by Drew Cordell
The other Rollings workers—our small group of friends excluded—were going to give us hell for “being too good for Dalthaxia”. It was inevitable, and I dreaded the offhand remarks that would come at dinner, hoping it wouldn’t get too out of control. We just needed to be sure no one could link us to Gwen Delarine and what had happened on Vrenn. I had the strong suspicion that it might have a chance of making the news feed in tomorrow’s dinner. But there was also a chance it wouldn’t air because it portrayed Dalthaxia in such unflattering light.
I expected the next few days in Eternity Online to be slow, especially since Gwen needed to make sure she was safe in the real world before we could proceed. She wasn’t even sure she would be able to log into Eternity Online for a few days, but that was okay. I understood her concerns. The stakes were only going to get higher as we progressed and we needed to be careful to protect our identities. After using the restroom, I pulled on my weekend clothes and walked out of my room into our mutual living space.
Brandon was walking out of his room at the same time. “Let’s go see if we can scrounge up some breakfast, or whatever you’d call it at this odd hour,” he said, flashing me a grin.
“Sure. I could use some coffee. What a night.” It had been insane, and I was ready to unwind and hopefully give my mind a rest. I still couldn’t believe things had worked out for us the way they had. We were beyond lucky Cadan hadn’t screwed us over—yet.
“What a night,” he agreed. “We’re lucky as hell, but I think we made some good calls along the way. We did the best we could with the cards we were dealt, and I think we’re set up for our best chance of success.”
My stomach rumbled, a grim reminder that I would need more than coffee to survive. It was a strange sensation eating in Eternity Online, feeling full, then waking up and realizing how hungry you were in the real world. I hoped we weren't too late for the cooking bots to serve us something edible. The remnants from breakfast several hours earlier was probably gone, but there were always the vending machines if it came to it. “Yeah, we are lucky as hell. I’m glad we didn’t have a repeat of the Virodeshian incident. I’m surprised everything went off without a hitch after Vrenn. Especially since we’re dealing with Cadan Graves. There’s still a lot that can go wrong, but I feel a little better about it at least.”
“I feel better about it too. Man, you should have seen the way Gwen was looking at you when you talked with Stacy alone. She was definitely jealous or pissed off. One of the two. Hey, if you don’t go after her, I sure will. But good for you. I know that couldn’t have been easy to talk to Stacy again, you seem to be handling it well.”
I couldn’t help but smile and shake my head at that, knowing this was his way of trying to comfort and congratulate me for handling a tough situation. “Another one of your astute observations, Brandon. Let’s just hope this won’t turn out to be a repeat of the Clarissa incident if you decide to go after Gwen. I was embarrassed for you. Come on, did you really write that poem in the restroom that night? Your writing seemed too good for how drunk you were.” I relished the memory. It was one of my fondest since I had arrived on Tiyvan IV.
“Uh… Yeah. Let’s not have a repeat of that. Last time I ever get drunk on cheap eggnog vodka at the company Christmas party. But yes, I did write it that night. I wrote it on a used paper towel, remember the janitor bot was broken down that night?”
“Convenient that bot wasn’t operational, it sure does help support your claim. I couldn’t even extract its video memory log… I can’t wait to read the love poem you write for Gwen,” I cooed.
He shrugged. “It’s your fault, you’re the one who is supposed to fix stuff like that around here. On second thought, I don’t think I’ll ever love again. Gwen’s all yours. Good Gesh, I wish you’d let me forget that night.”
I felt a dark smile form on my face, relishing in the memory. “I wouldn’t be a good friend if I let you forget something like that. But what you were feeling at the party definitely wasn’t love.” I laughed at my own hilarity. “But thanks, you’re right. It wasn’t easy to see Stacy again. I’m hoping we can finish our business with Dark Eternity and move on.”
“We’ll figure it out. We always do. If we have enough credits at the end of the war, I’m sure we can buy our way to Eternity even if Dalthaxia loses. Either way, we’re going to be rich if we pull this off. As long as I can create a new life for my sister and me, everything is going to be okay. You’re a good friend, Kyle. Even if you won’t let me forget that company Christmas party.”
I clapped him on the shoulder, thankful to have such a good friend by my side. “You too, buddy.”
Brandon cursed as we walked into the mess hall. The cooking bots had already frozen the remaining food from breakfast to serve again in the menu rotation, and they looked up at us from their remaining tasks in what appeared to be detached curiosity. “Is there any breakfast left or can you cook us something?” Brandon asked without much hope in his voice.
One of the bots set down a large clean serving bin, attaching it to the conduction heaters below. “For your nutritional requirements between this HAB’s dining hours, please use the vending machines. If this is a common occurrence, we encourage you to speak to your HAB’s primary care physician or increase your caloric intake during standard meals. Rollings Mining Company offers a variety of competitively priced meal plans to meet your unique nutritional needs.” It was a canned response, but it was all we were going to get from the simplistic bots.
“The vending machines will have to do,” I sighed. The food in them was overpriced and not very filling, but we could probably hold ourselves over with a couple of small snacks and coffees until dinner and just eat big then.
Brandon and I spent the day discussing strategy for the upcoming raid. We were all going to be dependent on our consumable stimpacks for our main source of healing, but they wouldn’t replenish automatically and we could only consume five total packs within an hour or be at risk of devastating debuffs from an overdose.
I was planning on going with four resource stimpacks to replenish my mana in a pinch and one health pack for an emergency heal. Brandon and Fen would be on the front lines of combat, and I needed to be able to protect them and effectively manage the rank and channeling of my Mana Shields to keep them alive through sustained damage. My positioning in battle would be just as important to maintain, and I needed to do everything I could to avoid taking any unnecessary damage.
As it turned out, Gwen would be able to administer minor healing and armor repairs from her drone companion during combat. It was ironic she was the one operating the drone considering it was my real-world profession, but it was too late for me to turn away from the path of being a magic user now, not that I’d want to anyway. It was a lot of fun slinging spells around and wielding powerful magic. I was excited about the opportunity to train my Savant class and complete my first class quest.
As my group of friends sat down for dinner with our plates of food, the news blast started almost immediately and the room quieted as usual.
“Breaking News in Eternity Online,” newscaster declared. For us, breaking news was always at least 12 hours old, but that was as close to current as we could hope for being so removed from the rest of civilization. At least Rollings fronted the cost of warping the news updates to us through the data relays rather than sending them with the almost week-long delay through standard information delivery.
“What do you think this is about?” Tim asked through a mouthful of pepperoni pizza, drowning out the next couple words from the newscaster.
“Shhhh,” I said, silencing him so we could listen as the newscaster continued.
“Dalthaxia has discovered the existence of a vital item in the Eternity War. This item, a map fragment that was recovered by a Dalthaxian treasure hunting squad during routine war efforts against NPC-controlled planets, was stolen by a traitor to our faction going by the pseudonym Gwen Delarine.”
Gwen’s image, taken f
rom in-game footage flashed across the screen next to the newscaster before he continued. “It is not currently known how Gwen Delarine was able to falsify her real-world citizenship records when joining the Dalthaxian Military in Eternity Online, but she is believed to be a Dalthaxian citizen. Delarine was aided in her escape from Dalthaxian forces by three other terrorists playing as a human, colossus, and yōkai respectively who have yet to be identified, and the help of an in-game terrorist faction named Dark Eternity. It is not currently known if Delarine or her associates are part of Dark Eternity.”
I was stunned but kept a straight face. Dalthaxia was coming right out and letting everyone know. The news would have broken sooner rather than later, though.
“In accordance with new legislation passed to aid the paramount war efforts of our great faction, Dalthaxian officials urge anyone with knowledge of these terrorists in-game or out, to come forward. Information that leads to the successful capture of Delarine and the recovery of the stolen map fragment will be rewarded handsomely. Dalthaxian officials, in their statement, emphasized that their intention isn’t to start a witch hunt, but this matter is to be taken very seriously to prevent the Salgon Empire from acquiring this relic.”
The story continued for some time, showing footage of Ether Rogue rocketing through the maintenance trench carved into Vrenn's outer structures as nimble fighters chased after it with weapons blazing. The footage shifted to utter chaos in the form of personal holovid recording footage from the Dalthaxian soldiers we’d killed in the docking bay. The shaky video showed streams of deadly blaster fire and violent explosions as the soldier whose view we were following was struck hard and fell. The camera continued to film from a lifeless angle, and a KIA message superimposed itself over the footage in red text as the shouting and blaster fire continued.
Datanet links where citizens could learn more about the events and the rewards that were offered by Dalthaxia were posted on the screen. The newscaster moved to different stories, but I was having trouble paying attention. The bait had been thrown to billions of people, and everyone would be on the lookout for us. It was inevitable that Salgon would get a hold of the story too, but Dalthaxia wouldn't have made it public in the first place unless they were absolutely sure Salgon already had the information of the events.
There was nothing else that was particularly relevant to me or Brandon on the news, but it was clear he was pondering what this would mean for us too. If Gwen couldn't handle this on her own and make sure she was properly hidden, then she might be forced to go to Cadan for help outside of Eternity Online. We were putting ourselves in a lot of real-world danger, and at a certain point, having all the credits in the system might not be enough to buy the trouble away.
The remarks from my coworkers had been relatively tame before the news broke, but now they were becoming more pointed. Accusations that we were a part of the insurgent group rose, but no one had proof of our involvement, and Nick Ramirez settled things down when they started to get too heated. He was doing his best to act as our company HR rep at all times when our real one wasn’t visiting our HAB, more accurately playing the role of mediator to stop childish squabbles from a group of adults.
“This is why you don't play neutral. We’ve seen firsthand the type of criminals who stand against Dalthaxia. What do they all have in common? They’re all traitors who play neutral,” Chad remarked. He had a naturally loud voice, and it carried through the mess hall despite the fact he was still talking to the other people at his table. “People who play neutral aren’t helping the cause. They’re consuming Dalthaxian resources in the real world, and they aren’t contributing to make sure we all don’t die. That’s traitorous behavior to me.”
Brandon glared over at him, narrowing his eyes, but I pulled his attention back. “Just ignore him.”
Only now we actually were traitors, and I didn't know how that would affect us over the long run. I knew why Brandon was doing this, I knew he only wanted to help his sister have a better life. But we were digging deeper into a dangerous situation with unimaginably powerful enemies. One mistake could cost us everything. Eventually, we might get in over our heads and not even realize it until it was too late.
33
Logging into Eternity Online, we materialized on Ether Rogue. Fen was waiting for us, working on her crafting profession. Much like the Architect class option I’d had when spending my class point, Fen’s Faithdancer class came with an exclusive crafting profession called Runecrafting. She was working with small rock fragments with magical properties that I would also have needed to work with if I chose Artificing for my crafting profession. For now, I was at a loss for where to start with Lore or how it would benefit me other than maybe providing a small stream of pocket credits to pad my bank account.
“Hey, Fen,” Brandon said as we walked into the shared living space which had been partially converted into a workshop for our group to train up on crafting during the long haul through the seemingly endless expanses of Eternity Online. As soon as Gwen was back, I would read her map and we would start our journey to the Strexian temple. Until then, we were warping through the emptiness of unexplored space away from mapped civilization, unsure of what dangers could be lurking in the darkness.
Fen looked up from the magnifying lens perched over the workstation, setting down the precise tools she'd been using to work on a small rounded stone. “Hello. I am working on crafting to try to enhance my katana. The ship is set to autopilot and I am looking for a good place to hide while we wait for Gwen to log in again. We have to preserve our jump fuel, and I do not think it is likely that we will be able to refuel it along the way.”
Fen was right. We weren’t expecting to be able to refuel the jump drive, but we had purchased extra jump fuel from Cadan with some of the credits we’d been given for upgrades to Ether Rogue. Now, we had four full tanks with the stipulation that we would have to complete external refueling rather than load it from the inside. In a pinch, it would be almost impossible, but the reality was this was our best option to maximize our range. Gwen had spent most of the eCr allotted for ship upgrades on an upgraded warp drive, achieving warp speeds on the outer limits of what should have been possible for a ship of this size and mass without risking damage to the hull or modules. We were hoping it had been the right call.
“I don't know if you saw it, but Dalthaxia blasted the news about Gwen over the Datanet in the real world yesterday. There's a chance she never logs in again,” I said. “And I'm not just worried about her well-being in Eternity Online. If what Cadan Graves told us is true, there's a chance Dalthaxia takes advantage of their new legislation and makes an example of Gwen for what she's done. They'll want everyone to know what happens when Dalthaxian citizens defect.”
The legislation was bad, but not unexpected. Dalthaxia would be able to detain citizens in real life for up to two weeks if they could support the decision with conclusive findings that the citizen in question was interfering with Dalthaxian-aligned war efforts in Eternity Online. After that, they could be tried as criminals of the state and be imprisoned for much longer.
I was immensely thankful that neither Dalthaxia or Salgon could reverse their decision on the privacy features of the game that protected real identities, even if they both might have wanted to at this point. It was the cost of a joint-construct AI system that could be nothing but one hundred percent fair and impartial at all times. The outcome was the outcome, and the losing government’s AI would be handed over to the winning faction that took control of all twelve core worlds in Eternity Online. Then it would all be over and the exodus would begin. As far as I was aware, neither faction had started construction of exodus ships, and even if they had, it wouldn’t be something they would advertise to their entire populations that had a direct influence in the outcome of the war.
Fen nodded. “I saw the news, I understand the potential fallout because of this. Dalthaxia does not have any legal grounds to try her based on her actions as a neutral pla
yer, but they do have grounds for a trial based on her defection from her military conscription. They can imprison her for the remainder of the war, and she could lose her right to life in our system if she is found guilty of desertion. I have no doubt that Dalthaxia will be looking for Gwen in the real world.”
“There's also the alternative that they take a less legal path to deal with their problem,” I considered grimly. “That's why we all need access to this map data. If she can't hide indefinitely, there won't be anything we can do to protect her. We won’t have the financial resources to hire the types of people that could make her disappear safely until after we complete the temple either. But I don’t think any of us have those types of contacts or the means to acquire them without going to Cadan.”
Fen seemed to consider this through her crystalline mask. “I agree we need to distribute the data for safety. The type of contract we need will not be enforceable by law, so the purpose is defeated. Any one of us could break the trust and betray the rest of our group, I do not see a way around that. Unfortunately, I think Gwen needs to seriously consider taking Cadan’s offer of helping her hide on Dalthaxia.”
I felt my face go pale, I tried to keep my voice level but failed. “And if he holds her hostage in the real world to try to pressure the rest of us into giving over our information? What then? I don't trust Cadan at all. I only thought it would be best to talk with him after he escaped Vrenn to keep him from actively pursuing us an enemy. If we give Cadan leverage against us, there's a strong chance he’ll use it. He uses people, and I won’t let him take anyone else away from me again.”
“I am sorry about what happened with you and Stacy because of this man. It seems like we might need his help though. We could lose if he turns against us, but we are also short on options if Gwen cannot secure herself and protect her identity,” Fen said, obviously sympathetic to both sides of the issue. I could tell she wasn’t trying to make me upset, she was only trying to weigh our options if Gwen couldn’t handle this herself. I wasn’t angry at Fen, but I also wasn’t doing a good job of keeping my frustration and anger at the situation out of my tone.
