Rick leaned closer to the mission running board and studied it. Each mission was written on a card in neat letters. There was a title, a category, a summary, and a completion time, as well as spaces at the bottom for the names of the players assigned to the mission to be written in.

"It looks like we can assign combat players and non-combat players," Rick said, his brow furrowed. "Does that mean these don't involve fighting?"

Gambit leaned in and looked for himself. Then he reached out and plucked one of the cards from the board.

"It doesn't really say in the description, but above the player names, there's a row of icons. Look here."

Gambit held up the card in his hand. At the bottom, just above the places to write in the player names, there was a little sword icon and a bumpy cloud icon.

Rick squinted at it. "I can't tell if that's supposed to be a brain or a thought bubble."

The mission itself read: [Procure Supplies]. The description stated: [A caravan has broken down outside of town. They have supplies, but no way to transport them. Someone clever might be able to ‘convince’ them to part with some]. The reward listed just said ‘supplies’. Rick noticed the word "convince" had quotation marks around it.

"Does this mean they're supposed to intimidate them or beat them up and steal their stuff?" Rick wondered.

Gambit shrugged. "Beats me. Have someone run it and ask them how it went."

Rick read over the text again. "Who do you think would be any good for it?"

There were places for two player names. Rick scanned down the list of the Martian crew members. Two of them had sword icons next to their names: Theo and Martel. All of them had a little cloud icon.

Rick plucked one of the player cards off the board. It was Theo.

“Theo. Human. Male. Warrior. Intelligent," Rick read aloud. "Theo hopes to prove he's still useful while pretending he's not doing it to impress Nia."

Rick flushed, finding the text intrusive. He didn't need to know that much detail. He put the card back on the board but noticed it had the same icons as the other: a sword and a little brain, as well as a wrench.

Gambit reached out and tapped the card in Rick's hand. "See? He's intelligent, militant…”

“And handy with tools," Rick finished. “But who else should I send?"

Gambit considered. "You should ask Sam. She should know the crew pretty well."

"Ask me what?" Sam's voice sounded from just behind them.

Rick jumped in surprise. "Nothing!" he said reflexively. He took a breath and pointed to the mission board.

Sam leaned in close, her hair brushing his shoulder. Her hair smelled like flowers, and Rick took a half step back.

"Oh, sweet! A mission board?" Sam exclaimed, her eyes lighting up.

Rick held out the card he still had for the supply run mission. "Here.”

“We were thinking this would be good for Theo." Gambit interjected, tapping Theo's player card on the board.

As Sam looked back and forth between the mission card and Theo’s card, she nodded. "Seems straightforward enough."

"We should probably ask him first," Rick mused.

Sam shook her head. "No need. He's been bored. He'll love this."

"Still," Rick said, glancing at the stub of pencil taped to a piece of string dangling at the side of the board.

Sam snatched it up and scratched Theo's name onto the mission card. "See? Nothing to it."

"But shouldn't he consent to both—" Rick trailed off as both Sam and Gambit looked at him askance.

"Dude, you're the leader," said Gambit.

Sam nodded and stabbed a finger toward his chest. "Exactly! The captain of the ship doesn't ask who wants to do a job. He just hands them out."

"Well, sometimes he might ask," Rick muttered.

Sam folded her arms and glared at him. The move stretched the cloth of her silvery gown across her chest, and Rick tried hard to keep his eyes above her neck.

He sighed. "Fine. Alright, who else do you think should go?"

Sam considered. "Theo has both required skills, so I guess we could send anyone."

"But," Gambit interjected, "there'd probably be a higher chance of success if we send someone else with similar skills."

Sam nodded slowly. "Good point." She scanned down the list. "We sure have a crew of brainiacs, don't we? But we're a bit short on other skills. Hey, we have enough people to run more than one mission. Why not queue up a couple?”

Rick shook his head. “No, I think we should start with just one until we understand how they go. We can ask Theo afterward and get a feel for what these are all about. Just pick someone who works well with Theo, and let’s send them."

Sam narrowed her eyes and looked at him like she wanted to disagree. But after a long moment, she nodded. "Alright," she said slowly. "That seems reasonable."

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

She put emphasis on the word, like she thought reasonable and overly cautious meant the same thing.

Rick felt an urge to explain himself—to tell her how he was concerned about the pitfalls to the crew and how much combat might be involved, or whether a non-combat player could even go on such a quest. But he was trying to live up to the leadership role that Sam and Gambit obviously expected of him. And a leader didn't need to explain their orders, did they? She had already said as much, so he left it at that.

As soon as Sam had written the second name on the mission card, Rick got a pop-up.

[Do you want to send Theo and Vargas on the mission, Procure Supplies? Yes/No.]

Feeling like he was overstepping, he selected "Yes."

Mere moments later, the door slammed open, and Theo came running in. Rick felt a jolt of worry. Theo might be upset.

"Missions?" Theo burst out. "Sweet! This is excellent!"

He was rubbing his hands together. Nia came hurrying into the room behind him.

"What is it? What's going on?" she demanded.

"I'm going on a mission!" Theo said, his voice brimming with excitement. He stepped over to Rick and stuck out his hand. "Thanks, boss! It's been way too long!"

Rick stuck out his own hand, and Theo shook it enthusiastically. Rick stood with a dazed expression as Theo continued shaking it.

Diego Vargas came in a moment later. "What's this about a mission?"

Theo grabbed him by the arm and dragged him toward the door.

"Don't you see the timer, man? There's no time to explain. Let's get going!"

"What? Hey!"

And then they were gone.

Nia's expression turned sour as she swept her gaze between Sam and Rick. For a long moment, she didn’t speak. Then she said, "Can someone explain missions to me?"

Rick stepped away from the board and gestured for her to take a look. She leaned in and glared at it for a moment. It was nice working with highly educated and trained astronauts. Not only were they smart, but they knew how to piece things together for themselves and think on their feet.

"So," Nia said after a moment, "you can assign NCPs to missions and get rewards. Is there danger?"

Her glare was back.

"I..." Rick stammered, looking at Sam for help.

"Um..." Sam looked embarrassed. "We don’t know."

"But we had to send someone on one sometime. How else were we going to find out?" Gambit interjected.

Nia’s floodlight glare swung in his direction. "I don’t know. Maybe you could have asked your game guide?" she snapped.

The other three exchanged a look that said, “Oh, I didn’t think of that.”

After Nia had stalked out, there was an awkward silence. Sam was back at the board, perusing the missions. She plucked one off the board and held it out to Rick. "This one looks really easy. Maybe we should give it a try too? It's a completely different sort of mission."

Rick took it from her and studied the card.

[Craft equipment.]

The description read: [The caravan's adventurers need gear. Craft one piece of leather armor in the workshop. Required skills: None. Grants skill points in Armorsmithing. Armorsmith skill will affect armor created. ]

This one had another line indicating the reward would be one piece of leather armor.

"Nice!" Rick said and nodded. "Who would be a good choice?"

Sam was looking back over the people. "We're kind of short on crafting skills, aren't we? Just Diego Vargas and Daniel..."

"We're going to need him tomorrow to work on the quest," Rick said.

Gambit chuckled. "And if he's not fresh, it's because he'll stay up all night building traps in the workshop. Believe me, we want more of those.”

Sam considered the situation. “We need to recruit more crafters. Or one of you should take up a hobby.”

Rick started to ask Gambit if he wanted to try. He’d shown some interest in the crafting system, back in the starter town.

"Hey," Gambit interjected. "What do you think of that hermit in the starship hangar? Do you think she would come? I bet she has amazing crafting skills. Or the lady with the time machine?"

"Hermit? Starship hangar? Time machine?" Sam asked, wide-eyed.

Rick grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess we have a few things to explain."

Rick entered his cabin and looked around. At first, it didn't look much different than it had before, maybe a bit bigger, certainly not matching what he’d been building up in his mind. As he looked more closely, his disappointment receded. The bed was slightly larger, as far as he could tell without laying in it. It certainly looked less cramped. Two walls which had been smooth and blank before now each sported a door.

He crossed the floor, noting the new rung, and opened the first. It was empty except for a bar running across the top and a couple of hangers, but as soon as he opened the door fully, an interface dialogue popped up.

[Do you want to sort the items of clothing you have in inventory into the wardrobe system?]

Rick hesitated and then hit accept. There wasn't anyhing particularly memorable in his inventory except his old ship suit and the soft boots they had worn on the space cruiser, along with a few other odds and ends like the headband Gambit had crafted the first day.

[Fifteen items have been sorted by the wardrobe. Do you want to see suggested sets?]

Rick selected yes. The first set listed was [SpaceR Astronaut Set] and included the jumpsuit he had been wearing when he first arrived, as well as boots, socks, and an undershirt that had gone with it. His underpants were listed with an asterisk. When he focused on that, a message popped up.

[This item appears in multiple sets. Changing sets will clean and repair any damage to this item]

Sweet. He could wear the same underwear forever without it getting crusty, a true gamer’s dream come true.

There was an option to save his current gear into a custom set. He wasn't sure if the gear would stay on him, but since he was in a safe place and behind closed doors, it didn't matter. He selected that option. A new set appeared in the list the wardrobe was displaying, but his clothes stayed put. When he inspected, the set listed every item of gear he currently had on. There were several notable holes in the list, several spaces for jewelry left blank.

The wardrobe system looked very interesting and potentially useful, but until he had more gear, there wasn't much for him to do with it yet. Rick closed the closet and opened the opposite door. He grinned. It was a tiny bathroom. Rick stepped inside. The toilet had a bidet attachment that reminded him of one he’d used in a high-end hotel in Tokyo during an Everwar tournament three years ago. That had been the highlight of his trip, and he was going to love this one. There was a shower cube with a frosted glass door. Inside were several dispensers holding different colored gels and washes, and a cubby with an odd device that, after inspection, turned out to be a razor/trimmer device with a ton of options.

He turned to the mirror. A dialogue popped up. [Further upgrades required to enable cosmetic options]. He dismissed that; the mirror reflected his features, and that was all he cared about.

It had been a long day and he was dead tired. The magic wardrobe made stripping out of his gear only take a moment. He fell into bed and waited for sleep to come.

A popup appeared [Further upgrades required to enable enhanced rest options]. He wondered what those would be. As tired as he was, his mind was still full of the days events. Rick found himself browsing through his skill tree and not sleeping.

Sam intruded on his thoughts. How did he really feel about her? When he had left Earth, he had been worried and desperate to find out if she was okay. Then, when they found out she was alive and well, he had been focused on catching up with her and getting her in their party. Together, he’d fulfilled what he had set out to do: find her and make sure she was safe. He had told himself he wanted her in the party because she was a good tank and because his mission had been to find her.

But was that all there was to it? Rick shook himself and closed his interfaces. If he was going to get any sleep tonight, he needed to do the one thing he had been practicing hard for the last year and a half: put Sam out of his mind.

He sighed. As always, it was easier said than done but sleep came eventually.