by J. J. Lorden
Jim held up the strange, flattened-egg–like object, considering it.
Bendick finished, “It’s also not very subtle; you’ll turn completely black except for eye, mouth, and nasal openings. Honestly, I find it feels a bit like wearing a really light suit of armor. You’ll be protected, but it’s not very comfortable.”
The small boy excitedly held up a similar stone. “It’s super cool, Mr. Jim. It’s like becoming a beetle. I can fall backward off my bed, and it doesn’t even hurt! And I have a huge bunk bed–it’s like ten feet high.”
Jim chuckled while Bendik ruffled the boy’s hair and prompted him to put the stone away. “We’ve talked about this, Austin. That’s not a toy.”
Jim squatted in front of the boy. “Thanks for the tip, Austin.” He held up his hand, and Austin gave him a solid high five. Jim chuckled. “Nice one.” Then he held out the black stone. “I’m going to try that tonight. I’m sure your dad won’t mind if I give it a little test run.”
“Nahhh, he’s cool. My dad has the best toys; he just doesn’t like to play with them. That’s what I help him with.” Austin smiled widely. “I’ve got a job just like you, Mr. Jim. I’m the Chief Play Officer.”
A rumbling chuckle was Jim’s initial response.
Then he said, “You’ve got an important job indeed, Austin. I think perhaps I need to find a Junior Chief Play Officer to work for me. They wouldn’t be as important as you are, of course, since you’re the Senior Chief Play Officer, but maybe you could train them.”
The boy scrunched up his face and cocked his head a bit, thinking about the proposal very seriously. The likeness to his father was uncanny. When he spoke, he sounded like a very different person. “Mr. Jim, I don’t think I can authorize that.”
Surprised by Austin’s response, Jim bent his head to look at the boy. “Well, I certainly won’t act without authorization. Would you explain your concern to me, Austin? I’m pretty sure it’s an important job that I could use help with.”
“You see, Mr. Jim, most of the time, my work is with my dad’s super-cool tech toys, and they’re top secret. We can’t let the bad guys get em’. If they did, they might do bad stuff, like making kids in poor countries into slaves, or if they’re really bad, they might try to take over the world.
“And most people are leghoppers, Mr. Jim. I know you’re not because my dad trusts you, but still, if you got a leghopper by accident as your Junior Play Officer, they might sneak off with important gadgets.”
Jim had heard this term used before by Bendik, so it wasn’t new to him. Bendik referred to most of the people in the governmental and corporate power structures as leghoppers.
Austin continued, “I know you and my dad are really smart, so if you can prove your person is trustworthy…” He trailed off in a leading tone, stood a bit straighter, and nodded. “I will train your Junior Play Officer.”
Jim smiled at the boy and held out his hand. Austin took it, and they shook.
“It’s a deal, Austin. I can tell that you’re wise beyond your years, which is good because we have a big responsibility with your dad’s tech. We must be good stewards of it. I’m glad to have you on our team.” And he was–Jim was inspired by the boy.
He stood up and spoke with Bendik for a bit longer. He spoke confidently, but he felt worried. Jim was taking over the day-to-day operations of a massive international company that possessed numerous technologies far beyond their competitors.
Not only that, Bendik had vastly undersold the Texier quantum computing capacity. The simulation capacity of their Qcore computers was allowing them to model the human brain and then apply that understanding to massively distributed general intelligence.
The results from that work were then being fed to another team working on hive mind processing software built into the framework of organic tissue.
All of this was working toward a purpose, one Bendik kept close to the vest. But Jim was an excellent judge of people. He knew the man was sincere, so he didn’t need to know exactly what he was aiming to do.
Jim’s job was to get the word out and keep the corporate ship steady, so his mad genius boss could keep pushing the envelope.
As it was now, that leading edge work was moving to the new offsite lab, deep underground beneath Bendik’s home.
The goal was a stabilized quantum node. Essentially an array of Qcores, linked via quantum entangled particles, that Bendik claimed would be powerful enough to model the existing world, in its entirety, down to the molecular level.
When the node array was complete, Texier Quantum Labs would legitimately have the most dangerous weapon on the planet.
Even a single Qcore, in the wrong hands, scared the hell out of Jim. The quantum tech could not get out, under any circumstances. Jim was crystal clear on that.
With all of this secret work going on, Bendik had just painted a huge target right on Texier Quantum Labs. It wasn’t a surprise; Jim had taken the job with full disclosure from Bendik about the risks involved and his intention to make waves in international power circles.
Despite the inordinate amount of risk, it was the first time in his professional career that Jim felt honored to be part of something meaningful that he believed in. He also relished the challenge.
However, having previously played for the other team, he knew better than most that when the stakes were high enough, powerful people played deadly games. After today, those deadly games would be seeking to include Jim.
He walked with the Texier family into the back of the facility where they stopped in front of a non-descript door half-way down a dead-end hallway.
The door looked normal, but the steel knob was a fake, and Bendik didn’t touch it. He just walked up and paused for a moment, and it began to slowly swing open.
Jim and Bendik said their goodbyes. Jim welcomed a warm hug from Bendik’s lovely wife, Kara, and he high-fived Austin again. Then Bendik and family entered the elevator behind the door and descended to depart the facility via a private underground tram.
Starting tomorrow, Jim would use the same system. He would access it via secure underground parking at one of several off-site locations.
Texier security would provide him a random schedule of which access point to use on which day and company cars would wait at each station every afternoon so he never went home the same way he arrived.
Bendik had taken extreme measures to secure his travel from home to the Texier corporate campus. I wonder what happened, he mused to himself, not for the first time. What happened to inspire such an elaborate system?
Whatever the motivation was, after today, Jim was taking his personal security much more seriously, and he was grateful for having access to this tram.
Five minutes later, Jim jumped into his running silver Mercedes and engaged the auto-drive. Remote starting the car well before he went anywhere had been an easy habit for the Texas native to adopt. Maine’s cold winter days were biting, and he didn’t like heavy winter clothes.
A pair of Texier corporate security vehicles pulled out in front and behind as his car drove through the main gate.
He looked pensively out the window as his car pulled off the campus and turned south on Route 77, headed toward the gated suburb where he’d just bought a new home.
As the car rounded the corner and accelerated, Jim was lost in his thoughts, considering the plan to revitalize a portion of Indonesia Bendik wanted him to prioritize.
As they sped south, neither Jim nor his escorts noticed when a motorcycle and lithe rider, both camouflaged in a dizzying pattern of black and grey triangles, pulled out of an old logging road and started to follow them.
17
Valerie
Valerie carefully picked her way through the forest. She was sure to keep the bordering grasslands within view, as it defined the edge of what her first discovered skill allowed her to map. The skill gain had also given her a nice experience point boost, enough to reach level 2. She reviewed it with a smile.
Skill (Rare): Scout Pathfinding (passive/active)—Through the careful mental cataloging of your surroundings and the will to spatially track your traveled path, you’ve discovered the Scout Pathfinding skill.
Skill Level: Primitive (detail, accuracy, and recorded radius increase with skill level.)
Use (passive): As you travel, Scout Pathfinding will generate and record a map of the places you’ve been. Skill only records what you actively observe and does not function if you are unconscious, drunk, or otherwise impaired.
Use (active): Scout Pathfinding allows the sharing of map data, in part or in full, with other party members.
She’d unlocked the mapping skill after nearly tripping over her first mob. Being that it was an absolute cornerstone for exploring, having done so almost immediately was a rush. How it had occurred was a bit odd, though.
While creeping along the forest edge, a sonar-like pulse wave had randomly begun emanating from her chest. The rhythmic sensation activating had been a complete surprise and scared the piss out of her.
After the shock passed, it took Val only a few minutes to figure out the waves were a kind of echo location based upon her proximity to something.
Learning to use it had been like a one-person hotter-colder game–when she moved closer to her goal, it got faster; farther away, and the pulse slowed. Other than that, it had been horribly vague, just a pulse without any way to tell if she was being led toward a vicious beast or some incredible treasure.
In hindsight, the sonar effect seemed to have been some kind of precursor that primed her to quickly unlock Scout Pathfinding.
After Val had completed creating her avatar, unlocked the jaw-dropping Jade Equilibrium bonus, and given Ink a mocking two-finger salute, she’d spawned in the prairie right on the edge of this forest.
Not caring to be out in the open, as it made her feel a bit vulnerable, she’d immediately cut back into the woods and begun picking her way through the undergrowth as quietly as possible.
In addition to her desire to stay out of the open, she did this to test the skill acquisition system, hoping to learn sneak or some kind of movement skill.
That was when the sonar pulse began. Although she’d suspected the pulse was some kind of threat warning system, it was also kind of like a big red button that said, Don’t Push. There was no way not to push a button like that. So, she pushed it. Or rather, followed it.
Tiptoeing through the forest, she’d meandered in a weaving path, turning toward whichever direction made the pulse stronger. When it began to hum, she’d found its epicenter by nearly tripping over a strange dog-beaver animal that was hunched low in the undergrowth.
Later she decided to call it a deaver, admittedly not that original, but it worked. At the point where she bumped into the thing, the sonar pulse dissipated, and a red message indicator had appeared in the corner of her vision.
At first glance, the deaver looked damn menacing. It was about the size of a medium dog, probably 60 pounds or so, and it had three colossal front teeth that extended well below its bottom lip. The center tooth was a pointed incisor at least an inch across, and the bracketing two teeth were flat beaver teeth.
The deaver had instantly leapt at her, and in a terrifying moment of self-defense, she’d jammed her forearm into its mouth, blessedly discovering that beyond the vicious-looking front teeth, it had no sharp back teeth, just molars.
The creature’s numerous flat teeth had done some crushing and tearing damage to her arm, but she’d also been able to use its overzealous grip to control the thing, pinning it down under one knee then bashing its skull in with a rock.
Looting the deaver had granted her shiny pebbles, a seemingly worthless prize. She pocketed them anyhow and sat down to regenerate health and check her notifications.
The first was the new skill notification for Scout Pathfinding, the second was her level up. Within about 10 minutes, her arm was good as new, and she’d set off to enthusiastically start building her map database.
Even though she’d been able to kill the thing, Val knew it had been mostly luck that the deaver was so weak, coupled with a bit of quick thinking on her part. It wasn’t proof of any actual combat capability, especially if she ran into any kind of real predator.
That conclusion rang in her mind right now as Scout Pathfinding, with its improved threat detection, was displaying a large yellow circle on the mini-map she had in the top center of her vision. Valerie felt her body and mind come to life as ancient and familiar instincts took over.
One focused thought magnified her map, and she saw the large yellow circle pulsing around an area directly in front of her. Her current position was encompassed within the very edge of the ring.
The fact that it was yellow seemed to be a good sign; yellow being a color associated with warning, not imminent attack. By this logic, Val figured she hadn’t been detected by the unseen creature. It could be just another deaver, she thought.
But her curiosity had been sated in finding the first one, and now Aust– her thoughts cut off as her mind got jabbed. Unghh. No real world names? Really?
She had a thought to try again, and felt her head start to swim slightly. Okay then, Erramir it is. The new name felt right, and Valerie’s attention snapped back to her situation.
She glanced at the yellow circle and recalled Erramir’s warning about there being no level zones. Investigating is not worth the risk.
Even if it was another deaver, she wasn’t eager to re-live the intense pain of getting her arm crushed. I really need to find a weapon before fighting anything else.
Turning right, she ran out of the yellow circle then began skirting around its edge. As she did, its epicenter began to move closer, and she had to adjust her direction to stay at the very edge. Within seconds of this, she approached the massive tree that was her goal.
As she closed, her foot landed on a small twig hidden beneath some leaves. The resulting crack sounded like a gunshot to her ears. The epicenter of the circle abruptly turned toward her and began to close in more quickly.
She cursed mentally but adjusted her direction away from the tree trunk, targeting the lowest hanging branch instead; it was high–really high.
Twitch determined her jumping ability, along with Agility to a lesser degree, at least she thought that was the case. Either way, they were her highest attributes.
Val hoped desperately they were high enough.
She slowed slightly, gathered her momentum, and jumped. Val soared upward, and her outstretched hand almost sailed by the limb. She hurriedly adjusted and grabbed it with both hands.
Childhood instincts took over, honed by years of forced gymnastics, and she kicked her legs, building on the momentum from her jump to swing her body higher.
She swung back, almost parallel to the forest floor, kicked again, swung even higher, curled her body back, released the branch, and alighted on the limb with one foot. Then… dammit!
The other slipped off backward. Her center of gravity drifted back precariously, right on the edge.
Shit, shit, shit. Arms pinwheeling, Val tried to regain her balance, but it was too late, she could feel the point of no return rapidly approaching.
Just go with it, Val! She glanced over her shoulder and targeted another larger branch slightly above her head and about twelve feet away. With a better idea of her jumping ability, she knew it was within range.
She leapt, twisting around in the air, grabbed the thick bow, and a few moments later stood balanced and quiet more than two stories above the forest floor.
But now, she was standing well inside the circle perimeter. I think I’ll move up jussst a bit more, she thought. There was another truly massive limb about fifteen feet higher. It was too broad for her to grab or even get her arms around, but a few feet lower, there was a smaller branch about the thickness of her arm.
With another superhuman leap, she grabbed the smaller branch, clambered onto it, and then effortlessly made the final vault to the big o
ne, landing gracefully this time.
The limb hid her from anything looking up. On her map, she saw that the yellow circle had stopped advancing. Val exhaled in relief and leaned back against the trunk; hopefully, she’d be safe up here.
The enormous tree reminded her of sycamore trees she’d climbed with her little sister as kids, only ten times as large. They were definitely her favorite kind of tree, so majestically distinctive with their broad, high canopies, wide-open spaces between branches, and shamelessly unique bark.
Labeling the tree a sycamore wasn’t quite right. It was at least sycamore-ish in that it had the same mottled bark. Like one from Earth, at the base this one’s outer layer was creamy-coffee and completely homogenous. As you rose toward the top, the cafe color blended with tan and vanilla patches
Where she stood, more than three stories up, it was still mostly dark with only occasional lighter patches, but she could see the milky spots growing more regular not too far above.
Aside from the size, the seeds were what set this tree apart from the sycamores she’d known. Those, the ones of her childhood, she considered some of Mother Nature’s most exceptional work, and they featured prominently in many of her richest girlhood memories.
On breezy fall days, in the grove of sycamores behind her childhood home, those magical winged pods would fall in droves, filling the air with a kaleidoscope of pinwheeling frenzy.
The sight was pure enchantment. Even the memory of it made her smile wistfully. Most memories of her childhood she would willingly cut away, if such a thing was possible, but not those. Those memories she treasured.
Many crisp fall days she’d spent sprawled amidst the golden leaves and sparse grass of the sycamore grove, blissfully lost in that show. Hours would pass, and her face would ache from smiling by the time twilight finally came.
