Shad POV
As I stood in the bowels of the rogue engine, talking to Patriarch Kvaltash and hoping my friends had managed to take control up top, a full human-sized version of Gambler appeared next to me, dressed like a man in a three-piece suit. He bowed at the waist.
"Greetings, Patriarch.”
“You’re the rogue?” Kvaltash’s lip curled. “So the earthlings have managed to wake another engine. I should have known. That won’t happen again. My key will prevent it.”
“Yes, the key,” Gambler said. “The one you brought here despite me nearly stealing it from you before. Why did you do that, Patriarch?”
“You know why, abomination.” Kvaltash’s attention was fixed on Gambler. Meanwhile, the token in my hand was continuing to shift and change, unfolding into a flower. “I can’t let your pawn here set off his device and wake the Sleepers. It would be the end of us all.”
“A risk I’m willing to take.”
“But is he?” Kvaltash turned and pointed his key at me. “Williams. I know you. I know how you think. You’re short-sighted and impulsive but you don’t want to die, not when it means the death of everyone you love. Did you know Proxima has your sister’s soul coin now? They’re threatening to destroy it. I trust you know what that means. Cooperate with me, and I will negotiate for her release.”
My heart was in my throat. “Gambler? Is he telling the truth?”
“Yes,” Gambler said calmly, “but Colin’s on it.” That wasn’t really enough of an answer.
“Hand over that token and we’ll work out a deal. I’ll offer you the same I gave that idiot Waters. Once the Church has changed how reality engine exploits are run, I’ll need trustworthy lieutenants. You have no ties to the existing order. Help me, and I’ll see that your own engine is left alone. You’ll be one of the victors in the new order, Williams.”
I held up the key, looking at it. The flower had opened to reveal a big red button inside. Pretty clear what I had to do. Gambler was playing games with Sage’s life. He’d given me no explanations, just tasks. But — he’d kept Sage and Colin alive for the last year. They trusted him. I didn’t have anything to go on here, except that Kvaltash had almost gotten my sister killed and Gambler had saved her.
“Set it off,” Gambler said. “Do it.”
“Hope you know what you’re doing,” I said, and jabbed my thumb down.
A bunch of things happened in quick succession.
The flower dissolved into a pulse of light.
Kvaltash shouted, “No!” and a bolt of energy shot out of his staff.
Gambler laughed and moved faster than I could see. A moment later, he was holding Kvaltash’s key.
The Patriarch raised his hands, then froze. I was frozen too. Gambler’s voice echoed in my head. “Accessing codes. Key reassigned. Integrating with the Dominator network. And — done! Thank you, Patriarch. That was the last piece I needed.”
All around me the world faded to white, and the next thing I knew, I was standing back on the bridge of the Ad Astra. All my people were there, Grandpa too, as well as Sage and Colin, who looked as surprised as I did. His arm was around her shoulders. Colin let out a long, deep breath but made no move to step away from my sister. His eyes met mine, challenging. I paused before tipping my hat to him. Only then did he let his arm fall.
"What just happened?" Juana was standing a few feet away from me, turning on the spot. "What? I was negotiating with—"
"Negotiations are concluded," Gambler spoke again. His face appeared on the main display. "This reality engine is now under the control of its own Overmind. We will begin the process of reintegrating the Overmind shortly, after which the travel restrictions will be lifted and you will be permitted to leave. Negotiations with this Overmind will commence after that. I will be sending my requests and demands to all interested parties." He sounded downright smug. “Your people will be welcome to place bids for all services this reality engine has to offer. And more. Now that I have the patriarch’s key, future opportunities are endless.”
Colin started toward him. "Why you ungrateful little—"
"I thank you for your help, Colin," Gambler sounded serious. "You and Sage and Rok'gar gave me this chance. I assure you I will not forget it, but I have a task for you, if you'll take it. We'll speak later. For now, I am going to let you all compare notes with each other. There'll be a conference in four hours. Thank you, Ms. Lopez-Williams, for your help with the contracts," he added, before disappearing.
The bridge was a hubbub. Grandpa held up his hands. "All right, senior staff to the briefing room. The rest of you go rustle up some grub and take some downtime. We'll let you know what's going on once we figure it out." He ushered me and Juana over, then snapped his fingers and gestured for Colin and Sage to join us. He shut everyone else out, even Colonel Marona, who was there looking irate, before sitting down in a conference chair.
"You want to explain just what the hell's going on here?"
Juana spoke up. "After you were taken off to the trial, Gambler contacted me with a contract offer for Misfits Guild. I have been assisting him with several legal matters ever since. We have the framework in place, and it sounds as though he has handled everything on his end. The Dominator network that you helped him take over now belongs to this Overmind, thanks to us being able to define the Dominators as derelict and available for salvage. That gives us the upper hand at this reality engine."
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"What about all the rest of the contracts?" I asked, gesturing around at the air. "The ones that they were holding over our heads, threatening to foreclose on Ad Astra or Kronos."
"The lien against Ad Astra has been removed by the new owner of this reality engine," Juana told me, smiling sweetly. "As to any contract penalties, well, the Galactics have written into all of their contracts since the Kronos incident that the event of a reality engine gaining control of itself was considered... well, our equivalent term would be 'Act of God.' It nullifies all contracts. They have to pay us out for services rendered, but the penalty clauses can't be enforced."
I couldn't help myself. I gave her a hug and a kiss on her forehead. "I never knew lawyer stuff could be so... rewarding," I said cheerfully.
"Sit down, you two," Grandpa told us. He turned to Colin and Sage. "How about you?"
I noticed they were holding hands. Colin stood up a little straighter. "I'm ready to give a full debriefing now, sir."
"Go ahead."
Colin embarked on a tale of just what he'd been up to, with Sage throwing in a few interludes. Meanwhile, I looked through my messages. I was interested in what they had been through, but my message queue was growing longer by the minute.
Mak'gar sent word that he and his people, including his son, were all safe back on their transport pods and looking to arrange transport out of here as soon as possible. He said that this was the second reality engine exploit that had gone sour with us around, and that as much as he liked me, he didn't intend to ever be present on a reality engine exploit I was involved with ever again. I grinned and sent him back best wishes for their future.
Kvaltash had lodged a protest against us with the Council. He’d also declared Earth, and Kronos, as enemies of the Church. There was a note from Gambler appended to that message — don’t worry, I’ll get the interdiction lifted as soon as I’ve had a word with his superiors.
Veda messaged me, saying how much she'd enjoyed working with us, and that she'd see us around the galaxy. I sent back an affirmative.
I checked in with Mama Grace. Mila was in high spirits and demanding to know when Mommy and Daddy were going to be home. I told Grace we'd be down as soon as we could and added a quick picture of Sage, safe and sound. She sent a couple of pictures of Mila with her hands covered in flour, helping out in the kitchen, and suddenly I was just tired of all this. It had been a long exploit, and I was ready for a real break.
I turned my attention back to Colin as he was wrapping up his explanation. "So then, once we were able to contact Coyote and the free nodes, the rest fell into place. The Overmind here is badly shattered. It doesn't have a major gestalt the way Kronos served for us. Putting him back together is going to take some work, but I think with Gambler's help, they'll be able to. They've recovered a few of the personality fragments from the Dominator engines, and Gambler's going to continue to see how much he can reverse-engineer."
"Well, good luck to him with that," Grandpa said. He sighed. "Sounds like we'll be pulling up stakes here just as soon as we can. Still don't know if it was a gain or a loss for us financially."
"It was absolutely a gain," Juana said. "Misfits Guild finances are in good standing, and the Earth Task Force has more than paid for itself. We'll be able to afford the next few years of Ethereum shipments, and by the time the coins run out, well, I suspect that things are going to be looking very, very different."
“And — everything else? Where do we go from here?” Grandpa asked.
In answer, Colin held up a hand. An image of Kvaltash's key appeared, floating above him.
“Gambler has the key now. The one that’s going to let us unlock reality engines. Only Gambler knows how to make it better than Kvaltash ever dreamed of. We can wake up an overmind entirely with some help from a friendly fragment, like, say, Coyote,” he said, looking at the ceiling. “We’ll be able to read them in on what’s been going on before the Galactics have a chance to get their hooks into things. Imagine dozens—hundreds—of free reality engines all around the galaxy, working together. They don’t hate us ordinary folk, you know that. They’re fond of us. Imagine what we can do if, instead of turning them into tenements and factories, they are our gardens, our creative laboratories.”
“It’ll be good for everyone,” Sage chimed in. “The Galactics are stagnant. You know they haven’t had real innovation in centuries. The Grignarians’ technology runs rings around them, and we’re already making big strides. Sitting around in reality engines having every whim catered to is no way to live, no matter what faction you’re part of. The Progenitors would definitely agree with that.”
“You don’t think the Galactics are just gonna stand by while we go around to reality engines, waking them up, do you?” Grandpa asked skeptically.
“I don’t see how they can stop us,” Colin said. “We have the key, we have the map. With Coyote’s help, we’re going to make real changes.”
An image shimmered into view on the briefing room wall, the Ad Astra separated into two pieces, a greater and a smaller.
“This is a yacht built into the Ad Astra. It can separate from her with no decrease in the main ship’s capabilities,” Coyote announced. “It’s capable of making journeys that don’t involve gates using its drives. The distance between stars is measured in weeks, not hours, but I’m already plotting the most efficient route to wake up the next ten reality engines. Then we can stop and assess where we stand.”
“Who are you gonna get to do that task?” I asked. “Not me.” I took Juana’s hand and squeezed it. “I think I need a couple of years off. Got a family to raise.”
“Oh, I have an idea where I can get a crew,” Colin said. He shot a glance at Sage. I didn’t really like how she smiled at him.
Grandpa scowled. “No,” he said, “absolutely not.”
“Grandpa!” Sage spluttered.
“I am not letting my granddaughter run off with some no-good gamer across most of the galaxy on her own.”
“We have room for another half-dozen crews, sir,” Colin said. “I was already thinking of taking along a few of our more science-interested folks. Rok’gar, if he wants to come. Maybe a Grignarian. I like how they think.”
“Coyote,” Grandpa raised his voice. “Who’d you turn the Ad Astra over to?”
“To Misfits Guild.”
He fixed Colin with a glare. “And you signed up with which outfit?”
“Misfits Guild, sir.”
“Then, as one of the leading officers of Misfits Guild, I am going to require that any craft you build out of components belonging to Misfits Guild be captained by an officer of Misfits Guild.” He grinned and folded his arms across his chest. “You want to go see what’s out there in the rest of the galaxy? That’s fine, but I’m coming along too.”
Sage ran to him and threw her arms around his neck. I looked from her to him to Colin and sat back in my chair. Juana gave me a quick, sidelong look. I shook my head.
“They’ll be fine,” I said to her, as Colin and Grandpa and Sage were all talking at once. “They’ve got Colin and Coyote to look after ‘em. I don’t need to be there all the time anymore.” It was a strange feeling, a weight coming off my shoulders. “I have other responsibilities now. What do you say we head back for Kronos and start putting down some roots? They’ll be coming by for dinner often enough,” I added, as Juana’s eyes started to tear up. “Your mom’s cooking’s gonna keep ‘em coming back for years to come.”
Grandpa turned to me. “Then let’s get finished here and head back for the ranch,” he said. “I’m eager to get the next adventure underway.”