by Dean Henegar
“Look at you, Eyeball! Ahh, they grow up so quickly,” Phineas said as he tried to think of a suitable gift for his new apprentice. Perhaps he would call in a favor with that a dwarven craftsman he knew. The goblin could do with a real artificial hand; the rusty hook he wore now did tend to ruin the merchandise in careless moments, after all.
Chapter 8
Trey walked into his father’s hospital room with his daughter Lauren in tow. His daughter hadn’t expressed an interest in visiting her grandfather before and Trey had never wanted to force it on her. But after spending time with her grandfather in-game, she had expressed an interest in seeing him for real. Trey tried to temper her expectations, letting her know that her grandpa was still in a coma and very ill. Lauren had told him she knew about her grandpa’s condition but wanted to see him anyway. The “bring your sons and daughters to work day” coincided with his dad’s med changeout; that made it a perfect opportunity for Lauren to visit his work and her grandfather on the same day, since the hospital was on their way home.
The pair arrived a little late to the hospital and Dr. Greenway was just about to close the medpod again when they walked into the room. Also inside the room was Nurse Fran, who had done such a good job in caring for his father. Keeping close to Fran’s side was a young teenaged boy. The boy kept his gaze pointed downward and didn’t acknowledge anyone else in the room. Dr. Greenway looked up at Trey and Lauren, smiling at them as she spoke.
“Well, Trey, it looks like you brought reinforcements today. Who is this lovely young lady?” Dr. Greenway asked.
“Doctor, this is my daughter Lauren. She wanted to see her grandpa before you closed up the medpod, if that’s okay?” Trey asked.
“Sure, go right ahead. While she’s doing that, I’ll send the most recent assessments from both myself and Clio over to you,” Dr. Greenway said, swiping the data over to Trey’s dataslate. Trey stepped back to review the report, letting his daughter have some privacy while she visited with her grandfather. Trey skipped most of the medical jargon and went directly to the report’s summary.
Patient James Raytak continues to respond well to the treatment regime. Neural repairs and remap are now at 68 percent. Rate of improvement is slowing but still progressing in the estimated pattern. Physical improvements have been less promising. The physical repairs are ongoing, but the patient’s treatment has revealed a chronic weakness to his cardiovascular system. Prior physical damage is present, likely an injury from combat-related trauma. It is unknown how much further the nanobot therapy can provide improvement. Patient is in no immediate danger and his systems, as long as they are provided with continuing medpod support, are maintaining homeostasis. Condition should be considered as guarded yet optimistic. Next update will be compiled in five to seven days.
Clio.
Trey wasn’t sure whether to be pleased or concerned. He would have to ask Dr. Greenway later when Lauren wasn’t around. He looked over to see Fran taking the readings on Ty’s medpod and explaining what she was doing to the young man next to her. Trey smiled as he addressed Fran.
“Fran, who do you have there with you today? Training up a new doctor?” Trey asked.
“Hey Mr. Trey, good to see you again. This here is my grandson Nolen,” Fran said while hugging the young man. “Nolen, this is the Mr. Trey that helped you get the game system. Did you want to thank him?” Fran asked her grandson.
Nolen was developmentally disabled and had a hard time with social interactions. Trey had given him a copy of the Limitless Lands game and from what Fran had told him, the kid had taken to it well and developed many new friends in-game. Nolen kept his head down but offered his hand for Trey to shake. To his credit, Nolen gave a good, firm handshake as he spoke.
“Thank you, Mr. Trey. Playing Limitless Lands has been the most fun. I have lots of friends now, even some at school,” Nolen said proudly.
“Lauren, come and meet Nolen. He’s a gamer as well,” Trey told his daughter. He could tell she was becoming emotional, watching the withered body of her grandfather.
“Bye grandpa Raytak. Don’t worry, we’ll find a way to free you in-game,” Lauren said as she whipped a tear away and walked over to greet Nolen. “Heya Nolen, what character do you play?” Lauren asked, trying to stir up conversation with the quiet young man. Nolen brightened up at the question and quickly responded.
“I have a barbarian named Smashem and he just turned level 8 and found a cool giant hammer! He’s fun to play and I’m in a guild which has guys from my school in it, too. What do you play?” Nolen asked, more animated now that he was talking about the game he loved. For the first time since they had been in the room, Nolen raised his head and looked at the person he was talking to instead of at the floor.
“I have a druid summoner named Yendys. I also have a giant unicorn beetle named Crunchy as a pet,” Lauren said and then stopped to think a bit. “Say Nolen, you wouldn’t happen to want to join me and my friends on a quest, would you? We’re trying to find evidence to get my grandpa out of jail in the game and could really use the help from a level 8 barbarian! The people I play with are super nice and you would even get to play with Mr. Ty there! He’s totally part of my team, and so is my grandpa once we get him back. There was this one time over the weekend when these ghouls attacked and then . . .” Lauren continued to tell her story to Nolen as the two walked out of the way of the adults in the room. Both kids were soon engrossed in regaling the other with stories of their time in-game.
“Thank you again for that, Trey. Nolen would be terrified of meeting someone new just a month ago. Now all you have to do is mention that game and he’s a changed kid,” Fran said before rustling up Nolen and leading him out the room as she tended to her next patient. Nolen waved at Lauren and promised to help her in-game. Dr. Greenway then closed his father’s medpod and Trey smiled as he saw his daughter walk over to Ty’s medpod.
“Hey Mr. Ty. I know you can’t really hear me but thanks for all the fun times playing together. Now it looks like Nolen will be joining us and pretty soon we’ll have a whole hospital team to crush the bad guys!” Lauren said quietly to her friend. While Lauren was occupied with Ty, Trey quietly asked Greenway about his mother. His mother had suffered a stroke recently and had been accepted as one of the first non-veteran patients in the medpod program. She had been taken to a hospital further away and Trey hadn’t been able to visit her as often as his father. Dr. Greenway oversaw monitoring the entire medpod program and knew the status of all the patients.
“Dr. Greenway, I was wondering if there was any change with my mother?” Trey asked.
“As you know, Trey, she was in really bad shape when she went into the pod. I now believe she suffered a second stroke as well as a heart attack before we were able to get treatment started. She’s stable for now and in an induced coma while the medpod and Clio try to work out the best treatment plan for her. I’ll let you know if there is any update, but I don’t expect any change for a least a few days. Wish I had better news, but her situation is critical, just like your father’s,” Dr. Greenway answered.
“Thank you for working with her and for the care you’re providing for all the patients. It looks like we’re going to get another expansion of the trial approved from the FDA soon,” Trey added.
“Yes, and I’ve been working on bringing more doctors up to speed on the medpods and their AI support. Don’t worry though, I’ll still keep an eye on both your father and your mother as much as I can,” Dr. Greenway assured Trey.
“How is Mr. Ty doing? I keep missing his family when I visit.”
“He’s responding well to treatment. His mind is repaired to eighty-one percent and we hope to have him be our first veteran out of the pod soon. Seeing how he has responded to the treatment after we bring him back out of the pod is going to help us in preparing for others we bring back. Don’t worry, I’m sure your father will be right behind him.”
“Thanks again, doctor. Lauren, time to go. Where should w
e stop to pick up dinner on the way home?” Trey asked.
“We need to stop at the panda bucket and get the orange chicken bucket tonight! Don’t forget to get the spring rolls for mom though. You don’t want to get in trouble for forgetting them, dad,” Lauren said. Trey knew she was going to say panda bucket before he even asked. The kid was addicted to the chain’s orange chicken. Trey could only hope they had something else on the menu tonight; he was not a fan of their signature dish. With a look back at his father, Trey left the room. He smiled while holding his daughter’s hand as they left the hospital. He loved spending time with her and visiting his father reminded him of just how short his time with Lauren would be.
Chapter 9
Siren was feeling something she hadn’t felt in centuries: apprehension. Now was the most difficult time for one of her kind. Now was the time she was most vulnerable. The gnoll’s body she inhabited was proving to be insufficient for her. The gnoll was strong enough, but its mind was weak in most areas. She had eaten away the parts of her host’s brain that had defined who Krork had been, but she hadn’t been prepared for what she found once she was in total control.
A Gul Dorg Master like Siren typically chose only the most intelligent of creatures to infest, since the extent of their abilities would be limited based on the intellect of the host they chose. The host also influenced the Gul Dorg Master, the parasitic creature inevitably taking on aspects of its host. In this case, Siren could feel the essence of the gnoll race begin to seep into her being. Despite using all the mind tricks that she had learned over the centuries, Siren was losing her intellect. Bit by bit, her intellect was lowering toward a level slightly above that of the host creature, which was the norm for a Gul Dorg. Cacklemaster Krork had been intelligent for his species and possessed a high level of cunning and deceit, but the reality of the situation for Siren was that even the most intelligent of gnolls possessed a decidedly lower intellect than the average human. She was also experiencing bouts of rage, cowardice, and devious cruelty. It would only be a matter of time before she devolved into something less than what she was now as her persona absorbed more of the gnoll essence.
Siren had wasted no time in implementing her plans, knowing they would become less effective as her intellect dropped. Expanding her reach and infecting as many humanoids as possible was her new goal. Since taking control of Krork, her body had produced new parasites every few hours. Siren held the parasites inside, waiting for the right opportunity. That opportunity had presented itself a few hours ago when she walked through the main food preparation area. The pot of stew being prepared for the cackle was composed of mainly rancid terror bird parts, bits of the monks they had defeated, and a few of the sickly mushrooms the tribes’ foragers had found in the cave. After ordering the gnolls assigned to cook the food away, Siren hovered over the large pot when a needle-like appendage shot from her finger tip. Small, nearly invisible parasites dropped one by one from her appendage into the stew. The Gul Dorg parasites were hardy, and the temperatures generated by the cooking stew would do nothing to harm them. In fact, the heat and rancid meat would quicken the nascent parasites, making them attack their hosts more quickly once they had been consumed.
Nearly the entire tribe had eaten the infected stew that night. Siren had felt her offspring growing inside their hosts. By the morning, they were all hers. Over two hundred gnolls were now hosts to the Gul Dorg and completely under the control of the being known as Siren. She could feel them all in her mind, waiting to carry out her desires. She sent out scouts to search the surrounding area, looking for new hosts for her growing empire.
The infested gnolls developed into two different type of Gul Dorg. The vast majority were drones of limited independent function. These were the workers and warriors of the hive. A few of the infested would develop into daughters. The daughters were nearly on par in intellect and ability with a master. Once a daughter fully developed its abilities, it would split from the hive and go to form a new one. All newly created Gul Dorg could produce parasites, but the drones lost the ability a few days after infection. This allowed for rapid initial growth of a hive, and then the more selective infection of only promising hosts.
While waiting for the scouts to return, Siren heard a commotion outside the cavern. She could feel several of her drones go silent as their hosts died; when a host died, unless they had made special preparations, the Gul Dorg inside died also. Rushing down the dark corridor, Siren emerged out into the night.
In the faint moonlight she could make out several humanoid figures attacking her people. The infested gnolls fought back, but the parasites were still figuring out their new bodies and they were clumsy and ineffective in combat. After killing a few of her people, one of the figures started shouting at the others.
“Stop killing ‘em, you fools, you’re killing off our profit! We’re here for slaves not fighting,” what appeared to be a human said. The other attackers listened and switched weapons, clubbing the gnolls into submission with wooden cudgels instead of using their swords and spears. Once a gnoll was knocked senseless they tied its hands and feet before another of the attackers grabbed the subdued gnoll and hustled them off into the night. Siren reached out with her mind to the hive . . . yes, she would consider them a hive and not a “cackle,” as the gnolls called themselves. She could remember that gnolls were a humanoid version of a hyena and hyena groups were called cackles, but it sounded wrong to her.
“Wait, I have to focus and not get sidetracked,” Siren said while slapping herself. The degradation of her mind was leading her toward wandering thoughts more often. In a fit of rage, she nearly ordered her hive to overwhelm the attackers. Sanity returned, and she instead contacted her people through their mental link, commanding them to submit to the slavers. She specifically sent newly created drones and one of the daughters to submit to the slavers.
Siren moved back into the cavern and began to observe through the eyes of one of her captured drones. She could see there were only about twenty of the attackers. Her people could have overpowered them if she had ordered it, but the slavers were doing exactly what Siren wanted—these foolish slavers were providing a vector for the Gul Dorg infection to spread.
Sitting once again on the throne inside the Gul Dorg ruins, Siren observed and plotted. She began issuing simple orders to the captured members of her hive before the slavers moved her people outside of the range of her control. The Gul Dorg would follow the simple orders to the best of their abilities. The daughter that had been captured acknowledged her mother’s commands and assured Siren they would be carried out.
***
The slavers made off quickly. Their haul had been good; over fifteen of the gnolls had been captured. Gnolls were stupid but strong: the perfect work mules for the slavers’ clients. It was a good three-day journey back to the main camp and the slavers hoped their prisoners would remain this compliant during the whole trip. After traveling for several hours, they arrived at their temporary camp. A few of the slavers had been left behind at the camp to prepare the evening meal and to keep watch on their gear. Several wagons stood nearby, crude wooden cages built onto the backs of them. The slavers shoved their new prisoners through the camp and toward the cages.
“Hey Saunders, didn’t that seem almost too easy? I mean, those stupid gnolls just sat there and let us whack them over the head. It was almost like they wanted us to take them,” one of the slavers said.
“Ha! Never look a gift slave in the mouth, I say,” Saunders replied as he locked the last of the gnolls in the cages. They had room for a few more but Saunders though it best to return to the main camp with what they had, rather than attempt another raid at the now alerted gnoll caves. Saunders figured they could fill out the last cage on their way back. The scouts had seen a small farm on the outskirts of the town of Holdfast that should fill the last wagon up. Humans farmers were in demand, but they brought less coin since they had to be shipped further away to sell. Selling slaves too close to wher
e they were caught ran the risk of their friends, family, or the authorities finding them. Nevertheless, a small profit was better than no profit, and an empty cage provided no profit.
“Hey Jameson, didn’t you say you spotted a farm near here?” Saunders asked.
“Yeah, I saw one while scouting. Had a small family living there. There was a man and his wife, along with a couple of young kids, about four or five years old. Didn’t think they would be worth much, so we didn’t nab them at the time since we weren’t looking to alert the town,” Jameson advised. “Want me and a few of the boys to go back and hit the farm tonight? Should only take a few hours and you can pick us up on the trail tomorrow,” Jameson advised. Saunders knew that Jameson was usually a bit lazy, but in cases like this, his greed overcame his sloth.
“Yep, go round ‘em up. Take the empty wagon and as many of the boys you think you might need to do the job,” Saunders ordered.
Jameson left with four other slavers on the empty wagon while the rest of the group began to settle in for the night. Soon the camp was quiet as the slavers went to sleep out under the stars; only their leader, Saunders, had a tent to sleep in. The gnolls in the cages remained silent, biding their time. Soon, the few slavers on watch fell asleep. Discipline and attention to detail were not the main traits of a slaver.
Once the last guard fell asleep, the gnolls began to gather up the parasites they had been producing all day. Placing the tiny larvae into their hands they tried to reach their large paws through the gaps in the cages. Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for the slavers, the gnolls’ hands couldn’t fit through. The only hand that could barely fit through was the hand of one of the younglings. This didn’t deter the Gul Dorg and they passed their parasites to the youngling.