The next day at breakfast, Wesseck, Queen and I were trying to figure out what we would do to get information on the competition. I started by suggesting “We should probably start by looking up how many other teams are going to be competing in our region. Then we prioritize based on threat level.”

Wesseck took a brief break from devouring more of Queen’s rum-berry frozen yogurt to agree “Yeah, that’s probably the most sensible option for going about this. Wanna wait until after breakfast, or should we do it now?”

I shrugged my wings as I tapped a couple things into my tablet “Running a search now.”

Immediately the search came back with about two thousand different results for other teams competing in the Thundersnow Steppes. I set it to be displayed by the volumetric projector above the table, then went back to focusing on my sausage and eggs. The sausage wasn’t any sort of recreated Blackwood fauna, instead being made purely as a food product. So even though it was pretty tasty it didn’t have much emotional significance to me. The same went for the scrambled eggs the sausage shared a plate with, doused in savory sauce.

Queen and Wesseck pored over the search results as I ate. When I was done I inquired “So, what have you two figured out?”

Queen awkwardly raised her hand as she noted “Four, actually. A few people who are between bodies moved in last night and are riding along in my brain for a couple days. They’re spectating.”

I shrugged, if Queen was hosting headmates and they weren’t causing problems it wasn’t much business of mine.

Wesseck broke the silence, noting “Anyway, we’ve determined that the three most dangerous threats we’ll need to worry about are plants, aerial predators, and microbes, with the microbes being the most prevalent and severe threat. We can proof against aerial predators pretty well without too much extra data since they’re a pretty generic threat, but defense against microbes and plants is going to need a lot more specificity.”

I thought for a moment, asking Queen “So, just how much data on the microbial competitors would you need to make effective counters for it anyway?”

Queen hummed, then answered “Ideally I’d want the full genome and epigenome data if I could get it, but I should be able to make a reasonably effective counter with something like a copy of their lab notes.”

I thought for a moment before I asked “Espionage is allowed, right?”

Wesseck nodded vigorously, “Checked while you were eating. Spying on the other teams is both allowed and encouraged. Sabotage is firmly banned, but just checking up on the competition to see what they’re doing is absolutely fine.”

Queen hummed for a moment, noting “Honestly I’m surprised we haven’t been visited by any spies already; you’d think that people would want to know what we’re up to.”

I noted “About that? We’re first time tournament entrants, and two of us are students besides. They probably don’t think we’re a serious contender so we’re not getting much attention. Plus we haven’t really talked to anyone about our plans or otherwise gone looking for publicity. Which is probably a good thing for us, to be completely honest.”

Wesseck nodded and replied “That makes a whole lot of sense, Yures. Queen, how do you think we should start?”

Queen thought for a bit, then said “Alright, let’s start by seeing what we can get on the microbial and plant competitors over the network first. I want to have at least some idea for who to watch out for before we do any more in-depth spying, and that means starting with easily accessible data.”

I nodded “Yeah that’s a really good idea Queen. I will note that we should be careful not to overlook the teams that haven’t said much about what they’re brewing up for the competition; just because the competition is largely ignoring us doesn’t mean we should repeat their mistakes.”

A few kiloseconds passed, and we’d all wound up on the couch in the lab’s living area as we paged through the possible threats.

I read off the first one “Mushroom Kingdom, looks like they’re brewing up a fungus-based parasitic infection. It’s a brainjacker.”

Queen took a look at the data they’d already put out, replying “Put it in the no further information needed pile; they’ve put out enough legit technical data on their entry that I can brew up a counter for it without needing more.”

Wesseck took the next one off the pile of competitors to watch “Cane Forest, they’re making a tree that pumps corrosive gases into the air around it to drive off other lifeforms.”

I rolled my eyes as I asked “What kind of corrosive gas? There’s acids, bases, reducers, all sorts of chemicals that could fit the bill. I can easily make the squirrel’s skin, quills, and eyes heavily resistant to all of them, and I’m pretty sure you can use the same tricks on the bushes.”

Wesseck perkily replied “Yep! Absolutely doable! Honestly I’m almost disappointed in the people who came up with that.”

Queen drew the next competitor card, reading off “Petri Pals, immune-suppressing chronic infection that’s purpose-built to species jump with extreme ease. Looks like they’ve covered the bases for all the immune systems already down there, but I’ve made sure that our squirrels’ immune systems can handle anything they’re likely to dish out.”

I drew my second card as I replied “Rootstalks. They’re in the same category as us with a small animal, a plant, and a microbe. They’ve gone for a species of tall grass though. I will admit I’m not entirely clear how the three organisms are supposed to synergize, but they could be something to look out for. They’ve not said much else beyond that, so we found another team that’s trying to stay quiet.”

Wesseck immediately started writing that down as they noted “Got it, we’ll have to look more deeply into what the Rootstalks are doing then.”

The conversation continued in this regard for another eight kiloseconds as we went over every single other team registered to compete in the same region as us. By the end of it we’d identified three more relevant teams we wanted to keep an eye on aside from the Rootstalks, so now it was just a matter of figuring out a good way of getting the information we needed.

After coming up with all sorts of convoluted plans for secretly spraying smart dust around their lab, hacking their computer systems, and other similar ideas, it was Wesseck who suggested “Why don’t we just pose as journalists covering the tournament and ask them? It minimizes things that could go wrong, most of the teams will probably relish the publicity, if we get into their lab it’s a perfect opportunity to deploy some discreet surveillance devices, and if it doesn’t work we’ve got other options.”

I mulled over the idea for a moment, before admitting “Yeah that’s probably one of the simplest options. The question is what sorts of journalists do we want to pose as? There’s a bunch of different skill levels we could pretend to be at, so it’s an important question.”

That’s when Queen chimed in, noting “We should say we’re student journalists. That way actual mistakes are more likely to be overlooked. On top of that, our lack of connection to any actual news organizations won’t immediately mark us as impostors. It’ll still be relatively easy for someone to identify that we’re not who we say we are, but they’ll hopefully be less likely to do that.”

Wesseck and I nodded, and commented “Good plan. Queen, you want to brew up some spying nanomachines while I take care of costumes?”

Queen smiled and said “Conveniently, I already have some of those on file from earlier in my education that I could have cultured in a snap. That said, I’ll want a little time to make some tune-ups, clean out a couple old glitches, and properly program them for the job.”

Wesseck nodded affirmatively, saying “Guess I’ll be practicing how to be a reporter in the meantime.”

Another few kiloseconds passed as we got all our equipment ready, with signal repeaters for the surveillance data, a few discreet nanomachine sprayer glands integrated into our morphs, reporter costumes, and a basic understanding of the relevant mannerisms.

Now it was just a matter of setting up a meeting time with the Rootstalks. First I made sure to proxy our connection to make it look like we were operating out of somewhere on a completely different part of Bark, then I started the call.

Thirty seconds passed before the connection was completed, the flat-panel holographic display lighting up with the face of an eight-eyed girl with a slightly confused expression. After a moment, she greeted me with “Hello? Who are you and why are you calling?”

I’d recited this a few times already, so I simply said “I’m Yures Hann, and I’m a student journalist. I’ve decided to get some experience reporting with my friends over the summer, and visiting a participant in the invasive species tournament seemed like a good way to do it.”

The girl blinked, before replying “Why didn’t you say so? We can work you into our schedule easily enough. I’m Chitin by the way.”

I just fired back “I did say so. Anyway, twenty kiloseconds from now work?”

Chitin thought for a moment, then replied “Maybe forty one kiloseconds instead? We’re expecting to be really busy in twenty kiloseconds. Organism testing, you know.”

I shrugged and replied “See you then. Oh, really quick, is this address correct?” as I sent a packet of text containing the location of her team’s lab from off the network.

Chitin took a look at it, then said “Yeah, that’s the correct address. See you soon!” and then the call ended.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

I sagged, the weight of what we were doing here finally getting to me. After a moment, Wesseck asked “Yures, are you feeling alright?”

I replied honestly “Not really. We’re massively betraying Chitin’s trust here, and she’s a decent person. Remind me to do something to make it up to her after the tournament, please?”

Wesseck nodded sadly “Got it. Anyway, we’ve got our date set up and know what we need to do. Anything we should do in the meantime?”

Queen replied “I’d rather work on our organisms some more until it’s time to go. There’s a bunch of teams for which we have all the information we need to counter them already, and getting so tied up in espionage that we forget to actually improve on our organism is a good way to lose.”

I nodded in agreement, noting “Yeah, considering how some of the aerial predators we’ll be up against are going to be literally supersonic, it’s clear that simple unpowered quills aren’t going to cut it. So I’m going to design some surface to air missile quills for the squirrels. Wesseck, could you maybe add some solid rocket fuel to the boomnuts please?”

Wesseck cheerfully replied “No problem Yures, I can do that easily enough. Probably going to go with nitrocellulose or Hexaaza for that job, since it means I can re-use most of the same metabolic pathways I came up with for making PETN.”

I nodded appreciatively, and then we got to work.

Aside from some additional bio-engineering and a break for food and rest, that’s all we did before we had to get ready for our interview with the Rootstalks. Solemnly, we all got dressed in our student reporter costumes, got our equipment ready, and headed for the maglev train station.

The train ride felt a lot longer than it actually was. Going by the clock it took us less than a kilosecond to go zooming around Bark to our destination, but I could have sworn it took a Megasecond going by how it felt. Still, eventually we arrived, and I wrenched myself into a happy appearance for the mission.

As soon as Chitin opened the door, she asked “Hello, are you the reporters who wanted to come see what we’re working on?”

I forced an enthusiastic smile as I replied “Yep, absolutely. Mind showing us what you’ve been working on in there?”

Chitin eagerly stepped aside as she replied “Sure, come right in!”

We all entered, and Queen noted “Anyway, according to your tournament registration you’ve gone for a plant, microbe, animal trio?”

The spider girl nodded as she noted “Yeah, we’ve been working our but off on the doomgrass for a while already, along with the soil fixers and the thrushes.”

The urge to talk shop and remark about the squirrels I’d been tinkering with welled up, but I crushed it down. Instead I said “Hmmm. So, how exactly do they work together anyway? The soil fixers are fairly obvious, but where do the thrushes come in aside from aerial seed dispersal?”

Chitin narrowed her eyes and asked “...You’re from a competing team, aren’t you.”

After a moment of trying to decide I hastily replied “Nope, not at all, we’re definitely reporters, no question about it at all.”

There were a few moments of silence before Chitin sighed and said “Interview called off. Out. Now.” and started gently shoving us towards the door, aided by a swarm of utility drones.

Only a few moments later, we were out and I sighed “Guess that’s that for this information gathering trip.”

Chitin’s voice quickly erupted from a concealed speaker somewhere “I heard that! Now scram!”

We took the hint and left. Back on the train, Queen remarked “Well, the good news is that I got our spy nanomachines deployed properly. Got a few minutes of telemetry off them too before Chitin sterilized her lab.”

Wesseck perked up immediately at that, asking “Ooh, what did you get?”

Queen shrugged “Nowhere near as much as I would have liked, but probably enough. I’ve got the data on their general performance specifications for the doomgrass and thrushes, but not much on the biochemical side of their adaptations. So you two will probably be quite capable at designing counters for their macroscopic organisms, but I’m pretty much stabbing around in the dark on the immunological side.”

I slumped at that, saying “Wish I could have kept cover for longer there. Sorry for getting us caught.”

Wesseck patted me on the back, saying “Don’t worry about it, we can probably make it up to Chitin after the tournament is over, and we got what we came for in terms of information. So there’s no need to feel bad.”

Shortly afterwards we were back at the lab planning our next moves. Whether we should go for more information hunts was a point of major contention.

I was against it totally, noting “I’m sorry but I’m just not cut out for espionage work, I don’t think I can go through with that again, and we need to focus on improving our own organisms.”

Queen nodded in thought, before she said “You have a good point there. Want to get on with the squirrel improvements while me and Wesseck get on with finding more intelligence on the other competitors.”

Wesseck noted “Well, in that case I’m going to be working with Yures, because we need to update the boomnut bushes as well. I think it might be possible to engineer coexistence with the Rootstalks’ doomgrass, and I for one think that would be superior to mutual extermination.”

Queen thought for a bit, “In that case you two can go ahead with the updates to deal with the Rootstalks; I can’t do much on the immunological front for them, but I can definitely go get more information on the other teams, and I’m probably more psychologically suited to doing that anyway.”

Wesseck and I both nodded our approval, and as soon as breakfast was done we all got to work. Queen got herself an interview with another team using the same excuse as we used to access Chitin’s lab, meanwhile we got down to business.

The absolute first thing I noted was “If we want peaceful coexistence with the Rootstalks to be possible we’ll need to adjust the behaviors of the squirrels and bushes to be a bit less ridiculously hard-line. Still, we also can’t leave a totally unchallenged exception in their threat detection routines, or else they’ll get totally smashed by whatever organism learns to exploit that vulnerability first.”

Wesseck rubbed one of his pedipalps under his mouth for a moment, noting “That’ll be easy enough for the squirrels and not too difficult for the bushes. I’m almost tempted to go for a simple tit-for-tat algorithm, but that has far too many exploitable flaws to really work out long term.”

Soon enough we lost ourselves in our work adjusting the behavior programming for our organisms. Kiloseconds passed as we worked, and then we were suddenly interrupted by the return of Queen Shed, our draconic teammate announcing “I can report complete and total success on all remaining information retrieval operations!”

I immediately perked up, asking “What did you get?”

Queen simply smiled as she replied “I’ll tell you over dinner. It’s gotten quite late, and we do need to keep our brains in good working order after all.”

I smiled as I replied “Fair enough, I’ll get the drones to work whipping something up and Wesseck will tell you what we’ve been up to while you were away.”

I quickly shouted a command to the kitchen systems to do a soup, and turned my attention back to the conversation as Wesseck related our decision to pursue a coexistence strategy with the Rootstalks if possible.

I could clearly see Queen mulling the idea over, then she pronounced “That sounds just fine to me. I’ll definitely need to change the behaviors of our bacterium as well to accommodate that strategy, but I think it should work out just fine without much issues.”

I simply shrugged and replied “Figured as much. Anyway, I’m going to go get dinner going. Any particular requests?”

To my mild surprise it was Wesseck who answered “I want stir-fried cereals! Not too picky on the mix-ins, but I want it spicy.”

Queen chuckled “Yes, that does sound like something I’d be interested in. Thanks for getting the drones started on cooking, Yures.”

And so I made my order for dinner over the lab’s network. About a kilosecond of preparation time passed while we waited, the industrious robots busily working away on our meal in the background before announcing its completion.

We strode into the kitchen, coming face to face with a platter covered in steamed brown grain, root and stalk vegetables chopped up fine and mixed into it along with thin slivers of meat, all of which had a drizzling of a sparkling brownish-red sauce over them.

I eagerly sat down and started serving myself, Wesseck and Queen both rapidly following suit in getting ready to eat. Then we were all ready, and after I finished my first mouthful I asked the dragon in our midst “So, mind telling us about those other teams you took a look at?”

Queen thought for a moment, before noting “The first team I’d consider an actual serious threat is working on a plant they call the Howitzer Tree. Apparently they want to go for the absolute maximum in direct seed dispersal while also causing massive havoc for any unfortunate organisms in the way of said seed, since it can fire a seed pod loaded with fireproof seed for two hundred kilometers that then explodes like a fragmentation and incendiary warhead. Apparently they want to burn away any other plant life in the area that could possibly compete with the saplings when they start growing.”

I took another bite of delicious fried grains as I thought on what we could do about the situation. After a moment I noted “Well, the squirrels are already designed to infiltrate competitors’ nests and blow them up with boomnuts, so I see no reason why I can’t expand that behavior to blowing up problematic plants and installations as well.”

Queen nodded sagely, replying “Good move, though I’ve also made updates to the microbe allowing it to kill off the trees’ roots with very good effectiveness, meaning it can’t take root somewhere that boomnut bushes have recently grown.”

Wesseck looked up from his food for a moment, seemed to be considering whether to say something for a moment, then just shrugged and went back to eating. I followed suit as I gestured for Queen to continue, since the meal really was just that good.

Queen of course spent the time rattling off a bunch of different organisms that she’d gotten all the spicy details on so we could figure out what to do about them. Some we figured out a way to destroy, others we added to the possible coexistence list, and a few more we determined would actually be effectively dealt with by the adaptations we’d already fitted our organisms with.

Still, eventually we reached the end of both the meal and the list of competitor’s organisms. At the end of both we allowed the drones to carry away the dishes to be cleaned, and I noted “Well, I for one am ready for bed. What about the rest of you?”

Wesseck shrugged and replied “Yeah, I guess some rest would be nice. Queen, how about you?”

Queen simply replied with a yawn “Think I’m ready to go to sleep. It’s been a long day of chatting up our competitors to get the data on them, and I for one think it’s high time we get ready for the next day. We have every last scrap of information we could possibly hope for, and I say it’s high time we get around to using it.”

And so we got up from the table and started making our way towards our respective beds, climbing the stairs to the sleeping area of our lab in the process. As we climbed we chatted a bit to figure out what upgrades we’d prioritize for the squirrel, and what things we could leave as low priority to get around to if we had time before the tournament started.

Queen and Wesseck went off to clean what parts of their bodies needed maintenance before sleep, but as for me I simply mindcast into my gender-neutral morph before getting ready to snooze. My morph closet was perfectly capable of keeping them in pristine condition when I wasn’t using them, so I saw no reason not to make use of that capability.

Morph swap complete, I made my way to the bed, lifted up the covers, and slid in underneath them, taking the time to enjoy the smooth feeling of the cloth against my skin.

Unfortunately that’s about as far as the pleasant times got, since I found myself thinking back to my encounter with Chitin earlier in the day. I tossed and I turned and I desperately tried to get to sleep, but the thoughts of how I’d betrayed her trust just wouldn’t leave.

After six kiloseconds of staring at the ceiling, I finally gave up and reached for my phone. After a few moments of staring at the device, I made the call.

Unsurprisingly, it immediately went to voicemail. Spending a moment to think, I said to the recorder “Chitin, it’s Yures calling. I’m sorry about pretending to be a student journalist earlier today. I understand if you never want to talk to you again, but I… Ugh, can’t even come up with a good apology I’m so tired. Anyway if there’s something I could do to make it up to you, please call me back and tell me. I really am sorry about lying to you. Goodbye, I guess.”

And with that I finished recording the email, set the phone on my nightstand, and finally, fitfully drifted off to sleep.