Chapter Ten

Lisbet may have been guilty of thinking that Vantz was secretly a four hundred pound mass and that was part of the reason why he preferred not to show his real face. He sat in a chair all the time and never moved so he just amassed weight and grew as chubby as any space slug. She may have thought that. When they met in the VR world, he could present whatever face he wanted while hiding his true appearance indefinitely. However, once she played a game with him in VR and found herself out of breath and panting as she ran on her directionless treadmill, she changed her mind.

She was running after him in the VR world and she could not keep up. They were on rough terrain with glowing bow staffs to slay hobgoblins in the purple twilight. The way Vantz’s arms moved was too fast. He sent hobgoblins flying. Lisbet was impressed, but also completely outmatched. They were even playing on the same side and she was as useful as a toddler using her daddy’s extra controller.

“Do you play this all the time?” she wheezed.

“No. I don’t have time to play this or anything else, but I used to. This is called Emerald War. It’s an old game. But I used to play it, so it’s familiar to me,” he answered. He didn’t look like an elegant gentleman of the forest here. Here, he wore a skin that the game generated for him. He was a paladin and his face was hidden by a pewter helmet.

Lisbet looked similar, but she had a ponytail hanging out down her back.

That was when the message requests started coming in. Vantz stood still as he read them. “Do you mind if some of my friends join us? I haven’t played for a while and someone saw I was online and now everyone wants to join us.”

“How many people is everyone?” she asked dumbly.

“Five hundred and ninety-eight. This VR server can handle six hundred players at once and if I give the go-ahead, every single slot has been claimed.”

Lisbet gawked. “Really? You’re that popular?”

He flourished his bow staff and made the neon tips make a streaming figure in the air. “I am, but probably not in the way you think. They’re people who are working with us. If you have no major objections, I’m going to allow it. It will be good for morale, which is especially important before the raids start.”

“What raids?” Lisbet asked, out of breath and trying to keep up with him, even if she was standing still.

“Of the pleasure palaces. These guys are the soldiers who will be raiding and dismantling the pleasure palaces. We know where some of them are and we’re going to start our first raid in a few days. Buckle up. That’s one of the things you’ll be reporting to the public on from The Boiler Room.” He pressed an ACCEPT ALL button on his display screen and the area filled with players.

They looked amazing. Lisbet expected all of them to look like she did, like an avatar that was made quickly using the program, but a lot of them had specialized skins. When Vantz saw them, he changed his skin too. It only changed his armor, but he moved from looking like he was level one to looking like he was level eighty. He wore sophisticated armor with banners hanging from his spear.

Around him, the people who had joined had mostly done their avatars up following the same theme. They had black skin, blue eyes, and dark green hair. It was an odd combination. Lisbet was surprised at how beautiful they all looked.

Vantz shouted a message to the crowd saying he was only going to be available for another half an hour before his time was up. He introduced Lisbet to them and they were much less enthused than she expected them to be. They’d all been so pleased to see Vantz, but none of them seemed at all interested in her.

Vantz leaned over and whispered to her. “These people are violently opposed to slavery. They even hate Sleeping Beauty Inc. and the kind of contracts they make. It was explained to them over and over again why I was buying a woman from Sleeping Beauty Inc. to be my wife. How the company would provide us with so many cryochambers to make amends for the wrong that has been done to models under their protection on Mars. Everything was explained, but these people will never be a thousand percent into you. They hate slavery above all things. You sold yourself, so they’re not fans. Sorry.”

Lisbet looked out at their faces. Naturally, they were not overly expressive. She was seeing avatars, not real people, so their hostility did not reach her.

Then Vantz initiated a horde sweep. Lisbet didn’t know what that meant, but she soon discovered he had put all six hundred players to fight against one thousand enemies. The first wave of attackers was like the hobgoblins Lisbet and Vantz had been fighting earlier, but soon all of them were dead, and newer, more dangerous enemies approached.

Lisbet died twice, but Vantz stayed next to her and resurrected her with a potion each time.

When the really large enemies appeared, Lisbet had no idea how to fight something that large. They were dealing with ogres the size of twenty players.

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Vantz stayed by Lisbet until she yelled at him. “It’s not like I can die here. Go fight.”

He gave her a thumbs’ up before disappearing into the crowds of players.

Lisbet watched from a safe distance. He was easy to see because his color scheme was silver and blue in a sea of black and green. He wasn’t the only player throwing himself at the ogre, but he was obvious. When they downed the ogre, he was one of the triumphant players who got the most experience for the kill.

The fight was over after the half-an-hour brawl. He waved to everyone, wished them luck on their first raid, did shout-outs to a few people who had been especially helpful in their negotiations, and then exited the server with Lisbet in tow.

“We have to finish up here,” he said as he scratched the back of his deer neck in the space where they usually had their meetings.

She looked like herself instead of like a dusty level-one paladin and he looked like a gentleman who had frankensteined a deer head onto his own neck. Beck had been right about her appearance when he was finished with her rendering. It wasn’t as smooth as Vantz’s when she looked down at herself, but it was also a lot smoother than she expected from the shower curtain shots he’d taken. All in all, she felt that it was a massive improvement.

Vantz stood behind his armchair and leaned forward against the back of it. “I have to talk to you about a couple of things before I turn you loose.”

Lisbet sat down and breathed hard while she waited for the storm of instructions to pass over her.

“For starters, Charcoal has had her permission to enter the top floors of the castle revoked. I had a meeting with her today and I think it would be better if she no longer had any contact with you. I think she’s likely to try and hurt you again. She wouldn’t get shocked if she hit you with a projectile, so I’m going to send her and her little man on their journey to Saturn early.”

“You have a ship to spare to take them?” Lisbet asked cautiously.

“Not exactly. I just mean that I’m going to put them in cryostasis early. It’s all right. It’s for their protection and yours. Uh…” he said, keeping his eyes trained on the list in front of him. “You also have to hop upstairs and let Beck cut your hair.”

“Cut my hair? Why?” Lisbet asked, horrified.

“Relax. I’m not suggesting you shave your head. It’s just really difficult for the average Martian to have long hair with our limited plumbing. You need to have it trimmed up above your shoulders. It will make your life easier and it will show how you’re settling in on Mars because the wedding photos were taken with your long hair, but before you became a regular at The Boiler Room, you got with the program and cut your hair. It will help you win the heart of the average Martian. Beck read an info pack on haircutting. I’m sure he’ll be able to do fine.”

“Okay,” Lisbet agreed, touching the hair around her collarbone that would soon be gone.

“I think that’s about everything,” he said as he closed his red-rimmed screen. “If you need anything further, talk to Beck. He knows everything that’s happening.”

Lisbet wanted to say more to Vantz. She wanted to ask him two very difficult questions and she wasn’t sure how to start. She didn’t know what answer she wanted.

For one thing, she had misgivings about working with Beck all the time. She was especially concerned if Vantz no longer had meetings with her. She didn’t exactly feel comfortable with Beck. It wasn’t that he was a bad guy. It was that he didn’t bother to disguise that he wanted her. She’d never been around someone like that and it made her feel… different.

She licked her lips. There was no point in bringing any of that up to Vantz. For one thing, when she arranged the sentences to explain how she was feeling, she sounded like a little girl and that feeling was in direct opposition to the public relations image they were making for her. She had to push all that away. Vantz had already made it very clear that she could refuse Beck all she wanted.

The second thing was difficult to mention, but she had to ask one more question. “We already talked about this, but if I only have one more minute to talk to you, then I want to talk about this again. If a lot of people die, will I be held responsible?” she finally managed to croak out.

“Of course not,” he said with a scoff. The weird flicking of his thumb meant that he had turned on his cigarette. “You’re a purchased person. It’s your job to do as I tell you to do. Lots of other models have been used as spokeswomen for other organizations. One of your jobs is to convince the audience that you’re doing this because you believe in this cause with all your heart… also that you’re in love with me. The more you can do that, the more effective you’ll be at getting people to evacuate on your word alone. Do a good job. And afterward, if the worst happens and you get charged with anything, it won’t be that hard to get out of it. I’m not allowed to make you into my scapegoat. I will be charged with any crime I make you do. That’s the tradeoff. You will not be held responsible. I will be. Feeling more comfortable now?”

“What will they do to you exactly if things go badly? Do you know?” she asked anxiously.

He puffed on his cigarette. “Uh… no. I don’t know. I don’t know how bad the damage will be. We’re doing our best to arrange for the evacuation of as many people as possible. You should know that I have teams of people working on those problems. You saw some of them tonight. And in some cases, I have whole companies working on these problems. I can’t brief you on their progress. Things change quickly. We also can’t keep the public abreast of every move we make. It will confuse them and it will confuse you. You just need to stick to the story I give you. You’ll get regular packs on how to answer current questions. You just need to say those words and put every effort into looking your best without costing me another nickel. Do you think you can do it without throwing up in your purse?”

“Of course,” she said positively.

He didn’t buy it. “The tension gets to all of us,” he said in a reassuring voice. “I’ll get Beck to get you a cigarette. Rhubarb pie I think. Practice keeping your voice steady and try not to make too many emotional appeals by crying on air every day. Remember, you’re a scientist. Sound like one. Save the tears for the really scary stuff.”

“I’ll try,” she said steadily, using her words as practice.

“Good girl. I don’t know when we’ll talk again, but I want you to know that I have every confidence in you. Do well. That’s all. Just do well.”

When he disappeared from sight, everything around him went with it. She knew she had been taught how to be a good pawn. He wasn’t asking her to be his queen. A part of her was bitterly disappointed. He was never going to see her. He was never going to meet her. But whether he liked it or not, he had given her the position of his wife. They were tied together.

She would meet him someday.

Whether he liked it or not.