Adam looked around the void he floated in, taking in all the stars in the distance. He worked on the plans for a space station that would help him with some immediate concerns. Using Mold Chaos, he created a space station that was about 1,000,000 tons. It had wiped out over 90% of his mana which had taken just under eleven minutes to recover with his mana regeneration while he made his way inside and made sure everything was as he’d envisioned.
While he inspected the space station, One thing bugged him. His mana had just about run out when according to his math, he’d only used about what level 27 should be able to make. He did some quick calculations. At ability level 42 he should be able to create roughly 34.3 billion tons which would cost about 6.87E+12 mana. To do that would require him to channel all of his mana regenerations for over 249 days, not seconds, hours, or minutes. It would take him 249 days of doing nothing but channeling mana to use his ability at level 42. That was with his attributes at level 27,920,166.
Adam opened his Interface ability and sent a message to Bri,
Bri might want to look at Mana. What is the point in having a level 42 ability when my level 27.9 million attributes will not provide the mana to us the ability at higher than level 27?
Adam didn’t know if that would help but it was pretty obvious Bri’s travel in the Astral Plane had done something. Which brought up another thought. Why couldn’t he just travel into the Astral Plane, if the Astral Plane was connected to all Universes, Planes, and Dimensions, and head home? The geography of reality and how the Astral Plane interacted with the various Universes it was connected to must be complicated. At least he wasn’t dealing with the setup that had been in the SYSTEM Matrix
Adam brought his thoughts back to the present. He’d create the space station with multiple telescopes and the computing power necessary to do the math that would be required. He’d set up a quantum link to himself and his CC group was handling the math while he relaxed and considered his next steps. There was no helping the time he’d have to wait for the telescopes to measure the stellar and galactic drift to determine how far something was from him.
He figured he’d have to wait at least 7 days before he’d have any data he could use if something was close. It could be a little longer if he was out in the middle of intergalactic space. He activated Planar Travel to save the location of the base, ate a good meal, and went to take a nap. With seven or days to wait., he wasn’t in a rush to do much of anything.
***
Isabel Prince flew her scout ship out past the edge of the galactic disc toward the location of an energy spike within intergalactic space. It had been from an energy signature that they hadn’t detected in a long time. A race called the Cordite had tried to invade their Universe a couple of hundred years ago and they’d been sent home, none the worse for wear but thoroughly beaten. That society might be a problem in the far future, but they were so far behind her people they didn’t pose any type of threat.
At 6,342 Light-years a second, Isabel had exited her corner of their galaxy and raced toward the location of the energy spike. It had only taken 5 seconds to get from her home solar system to the galactic edge and another 20 seconds to close in the energy spike. She throttled back and entered the area which allowed her sensor to try to detect anything in the area. She had been looking for small objects, roughly the size of her ship but was surprised to find that something with a mass of around 1 million tons was within range. She vectored the ship and closed in on the target and scanned a strange-looking station.
She scanned it and reviewed the scans making sure there were no weapons. Her sensors indicated that the vessel was made of materials with a density matching the weakest of the Universes they’d explored. How very interesting, she thought. The human that she detected was something else though. Her scanner could not read him. His density level was so high that her equipment could not classify it, though it placed it above 100 at the very least. Considering the density of her Universe was 26 that was not going to be good if the human was hostile.
There were many different ways to make first contact but this ship out in the middle of nowhere, with no obvious weapon seemed non-threatening. She sent out the standard greeting package on all frequencies.
***
Adam had been resting his eyes when his CC group woke him up
CC: Adam we have a visitor
Adam: A visitor, where did It come from
CC: Unknown. It seems to be a small scout vessel of some kind. We have been scanned. We are now receiving a standard 1st contact greeting package. Downloading and correlating data now…Their language is very similar to Earth’s ancient Greek if it had evolved.
Adam: Will I need a translator?
CC: You shouldn’t
Adam transmitted back in the same language, “Greetings, I am Adam. How may I help you?”
A woman’s voice came back over the speaker, “And here I was about to offer assistance to you,” the woman said with a laugh. “Greetings, I am Isabel Prince, Scout for the People of Eterium, why are you in the Cordite invasion Zone?”
“Cordite Invasion Zone? Let me guess, the Cordite tried to invade your Universe sometime in the past and they came from this point? Interesting. I’m here because I was going to ‘talk’ and I use that word loosely, with the Cordite about a deal they’d made with the Pelza Empire which resulted in Universe’s being destroyed to create batteries for their Empire,” Adam said as he listened for the scout’s reaction to get a feel for how this was going.
“They used the forbidden technologies. Do these devices still exist? “ Isabel asked.
“No, I destroyed a total of five facilities before I decided to go speak with the Cordite.”
“Then how’d you end up here?”
“As I appeared in the Cordite Universe I was immediately flung into this place, wherever it is. My abilities cannot return me to my home universe, The universal level is much lower than here and my ability will not allow me to travel that far.”
“Some call that the Step of a Universe. We call that Universal Density. The Universal Density of your home Universe is much lower than this one. I know this just from scanning the station you created which begs another question. Before I ask though, is there enough room in your station for a guest?”
“Yes, absolutely, please feel free to come aboard. The atmosphere is set for my biology, but I can adjust it to your needs.
“It should be fine, I’ll be right there,” Isabel said as she teleported to a space near the airlock.
“Welcome to my small station,” Adam said as he stepped forward and inclined his head.
“Thank You,” Isabel said.
“I must say, Isabel that I am surprised to find humans here. The Universal Density, as you call it, for this Universe is much higher than mine.”
“If you explore long enough, you’ll find that almost all races exist within all Densities of Universes,” she said. “As for my next question, I was going to ask what the purpose of this station was.”
“Simple enough, I have never been in this Universe before. I needed to find the closest Galaxy so I could travel there and try to find a dungeon or civilization.
“A Dungeon, or Civilization? First, what is a Dungeon, and second, why put them in that order?
“You don’t have dungeons?
“No,” she said.
“Have you received Update 2.0 yet?
“What’s update 2.0?”
“I’ll explain that in a minute, as for why I wanted to find a dungeon, it’ll be a lot easier to find more Quintessence to add Abilities and improve the ones I have. I put civilizations second on the list because finding societies inside a universe is usually hard to do, they’re not that common. Also, they wouldn’t have the quintessence I need.
“I see, and you think these dungeons exist?” she asked.
“I do, do you not have magic here?” Adam asked.
“We have magic, but we’ve found our technology far surpasses anything we could do with magic. Besides, our technology provides us with everything we need,” Isabel said as a glass with a drink solidified in her hand.”
Adam laughed, “You have nanotech,” he said as he had a long island iced tea appear in his hand made from his nanites.”
“You know of subatomic machines?” she asked.
“Know of? Absolutely. Would you mind if I took a look at them?” Adam asked.
“You can’t see them, they are microscopic,” Isabel said with a laugh.
“Not with my eyes with one of my abilities?”
“I don’t see why not,” she said.
Adam activated Technomancy and was blown away by what he discovered. The nanites were made of a material he couldn’t even begin to quantify. It was so much denser than his own. One issue he noticed right away was their programming. With his Technomancy he’d hacked into the nanites with no issue at all. Adam looked at Isabel as he said, “They are both more advanced and less advanced than my own,” he said.
“They would be. If you’re creating nanites with materials from a low-density Universe the materials that you use will also be low-density. If your machines are better than the ones I’m using, then they would be even better if they were made with materials from this Universe. How are they less advanced?” she asked.
They are less advanced because I was able to hack them immediately with my ability. Though to be honest there doesn’t seem to be a programming language that can stop my ability. Maybe if a counter ability to mine existed it could stop me from hacking them,” he pondered thoughtfully. “I honestly don’t know. I have a question for you, Does the density of a Universe mean that much?” Adam asked.
“Absolutely. Everything in this universe is far stronger than anything in any Universe with a Density of 1 – 13. 13 would be the Cordite Universe. Are you a numbers type of person or do you like things more abstract?
“Numbers, definitely,” Adam said.
“Very well. Please remember these values are approximate. The value for a Universe with a density, or Step of 1 is between 9 - 63. This value could be used to represent the basic defense value if you wanted to compare attacks versus defenses. If you were from a universe with the lowest value of 9 your attack value would be 3. This would mean that three attacks would break through the defense value of 9. If you were at the top end of a Universe with a value of 63 your attack value would be 21.
Of course, the attack value can be modified by skills and equipment, but we’ll just keep things simple and use values for unskilled individuals with basic attack and defense. Someone from my Universe with a Density of 26 would have a defense value between 1,584 and 1,638. Our lowest attack value would be 528 while our maximum would be 546.
“That’s impressive. Can the individual from the Universe with a density of 1 even hurt you?” Adam asked.
“Good Question. The simple answer is yes. The longer answer is not really. To hurt me they would need to be able to generate an attack that could do a minimum of 10% of my attack value which is 540. Only then would the attack break through my natural density.”
“That doesn’t seem right. My density value, as you call it, is much higher than that and I have taken damage from creatures from much lower Universal Densities,” Adam said.
“We’ll circle back to what your density value is in a second. Are you native to the density value you currently have or is it a recent change you gained?”
“I recently gained it,” Adam said.
“Your body hasn’t adjusted to its’ new condition. When it does, you’ll notice a big difference,” she said.
“How long will that take?”
“What Density value did your body come into existence in?” she asked.
“One,” Adam said.
“And what density are you sitting at, if you don’t mind me asking? My sensors show you at over 100 which is about the highest our sensor can go.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
“Let’s circle back that, Adam said with a smile. It sounds like you’re still using the Step categorizations. When Update 2.0 comes through Steps will go away. I also think what you are referring to as Universal Density is going to change, I’m not exactly sure how but…”, that’s when a group of Notifications blocked his vision.
“Universal Update 2.00 will Launch in exactly 600 units of time…”
“Speak of the devil,” Adam said as he had his nanites create two comfortable Lazy boy recliners. “Might as well make yourself comfortable, in 10 minutes everything changes,” Adam said.
“Is this that Update you were talking about?”
“Yes, I would suggest that you set the drink down before the counter reaches zero. At the lower densities, it didn’t seem like there was much of a change. At this higher density, I think there might be a shift of some kind. I don’t know for sure but better to be prepared for it, than not. Also, if you have a way to relay what I just said to your leaders, you might want to get that information back to them.”
“Understood and thank you,” Isabel said as she closed her eyes for a moment. A half minute later she opened her eyes and moved over to the recliner he’d made for her and sat down as she asked, “You have been through this?”
“Yes, I think I’m going to nap for a bit. That should give you time to read through the changes. One thing is for sure, double-check how your Universal Density is handled. It doesn’t match what I know happened with the changes I’ve been through so there are bound to be some changes here.,” Adam said.
“I will,” Isabel said.
Adam sat back and closed his eyes as he dropped into meditation. This race of humans didn’t seem half bad but the way the higher levels were interacting with the lower levels might explain the stories of supermen and the like back on Earth. Possibly even Gods. He also realized that magic at their level would be less impressive than technology if they didn’t have a lot of quintessence to level their abilities with. With nanites that were able to withstand higher pressures and possibly the temperatures inside stars, well, that would solve one of the problems Thor was probably having with the expansion effort. There was a lot of mass in stars that couldn’t be accessed.
Adam had been correct. He felt the ripple that he was surely traveling through the entire Universe. While nothing that he created changed his sensors picked up quantum fluctuations in the ship outside his station and Isabel. Once the wave passed he created a black cup of coffee and waited.
Almost an hour later Isabel opened her eyes, “Wow, you weren’t kidding about those changes.”
“Did you review all the changes to see how the Universes are being classified now?” Adam asked.
“I did one better, I checked with my ship, as the change seems to have affected everything. This Universe is now classified as Quintessence Level 176, which was equivalent to the lowest level of our Density or Step 26. In this new numbering scheme Density is now a measure of the Quantum level. Each of our Steps was seven of those Quintessence levels. It’ll get easier to understand as we get used to it. I still don’t understand the references to Dungeons and The Labyrinth but I sent queries and the responses I received state that Dungeons in this Universe will be between Quintessence levels 176 – 182.
“Did you learn anything else?”
“Yeah my sensors now max out at 700 and you are still showing up as off-the-scale,” she said.
“I am. So this Universe Density quantification, Is it still a valid system to measure universes?”
“Yes, this Universe is registering as Density 182 on the ship,”
“It measures the universe itself?
“Yes?”
“Do you mind if I reach out and figure out how it works? A device like that would be really useful.”
“Your ability can do that?”
“My ability can map it. Until I can create materials from the density of this Universe I don’t think I can create the same thing but my knowledge of quantum mechanics, electronics, magic, and a few other areas might allow me to create something that will work,” Adam said.
Then, by all means, feel free, just don’t make any changes to Jasper, he’s the ship,”
“He’s the A.I. controlling the ship?
“No, he’s the ship. The ship is a combination of living and nonliving materials. Jasper is the A.I. that bonded to the ship so he is the ship.”
“I understand,” Adam said as he reached out with Technomancy and recorded everything he found on Jasper. “Jasper is a little larger than I thought but still small. Also, some of the technology is familiar but I’ll be honest the power source and drive are new to me,” Adam said
“They should be if you’ve never been to a Universe of this density before. At Density 15…Sorry Quintessence level 100 new reactions are possible with the particles that exist. The new density allows for higher energy efficiency and power output as well as stronger shields to protect vessels. The devices you say you destroyed are from a branch of technology we use that tries to replicate the higher-density Universes. A side effect we discovered was that lower densities were scrambled. When someone realized what it could do, research was stopped and the technology was outlawed. That’s why it’s a forbidden technology, it’s too easy to abuse.
“Your society created that technology?”
Heavens know. We reverse-engineered it from something we found close to, wait what kind of time units do you use?” She asked.
When I connected with your ship, I noticed that your clocks use seconds, minutes, hours, and days. How many days are in your years?
“363,” Isabel said.
“Then are time frames should be pretty damn close. If I say 100 years, there is only a difference of 200 days. We have 365 days in a year on my home planet,” Adam said.
“Okay, then we reverse-engineered that technology about one million years ago on one of our original planets, in a Universe with a much lower Density.
“That’s impressive, your society has been around a long time then?”
“Our history goes back quite a ways and can be something you can talk with our Scholars about. I’m more interested in getting you back to Eterium, my home planet.
“How long will that take? How fast can Jasper go?” Adam asked
Isabel smiled, “Considering that it only took me about a minute to get here from Eterium, which includes the time I was notified, teleported to my ship, left the surface at a reasonable speed then flew here, and here is over 120,000 light years from where I started…fast.
“That’s much faster than I can fly,” Adam said
“It is,” she said thoughtfully, “You can fly, like actually fly without a ship?
“Yes.”
“What is your top speed?” Isabel asked.
“4.4 light years a second right now, Adam said.”
“And you can fly that fast without a ship, how are you surviving the minor collisions and other issues traveling at that speed causes?” she asked.
Easy enough, I have another ability that allows me to reduce my mass to zero. I effectively become a particle that travels faster than the speed of light.
“And you don’t fly apart?”
“Not as far as I can tell. I also don’t know if I’m visible while I’m flying like that,” Adam said.
“When we head back I can follow you for a second or two and see if I can detect you then allow you to come back and board the ship while in route. Once you’re on board then we can increase our speed.
“That sounds doable,” Adam said.
“Now that we’ve gotten completely off track, Why did you build this station?”
“I needed a station that could simultaneously record stellar and galactic drift so I could find the closest galaxy,” Adam said.
“That makes sense. Will it be okay if you leave it alone for a bit?
“Absolutely. While my nanites are not to your society’s level they should be able to keep things running here.”
“Sounds good, I’ll meet you outside. I’ll maneuver my ship so the nose is pointed toward my galaxy and let you get started then follow at one light-year per second to make sure you can get back to me. By the way, will I need to stop after a time to make sure you don’t run out of energy?
“Not at all. We should know in the first second if you can detect me. I’ll slow until you overtake me then teleport into your passenger compartment,” Adam said.
“You can also teleport?”
“Yes”
“Okay, sounds like we have a plan, I’ll meet you outside,” Isabel said as she teleported into her ship and had Jasper maneuver the ship so it was pointing toward her galaxy. Adam checked and his station had determined that it was the closest galaxy so far at just over 120,000 light years away. There didn’t seem to be anything closer which meant this location was in intergalactic space. Adam double-checked and made sure he’d saved this station as a Targeted Location for Planar Travel then exited the ship, waved, and activate Flight and Freedom of Flight as he sped off toward Isabel’s galaxy.
He adjusted his course slightly to move off to her left about 100 feet and kept his speed at one half a light year per second as Jasper caught up and passed him. He sped up until he was within 1,000 feet, matched speed, and teleported inside as he turned off Freedom of Flight and Flight. “Jasper, I’m on board,” he said into the empty cabin which he observed with Technomancy.
“Isabel has been informed. I have been informed to tell you that you are detectable to our sensors but that you are not detectable in the visible spectrum. Please make yourself comfortable. We should arrive at the Eterium in about a minute.
“Thank you, Jasper,” Adam said as he moved to sit in one of the four passenger seats. He watched the view screen that showed what was in front of the ship. A disc galaxy grew larger and larger as Jasper vectored toward this end of the disc about halfway from the center and the edge of the disc. They passed through the Galactic barrier like it wasn’t even there and then continued along their current trajectory until they appeared to be approaching a star system. Data points appeared on the viewscreen showing vectoring traffic as it entered and left the system. Instead of heading directly to the planet they passed the orbit of the planet labeled Eterium and headed toward a very large object a quarter of the way around the orbit from the planet. If the planet was at the 6 o’clock position as Jasper flew into the system the object was at the 3 o’clock position in the same orbital path.
“We’re heading to Regulus, it’s our Capital and space station in orbit around our star. The Council would like to meet with you.”
“Council?”
“Yes, I’ve been told they wish to convey their thanks for the warning and also discuss the use of forbidden technology.”
“What is it the Council of?” Adam asked.
“The Council consists of seven members that have been on the Council since our society was founded, the same seven individuals. It is said that they have been around since the very beginning.
“That’s enough Isabel, please bring our guest to us without telling tales you have no way of verifying,” a new voice said from all around him.
Adam knew from experience that the voice was probably being modulated from the nanites and remained silent as Isabel said, “Yes honored Councilor, we will be there shortly.
Adam watched as Jasper altered course to do a flyby without slowing down when suddenly a portal opened in front of the ship and it slipped through and into a docking area that reduced the ship’s velocity to zero instantly. Adam was intrigued, but not surprised.
“He didn’t even flinch,” Jasper said.
“I didn’t think he would, As I recall the wager was 1,000 credits,” Isabel said.
“It was,” Jasper said.
“You bet on whether I’d jump when the ship went through a portal and came to a complete stop without feeling the gravity? Cool!” Adam said with a laugh.
“You’re not surprised,” Isabel asked.
“Not at all. I bet that the docking facility has some way to bleed off and absorb all that kinetic energy somewhere,” Adam said.
“And you’d win that bet. We were traveling at such a huge velocity that it was worth the instant stop. Also, we will be teleporting to the Council Now,” Isabel said as Adam was teleported to a large room with seven people sitting at the raised dais in front of him and Isabel who stood to his left.
Isabel bowed then spoke, “Members of the Council, May I present Adam, A recipient of Cordite foul play."
Adam nodded as well.
A woman with beautiful blond hair and green eyes looked down at Adam as she said, “Welcome to the Capital of Eterium Adam. I am Serabia High Councilor for our people. We would like to begin by first saying thank you for your warning…”
At that moment a man teleported into the chamber to Adam’s right.
“What is the meaning of this…” one of the other councilors started to say.
“Honored Councilors, A class of youngsters has been swallowed by one of these new dungeons.”
Adam perked up. How many children and where?” Adam asked.
The man looked at Adam like he was a snake until the High Councilor said, “Answer the man!”
“They were on a field trip in a park on the planet when a dark oval of energy appeared and absorbed them and the teacher. It was a class of 30. Honored Councilors the report I received said the Dungeon was Level 182, The children are only level 176 in this new Updated format.”
Adam looked at the High Councilor before he spoke, “I can help, I need to know the location I’m teleporting to though”
“Adam felt a pressure on his mind which he allowed,
I could not have contacted you this way had you not allowed it, your mental defenses are formidable. Here is the location, the High Councilor sent as the location of the oval became known to him through the nanites that existed throughout this society.
Adam nodded and Teleported to the Oval then touched it.
Would you like to Enter “The Parks Dungeon” Yes or No?
Adam entered the dungeon and found himself in an anti-chamber with 17 children. The kids looked to be 7-11 if they were on Earth, “Where are the other children?” Adam asked.
A few of the kids pointed to a black shimmering curtain. It looked like Bri had kept a few things the same then.
“All of you stay here. I’ll be back shortly,” Adam said as he stepped through the curtain and saw the 13 children fighting for their lives. It looked like a swarm of giant ants was coming from further inside the dungeon and three of the children had been grabbed as other ants were moving in.
Adam activated Stutter-Step and went to work. Instead of being overly brutal, because he knew by what Isabel had said that his density here could harm the children as easily as he could harm the ants. Adam used to teleport to appear beside an ant, rip its mandibles apart then teleport the next. Once he had the first three Children free he corralled the other children into a corner while he fought off the waves of ants. When no more ants came at him or the children and said, “Try to leave through that wall behind you,” When none of the children disappeared he knew he was going to have to clear it.
“So that’s the way you want to play it Dungeon, that’s fine,” Adam said out loud.
Adam summoned nanites with Mold Chaos, enough to give the children snacks and water then used some to create stone walls to prevent anything from finding the children also set them to recycle the air so they wouldn’t suffocate. When there was only a hole big enough for his head he said, “Okay, you all get to stay here and eat snacks. I need you to keep quiet while I go deal with the ugly monsters that appeared. Can you do that?” Adam asked.
The children all nodded and Adam sealed the hole and then added soundproofing and another layer of dirt around the outside. The density of the walls wouldn’t hold if attacked but Adam was hoping he’d be able to deal with the monsters of the dungeon before that could happen.
Adam also reached out with Technomancy and set the nanites to break down the food when it hit the children’s stomachs. They would find they could eat as much as they wanted without getting sick or making a mess which was exactly what Adam wanted them to do. Be too busy eating all the sweets his nanites were making while he took care of the dungeon.
Adam went to work. He activated True sight, though he soon found that it was useless at this level when an invisible ant tried to bite off his head only to be smashed. So Adam decided to play to his strength and began noisily walking through the first floor of the dungeon until he found the nest. His CC group kept track of kills while his health regeneration repaired any damage that the ants did. When he was done he’d killed and looted 55 ants, one of which was the queen. Adam walked around the floor one more time, checked on the kids through his nanites with Technomancy then found the stairway that led down to the second level.
The next level only contained giant praying mantis, not unlike the ambassador he’d bitch slapped in the Pelza Throne room. A little smaller and definitely not intelligent but they were definitely of the same insect family. The stairway led to a giant chamber where 20 soldiers had attacked him and one very large one that come out after its soldiers were dead. A single physical attack killed each.
He cleared that level and then went down to the third level. The floor was covered in sand and was larger than the last chamber he’d been in which wasn’t surprising when a 200-foot-long worm burst out of the sand, which kind of reminded him of the worms from the book Dune and struck like a cobra to cut him in half at the waist. Just before it struck Adam locked himself into place with Flight and waited.
The worm struck with such force and then tried to thrash him that it broke half its teeth on the initial strike and then the other half as it tried to move him. Adam floated up quickly and struck 5 feet back from the mouth with his full strength. He had no idea what that was going to do but was pleasantly surprised when a shockwave burst forth from where his hand struck and the worm exploded doing damage to the walls and ceiling. The sandy floor absorbed the force that descended after the first foot turned to glass from the heat.
Yeah, I’m not going to be able to do that all that often, he thought as he surveyed the damage around him. The good news was that a crack had appeared in the wall where a secret door was sticking out of the wall slightly. Adam floated over, looked inside, and saw,
You have discovered a Dungeon Core. You can claim the Dungeon, Claim the Dungeon Core, or leave it alone. If you Claim the Dungeon, You become the Dungeon Master and will receive a reward of Quintessence weekly based on the experience the dungeon earns each week. If you Claim the Core, the Dungeon is converted into Quintessence that you can use to create new abilities or improve ones that you already have. The number of Quintessence that you will receive if you become the dungeon master is one for every 100 experiences earned. The number of Quintessence that you will receive if you claim the Dungeon Core and permanently destroy the dungeon is equal to the Dungeon bosses level times 100. What would you like to do?
Adam chose "Claim the Dungeon Core." A moment later he found himself stepping into the part outside the entrance to the dungeon with 30 children. Adam checked his clock He’d been inside the dungeon less than 15 minutes. He was about to review his notifications when he was teleported out of the park and back to the Council of Seven.
One thing he really liked and disliked about this society, there was no waiting around when the people in charge wanted to talk to him.