Alexis and Gabriel found themselves in a rough hut made out of plant materials. Alexis glanced around, dismissed the empty space, and went straight for the door. She pulled back when she touched the handle.
Gabriel, I felt that. She rushed outside and knelt to touch the ground. I can feel this, too.
Gabriel shrugged. So? This is virtual reality. It makes sense that we would be able to interact with stuff.
Dad said we would feel pain. I wonder how much we can be hurt. Slap me.
Gabriel rolled his eyes and hit her across the face with a ringing slap. He knew better than to argue with his twin when she had that focused look.
Her eyes opened, and she drew a hand to her face. “Not that hard!”
Gabriel snickered and quoted, “‘Word positioning is important.’”
“You’re an ass,” she complained, rubbing her stinging cheek.
Gabriel’s eyes widened. “You’re really hurt?” He slapped himself across the face just as hard. “Ow!”
Alexis rolled her eyes. “No nuance whatsoever.”
Gabriel didn’t hear her. He’d already wandered off to explore the area around the hut.
Alexis looked around. The jungle was almost familiar but different enough from the environment she was used to that it gave her a slight chill.
Gabriel paused with his hand on a tree and looked back at Alexis. “I wonder if we can get eaten?”
“Maybe I’ll get lucky and you can tell me?” Alexis snarked. She followed him into the tree line hesitantly. “Here’s a thought… What if Dad transported us to the southern continent?”
“He wouldn’t do that. Don’t worry.” He looked around and saw a faint path cut into the undergrowth. “Come on, this way.”
Gabriel’s hand found hers, and they set off into the jungle.
Eric and Scott winced when Gabriel slapped Alexis.
“I can’t believe you thought of this,” Scott told Michael.
Michael threw a piece of popcorn into his mouth and smirked as he chewed. “I figure it’s got to be worth a few years’ entertainment at least.”
John and Darryl returned with a couple of extra chairs from another room, and they all returned to watching the events unfold on the screen wall.
The children walked hand-in-hand into the jungle.
“They look so small,” Darryl commented.
Michael flashed him a wolfish grin. “Don’t be fooled by their size. My children are nobody’s easy pickings, even at this young age.” He looked back at the screen. “Although…they haven’t made the best start.”
“What do you mean?” John asked.
“They’ve taken the right path.” Michael shook his head. “But they missed the instructions.”
John raised an eyebrow, still watching Alexis and Gabriel’s progress through the jungle. A herd of small dinosaurs came into view up ahead.
Scott, Darryl, and Eric turned as one to Michael.
“You guys need to watch,” Michael told them. “I’m going to send one of you in as a consultant to advise…when it’s time.”
John dragged his gaze from the screen. “When will that be?”
Michael settled back to watch. “After their first deaths.”
Chapter Twelve
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Bethany Anne’s Personal Quarters
The General was waiting in the sitting room when Bethany Anne transported the four of them in. “Okay, now it’s weird.” She looked around at her old life and felt a pang of something she didn’t want to examine too closely at the moment. She shook her head and held her arms out to her father. “Hi, Dad.”
Lance hugged her tightly. “It’s so good to see you, sweetheart. How are my grandchildren?”
“Wow, not even a segue.” Tabitha snickered at Lance’s now-red face and waved for him to continue. “I’m kidding. Go ahead, get mushy. I need a shower and some clean clothes.” She grabbed her luggage in one hand and took it through to the bedroom. Lance looked at a suspiciously long and boxy bag she was carrying. “Is that…”
Tabitha held up a finger without turning around or stopping. “Leave Gracie out of it.”
Lance looked at Bethany Anne, nonplussed.
Jean rolled her eyes. “It’s a big-ass rifle she took off a Shrillexian in a bar fight on Devon.”
Lance’s confusion deepened. “I thought it was called High Tortuga now?”
Bethany Anne shook her head. “No, that’s old Devon. Jean’s talking about New Devon, which we’re just calling Devon since that’s the whole point of taking the planet over.”
Lance rubbed his forehead. “I’m sure it will all make sense soon enough.”
Jean and Gabrielle excused themselves, leaving Bethany Anne and her father alone in the sitting room to talk. Lance raised his eyebrows.
Bethany Anne rolled her eyes. “The twins are great, Dad. You only spoke to them a couple of weeks ago.”
They chatted for a while, catching each other up on the little details of life that were best exchanged in person. Tabitha joined them a short time later, followed by Jean soon after that.
Bethany Anne stood as Gabrielle returned with her hair wrapped in a towel. “Please tell me you didn’t use the last towel?”
Gabrielle grinned and shook her head. “Plenty left for you.”
Lance was distracted by an insistent beeping from his wrist. He looked down and made a pained face. “Sorry, ladies. I have to get on a video conference.”
Bethany Anne craned to see what he was looking at. “Oh, yeah? Is it something to do with the problem you’ve been having?”
Lance pulled his sleeve over his wrist before Bethany Anne could see anything useful and leaned over to kiss her on the top of her head. “I’ll tell you after dinner tonight. And no, I don’t need you to butt in.” He ignored her pout. “Just don’t take too long getting there, Patricia has been clattering around for days making… You know, I’m not sure. She hasn’t stayed still long enough to tell me.”
High Tortuga, Space Fleet Base, Immersive Recreation and Training Scenario, Dinosaur Island
The foliage thickened steadily as Gabriel and Alexis pushed farther into the jungle. More than once they debated turning around, but each time they chose to press on and see where the path led. After what felt like an age but was more like a couple of hours, the twins noticed that the path widened some ahead.
Alexis pointed out signs of nearby animal activity—roughed-up bark on a tree here, a stripped bush there. “I wonder if we need to eat while we’re in here?”
Gabriel stopped to consider. He eventually shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out if we get hungry, won’t we?”
Alexis nodded and continued walking.
Gabriel followed her, keeping watch all around them. He spotted movement through a break in the foliage to the side of the path. “Hey, Alexis, look!”
Alexis followed Gabriel’s finger to a small clearing where a herd of pint-sized dinosaurs was busily stripping the leaves from the lower branches of the trees. “Oh, they’re so sweet!”
Gabriel started to go closer to get a better look. The dinosaurs turned orange lizard eyes on Gabriel the moment his foot strayed from the path.
Alexis grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “Stay on the path.”
Gabriel looked at the dinosaurs warily as they went back to cropping. “Yeah, you’ve got it.”
They continued down the path a while until they came to the crest of a gentle rise. The twins stopped to look out over the rolling expanse of the game biome.
The jungle stretched as far as they could see. It was broken only by the pale blue line of a large body of water in the far distance, and a looming mountain off to the west. The path split at the top of the hill, giving them a choice of directions.
Alexis shared a concerned glance with her brother. “I think it’s time to get some help.”
Gabriel nodded. “Phyrro?”
The voice came from all around them. “Access denied.”
T
he twins looked at each other.
That wasn’t Phyrro.
Alexis sighed. I know that.
“Why can’t we talk to Phyrro?” she demanded of the voice.
“The system you are requesting has been locked out due to an inability to connect on this technologically deficient world.”
Gabriel frowned. “Meaning?”
“Meaning Daddy is a complete pain in the ass.” She stamped her foot and stormed down the path leading to the mountain. “Come on, we’ll figure this out by ourselves.”
Chapter Thirteen
The black teardrop spun like a bullet through the void, a trail of twisted and pitted metals, ice, and rock tumbling in its silent wake.
The leading edge of the alien structure had been polished smooth by the constant barrage of minute particles traveling in the opposite direction at superspeed. The trailing end was made up of the smaller shards that continually came loose from the sides. Most were gathered by the slipstream and thrown into the vortex at the tail. From a distance, it could easily be mistaken for a massive comet.
Which was precisely the point.
A harder collision carved a slightly larger chunk from the rough teardrop and sent it spinning out into the vacuum. The alien structure slowed, shattering the illusion that it was a mere ice ball. A nest of long cables snaked out from the rear and pulled the dislodged chunk—a hollowed-out Leath battle cruiser—back to the main bulk.
An active Gate appeared a few hundred kilometers away. The cables retracted while the mass of wrecks adjusted its trajectory, picked up speed, and vanished through the Gate.
Yollin Sector, QBBS Meredith Reynolds
“Mommy, look at meeeee! Faster, Bethany Anne, faster!” Little Kevin squealed with delight as Bethany Anne stood beneath him with her hands raised to give him her own special version of an airplane. He was red-faced and grinning, his arms spread out as he made wide, seemingly unsupported laps of the room.
Bethany Anne glanced at Patricia, who nodded and held her thumb and forefinger a fraction of an inch apart. She increased the speed of the Etheric energy loop she had created to fly her baby brother around a touch.
Kevin’s feet kicked with glee. “Wheeeeee!”
“Sure beats the usual way of doing it,” Patricia remarked to Gabrielle.
“This is nothing,” Gabrielle told her. “When Stephen and JM were nine, I found her doing this with them in one of the hangars.” She made a face at the memory. “She made full use of the space. I walked in to see my boys thirty feet up in the air.”
Bethany Anne snickered as she brought Kevin back down to the floor. “They loved it, Eric thought it was hilarious. You were the only one who had a problem, if I remember.”
Gabrielle narrowed her eyes.
Patricia paled. She held her arms out for Kevin, who was yawning after all the excitement. “Come on, sleepyhead. Time for your nap.”
Kevin looked at his mother as though she’d just stolen his world. “But, Moooom! Bethany Anne is here! And Aunt Tabbie promised me stories!”
Tabitha grinned at Patricia and shrugged. “I did promise the little tyke some stories.” She turned to Kevin, whose eyes were filling up. “I’ll take you to your room and tell you a story now, but you have to nap afterward, okay? You can show me all the cool stuff you have.”
The impending storm on Kevin’s face disappeared without a trace, and he let out another yawn. “Okay, then.”
Patricia gaped. “Tabitha, you live here now.” She held up a hand to answer Tabitha’s look. “No arguing. My boy has never agreed to take a nap in his life.” She knelt and kissed Kevin. “Love you, sweetie. Be good for Aunt Tabitha.”
Kevin smiled sweetly. “Yes, Mommy.” He fitted his hand into Tabitha’s and led her from the room, chattering the whole way.
Bethany Anne watched them go with a smile. She’d gone through a phase of wishing she had a little brother once upon a time. Someone to look out for and boss around had been her thinking back then.
Kevin may have come along too late for any of that, but it was so good to be home. To hold the boy in her arms and spend real time playing with him.
Patricia interrupted Bethany Anne’s thoughts. “Tabitha is amazing with Kevin.”
Bethany Anne nodded. “Kids have always loved her. She has a gift.” As many rough edges as Tabitha had, she couldn’t be faulted for the tenderness she showed toward the children. “She’s the same with Alexis and Gabriel. The twins worship the ground she walks on.”
Jean came in with a tray of snacks. “What are we talking about?”
Gabrielle leaned over and took a cookie when Jean put the tray on the table. “How great Tabitha is with little ones.”
Jean raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “Yeah, but just watch her suitability as a role model plummet once they’re teenagers. That’s all I’m saying.”
Gabrielle snickered. “I wonder how Michael is getting on by himself with the terrible twosome?”
Bethany Anne shrugged and snagged a brownie. “Either he’s doing just fine, or they’re…”
Jean and Gabrielle were quick to jump in.
Gabrielle went first. “Mind-reading their father to wrap him around their fingers?”
Jean followed with, “Escaping into the Etheric?”
Gabrielle shrugged. “Making pets out of the local wildlife?”
Jean smirked. “Setting the base on fire?”
Patricia put a hand to her mouth and giggled. “Oh, my! What active imaginations you have! I’m sure it won’t be all that bad.”
Bethany Anne fixed her stepmom with a serious look. “No, it could be even worse. All those things actually happened in the last six months.”
Jean snorted into her coffee. “And then some.”
“And there was me, complaining that Kevin fusses over his nap.” Patricia shook her head. “Although I will say, your brother has a stubborn streak a mile wide. I can’t think where he gets that from.”
Bethany Anne grinned. “Wait until he brings back something like a four-foot boa constrictor and tells you its name is Huggy.” She turned to Gabrielle. “It was Huggy, right?”
“Who cares?” Gabrielle shuddered. “That monster was not a snake. Snakes don’t make eye contact and salivate when you walk into the room.”
Patricia grimaced. “Sounds dreadful, sweetheart. Makes me glad that Lance and I didn’t pass that level of enhancement onto Kevin. While he is stronger and smart for his age, we’re not having any adventures like that with him.”
She crossed her fingers mentally that the situation remained the same. “So, how advanced are the twins now? Your father tells me that they’re developing abilities with the Etheric already. How are you both coping with that?”
“Mmmhmm.” Bethany Anne nodded and finished chewing the mouthful of brownie while she thought it over. “It’s a challenge, I’ll admit. Michael and I agree that they need to be trained to prevent another accidental crossing like they did on their birthday.”
“But they’re only three years old,” Patricia fretted. “Should they be training so young?”
“They’re nothing like three-year-olds.” Bethany Anne smirked. “Besides, we’re making it a game for them. Look, we’re not going to stay on High Tortuga forever, and there will always be assholes who would attack them to hurt me. We’re not your conventional family, so raising them the conventional way would be failing them as parents. This way they’re prepared for whatever comes.” She thought for a moment. “Well, as well as we can.”
Patricia still wasn’t convinced. “Yes, but they’re still toddlers, even if they don’t look or act like it. How are they handling this ‘training?’”
Bethany Anne raised her eyebrows a couple of times, a smile splitting her face. “Like a pair of badass Reynolds kids, of course. How else?”
High Tortuga, Space Fleet Base, Michael’s Office, Vid-Doc Room
Michael slapped the top of Eric’s arm and pointed at the screen. “Here comes some fun.” H
e tossed some popcorn into his mouth and offered the bowl to the others. The screen still showed Alexis and Gabriel, who were having an encounter with some small dinosaurs. Gabriel had spotted them through the foliage and moved to investigate.
Scott took the bowl. “What fun?”
“If they leave the path, they trigger a game event,” Michael revealed.
“What kind of event?” John asked.
Michael grinned. “Nothing too big at this early stage.” He looked a little disappointed when Alexis pulled Gabriel back. “Just a little taste of what’s to come that would have given them an advantage later in the game.” He shrugged. “No matter. If they miss the next one, I will send one of you in to assist.”
“What are they doing?” Eric pointed at the screen. Alexis and Gabriel had stopped at a fork in the path.
Michael turned the volume up, and they heard the children calling for their EI.
Phyrro’s voice came from the speaker. “The children are calling, and I cannot reach them.”
Michael held a finger up. “Alexis and Gabriel are learning self-sufficiency, Phyrro. They will not always have access to EIs and AIs to guide them through the decision-making process. See, they’re thinking about their options.”
The twins were stalled at the fork.
Darryl frowned. “Which path do they need to take?”
“They will take the route to the mountain,” Michael told him. “The game is designed to lead them to the next stage, and Alexis would never choose the sea.”
“What if Gabriel takes the lead?” Darryl asked.
Michael raised an eyebrow at him. “Do you even know my children?” As if to prove his point, Alexis took charge and demanded to know why they couldn’t speak to Phyrro.
“Daddy is a complete pain in the ass.” Alexis stormed down the path to the mountain as the guys cracked up at her outburst.
“I did not teach them that,” Michael told them as he pointed to the screen. “That was all Bethany Anne.”
“She sounded just like BA,” John managed through his tears of laughter.
The Kurtherian Endgame Boxed Set Page 34