Who knows? TOM answered. That’s more ADAM’s department.
Bethany Anne snickered at TOM’s tone of dismay. Tomorrow was going to be here far too soon for her liking. I’m gonna say they make it and have a bunch of smart-mouth babies. John ends up babysitting six granddaughters.
TOM made a choking noise. I strongly suggest you don’t repeat that anywhere it could get back to John. I think it might make his brain explode.
Fine, Bethany Anne conceded. I’ll save it for the next time I want to turn the screws on him.
You might as well have wished to live in interesting times, TOM teased. It’s good to have everyone here, right?
Bethany Anne sat up and tipped her Coke bottle back, letting the emotion wash over and around her as she quenched her thirst. This is the real celebration and the true family gathering. Everyone close, even for just a minute.
TOM chuckled. Just how you like it.
Bethany Anne eyed the ice bucket. How I like it, and something I needed. Her gaze continued to roam over the room. Faces she hadn’t seen since the Empire had folded were making merry with Mahi’ and her family. Badly, I think. We’ve not had anything like this since before the twins were born. You can’t take a single step in here tonight without bumping into a prodigal.
Eve’s and Izanami’s efforts to entertain Todd and the youngest Bakas were proving too amusing for the adults to ignore.
Bethany Anne’s eyes followed the shadow puppets projected by the AIs. The silhouetted figures chased and fought each other over the empty dinner plates, kabuki theatre given life. It’s all the reminder I need to keep fighting until everyone in this room, every human, alien, and digital entity, is out from under the shadow of the Seven.
But tonight you’re letting it go? TOM asked, managing somehow to keep the disbelief out of his tone.
Yes. Tonight, Bethany Anne told him, reaching for a fresh bottle of Coke, I’m letting my hair down and enjoying the hell out of my legacy. Who gets to do that in their own lifetime?
TOM burst into laughter. I don’t think the young are concerned with anything but the moment they’re in.
Maybe they have it best. I’m sure as hell thinking of what’s waiting. Tiny Todd was on his…third wind? Bethany Anne smiled as he grasped for the brightly-colored mist dragon whooshing by, his cheeks bright red with joy. Tabitha is going to feel that boy’s temper tomorrow.
She turned in her chair to face the door, smelling the arrival of the food part of the entertainment—three competitive males intent on overfeeding everyone there.
The guys made their entrance at the double doors, each competing for space to get their floating serving cart past Demon’s sinuous body.
“C’mon, Demon,” Nathan bitched. “Don’t give me no choice but to get you neutered, or something.”
I’m female, Demon sniffed, bumping his antigrav cart with her rear flank as she wound around for another sniff. Brainless canids. Why do we even have them here?
Hey! Bellatrix yapped. Who are you calling dumb?
Michael raised an eyebrow at the lion.
Who wants the same old flavors anyway? Demon ignored Bellatrix and Ashur’s growls. She flashed amber eyes at Michael and sauntered nonchalantly over to her seat by Sabine and Tim as though it were her idea. Yours has the only truly interesting aroma.
“Which you cannot possibly smell, since the container is airtight,” Michael replied with an enigmatic smile, running a hand over the top of the six by three by three-foot container his cart supported. He gave the others room to make their way into the wide space in the center of the tables before shepherding his cart in through the gap.
Demon’s tail flicked as he passed her seat. Keep telling yourself that. I can smell what every human in here ate for breakfast three days ago, and yet… she admitted, I cannot identify that aroma.
“What is it?” Patricia called, popping her head out from between Kiel and Qui’nan.
Yelena winked at Bobcat, a smirk playing on her lips.
Yes. What beast is it? Demon purred, to the interest of everyone who had incurred the expense of her weekly butcher’s bill in a forfeit—and therefore knew her tastes rivaled the most discerning epicurean’s.
“One that you will wait your turn for a share of,” Michael told the mountain lion firmly. “Let the others go first.”
John and Jean shared a look.
“Whatever it is, it’s not going to win out over centuries-old Grimes perfection,” John stated, lifting the cover on one of the deep serving trays on his cart. “These are Grandma’s ribs. Completely original and authentic Earth recipe. All the herbs and spices from the seed bank—” he caught Jean’s look, “that my beautiful wife grew. Slow-cooked over two days, exactly how Grandma did it.”
His bragging raised cheers and wolf whistles from Nickie and her crew and the Walton family corner of the room. Char waved her knife, then dropped it in favor of a more apropos spoon. “Hear, hear!” she called, missing Ted by an inch.
Bethany Anne waved a hand, utterly amused by Felicity’s effortless containment of her husband’s immediate reaction. “This is some production.” She grinned as John tonged a pile of sticky ribs onto her plate.
“Just don’t let my cooking cause you any marital problems, Boss,” John told her with utter sincerity. “I’ll understand if you feel you have to pick Michael’s dish over mine.”
Nathan snorted. “It’s not going to matter too much either way when she picks mine.”
John shot him a shit-eating grin. “Keep wishing.” He went back to his cart to take the rest of his serving platters to the other tables while he waited for Bethany Anne to taste his food.
Bethany Anne bit into the succulent meat and took her time exploring the complex flavors. She wiped the glaze from her lips and looked at Nathan and Michael. “That’s pretty good. Closest he ever came to being attractive,”
Jean howled with laughter. “Easy now! I can promise you that wasn’t why I married the man, BA.”
Bethany Anne burst into laughter when John’s forehead began the dance of trying to work out her meaning. “It was a compliment, so don’t overthink it.” She waved the stripped rib at Nathan and Michael. “Who’s next? You guys better have some good game to beat these.”
Nathan lifted the cover on his first platter, revealing a sizzling side of beef. “Prime Ambrose stock, no fancy-pants prep. Just a good, honest, medium-rare roast.” He held up a hand to stay the grumbles of his wife and daughter. “I said this one is medium-rare,” he clarified, “I also have rare, still-mooing, and completely overdone for the traditionalists.”
More whistles and cheers went around while Nathan fiddled with his wrist holo. The rest of the platters on his cart rose and sailed off to fill whatever spaces could be found around the tables.
Bethany Anne held out her plate to accept a wafer-thin slice of hot, tender, pink-in-the-middle beef from the end of Nathan’s carving fork. She cut off a bite and folded it into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully while she compared the experience to that of John’s ribs a moment before. The two men faced her with folded arms and expectant stares.
She smirked and ran a finger through the mixed meat juices and glaze on her plate. “I can’t choose until I’ve tasted all three. How is that fair? Let’s have the finale.”
“As the lady demands, so shall she have.” Michael looked pleased enough that Bethany Anne could tell he had something to top what had been offered so far.
“I have to admit, I’m intrigued.” Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow, admiring the view as Michael bent to retrieve the carving set from the lower tray on his cart.
“I’m banking on it,” Michael returned, placing the blade and fork to the side. “This took no little effort to bring about.” He removed the lid, and the sides of the container dropped away to reveal—
“A pig?” Bethany Anne’s jaw dropped even as her eyes darted to locate the apple sauce she hoped was somewhere on the cart to complement the roasted apple in the whole ho
g’s mouth. “Where the hell did you get a pig, of all things?”
Bobcat whispered behind his hand to William, “She gonna get mad me and Yelena brought our herd here?”
William’s shoulder moved a fraction. “Don’t risk it,” he whispered. “Stay quiet until the crackling smell gets around.”
Bethany Anne narrowed her eyes at the two miscreant geniuses, knowing they knew full well she could hear them clearly. “Tweedle-Dumbass and Tweedle-Dammit. I might have known you two would cause trouble the moment you got back together.” She grinned, looking for Marcus. “Where’s the missing third?”
“Over here, behaving like a man who wants to sleep in his own bed tonight,” Tina called, raising her glass.
Bobcat stuck his tongue out at Tina. “Says you,” he grumbled. “Take away a man’s best friend and make him happy. How could you?”
William pouted. “I thought I was your best friend,” he complained, turning his back to Bobcat.
Tina gave Bobcat a single-finger salute. “Just call me Yoko and have done with it already, why don’t you?” She laughed, then blew them a kiss. “Missed you two too. It’s been too quiet on R2D2 without you grumpy old reprobates to drive me crazy.”
Bobcat lifted a hand to his chest in feigned hurt. “Old? With this physique?” He stood and flexed his lifetime’s work, then slapped his beer gut proudly. “I do not resemble that remark. You don’t get a power-belly like this without some serious energy expenditure.”
Bethany Anne laughed. “Energy expenditure?”
“Some serious time propping up bars, more like.” Yelena chuckled. “Sit down before you hurt yourself.”
Bethany Anne returned Tina’s toast and turned back to the pig, craving a slice of the succulent belly meat. She wanted a dollop of apple sauce to go with it.
Michael noted her preference. He held her plate below the crackling and slid the Etheric-coated carving knife in and out, removing a slice as smoothly as cutting a cake. “This pork comes from the only tame herd we know of, courtesy of Yelena.”
Bethany Anne inhaled the smell of sugar-cured pork as she accepted her plate, resigning herself with no concern whatsoever to some minor body modification in the morning. “I think we have our winner.”
7
Devon, The Hexagon, Vid-doc Vault (the next day)
The tension in the corridor outside the vault was as thick as Yollin farts.
Or at least, Trey felt that way as he paced in front of the elevator.
He glanced at Mahi' and Eve, who were deep in conversation by the control panel in the wall. They paid Trey no mind, leaving him to stew in the agony of waiting for his friends to arrive.
The light above the elevator came on, ending Trey’s torture at last.
K’aia was first out, followed by the twins. She slid a muscular arm around Trey’s shoulders and shook him heartily. “Big day! You excited?”
Trey gulped.
Bethany Anne offered him a kind smile as she and Michael passed the teens. “You’re going to do just great, you hear me? Eve's going to open the vault now.”
Alexis fed her arm through Gabriel’s and squeezed. “I’m pretty nervous.”
Gabriel put his hand on his sister’s arm to comfort her. “That’s to be expected.”
Eve stepped away from the control panel and swept a hand toward the vault door as it swung open. “Let me show you around.”
The group followed Eve into the first chamber and spread out to explore.
Bethany Anne examined the fully contained living quarters in surprise. “I can’t believe how much you’ve done with the place!”
“I had the manpower to get it done,” Eve explained. “Or rather, the Werepower.” She smiled and waved them on. “This is only the provision for the family to spend time down here. Sabine insisted she and Demon be on the approved list of visitors.”
The middle room had been removed completely. Eve led them through the arch dividing the two chambers. “An extra layer of security,” she told them, noting the curious stares as they passed beneath the biometric scanner built into the arch. “If someone does manage to get past the nano-curtain around the outside of the vault, which is unlikely in the extreme, they won’t get past this one.”
Bethany Anne narrowed her eyes at the components of the scanner. “Why does this look like Gate tech?”
Eve smirked. “Because it is. It’s a one-way journey to the event horizon of the black hole in the center of the galaxy for any unapproved genetic material.”
Michael fixed Eve with a piercing look. “Who exactly is on this ‘list?’”
“All in good time,” Eve assured him.
Alexis made a beeline for the Vid-docs. She opened the lid of one and climbed up to inspect the neural mat. “These are different. What upgrades have you made?”
Eve smiled as she glided over to the main console. “Take a seat, everyone. I have prepared a short video as a brief.”
The group made their way to the viewing area and found their spots on the two curved couches in front of the projector wall.
Gabriel nudged Trey as the lights dropped. “What scenario do you think Eve wrote for us?”
“It had better not be military school,” K’aia grumbled.
Bethany Anne shushed the children. “Pay attention. It’s starting.”
The projector wall lit up with a soft glow that resolved into a 3D rendering of the Vid-docs in the room.
Eve’s voice played over the moving image as the android left the viewing area to attend to her last-minute preparations. “This is the latest in immersion training technology.”
The Vid-doc lid opened and its components lifted and separated from the whole briefly before settling back in. “The advance in nanocyte technology has given us a vast improvement to the synchronicity between the interface and the player’s neural network. This allows players to gain transferable skills as well as knowledge.”
Alexis listened carefully, knowing she was the only one who wasn’t overloaded by Eve's explanation. She saw clearly that the upgraded system was going to make honing their real-world abilities to their full potential achievable in a way that hadn’t been possible before.
This system removed what Alexis saw as the biggest flaw with the Vid-docs as a training tool. Whatever they gained in the game world would be instantly accessible to them without the step of synchronizing their minds and bodies through real-world training.
Gabriel let the science wash over him. That was for Alexis to understand. His focus was on the game construct.
He zoned out on Trey’s chatter when Eve changed the subject and began talking about the training program.
“This is not a game,” she began.
The real Eve called, “It is not. Pay close attention to this part, children.”
Eve on the screen smiled and flourished a hand at the rolling vistas of the game world. “You will enter the scenario exactly as you are. No modifications. You are about to embark upon the next six years of your lives. Life does not come with any set path. It has no menus and no cheat codes. No preparation.”
Gabriel’s eyes widened in disbelief. No preparation? This was a new concept entirely. He glanced at his father for confirmation that this was really happening.
Michael nodded sagely and wrapped an arm around his son’s shoulders. “Eve has done well with this.”
Gabriel frowned and returned his attention to the remainder of the brief.
Eve described the world but gave no indication as to their purpose in it.
Gabriel twisted in his seat. “I don’t understand the point of it at all. How can we progress through the levels if there are no set tasks to complete?”
Alexis turned to face Bethany Anne as the lights came up. “What is this, Mom? It doesn’t make sense. Why put all those upgrades into the hardware for this scenario? It’s so...so...basic!”
Bethany Anne couldn’t help but smile at their very her-like frustration. “It’s not as simple as that.” She w
aved a hand at the Vid-docs. “That technology is combined with the most immersive game world Eve has created to date. My instruction to her was to make a world so real that you’re going to forget it’s virtual.”
“Mine was to ensure you feel the consequences of your decisions,” Michael added. “As a result, there is one concession to the total reality.”
Alexis narrowed her eyes at her father. “Let me guess, we can die in there.”
Michael inclined his head. “Correct. Any action that results in one of your deaths will reset the scenario to an earlier point and repeat the chain of events leading to it.”
Bethany Anne pressed her lips together. “What, until they get it right?”
Eve nodded. “Yes. The program will factor in time spent on resets and ensure that there is adequate time to complete the course.” She spread her arms wide. “It is time to begin.”
The goodbyes went by all too quickly.
Mahi' and Trey embraced while she imparted her final advice to him as a youth. “Stand strong in the face of doubt. Listen to your friends. Think before you act.”
Trey nodded wordlessly, caught up in his emotions about leaving his mother for the first time in his life. He returned her embrace and let go. “I will make you proud, I swear it.”
“I am already proud of you,” she told him hoarsely. “Be safe, my son.”
Alexis was less nervous, but only just. “I'm going to miss you,” she told her parents in a tight voice while she hugged them one at a time. “I’ll call as soon as we can.”
“See you in six years,” Gabriel added, his cheeks flushing crimson as he accepted his turn at being tightly squeezed by Bethany Anne. “Good luck on Qu’Baka.”
Bethany Anne gripped Michael’s hand tightly as the children climbed into their Vid-docs. “This is the first step of the rest of your lives,” she told them solemnly. “When I was young, people left home and had their coming of age out in the world. Some went to college, others joined the military. Some found the path less traveled and got lost to find themselves. We can’t give you that and keep you safe from our enemies. ”
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