Alice didn’t speak again until she said goodbye to Janice at the pod center. Instead of walking in with Alan, she’d coldly moved ahead of him. Easily navigating her way to the room where the rest of the family were waiting.
They found their mother, sitting upright in a hospital bed, sipping a diet coke and laughing with the rest of the family.
“Mom!” Alice immediately rushed over, tears coming to her eyes. Alan held back, relieved, letting his mom and sister enjoy the moment. They each swapped stories, while the rest of the family listened on about the impeccably dressed man who'd done something to the both of them. As they cried, hugged, and laughed, followed by more crying and hugging. It seemed to have a healing effect on the mother and daughter, to have each other and the rest of the family there. After a time, Alan's mother wiped her tears, and faced her son.
“Alan, you had best tell us exactly what is going on.” He spent the time explaining that his identity was no longer a secret, and that a rival company had decided to get him to sign a contract for the VE production machine. He went over the party the night before and how Denise had figured out it was him. He wasn’t sure how Carmen had gotten so quickly involved. But explained that Carmen worked for Clark Tenison.
“Well I never liked that girl anyway. Can’t trust her for a minute.” His mother proclaimed. His father and older brother attempted to hide smirks at her remark. Acting as though she didn't see them she continued, “Besides, now that it's out, it's out. We can’t do anything about it, but make sure to continue to take care of our family and do our best not to get caught up in such ridiculous antics.” She pointed at Alice, “And you best forgive your brother, young lady. I know how you can hold a grudge. And don’t you deny it, I’ve seen you sneak a few glares while we were talking.”
Alice turned crimson and was about to argue when their Father placed his hand on her shoulder. “Your brother wasn’t responsible for what happened today. It was the actions of other men.” She looked him and than at Alan before nodding. Though Alan could see a hint of anger still in her eyes.
It was funny, he actually felt little relief that she hadn’t forgiven him so easily. Part of him wanted to admit it was his fault. He knew that retaliation would be coming, but he'd been too distracted. But he couldn't say a thing without revealing too much. Maybe a little more punishment from her would help ease his conscience.
Despite his parents forgiving attitude, he wasn't so sure they'd be happy about what he was going to say next.
“You’re all going to have to live at the Cosmos Hub for a while. Until I can make some other arrangements.” During their discussion he'd already sent a message to the Cosmos Hub attendant, Corbin, to help them find a space to stay. The Hub, had already stared expanding on week one to include small accomidations for players who only needed a short place to stay between sessions. Some of the accomidations, had expanded, along with the hub. He'd planned on his family doing this at some point. This just moved up his timeline.
Unfortunately they didn't take it well. It was a half-hour later before he’d finally convinced them that the threats were real, and they wouldn’t be the typical lets go stay at Great Aunt Lynda's home till things blow over, type of threats.The Cosmos Hub area was under the jurisdiction of Cosmos in collaboration with the Yashdid aliens. Which meant, they were one of the most secure places on the planets, especially when it came to the genetic and technological advances that humanity wasn’t ready to deal with. It surprised him that his sister-in-law, Audrey, had voiced her objections the most. They’d have to figure out ways to entertain their 2 year old son, Dillan, she’d relented only when he agreed they could take a security detail when they needed to go outside.
Things had finally calmed down when Corbin, the attendant interrupted. “Sir, you have a guest.” Alan’s puzzled look prompted him to continue. “A Ms. Shelley Cordata indicated she knew to find you here, and insisted that she be allowed for the family gathering.”
“Shelley’s here?” Alan didn’t know who said it first, his mother or sister. But his mother pushed back the sheets and had hopped out of bed. “Corbin, you absolutely let her come back here and meet the family.”
“Yes Ma’am.” Directly leaving without a second look toward Alan.
Alan thought he had something special with Corbin, a mutual understanding. The traitor. “Mom, just remember…”
“Alan, she’s our best business partner. So don’t worry” He groaned inwardly. Despite being 12 years more mature, he never felt comfortable introducing any girl he liked to his family. He really needed to grow up.
It was only a few moments later, when Shelley entered the room. Unlike Alan’s Cosmos persona, nothing had changed with her. She lit up the room with a simple skirt and white blouse ensemble, her dark hair contrasting with the outfit, while her red lips added a hint of fire to match her personality. Despite seeing the full crowd, she seem didn't seem flustered facing all of Alan’s family.
“Hello, Alan and everyone else.”
“Shelley it's so good to finally get to meet you in person!” Alan’s mother immediately went up and hugged the corporate heiress. “I’ve heard so much about you from my Husband, and Alan’s brother James.” There was a clear snub of Alan, having left him out of the reporters.
“Well thank you Mrs. _______(see poll). ”
“Please call me Mary.” Alan’s mother proceeded to introduce to everyone else in the family. “But you must tell us Shelley, what brings you here? I heard lived a few states over.”
“Alan had mentioned there was an attack on you and had requested security even. So I arranged it to fly over as soon as I heard. I was so relieved to hear from the security team that you and Alice were ok after everything.”
“That is so thoughtful, dear." She turned to her husband, who nodded in agreement. "It must have been so troublesome to arranage to get here so quickly though.”
“No, not at all, I just charted the company helicopter.”
“Nonsense! I’m sure the security team was keeping you up to date on all the details. You comng in person, with your busy schedule, just means so much to our family!” She held onto Shelley’s hands tightly.
To Alan, it appeared that Shelley seemed to slightly flush at his mother’s insistent praise. Though, the glances that his mother, sister, and Audrey shared seemed to cause the usually collected Shelley to appear slightly uncomfortable.
“Mom, I’m sure that Shelley is grateful to see you’re ok, but with everything going on, maybe I could steal a couple minutes with her.” Alan decided it was time to rescue his friend from his mother’s idea of a business meeting. They were able to escape to a small room only after Shelley promised to meet them for dinner later.
“Sorry about my Mom. She can be a little intense sometimes” Alan tried to break the ice.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“No, it was great. She seems really warm and nice.” She hesitated,“You look different than in your pictures.” She added quickly. “Not that it’s bad, you just have blond hair now, and your eyes have really changed, their more blue, even from your pictures.”
Alan nodded in agreement. Now that they were alone, Alan wasn’t sure exactly how to respond. “So thank you for coming. You really didn’t need to. I’m sorry if I worried you too much. I should have called you as soon as me and my sister were ok.”
“Really, it’s not a big deal. I was happy to come, besides I’ve been meaning to meet you in person anyway." She paused slightly before adding,"So we can coordinate our plans better.”
“Yeah, for sure. That makes sense.” Silence followed, and Alan immediately reflected back on an article he’d read in his last life. Psychologists had studied how online interactions had differed significantly from in-person interaction, and which had only kicked up after a world-wide pandemic. Things like differences in the strenght of social ties, willing to tell lies, and even the strength of social bond were so different between reality and online interactions. The study has said that it still continued even when players found themselves Cosmos.
Pushing past the in-person awkwardness, he soldiered on, reminding himself those 12 additional years should mean something. “I’ll be heading out tomorrow with Nick to claim territory on Kragga. He and Adrian should already be heading out today, along with the other teams they're organizing. Now that we know that Eris Industries likely knows what is going on, we’ll have to move quickly and be a lot more careful about recruitment.” He gripped the chair, knuckles turning white.
Shelley immediately perked up, as the conversation turned to business.“For sure, I’ve already got Jakes working overtime around recruiting and coordinating the human resources of Callisto as well as the huge influx of my father’s assets from Phoenix and the other partners on Kragga. Give it a few weeks and you won’t even recognize the place. The goal is to make sure we have a lot of infrastructure set up in 2 weeks before the 3rd series of pods are set to open up. There are going to be literally hundreds of millions of new players at that point. And I don't know if you’ve noticed, but Kragga is in the top 10 Planets for new players interested in starting fresh.”
“Yeah, it's going to be a double edged sword for sure. But together, I think we’ll do great.” He grinned at her, while she smiled back.
“I almost forgot! I need you and Nick to try and get something for me.” Shelley removed a tablet from her ring, and held it out. “We’ve found a site, where we think we might be able to actually make a functional ship.” The site showed pictures of a small craft. “It’s probably somewhere between Primitive and Planetary level of tech, so we wouldn’t be able to take it too far away from the planet in Kragga's home galaxy. But it’s the first ship we've seen that we might actually be able to replicate on Earth!” She continued excitedly, "All we need from you is to find someone on Kragga who has another small transport, so we can figure out a few missing pieces."
Alan listened attentively, as she continued to eagerly share more about her favorite subject, spacecraft, and the plans for the little vessel. It had the added benefit of finally making it easier for both of them to relax, and for them to move on to other topics. Eventually, Alan shared the details of the near abduction and his anger, along with his worries. It wasn't just for his family, but also for Shelley and their friends, along with their families.
“I’m sorry Alan,” She reached out, placing her hand on his clenched fist. “I didn’t hear everything that had happened to Alice. That must have been terrible.”
“It was a nightmare. I just can’t let something like that happen again. There is too much at stake.” The tension in his voice dulled into a somber finality, as finally finished recounting what had happened.
“Hey, lighten up! It's not like it’s the end of the world ri…” She smiled at him, only half stopping after seeing the deadness in his eyes, “Right?”
Alan half opened his mouth. When, a quick rap on the door was followed by his sister making a sudden entrance. “Sorry you two, didn’t mean to interrupt.” Her mischievous grin held no real apoogy as Shelley’s suddenly sat up, removing her hands from his. “I just wanted to tell Alan the plans for dinner tonight before I hit the pod.
“Sure sis, thanks.” Alan felt new frustration rising.
“No problem. Hey before I head out, I wanted to ask you about that ring? You know the one you stripped off of Carmax. What was up with that? I mean it’s useless to you right? Unless you get his permission for a transfer.”
Alan had to chuckle at his sister’s antics, along with the nickname she’d come up for him. He pulled out the ring. “Yeah, it’s pretty much useless right now. Unless, there happens to be something stored inside of here that our little Spaniard absolutely needs.” The ring had expensive, he guessed it had enough space for a small home to fit inside. “Whose to tell what someone might actually pay for to get it back.”
***
Clark Tenison was angry. No, that wasn’t right. It didn’t quite capture his mood. If you’d had to pick a spot on Earth which best fit his mood, it would have been at the base of an erupting volcano on the island of Iceland. Clark's gaze could have chilled man in moments, as his actions left a burnng path of destruction. While only his board members and secretary would meet with him that day, his wrath would spill over, and down the company ranks to the very lowest of interns. Ensuring no one was going to have a good day at Eris Industries.
Sales of their electric-adapted Cosmo's weapons had stalled, due to a small but irritating stream of VE energy in the North American Virtual Market. Furthermore, international buyers had been outwardly hesitant to buy the weapons, now that a report on the recent terrorist attacks had been leaked, where they'd used his weapons to attack the Cosmos Hub. The public relations regional manager who’d failed to cover up their weapons involvement in the the incident had been sacked, but the damage had been done, at least publicly. There would still be buyers, but the delays due to having to make the purchases covert would eat at the company quartely profits, not to mention the free publicity they would miss out on.
His otherworldly allies, if he could even call them that, had failed to answer his questions regarding their promised outline of events. He was supposed to have the only VE
Earth enabled generator. Allowing him to have unprecedented access to technology development. Of course he would've had to have kept it secret until the embargo lifted.
He hadn’t even been able to step into Cosmos, for fear of being labeled a cheater due to some of the moves he'd already made. Though the genetic modifications, and body enhancements he had received from his allies had still been top notch, he was still frustrated that Cosmos was betyond his reach, for now.
To top it off, he’d received a memo, along with pictures of one of his men lying half-dead and smoldering, at one of his medical facilities. He wasn’t sure if he was more angry at Carmen’s failure at getting the contract signed. Or the failure of his so-called alien allies, to once again make good on their promises.They’d guaranteed the genetic modification to Carmen, along with the pheromone supplement, to be a hundred percent effective. Tenison had been confident too, especially after Carmen had proven its success to get that blond tart to spill her guts. His eyes harded, it was just another assett, he'd replace it in time.
Mind refocusing, his attention fell on his vice-president of human resources. “You're telling me that I don’t have a single security unit that could go to Kragga?”
The spindly man paled. He had as much backbone as he had excess muscle, none. Just the way Tenison liked it.
“N…n…no sir. We moved on your direct order to have all our people locate to G’llyspi. They’ve begun the mining of tantalum and farming monster cores.”
“And you didn’t foresee that we might need a few flexible resources to go to different planets?”
“No Sir, I apologize. We’ll begin hiring right away.”
His marketing director spoke up. “Sir, G’llyspi is in the number 1 spot in North America for new players, especially those who want more adventure.”
Tenison crushed his gilded attempts of boot licking immediately. “And how long do you think it will take for Kragga to overtake us now that the Phoenix Conglomerate, and not just the heiress brat, is siphoning resources there?”
The marketing director already knew the answer. “We’ll double our efforts, marketing outreach in the lead up to the 3rd pod series release.” Sweat beaded off his brow.
Clark leaned back in his chair. A silent signal for the executives, as they frantically began to send messages, make phone calls, and send a wave of destructive displeasure through the ranks.
It was the only part of the meeting that Clark Tenison allowed himself to smirk at. The Ol’brathreen, or The Crude, as he affectionately liked to call them, had already told him the end from the beginning. And despite their failure to predict some future events. He knew the outcome. If he wanted to have a chance to save humanity, and more importantly himself, sacrifices would have to be made.