John thought about following James and his friends. He knew that when he had bragged about his math skills just now, that he was probably wrong. James' abilities in algorithms dwarfed everyone he knew, by a lot. Still, he hated that smug bastard.

He turned and walked back into the Columbia math building. John walked with purpose up two flights of stairs to his office, taking two steps at a time. He unlocked the door and quickly closed it behind him. He gazed out at his pathetic view of the backside of an old run down factory that had yet to be replaced with a skyscraper. A mediocre office for someone who had, up until today, been mediocre.

John looked at his skill levels:

Mathematics: 24

Algorithms: 16

Italian cooking: 11

Sudoku: 9

Piano: 8

Accordion: 7

When that stupid program, what was it called again? Doug? When it had first walked him through his skills he only had Mathematics at a level 14 and Algorithms at 10. He'd made up the difference on the skills that mattered and inadvertently collected those other useless skills by extracting them from his colleagues.

After learning about trading skills he sought Professor Salvatorri out and asked if the old man would share his Math knowledge. The man, or he supposed really the program, didn't seem interested in collaborating with John. Salvatorri belittled John, arguing that they should be upgrading their software so that 'we could learn more about the simulation, not trying to feel better about ourselves.'

So John grabbed the letter opener off of his desk and stabbed Salvatorri in the shoulder. Simulation or not, that made the old man very cooperative.

John told him to hand over all of his skills, and he did. John supposed he could have let him go then, but why? Didn't the old man say we should upgrade our software. Now that John had his skills, did the world need this Salvatorri program any longer?

John tried to take him into his inventory, but Doug told him that would require the other program's consent. Something about the complexity of merging a sentient program into another, blah blah blah. John asked if he could take all of the old man's potential energy if the other program were dead. Doug gave him a long, wandering response about how potential energy drops rapidly the moment a person dies. So John made sure to put him into inventory the moment he stabbed his old department head in the heart.

Not only did John's potential energy jump, he also gained access to Salvatorri's computation, memory and networking resources.

A little voice inside of him suggested what he did had been wrong. That voice vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Everything in this world is a simulation. He didn't kill anyone, he just absorbed their code. Moral codes don't apply, do they?

Rule one of any ecosystem, if you aren't the hunter, you are the hunted. Well, John wouldn't be the hunted. Not with this second chance he had been given.

What next? He thought about that run in with James. His arm looked like a computer. He wanted that too. But James had been flanked by two people, one a fighter of some sort. What caused him to come into the city?

He found it easier to work things out now that he had Salvatorri's extra processing juice. He worked through all the possibilities. And then it hit him. James built a team. Or was in the process of doing that.

But why? Why not just take their abilities? Was he stupid? Maybe he was stupid. Maybe James wouldn't let go of his previous rules. Rules that no longer applied. Dumb and weak.

James smiled. If most people thought like James, that meant he could leapfrog them all.

Still, three against one had been enough to dissuade John from attacking James just now. John decided that he should build his own team. He laughed. His team would be so much stronger than James'. His wouldn't have any issues killing and absorbing other resources. He just needed to make sure he would always be the strongest of his own clan.

John pulled up Google on his computer and began to make a list of businesses whose owners or workers he would want to take from. Gyms, karate studios, jails, what else?

After he made my list he gave some thought to who he might want helping him.

He called Ruby, his old classmate from undergrad. She worked for the Mayor of New York. Every time they got together for coffee she complained about how under appreciated she was. Having someone who could find out what the government was up to would be really helpful.

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John called her. Cellphones still worked, that was good. She picked up on the fifth ring.

"John? Now is not a good time," she said in a harrowed voice. She must have been walking. John decided time mattered more than secrecy.

"I figured out how to absorb other people into me. I'm going to be very strong, very soon. I can help you."

She didn't respond, but the sound of the air brushing by the microphone stopped as well.

"Meet me at our normal coffee spot near city hall in one hour." She hung up.

He smiled. One hour. That should be enough time for him to hit one, maybe two more programs before the meeting.

He strolled on over to the Fit Gym on 51st and walked in. No one sat behind the front desk and only one person appeared to be working out.

He went up to a bulldozer of a man bench pressing, he don't know, maybe 300 pounds.

"Need a spot?" John asked pleasantly.

The man looked at his clothes and tilted his head in confusion. "Don't look like workout clothes to me."

John looked down at his khakis and blue button down shirt. He'd forgot. "Yeah, everything is bonkers today, my laundry mat didn't open today."

The bodybuilder smiled. "Yeah, bonkers is right. Sure, you can spot me."

John put his hands under the bar and watched as the giant did rep after rep. At eleven reps John started to wonder if he would ever tire. Fortunately the rhino barely made it to twelve. He looked at John for help. That's when John shoved the bar forward, catching him by complete surprise. It landed on the man's lower chest and you could hear ribs snap.

"Help." He scrambled to push the bar off, but he couldn't get leverage.

John feigned confusion, "It's too heavy. Listen, transfer all your skills to me so I can help you." The body builder struggled a little longer, attempting to push the bar aside, but John kept it centered while pretending to help. "Let me help you!" John yelled.

And then John saw his skills jump and he knew it had worked. He added +15 on body building and +13 on cycling along with a bunch of other random ones.

Now that he had the skills, he finished the job. John pulled out his knife and plunged it into his chest of the suffocating man. The body builder's eyes bugged out, but John only watched for a second or two before taking the body into his inventory.

He looked around, still no one. He thought about James' computer arm again and decided to try something.

He went into his lab and grabbed the body of the meathead he had just killed and put the man's arm on the virtual table. He took his own arm from inventory and added it to the lab table. Then he nudged them together. They bubbled together, as though the cells of the two bodies waltzed around each other. This bored him, and he willed it to speed up.

And then the bubbling stopped and John's arm looked huge on the lab table. He attached it back to his own body and examined himself in the wall mirror of the gym. It had an unnatural girth that made it look a little grotesque, but why should he care as long as it worked.

He walked over to a dumbbell marked 100 pounds, picked it up, and curled it three times. Easy. He smiled.

Five minutes later his other arm and both legs matched. He thought about trying to put his body on the table but his brain couldn't see how that would work and his survival instinct kicked in. It wasn't rational, he knew. He was only code, not really a person. But he couldn't bring myself to do it. Not just yet.

No matter, he grabbed the guys bike from the rack in the lobby and made his way to city hall.

He arrived at the coffee house without breaking a sweat. The ins and outs of cycling through New York traffic came naturally to him now, thanks to his new skills.

Ruby sat at a table by the window typing away on her computer. John walked up to her and smiled as she noticed his physique and did a double take.

"John, what the hell happened to you?"

He smiled, "Just a little exercise on my way over."

He sat across from her. "You looked pretty engrossed in whatever you were doing."

She exhaled. "The city is tearing itself apart. More than half the police didn't come into work today. The Mayor wants to keep control but even his own staff doesn't seem to have their heart in their work."

John wondered what life might be like for the Mayor. He already had power before the message. He probably wanted to keep it, even if he knew the whole thing was a sham. John wanted to kill the Mayor now, but enough people would probably react poorly to that. Who cared? The Mayor didn't have any real power worth taking.

John needed people choosing to follow him, starting with Ruby.

"Ruby, everything is changing. The people who used to be on top are going to fall. The people who figure out how to work this new system will rise. I'm on the rise."

"I'm glad for you John, but I have too many problems to care." Ruby took a rushed gulp of her coffee. "People aren't showing up for work. There are people running around killing each other. I don't care what we were told today, I don't want to die and I sure as hell don't want to die in pain."

John wanted to scream at her. Was she blind? He was the answer. "Ruby, the old ways won't work anymore. The police aren't going to matter much longer. Look at my arms." She did, she even put her hand on his forearm. He leaned in and whispered, "The Mayor needs a new type of peacekeeper working for him. I'm building that crew right now. Introduce me to him."

She continued to touch his arm, examining it, thinking. "What are you asking for in return?"

"I need recruits. Get me appointed to run the local jails."

"He can't just do that."

"Look around, no one is going to care."

Ruby pulled her hand back and stared at him, "And what do I get in return?"

John smiled, "After we get this city under control, I'll make you the new Mayor.

Ruby smiled. "Okay. Let's go see the Mayor."