I spent the whole trip out to Ganymede in a state of excitement. When we docked at the enormous space station, I got a good glimpse of it through my window. It was built like a giant rotating cylinder made of shining metal. Other vessels were docking with us: the soup can designs I'd seen launching from Earth, and others that I quickly realized were alien spaceships. Honestly, they were disappointing. No Klingon battle cruisers or Millennium Falcons. Most of them were like giant cargo containers—big rectangular boxes that slid in through the gaping hatch in the end of the cylinder and disappeared.
As we settled in our berth and the attendants came through, the rest of the passengers stood up to disembark. I waited until Colonel Twofeather and a couple of aides arrived. They helped me off the ship and into my loathed chair, which sat waiting on the dock beside me. Colonel Twofeather grunted, "I'll take him from here," and started pushing me himself. I was missing the powered chair already, but I wasn't going to be needing it for much longer.
Excitement rose in me as I looked around. We were standing in a huge sterile docking chamber. I could see a dozen ships near me, all standing upright on the deck, noses pointed toward the ceiling far above where a vast circle of stars shone. As I watched, another can pushed through an invisible barrier into the docking chamber, descending silently and smoothly to the deck.
People disembarked from the ships, hurrying out to the edges of the chamber where doors led inward. It was like Heathrow Airport but even more chaotic, and without the constant overhead announcements. I wondered how traffic control was being handled.
Colonel Twofeather pushed me toward the wall opposite, where people were lining up to go through doors. "We call this the Hub," he said. "Aliens brought it out here and they left it as part of our settlement at the end of the Reality Engine exploit. Ownership rights have been turned over to Kronos.”
“I don't quite understand. Is the Reality Engine a person, or a corporation, or…”
Colonel Twofeather sounded skeptical as he answered, "Yeah, I don't rightly understand myself. Treat him like a person. The smartest, most powerful person you've met. But he's not God, right? I keep trying to drill that through people's heads. He can be effectively anywhere and effectively sees everything that happens inside the Reality Engine. So for those purposes, maybe he's God. But he's got limits. Despite owning the Hub, he can't see up here outside of his data net connections. And he's got his own agenda. Sometimes that helps us, sometimes it doesn't. Keep that in mind. First thing you're gonna do when we get down there is integrate.”
"I'm looking forward to it," I said. I noticed most people disembarking were streaming for a set of platforms leading off in one direction, whereas Colonel Twofeather and I were going a different way. "Where are we going?"
"Before we take the space elevator, we're gonna get you outfitted," the colonel said. "Since you're one of our special projects, I'll oversee that myself.”
“Outfitted? I thought I didn’t need to bring anything along.”
“Well, see, Kronos is, you could say, whimsical. He likes to offer classes based on the things you've got on you. We found that out accidentally back at the start of the exploit. Those of us who looted everything in our surrounding had more options open to us. My grandson, for instance, got a class based on the coat he was wearing and the gun he was wielding. We want to make sure to get you a useful class, so I'm taking you to the warehouse."
We reached a door leading deeper into the space station, a square eight feet on a side and jet black. It whooshed open at our presence. We stepped in, the door whooshed closed, and then the opposite wall disappeared entirely, letting us through.
I looked up and my jaw dropped. We were inside the cylinder now. Over my head was empty space, and then far, far above I could see the other side of the cylinder where people were walking upside down on a street like the one we were on. I looked back in front of me. It looked like an old-fashioned shopping mall, with white tiled floors and different openings and entrances everywhere.
I tried to estimate how big this place was. About a hundred meters down, we stopped at a pair of doors marked with an image of Earth superimposed with a pair of cooking tongs and a stylized axe.
"What's this?"
“This belongs to Misfits Guild.” The colonel stepped around my chair: I could see his face now. He glanced at me, probably saw my confusion, and continued. "We've got a confusing web of alliances you're gonna have to negotiate here, kid. The contract you haven't signed yet will be with the Joint Task Force . This here warehouse belongs to my guild. Well, it's turned into a company now but we still call it Misfits Guild. It's a bunch of us original miners from the exploit who banded together to try to survive. We've done pretty well for ourselves. We also happen to own the only starship in human hands, so we're working pretty closely with the Joint Task Force anyway. There'll be conflicts of interest, but we'll get that sorted out sooner or later. For now, I am misusing my position as one of the officers of Misfits Guild to get you at our stock, and my position on the JTF to jump you to the head of the line for integration.”
"Isn’t that against the law?”
“Probably on Earth. Here? Well it helps to be friends with the guy who makes the rules.” He stepped up to a panel set into the bulkhead next to the door, and spoke clearly. “Louis Twofeather.”
The door slid open at his voice. I turned my wheels to push my chair inside. The ceilings went up 15 or so feet. The walls were lined with rows and rows of shelves. Honestly, it looked like that warehouse from Indiana Jones where they hid the Ark of the Covenant. Crates, boxes, containers stacked high. "What is this?"
"It's junk," the colonel explained as we slowly rolled down the aisles. I noted the labels on each shelf, listing what was in each crate. Barbecue equipment. Bike repair. Lawn and garden tools, home. Lawn and garden tools, commercial.
“But — why? And how?”
"When we were first abducted, the aliens picked up us and anything that was within a hundred-foot or so radius of us. Those of us with wits looted everything we could and stuck it in our inventories. After the end of the exploit, we decided that it would be a good idea to put it somewhere central so we can outfit newbies who are coming through. There is a rhyme and reason to this organization. I can tell you exactly where anything you might want can be."
He led me to the next aisle over. "This whole aisle is weapons. We've got guns, swords, knives, Nerf bats. You pick your poison. You like a katana? Those are a pretty popular item, but I think we've still got a few. Or are you more of a gun nut?"
I winced. I hadn't held a weapon ever. Nothing more exciting than a steak knife anyway. “I dunno. You say Kronos will offer me a class based on what I'm carrying."
"That's right," Colonel Twofeather confirmed.
"Okay.” A plan was starting to take shape. “Okay. I want D&D books. Have you got those? Any kind of role-playing manuals. I want a physics textbook. I want games. Video games. Cartridges, CDs, anything that contains the data for a game.”
He looked a bit bemused. "We can find that," he allowed. "But you're gonna have to have a weapon.”
"Right, sure," I tried to think. Then I had it. "I want a Swiss Army knife."
“A Swiss Army knife.” He shook his head. “Hope my grandson knows what he’s getting. Ok, we’ll find your gear.”
Colonel Twofeather equipped me with everything I asked. He did hint a few times that I might want something with a little more firepower. "We can always buy you a laser rifle from the Galactics," he said at last, after I refused a third time.
“It’s not that I don’t want to fight. I just don’t want to make my whole build around a single weapon,” I explained, clutching a knapsack full of my loot.
“Ok, let’s head down.”
This space elevator was a surprise and delight for the first 20 minutes. When the colonel told me it would be another four hours before we got to the surface, I groaned and leaned back in my seat. I was so done with the chair. I just wanted my legs.
The colonel seemed to be busy communicating with other people. He had that frown and distant look that you see on people when they're texting. He had no phone or other device in his hands. I figured he he must be doing it mentally. Another exciting thing to look forward to here.
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When at last we landed, there was someone waiting for us at the foot of the elevator. A pretty young, Hispanic-looking woman, probably about five or six years older than me. She looked worried. As the colonel stepped down, she hugged him, then launched into what felt like the second half of a conversation. “I just got done speaking to multiple teachers at her school. It’s no mistake. Sage is missing, along with some of her classmates. Nobody knows where.”
He patted her. "All right, Juana, we'll figure this out. Sage has a good head on her shoulders. She’ll be ok until we get there.”
The woman turned and arranged a smile on her face. She held her hand out to me. "I'm Juana Lopez-Williams. Here on Threshold I’m part of the town council that tries to manage things. Mostly we're just here so that people have someone to yell at. Kronos does all of the real work. I'm also married to Shad Williams, who recruited you."
I remembered yesterday Colonel Twofeather had mentioned Williams was missing. “Any word on him?"
"No." Juana shook her head. “And now his sister Sage is missing, too. She’s a student here. Her class was doing an exercise, and she’d disappeared.”
"We'll give him the whole briefing once he's been inducted," the colonel said.
"Louis, the Joint Task Force is treating this as a military matter. They keep brushing me off. I can't even get the air marshal to speak to me."
"I'll take care of it," the colonel said. "Tell you what, Juana, this kid hasn't had a good meal in I don't know how long. How about you and your mom rustle up some grub? I’ll bring him by the restaurant as soon as he’s done with induction.”
Juana frowned, then nodded. "Got it. I'll be there."
She hurried off. The colonel was looking at me. "It's quite a sight, isn't it?" he said as I stared around.
The space elevator platform was in the center of a bustling town full of buildings that looked as though they'd been thrown together from whatever was at hand. Some of them looked like prefab houses or built from containers stacked two or three tall. Others had tarps for awnings draped in front of this and that.
"It's a work in progress," he said. "You should have seen it a year and a half ago." The wide street bustled with people but it wasn't them I was looking at. It was the portals. I could catch a glimpse of them at the end of the street. Several the portals were in a ring about a third of a kilometer from me. They were enormous circles of dark stone or metal and in the center of each was shimmering light. Red, green, blue, yellow.
“That's them?” My mouth was suddenly dry.
"Yep," said the colonel. "Let's go to intake. I just arranged for us to get an empty one.”
The portal was mounted on a platform with steps, of course. One final indignity. I stared up the four feet of stairs as a couple of brawny men that the colonel had no doubt summoned joined us. They lifted me up onto the platform, then the colonel pushed me through.
We were in a small forest clearing. A squirrel ran up a trunk close by. I paused halfway up and eyed it. Its bushy brown tail cocked over its back. I eyed it back. I was still in my chair. My legs didn't work. "What now?" I asked the colonel nervously.
"Just sit tight, boy," he said. A pair of axes appeared in his hand, and he slipped silently to the side. Then he called, "All right, Kronos, send it."
A moment later, there was a loud crashing noise. I sat tensed in my wheelchair. The crashing got louder and louder. It was coming through the brush directly in front of me. I had a lap full of useless gaming junk. My hand clasped the Swiss Army knife I'd asked for, but it didn't make much of a weapon.
Then it burst out of the bushes right in front of me. A bear, already looming over me on four feet, reared up at least ten feet tall, its paws erect as it roared. I screamed. I grabbed at the wheels of my chair, scattering Nintendo cartridges and DVD cases everywhere. The forest floor was not conducive to wheelchairs. I pushed myself back about three inches and got stuck on something. Sheer panic overwhelmed me.
Colonel Twofeather materialized behind the bear. He struck it a couple of times with his axes. It roared in anger and whirled on him. He darted around faster than I could follow until he was behind it once more. After more chops, the bear's roars began to sound more pitiful. For a moment, it started to sway, then dropped to four feet. Twofeather attacked, his hands flailing wildly as he chopped deep into the bear's skull. It crashed to the forest floor in a pool of blood and lay still.
I stared at it, breathing deeply. My eyes must have been wide as dinner plates. When the colonel looked at me, he shook his head. His axes disappeared.
"Sorry. Thought you understood how this worked."
"Hah, hah," I managed. “Understood. Sure. Experience is — something else.”
“Don’t worry.” He grinned at me. “You’re not the first one to shit your pants during integration.” He bent down. Something glowed over the bear's body. The colonel reached out and touched it. It solidified into a large golden coin on his hand. He handed to me. "All right, we're done with that part. Nothing else is going to attack us for a while. Go ahead." He held it out.
I reached with shaking fingers and took the coin in my palm. For a couple of heartbeats, I could feel it clutched between my thumb and forefinger, cool, hard metal. And then it vanished. There was a rush of warmth and tingling all over my body. It grew more and more intense until all I could feel or see was warm light surrounding me.
I felt my limbs stretch. I was in a standing position, my arms and legs extended. The tingling warmth grew stronger from my waist down. It was rebuilding my body, fixing my spine, healing the severed neurons. A moment later, the sensation died away.
I looked down at myself. I was standing next to my wheelchair. I took a step. My legs worked. My real legs. This wasn't a virtual reality simulation like the coffins in Vegas. This was real. I gave a cautious little jump then, aware of the colonel's eyes on me, took a deep breath and straightened up.
He was looking at me with amusement. "It's all right, kid," he said quietly. “I felt the same way. Welcome to your second life." He clapped me on the shoulder. "Now, shall we go see about class selection?"
The world changed around me. Now I was in a dark room. The colonel's voice sounded in my ear. "We've got a whole induction sequence we run through with most people, but you're a quick study and you've read a lot of this already, so I'm going to get right to it and let Kronos help you out. I'll be here on the other side."
Message boxes appeared all around me. I spun, looking at them all. They were labeled with various different titles. The first one I spotted read, [Superhero in a Chair] As I looked, the box expanded, giving more details. [Combined with the item "wheelchair." Lose mobility in legs. In exchange, can use the item “Rocket Propelled Wheelchair." Wheelchair can be modified to contain a rocket launcher, grenades, and rear-mounted AK-47s. Agility reduced to a maximum of .2xStamina, Intelligence base increased to 14].
I minimized that one right away. I didn't care how much armament my wheelchair could fit. I was not going back in that thing.
The array of choices was bewildering. There was a [Mushroom Jumper] class offered to me. I checked the details. [You may spawn three different types of mushrooms, which will each give you a benefit. Type one, blue. Jump atop the mushroom and double jump to achieve extra high bouncing. Type two, green Turns health for you or other members of your party. Type three, red. Collect mushroom to serve as a grenade. Other types of mushroom open at higher levels.]
Interesting, but not what I was looking for. I looked more closely at the menu options I was only just noticing in my top right corner. There was a filters section. I expanded it. It had a list of everything I had with me. I selected "show classes compatible with" and then selected everything except the wheelchair.
All my choices vanished. Guess I wasn't going to be greedy here.
By trial and error, I started narrowing the possible classes down. At last, I had three choices. I studied each of them.
The first was [Default Protagonist.] [Take on ability sets of a specific hero archetype. Archetpye set may be swapped when out of combat. Base starting class options: First person shooter, Space marine, Puzzle jumper, FIFA World Cup player.]
That could be cool. Each of the archetypes, when I drilled down, had a couple of abilities. Potentially very versatile.
Second was [Dungeon Master] [Summon various monsters appropriate to your level to challenge enemies. Enemies get Saving Throws against any debilitating effects. While summonses are present, you cannot flee.] The starting list of possible monsters pulled heavily from the D&D 3.5 Monster Manual I had in my bag, mixed in with the Pokemon cards I’d grabbed.
Interesting, but I didn’t really see myself as a controller sort.
I looked deeply at the last class. It offered to bind with two items that I brought along from the warehouse. The first, as I'd hoped, was the Swiss Army knife, which would be transformed into a Multitool. It would start out blank, but as I collected tools from inside of instances, I could copy their abilities into it and store them for later. That would be better than just having them in my inventory and swapping out because I’d start with a boosted ability to use any tool I had saved, they were unbreakable, and I could enhance the Multitool as I leveled up.
The second item was a journal I had grabbed off of a rack of books because it had a faux leather cover and an embossed design of a dragon on it. The pages themselves were empty and I had almost rejected it before deciding to bring it along with me. Now I was glad I hadn’t.
[The Book of Possibilities. Learn skills and store them within the pages of the Book of Possibilities.
This will limit you to four active abilities at a time, with a 10 second cooldown on swapping an active ability for one in your book. However, the book is constantly expanding and without limit.
You may also have two passive abilities selected at any time from your options. Starting Abilities:]
It presented me with a list of six.
[Analyze. Passive upgrade to Inspect, which will allow you to see more details.]
[Quick Start. A passive boost in how fast you acquire proficiency of any new tool. All tools start with a proficiency of [Amateur] rather than [Novice] and skill increases rapidly. Skill beyond the system threshold of [Master] is possible]
[Pause Game. Active. Freeze time for five seconds.]
[Swipe. Steal an item from a hostile within six yards]
[Power up. For thirty seconds you have maximum proficiency whatever tools you have in hand when skill is activated. Four minute cooldown.]
[Power Combo. Combine two or more unused skill seeds into a single new skill seed that takes elements from both.]
That sounded incredibly overpowered. Being limited to only four at a time certainly had its difficulties, but the versatility, especially when combined with the Swiss Army Knife, I couldn't pass it up. I selected [Jack of all Trades] and confirmed my choice.