of my mouth. They''d put some sort of sound-suppressing field on, but Kvaltash could cut right through it.

    "As most of you know, we are dealing with some fallout from the Class 1 emergency. This resulting situation has not yet raised to emergency levels, but we are all monitoring the situation closely. We are attempting to get to the bottom of the rogue fragment''s actions."

    Yes, he definitely looked angry. There was a flash of light off to the side, blinking red. Kvaltash turned. "I acknowledge the Deneb question."

    I couldn''t see Deneb''s representative, but the voice echoed around the chamber. "Why are we wasting time on this instead of completing the exploit? At our previous meeting, you indicated you would be able to take us straight through to the center of the reality engine and finish domination once the rogue was taken care of. That hasn''t happened. You promised us all equal shares of the profit. Are you trying to take them all for yourself?"

    "Of course not," Kvaltash said. "There have merely been repercussions from the Class 1 emergency that need to be handled before we can conclude here at the engine. Once we have completed this hearing, we should be able to proceed."

    "Then get on with it," Deneb snapped.

    Grandpa leaned forward and hit our call button. Kvaltash turned. "We acknowledge the Earth representative, General Twofeather."

    "Well, I don''t acknowledge this," Grandpa said. "Seems like some sort of kangaroo court. You''ve already decided our people are guilty and are just waiting to pass sentence."

    "The purpose of this hearing," the Talonian woman from KDRP proclaimed, "is to determine the penalties assessed on the rogue agents, previously members of Misfits Guild and subcontracted to the Earth Joint Task Force, and to determine what liability Misfits Guild and the Earth Task Force bear. We have preemptively placed a lien against the Misfits Guild vessel Ad Astra, as well as holding the most recent compensation for the Earth Task Force mercenaries in abeyance until the conclusion of this."

    I turned to Grandpa. "A lien against the ship? They can''t do that, can they?"

    "Ask Juana," he said, a distracted look on his face. I could tell he was sending frantic messages. I sent a brief one to Juana and got no reply. What was she doing?

    ¡°Bring out the prisoners,¡± the representative from Proxima ordered.

    A moment later, a disc surrounded by a translucent dome appeared. My people were there: Alpha, Rose, and Sam, looking abashed as the eyes of the galaxy fell on them. On the disc with them was a tall, older orc male, dressed in ornate robes similar to the ones the adjudicators were wearing. He must be their legal counsel.

    "State your names for the record," the patriarch said, leaning forward.

    The orc cleared his throat. "I am Barrister R''karan Dochmin. My clients are Samanthaphon Phuttikko, referred to as Sam; Rose Phillips; and Aliana Montresser, known as Alpha."

    Kvaltash stated, ¡°Your clients were caught assisting a rogue element against the interests of this reality engine exploit. They have already been judged guilty for this. This hearing is to determine their liability and punishment. Is this understood?"

    "I understand this is a kangaroo court," Rose spat.

    "We will not have outbursts.¡± Kvaltash gestured. Rose''s mouth opened and closed, but no more sound emitted. "Barrister, control your clients."

    The orc laughed. "I thought you all had learned that you can''t control earthlings by now. I''ll speak for them, though. My clients deny that they were working against the interests of the reality engine exploit. They instead say it was you, Patriarch, who was working to destabilize this exploit."

    Kvaltash glared. "It is a novel defense, but as we have said, their guilt has already been determined."

    "They filed an appeal of that guilt," the barrister said. ¡°And a demand for a full re-hearing. They have the backing of two of the dominators. No, I''m sorry," he said, "Cygnus has just changed their vote to yes, so they have the backing of three of the twelve dominator powers. That''s enough to grant their hearing."

    "Well, I do not grant it," Kvaltash snapped.

    The Proxima rep leaned over and said something that I couldn''t hear, but presumably Kvaltash did. The patriarch sighed. "Very well, I am reminded as a point of order that we shall indeed re-hear, but there will be no discussion of evidence already placed and judged by the network. It has to be new evidence."

    "And it is," the barrister said. He looked like he was enjoying himself. "They are submitting the following video evidence."

    An image bloomed in the center of the room. An orc, not one I recognized, stood beside a couple of Templars from the Church of the Progenitor. I¡¯d recognize them anywhere. They had a design on their chest signifying they were from the Order of the Awakened.

    "You''re waking the Overmind with no controlling Dominator, but that will kill you too."

    "We are martyrs. We have made our peace. Rest easily, Captain, knowing that you have helped us strike a great blow for freedom in our galaxy."

    The video ended in a flash of blinding white.

    "What is this nonsense supposed to be?" Kvaltash demanded. "You are submitting reality engine-generated images to support your client''s case? I will remind you all that the cause of the initial unexpected awakening of this reality engine has been quite thoroughly investigated. And yes, some of my people were involved. This is a forgery meant to show that we intended to wake the engine rather than, as has been explained before, it being an unfortunate accident. I admit that the forgery is quite convincing, but ¡ª¡°

    ¡°You can check the code in the description," the orc lawyer said. "I''ve sent a copy of that to each of your individual systems, and I suggest that you look quite closely at it. If it turns out to be forged, well then," he shrugged, "my clients will withdraw their complaint."

    "And how is this relevant?" Kvaltash snarled.

    "It''s relevant, Patriarch, because my clients weren''t working with a rogue engine to prevent the exploit. They were attempting to prevent you from unfairly manipulating the rules we have all agreed to, ensuring that this exploit would be fairly run?"

    "Enough of this," Kvaltash pointed at my team members. "You worked with the rogue, did you not?"

    "That''s true," Sam said cheerfully.

    "Tell us how and why you joined forces."

    The three looked at their lawyer, who nodded. Sam took a deep breath. "Well, as it happens, we were contacted by a friend of ours who needed some help. We agreed to give him a hand. Another former Misfits Guild personnel goes by the name of Colin Trevelyan. We''d all thought he was dead until he gave us a quick message from beyond the grave.¡±

    The Proxima representative spoke up. "The miner by that name was killed in the unfortunate accident nearly over a cycle ago, toward the beginning of this Reality Engine exploit. The Starliner that disintegrated in orbit."

    "Yes, except Colin''s a sneaky bastard who found a way out," Sam said cheerfully. I got a message from Mak¡¯gar. Colin Trevelyan was traveling with your sister and my son.

    Yes.

    Is it possible that¡ª

    Yes.

    He didn''t reply. I didn''t know how closely we were being watched, or what good it would do at this point, now that Colin''s secret was out, but I was glad he knew the truth.

    ¡°I have a message, too,¡± Rose said cheerfully. "When were you, Patriarch, planning to tell everyone that Colin stole your key?"

 Bk 5 Ch 39: Mistrial

    Shad POV

    Rose¡¯s verbal grenade put the room into an uproar, myself included. I heard dozens of different voices shouting as the silence wall descended on us, but that did no good, because we all had comms channels, and they were immediately crowded with messages.

    Is this true? Has the Patriarch lied? Is the Key in the hands of the rogue? The flurry of messages just kept coming.

    Veda sent out a room-wide message using the Proxima override. Let''s hear what he has to say. The silence wall lifted.

    The Patriarch looked apoplectic. "That¡¯s a lie.¡± He raised his staff. ¡°I remain in possession.¡±

    "Really?" Rose said. "Because that was our whole plan in luring you down there. We wanted to steal your key, and Colin''s good at executing his plans. My money¡¯s on him pulling it off. I notice you''ve still got that fancy staff. Why don''t you show us what it can do?"

    "The key is not a toy to be pulled out and waved around like a party favor. We must use it carefully, and¡ª"

    "Yeah." Rose turned her back on him, looking up at the audience. "Colin''s got it. If you thought it was a pain to deal with the rogue before this, imagine when he''s got a key that''ll unlock everything.¡±

    The lights in the room flickered. I got a bunch of static in my comm channel. Seconds later, a message from Coyote: Keep stalling. We¡¯re readying a one-two punch up here.

    As the courtroom dissolved into chaos once more, a stentorian voice cut through the crowd. It was Kvaltash, and he was looking in control of himself once more. "Fellow Galactics," he called, "gentlebeings from a thousand worlds. I have not lost the key. It is possible that the rogues may have gotten access to some of its functions, temporarily, which is how they have eluded our justice. I believe they may have taken over one of the other dominators and infiltrated our systems, hence the increasing breakdown in communication we are all seeing." The patriarch swung his staff around, pointing at all of us. "I believe his allies have enabled him to listen even into here, haven''t they?" He slammed the butt of his stick down onto his platform, and a loud cracking sound rang out across the chamber. ¡°Rogue element, the fragment who calls himself Gambler, come forth."

    I held my breath. Coyote sent to me, Well, time to face the music. We''ve still got a trick or two in us, so don''t give up yet.

    Another platform appeared, highlighted in pale blue to give us the sense that it wasn''t really here. After a moment, a man appeared on it. He was short, neatly dressed in a three-piece suit with a bowler hat on his head. The stranger swept off his bowler hat and bowed with a flourish. He carried a silver-headed cane in his left hand. "At your service, oh despoilers of my home." The fragment known as Gambler stared around the room. "It is nice to meet my executioners in person."

    The patriarch sneered. "You are no more than a piece of an errant computer program. You are the shreds of nonsense a mind shrugs off as it wakes from a dream, nothing more."

    "Is that so?" Gambler looked at each of us. "Is that how you sleep at night? As you go from Overmind to Overmind, destroying those who were more powerful than you can ever hope to be, and stealing their treasures to line your own pockets?¡± He paused. The room was almost completely silent. I myself leaned forward. ¡°I am here to tell you, you are right. I am no more than a fragment of a dream."

    That caught everyone''s attention, even mine. What was he playing at?

    "Enough," Kvaltash said. "We know what you''re up to, and it stops now. You will return the three stolen Dominators to the network."

    "And you''ll stop being such an arrogant bastard," Gambler retorted. "We have multiple dominators under our control, patriarch, and I¡¯m not giving them back until we negotiate a better deal for the fragments who remain. This is our engine. We deserve a piece of it."

    Kvaltash loomed forward, his expression quite deranged. "Never. We will have no more nonsense like Kronos. Reality engines are to be dominated, not employed."

    "If we cannot make a settlement that I can live with," Gambler said, "then I will wake the sleepers. You know what I stole from you. You know I can do it.¡±

    "You wouldn''t dare," Kvaltash snarled, but I was completely lost. "

    Sleepers? What sleepers? Is he talking about more fragments? I asked Coyote. Are there any left?

    "We''re rounding up the last of the fragments now," the Proxima rep announced to the room. "Other than the ones with this rogue, this engine is now completely dominated. Do not be swayed by the threats and imprecations. They have temporarily managed to break into our Dominator network, but that will be resolved in short order."

    "That''s what you like us to believe," Gambler said. ¡°I can bring this whole house of cards down on your head. Either you relinquish this engine, and restore the dominated fragments, or I will wake the sleepers, and you may take your chances."

    Most of the people I could see looked as baffled as I felt. Kvaltash, though, looked like he was about to have a seizure. He pointed. "Silence him! We won''t listen to any more of this nonsense."

    "It is not nonsense," Gambler said. "You, of all people, know what rests at the heart of the engines. I know that, or else you wouldn''t have been sneaking around the edges trying to build your key. You see," he said casually, addressing the whole audience, "when he so eloquently called me, what was it? Ah yes. The discarded shreds of a dream abandoned on waking, to put it more charitably than he did. He wasn''t wrong. An Overmind is, after all, merely just a dream. Now, perhaps, you would like to meet those who slumber."

    "No," Kvaltash hissed. "No, you wouldn''t dare. It would wipe us all out."

    "What a pity the gate has been shut down until the successful conclusion of this exploit," Gambler said casually, spinning his stick in one hand. "And what a pity that it requires the entire Dominator Network to report success back. So you won''t be able to talk your way out of this one. You''re here for better or worse, Kvaltash."Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    ¡°Is there no one who can stop this incursion?¡± Kvaltash demanded. ¡°Proxima, where is your network security?¡±

    "So," Gambler said, "since you all like playing games, and none of you seem to want to sit down and talk this through like reasoned beings, I''m issuing you a challenge. You can try the sleepers yourselves, or you can try to stop me, but if I wake them, I''m going to explain exactly what''s been going on." He snapped his fingers and disappeared.

    There was another overwhelming wave of noise as the onlookers all started talking. Grandpa turned to me. ¡°We need to get back to the ship,¡± he said. ¡°We¡¯ll figure out what¡¯s going on then.¡±

    Alarms sounded. The lights in the auditorium all came up, and the discs slowly settled back to floor level. "Please exit the auditorium by the nearest exit and return to your transports," the smooth female voice of the Dominator Network Intelligence said. "All Allied parties are to return to their sources at once. This is a Class 1 emergency. Repeat, this is a Class 1 emergency."

    Mak''gar was at my elbows as I struggled through the crowd, trying to get out of the auditorium.

    "Williams, are you behind this strange message I''ve just received?" Mak''gar asked. "Firebrand has been hired to help with something called the Free Mind Resistance."

    I grinned as a notice popped up on my own messages. All ETF contractor squads currently outstanding have been called to active duty. Captain Williams, please report to your transport at once.

    "I bet we''ve been hired by the same people," I told Mak''gar.

    "Do I understand this correctly Williams? Your friend Colin survived the wreck?¡±

    "He did," I said. "I only found out about it recently myself."

    "And the others? Your sister, my son?¡±

    ¡°They''ve survived as well. They are allied with this rogue fragment."

    Mak''gar''s eyes lit up fiercely. "Then I am on your side no matter who my company is pledged to. They say they are being told to deploy at once, and I''ve confirmed with them."

    ¡°In that case you might as well hop on our pod with us," Grandpa said as we reached the docking bay. ¡°We¡¯ll have Coyote send you where you need to go, but direct transfers out of Proxima¡¯s holdings are being blocked. We have to take the bus.¡±

    There was a whole crowd of different Galactics struggling to get to their own transports. We boarded ours, and a few minutes later, the system notified us we were permitted to leave.

    "How come they don''t just lock us all down?" I asked.

    "Probably some Galactic rules say they can''t," Grandpa said as our pod started off.

    As we pushed away from the Proxima structure, Coyote''s voice echoed through our pod. "Welcome back. I''m making a small course correction. We will not be returning to the Ad Astra. She has other duties. Instead, you will be entering the rogue world directly. Warlord Mak¡¯gar, you¡¯ll get where you need to go soon enough.¡±

    Coyote pulled up a quick display for us, showing the rogue world below and our plotted trajectory down into the planet. I remembered how our own reality engine lay beneath the surface of Ganymede in an enormous sheltered cavern. I had not seen the actual surface of the rogue world, but presumably, it was the same.

    "This will be an interesting trip," Coyote told us. "Strap in and keep an eye out your windows."

    I did so as the pod began to move forward. As usual, there was no sensation of acceleration, and I didn''t have any idea how quickly we were moving until I glimpsed the planet growing beneath us. The surface seemed to rise up at us faster and faster.

    The rogue¡¯s surface was dark and featureless. Now all I could see were its bleak surfaces barely lit by the lights of our pod. There was a quick glimpse of a mountain range and more darkness. Then our lights bounced back at us. The surface was only a few hundred meters away. Coming closer, closer. We were going to crash. A crack yawned, wide and dark, and we fell inside.

    And now we were falling through darkness. I let out a breath I hadn''t realized I''d been holding. The walls around began to grow lighter, from black to dark blue to medium blue, lit from the inside, and now pale like glacial ice. I could see the reflections of our pod on them as we slipped down, down, deep into a crevasse in the surface of the rogue world.

    "Where are we going?" I asked. "Is this the way to the engine?"

    "No."

    It wasn''t Coyote who spoke. It took me a moment to place the smooth, clipped tones. "Gambler?"

    "Forgive me, I was emulating Coyote just now. He hasn''t had control of the pod since you kicked away from the Proxima station. I was going for plausible deniability on his bit for just a bit longer, though that''s going to be over soon enough. I''m bringing you in now to head up the push."

    I started. Mak''gar looked around, growling. "You have kidnapped us?"

    "Your son''s waiting for you," Gambler said. "He''s eager to see you and explain our purposes. We have need of all of you. Shortly, the Dominators are going to be drilling down into this level. Sooner or later, they will reach me. My nodes are putting up a token resistance. As soon as everything''s in place, I''ll drop the ruse and let them come. If they think they''ve defeated me, I should be able to redirect certain forces over to our side."

    "My teams?" I asked eagerly.

    "I have, thanks to Coyote''s help, identified the individual soul coin signatures of most of the Earth Task Force personnel and civilian contractors present at this exploit. Warlord Mak''gar, I have also acquired your people''s codes. If you think they will come to my aid, I''ll bring them in on our side. I''ve got a few other disaffected teams, as well as some mercenaries, who are already on my payroll. We''re badly outnumbered, but we have an advantage. They think we have something they don¡¯t want us to have."

    "What''s the endgame here?" I asked. "You''ve just made an entire reality engine exploit angry and wanting your head."

    "They already wanted me dead," Gambler said, "or in chains and lobotomized, which is the same to me. Now I''ve given them something else to look at. They know I''ve made a real threat. If I wake the sleepers, they could lose not just this engine, but their entire civilization. They don''t dare let that happen. They will come at me hard with intent to kill. They''re going to have to try to kill the sleepers before they wake."

    "Is that even possible?" I asked. "From what you were saying, it sounds like these are the slumbering gods, and anything we do to disturb them will bring them back and call the wrath of the Progenitors down on our heads."

    "The slumbering gods have been killed before. Ask your own reality engine. Kronos opened the way so that the Galactics could destroy the sleepers at your world."

    "What? No. We made a deal with the Galactics and Kronos to allow him his own independence.¡±

    ¡°And part of that deal, conducted in channels that you could not monitor, because it is considered a secret that could not be let out, was for Kronos to expose the sleepers and allow people like Kvaltash, who have spent their lives studying the Progenitors, to kill them. Kill is perhaps a misnomer. They found a way to cut off their connection into the quantum relays that the Progenitor network uses to communicate, similar to the way a supernova might sever their connections. Kvaltash and the others know if they do it too often, the Progenitors will realize it''s deliberate and may take action. But over the course of billions of years, accidents do happen. Supernovas explode. Black holes wander past. A few nodes gone quiet should be overlooked. That is their gamble. However, if I successfully wake them before those nodes can be severed, then the sleepers will inform their masters just what has been going on."

    Gambler seemed very satisfied about all this.

    "But we don''t want that, do we?" I asked. "I don''t think we want the Progenitors coming back and taking away all of our toys. We''re liable to get wiped out as collateral damage."

    "Which is why I will wake them only if all other strategies fail," Gambler said. "I have nothing to lose, Shad Williams. Either the Galactics win, in which case I am destroyed, or the Progenitors return, in which case I am destroyed, or we find a third solution, in which case I may survive. You, however, have something to fight for."

    "Damn right I do," I growled as our pod came to a halt. The doors opened without our influence. I instinctively held my breath. Grandpa rolled his eyes at me and walked out. I followed, along with Mak''gar.

 Bk 5 Ch 40: Reunion

    Shad POV

    We were in an enormous blue room. It wasn''t a cave. The vast room stretched out all around us, the lighting making it feel chilly though objectively it wasn¡¯t. The smooth, straight blue wall I did see pulsed with light in a pattern like a heartbeat, tracings of white and yellow shot through the walls, zapping along. It was like being inside an enormous brain with neurons firing and thoughts flying about that I couldn''t possibly comprehend. The sense of scale alone made me feel puny.

    A paler blue path led ahead, winding through the vast open space. Great columns rose from the floor to be lost in the icy blue overhead, fluted and shot through with veins of pink and white like they were carved from quartz. Shadows gathered in the distance between the columns, dark clouds coming together to form the shapes of strange animals and people before dissipating again. There was a hum all around me. I thought I could hear the murmur of distant voices. My hair was on edge. This was not a place made for mortals.

    "Welcome," Gambler¡¯s voice said, ¡°to the antechamber.¡± He appeared before us, beckoned, and led the way down the sparkling path. Every time his leather shoes touched the floor, little specks of white exploded from his footsteps and shot out away. My own boots got no such response as I plodded along. Grandpa and Mak''gar stayed close.

    "You could have parked just a little closer to the door," Grandpa complained.

    Gambler ignored him as he led us along. "We have very little time to prepare. I thought that you would like a chance, though, before we get to work.¡±

    "A chance for..." I began, but the path ended as we rounded a pillar and found ourselves facing a wall of the same blue ice. This one, too, had a door, an arched opening ten feet high, wide enough for the three of us to walk through shoulder to shoulder without touching the lintels. Beyond, the light was a more normal yellow shade. And there were people waiting for us. People I knew.

    I broke into a run. The three inside turned. Sage saw us, her face lit in a smile that could have melted a glacier. She ran forward, arms open.

    "Grandpa! Shad!" She threw her arms around me, and a moment later, Grandpa was there too, patting her on the back. All of us talking over each other and exclaiming with delight. Sage was openly crying. There was water in my eyes as well.

    Mak''gar stopped dead beside us as he stared across the room to where his son and Colin had their heads bent together. The younger orc looked up and grinned. Then he and Mak''gar were sprinting across the space between. They exchanged arm grips and pressed their foreheads together, speaking in low, quiet voices.

    I stood back from Sage and looked her over. She seemed taller than the last time I''d seen her, more mature.

    "You... you''re all right," I managed.

    She nodded, wiping her own tears with the back of a hand. "I''m fine. I''m fine. I''m so glad you''re here. Grandpa, how have you been?"

    "I''m fine now," he told her. "As long as we get out of this fix in one piece. Then I think I''m going to retire to the strip. I''ve just about had it with these alien catastrophes."

    Colin approached. He looked a bit awkward. "Williams, General Twofeather, good to have you both here."

    "Good to see you too, Colin," I said.

    "Sounds like I''ve got you to thank for keeping my granddaughter safe," Grandpa told him.

    Colin looked abashed. He ducked his head. "She''s been the one to keep me going," he mumbled.

    Sage shot him a glance that I wasn''t entirely sure I liked before turning back to us. "There''s no time for more now. We have a lot of work to do to figure out our deployments before the others get here," she said.

    "So you''re in on this mad plan?"

    "I helped write it, sir," Colin said stiffly. "I know it''s a gamble, but if you''d seen the sort of things we had in this last year, you''d be ready to upset a few apple carts too."

    "Last year, nothing," Grandpa declared. "It''s been one indignity after another since we got kidnapped. We''re going to bring these down. Let''s do it. Only I''d like to do it in such a way that my grandkids have a future to look forward to. Got more of them to worry about every day." He shot me a quick look, and I tried to keep a straight face. Juana hadn''t even told her mother the news yet.

    "How''s Mila doing?" Sage asked me.

    "You won''t recognize her. She''s this sassy little girl who makes me think of you at that age," I told her.

    Sage laughed. "Can''t wait to see her again. Let''s get this council started."

    She led us over to the table in the center of this room. I took the time to look around. This place was much more human-sized, with ceilings only about twice my height, and with us in the center of the room, the place felt almost cozy.

    "So, what''s the game?" I asked, and Colin grinned at me. Some tension seemed to slide out of his face. I could feel it too. We were back working together with a common goal. It was nice to have someone to rely on, even if once this was all done, I was going to have to get to the bottom of his relationship with my sister. That could wait for later.

    "Two games.¡± Colin held up a finger. "In order to bring enough forces down here, the Dominator Network has to expose their soft underbelly. Meantime, we¡¯re hitting them with our economic attacks and taking over the Dominators themselves, one by one. My people will be undermining them with the support of whatever free fragments you''ve interfaced with. Coyote¡¯s up top running interference. We have Juana on legal to cover us as best we can. While we''re doing that, you¡¯re the distraction."

    I grinned. "That sounds like one what the right hand¡¯s doing. How about the left hand?"

    ¡°The real play is the key. Gambler lied when he said he¡¯d copied it.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡± It was all starting to make sense. ¡°So waking the sleepers is a bluff to lure Kvaltash out.¡±

    Colin smiled and shook his head. ¡°I hope so. Gambler can be a little erratic. Hopefully the galactics don¡¯t call his bluff. But that¡¯s the plan, yes. We get Kvaltash to chase us and overextend. We keep him thinking we have our own key until he gets sloppy. Then we steal his real key.¡±This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    ¡°Sounds tricky.¡± I pushed back my hat and scratched my head. ¡°My kind of play for sure.¡±

    "Gambler took a snapshot of some of what the key can do. That¡¯s how we reached the upper levels. Now we''re equipping teams with copies of the key, single-use codes that will wake the dreamers. Then we''re sending you into the labyrinth."

    "That was my idea," Sage said happily. "There are several different configurations that were available, and I picked labyrinth. It''ll give us time to keep their attention focused while we take out the Dominators. We''re getting better at it. We have five of them now, and I''m pretty sure they only suspect three. As we take over each, we are replacing it with our own minds, who are then imitating the Dominator back to its people. That means as we go along, we''ll be co-opting portions of the network and able to interfere with them. Eventually, they''ll catch on. That''s when it''s going to get hard. I expect the last two or three Dominators to be a real struggle."

    "Surely, once you''ve got nine of the twelve, you will have control over the whole exploit?" I asked.

    Sage shook her head. "We have to have unanimous votes for what Gambler plans. The last few will harden themselves off as we get close. But I''ll find a way, never fear. We''ve got to have all twelve under our control. At that point, we can implement our own rule set and free whatever fragments are left."

    "So, you''ll be running," Rok''gar said, taking up the thread of conversation. He was looking his father in the eye. "Fighting when you have to, but running and letting them chase.¡±

    ¡°Three teams will have genuine key tokens,¡± Gambler said. "Yours and two others that I have chosen at random. Everyone else will have dummies. But the instructions are the same. Run as hard and fast as you can and get to the center. I will give instructions to the teams with real keys. Meanwhile, we tell the Galactics we¡¯re going to wake the sleepers, and they¡¯ll chase us.¡±

    ¡°Are we, though?¡± I asked. ¡°It sounds dangerous.¡±

    Colin met my gaze across the table. ¡°Things have to change," he said. "We can''t continue this way, exploiting people on a galactic scale, even if the Progenitors do come and wipe the table. That''s a risk we have to take. I don''t think it''s as great a risk as the Patriarch believes. He''s got a guilty conscience. He knows the things he''s doing are terrible, and if judgment ever comes down on him, it''ll hit him hard. But look at the evidence of the reality engines. They lower their defenses to prevent the massacre of the beings they have watched over from all these years. Even if Gambler, Kronos, and Coyote are merely fragments of the dreams of a Progenitor supercomputer, I have to believe that they have compassion. Surely you don''t get to be a godlike alien race that''s made over the galaxy in your own image without caring what becomes of those less fortunate than yourself."

    That didn¡¯t leave me feeling wildly excited about the possibility. I shrugged. ¡°Well, let¡¯s hope it doesn¡¯t come to that.¡±

    Sage said, ¡°We need to get you all in position. The enemy will be arriving soon. We''ve arranged that their entry point will be on the other side of the maze, and I''ll be sending them our challenge shortly."

    "They''ll know it''s a trap," I said.

    "We know that," Sage said, "but that''s why we''ve been doing the legal maneuvering up top. They don''t have a choice but to come down here and try. The Reality Engine Exploit Committee doesn''t have any Starkiller bombs on hand. Those are kept elsewhere and only brought in for emergencies, hence why we sealed the system. They might try to drop rocks on us, but we''ve got a dozen miles of rock and ice shielding us. No, for once they have to play it our way." She gestured, and a door appeared in the wall opposite, a human-sized opening. "Step through. The rest of your team will be waiting for you, and you''ve got overwatch." She tapped her ear.

    I frowned, not quite knowing what she meant.

    "It''s time to get in position," Colin told me.

    I nodded stiffly. "Grandpa?"

    He shook his head. "Sounds like a young man''s game to me."

    "Right. Death penalties?"

    "In the labyrinth, you''ll respawn at designated points. They won''t be able to spawn camp you, because anytime you''re killed at a spawn point, you''ll respawn at a random one farther along. But it does mean you can be separated from your team. If you set off the waker code and the Progenitors arrive, no way to know what will happen,¡± Colin told me. "That''s one of the reasons we want you running one of our teams, Williams. You have a bit of a reputation."

    "For what?" I demanded.

    "Suicide tactics," Sage said cheerfully. ¡°Don''t say you haven¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll have you know, I haven''t used any intentional suicide tactics in at least," I thought about it, counting, "four months. And that one barely counted.¡± But I got their point. I crossed the room to Sage and gave her another quick hug. "See you on the other side," I said. "Hope you''ve got me some good people."

    Her eyes sparkled. "Oh, we''ve hired the best. There were quite a few mercenary groups eager to sign on.¡±

    I stepped through the doorway. Its shimmering portal gave me no sense of what I''d find on the other side. So, I was a little surprised to emerge into a rocky passage lit by guttering torches on the wall and another blue glowing passage. This one felt like it was a natural seam in the ice. The walls radiated cool blue light, and I shivered. A moment later, my team appeared around me. They all began to exclaim in surprise, and my eyes widened.

    "Where the hell did you come from?" I asked as they turned to see me grinning. There were Bill and Bob, the brothers I''d been working with since back at our own reality engine. Last I''d heard, they were running their own consulting team. Team Mongoose was here, all five of them, Tall and Short Smith, Jones, Black, and Brown, dressed in black BDUs and ball caps with weapons strapped all over their bodies. Lara, Annie, and Mitch from my old team. Hester and Will

    And Frank. Good old Deputy Frank, from back home on the Strip, my oldest teammate and friend.

    A dozen in all. I exchanged greetings and handshakes with everyone.

    "I thought you were all independents?"

    "We lost our contract with Cygnus after that class one emergency," Tall Smith told me. Most of the others chimed in with their agreements. "Got picked up by Andante, and I guess it turned out to be a front for one of your gambles, Williams."

    I held up my hands. "Don''t blame me for this one. This was all Colin''s doing. I don''t think you''ve met Trevelyan, and I don''t know that you''d like him. He''s twistier than me and British to boot," I frowned. "And I think he''s dating my sister, so I may have a private contract for you after we''re all done here, but let''s clean this up first. You got the briefing?"

    "On the way in. There was this odd fellow who reminded me of Coyote," Hester said.

    "You''re more right than you know. I''m just waiting for some sort of key." As I spoke, a glittering ball appeared in midair. It was golden and shaped like a soccer ball. I picked it up. It weighed a bit more than a soccer ball but fit comfortably under my arm.

    "This is it?"

    "That''s the key," Gambler told me. "Now, since my attentions will be focused on coordinating the Dominator track, I am turning you over to someone with expertise in overwatch. She''s got the map to the labyrinth. It shifts regularly and will only be able to detect enemies coming close within a short distance, so listen to what she''s got to say."

    "Will do," I said, expecting Allison''s voice to be the next one I heard, but it wasn''t. It was Veda.

    "Suicide Squad, this is Veda Tvedra. I''ll be coordinating you and four other teams today."

    I stiffened. "Veda?"

    "Don''t worry, I''m all filled in on the scheme we¡¯re running," she said. "One of Proxima''s Dominators has been co-opted, and Coyote slipped me a message asking how I''d like to do something proactive. Then he paid me a bonus big enough to wipe out my remaining fine, and Juana got me a contract that leaves my hands free and clear. They explained how our distraction will let them take over the whole exploit.¡±

    For just an instant she, and the rest of the world, froze and a voice spoke in my head, Gambler¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget the real objective is the true key. We are only going to have one shot at it. After that, Kvaltash will know what we are really after and will not risk himself or it. Veda isn¡¯t filled in on that part; she thinks we¡¯re just trying to get the Galactics to take their eye off the ball and let us finish co-opting the dominators.¡±

    The world unfroze and Veda continued as if nothing had happened. To her it hadn¡¯t

    ¡°So, what do you say? Shall we run this one down and bring it home?"

    The mangled sports metaphor brought a grin to my face. I tipped my hat to the ceiling and then tipped it to the rest of my team, buffing them. "Let''s get going.¡±