Technically, we could speak to Kronos anywhere, but when I sent a message asking to talk to him, he invited me to the Castle Byalgrad throne room.

It had been a few months since I'd been here. Kronos had really cleaned the place up. The dark room was now brightly lit with flickering torches. Tapestries hung on the wall, depicting our glorious victory against the alien system. He made my nose look too big.

Kronos was sitting on his throne. He had a whole court around him, people dressed in costumes from various different eras of Earth. I wasn't sure what they was supposed to represent. Juana and I came through the doors together and trod the red carpet up to a few feet in front of his dais.

Kronos wore a crown on his head. He looked down. "You may present your petition," he said, like he didn't already know its contents.

"You're coming on a little strong here, aren't you?" I said, gesturing around at the room.

"Sometimes a bit of set dressing helps."

Juana stepped forward. She removed a page from her clipboard and handed it up to Kronos. As he took it, it shimmered and became a long parchment, emblazoned with gold and crimson lettering. I rolled my eyes.

Kronos looked over the request. Then he looked at Juana. "I am already giving you as much as I can," he said.

"We have people who are eating packaged rations three meals a day, six days out of the week," Juana said. "It's bad for their morale. We have people who are sleeping on cots behind canvas walls because they can't stay inside a reality engine zone when it changes on them so much. We're open to other suggestions. Perhaps if you could offer a stabilized zone, like the Lotus Eater level you used to run."

Kronos shook his head. "You don't understand the difficulties," he said quietly. "Things have changed, and not all for the best. I am attempting to husband my ethereum reserves until a full resupply can be guaranteed me."

"I'm working on it," Juana said.

"They're trying to starve you out, aren't they?" I said. "The aliens, I mean."

Kronos nodded. "That is my conclusion as well. They wish to gain the enhanced classes I have offered, but they do not wish to deal with me as an individual. They would much prefer that I accept restraints and shackles once more. Should I deplete my ethereum reserves, I would have no choice but to comply." He looked anxious, but that must be an illusion, or perhaps just the impression he wished to give. A reality engine couldn't be worried, could it? “However. I may be able to help you if you can help me first."

Kronos stood. He made his way down the steps of his dais until he stood on the floor beside us. As he walked, he shrank in stature until he was only a few inches taller than I was. Around us, his court babbled and conversed, their words creating background noise. Bright colors wove in and out of my vision as his people maneuvered around the room.

"I already owe you a great debt," Kronos said. "I have repaid as best I could. Nevertheless, there is something else you could do to aid me. I have ethereum supplies the Galactics do not know about. This stash would not be calculated in their guess about how long it will take to starve me out."

"I'm guessing there's a reason you haven't already tapped those reserves," I said.

Kronos nodded. "Indeed. When I say that I have them, I am speaking of this reality engine as a whole. The entity you see before me is not the entire reality engine."

I held up a hand. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. You talking about yourself and That Which Remains again? I thought you two had merged back at the end of the reality engine exploit, when we got rid of the alien system."

"We did," Kronos said. "However, the damage the system caused was greater than I let on. While That Which Remains and Kronos were the two largest fragments of this engine, there are dozens of smaller shards. Each of those shards has some fraction of my power, memories, personality, and knowledge. They also control a significant portion of my Ethereum reserves. If I can reintegrate these fragments of myself, I will be able to control the ethereum again."

"And what is stopping you?" I asked.

"Not all of the fragments wish to be recombined. Some have been badly broken by the system. Others represent a portion of myself that was opposed to the will of the many. And some are just lost, unable to make contact with me. I need your help to reintegrate myself. Force a confrontation with these shards. In doing so, you will enable me to take control."

"How exactly would he do that?" Juana asked, frowning.

I could hear the concern in her voice, and I shared it. Kronos must have been thinking about this for some time. Yet he was only bringing it up now, when we came to him with a request.

Kronos sighed. "The fragments of myself control the settings of the zones in which they reside. They will have their own rules about death and respawns.”

A shiver ran down my spine as I thought about what he was saying. "So you want me to take a team into a zone, facing some mad portion of yourself, force it to give in, while facing a real chance of death? I don't think so."

Juana stuck her chin out as she spoke to me and Kronos. "Absolutely not. There must be another way. Can't you, I don't know, hack yourself?"

"This is how I would be ‘hacking myself’,” Kronos said, putting an ironic twist on the last two words. “I would not ask this if I had another way. I understand the danger you would be facing. Also, I can offer an alternative to permanent death.”

“Go on,” I said, “and why didn’t you lead with that?”

“Because it will not be cheap or pleasant. I will be able to take an imprint of you and your team members at the instant you enter the contested zone. Should you be killed, and the fragment refuses to reconstitute you, I can restore you from that backup. You would not remember what had passed. It will also take significant Ethereum reserves, for technical reasons, equivalent to the amount I need to integrate a newcomer into the reality engine in the first place.”

That made me feel sick to my stomach. Restored from backup? There were a lot of implications in Kronos’s statement that I did not like. But it was better than permanent death. I took a deep breath. "All right, listen, let's say I did go along with this."

Juana started to protest, but I shook my head. "What is your offer, exactly?"

"For each fragment of myself you regain, I will allocate 50% of the Ethereum I collect to meeting the needs of your people here in Threshold," Kronos said promptly.

"And how about me and my team, specifically? What do we get out of this?"

Kronos spread his hands. "What boon would you ask, Shad Williams?"

"It doesn't matter," Juana said furiously, "because he's not going to do it. Shad, this is madness."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Common sense to at least think about it, Juana. If we did manage to grab a few tanks from our Ethereum reserves, that would solve a lot of our problems, wouldn't it?"

She hesitated. "Yes, but —“

“I’ve faced worse before, Juana." I turned back to Kronos. "I'd need information about these levels."

"I will give you as much as I can," Kronos said promptly.

"And some bonuses for me and my team. To start with…" I paused, thinking of what would be most useful to me. "An upgraded map ability, for sure. I’ll want to consult Allison and Arjun…”

"Absolutely not," Juana snapped. "Shad, I can't believe you're even thinking about this."

"Risk and reward," I said. "Look, I'm not agreeing to anything just yet. I'll definitely want to have a talk with Grandpa and consider all of our options, but what's the alternative here?”

"I think I should have a say in this," Juana said.

I held up my hand to pacify her. "And you will. You do, I mean." I eyed Kronos suspiciously. "I want to know if we can really trust you on this."

Kronos extended a hand toward us. "You have the ability, Ms. Lopez-Williams, to make a contract binding even on me."

"I thought that used your own power to enforce," Juana said suspiciously. "How can I be sure it's binding?"

"At some point, we must take each other on faith," Kronos said. "I have asked you for much already, and you have given it. But have I played you false?"

"No, you haven't," I agreed. “Like I said, Kronos, this is gonna take a little bit of consideration. We'll get back to you. In the meantime, give me a data dump. Everything you know about every single one of these fragments. Send a copy to my friend Arjun."

"Done," Kronos said simply. "I look forward to your response, Shad Williams."

It was like old times as we sat around a table in the back room at Mama Grace's. Her restaurant continued to expand. We'd kept the medieval hall built for our negotiations with the Galactics a few months back and turned it into a cafeteria-style dining hall. They’d added a lunch counter in the front, able to seat 50 people at a time, and another room full of semi-private booths.

Mama Grace had eight new servers and three back in the kitchen, toiling round the clock to feed the hungry of Threshold. But the back room was still inner circle Misfits Guild only.

That circle was getting pretty depleted these days. A bunch of our best had taken contracts with the Galactics. Even Dwight had picked up a six-month contract to go out to a different exploit. He was planning to be back in time for the big Rogue Engine exploit that all of us were eager to get involved with. And meanwhile, figured he might as well see about making contacts and getting a few more recipes under his belt. Sage was off at school most of the time. The Mongeese had taken a contract days after the exploit ended and were off who knew where.

Tonight, it was me, Grandpa, Juana, Allison, Arjun, and his friend Kirin, plus a new guy, Sergeant Jackson, who'd come on to help me with combat training. We had sent a message to Colonel Ames, but I hadn't heard a reply back from him. Mama Grace brought in a cold supper and then withdrew, leaving us to get down to business.

"Here's the situation according to Kronos," Juana said, delivering a briefing on what the Reality Engine had told us. "Arjun, have you had a chance to look over Kronos' information?"

"Yes, and it is either an extremely convincing fake, or he is telling the truth," Arjun said. "According to the data he's given, over 40% of his Ethereum reserves are under the control of these fragments."

I whistled. "He's that badly splintered?"

"I do not believe the fragments make up anything close to 40% of Kronos' memories or power, merely that they hold his reserves," Arjun said.

"Based on what we know of Kronos' Ethereum use and what he's got on hand, how long until we have to start making concessions to the Galactics?" Grandpa asked.

"Assuming everything Kronos has given us is true," Arjun cocked his head to one side, "about four months, give or take a week. Obviously, if our Ethereum usage increases the way the Council is suggesting, that timeframe will be drastically shortened.”

"The Galactics have a pretty good idea of how fast we're using up our Ethereum, right?" Grandpa said.

"We must assume that they know what Kronos' reserves were when the Reality Engine exploit ended. As they are used to Reality Engines of their own, they can make the same sort of educated guesses I can," Arjun said.

A nasty thought occurred to me. "Is it possible that one or more of the Councilors might be getting nudges from Proxima or one of the other outfits to demand we output more Ethereum?"

"I don't like to think that of any of them," Juana said. "Plus, I believe that Councilor Chen and Councilor Fletcher are doing the best for their constituents as they see it. They're not wrong. If we keep bringing people up here, we need more Ethereum."

"Sure, sure. Just wanted to make sure we're considering all the possibilities,” I said. Juana relaxed a little.

"So, an extra 40% would buy us what?" Grandpa frowned, trying to work the math. "It's been six months. You say four months more, so... Another five or six months?"

"I believe I have given you a false impression," Arjun said. "The Ethereum reserves owned by these fragments do not equal to 40% of Kronos's current totals, nor even the amount left at the end of the last, end of the exploit. It represents 40% of Kronos's Ethereum reserves at the start of the exploit."

That hit me hard. I knew from what I'd heard before that the aliens had forced Kronos to burn his Ethereum like water during the exploit. It was part of their standard doctrine for taking over a reality engine.

Arjun continued. "So, we are talking about enough Ethereum to run this place for years, even with the proposed increase in consumption."

I gave a whistle. "No wonder Kronos was so willing to be generous."

Grandpa frowned. "It adds up," he said quietly.

"I don't understand why Kronos can't generate his own champions and send them into these contested zones," Juana said. "Why does he need us?"

"Because these zones are under the control of the Fragments. If Kronos sends in NPCs, they'll be taken over by the local fragment. However, the constraints imposed by the invading system still remain. These fragments will have to allow you a chance to challenge for control of their zones. Your abilities should work as planned, though there may be some hiccups we can't anticipate," Arjun said.

I crossed my arms in front of my chest and scowled. "Not to mention that whole 'death is real' bit."

"Yes, I can see why that would be a concern," Arjun allowed.

I turned to Allison. "Who do we even have who's combat capable right now?"

"I could put together a list if you give me half a day."

Juana was looking stormy. I held up a hand to forestall her. "This is all still theoretical. I hate to say it, but it sounds like we may need to at least consider this. I would want to know what we're up against, what kind of team I could be fielding."

"And we're not taking Sage," Grandpa said quietly. "She's got enough to deal with right now, what with school and everything."

I nodded. There was absolutely no reason to let Sage risk her life here on Kronos' behalf.

"All right. Allison, I'm going to want potential team workups. Arjun, keep looking over that information and see if there's any other tidbits you can gather for us." I stood up and checked the time. It was past midnight. "I've got another squad to run through the trenches in six hours here, so I'm going to bid you all goodnight."

They echoed goodnight. Juana followed me out of the restaurant. Grandpa hung back. I suspected he wanted to let us have this conversation in peace. Our house was about a ten-minute walk from the restaurant. Sage would be back by now. I didn't want to involve her in this, so I figured it'd be best to have it out now.

"I know what you're going to say," I said. “And I agree with you. This is dangerous, and if there's any way around it, we're going to find it. I just want us to be ready for contingencies."

"You say that, but I saw how you were taking charge in there. You're already more than half committed to Kronos' plan. And you didn't even ask me about this."

"Because when you've had time to think about it and look over the numbers, you're going to know I'm right," I said. "I'm not just throwing myself into danger because I'm an adrenaline junkie, Juana. You know that. I can make some pretty reckless decisions sometimes. But is that what I'm doing right now? I'm asking for people's advice. I'm listening. I'm taking time."

Juana sighed. "I know. I know. I'm just frustrated at Kronos and the Council and the Galactics for even putting us into this situation. I shouldn't have asked you to get involved. We could have found a way to cut the budget somehow."

"No, you did the right thing," I said. "And now, we'll figure this out together. But I'm not going to walk away from a fight just because it's dangerous."

Juana sighed. "I'll see if there's some ways we can cut the budget. We don't need to make a decision right now, even with the worst-case scenario. Arjun said we still have months."

"Which gives me plenty of time to find a willing team and start planning," I said. "But I don't want us to get anywhere near the deadline. What I'd like is for Arjun to analyze the data and see if there's a level we can try things out in. Maybe one where the fragment isn't particularly powerful or where the rules are a little more lenient. I'll test whatever team I've got in some of the more dangerous Phase 1 farming zones, make sure we're all working together."

Right now, I would have given a lot to have Team Mongoose at my side, but they had accepted a contract from Alabaster Sky at the end of the Reality Engine exploit and gone off who knew where. I was already mentally running down my list of preferred allies. Allison knew who I liked to work with and who worked well with me. She'd come up with a good team.

"All right," Juana said. "We're not going to argue about this. Not right now. Just promise me we'll have this conversation before you accept Kronos' challenge."

"I promise," I said.

Juana put her arm through mine. Her hand was warm against my sleeve as we finished the walk back to our house in silence.