We’d decamped back to our ‘homes’ after leaving the village’s outskirts, which for me meant another night at the Moonlight Inn & Ale.

Given the time period, and how most village structures appeared, my room at the inn was pretty comfortable. But, I knew eventually, I’d have to find a place of my own. When I woke the following morning, someone was knocking on my door, and it took me a moment to put two-and-two together.

With a quick jump, I lurched for the door, opened it, and found a bespectacled man who looked to be in his 50s, dressed like someone in casual wear from the 1940s standing in my midst. He smiled upon seeing me, and offered his hand for a shake.

“Are you Adam?” He said. “I’m Proctor.”

My tongue hitched for a second’s hesitation.

“Help Desk sent me,” he said. “Or rather, the System. Pleasure to meet you.”

We shook hands, and he held a canvas bag in his other hand.

“For you, and your friends,” he said, raising the bag in front of him.

“What’s in there?” I said.

“A new set of clothes you will likely find much more comfortable,” Proctor said, “and, something specifically for you, which I believe you’ll find quite useful.”

He had a calm, rational presence about him. An air of knowledge, and authority. He put me, immediately, at ease.

No sooner had he placed the canvas bag on the bed when another knock came to the door. It was poor, greasy Nimothy. He caught Proctor and I mid-conversation.

“Pardon the interruption, m’lord,” Nimothy said.

“It’s okay, Nimothy,” I said. “How can I help you?”

“‘Tis my boss,” Nimothy said. “He’s inquired as to your payment.”

It occurred to me, I had no idea who Nimothy’s boss happened to be, and I’d assumed he was talking about the inn’s owner. Not that it mattered in the moment. It was true, I’d yet to pay for my stay.

“I owe you for two nights, yes?” I said.

Proctor held up a hand. “Best pay for the week,” he said. Then he reached into the bag, and produced a velvet pouch. Inside this small, black satchel were several gold coins.

Nimothy’s eyes protruded at the sight. You got the idea it was more gold than he’d ever seen at one time. He gasped.

“My word,” Nimothy said.

“How much do I owe you?” I said.

Nimothy gulped, and his eyes never left the pouch. A bit of drool formed at the corner of his mouth. “Several more nights, I take it, m’lord?” He said.

“Yes,” I said, “we’ll say the two I’ve already enjoyed, plus five more.”

“Uh, well, that’d be two, m’lord,” Nimothy said.

“Two coins?”

I ran my hand in front of his face, but his gaze refused to break from the money.

“Yes, m’lord.”

“Done,” I said. I removed two gold coins from the satchel, and shoved them into Nimothy’s hand.

He took possession of them the way an old man might take hold of a baby bird.

“Oh my,” he said. “Oh my, oh my.”

The young man coddled the gold as he disappeared back down the stairs. Both Proctor, and I found it amusing.

“You suppose it actually costs two gold coins?” I said.

“Hard to say,” Proctor said. “It’s possible.”

The sets of clothes Proctor brought with him were inside clear plastic packaging. They were custom made by the System for me, Aubrey, Zane, and Chai. The wool trousers, suspenders, and cotton collared shirt were identical to what Proctor wore. Cotton underwear was included too. Proctor stepped out, and as soon as I changed into these new duds, a wave of endorphins washed over me. The kind that come with deep seated comfort. An “ah” feeling.

“I’ll have to go around, and give these to them,” I said, when Proctor came back into the room. He understood I was referring to the clothes, and my new friends.

“A little later,” Proctor said. “Of course, we have a few things to discuss.”

What a relief to have this man here. “Do we ever,” I said. “There’s a lot to do.”

“Quite.”

The first order of business for me was to count the money Proctor had brought with him. With his approval, I dumped the pouch, and counted up the coins.

Taking them two at a time, I tallied thirty eight coins. Less the two I’d already paid to Nimothy, meant the System had seen fit to start with me with forty gold.

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“Payment for agreeing to the contract,” Proctor said.

“Seems a hefty payment given the state of things in this world,” I said.

“Quite right.”

“Not that I had a lot of say in the matter,” I said, adding a bit of a cheeky smile.

“Yes, well, none of us expects a System, do we?” Proctor said. “We make do, however.”

The way he said it caused me to wonder about his background. Imprudent or not, there was something I had to know.

“You’re not an android, I take it?” I said.

It drew a bit of a giggle from him. “Heavens, no,” he said.

But, you could call it intuition, a part of me believed he’d experienced a System like this before. A conversation for another time, perhaps.

“Obviously, I’ll need more money than this moving forward,” I said. “We’ll be paying players, and such.”

“Yes, of course,” Proctor said. “And, we’ll be doing a lot more than that. You may not realize just how much goes into building a winning baseball franchise from the ground up.”

His way putting it sounded ominous.

“Speaking of androids,” he continued. “I see they’re not currently with you. Perhaps you have them out as a scouting party? Or, dealing with some of the, shall we say, more interesting creatures which dwell about?”

Surprising. I’d thought he’d be fully briefed by the System before coming.

“Uh, no,” I said. “Not exactly.”

He sat on the end of the bed, and his shoulders slumped with concern.

“Oh, dear,” he said. “What has happened?”

“Well, I’ve met all three,” I said. “And, Flint-”

Proctor stopped me. He held a finger to his lips for a moment. “Three?” He said. “I must stop you there. You see, there are actually four.”

“Four robots?”

“Androids,” he said, “yes. You haven’t even met the fourth one yet.”

“No, I haven’t,” I said.

It stayed with him for about ten seconds. Then he calmly said: “Interesting.”

Gosh, it felt so good to be listened to and considered in this way. Maybe I’d be more panicked given his reaction, and the revelation there was supposed to be another member to this team I hadn’t yet found, but Proctor’s tranquil manner made the situation much easier to take. I described to him what had happened with the three machines I’d dealt with up to that point, and the status of each.

“Right,” Proctor said. “Shall we take stock, then? You’ve met three of the four androids. And, those you’ve met are, we hope, on the mend, and stored out of harm’s way. You’ve met these other three people. Broadcasters if you will. Though, I understand the wrinkles as per what they’re supposed to be doing, and how they’re supposed to be doing it are being worked out.”

“Yes,” I said. “I guess that’s a good way of putting it.”

“We know we’re in the village called Moonlight,” Proctor said, continuing his run down. “We know there are odd dangers inherent with this place.”

One could only laugh at his way of putting being attacked by a rampaging T. Rex.

“But,” he said, “you don’t have a team name as of yet.”

“A team name?” I said. “I don’t even have any players.”

Again, he absorbed this information, and sat with it a moment. “Right,” he said. “No prospects at all?”

“The best I’ve seen is this large man called Gak,” I said. “His scouting numbers, which I’m sure you’re aware I can see plain as text in front of me, are underwhelming, save for his throwing, but even the number there wasn’t earth shattering.”

“Not encouraging,” Proctor said. “By now I’d have hoped you’d have a couple of people under commitment.”

“Commitment?” I said. “As in, signed to play for my team?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t even have a team,” I said. “Not really.”

“What’s the team name?” Proctor said. “You know you’re playing for Moonlight. This is the place selected for you by the System. You are expected to come up with a name. It’s all part of the branding for your club.”

“Wow,” I said. “I hadn’t even thought things through nearly that far. Not yet.”

“Naturally, you’ll want a name that reflects the area,” Proctor said. “Something the people of Moonlight can get behind. Ultimately, this team is going to involve this entire village. I don’t think you nor the people here realize what’s in store. What baseball is going to do to this area, and this entire untouched world you’ve happened upon.”

‘Happened upon’... I didn’t say it aloud, but to me that was a funny way of putting something I’d had no say in since I was back washing my underwear, and fighting with Smelly Foot Woman in good old 2024.

“You’ll have to think about it,” Proctor said. “See what name you can come up with. Feel free to ask around. I’m sure people who live here will have opinions. Don’t take too long though. We’re on a schedule here, which, we can get into.”

“Ask opinions around here?” I said. “The people here don’t even know what baseball is.”

“You’re going to have to teach them, obviously.”

“I barely know myself,” I said.

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Proctor said.

“Watching a few games here and there on TV hardly qualifies me as an expert,” I said. “And, here I am expected to be in charge of some big baseball operation. It beggars belief.”

“Mm,” Proctor said with a nod. “Challenges to overcome.”

He had a way of understating things. Probably better than my tendency toward the opposite.

“Of course the other villages around, the ones only a few miles from here, they’ve already begun signing players,” Proctor said. “We’ll need to pick up our pace.”

“Picking up the pace would be great,” I said. “But, do these other villages not have to deal with, oh… I don’t know… the threat of a T. Rex running through and destroying everything at a moment’s notice?”

“You’re concerned about our security situation?” Proctor said.

“And, you’re not?”

“Certainly something we must get a handle on,” he said.

“And, these freaking dragons,” I said. “Have you seen a file? The System file?”

“I’m not sure what you’re referring to,” Proctor said. “Which file is that?”

“Probably, maybe, something I wasn’t supposed to see,” I said. “But, I did get access to this chart, a graph. It showed the nine dragons of this world, and I mean. How are we supposed to ever feel secure with the threat of those things always hanging over our heads… literally!”

As I was learning, Proctor’s habit was to absorb what’s being said without reacting right away. A moment’s consideration before responding. Admirable.

“I think the dragons are something we live with, regardless. It’s not anything we can control for, or guard against. More something we have to take into account, and to manage. We make allowances for them. We bake that part of the world into whatever we ultimately build.”

I wasn’t sure I completely understood what he meant, but it sounded nice.

“When it comes to dinosaurs, or any other natural threat,” Proctor said. “I think we can implement systems to mitigate those to a great degree. We can protect any ballpark you build.”

“Oh my gosh,” I said. “A ballpark. I hadn’t even started thinking about that.”

“Well, there’s no time like the present,” Proctor said. “It’s a good thing I came. I don’t think until now you’ve realize just what time constraints your under. And, what the consequences might be if we don’t get things in place by certain dates and times.”

“So, you’re saying I should hurry?” I said.

“I’m saying if you haven’t been, then yes, you’d better start.”