For two solid hours the rain pounded Moonlight. Cold as it was, it wasn’t below freezing, so the rain softened the mud considerably, and it puddled up around tufts of grass throughout the field where we’d found the soda machine.

Proctor, Kestrel, Trevor, Denton, and myself had sought refuge beneath a stand of fir trees whose lower branches were high enough up we could light a decent fire underneath. Well, I see ‘we’ could light a fire. I had to watch the others do it, as I had no idea how to light a fire in ancient times, especially in the driving rain.

The old builder, never without tools handy, had iron on him, and he had flint (which looked like a fancy rock to me, a total ignoramus). I watched Denton, and Trevor shave bits of dry wood to fuel the fire.

It was fascinating to watch them go about this the same way I might go about checking my email. It was nothing to them. Anyway, it was great to have the fire, but I couldn’t believe how long the torrential downpour lasted. All from a couple of sips of mediocre soda. My first experience with magic. That would’ve been cool to tell Aubrey about.

‘Don’t think about her’, is what I remember telling myself as soon as the weather caused my mood to drop. And, how could it not?

Once the clouds broke apart, and we had sunshine again, Kestrel and Denton welcomed Wintrell, Denton’s younger brother. He came marching out through the mud from east of us back in the main part of the village. The wind picked up, and the temperature dropped again, to the point I wondered if all these large new puddles might freeze over. Regardless, the work crew had added one to its number, and they set about getting back to marking out the village perimeter, and didn’t seem to require my input all that much.

Maybe I could claim the wall as my idea, but once it was out there, they took the ball and ran with it. I think everyone welcomed the idea of finally doing something tangible to improve everyone’s lives in a dramatic way.

Sometimes, it takes an outsider to come into a place, see a need for fundamental improvements, and suggest ways of doing it. Giving myself too much credit? Perhaps. But, I liked to think if someone did the same for me, I’d gladly accept their advice. In a way, that’s what was happening with Proctor.

Meanwhile, Trevor the giant was dragging his tree trunk along the perimeter line. Denton and Wintrell negotiated the placing of shaved branches as markers. Kestrel then came to me to ask about this fascinating new building material, concrete. We agreed, we’d have to get going right away on making as much of it as possible.

“Dal County’s loaded with stone,” Kestrel said. “We might send some folk there.”

“Limestone?” I said. “We need lots of that.”

He nodded, and I wasn’t certain he knew the difference between limestone and other varieties. I wasn’t claiming I happened to know, but I didn’t get a firm idea he did either.

“I wonder how much potable water the village has,” I said to Proctor. “They’ve got their well. How much well water could we put toward this bit of industry I’m proposing?”

“Funny you should ask,” Proctor said. “Wintrell there had been saying the villagers are already forming up into committees, and talking about establishing a new form of government. That’s obviously going to come with rules and regulations.”

“Rules and regulations in this wild place?” I said.

“I’ll grant you it seems anachronistic,” Proctor said. “But, then again, that pretty much describes this entire experience, wouldn’t you say?”

Had to chuckle at that. We were putting together a baseball franchise in the midst of this middle age mess, after all.

“Anyway,” Proctor continued. “It’s something I’m thinking I should get into. The villagers are talking about rules meant to maximize everyone’s safety.”

“What’s that going to look like?” I said.

“Exactly my question,” Proctor said. “There’ll be other things to consider as well, and you mentioning the water. That’ll be a topic of conversation, I’m sure. I should look into it all if I can. Talk to the villagers, see what they’re thinking, and how it might effect the team.”

“When were you thinking of doing this?” I said.

“No time like the present,” Proctor said. “I see the perimeter wall project is in good hands here. I don’t think I’m adding much value to the process. If you’re alright with it, I think I’ll head back, and see what I can turn up.”

“Sure thing,” I said.

“I’ll report back shortly,” Proctor said. “We need to get the baseball end of this rolling as quickly as we can. Just something I’ll leave you with. Something to think about. Yes?”

After he’d walked away to the east where most of the villagers were starting the rebuild, I’d questioned whether he had his own means of communication with the System. I say that because no sooner had he reiterated the importance of getting things going on the baseball end, when the System itself reached out.

[Greetings franchise owner.

You have not made great progress with your team. Please be reminded, failure to achieve success will result in yours, and your village’s liquidation via dragon.

Stolen story; please report.

There are also a set of rewards for success.

You currently reside in a cold climate. The climate will improve the more you succeed at meeting certain benchmarks.

Be aware, gambling is quite popular in our culture. We will be betting on games, and on specific occurrences within games themselves, and you will be expected to meet certain performance thresholds, and to complete specific plays/tasks or be met with repercussions. Likewise, you will potentially be rewarded for fulfilling various in-game expectations. You will be notified in advance of these expectations.

All of the above is subject to change.

You will have the opportunity to earn gold coins, which you will be able to use to improve your team, your facilities, the village, your own personal abilities, etc.

Note: The decisions you make will have life and death consequences for the people you employ, and those whom your team will represent locally.

Also note: The personal protection androids (those which remain operable) will be repurposed for the umpiring of ball games in which your team, and others will be participating.

You are expected to build a winning team. You must not fail.

We will keep you updated about any and all changes.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Have a terrific day.]

We spent another night around the fires on the east end. We slept on the platforms, having faith they’d keep us safe, as high as they were.

Proctor and I sat eating oat loaf near a fire pit after we’d woken. He had successfully met with the villagers the previous afternoon, and evening, and he was optimistic the new crop was more accepting of our overall mission than the last one. Well, the last one couldn’t have been more inhospitable, could they?

“I’m afraid I have to start cracking the whip, however,” Proctor said, he had a bit of a cheeky smile when he said it.

“Hey, who’s in charge here anyway?” I said.

“We really need to get going with things on the baseball side of all of this,” Proctor said.

“The wall is one thing, and that’s a process well on its way, but you haven’t even named your team yet. Keep in mind it’ll be the name of your business too. The nickname by which you’ll be referred to by this entire world,” Proctor said. “No pressure.”

I bit into some bitter loaf, and stared into the flame while the pink morning sky brightened by the second.

“That’s a lot to lay on me over breakfast,” I said. “Terrible though it is.”

“Sorry.”

“What’s in a name?” I said.

“Indeed.”

“So, how am I supposed to go about this?” I said. I stopped eating Hag’s horrendous oat loaf. Thankfully, a woman was going around with her version of coffee. She said she’d made it from some kind of root I’d never heard tell of, and it tasted pretty close to the coffee I was used to back in our world.

“How are you supposed to go about what? Coming up with a nickname?” Proctor said.

“Yes, do I just pick something at random?” I said.

Proctor’s expression took on one you might see on a disappointed teacher’s face.

“What do you suppose would be the answer to that?” He said.

His tone had me wanting to crawl under a rock.

“What baseball nicknames are you aware of?” Proctor said. “Think of some professional teams you’ve watched on television.”

Baseball trivia, great.

“The Yankees,” I said. “The Red Sox. Cubs. Dodgers.”

I sat back from the fire, and I was a bit disappointed in myself that it required this much thought to rattle off some names.

“Oh, the Mets!” I exclaimed, getting a bit more excited than I’d meant to. “There’s Cardinals. The St. Louis Cardinals. Pittsburgh… Pittsburgh, whatcha ma call ‘em? Pirates!”

“I didn’t intend for this to be a game,” Proctor said.

“The Phillies, the Braves. Oh, Florida… what are they called again?” I said.

Like a bolt out of the blue, a face dropped in front of us and took a spot on the fireside log. It was Dillard.

I nearly knocked him onto his back when I grabbed him in a bear hug.

“Ya fool!” He shouted. “What’s this then?”

“I hadn’t seen you since…” my voice trailed off.

“I made it,” Dillard said. “And, that’s all I wanna say about it.”

The three of us turned our attention to the fire, once I’d calmed myself from Dillard’s arrival.

I listened to the man loudly chew with his mouth open, and where normally I’d be disgusted, instead he had me feeling thankful. I was certain he’d died in the attack. I’d never felt better being wrong.

None of us spoke a word for a good five minutes. We watched the fire, listened to people mill around behind us. It was tranquil, and exhilarating all at once. Something about sitting in front of an open flame, staring into it, it causes such deep contemplation.

Or, perhaps I was imparting that on my compatriots, when really I was lost in my head trying to remember other professional baseball team names.

“Oh, Blue Jays!” I blurted.

“What’s that?” Dillard said.

“It’s a bird,” Proctor said. “It’s also the name of a professional baseball team.”

“Pro… fesh…” Dillard said, trying to make sense of yet another new word. “Still doing the base ball thing then?”

I nodded. “And, I have to come up with a name for it,” I said. “A team name. What would you call it?”

“Ya still ain’t told me what base ball is,” Dillard said. “How ya name a thing if it ain’t known?”

I thought about Moonlight then. The village itself. Where it sat, geographically. What continent were we on? Was this version of the world even laid out like ours had been?

“Where’s Moonlight?” I asked Dillard. “Is it in a county? A state? A country?”

“It is a county, isn’t it?” Dillard said, as if stating the obvious.

“News to me,” I said. “I’m trying to understand where the village is in relation to other places, and see if that’d be a good way to come up with a team name.”

“Using the geography of the region,” Proctor said. “That might work.”

“You wanna call it the Blue… Jaze?” Dillard said, his face corkscrewed in confusion. “Don’t know what that is.”

“No, no,” I said. “I was just saying the name of another team. Never mind. I’m trying to brainstorm here. Are we close to any mountains? An ocean? Are we coastal? Now that I think of it, there’s so much about this area I know nothing about. I’m going to have to explore, and figure it out.”

“Yes,” Proctor said. “But, let’s not get too far off track. We need a name if we’re going to start making crucial business decisions.”

Geez, it’s a good thing I had this guy around.