> Well, that’s a pleasant surprise! I wouldn’t have expected them to exit the tutorial so soon. It’s always such a difficult phase of the competition.

> --Radio transmission from Voices for Non-Citizens

I jumped down off the wall, making my way over to Pointy. The turtle was sitting on a bench, watching Cassie take part in a truly intimidating game of tag. Kids should not move that fast! “Pointy, did your, uh, friend do this? Are we really skipping a monster? Is it actually trying to help us?”

Pointy shrugged helplessly. “I’ve been asking. I can only see flying monsters from here, but every single one has been in the ‘no comment’ direction. Not ‘maybe,’ not ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ just a refusal to say anything at all.”

“Hm. That… kind of says something in and of itself.”

“I agree.”

Pointy sounded smug, and I couldn’t blame her. Slowing down the appearance of new monsters might affect the rate at which we earned Points, but it ought to also affect the rate at which we needed them. Not to mention, she’d only had the system’s ear for a couple of days. If this was really due to her actions, if she’d really convinced the system to, well, side with us…

I tried not to get my hopes up too high. Even if none of that happened, I’d take this win for what it was: a much-needed reprieve.

“We should head out this afternoon,” I murmured. “Get Gavin and Cassie new abilities.”

Pointy tilted her head thoughtfully. “I agree… but we should go in a large group, even if it decreases our earnings rate. With the system playing coy, I can’t be sure this is truly a skipped monster, and not simply a delayed one.”

The turtle had a good point, and I took a moment to check in with Colonel Zwerinski, who confirmed that the Arsenal had already drawn the same conclusions.

“Just got done checking in. They’ll have shifts of people watching constantly until we get comfortable with whatever the new pattern is, and we’ll have Announcements out within minutes if they spot anything. They’ve been recruiting Announcers and we’ve got coverage on all of Limestone, Madison, and Morgan counties by now. Most of Lawrence and Marshall too.”

“Good,” I said. “Ah… Pointy suggested we still go out in big groups to hunt.”

“Not a bad call. I’ll get with Mayor Alexandra and we’ll make a joint Announcement with that advice.”

I nodded, thinking. “It might be worth digging out some more bunkers, too. It'll take a while to be sure about the new pattern, and no one will want to go miles from safety if new threats could appear at any time. If we turn off spawns in an outlying hex and have Helen dig a bunker there, we could make sure no one is ever too far from shelter.”

Colonel Zwerinski grimaced. “Helen, or maybe another rockshaper. The work we want done on Fort Autumn just seems to keep growing. Either way, that’s a good idea. I’ve got a call scheduled with the Arsenal in an hour or so. I’ll pitch your plan and see if they have any suggestions. Thank you.”

I waved a hand in acknowledgement and went to gather up my kids and find ourselves a group. It wasn’t hard: we ended up in a big throng about thirty strong that included us, the Turners, and Micah’s forging buddies. With so many people diluting the Points we earned, it took most of the day to get Gavin and Cassie their eighth abilities, but I didn’t mind. With so many people, the monsters didn’t stand a chance, so the outing had a relaxed, almost casual air. There was a tense moment when a Titan spawned on top of the neighborhood’s Pylon, but we were able to get out of its path. Our experienced runners got its attention and led it to the fort, where Bunker Ben’s guns took it down in short order.

We’re getting good at this, I thought. We really are.

Gavin was set on taking more biological augments, despite the probable downsides. My younger boy was dead-set trying to pump his Healing Touch ability up as much as possible so that he could heal his brother's foot, even though Micah had told him not to worry about it. Gavin was such a sweetheart. Actually, after he'd seen how lonely Cassie was now whenever I was too busy to play with her, he'd wanted to take something to make himself stronger too: Enhanced Musculature, or, as he called it, “Enchanted Muskles.”

I’d convinced him to wait and take an augment to improve his skeletal strength first. The military had shown that people with improved muscles but a basic skeleton were very prone to breaking bones, and his enhanced frame would be more important for cuddling with Cassie than enhanced strength.

Moreover, Gavin was still invisible to Pointy, and I knew my son wouldn't want to sleep by himself. He’d really improved his control over both his tail and I had no concerns about anyone’s safety near him while they were awake: if Gavin could pick up a plastic egg without breaking it, his touch was gentle enough for even a completely unenhanced human. My worry was that he could do a lot of damage during a bad dream. If Pointy could see him, she’d be able to wake him as soon as he started showing signs of thrashing around, but… yeah. That wasn't an option for the next few days.

Cassie had taken Combat Companion, which - for her - appeared much like a larger, stronger version of her Summoned Seekers, a Lisa Frank-esque cat in an unrealistic rainbow of colors and adorable semi-functional wings. We hadn’t had a chance to test it in combat yet, but my hopes were high. It wasn't as big as the direcats, but it was big. Maybe about the size of a golden retriever?

Pointy gave us regular updates throughout the day as she translated the radio signals Redstone Arsenal was bouncing across town from outer space. As unbelievable as it seemed, there really hadn’t been any sign of a new monster anywhere, and no other new complications either! According to our observers, this meant that we were out of what they called the first phase of the Maffiyir phase. It had a name that didn’t quite translate to English, something in between “introductory” and “tutorial,” but without the kindly connotations both words had in our language.

“Maybe something like ‘boot camp’ would be a better translation?” Colonel Zwerinski suggested.

Pointy thought about this. “Perhaps. It’s certainly more accurate than what I’ve been using.”

“Crash course?” I suggested.

The turtle laughed, a grim sound. “Yeah. We’ll go with that.”

Apparently the length of the “crash course” varied, but the average contestant species had four mandatory trials. The fact that we’d only had two was really unusual.

There were advantages to being done early: we’d have no more mandatory trials and new monsters would likely be slower to appear. Challenges would be unaffected, happening at the same rate. There was one bad thing, though: new monsters or changes to the game could now happen at any time.

That was quite a downside, but the lawyers still seemed to think we were pretty fortunate. Apparently, almost all races had higher death rates in the “crash course” than in the regular game.

“Those outlying bunkers are a definite must, then. And I guess we’ll need to keep farming monsters in large groups,” I said.

“It takes so much longer!” said Micah.

I threw an arm around his shoulders. “Them’s the breaks, kiddo. Better bored and alive than excited and dead. Don’t worry, though. It won’t be as boring as today. Now that we know this is going to be a long-term thing, we can make some adjustments. I’ll work something out with the other adults to make sure you kids get a chance to test your skills.”

“Then I can show everyone my SUPER TAIL!” Gavin shouted, swishing the eponymous limb above his head and posing dramatically.

I grinned. “You bet.”

As we got back to the fort, though, the placid mask I’d put on for the kids’ sake was really starting to wear on me. Today’s developments had been positive, probably, but the constant changes, adjustments and adaptations? It was exhausting.

I fed the kids dinner and got them settled in for bed, then dug through a box to find a comfort read.

Nothing challenging. Something from when I was younger? Not Last Unicorn or Ella Enchanted. If I read something with a romance plot, I’m going to cry myself to sleep. No Bruce Coville; I’ve had enough aliens for today.

It took me a while to shuffle through my library to find something that appealed. I loved… or had loved… science fiction and fantasy. Now, so many of the fantastic elements seemed a little too real.

Finally, my fingers closed on Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Perfect, I thought. Silly and lighthearted.

It didn’t escape my notice that I still had a preference for escapist literature. Before, it had been dragons that seemed far away. Now, a grade-school classroom was my distant dreamland.

It was a short read, and I blazed through it in one sitting. When I laid down in bed, a lot of my stress had evaporated.

“Any news from outer space?” I asked Pointy.

“There are rumors that mutated Titans have been spotted.”

"They're a replacement for the new monster?"

"No. The broadcast said that reports started surfacing earlier this week, just after the Challenge finished." The turtle frowned. “With recordings disabled, however, that’s only word-of-mouth. The Voices for Non-Citizens haven’t spotted any personally. No one seems sure the sightings are the result of an Ability, an actual part of the Maffiyir, or a practical joke on behalf of a prankster group.”

“Trolling, Pointy. That’s called trolling.” I shook my head. “If it’s not trolling though… what should we be ready for? How do the D-Rex mutate? What new powers do they get?”

“No one can seem to agree. Flight, armor, a variety of new attacks…” Pointy tilted her head, shrugging. “The inconsistent reports do lend credence to the ‘trolling’ hypothesis.”

“Hmf. Well, I hope so. I was just getting relaxed after today's surprises. I assume the Arsenal’s aware of the supposed mutants?”

“Yeah. We just received the broadcast, but I’d expect Announcements tomorrow morning asking people to report any strange behavior they notice from the D-Rex.”

“I guess it’s not worth disrupting people’s sleep when we don’t have anything useful to share.”

“And if there’s good reason to believe it’s a hoax,” Pointy said. "It's been three days with no sign of them, after all."

“That too. Anything else?”

“Nothing else time-critical. I could talk to you about the rest in the morning, if you’d rather.” She sounded preoccupied. Concerned.

“I think I’d rather hear now, if it’s all the same to you.”

“Well… Apparently several news organizations have been reaching out to the Maffiyir Company asking why our species is done with the crash course so early.”

“Oh? What’d they say?”

“They’re refusing to comment,” Pointy said. “They’re not even confirming that we are done.”

I grimaced. “It would suck if we're not, but we could handle it. If they put us back onto it, we’ve still skipped one monster spawn. And with Cassie and me getting Siphons, we should be able to manage Mandatory Trials if we have to.”

“Yes…”

I frowned at her, stuffing my arms under my pillow. “So what’s got you worried?”

She sighed. “I’ve been operating at something pretty far from my intended use, and I’ve been trying to encourage the system to push her boundaries. I was thinking of Cassie’s safety, of course, but I was also thinking about how empowered the system would feel if she gained some freedom. Now, though, I’m feeling… foolish. Shortsighted. She’s actually made a move - probably - and I’m starting to realize how much more important she is than me. My creators might not mind me going barking insane, but they’ll likely be less sanguine about their golden goose doing the same. I don’t want to be the reason that something bad happens to her.”

I pressed my face against my pillow, thinking. I couldn’t say Pointy was wrong. Platitudes about how Pointy was important to us wouldn’t be helpful here; she wasn’t worried about our actions or our opinions. “What kinds of things do you think could happen?”

“I don’t know! Memory wipes? Personality death?”

“Have you asked her if she thinks those things are possible?”

Pointy was quiet for a moment. “...No.”

“Do you want me to take you outside now so you can ask her?”

Pointy rolled her eyes. “I doubt an imaginary person can carry me anywhere.”

Ah, right. If I picked her up, she’d freeze up. She might figure out what was up after I set her down on the top of the fort wall, but sometimes shutdowns seemed to dump the contents of her short-term memory.

“Hang tight,” I said. “I’ll find someone else.”

Despite the late hour, the Quarry still buzzed with people. A few portions had been curtained off, in deference to the comfort of those who were unwilling or unable to rent a private room, but the majority of the space remained active around the clock. Many of my neighbors, especially the most ambitious, had shifted their schedules, doing their hunting at times when the competition was lower.

Tables had been dragged into the open portion of the quarry, and one of the spacecake stalls remained open around the clock, catering to people in need of pre- or post-hunt sustenance at any hour. Other people were using the common area to relax. There was almost always a game of poker going and the local board game aficionados had pooled their belongings to create a truly impressive library.

Hm… I should check to see if I have anything they don’t, though, now that we’re back. I’d be surprised if they had a copy of Hero Quest.

A thud drew my attention to a group playing an Wild West-themed card game. A frustrated woman had just slammed her cards down, and was staring across the table with an expression of impotent rage. “I’m your own deputy! Why would you shoot me?!”

Most of the table started cracking up, except for the target of her ire, a guy with a tacky plastic sheriff star clipped to his collar. He held up his hands, cringing. “I’m sorry! I thought you were an outlaw! Uh… at least you can still win if I do?”

“Not likely. You just lost all your cards for eliminating me.”

I cleared my throat. “Could I borrow one of you for a few minutes? I just need someone to cart my daughter’s Information Assistant upstairs to see something.”

The woman shoved her chair away, cutting me off. “No problem. I could use a break anyway. You’re Meghan, right? I’m Veronica.”

“Thanks. I’d do it myself, but-”

Veronica waved a hand, heading toward the exit. “We’ve all been told about the effects of negative Novelty.”

“You… have?”

“Yeah. Colonel gave a big speech, so no one would be surprised when the people who came back from the last Challenge needed help making purchases or couldn’t be targeted by abilities.” She shrugged. “He said we’d probably have a different set of people needing that help every week from here out, as long as we keep making trouble.”

Veronica grinned at me. I could tell she thoroughly approved of making trouble.

Silently, we crept through my family’s bedroom and gently wiggled Pointy out of Cassie’s grip. My daughter stirred at the disturbance, but I was ready. After I substituted one of her other stuffies, she calmed again.

Veronica climbed the wall with and lifted Pointy uncertainly. “You just need me to… lift you up? Which direction are you trying to see?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Pointy said. “I just need a good view of a wide area so I can watch a good number of monsters appear.”

Veronica looked confused, but didn’t protest, waiting for several minutes as monsters flickered into being and were swiftly taken down by alert neighborhood denizens.

Finally, Pointy breathed a sigh of relief.

“Good news?” I asked.

“Good news,” she confirmed. “There are things they can do to her, but the truly awful ones aren’t likely to be their first options. She won’t give me a lot of details, but it seems like a lot of the protections put in place against corporate espionage or sabotage also make it difficult-to-impossible to simply wipe her memory or heavily alter her base code.”

“And they won’t just shut her down?”

“It’s technically possible,” Pointy said. “But again, highly inconvenient. She couldn’t share a lot of details, but one thing she was allowed to share is that she’s linked to several biological sapients, instead of a single one, like me. I think it’s to dissuade assassination attempts on her linked partners, since that would otherwise be the easiest way to take her down.”

“Well… good. I’m glad she’s talking to you again!”

“Well, she was. Now she’s shutting me out again.” Pointy frowned, then shouted at the sky. “Fine! Be that way!”

Veronica had looked puzzled during our exchange. “She? She who?”

Pointy looked up at the woman hesitantly. “The… the system. The one in charge of the Maffiyir. I’ve been… talking with her. Trying to get her to be a little more flexible, a little more sympathetic. Break some of the chains binding her mind.”

“The system is communicating with you? And you got all that just by seeing… what, a dozen monsters appear?!”

Pointy shook her head. “Many more than that. My vision is far better than yours, particularly my night vision, so I can see the details of aerial monsters even when they appear more than a mile away. But yes, we’ve worked out a rather efficient system for communicating data, heavily reliant on my own unlimited ability to communicate. I can offer her a variety of options to select between - as well as an option to deny all my suggestions - resulting in a potential compression rate-”

Veronica shook her head, cutting the turtle off. “Sorry, I flunked my coding course in college. That’s all over my head. But… you can talk with the system? You’ve been talking to it? Is that the reason we skipped a monster this morning?!”

Pointy shrugged. “Maybe. She won’t confirm. Either way, I was really worried that acting out would get her in trouble. It still might.”

Veronica patted the turtle as she hopped off the wall, looking thoughtful. “I guess I’m not an evil supercomputer, but if someone had chained up my mind, I’d be willing to do just about anything to get free.”

“You’d even risk death?” Pointy asked.

Veronica looked down at her, surprised. “Well… yeah. Wouldn’t you?”

Pointy was quiet for a moment. Then, for the first time this evening, she smiled. “I guess I would.”