That sad smile turned warm for a moment. “Thanks, I hope you’re right.” As what I said sunk in, Wynona’s eyes widened a bit as her voice came out in that weird little half-panic someone improvising a lie often has. “I mean, not that you know me well. We, like, just met but that’s still sweet to say.”
Frowning a bit myself, I was silent as I seriously pondered what I wanted to say. There was a part of me that wanted to reveal my suspicions about her there and then, cut through all the bull so we could really talk instead of this elaborate verbal dance we were doing. That idea was running into the rough resistance of my cautious side, that letting things out without the protection of the Filter was just inviting brainjackers and other neural crooks to do to me exactly what they did to Maria.
What decided it for me was a strange, burning desire to have someone to talk to who truly understood what was happening in my life, both real and virtual. Chrissy knew some of the game stuff, but she was too young to really grasp the full extent of things. Roxanne, well, she was even more of a worrier than I was and certainly a bit behind the times in the gaming department.
Wynona, though, she not only was as deep into EO as I was but she had gone through the Vale of the Three Wolves, built up enough Trust with Vanni to know everything about her in real life, to the point that they were really and truly engaged. If anyone could understand my relationship and gaming woes, it was her … assuming I was right about who she was.
She had lapsed into silence herself, her eyes looking down at the ground as she assumed the same hunched over, head bowed position I had found her in the day before. Taking a deep breath, I gathered up my courage and prepared myself to be shown to have both my non-existent feet in my big mouth. When I was ready, I turned toward her and leaned in as much as my wheelchair would allow.
“Look, I’m probably going to sound really stupid to you, Wynona, so I’m going to apologize ahead of time.” Her eyes swiveled to glance at me oddly as I kept up my low whisper. “We both know this isn’t the first, er, second time we’ve met, right? Like … in the game, we work together, Crysta.”
The fact she stiffened up as I spoke was plenty of evidence that my assumption was correct, but it didn’t mean I still hadn’t screwed things up. “After everything you know about what went wrong with Maria, you’d still say something like that?”
“Maybe this is stupid and nuts but I think I can help a heck of a lot more if we’re open and honest about it,” I offered as an explanation. “And … maybe you can help me too.”
Her clasped hands clenched together and her knuckles went white. Not a great sign but she didn’t immediately get up and ignore me forever. “… I shouldn’t do this, not after seeing what Maria did and what happened but …” Wynona turned her head towards me, her lips pressed tight as her expression fought a war between angry, upset, and overjoyed. “Did you two … did you get the Ring?” I could hear the emphasis, the verbal capitalization she put on the word.
“Yeah.” I know I was starting to smile no matter how serious I wanted to be looking. “Just this morning.”
The war was won on Wynona’s face as a smile crept in, even as tears started to run down her cheeks. “That’s awesome. I’m really happy for you two.” She thumbed at the corners of her eyes. “I guess … I guess I’d be a really bad friend if I didn’t help you, huh? Maria’d want me to.”
“And don’t think I won’t be there to help you too.” I put my good hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “I’ll do everything I can, even if it’s just being someone who actually understands everything going on in your life. Both your lives.”
She put a hand over mine as she straightened up. “Thanks, Max. If we’re lucky, maybe we can help each other get through our troubles without going crazy, right?” With a short, staccato giggle, she shook her head. “It’d be better if you could stop the Institute from closing up shop here, though.”
So Wynona did know and Maria’s family was relying on the Institute’s charity, just like Chrissy and me. “I might have known Dr. Fontaine for a long time but I don’t know if I can work a miracle.”
Despite what I said, a fire had sparked inside my gut. I would never, ever have thought about talking to the esteemed, lauded, and imminently famous Dr. Rosemary Fontaine and demand that she doesn’t act like a horrible person by letting thousands of needy patients go without, not before that moment. She was a monolithic authority figure, the mistress of my family’s ultimate destiny, and renowned for her judgmental stubbornness. I would never have endangered all the help we received from her by confronting her on anything.
Now, with a growing number of people I knew personally threatened and these past few weeks in Elementalis being an actual leader, making the hard calls and all that, what would it hurt to try?
Even as I mulled over when would be the best time to call Dr. Fontaine, whether e-mail would be better, even the idea of taking a grav-train out to the New Diego Collective and the Institute’s main branch to see her directly, opportunity not only knocked at the door, it kicked the whole thing down. Out of the sliding airlock doors that lead back to the surgical center, an older, rail-thin woman dressed in surgical scrubs walked out, flanked by a few buzzing assistants, rubbing her deeply lined face as they yammered on.
I didn’t need to see any more to know exactly who that lady was. It was Rosemary Fontaine in the flesh and if the condition of her scrubs were any indication, she was fresh from doing surgical work herself.
“I’ll be back, Wynona.” If there was anything that I had learned from the quest for Crystalfire Keep and going through the Vale was to never ignore an opportunity when it stared you in the face. I was rolling out before I even finished my statement.
Startled by the suddenness of my departure, Wynona could only blink at me and let out a weak-sounding, “Okay.”
Not surprisingly, Dr. Fontaine saw me coming. My stylish wheels were pretty unmistakable after all. She waved her hand toward her assistants dismissively, shutting them up as I came to a halt in front of her. Though my resolve was strong, my brain had yet to entirely catch up to it, and I wasn’t sure what I was going to say. Fortunately, Dr. Fontaine was already opening her mouth so I let her have the first words.
“It’s been a few years, Maximillian,” she began in her usual cool, professional tones. “You will be happy to know that things are going well with Christine. I have already gotten the staff here through the more difficult portions of the surgery; they can handle the rest from here on out.”
That was a shock. “Wait, you came here personally to take care of her? That’s uncharacteristically … charitable of you.” Yeah, I shouldn’t have said it but my heart was in the driver’s seat.
“Considering how close your parents were with my daughter, I don’t see how this could be all that surprising to you.” She set one hand on her narrow hip as she glanced distractedly at her smartwatch. “Now, is there something you wished to talk to me about, Mr. Kincaid, outside of thanking me for helping your sister?”
Shaking my head, I got my thoughts in order. “As a matter of fact, there is, Dr. Fontaine.” I took one last breath and forced myself to stare right at the older doctor. Her eyes were a steely blue and her expression was unflinching as she noticed my stare and matched it. “Tell me how you can do what you’re about to do, pulling back so much of your support for the needy, with the Hippocratic oaths you’ve taken.” My eyes narrowed. “I’m not just talking about what your plans are going to do to my family, either.”
“Are you sure?” she replied. “You have never been focused on anything other than that, discounting the games you waste so much of your life on.” Fontaine tutted. “If you actually applied yourself, you wouldn’t be here with your accusations, hoping for me to bail you and your sister out of your predicament.” There was only callous judgment in her voice as she concluded, “You would be able to take care of all your problems on your own, as a functioning member of society.”
I wanted her to be wrong
and she might have been. How could I judge that for myself, though? That was the problem. It was easy to forgive yourself and easy to lie to yourself. Still, this wasn’t all about me anymore so I found it in myself to press on against the old warhorse.
“I do work, and I do take care of everything I can,” I retorted. “If I didn’t, Chrissy wouldn’t be here today … but that’s not my point, well, not my whole point.” With my good arm, I gestured back toward the crowded waiting room. “Everyone here works, I’m sure of it, they take the jobs they can find and then gather all the money they can to take care of their families and themselves.” I leaned forward, toward Fontaine. “Yet they’re here, all the same, unable to do that no matter how much money they get. Are you going to be part of the problem, denying the people who need it most what they need to survive?”
There was a heart in Rosemary’s chest, I knew that, and it started to show through her eyes. “I don’t want that, Max. You know me better than that. Realities are realities, though. How can I continue the vital research of the Institute if all of our resources are spent propping up those who cannot help themselves?”
She gestured toward me again. “Again, I have to look at you as a prime example. You should be able to find work, real work, and yet you try to convince me that playing a game will support your family. If you were part of a professional e-sports team or some such nonsense, I might buy it, but as it is, how can I take your argument seriously when you, my best example, don’t fit it?”
I frowned, gritting my teeth as I looked down and away. Frustration made my fists clench as I realized Rosemary would never believe me. Her mind was made up about me and her own biases toward how the game industry treated her ‘baby’ NSAF technology closed her mind toward taking me seriously.
Fortunately, someone else decided to join the fight. “You can’t say that about Max, ma’am,” Wynona said from behind my chair. “Just because you don’t understand his job doesn’t mean it isn’t real. I know because I work with him.”
Dr. Fontaine was as surprised as I was for the arrival of my support. “Ms. Christian, I thought you worked in information technology …?” One of the doctor’s assistants confirmed that questioning statement with a muffled ‘yes’. “Regardless, I don’t see what this has to do with Ms. Alvarez’s condition or case. Even when the Institute closes here, between you and her family, you should be able to …”
“And you’re wrong!” Wynona shot back. “Well, okay, partly right. I do IT work, but I also work part-time with Max here, and he’s really great at his job. He’s a real leader and he cares a lot about everyone he works with, enough to spend time with me even when he didn’t have to!”
I glanced back at her standing tall, her fists clenched in defiance, tears in her eyes. “Focus, Wynona, I think you’re getting off-track.”
She blinked at me and nodded. “Right. Right, you’re right, Max.” She snapped back up to Dr. Fontaine. “What I’m trying to say is that you’re wrong about Maria. If you abandon her, we’ll be able to pay for a while, sure, but we’ll go bankrupt in the process and that’s if the government doesn’t decide she’s used up too many resources. Just like people like Max, they are hated and denied help because they don’t ‘contribute’ in a way people like.”
Wynona pointed at the ward doors, past Fontaine and her assistants. “Imagine what they’ll do to a coma patient if you can’t be there to tell them she’ll get better!”
“Come on, Doc,” I urged, using the hackneyed nickname I had used when I was a kid, “I know it’s a hard choice but think about it. What good was all that research if you’re not actually helping people with it? That’s the whole point of it. You told us that so many times when we were testing the NSAF gear. We were supposed to help people, right?”
Rosemary looked between Wynona and me and back again, her eyes softening even as her lips remained pressed into a tight, neutral expression. Finally, after several long moments, she spoke. “I cannot … will not … make any guarantees or make any promises at this moment.” A soft, whispering sigh came out of her throat. “What I will say is that you and your young friend make some valid points regarding the proposed reduction of Institute services to the needy.”
“Soooo,” Wynona asked carefully, “you’ll think about it?”
Rosemary arched an eyebrow at her. “Yes, I will take it into consideration.” Her gaze swept back down to me. “In no small part to the news that Mr. Kincaid here is becoming a proper member of society. If he’s capable of bettering himself, I may have been too harsh in judging the general population.”
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding. “I’ll take that.” Managing an honest smile, I nodded to the doctor. “Thank you. Doc. I really mean it.”
“Don’t thank me just yet, Max,” Rosemary said as she turned, her assistants starting to chatter again. “Besides, if you should thank anyone, thank yourself and Ms. Christian for the work you have put forth to bring this to my attention.”
Wynona and I watched as the doctor walked away, not caring that most of the waiting room was not staring at us. Why should we care? We had won a victory on one of the most important battlefields … real life.
And it was a victory. I knew Rosemary better than almost anyone else did. I had seen her in the rare moments she dropped her steely guard in front of family and what few friends she kept. No matter the front she put up at the end, it was just that, a front. I had broken through and I knew now that she would reinstate at least this branch of the Institute. For now, Wynona and I could feel relieved. Our loved ones would get the care they needed, I was sure of it.
“Excellent tanking there,” Wynona giggled. “Really drew the aggro for me.”
I laughed back, smiling like an idiot, never imagining I would have done what I just did before now. “Well, if you hadn’t come in with the support, it would have been a total wipe.” I rotated my chair around towards her. “With that over, do you want to go collect our loot at the cafeteria? I think we can leave our camping spot long enough to get some coffee. Like, real coffee. We deserve it!”
She smiled back as she ran her hands through her vibrant hair. “Sure. You can tell me all about your recent engagement.” With a wink, she led the way as I tried not to blush myself into unconsciousness.
At that moment as we went to collect our caffeinated prize, I knew deep down that things were going to finally get better. Not just for me and not just in the game, but for everyone I cared about. Heck, if I could face down Dr. Rosemary Fontaine in mortal combat, Crystalfire Keep would be a cakewalk.
Right?
Thank You for reading!
Curious about what happens to Shale and Kayla next?
Find out in Crystalfire Keep, coming 2017!
Author’s Note
Dear reader, if you REALLY want to read the next Ring of Promise novel-I’ve got a bit of bad news for you.
Unfortunately, Amazon will not tell you when the next comes out.
You’ll probably never know about my next books, and you’ll be left wondering what happened to Shale, Kayla, and the gang. That’s rather terrible.
There is good news though! There are three ways you can find out when the next book is published: 1) You join my mailing list by clicking here.
2) You follow me on my Facebook page or join my Facebook Group. I always announce my new books in both those places as well as interact with fans.
3) You follow me on Amazon. You can do this by going to the store page (or clicking this link) and clicking on the Follow button that is under the author picture on the left side.
If you follow me, Amazon will send you an email when I publish a book. You’ll just have to make sure you check the emails they send.
Doing any of these, or all three for best results, will ensure you find out about my next book when it is published.
If you don’t, Amazon will never tell you about my next release. Please take a few seconds to do one of these so that you’ll be able to jo
in Shale, Kayla, and the gang on their next adventure.
Also, there are some LitRPG Facebook groups you could join if you are so inclined.
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Glossary
Glossary of Terms
Neural Sensing And Functioning (NSAF): NSAF technology allows for seamless and simultaneous reading of and transmission to the nervous system of the human body. Originally developed as a means of rehabilitation and therapy for physically disabled people, the technology was quickly co-opted for internet and gaming technology.
Dr. Rosemary Fontaine: The doctor and researcher who originally developed NSAF technology and head of the Fontaine Institute, a private medical research center.
Elementalis Online (EO): One of the most popular VRMMORPGs (Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Roleplaying Games) in the 23rd Century, EO incorporates many of the most popular features of 21st Century MMOs with the nuances and advantages of modern NSAF technology.
The Safe and Private Policy (The Filter): NSAF gear has an amazing capability for good but an equal ability to do harm. Being a direct neural interface originally set up to allow doctors to diagnose nervous system and health issues as well as record sensory input and brain stimuli, NSAF gear can practically read minds and directly manipulate the nervous system and brain functions of its users. This caused the most severe outbreak of identity theft in history as well as the new crime of brain jacking, the direct manipulation of the human brain for criminal purposes, shortly after the initial commercial release of NSAF technology. Both world governments and the various companies involved in commercial NSAF managed to crack down on this, creating the Safe and Private Policy.
The Vale of Three Wolves: A LitRPG Adventure (Elements of Wrath Online Book 2) Page 20