I do not dream when I sleep.

I used to often, in another life. I would dream fantastical dreams while asleep, and do the same shit each day while awake.

My dreams now, in this life, have always occurred while I’m awake.

During isolation “therapy”, and other various forms of torture, I had to create my own dreams consciously. It’s amazing what the mind can do when it must.

Vangians don’t even have a word for nightmare, or dreams when referring to unconscious mind movies. We sleep because we must. Sleep deprivation can have severe, sometimes permanent effects on the Vangian body.

Meditation is popular because of this. States of mind like Iroi strengthen the mind, so less sleep is necessary.

I think they are worse for it. Never experiencing the true, pure terror a nightmare can cause. Never finding a happiness that transcends the physical world in a pleasant dream. Even the mystery of nonsensical series of events and scenarios that you remember so vividly you have to ask yourself; Is my mind trying to send me a message?

Would society on earth be as bland, or as robotic, if humans didn’t have dreams or nightmares while they slept? If sleeping was just another bodily function, necessary but a nuisance, getting in the way of living.

It’s still pleasant to sleep as a Vangian. Perfectly peaceful slumber that seems to end as soon as I close my eyes. An eternal instant. No gradual ascent back to consciousness.

We have multiple issues and you need to wake up.

Waking up is a skill that must be trained, just like everything else. It’s one of the first skills servants perfect. To be immediately and directly aware of all surroundings

Dreamless sleep makes it easier. Nothing to dwell on, nothing to contemplate. No terror to ease yourself out of, telling yourself that everything is okay.

I slip into wakefulness seamlessly. From endless nothing to the beginning of the first day of consequences for my actions.

Whatever they may be. Waking up free has already made it worth it. No timer, no clock. I can’t even tell I’ve opened my eyes, the darkness is so complete in my helmet.

My helmet comes to life, and I see the glossy mossy walls of my tiny, dark cave. I Feel the comfortable weight of my armor's complete embrace. The cave is silent, and cool air is being filtered through my suit.

According to my clock it’s only been an hour since I fell asleep.

What’s wrong Zeteo?

Yea so when you went to sleep I watched you for a couple seconds, and it was pretty boring, so I played around with your implant.

You did what?!

Don’t be upset! I am really good with technology. I made a discovery! The Vangians have a damaged dungeon core. It’s what powers the entire global network your implant is connected to. I’ve been talking with it. They force feed it beast cores to keep it going, have been for centuries now.

The Vangians have imprisoned a dungeon core just to power their internet? It doesn’t surprise me that they would imprison a dungeon core, but why would they need to keep feeding beast cores to a dungeon core to power the network instead of just using the beast cores by themselves?

They aren’t just using the dungeon core just for its power, they are using its intelligence. It is the network itself. Each data pad, implant, and interface used on this planet is a part of the dungeon.

You said it’s damaged, and still able to handle that much information? I thought that dungeon cores couldn’t be taken out of their dungeon? The only reason you’re able to is because my body is acting like your dungeon right?

Yes, the damage is what is allowing the Vangians to take advantage of it. It told me that it has a twin, and that they were connected. They were broken into two, and it was brought here alone. It hasn’t been allowed to die. The Vangians force it to feed, and have figured out many ways to cause it pain. It must obey, and has for centuries at least. The twin is still in its original dungeon, the link between them is what’s allowing it to survive outside a dungeon.

Again, as bad as my childhood was, I’ve already found another living being that has had it worse.

You told me you want to stop injustice when we see it. I see it now Quall, I have felt it throughout our dialogue. The dungeon can’t even remember its name. We have to get it away from the Vangians, or at least end the torment.

I am with you Zeteo. I will do everything I can, when I can. What other issues do we have, anything urgent? I’m still tired.

The Hex squad of Vangians is Urgent I would say, they have just left my dungeon, following the tunnel you made to get here. The orders imply this might have been a direct attack by the Val-Tey.

Damnit Zeteo, lead with that next time. At least they aren’t looking for me specifically.

I should have anticipated this. Of course they would have seen the wall I tunneled through to leave. It would have been obvious in the melted room with a corpse coming out of the floor. Following it would be easy.

Sloppy.

I’m not tired anymore. My body heats up, and my circulation increases.

What do we do?

I fiddle with my map, seeing what’s close. A large city is on the other side of the mountains, built overtop, and surrounding a lake. A few large houses are built into the mountainsides, overlooking the city.

I can pull up information on everything. I can see who owns the houses, and each individual building within the city if I zoom in. Two registered dungeons are close, one infant, and one sibling. The entrance to the infant dungeon is on a neighboring mountain peak to my north. The siblings' entrance is on the lake, and the reason the city is built over nearly half of it.

Zeteo what did you do? There’s no way I should have access to all of this information.

The network dungeon connected us to a private server it created solely for us. We have unlimited access, and every clearance. It can’t do much more for us, too much activity will be noticed. It is monitored.

That’s incredible, I couldn’t have asked for more. Unless it can hide us from sensors.

Anything passive and still connected to the network will overlook us. That will include pretty much everything on the planet. Everything off planet is part of a separate blockchain network that spans the entire solar system.

Wow, that will work.

I pull up the information on the dungeons. The infant dungeon is similar to Zeteo, in that it’s physically here. The sibling dungeon is a portal dungeon and connects to another dungeon on another planet long ago conquered by the Vangians. The first to be integrated.

I can even pull up information on the integrated race, the First. My people are not the most creative when it comes to nomenclature. The First-Vangian war United our people for the first time.

Every child knows the story of the First war. No one remembers what the First called themselves.

I am intrigued by the infant dungeon. It’s privately owned, by a man named Barca July.

Stolen novel; please report.

I didn’t even know that dungeons could be owned by citizens. The military is supposed to own and control everything, why would a single man named Barca July be allowed to own something as lucrative and dangerous as a dungeon?

Why are you looking at the dungeons?

We might be able to hide in this Barca dungeon. I need a place to absorb these cores, and a third one to complete my synergy would be helpful.

I am only one man, and only ⅓ as effective as I could be.

You are not just one man, you have me, and the network dungeon. It is eager to help us. I know where it is being held. We should go there!

Zeteo takes control of my map, it zooms out until I can see the whole planet, rotates it a fraction, and then zooms back in.

Here.

The sprawling complex of buildings I’m looking at is at the North Pole of the planet. Massive satellites litter the site for miles, pointing every direction possible. It looks chaotic and disorganized. A dome is near the center of the complex, highlighted green.

It’s hundreds of miles away, an ocean is spread out between us.

I return my map to encompass my immediate surroundings, and a ship catches my eye. It’s labeled warlord.

Having a ship would make the journey a hell of a lot easier. Hell It would make everything a lot easier, especially if it couldn’t be tracked.

The ship is also owned by Barca, and disappears into a hangar in the villa surrounding the infant dungeon as I watch.

The owner is a retired high general. The dungeon was granted to him for his excellent service, and he only has to give back half of everything harvested.

A quick look at his logs show that he is one of the wealthiest citizens on the planet.

It has almost no security. Nearly everyone currently in the villa is labeled staff, or a member or the July family. Dozens of staff members, and at least that many with the name July. A few citizens are also roaming around the grounds near the dungeon entrance.

The family members are all synergists, I can even see what cores they have registered. They can probably defend the house against an army by themselves.

Can they defend their ships from a ghost?

I will have to be quick, it won’t take my pursuers long to catch up to me.

Can you fly a ship Zeteo?

My dungeon friend is silent for a moment.

It shouldn’t be difficult for me to interact with any technology you come into contact with.

This might not be a good idea though.

If we steal a ship, the Vangians will know something is wrong with their network when they can’t track the ship.

It might cause problems for our new friend, it would be the only thing capable of messing with systems like that.

Can we blame it on the Val-Tey somehow? They already think an enemy force is on planet right? Can we make it seem like they successfully hacked the dungeon or something?

Zeteo is silent for a moment before answering.

Yes, that might work, but you can’t be seen by anyone. It will take me a little time to prepare a program that will look Val-Tey, and create some images. The Network dungeon, I’m going to refer to it as Dungey, will help.

Hey it likes the name Dungey!

I smile. I can’t help it. Yes, unobserved would be ideal.

Thank you Dungey. We are coming to get you.

Without more time to come up with anything fancy, I decide to just tunnel into the hangar itself. It’s worked for me so far.

The hangar holds Several ships, and six mechanics.

One family member, Gen July, is disembarking the mid-sized jumper ship that just landed, designed for entering and exiting the atmosphere constantly. He is followed by a Utility servant named reap.

The servant is an orphan like me, that chose, or was chosen, to be a utility servant. Body-guard, doctor, massage therapist, door opener, receptionist and more. Bio-Pneuma-Thermal synergy. Pairs well with his masters Hydro-Cryo-Geo synergy.

The pair is walking swiftly to the main house. I have to assume they will be back in an hour, at the departure time.

I have no interest in fighting a fellow orphan. I have less than an hour.

The information I have access to is incredible, in addition to the departure time, I can see that the ship is already loaded with cores. It has a cook on board, and a single pilot.

I want that ship. I want the cores, all 143 of them. It just makes sense. The Val-Tey would steal a bunch of cores if they could right?

Wasting no more time I carve a noisy path through the rocks and soils of the mountain. I allow the Geo to flow around me ignoring its protests. I don’t bother giving the strength back this time, leaving the tunnel won’t matter. I should be gone before the Hex-squad gets here. The strength I get from the stone will allow me to go faster, and I can metabolize what my body doesn’t use.

Maybe I will be able to convince the cook to make me something nice. I really need a drink too.

I make good time, traveling at an incline, almost swimming uphill as limp stone slides around me chest high, and through my legs.

In minutes I’ve reached stone that I can’t manipulate. The boundary of the infant dungeon.

I won’t be able to tunnel straight up into the hangar after all. Well shit.

Wait, put your hand against the stone.

I put the palm of my armored hand against the stone blocking my path.

More minutes pass as I stand, beginning to feel awkward.

Should I be doing something?

Wait.

I wait.

Another few minutes and the wall slides down, revealing a stairway.

Say thank you to Fabi. It won’t even try to eat you!

“Thank you Fabi.” I say the words out loud, into my helmet. My voice is rough, dry, and cracks. “I appreciate you not eating me.”

It says you are welcome, and would like us to visit again. We should come back after we get Dungey! We have to bring it something to eat.

Uhm okay yea, we will add it to our list of things to do.

Good idea, I’ll start a list!

I climb the stairs in the complete darkness. My suit highlights the stairs for me helpfully. It’s unnecessary with my Geo senses, but nice to look as something.

I am soon directly underneath the hangar, watching the people above me go about their day.

The mechanics are working on a ship on the far side, all but two of them are inside of it. The other two are on top. None of them should have a clear line of site on me when I emerge from the floor under the warlord.

Fabi, the dungeon, opens a hole for me without warning. Rocks, and dirt pile into the stairwell from the newly formed hole, crushing me against a wall.

Just as fast, the dungeon incorporates the new Geo into the walls until it stops.

“Thanks again, Fabi.” I say, easier this time.

I climb up into the space the release of dirt created, spreading my Giea around and holding it to prevent another landslide. The boundary of the dungeon is twenty yards below the floor of the hangar.

I work fast, and silently. Unlike when I crudely rip strength out of Geo, I use my Geia to gently and quietly mold myself a path up the floor above. It’s made of a dense metal. I can manipulate it, but not quickly or silently.

I can hear the power tools of the workers. It should cover any sounds I make if I go slow.

With deliberate care, I reach out with my Geia and cut myself a door.

One little piece at a time, I liquify the metal in a thin strip.

It’s like I have a tiny invisible lightsaber, and I’m cutting out a square of metal I can crawl up through. It’s a much higher pitch than when I limp stone and dirt.

When I’m done I bring the square of metal into my hole, and set it down gently.

I can see the underbelly of the warlord. The ramp is lowered right in front of me, inviting me to board.

I accept.

Pulling myself outside of the hole, I keep myself as low as possible, listening for anything that would signal discovery.

The tools and voices of the mechanics continue. No alarms are raised.

I am tense. They are less than a hundred yards away.

Every movement of the dots on my screen makes me pause, as if me not moving will make me invisible.

Like ripping off a band-aid, I get it over with. Three bounding steps and I am inside the warlord.

According to Zeteo I don’t need to do anything once I am in contact with the ship to take control.

This is the tricky part. Every citizen has a c-unit, like mine, connected to the network. Unlike mine, citizens aren’t implanted, but have a bracer-like device. They need to be disabled.

I make my way to the pilot first, through a tight hallway straight ahead, my bulky armor causing me to hunch over. He is sitting at the helm, cursing at the console in front of him when I reach over, and with two fingers, crush the unit on his wrist.

“What the fuck?” Is all he can say before I crush a data-pad on the seat beside him.

He frantically presses buttons on the console, presumably trying to call for help.

I ignore his outrage and turn around on the cramped bridge.

The cook is in his room sleeping. His C-unit is crushed just as easily. I have a pang of empathy when I see the terror on his face when we wakes to see me bent over him.

No time.

Zeteo leads me to two more data-pads that need crushing, one in a lounge area, and one in the cargo room.

Zeteo says that they will capture images of Val-Tey warriors before they are destroyed, adding to our ruse.

They would be easily recognized as altered if scrutinized, but with any luck, no one would think to look that deeply into the matter. They should be more focused on trying to find the imaginary insurgents.

The ship comes to life around me as I work, the ramp closes, and the engines power up. Within a minute my tasks are complete.

Unscheduled departure!! Zeteo informs me gleefully as we leave the open hangar.

Zeteo will take us to the upper atmosphere burning hot, making it look like we intend to escape the planets gravity well.

We will instead go north, to a frozen canyon close to where the captive dungeon is held.

I should probably talk to my own captives now. I still don’t know what I should do with the cook and pilot.

Maybe they will appreciate a new captain. I like the sound of that. Captain Quall.