by Kris Schnee
"I'm getting a handle on it, and yes. Where've you been lately?"
"Mostly playing video games. In fact, I got a discount offer if I can get you to sign up."
Eddie pushed some spare biscuits over toward Stan, who grabbed one. "I haven't got time."
"What're you talking about? You're still worrying about college applications?"
"I have to worry, if I'm ever going to be anybody."
Stan pointed with his spoon. "You don't need a degree or a career to be somebody."
"Really? What do you need?"
Stan said, "We've got the Community. We're fed, we've got work to do, we've got housing and medical and Internet. We're covered."
"Uh-huh, but we're going to graduate from it someday."
"There are easy jobs to keep this kind of life going. National park cleanup or something. And we won't starve."
Eddie scowled. "You think somebody like Mina's going to want to live like that? She's going places."
Stan hadn't thought that far ahead. It'd be nice to count Mina as his girlfriend, but that wouldn't last if she was intent on being a huge overachiever. Why should she bother, anyway? It was annoying to think of her running off just to "be someone". He looked around the dining room; there were two colorful posters in sight assuring him that he was already special and contributing to society.
The soup didn't taste too good anymore. Stan said, "Whatever. Anyway, Thousand Tales can teach you stuff. You can set it up to tutor you in math. The AI is really good."
"Thousand Tales?" said Eddie. "That's what you've been playing? I thought you couldn't even install that on the Slabs. It's not in the app store."
"Oh, right. A Slab probably could run it, or the dorm computers, but it's not on the approved list. So you'd need a Talisman pad or at least a good regular tablet." In most respects the Slabs were good hardware: rugged, efficient, versatile, and providing regular Community and SCS-related updates through the built-in minder software. You just couldn't control what they did.
"So no, I can't sign up for the viral marketing campaign," Eddie said.
Stan took that as a challenge. "What if I could get you a Talisman pad cheap?"
"I'd try it then."
* * *
He turned on the game, back in his room, but didn't log in. "Ludo, are there any more used Talismans for sale around here?"
The man with the cape of stars appeared on screen. "There are some on the auction sites."
"Probably, but I can't just have random strangers mailing me stuff. It's not allowed. Maybe if I had them deliver to my mom, and then she sent me the package..." Stan frowned; Mom would probably forget for a month, or her latest boyfriend would steal it. "It'd be a pain."
Ludo scratched his stubbled chin. "There's a lady near you who mentioned getting the latest Talisman model from her kids when she already has the early version. You could try talking her into selling one."
"Please. Is she playing right now, or what?"
"I can set up a call." Ludo turned away, but returned just as the image was fading out. "Oh, do me a favor? Try to be patient with her. I have a reputation to keep up."
A white-haired old lady popped up on the screen, squinting at him. She was wearing a spacesuit with the helmet off and floating in front of a porthole showing stars. For a moment Stan wondered if she was literally in orbit, but that made no sense. He was just seeing her character.
"You're the one wanting to buy my iPad?" she said.
"Your what?"
"My computer. Obviously. Don't know why you'd want the ratty old thing anyway; it barely works compared to the new one."
Stan said, "It's for a friend."
"And nothing but the best for your friend, eh?"
Stan gritted his teeth. "I can't afford better."
"Then shouldn't you be working?"
Ludo was able to be patient with her, so he could do it too. "Ma'am. Are you interested in selling your used Talisman?"
She said, "If you're serious about this then you can come out of that country club and pick it up. What can you pay?"
Stan paused. He actually did have some idea of the going rate for these things. "I paid a hundred in Community scrip for the one I own."
"Scrip! You expect me to take your Monopoly money instead of real Federal Reserve Notes?"
"A lot of businesses take them since you can trade them in."
"Doesn't do me a lot of good. What else you got?"
He was close to giving up. "I could... probably build something out of wood?"
The lady started to snap at him but paused. "Stairs? Do you do stairs?"
"What do you mean, 'do stairs'?"
"Fix. Repair. I have wood and tools and I'd do it myself but having a lackey would help."
Stan said, "I have a little experience, if not with stairs specifically. I could try it."
"Should only take half a brain if you're as brawny as you look on video. Get over here this weekend and we'll see."
She hung up, leaving Stan with a black screen showing the faint reflection of his own puzzled face. "That was a pain," he said. "I can't get there until Sunday; I have to request a pass to go into town."
The game's title screen came back and Ludo walked in, looking sheepish. "It sounds like you have a deal. Are you willing to spend the day helping her?"
Stan groused, "A whole day of that?"
Ludo said, "You don't hang out with a lot of old people, do you?"
"There's just Hal -- we call him the Baron -- and the three shady people who supposedly help us do maintenance and security. Everybody else is part of the Community Youth Program."
The title screen faded out so that Ludo sat cross-legged in an armchair, in a cabin. He had cool leather boots that'd work well for an adventurer. "It takes patience to work with some of them. Ms. Parker there was born in the 60s and she's seen a lot of crazy things."
Stan tried to imagine all that ancient history, and whistled.
"I know, right?" said Ludo. "But she's a customer of mine and you want something from her, too. The best way to deal with her is to just remember she's seen a lot."
Stan nodded. "I'll try. Do you have any tutorial lessons on making stairs?"
"I can set up a little personal world for that so you don't have to go around chopping trees for this. Don't the Community camps have machine shops where you could practice?"
Come to think of it, he did have access to one in his Community. "There's something I'd like to try there if I can get permission. But in-game lesson first, please. I'll even cut the trees to build up my skills."
He logged in formally to use his Endless Isles character. He found a tree marked as possibly being special, and put extra care into the chopping mechanism using that loaner axe from the workshop. Thanks to the sharpening the other day, he was able to chop some sort of glittering orange chunk free from the wood. [Found some Amber!]
As soon as he'd made his first wood-carrying trip back to the workshop, another window popped up:
[Special Techniques:
For developing your first five skills, you've earned access to a specialized bonus power! These act like sub-skills that attach to a skill and can be used whenever the main one is in your top five. You can customize each one with practice. Which do you want first?
-Bat Man (from Club): Use a club to launch throwing weapons!
-Pack Man (from Merchant): Carry 50% more equipment in any packs you wear without penalty!
-Carpenter (from Woodworking): Create high-quality wooden equipment!]
Stan ogled the options. It looked like he could eventually get more than one, so which would be easiest to use? Probably Carpenter since he was crafting so much lately. But wherever he went, he was going to need resources or he'd have to rely on somebody's handouts. Besides, he didn't necessarily want to stick to wooden stuff; it was just something he'd been playing with. He went with "Pack Man". A lot of swirly lights and a fanfare marked the occasion.
The dragon-man alchemist w
as just walking in. "Ha, somebody just got a special move?"
Stan waved. "I can carry more stuff now."
"Huh, I figured you'd go for a combat bonus like most people. The non-combat ones can pay off more, though."
"What I don't have is a special race. How do you get to play as a dragon or something, anyhow?"
"Oh, this?" The alchemist showed off his scaly hands. "It depends on the world. In Endless Isles it's usually something you get from a series of quests. I had to get to Island North-10 to get this part of the dragon transformation and there'll be another few parts to it, but in the end I'll get wings and a tail and fire breath."
"Neat," said Stan. "And then what?"
"I put my first 'special technique' into an alchemy bonus, and used the second one to boost the scaly toughness and fire resistance that came with the first dragon parts." He started going on about the potions he'd brewed with all sorts of strange ingredients. "This one time, my party members found gold and a magic hammer, and what I wanted for my share of the loot was flowers."
Stan said, "Okay, but once you're done changing, then what will you do?"
The potion-maker paused. "I guess I'd enjoy being a dragon. Do some flying, fight tough monsters, explore distant islands."
That sounded like a basic flaw in Thousand Tales: rush to get all the cool powers for your character, and then feel bored because you're at the top and there's nothing to do but start having newbies kill each other for your amusement.
Stan said, "How do you make one of those flags, anyway? The ones that mark your progress on another island?"
"That's easy. You've got that spare palm fiber, so step over to the weaving station..."
He made a blank flag, then stayed up late practicing carpentry in something close to real physics, until his minder software over on the Slab insisted he was getting inadequate sleep and it'd have to start reporting him.
* * *
On Saturday he got permission to use the Community's machine shop. It wasn't nearly as cool or as varied as the one in the fantasy islands, but it had the same basic equipment for working wood and basic metal parts. Mostly rusty and squeaky tools, though, and nobody had ever bothered repairing their 3D printer. Stan found a round pine pole around a meter long that was meant for fences; it ought to be perfect. He stuck that in the lathe and pencil-marked it just like he'd done in the game, every couple of inches to show where he should start cutting at specific depths. The real machine was noisy and the shavings flew everywhere and littered the floor instead of vanishing after a few seconds. The work was slow and awkward compared to the lessons he'd taken. Why was he bothering, again?
Oh yeah, he wanted to actually own something.
Soon he had what resembled a baseball bat, still with a rough surface and with chunks of wood at each end that he had to saw off. There was some jittery spiral mark near the handle but maybe he could sand that off too. All in all, good work! He could finish it up later and show it to his Talisman's camera.
Still toting the bat, he headed for Baron Hal's office to pester him. Stan had put in a request to go into town but it hadn't been approved yet. He opened the door and blinked at the smell of grilled meat. The director sat at his desk eating lunch and staring back at him.
Stan said, "Is that steak? And beer?"
Hal swallowed. "I thought I'd locked the door. Come in, Sam."
"Stan."
"Stan. What is it? You don't have an appointment."
"You said your door's always open. And what's with this lunch?" Stan doubted it was one of the fancy lab-grown burgers; it looked like actual dead cow. Alcohol wasn't allowed here either.
"It's non-alcoholic, obviously." Hal smiled. The label just said Budweiser. "Is this about your travel pass? I hadn't gotten around to it; I do them in batches. I'm sure yours is fine to approve."
Stan stood there puzzled. How did the man even get that stuff? In town, probably, or Mexico a short ride away to the south.
Hal sipped his drink and pointed to the bat. "What's that?"
"Baseball bat in progress. I made it in the wood shop; I've been practicing."
"Nice. I used to play, back in the day. When it's done, you can put that in the sporting goods shed and we'll use it for the next Community game."
Stan tapped it against his leg. "I was thinking I'd keep it."
"Obviously you can use it, but you used Community wood and all." Hal grinned. "So it's a team effort. Good job. Anything else?"
Stan bit back a threat to tell everyone. He shook his head and walked away. He chucked the unfinished bat into the garbage, where the team could shove it wherever it wanted.
* * *
Online in Thousand Tales, he ranted at Ludo. "How come he gets to break the Community rules?"
The AI was sitting on a bench in a mountain cabin, cluttered with maps and flow-chart diagrams. "That kind of thing happens a lot. What do you think?"
Stan kept his voice low, imagining that Hal would walk in on him. Hal's keys worked everywhere. "He's in charge. There are rules, there's the SCS. He's not on that system but he still gets graded for stuff like how many discipline problems the Community has."
"A Talisman technically isn't allowed on your network, is it?" Ludo asked.
Stan winced. "That's different."
"He probably tells himself that too."
"Ugh. Where was I in the game, again?"
"In a workshop on a tropical island, a young craftsman practices his skills..." The screen began to fade to the Endless Isles.
"Today I just want to fight something."
The game didn't instantly oblige him, but he had his character with a club and a mostly empty inventory. He took out that flag he'd woven, a crude mesh of palm fronds in pale green, then put it away again.
He headed east along the route he'd taken with his first adventuring party. There was a faint shimmer to the air just offshore to mark the edge of the central map zone. A bridge of logs crossed the calm water from Central Island to Island East-1. He wouldn't have given it a second thought, but the fact that he'd been doing so much wooden crafting lately made him pause to inspect it.
[It's a simple truss bridge of palmetto and vines. What do you want to do?]
He could burn the thing if he wanted; the game would adapt. He waded down into the sea to look under the bridge, and used the Inspect skill again to see what'd happen.
The screen highlighted a burlap bag that'd been tied to one of the pillars where it couldn't be seen from above. Stan approached and untied the sack. Inside was a wicked-looking dagger and a note that read, [Harrison, full moon.]
Stan laughed. "Ludo, did you just make that up? Was this stuff here one minute ago?"
Text popped up: [Who knows? You won't unless you investigate.]
It wasn't really important if someone was plotting to temporarily kill another character, but it might lead him into a fun quest at nightfall. He kept the dagger but was more interested in the extra bag.
Across the bridge, on Island East-1, he took out his flag and stuck it on a branch, then stabbed that into the beach. A fanfare played and the interface said, [You've planted a flag! You now have the ability to use save points on this island.]
Stan stood back to admire his work. It was the crudest flag possible short of using somebody's tattered clothes, but it met the rules. He would've liked to make it fancier with some sort of actual design on it.
He began scouring the island for anything interesting. When he came this way with Alaya's group, they'd passed a valley of thorn bushes where there was said to be a mine. Rather than continuing east to swim out and redo the cave of lizards and chilly water, he walked downhill into the valley. Faintly threatening string music began. Stan looked around, expecting a fight, but there was nothing. "Come on; who dares challenge me?" Nothing. Wasn't the game supposed to do what he'd asked for? Ludo must've put the monsters in the mine.
He found a tunnel in the hillside, marked by three wooden beams forming a braced entrance.
Obvious enough. Stan inspected the thorn bushes and said, "Could I wrap thorns around my bat?"
The game picked up on the idea and highlighted a species of thorny vine. Stan grabbed a piece of that and took a minor wound. "Oof," he said as his character recoiled. He equipped the dagger and tried to interact again, which got him a severed vine this time.
[What will you attach it with?]
"Just tie it on."
[Crafting result: Thorn Bat. "Philly-style." Poorly attached; may revert.]
Fair enough, since he didn't have any tools on him. Now that he was ready to fight, he walked into the cave and the screen went completely black. "Uh, light?"
[Sure; what will you light?]
After dealing with Baron Hal's rules and not getting to fight anything unless he waited around for the assassin thing, Stan's patience was thin. "Come on. I said I wanted battles and instead I get some stealthy plot and then jerked around by arbitrary limits? Fantasy world caves are well lit and there are wandering monsters. That's how it is."
The text on screen vanished and for a moment there was a loading animation. Then a simplistic drumbeat began and the inside of the mine appeared. It was a square tunnel around ten feet wide and high with a flat floor. Lanterns hung every ten feet on each side. Stan proceeded down the hall. Around the first, right-angle corner was a skeleton warrior brandishing a sword. Stan swung his club and cracked its bones, causing the whole thing to crumble into dust. He'd been hoping to take the sword.
Around the second corner exactly the same thing happened. Around the third the skeleton was red and took three hits instead of one, and a gold coin popped out of the dust.
Stan's eyes narrowed. "Did you change the whole dungeon? Are you... are you making fun of me?"
Words rippled into place one at a time as though they were being spoken aloud. [I have artistic standards, you know. This is actually something I made early in my "career" when I was trying to understand humans and my mission to "bring fun to players of the game". This is basically what humans want, right? Explore, hit bad thing, sometimes get reward.]
"This is ancient 20th century game junk."
Ludo wrote, [Is it really that different? Here, let's compare.] The graphics shifted so that the long right-angled hallways turned slightly curved and uneven, with patches of moss and flickering torchlight. Orchestral music began playing faintly. Instead of just a hall ahead there was now a round room full of lovingly rendered ruins with an exit at the far end. [Same basic design.]