Gaia's Rebirth Box Set

by Caiden Walker

  "No. But Cora generally leaves the office a couple of hours after we get there, and she only has two members of her crew working the night shift doing whatever they hell they're doing. I've noticed that they both go to lunch at the same time." He turned to Mary. "And they eat right in our very own cafeteria."

  Mary shivered. They did indeed. They were the only employees of Gaia, if they really were employees, that she had an active dislike for. One of the pair had actually made a pass at her. It hadn't been the male one, either. She wasn't against lesbians, but the woman didn't seem to want to take no for an answer. And her male counterpart was egging her on too. Their lunch was Mary's most dreaded hour of the night.

  "So, we all have cell phones, right?" Les asked, tapping his ear.

  That was one of the nicer inventions of the last few years. No more carrying around little boxes that beeped and annoyed everyone around you. Now the phone fits nicely inside one ear and was accessed strictly by voice and head movements.

  "Mary can call me when they enter the cafeteria and I can head up to the penthouse. Then, once I'm done, I'll call Mary to let her know. If they start to leave before I've called, she can give me a warning."

  If that happened, Mary knew she'd be expected to detain them. She shivered again. Surely he wouldn't expect her to do that?

  "A warning I can do," she said slowly. "You know my history with those two, right?"

  Les nodded. "I remember. Just a warning. That's all I ask. It takes a few minutes to get from down there all the way back up to the office suite. Besides, even if they see me, I have every reason to be there as I'll be in my guard uniform and everything."

  Max took a deep breath, considering. "No cameras, no witnesses... " he trailed off looking at Mary. "So what are we missing?"

  Les grinned. "Absolutely nothing. I've thought of everything. Like I said, I'm the only one at risk and that risk is teeny tiny with Mary here keeping an eye on the two nefarious ones."

  "I'm taking it this is going to happen tonight?" Mary asked, hoping he would answer in the negative and give her time to talk him out of it. No such luck.

  "Yup. The sooner the better to save Gaia." He paused as the waitress come by to check their drinks once more. "I'm not sure why, but this really has my hackles up. It feels like a very hostile takeover to me."

  Mary thought again of Nika and finally nodded. "Okay, I'm in. But if you get caught, I've never met you before."

  "Got it," Les said. Then he turned to Max, trying to make it look like an afterthought. "Now that I think of it, you clean the penthouse suite while they're at lunch, don't you?"

  Oh hell. There it was.

  "You know I do," Max said. "I was wondering when you'd get to my part of the plan."

  Les lifted one shoulder. "Nothing major. If you could keep the doors open during your cleaning route and listen for the elevator, that would be great. Cora generally leaves for the night and doesn't come back until morning. But she has keyed back into the building in the middle of the night before to check in on her crew."

  Mary's eyebrows drew together. Something about that phrase. Then it hit her. Cora wasn't the type to leave her crew unattended. She was a control freak to the extreme. Gaia might not have cameras installed up there, but she sure as hell bet that Cora did. If Mary was right, they'd have Les on video and dead to rights.

  When she explained her doubts to the men, for the first time Les looked a little nervous.

  "I hadn't thought about that," he said slowly. "There hasn't been any work crews in that would have installed them, though. Do you think she could have done it herself? She's up there by herself a lot."

  Mary nodded. "She's probably just using small web cameras. The kind they used to call nanny cameras. Most likely not a teddy bear though, so it could be pretty hard to spot."

  Les hit the table in front of him. "Damn it!"

  Max had that thoughtful look. The one that scared Mary to pieces.

  "Max?" she asked.

  "Just a minute, I'm thinking it through," he answered.

  She and Les waited. Max wasn't one to speak without first having carefully thought out what he was going to say. At least when it was important. It had Mary decidedly worried.

  "Okay, I think I've got it," he said finally. "If Cora has set up a nanny cam to watch over her people, she probably only has one, right?" The others nodded. "Well, that camera would most likely be facing the area where they work, right?" More nods. He leaned back, obviously proud of himself. "Well, I think tonight would be a great night to give the desk their computers are on a serious cleaning, don't you?" He shrugged. "And if I happen to forget to put them back?"

  "Then the camera will be at the totally wrong angle to catch me." Les grinned. "Max, you're a genius!"

  Unless she was ultra careful and there were two cameras, Mary thought. But nothing would stop the boys now. They were doing this.

  CHAPTER FOUR: Into the Desert

  Nika was standing over with Evan at the save fountain when Louella emerged from the mayor's house a few minutes later. As she watched, the girl made her way over to Ash and after a very brief conversation, handed her the backpack that held their one and only link to the outside world.

  Since they were all outside now, they started to gather together for the promised brief meeting before splitting up once again to tackle the quests. The save fountain made a good meeting point.

  "So, what did your team find in the way of quests?" Nika asked, her question directed at Ash and Dean. She would continue to pretend Blake didn't exist. It was the best way she could cope with the situation.

  "Nothing out of the ordinary," Ash said. "There are three quests total. Two of them may be worth exploring as they give out advanced weapons for the ranger and well, me, the mage. They aren't all that great considering what we should find later in the game, but they might be nice to have until we do."

  "Do they sound like quests you two can handle on your own?" Nika asked.

  Ash and Dean both nodded. Blake didn't say a word. He had to know he would be pretty much useless to them. If they trusted him more, they could just leave him in town. But he'd most likely just follow them, anyway. Until they could ditch him permanently, the smarter thing would probably be to keep a close eye on him. She was thankful that Ash had volunteered for that task.

  "Okay, then," Nika said. "Our side of town had only two quests available, one is for a reward of straight gold, but the other is for a horse. He looked fast too."

  "That would really help," Dean said. "Then we'd only need to come up with the gold for two horses instead of three." He paused. "How much gold does the other quest pay?"

  "Just a hundred," Evan said. "But that's a third of the cost of a horse, and we should be able to gather enough extra equipment from the battle drops to sell and make up the difference."

  "So, meet back at the mayor's house for dinner and compare notes?" Ash asked.

  "Sounds like we have a plan," Nika agreed. "If the quests turn out to be more than you can handle, and that goes for our quests too so don't think I'm doubting you guys, we can always come back earlier than that and regroup."

  They all agreed and started to part ways. Nika excused herself from her group and hurried over to tap Ash on the shoulder. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

  "Sure," Ash said.

  They moved out away from the others a bit and once she thought they were out of earshot, Nika asked, "Why did Louella give you the backpack to carry? I'm right that the terminal is in there, aren't I?"

  Ash lifted the shoulder that was holding the bag's strap. "It feels like it. Should I check?"

  "No need," Nika said, forcing herself not to look at Louella and the others. "Did you ask her why she wanted you to carry it now?"

  "To be honest, it never occurred to me to ask why," Ash said. "I kind of figured she was worried about being able to keep it safe. What with her wings getting shredded and everything. I mean, we did get lucky that Gaia didn't destroy the backpack and the
terminal too. We might not get that lucky next time. And computers don't heal."

  Hell, Nika hadn't thought of that. Ash had a very good point. Louella was probably just looking out for the group. But there was still that whole slamming the computer shut issue from before.

  "Do you think Louella's been acting odd lately?" Nika asked. "Like maybe she's keeping secrets from us?"

  Ash just laughed. "Lately? That girl has been odd from day one. And as for keeping secrets? Hell yes, she's keeping secrets from us. She admitted to that the very first time we met her, remember? Louella is just a name she made up for her character. We don't have a clue who or what she is in the outside world."

  Yet another good point.

  "I really don't think we have anything to worry about from her," Ash said. "I mean, we would never have made it this far if it hadn't been for her. So that pretty much means she can't be tied in with the evil VirTech Corporation." She paused. "Doesn't it?"

  Nika nodded slowly. "Yes, I'm sure she has nothing to do with all of that." The more Nika thought about it, the better she felt. Louella had just emailed back home, and she was likely still in her account when Nika had come back. There was a good likelihood that she had slammed the lid of the terminal out of pure reflex not wanting Nika to find out about her outside life.

  So nothing to do with the game at all. Nika could live with that. As long as it didn't put the party in jeopardy, let her keep all the secrets she wants.

  "Thanks, Ash," Nika said, turning to leave. "I'd better go before they start asking questions."

  "One more thing, though, since you brought her up," Ash said. "Just how old do you think Louella is? I'm thinking she might be a whole lot younger than she looks."

  Damn. Another thing Nika hadn't thought about. Was she responsible for an under-aged player? Swallowing, she shrugged. "You may be right." Nika paused. "Let's not let her drink at any taverns, just to be on the safe side."

  "Among other things." Ash laughed, then jogged away to catch up with Blake and Dean.

  Nika returned to her group with a lighter heart, but a heavier mind. She'd better start taking much better care and notice of their little pixie. Now that she thought about it, she was thinking Ash might just be right. Exactly how old was Louella?

  "Is something wrong?" Louella's voice seemed uncertain as if she was worried that Nika was mad at her.

  Nika gave her a smile and shook her head. "Considering being stuck in a virtual reality world, everything is pretty much as it should be. I just wanted to check that Ash was really okay with Blake in her party." A tiny lie shouldn't hurt anything, Nika thought. And it might put the girl at ease. It seemed to work, as Louella returned her smile and dropped her shoulders, relaxed once more.

  "So are we ready to go earn ourselves a horse?" Evan asked.

  "He--, shoot yeah," Nika said. Until she found out the truth about Louella's age, she'd better start watching the cussing in the group too. So far, she'd been pretty lax about the language. If it was possible that one of their members was a minor that would need to change.

  Evan gave her a strange look but kept his mouth shut.

  Louella made a few hand gestures, and Nika knew she was looking at the area map to see what direction they needed to head out in. Ash's group had gone to the gate at the opposite end of the town. The one farthest from the portal, which was still open and glowing.

  "Looks like we follow the others for the Giddy-up quest," Louella said. "But according to the map, the pig is in the other direction."

  "Da... ng," Nika said, changing the word as she spoke it. This was going to be harder than she'd thought. "Looks like there won't be any killing two birds with one stone today. We'll see how long it takes us to clear out that herd of hyenas. If we still have time before dinner, we can head back for the pig. Otherwise, we might just catch a few more battles in that direction and try to earn some loot to sell that way."

  "We may end up earning more gold that way, honestly," Evan said. "The game starts dropping some pretty cool battle rewards in the desert area."

  "Good," Nika said. "We need all the help we can get."

  By the time they reached the gate, Ash's small party was no longer in sight. That was probably for the better. If they got too close, the system would pester them to rejoin as one party, and for now, two parties meant a faster start to the area.

  Time was their most important need right now. The faster they could get through this desert the better.

  According to the map, the pack of hyenas was directly ahead about a mile and then down a smaller path another quarter of a mile. They set out at a slow jog, keeping their eyes open for desert creatures.

  This area was a far cry from the lush green shade of the forest region. Here, even on the very outskirts of the desert, there was no shade. No green either, outside of the town, until they reached an oasis. Those were scattered throughout this part of the game. They didn't want to give players the feeling that they were dying of thirst. Being thirsty was okay, and normal in this area, but not the dying part. They would find water even here long before it became a desperate need.

  The only way to tell that they were staying on an actual path was the lighter color of the sand. The designers had struggled with that one. They had gone with the slightly unnatural look of off colored sandy paths to make it easier for the players to find their way around. There wasn't much here this close to the town to allow players to get their bearings.

  As they jogged farther out, the sandy dunes started. Tiny little things at first, and then gradually growing in size. By the time they reached the side path, the dunes were about waist high. Big enough to start hiding creatures behind them.

  How did animals live out here? She knew this was a game, but it was as close to the real world of old as they could possibly make it. The creatures they would find in this area actually did, at least long ago, live in the hot sunny desert. Now that she was actually here, she just couldn't grasp how.

  Something to ponder on her next run through. For now, it was enough to know that they did. Although a little more knowledge about the habits of desert hyenas might have proved helpful.

  Luckily, Evan had her back. Whether he was going off programming memory, instinct, or just the area map, he led them straight to the pack.

  With her wings destroyed, Louella was now a ground fighter just like the rest of them. That meant that the party had lost its aerial attacks. That didn't mean she was useless. Her attacks were still plenty effective, even on the ground.

  As they rounded the last sandy dune, the largest one so far, the pack came into sight, and for a minute Nika regretted splitting up the party. There were six of them, and they were very nasty looking. Especially when you counted in the fact that they were currently slavering over their most recent kill.

  One would think that perhaps being already full from a recent meal would make them less aggressive. One would think very wrong indeed. The hyenas must have thought they were there to take their food from them because they didn't hesitate even a second before attacking.

  Neither did the party. Louella was the first one engaged as she threw her Earthquake area attack to lower all the enemies’ health bars a bit. Nika, in turn, followed that closely with her WarCry, which raised the small party’s stats in both attack and defense.

  Then, the hyenas were on them. They were fierce fighters, and the party was outnumbered two to one. That is, until Louella called up her clone.

  Nika smiled even as her Viking ax literally cut one of the beasts in two. They could do this after all.

  Another of the creatures jumped her from behind just as she'd had that happy thought and took her down to the sandy earth. The displaced sand from her fall managed to make it into her eyes, effectively blinding her. Worse, the hyena was heavy, and she was face down on the ground with it on her back.

  Using every ounce of her Amazonian strength, she managed to roll over and flip so that she was on the top instead. This was far too close for the ax, so
with her free hand, she grabbed her hand blade from its belt holster and slit the beast's throat.

  But not before taking substantial damage. That was when it finally hit her. Her small group didn't have a healer. She popped a health potion and her health bar raised back up to just under half. Damn, these things had some power to them. Not creatures that you wanted to take on in close combat. She was doubly grateful for her ax as they finished the rest of the pack off.

  The trick with them seemed to be not to let them get a jump on you. Obvious now, yes, but then hindsight was always twenty-twenty. With these creatures, you had to always be the aggressor. That would be useful knowledge going forward, as Nika was quite sure this was not the last pack of hyenas they would meet in the game.

  When the last creature disappeared into glitter, the party wandered the battlefield picking up items. No legendaries, but Evan had been right about the loot drops being far better in this area. They ended up with a health potion, a mana potion, and six hyena hides.

  She figured the hides would probably be needed for one of the other quests. Probably one from Ash's group. Well, it never hurt to do the extra quests for the rewards. Especially when the items needed were given to you so freely.

  It was still fairly early in the morning judging by the sun's slow path across the sky, so they all decided to keep hunting. They could turn in the quest once they'd earned some items to trade for gold.

  Nika jumped when a wonderful rush hit her body. Then she looked at the other two. Evan was making sure they hadn't missed anything on the battlefield, but Louella gave her a small shy smile.

  "In case we hit another pack before you have a chance to heal," she said.

  "Thanks." It would have been nice for Evan to have thought of that too. But then she had tasked him with getting them out of the game as quickly as possible. He probably felt if she needed healing she could do it herself.

  For the next hour, they roamed the area, taking on every batch of red dots that appeared on their screen. There was a much smaller pack of hyenas, only three, that they took care of without any problem. After all, it was literally half the battle of the previous one and quest monsters were always more powerful to boot.