Blood and Profit: Chapter 43

The Starseeds led Mew and Eamon to a clearing deep within the jungle. The leaves in this area had landed in a near perfect circle creating an opening in the canopy that the light poured through. In what looked to be the center of the clearing there was a single leaf ship that had been buried almost completely in the ground. Already starting to sprout the beginnings of something that would dwarf the rest of the forest around it.

Eamon’s communicator gave off a chime and he checked the messages he had received. “Great.” He said in mixture of joy and frustration.

Mew turned away from the new growth in the center of the circle of light to reply to her brother. “What now?” She asked.

He was furiously typing a reply to something he had read. “Kepi has given the senate the information we sent her. They are currently debating their next move. I also have a message from the Senate leaders demanding my immediate return to the capitol.” He explained without looking up from his device.

One of the Starseeds touched Mew on her shoulder. She turned back toward the ring of light. “Eamon I don’t think we could leave right now even if we wanted to.” She said moving closer to the circle of light.

Eamon looked up from his communicator to see Mew being led into the open clearing. “Mew what are you doing? Don’t go near that thing!” He shouted.

“They haven’t done anything even remotely hostile since I landed here, they came here to save us, I need you to stop freaking out.” She said without looking back.

Two more Starseeds stepped up next to Eamon and walked him out into the clearing. “What is this thing anyway?” He asked. “You already have plenty of trees, why is this one so special?” He continued. “I mean, this tree’s going to be pretty big from the looks of it, so hey, yay you guys.” He nervously threw thumps up into the air. And his escorts stopped him next to his sister.

Mew shook her head. “Eamon, shut up.” She glared at him.

From every edge of the circle Starseeds emerged into the light. One by one reaching down and implanting their upper limbs into the ground causing the grass between them and the giant seedling to grow several inches the ground to spout hundreds of flowers. As more and more Starseeds pressed themselves into the dirt the seedling sprouts slowly but surely began to grow inch by inch until the seeding was now an impossibly thick intertwined grouping of vines that had begun to spout giant leaves.

When the tree stopped its growth the Starseeds retreated one by one until only one was left. It had discolored bark in the midsection area between its upper and lower limbs and Mew recognized that this was the Starseed crashed into her space station, the one she had rescued and brought down to the planet with her. For a second she got overly excited and ran up to give it a hug. “Oh my god you’re alive!” The Starseed did not return the hug and Mew let go quickly. “I’m sorry, you probably don’t know what hugging is do you?” She asked awkwardly.

The Starseed’s face appeared so that it could answer. Eamon had not seen any of the Starseeds with faces yet and promptly freaked out. “Why does it have a face now?” He shouted.

Mew sighed heavily. “They’re a psychic species Eamon. The little dream journey you took? The view from space? Their ‘faces’? All of that are ways they can communicate with species that cannot interface with their dark matter.” She explained.

“Dark matter?” Eamon asked.

The Starseed finally spoke. “These bodies are only one of the forms that we can exist in. Technically speaking there is no such thing as “we”. Only a singular consciousness that is made up of a living cloud of dense neurofibers. “we” are all the knowledge the cloud contains. Normally the cloud is not present in this phase space, but something about traveling through the ring with our escape pods has pulled a piece of the cloud with us. Now that our consciousness is physically present in this phase space it can be damaged and even destroyed. We must grow another elder tree that can phase shift before we lose "our mind" completely.”

Eamon had a completely blank look on his face. He looked to Mew. “I’m assuming that made sense to you.” He said.

She nodded. “I grasped the general concept, yeah.” She confirmed.

Eamon nodded. “Good cause when my bosses ask, you get to explain all of this. Tree ships, collective consciousness, psychic bonsai plants. Sexy fun time dirt rituals, everything that’s happened since I landed has been totally wacko fantasy dream time.” He ranted heading out of the clearing.

Mew smiled awkwardly at the Starseed. “Sorry about him.”

The Starseed shrugged.

Lidarion: Chapter 15

The next morning came far too quickly for Trent’s liking. He had talked with Brooke until she had begun to nod off. They walked together to the inn and gotten a room, where he slept fitfully. She had awoken early and they had decided to have breakfast and continue their conversation from the night before.

“Not long after you left my brother demanded that I wed the eldest son of the head of the banking clan. Neither of us were interested and yet they still held the wedding. Although when neither of us showed up to be married the event took a less than pleasant turn. My brother does not have the same ease of co-operation with the advisory council. He lives in constant fear of assassins and political plots. He is not the same person we knew when we were younger.” Brooke explained.

“I take it that the last thirteen years have been pretty bad then?” Trent asked.

Brooke nodded. “He trusts no one now. The council knows a madman when they see one and they have taken the time required to make sure his transition to figurehead is as peaceful and nonviolent as possible. They keep him wanting for nothing but manage most of the kingdom themselves. We have had lots of free time. Where my brother spent his in libraries hunting legends and fairy tales, I learned from any one that would teach me a martial or weapon art. I have not stepped foot in the throne room since the day you left. If he is not in the library he is there. He eats, and sleeps in that chair.” She finished explaining.

Trent looked out the window at the early morning sun. “Why do you, and why do the counsel still allow him to remain a figurehead?” He asked.

She nodded. “The city and the thirteen families that came together to form the kingdom are old, you have known this your whole life. This system is what it is and while my brother is a nut he is a mostly harmless nut, so rather than dismantle a functioning system that is hundreds of generations old they will wait until he dies and one of the other families will take the throne just as mine did five generations ago. That is the way it has been and that is the way it will continue to be. I don't have the power or the desire to change it.” She replied.

Alex came into the dining area from the kitchen with tiny loaves of bread. “Just because you don’t choose to use the power you have earned, doesn’t mean it no longer exists. Young lady.” She chided.

Brooke smiled. “Is that any way to speak to the crown princess?” She asked sarcastically.

Alex nodded. “You already know that title doesn’t mean anything to me and even if it did, how much sway do you think you’d have over me having just admitted out loud that you don’t want it?” She shot back smartly.

“Jesus you two are loud.” Lisa said appearing at the bottom of the stairs leading to the second floor of the Inn. She looked at the two royal guards standing at the front door. “What are they doing here?” She asked.

Everyone looked at the guards. “They are here to escort us to our meeting with his royal highness the King of Lidarion.” Brooke answered.

Lisa looked confused. “Then why are they standing there silently?” She asked.

Brooke stood up and gave each of the guards a tiny roll from Alex’s stash.  Each guard thanked her as they accepted a roll. “They showed up almost an hour ago. They told us we were summoned. I told them you were still sleeping, they told me that the king would not wait patiently. I explained to them that he had been waiting thirteen years, another couple hours wouldn’t kill him so they could either pass the time with breakfast or pass the time unconscious.” She smiled at Lisa and held out the last of the rolls. “Breakfast before we go?” She asked warmly.

The XP: Chapter 15

The tournament colosseum is absolutely massive. Almost every player in the game is currently watching a match play out inside of it. The members of The End of The World Club however are loitering just outside the main entrance. Bob is pacing back and forth. The Matriarch is teaching Trart how to knit, Blackout is sitting against the building with his eyes closed trying to relax. Stygian is looking at the sky.

“What time is it?” Bob asked.

“Three minutes after the last time you asked.” Blackout replied without opening his eyes.

“So we have almost two hours till our first fight.” She said to herself. She notices Stygian looking at the sky. “Stygian what are you doing?” She asked.

“There’s a Shuster and Banes marathon on, they’re showing the arsonist cycle right now.” Stygian replies without moving.

Bob stops pacing. “You’re watching tv?” she asked.

“Yeah, we’ve got two hours to kill, so unless you want to run a dungeon or something I’ve got nothing better to do.” He replied.

Bob perked up at the mention of a dungeon. “That’s not a bad idea.” She said and started pacing again.

“Oblivion Sanctuary?” Blackout asked.

“Too easy, Trart could run it alone with his eyes closed.” Bob pointed out.

Blackout nodded. “Yeah but it’s got no lockout timer, it’s short, we’re guaranteed not to die, and one of us might get lucky and loot the Oblivion Key.” He explained.

Bob stopped pacing. “I still don’t think it exists.” Bob replied.

“What’s the Oblivion Key?” Stygian asked.

Trart turned away from watching The Matriarch knit. “The last expansion to the game was called ‘Legends and nightmares.’ It added a ton of content for all levels that required players to collect and decipher stories, to interact with the narratives of the world in a way that no other MMO had ever done before. Of Course the Data miners dug through the source code and found the names of items and all kinds of graphical clues and hints, but while they knew what was in the expansion they couldn’t discern the relationships of the things they were seeing, there were thousands of new items and interaction pathways. Most of it has been figured out by the players at this point but there is one thing that is still unconfirmed.” He was talking like he was telling the beginning of a ghost story. “The Oblivion key supposedly drops off the Overseer of Time in the Oblivion Sanctuary. But it’s not in his loot table, and no player has ever actually been able to prove they have the item in their inventory.” Trart explained.

“What does it let us access?” Stygian asked.

Trart smiled. “The plane of Judgement.” Trart smiled. “A dungeon that exactly five players have ever been in.”

Bob “The online wiki shows that five players have been tagged to the dungeon. Those five were most likely Game Masters. This is all speculation.” Bob chimed in.

The Matriarch put her knitting down. “I have it.” She said bluntly.

Everyone looked at her, including Stygian.

Bob was shocked. “Have what?” She asked skeptically.

The Matriarch’s knitting disappeared. “I’m one of the five.” She answered

Blackout stood up. “Prove it.” He demanded.

The matriarch stood up herself. Reached for a cord around her neck and pulled it from under her tunic, revealing a black iron key filled with twinkling stars that reflected in the eyes of the others. “You guys have no clue what you’re about to experience." She smiled. 

University of Console Heroics: Chapter 15

Bannister’s office had changed, or more accurately his office was reflecting the changes that had begun to show in him. His desk was still covered with a castle walls worth of essays, but on top of one of the corner stacks sat an old faded picture of two young men. One wearing denim overalls on top of a red shirt, the other wearing denim overalls over a green shirt. Bannister is writing an excessive amount of notes on the paper he is grading. There was a knock at his door and it broke his concentration. His hand froze, the tip of the pen hovered in midair, another knock at the door. He put the pen down, his train of thought long gone. “Come in.” He said. The door opened and Sanders walked into the office and sat in his usual chair after shutting the door. “Well this is a twist on the established pattern.” Banister remarked.

Sanders nodded silently and sunk into the chair. “I couldn’t wait until after class.” He explained.

Bannister gave a concerned look. “Are you ok? What’s wrong?” He asked.

Sanders shook his head. “I’ve been better, I’m dropping your class.” He admitted.

Bannister shook his head. “Not this close to finals you’re not.

Sanders stared at the wall of the desk, avoiding Banisters eye line. “It’s already done.”

Banister almost threw his pen. “Why would you do that to yourself?” He shouted.

Sanders burned holes in the wall of the desk. “Because I should never have signed up for this class in the first place. I just…I’m sorry. I’ve been a horrible person and horrible student this semester. It was wrong of me to pry into your life.” He confessed.

Bannister set his pen on the desk and sat back in his chair. “You done vilifying yourself?” He asked sarcastically.

Sanders eyes left the desk to look in surprise at Bannister. “What?” He asked.

Bannister sat forward and picked his pen up and tapped it a few times on the essay he was grading. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions. SO maybe the road to heaven is paved with bad ones.” He offered.

Sanders was lost. “What the hell does that mean?” He asked.

Bannister looked at the photo on his desk. “You may have been a pushy, attitudinal prick but you helped me more than you know.” He admitted.

Sanders looked at the photo. “So who’s important enough in your life to be immortalized on your desk?” He asked, picking up the photo and looking at it.

Bannister smiled. “It’s a friend of mine from my college days.” Bannister noticed that Sanders was frozen on the photo. “You sure you’re really ok?” He asked again.

Sanders broke away from the photo and nodded quickly. “Yeah, Yeah I’m fine.” He confirmed while still holding the photo. He cleared his throat and looked at it again. “You know my dad went here too.” Sanders started. Banister nodded. “He was an Adventure Studies Major. Ended up as a background spectator in a bunch of fighting games.” Sanders continued.

Bannister nodded. “That’s good, steady work.” He offered.

Sanders nodded. “Oh sure. But it’s not what he wanted to do with his life, not, who he was.” Sanders chose his words carefully. “He was so, happy, the day I got my acceptance letter from UCH. He pulled this big box of all his old university stuff.” For the first time Bannister realizes he is listening to Sanders and not the other way around. He quietly leans forward a little bit. “Sweatshirts and hoodies, all kinds of sports memorabilia.” Sanders reached out and put the photo back on the desk, the picture facing Bannister. “Photos.” He said looking at Bannister. Bannister looked at his photo knowing that the other print of it was in that box. “My parents got divorced this summer. Dad swears that he never meant to hurt us, and I’m know that he loves us, but he said that he couldn’t keep lying to himself. He spent his whole career doing work he hated, he married a woman he desperately wanted to love but never quite could. His whole life, my, our, whole life was one giant lie.” Bannister sat back quietly. “That’s when I First found out about you, the other guy in the photo. Dad’s “friend” from college. For the rest of the summer it burned inside of me, I didn’t know if I should be hurt, happy, mad, or sad. So I signed up for your class. Because I had to meet the man who knew who my father actually was.” Bannister scrunched up his chin for a second and chose not to speak. “Imagine my surprise when you turned out to be so bitter and broken that I thought maybe you were the wrong guy.” Bannister was trying not to cry now. “And so, here I sit. Unreasonably angry at my father, a man who has been reborn and is living the life he denied himself for decades, asking my friend and my professor to forgive me for deceiving him and doing more harm to him than my father could have ever done to me.” Sanders got up out of the chair and walked over to the door. “That’s why I should never have taken your class.” He opened the door and walked out of the office. “Good luck with finals professor.” His voice echoing down the hall as the door closed behind him.

Bannister tapped his pen and stared silently at his office door for a long time.

Shades of Justice: Chapter 19

Kelly awoke to warm ocean surf pulling sand around her cheek. She sat up with a start to find herself and the others in their civilian clothes. She saw Sonya kneeling over Warren's body and performing CPR. She scrambled to her feet and ran over to them unable to reach them before Warren woke with a choking cough, rolled over and spit out seawater. He then took in large breaths of air.

Kelly looked the other direction down the beach to see Dante pulling Gordon out of the ocean surf. He had him almost completely on dry land and lost his footing, falling into the sand on his back breathing heavily from the exertion.

Warren sat up and Sonya took a look at the deserted rocky cliff walls that divided the beach from the rest of the mainland.

"Are we even still in California?" Dante shouted to the sky.

Kelly looked up and down the coastline. "I don't know." She admitted, turning to look out at the open ocean and seeing the dark heavy clouds of a storm moving toward land. "But we'd better find some shelter  and fast." She recommended. The group pulled themselves together and headed for the Cliffs.

The outcropping of rocks they found barely counted as a cave but it gave them protection from the rain,

Sonya turned into the cave from surveying the storm. "Does anyone still have a functional pair of glasses?" Each of them checked their pair and found nothing more than normal sunglasses.

Gordon tossed his into the sand.  "That's great." He grumbled in frustration. "We're stranded god knows where, with none of our powers, no communications, and I don't know about anyone else but I didn't bring any kind of money with me." He ranted. The others all shook their heads.

Kelly left her glasses on and tucked her knees up under her chin as she sat on the ground. She watched the rain through her darkened lenses.

Time and the storm seemed to be standing still. Each of the kids had retreated to their own corners as far as the cover of the outcropping would allow, which wasn't far. Kelly felt the adrenaline leaving her system and the rain was beginning to lull her to sleep. Her eyes kept drooping and she kept wrestling them open again, but she could feel unconsciousness winning the war, at least until she heard and unknown voice come over the glasses.

"I don't know if any of you are still alive but you have five seconds to prepare for emergency teleport." The voice warned.

Kelly glanced at Gordon's glasses in the sand. 'Gordon!" she shouted, causing him to dive for his pair. he grabbed them just in time for them to all disappear from the cave as the storm raged on outside.

Blood and Profit: Chapter 42

Kepi’s communicator had begun to light up during the third hour of discussions about repercussions and legitimate process behind fire-bombing the forest to the ground. The senate chairman broke the group for lunch and Kepi made her way to the nearest private side room, passing several other senators and assuring then that Eamon would be back by the end of the day.

She sat down at the first chair and pulled her communications unit out of her pocket. The annoyingly demanding sentence turned out the be both more and less interesting that she had hoped. “Do you trust me?” The text asked.

She immediately typed her reply. “The only people who feel comfortable in the political arena are liars, cheaters, or con men. You happen to be one of the most uncomfortable people I’ve ever met.”

It took less than a minute for the reply to appear. “You always had a way with words, I’m glad you are the one who gets to announce this.”

“Announce what?” she asked,

Senators flooded back into the main chamber as the bell signaling the end of the recess rang. Kepi returned to Eamon’s chair and flipped up the emergency floor request switch. She looked down at the front end of the chamber and watched as the heads of the senate discussed her request. One by one each of the five looked her direction and saw her instead of Eamon. She knew that his absence was the only reason the request had not already been turned down. Finally the leaders broke and returned to their own seats. The Senate leader gaveled the room to silence and then gestured to Kepi.

“The, representative from the twenty seventh district has made an emergency request for the floor and it has been granted.”  The Senate leader sat and waited along with the others to speak.

The light above the chair lit up so everyone could see her. She gripped her phone tightly and hoped that she wasn’t ending both her bosses and her own career as she spoke. “Ladies and Gentlemen of the Colony Senate.” She started, her voice caught and she cleared it with a quick cough. “Three hundred and seventy one years ago our ancestors left their home on an ancient colony ship. Most of our oldest ancestors never saw this planet, they were people of the stars. They spent their lives traveling through and mastering the empty vastness of space. I used to think about how hard it must have been to colonize this planet with nothing more than the supplies and people that came aboard that ancient vessel. How cold and unforgiving this planet must have been at first.” She looked around the room at the nearly three hundred faces. “But now I know that our ancestors were uncommonly lucky, because if they had landed on the planet today they would be facing extermination.” She paused as the men and women in the room grumbled their displeasure at the accusation of her statement. The senate leader gaveled twice and the room begrudgingly went quiet again, allowing Kepi to continue. “Eamon, the actual representative for the twenty seventh district had enough of your distrust, and your fear, and your callous shortsightedness and did something only slightly less selfish than we have been discussing for days now. He went to meet with the alien species.” She stopped as the room exploded in hundreds of yelling voices. Her light stayed lit and the senate heads gathered together to discuss Kepi’s admission. She watched this all in silence without sitting down.

She watched as the senate leader gaveled several more times to quiet the room down before he spoke. “Has he made contact?” The leader asked.

Kepi nodded. “He has.”

The senate leader nodded. “And I take it that he is still alive.” The leader asked.

Kepi nodded again. “He is. And He says the aliens have come to help us escape the fate of our colony, and he sent me proof so that you could convince yourselves that the threat you see is nothing compared to the one you have yet to notice.”

The senate leader looked to each of the heads and they nodded in turn. Once he had his consensus the senate leader turned his attention back to Kepi. “We will review this ‘evidence’. The senate is adjourned for one hour.” The leader gaveled twice and the room erupted into deafening roars.

Lidarion: Chapter 14

Lisa’s stood in a confused and stunned silence. She attempted to start to put together a response but nothing came out. Alex saw her floundering and chimed in.

“I’m going to take Lisa and Squints and we’re going to get her set up with a room at the inn. Trent you and Brooke can stay here and talk as long as you like.” Lisa nodded and turned around to head back into the bar’s main area. Squints and Alex followed her out.

Once the three of them had left the building Brooke was the first to speak up. “Are you ok?” She asked. Looking at his cheek where she had slapped him.

He nodded. “I’m fine, after thirteen years that’s both more and less than I deserve from you.” He replied.

She shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about that right now.” She replied, hesitating to move closer. He saw it and moved instead, giving her a huge hug, which she returned completely, beginning to cry. “I missed you so much.” She sobbed.

He kissed the top of her forehead. “I missed you too.” He assured her.

Out in the yellow lamp lit street Lisa, Squints and Alex were headed in the direction of several inns. Lisa had been filling the walk with stories from their youth which made the time pass smoothly. They quickly came to the gate of the education district and Squints split off saying his goodnights, leaving Alex and Lisa alone. Alex saw that Lisa had a busy mind so she finished her story. “After that, Trent’s parents could barely yell at him between the laughter. He, Alfred, and Squints were grounded for weeks after that.” She left off for Lisa to speak her piece.

“Trent only ever mentioned Squints by name. He just said there were other kids in the group. Who’s Alfred?” She asked finally.

Alex nodded. “Yeah, that’s Trent. Even though Alfred screwed him over, he’s still protecting him.”

“Protecting him from what?” Lisa asked.

“Honey, Alfred is the current King of Lidarion. Trent was and is a commoner. Our parents were afforded status based on their elected positions. Alfred and Brooke are of royal blood.” Alex clarified.

Lisa shook her head. “It seems silly that the King would hold a grudge for a decade and a half over one stupid night of drunken shenanigans.” Lisa stated.

Alex raised an eyebrow. “One night?” She asked in confusion.

Lisa nodded. “Trent said he accidentally bedded the princess one night while they were both drunk and then tried to skip town before the king found out.” Lisa explained.

Alex laughed. “Oh he did?” She asked.

Lisa thought about it and then shook her head. “No actually he didn’t. That’s what I guessed and he didn’t correct me.” She admitted.

Lisa nodded. “They weren’t drunk. And it was far more than one night. In fact, if I know Trent at all, he still has the ring.” Alex guessed.

Lisa’s was shocked at the mention of a ring. “He was going to ask her to marry him?” She almost shouted.

Alex shook her head. “He did ask her to marry him.” Alex clarified.

Lisa shook her head. “That must have made Alfred go ballistic. A commoner proposing to the princess.”

Alex nodded. “You have no idea. He proposed during the lighting of the New Year fountain. Brooke wanted with all her heart to say yes but she couldn’t respond in public. Within the hour the King heard of what had happened and by sunrise the next morning Trent had been delivered to the Lidarion Army training camps at the Frostmeyer past. Brooke and the rest of us heard he was banished when the king announced it publicly. That was she last time she spoke to him.” Alex trailed off.

Lisa shook her head. “So sad, not to speak to the love of your life for nearly fifteen years.” Lisa lamented.

Alex shook her head. “I meant she hasn’t spoken with the king, her brother since the day he announced Trent was banished from Lidarion city. Almost fifteen years ago.” Lisa stopped at the front door of the inn she had chosen.

Lisa stopped her before she opened the door. “Tomorrow is going to be worse that today isn’t it?” She asked. Wordlessly referencing the king’s reaction to Trent’s return.

Alex shrugged her shoulders. “Tomorrow should have happened a lifetime ago, its not so much ‘worse’ as long overdue.” Alex admitted seeing the worry in Lisa’s face she continued. “And nothing that happens tomorrow or any day after that between those three is your fault. Now let’s get you a room.” She said opening the door and ushering Lisa into the inn.