“Hey, Bro!” He was pleased to see me. “Would you like some Italian meat balls in tomato sauce?”
“Sounds edible, but let me try it first. Matty, why are you bothering? The robocook works fine.”
“Um, no reason. It relaxes me. Gives me something to do when I climb out of the pod. When I get the hang of it, I’ll take the kids for a picnic. That’ll be a big surprise.”
“Fine. Knock yourself out. Are you going to see them this weekend?”
“No, they can’t this weekend. Liz wrote that it’s the end of the school year, exams and whatnot, not a good idea to distract them.”
“Then I have an idea. Let’s visit my parents. Together. I don’t even remember the last time I saw them, what with one thing and another.”
“You go. I’ll stay home. I’ll do some cleaning or something.” Matty looked around in vain for something that needed tidying up. The management company’s Imitators had the cleanliness of the sector-two house well under control.
“You’ll get by, you fiend. Mom hasn’t seen you in ten years. You can share the load of parental concern and care,” I said, giving him a hug. He was all skin and bones under his T-shirt. “And it wouldn’t hurt to feed you up.”
“You could just say I need to do some eating for you,” he laughed and went to pack his things.
Despite our longstanding friendship, our families had never met and were completely different. Matty’s dad had drunk himself to death when we were still at school. Straight after we graduated his mom married again, moved to another city, and broke contact with Matty, figuring he was grown up, and she had a new life, a new family, new children. It must be said he’d never demanded her attention or help. Even before we finished school he’d spent a lot of time at our place. My mom loved him, fed him, and mothered him when the need arose. Then he went to college, started earning himself a crust, moved into a rented room, and met Liz.
My family was great all round. Dad was a government clerk, Mom kept house and looked after me and my sister. Dad’s job didn’t provide us with riches or flats, but he earned enough to give his children a good education. So, unlike Matty, I had a comfortable, mama’s-boy childhood. So what? I was always proud mom loved me more than my sister, but I took it in my stride that Dad was more devoted to Emily. It happens in a lot of families. After Dad retired, we had enough for a nice house in the suburbs, and his pension allowed us to maintain the standard of living we were used to.
The further we got from town, the more markedly the view from the car window changed. The commuter belt, not to mention the countryside, was a sharp contrast to the large cities in terms of development and way of life. The Imitators hadn’t reached that far. There was no social housing, and no plans to build it in the near future. But it had nothing to do with a shortage of cash, only the good judgment of the establishment. All they needed was to wait for the results of natural processes: the young and ambitious would move to the city in search of opportunity; if they could stand the pressure, society gained intelligent and flexible new citizens; if not, they supplemented the never-ending ranks of vagrants. Provincial degenerates were first ensconced in prison pods on the vaguest pretext, and later switched to special social contracts. The remainder of the population went about their business — the business they subsisted on from generation to generation: growing and selling seasonal fruit and vegetables, keeping small shops, providing services such as transporting goods or people, and so on. They lived in relative comfort, as long as there were people who needed to pay for products or services provided by the hands of a living being instead of an Imitator. It wouldn’t be long before such people disappeared, taking with them most of the provincial entrepreneurs. Small islands of life would remain, necessary for the manufacture of premium-class products for rich and pretentious people.
The government understood this and was in no hurry to invest money in the suburbs or rural areas. For the time being, the Imitators reigned exclusively in the megalopolises, but Barliona already hung like an ominous shadow over the whole of the human world.
“Brody, my darling… Matty, it’s great to have you here!” Mom couldn’t rejoice enough at our unannounced arrival, by turns embracing us and scolding us that we hadn’t called ahead. At first Matty was a bit flustered, but then he relaxed into her human contact and unassuming affection.
Even dad, usually so stoic, scuttled out and hugged us both hard. I’d never thought he was so concerned for me. You couldn’t say we were close, but I’d always been able to count on his tacit support.
“Chaps! You deigned to show up after all! Mother, feed the men. Then we’ll go fishing. They need to get away from work and the bustle of the city.”
“Yes, yes,” said mom, fussing, as I swallowed a lump in my throat. I loved them so much.
Two days flew by in a wink. We hung out at the lake, wandered around the locality, chatted, and enjoyed a bit of home cooking. That’s why I was so fat — Mom was fantastic in the kitchen. Sitting on the sofa by the fire, they asked me about my new job, and Matty about his life in general. He and I exchanged a quiet look and agreed not to go into too much detail. It was impossible to hide it from my father’s attentive eyes, but he merely closed them approvingly. There was no reason to alarm mother.
On Sunday morning, after a hearty breakfast, we were already out of the door when Mom took my hand. Engrossed in conversation, Dad and Matty didn’t notice and went outside.
“Brody, I heard Jackie died,” she said.
“I can’t say I’m heartbroken,” I said, not sure what she was getting at. “But I won’t speak ill of my ex-mother-in-law.”
“Brody, don’t make me ashamed of your upbringing!”
“Mom, don’t make me lie. You know what we thought of each other.”
“I’m not talking about that.” She calmed down a bit. “You could at least call Andrea. You did live together for five years.”
“Mom, why? To express my commiserations? There was enough hypocrisy in that relationship to last another two lifetimes. I’m sad my ex-wife has lost her mother, but I’m not sad Jackie’s been driven out of this world to command devils in her own. Conversation closed.”
“Catherine, are you harassing Brody again with your ideas about marriage?” Dad came back in time to save me.
“No, of course not. I was just asking him to call more often,” protested my duplicitous mother. She knew how to plead for sympathy.
“He’ll call when he has some free time.” Dad embraced me and added, “Don’t listen to your mother. She never washes twice in the same water. Bye!”
We pulled away, leaving them standing by the door in each other’s arms, watching us go and gently ribbing each other.
“You’re lucky.”
“I know. It’s a shame they’re growing old.”
“Why did your mom remember Andrea?”
“She wants grandchildren. When my brother-in-law whisked Emily off to another continent, Mom decided I needed to get married.
“What about you? Don’t you want children?”
“Sure I do. But not yet.”
Breakfast was taking its toll, and we shamelessly slept the whole journey back. We were awoken by the radio accidentally coming on.
“And now the sensation of the year, the Rock Messengers with their new hit, Take Cover, it’s a wipe! We would like to remind fans the group will be playing in Anhurs next month, so hurry to see Lorelei the bard on Malabar’s main stage.”
Lively rock with pleasant female vocals blared from the speakers. The lyrics were crude, but with tangible social overtones — a jolly description of an unsuccessful raid which ended in a wipe and the dismissal of players considered useless. Just like real life. Lines such as, “A bad raid leader only has his raiders to blame,” were not all that inoffensive.
“That’s witty,” laughed Matty, stretching. “Have you heard of them? Funny guys.”
“No, but they sound okay. If they don’t get banned.”
“
By the way, when can you give me those books back?” said Matty. “You said soon, but it’s been two weeks. I haven’t finished them.”
“What the hell are you reading that garbage for?”
“Screw you, Brody! I read what I want. If you don’t like it, give it back.”
“We forgot about them. Otherwise we’d have given them back.”
“Who is we?” He said, tensing up.”
“Me and Eredani. Sorry, my head’s a mess with all those dances. I borrowed them for him.”
Matty had heard a lot about Eredani. Living under the same roof, I’d told him the details of our meeting and the agreement. He was concerned about my partner’s character, but I didn’t care, as long as he was being of use. Why get involved in others’ misfortunes when you have more than enough of your own?
“S-o-o-o! Eredani isn’t returning the books because he finds them useful.”
“Matty, people like Eredani find only money useful, not books.”
“Maybe you’re right. Who is he anyway?”
“What does it matter? While he’s working for us, he’s useful to us. Thanks to him we’ve earned three hundred thousand toward establishing a clan.”
Matty fell silent and turned to look out of the window. I thought he was upset about the books.
“Bro, that money, is it really for the clan?”
“Yes. We talked about this. We must establish a clan.”
“Yeah, we talked. Can you buy me some demon ore? I need a hundred and twenty pieces.”
“Why so much?” I asked, surprised.
“That task I told you about — there’s a chain. To go on to the next level, you have to make fifty pins. I’ve done ten, but all my money went on them. Then I started studying and I don’t have time now.”
“A hundred and twenty pieces of demon ore is nearly six thousand gold,” I calculated. “Are you sure you want to get involved with this right now?”
“Yes. No one has a task like this. No one is making these pins. While the opportunity’s there, I have to try. I understand it’s a lot of money, but if it’s for the clan…”
“The clan doesn’t exist yet,” I reminded him.
“No, but it will, yeah?” Matty looked at me.
“It will,” I said decisively, brushing away unnecessary thoughts. “Okay, let’s say you make fifty pins. What next?”
“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “It’s the first step. Then there’ll definitely be a second. The teacher said I’d have to go and see the engineers. I can tell it’s something serious. It’s a unique task.”
“I need a description of your task, a description of how you received it, and what exactly the instructors told you. Can you do that? No offense, but I have to discuss this with Eredani.”
“Yes… I… understand.”
“I understa-a-and,” I teased. “Firstly, we earned that money with his help. If I throw it around all on my own, the partnership might not work out, and we need him. He has more experience. And secondly, the opinion of an outside expert in the game won’t hurt.”
I convinced Matty, and when we got home he dove into his pod to send me a description of the task. I looked at the time — almost nine in the evening. Matty would do everything quickly, and we could sort out the business with the ore there and then.
Enter!
“Couldn’t stay away, holiday-maker?” Eredani was lounging on his bed and leafing lazily through a book. As promised, I’d supplied him with enough reading matter for several months. “Has something happened? It’s a bit late for training.”
“Nothing’s happened, but I am here on business. Remember I told you about Matthew and his task? We need some advice. It’s a unique task, or to be more precise, a chain of tasks. Connected with Engineering and Smithcraft. Maybe something else. We need to buy a hundred and twenty pieces of demon ore now, and that’s just the first step. What’ll become of the enterprise later, God knows.”
Eredani was interested, and he perked up and put his book aside. I gave him everything Matty had sent me, and he got stuck into studying it.
Task: step one. Training
Description: Unique. A chain of manufacturing tasks. In order to prove your worth as a master, you must first do some preparatory work. You must create fifty cylinders from demon steel. Diameter: 1 cm. length: 10 cm. There are no instructions; you must do it by yourself.
Reward:
Experience: +5
Reputation with all Malabar factions: +1
Progress to next step
“So… it’s some component part.” Eredani set to thinking. “First step — simple rivets.”
“Where did you ever see rivets that thick amd long?”
“It’s a standard beginning of a chain,” he explained. “Half will be rejected by the master, another quarter will break. Matthew will cut the rest to the required length and use them. I want to ask your friend a couple of questions. Can you organize that?” I took out the communication amulet and buzzed Matty. He picked up immediately. “Matthew, greetings! My name is Eredani. Brody’s told you about me. I have a quick question. What’s your current Craft score?”
“Craft?” Matty was surprised. “They removed it six months ago.”
“Removed it?” Eredani’s voice wavered from the unexpected news.
“Yes. Straight after the battle of the gods. They explained it had something to do with Carmadont. He thought up the characteristic, and took it with him when he died.”
My partner’s face grew long and froze; I knew a powerful thought process was in motion and didn’t need disturbing.
“Did they replace it with anything?” I asked Matty.
“No, they paid out some cash and left the characteristic empty. I used the money to level Smithcraft and Engineering up to four hundred.”
“Thank you, that’s all.” Eredani gesticulated for me to switch the device off. “Bad news,” he said. I could tell he was still thinking over the problem. “I was pinning a lot of hope on craft.”
“What do you want with it?”
“Not me, you. Luck, charisma, craft, and empathy — an ideal set of extras for the head of a clan.”
“That hasn’t made things clearer at all. Craft for me?”
“It was a cunning characteristic. It boosted everything its owner touched. I’m not just talking about manufacturing, but gangs of workers, mercenaries, the castle and its custodian, everything. Empathy helps you establish relations with locals. Manipulation is easier to gain, but it doesn’t work with everyone. It’s not worth meddling with anyone higher than Governor. Empathy doesn’t have that restriction, it can even affect the Emperor. The main thing is to be in the right place with the right words. Apart from that, don’t forget you’re a tiefling. By default the locals will hate you as a half-demon. Empathy doesn’t only allow you to establish contact via compassion, it also speeds up the growth of agreeability. Add in luck, charisma, and trade as a main profession, and you have a powerful mixture to barter with the locals for rare tasks and objects. Now there’s no craft, we’ll have to think what to replace it with.”
“Interesting. In the beginning were the questions. Then Eredani came along and answered them — and then there were heaps more. Do you always work this way?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I came to you with a specific question: is it worth investing in Matthew’s task or not? Now we’re onto characteristics necessary to a clan chief. Let’s decide questions in the order they arise.”
“What is there to decide? Invest. Whatever it is, all expenses will be covered by selling the instructions or the end product to top players. Six thousand for one step is peanuts. The difficulties will come later, on step three or four. He’ll have to go to a high-level dungeon to find some inconceivable part without which nothing will work. And then find something rare and unreal. It’s a classic. And the six thousand you invest now in the first step will seem like peanuts compared to hiring a respectable posse in t
he dungeon. Is that clearer?”
“Much. How do you boost empathy?”
“Just like in reality. By showing compassion for somebody. Sincerely.” Eredani saw my baleful look and added, “Meaning you yourself must believe in your compassion. I repeat, manipulation is N times easier to receive, but the result is N times worse. Is that a problem?”
“Yes, it’s a problem.”
People in the city had long since lived separate lives, preferring not to notice the ups and downs of others. At first it was called “respect for others’ personal space,” and later it was somehow reborn as indifference. The ability of contemporary people to be compassionate has been lost during the process of evolution.
A Second Chance Page 24
