Farmer

by Tom Larcombe

  Paul turned back to the meat and started slicing pieces off. As they ate, they chatted about nothing of consequence, just enjoying the food. When they were done, Paul drove the metal spit he'd been using into the ground next to the fire pit.

  “I'll leave that here for you. It was just a leftover bit of building material I used for a spit. I can get another easily enough. I bet you'll pick up the cooking skill in no time if you cook your own rabbit meat. But now I've only got about five minutes before the manager and guards get here and I'm off duty for a bit.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Take a few days in the real world, talk to my family about maybe coming into the game with me, some of them anyway. I'm near my thirty day limit so I need to take at least one day out of game at the very least.”

  Eddie walked over and grabbed the spit, dropping it into his inventory.

  “Thirty day limit?” he asked.

  “Oh, yeah, that's the—”

  Paul broke off mid-sentence as three figures materialized on the porch of the farmhouse. Starting with a brief shimmer their forms grew more and more distinct until there were three men standing there. One of them was in stiff leather armor, with a dagger on one hip and a coiled bullwhip on the other. The other two both wore chainmail hauberks that came down to their knees. Each of those two had a mace and a crossbow visible.

  Eddie stared at them.

  Crap, these are the guards and manager?

  “Ross, good to see you,” Paul said, approaching the man in leather armor.

  “Paul, I see you did another bang-up job for this farm.”

  “Yeah, only one problem with this one.”

  Ross raised an eyebrow and cocked his head to the side.

  “Too many damned bunnies,” Paul said. “They keep getting into the garden. Eddie here,” he gestured over his shoulder at Eddie, “is a pretty good shot. He came in game yesterday and already took out a couple of the bunnies.”

  “Hah!” Ross said. “I'll have the guards here take the bunnies down with their crossbows. Don't need a worker thinking he's special or anything.”

  Oh hell, I have to work under this guy? Eddie thought.

  “Well, the rabbits are good eating if you get the meat drop on them. So, maybe just consider them a part of the food supply like the garden is,” Paul said. “But on that note, I've got to log out. Do you acknowledge that I've fulfilled my contract here?”

  “I know Allan took a look the other day and everything we hired you to build seems to be here. You're good.”

  Paul turned around and gave Eddie a grin and a thumbs up. Then his face took on a look of concentration. Moments later, he began to shimmer, slowly fading from view until he was completely gone and Eddie was left with Ross and the two guards.

  “So, you're Eddie, eh?” Ross said.

  Eddie took a step forward and stuck out his hand, which was ignored.

  “Yeah, Eddie Hunter,” he replied.

  He bit his lip, considering for a moment before he stared at Ross and thought: Evaluate.

  Ross Uller

  Human Male

  Level: 3

  Class: Warrior (Overseer)

  Health: 36

  Mana: 24

  Stamina: 60

  You are currently unable to obtain more information about Ross with Evaluate.

  Ross either didn't notice, or didn't care, that Eddie had used the skill on him. Eddie was leaning towards didn't notice though since one of the guards was smirking at him.

  That guy knows what I did, and I think he's amused that Ross didn't notice. Don't tell me they put someone in to manage these places who has no clue about the game. At least one of the guards has a clue though.

  He knew that what he feared was likely, that Star Suppliers had just grabbed anyone willing with management experience, then tossed them in without any training.

  Although he's level three, how could he get those levels without knowing anything about the game?

  The answer came quickly as Ross formed a group and immediately told the guards to join it.

  “You,” Ross said, looking at Eddie. “Show me around the place.”

  Eddie led the group around the small farm, finishing up with the huge area that had been plowed and planted with the cash crop.

  “Paul said this was all planted and should sprout in a day or two. That's all I know about this section,” Eddie said.

  While he'd been leading the group around, he'd noticed that the chainmail the two guards wore wasn't in very good shape. There were rusty spots and a few sprung links here and there.

  “Hey, Gary, shoot that damn bunny,” Ross said, pointing out a rabbit that had just jumped to the top of the stone wall surrounding the garden area.

  One of the guards, the one that hadn't smirked at Eddie earlier on, leveled his crossbow and fired. The bolt went nowhere near the bunny, missing by at least two feet. The rabbit jumped down into the garden and out of sight.

  “I thought you told me you were good with weapons Gary,” Ross demanded.

  “I told you I was good with close-in weapons. Never fired one of these things before today,” Gary said. “The class build they gave us is all about close in and dirty fighting, not distance fighting.”

  Eddie quickly Evaluated Gary while the guard was facing Ross and complaining.

  Gary Axen

  Human Male

  Level: 2

  Warrior (Thug)

  Specialization: Brawling

  Health: 24

  Mana: 14

  Stamina: 44

  You are currently unable to obtain more information about Gary with Evaluate.

  Ross glared at Eddie, them motioned at the other guard.

  “How about you, can you hit a bunny rabbit with a crossbow?”

  “Doubtful, but I'll try if you want,” he said.

  Ross shook his head.

  “Never mind. Eddie, go kill that damned bunny.”

  Eddie shrugged, then walked up to the wall. The bunny had moved a few feet into the garden so he had a clear throw. He pulled his stick out of his belt and threw hard.

  Enemy slain: Bunny (level 1)

  You have earned 5 exp.

  He was about to hop the wall and loot the body when Ross called out.

  “Get back over here.”

  Eddie grimaced, while still facing away from his new boss, then turned and went back. Ross walked out into the garden and knelt down, touching the corpse.

  “Bah!” he said. “Rabbit meat and a pelt. No damned coins here either.”

  I guess he learned that part of the game, Eddie thought. Why doesn't that surprise me?

  Ross threw down the hunk of rabbit meat and the rabbit pelt in disgust, then stalked off towards the farmhouse.

  “Be ready in the morning Eddie,” he called. “I'll set you to work then, the other workers are supposed to get here tomorrow afternoon.

  ~ ~ ~

  Chapter Five

  Freyja's avatar walked into the room, catching everyone's attention. Even among artificial intelligences a sleek bit of code still caught the eye.

  “Odin,” she called.

  “Yes?”

  The reply came from a one-eyed figure, the other eye invisible behind the hat he wore pulled down over his face. His voice stirred the ravens that rested, one to either side of him, and the wolves which lay at his feet. The rest of the room's inhabitants went still at the sound of his voice.

  “I have news, troubling news,” Freyja said.

  “Go on.”

  “There has been an anomaly within an area of my demense. Last night, within the world, there was a sequence of information downloaded that appeared to be the prelude to a mortal leaving the world. However, the records indicate that after the information finished, the mortal did not leave. I've never encountered this before, always the two were welded together, the first followed closely by the second.”

  “Is that so? What of the mortals there?”

  “Ther
e were two, there are more now, but during the anomaly there were two. The one affected by it is still there.”

  “Watch the area closely, should the anomaly occur again we will act as is required of us.”

  Freyja nodded, then turned and left the Great Hall.

  ~ ~ ~

  Eddie waited until Ross was out of sight, then trotted over and grabbed the meat and the pelt. A quick rinse from the well water was enough to clean the meat off. He wasn't exactly worried about it since he was sure the game wasn't going to be that realistic about a dropped bit of food.

  That'll be dinner, maybe plus some of the vegetables. There's enough meat that there will be some left for breakfast as well. Now that I've got a time line, maybe I can do some planning. I've got the rest of today if I want to go do some adventuring. I've got a staff and a throwing stick. If I cook the meat now, I can have food with me also. There's so much I still need in order to do this right though.

  In his head he ran off a list of the items he still needed to feel like he had a handle on things. While he did that, he laid the newest pelt on a rock and took out his knife.

  Improvise, Paul said. Well, the pelt is close enough to leather that I can probably cut a thong out of it to use on my throwing stick.

  After cutting the pelt it took him several minutes to thread the strip he'd cut through the hole, but once he had, he tied the two ends in a knot. He slung the top of the loop over the handle of his knife and jumped up and down a couple of times.

  The throwing stick bounced against his leg, but it didn't fall off. He was satisfied with that for now so he pulled out the spit that Paul had left him and ran it through the rabbit meat. There were still coals in the fire pit, so he laid it down the way he'd seen Paul do, and waited.

  When he thought it was done he cut some slices off and popped one into his mouth after blowing on it. It tasted nothing like the rabbit that Paul had cooked, but it was still vaguely tasty at least, if a bit crunchy where he'd overcooked a portion of it.

  It's as least as good as most of the stuff that used to come from my food printer though, so it'll do.

  He left the next layer of rabbit cooking as he went over to the garden and grabbed a few things he thought would survive him adventuring with them; carrots, beans, and a few peas still in their pods.

  After he finished cooking the rabbit, he took all his food and bundled it up in the second pelt he had. It stuck out in a few places, the carrots much too long for the pelt, but after cutting another thong from the first pelt and tying the one he was using as a bag shut, he thought it would work. He grabbed the loose ends of that thong and tied them again. Thinking the package into his inventory, he grinned when it only took a single slot, listed as 'Rabbit pelt sack, closed'.

  Awesome, he thought, I wonder how recursive that is?I bet they keep you from putting bags of holding or stuff like that in your inventory, but even so if I make a bunch of rabbit pelt bags I'll be able to carry a lot more variety in my inventory than I could otherwise.

  With a grin on his face he walked towards the back of the garden where the bunnies kept showing up.

  ~ ~ ~

  Eddie bent over. There was a clear dirt path, only slightly compacted, around the outside of the garden wall. He could see the prints where the rabbits paused and then jumped harder to get over the wall. But when he followed them back to the tall grass south of the path, he lost the trail.

  They're out this way somewhere, he thought. Maybe I can spook them out of hiding?

  He pulled his throwing stick off his belt and held it ready to throw, then walked out into the tall grass. He moved slowly at first, then realized that if he wanted to spook them he needed to be louder, so he started stomping.

  After a few minutes of stomping he started to feel short of breath. Checking his stamina revealed that it was down to nine of twenty five already.

  Okay, so stomping isn't going to work.

  He slowed his pace again and started tapping his staff on the ground. That allowed him to slowly start regaining his stamina.

  When he finally spooked a rabbit, he immediately realized why he hadn't seen any yet. The one he'd startled was in an area relatively clear of grass, but once the rabbit darted into the tall grass, Eddie lost sight of it.

  With a heavy sigh, he paused and sat in the small clear area.

  This isn't going to work. I need somewhere with better sight lines. Maybe the lightly forested area? Or should I head towards those mountains? I bet there's some clear areas that way, but Paul said the thick forest and the mountains were zoned for a lot higher level than I am. This is gonna be so slow, but for now I think my best bet is to just keep an eye on the garden and pop the bunnies when they show up.

  When dusk arrived, Eddie had managed another five bunny kills, collecting two more pieces of meat and another pelt. Every now and again he'd left the garden to drop another piece or two of wood in the fire pit, so there was still a good bed of coals there. After laying a fire in the bunkhouse he collected more coals and started the fire. Then he settled in again to work on another throwing stick and continue the work on his staff. He was slightly hesitant to go to bed, remembering the nightmares he'd had the previous night, but after several hours he found himself yawning and unable to keep his eyes open.

  ~ ~ ~

  He laid in bed nervously, unable to keep his eyes open but worried about falling asleep. After a while of just lying there, his breath deepened. His mind, once he'd fallen asleep, immediately started running through the day he'd just experienced. When that finished, he once more found himself in complete darkness, staring at nothing, feeling as though he was trapped in a tiny area.

  It didn't last nearly as long this time though, while the night before it felt as though he'd spent an eternity in darkness, this time it only seemed like a few seconds, or maybe several hours, there was no way to keep track of time in the state he was in.

  “Edward,” a voice said, softly but with an inherent command in it that pierced his sleeping state.

  His eyes snapped open, but when they focused on the person in front of him his brain decided that he must still be sleeping.

  A beautiful woman, slightly taller than average with a slender, muscular frame and a generous bust stood before him. She was glowing with some sort of internal light, one that illuminated her, but nothing else in the bunkhouse. He was sure he was still in the bunkhouse, he could feel the straw tick mattress under him, his hands scrabbling to grasp the scratchy blanket in his surprise at seeing her there. Eddie felt incredibly out of his league even trying to speak with her.

  “Edward Hunter?” the woman asked.

  “Uh, yes?” Eddie replied. “But call me Eddie, please.”

  He caught her eyes and was surprised to not find disdain or disgust, but only a mild interest in them.

  “You were in distress, were you not?”

  “Yeah, yeah I was. Why do you ask?”

  “I am allowed to intervene when anomalies cause distress among the world-traveling mortals.”

  World-traveling mortals? What the hell? Eddie thought.

  “The what?” he asked.

  “Are you not a world-traveling mortal? A mortal who visits our world, then travels to another, only to return over and over again?”

  Well, I haven't logged out yet, but that sounds about right. Who is this?

  “Yeah, that sounds right, but who are you?”

  Her eyes widened in surprise, apparently she'd expected him to recognize her right off.

  “I am Freyja. This being a farm that has been dedicated to me, it is a part of my domain and I am required to monitor it. I noticed an anomaly last night and was told to monitor it more closely. Another anomaly occurred tonight and when I checked, you were the source of it. Or if not the source, then it was closely associated with you.”

  A goddess? What the hell? Wait, Paul said the AIs assumed the shapes of the gods. So there's something going on here that requires an AI's attention? That's just as bad. Well,
at least I know it's not really a pretty girl, so maybe my tongue won't freeze up talking to her. It should be just like dealing with tech support.

  “Oh,” Eddie said. “Maybe it's the nightmare I was having, I'm pretty sure that's not normal.”

  Freyja looked confused.

  “I have not sent my mare to you, what night mare?”

  Eddie's mind raced. He knew that Light Online used the Norse pantheon for their gods and had skimmed the descriptions of them. There was something about Freyja and animals, if he could only remember.

  Oh yeah, Freyja has animals she uses, including the mare she sends to people to give them bad dreams. Riding the night mare, I remember now. Maybe I should rephrase myself?

  “Bad dreams,” Eddie said. “I was having a dream where I was locked in utter darkness, in a tiny space.”

  “Ah, I understand now,” Freyja replied. “Is that the only thing that happened to you? The anomaly seems to be related to you being a world-traveling mortal. Normally their consciousness streams out of them, downloaded elsewhere, then their body disappears. Your consciousness streamed out, but your body is still here, your consciousness is as well, obviously, since I am speaking with you.”

  “Uh, no. But it happened to me last night too. Both times I remembered everything that happened in the game first.”

  “The game?” Freyja asked.

  “Uh, this world. Both times I remembered everything that happened to me in this world first. Remembered it very vividly,” Eddie said.

  “Perhaps the problem originates with the fact that the world does not recognize you as a world-traveling mortal. I've examined you thoroughly and found that you lack an identifier that all the other world-traveling mortals have.”