Heading out from the castle, Matt was surprised to realize that he was feeling a little sad. He hadn’t lamented over leaving the pups to the degree that Val had, but the place had become familiar. He had gotten used to the routine of the caves, and coming back to that home base—and the dogs.

And, Matt was willing to admit, it was nice to have the furballs around too. They were always so happy to see him. He’d always thought that his parents would get another dog one day. He’d planned to get one, himself, once he finally managed to move out.

Matt sighed and drank in the sunshine.

Today was day 10 in this three-mooned place. They’d arrived at Murl’s castle on the fourth. So—Matt did the math—they’d spent more than half their nights at the castle. Plus, they hadn’t found out what was behind the oak tree doors or been allowed to explore the west tower. They couldn’t leave while those were still mysteries, could they?

“I miss Charlie already,” Val pouted, brushing her hands along the tips of soft grasses.

“Maybe the apprentice will send us back at some point,” Fallyn suggested with a smile.

“I’m okay if he doesn’t,” Kurtis weighed in.

Matt smiled. He wasn’t going there.

The group was headed to the southwestern end of the meadow, warm sun and cool castle stone behind them. The map hadn’t revealed the way fully, but they’d agreed it was likely they’d find a way through. The alternative would be a long hike all the way back through Septimus Flower’s camp. Matt hoped that wasn’t the case.

Val picked a dandelion and tucked its stem behind her ear, as the group approached a narrow stream. The water flowed slowly and tiny red blooms dotted the far bank. Kurtis backed up several steps, then ran and leaped across, tail whipping in flight. Matt couldn’t help puzzling over how his pants had a hole for his tail.

“Are you looking at my butt?” Kurtis accused.

“Uh, no?” Matt winced. The cat-man had, what looked like, black yoga pants under his apron. He was glad the leather extended down the front to his knees.

Matt backed up a few steps, copying Kurtis. Then he ran, jumped, and… Matt found himself on the other side among the red flowers. Surprisingly, Valkyrie made it across too. But, as before, Fallyn simply trudged through the water.

Beyond the stream, the mountains did part as they’d hoped. White lacy flowers swayed among the grasses as the wind rushed through the valley. Matt adjusted his glasses and tilted his gaze to the clear blue sky.

This is going to be a good day, he thought and smiled.

“What are you smiling about?” Fallyn said.

“Uh, just thinking,” Matt deflected. Damn, she’s observant.

“Uh huh,” Fallyn replied.

“So what do you think this apprentice will be like?” Kurtis came to his rescue.

“More dogos!” Val cheered. Then, seeing the scowl on Kurtis’ face she added, “Or cats. Or beavers.”

“Beavers?” Matt asked.

“Well, didn’t we say this was Canada?” Val explained. “Sorta Canada? Canada-ish?”

“Definitely one of those,” Matt conceded with a chuckle.

“I could make friends with beavers,” Val muttered, looking away. “Polar bears. Moose.”

Matt froze. Something had moved at the edge of his vision.

“What is it?” Kurtis asked in a whisper.

The whole group stopped.

Matt scanned the landscape to his right. Another gust of wind rushed through the valley. A sapling bounced erratically. He watched it for a moment and then relaxed.

“Just a tree.”

Fallyn raised an eyebrow.

“I guess I just…” he tried to explain. “The people the other day? But it was just a tree.”

“All good, man,” Kurtis said, slapping an oven-mitted hand on Matt’s back.

As they continued through the valley, the grasses got gradually taller. The warm wind swept them up in waves, white flowers floating along on the current. Matt was just glad that the brush was dry—and not full of squirrels. He still hated those damn things.

“Greetings, traveler!” sounded an upbeat female voice.

Matt whipped around looking for the source.

“You okay?” Kurtis asked.

There were no other people in sight. Matt looked down. No dogs or critters were hiding in the grass.

“Traveler? Please confirm audio link,” the voice came again.

“You guys can’t hear that?” Matt checked. Then he quietly added, “I can hear you, disembodied female voice.”

“Did you not queue for an Operator?” the voice said, sounding a bit confused.

Right! Matt realized. “Yes, I did.”

“Great! I am E-Class Operator 64552. How may I assist you?”

Matt had come to a full stop and Val peered up at him thoughtfully. “I thought we couldn’t use the Chatbot yet,” she said.

“We can’t,” confirmed Kurtis. “I try every day, just to be sure.”

“It’s an Operator, guys. Voice chat,” Matt said.

Fallyn narrowed her eyes and tapped a finger against her lips.

“Operator, are you a person?” Matt asked.

“That’s what you ask about?” Kurtis blurted.

“I am prohibited from revealing information about myself. But yes, I am real. I’m not an AI if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“Can you tell us what’s going on?” Matt exploded. “Really going on? We have bits of information but it doesn’t make sense.”

“Unfortunately, I am prohibited from revealing zone details that would give one traveler an unfair advantage,” the Operator explained. Then she cautioned, “Please also note that cheat codes are strictly prohibited and could result in a ban.”

“No,” Matt clarified. “I mean, what’s going on with us being here and our planet.”

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Gonna fill us in?” Val asked.

“Um, I’m not really a news source,” the Operator responded. “You would have to exit and check the bulletins.”

“What bulletins? We just woke up here. And there were announcements about a legal case too.”

“Oh, wait, are you…?” the Operator trailed off. “I need to put you on hold.”

“Matt?” Fallyn said, touching his arm.

“Sorry,” Matt said. “It was a person. I don’t think she understood what I asked. Or maybe she did, just now? She put me on hold.”

“She put you on hold?” Val said.

“You spent too much time with those dogs,” Kurtis teased.

“Huh?” Val responded.

Kurtis grinned.

“Let’s keep going,” Matt suggested. “I can walk and talk if she comes back.”

The group hiked for several more minutes, and the valley opened up to a field. A cross breeze rushed in from the east. Matt gazed in the direction of its origin. Septimus Flower would be over there if he was right. Matt checked his map to confirm since it was on his mind.

Maybe my sense of direction isn’t so bad, he thought.

“Thank you for your patience, traveler,” the voice returned.

“She’s back,” Matt updated.

“This is an unusual circumstance,” the Operator explained. “I have been given special dispensation to speak more freely in some areas. But I don’t have scripts for those, so you’ve just got me.”

“Sounds like she’s okay to share some things,” Matt said.

“Would you like to activate broadcast to your party?” the Operator offered. “I assume that’s who you’re speaking to?”

“Yes please!” Matt responded. That would make things so much easier.

“Done,” the Operator confirmed. Then she announced, “Welcome to broadcast audio link, partied travelers. Please note that I will only hear audio input from the initiating traveler.”

“Sweet!” Kurtis exclaimed.

“Now, traveler, how may I assist you?”

Matt listed off questions: “What is this place? How did we get here? Is Earth really gone? Where are our families? And what’s up with the legal case stuff?”

“One at a time there, traveler,” the Operator said. “I have my transcriber running, so I caught all that. But let’s take it slow. And bear with me, as a lot of this is firmly in off-script territory.”

Matt grabbed the springy branch of a sapling. The grasses were getting shorter again and there were a number of these little trees. He waited for Fallyn to be out of the way, then released. It whipped back and the whole tree wobbled.

“The easy one first,” the Operator said. “You’re in a Continuance instance. That’s why you’re able to speak with me, a Continuance Operator. You’re off-premise, though, and partitioned.”

“And that means?” Matt raised his eyebrows even though she probably couldn’t see.

“Right…” The voice sighed. “I’m not sure how the translation matrix will handle this… Um, you understand the concepts of ‘digital,’ ‘network’ and ‘virtual universe’?”

“Yeah?” Matt said.

“Good. I’d heard you were primitive.”

“Hey!” Kurtis objected.

“Think of The Continuance like an expansive virtual universe that uses super-advanced forms of digital technology and networks to connect people over vast distances.”

“Okay?” Matt said.

“It was originally created for the long-haul shipping industry, but now it’s evolved and is pretty much used by everyone. So, it’s like you’re in this little digital galaxy over here, and there’s a wall between it and the rest of the universe.”

“Can we climb the wall?” Val asked.

“I don’t think it’s actually—” Kurtis said.

“My friend wants to know if we can climb the wall,” Matt told the Operator, humoring Val.

“Well,” the Operator responded, “it’s not actually a wall but maybe. On the technical side, you’re on third-party servers. That means they would have to add some connective infrastructure both in terms of function and Continuance experience. And that’s if FRC even allows it. I’ve heard they’ve gone to great lengths to avoid off-premise before. They can mitigate risk of pollutants when they control the entire system. If you can somehow overcome that, then the other barrier is politics.”

“Politics?” Matt pushed, then realized he’d repeated like the dogs.

“Politics mostly,” the Operator admitted. “Usually a sufficiently advanced civilization has to petition for Conglomerate membership and then Continuance entry is one of the perks. You guys skipped a lot of steps. That is a nice ramp to your next question though.”

Matt stumbled, catching his toe on a fallen branch. He recovered, giving the group a thumbs up.

“How you got here—your next question—is highly irregular though.” The Operator continued, “It sounds like some Deinya messed up his run but then had the bright idea to scan you. Half of the Lom is pissed, but that did avoid total genocide. Although, people are trying to argue both sides of that technicality too.”

“Back up a minute,” Matt requested.

“Right…” the voice replied. “Sorry, no script. Let’s try that again. You got scanned as a last-ditch effort to kind of save your species when a Harvester failed to recognize that there were people on your planet. But the scan wasn’t exactly following the rules or proper procedures. So, everyone’s still trying to sort out what to do about it.”

“Back the hell up.” Matt felt cold. “This was all some freaking accident? And you all just hit the scan button?”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” the Operator replied slowly. “But you could say that, I guess.”

“Are we some cosmic joke?!” Kurtis said.

Fallyn shot Matt a concerned glance. “Ask her how they’ll sort out what to do about it.”

The cold was spreading inward from Matt’s fingertips. His insides churned. “You said something about sorting it out,” he said slowly. “How?” Tension gathered in his chest.

“The legal system,” the Operator responded. “The details are out of my depth, but there are a number of obvious issues to be resolved, like whether you stay partitioned or get to climb over that metaphorical wall. There’s also the big one around who pays your annual fees. The bulletins have been all focused on the ethics and the planetary incident, but that’s media spin for you.”

“So, that’s what the yellow announcements have been about?”

“Correct. So, I guess that answers your next questions, too.”

“Wait, what?” Matt stumbled over another stick. The ground was getting more spongy.

“You asked, ‘What is this place, how did we get here, is Earth really gone, where are our families, and what’s up with the legal case stuff?’” The Operator sounded like she was reading off a list.

“Okay so, Earth? Our families?” Matt pressed. He needed to hear her say it.

“I am sorry, traveler,” the Operator said. “Your planet is gone.”

Matt stumbled again and threw up.

Val cried quiet tears.

Matt gritted his teeth and forced his feet to keep moving. There were bulrushes ahead.

“I assume that noise was ejection?” the Operator asked.

“I’m okay,” Matt breathed, telling himself that as much as the Operator.

“I haven’t been trained for this type of thing,” she said. “I usually get matched on tickets for The Continuance. But support is tied to the technology so here we are.”

“Does that mean we’re…” Matt swallowed. His throat bobbed. “I’m… I mean, am I dead?”

“Do you feel dead?” the Operator asked. “Otherwise, that’s a matter for clergy and philosophers. I’m just an E-Class Operator.”

Matt puffed out his cheeks and blew.

“We’re dead,” Kurtis said, barely above a whisper. His ears were flat and he held his tail in one oven-mitted hand.

“My parents?” Matt asked.

“If your progenitors met baseline they may have been scanned. If you have their access ID, I can look them up.”

“I don’t.” Matt felt like he might be sick again. “Baseline… the age range that the Chatbot said?”

“Correct,” the voice confirmed. “Did they meet it?”

Matt paused for a moment and shut his eyes. He breathed in, then out. Then he blinked, fighting back moisture. He pressed at his under-eyes with his knuckles and resumed walking. “No,” Matt said quietly. The lump felt hot and rough in his throat.

“I am sorry for your loss,” the Operator said.

After a few moments of silence, the Operator followed up. “Is there anything else I may assist you with? Maybe something you’d like to know about how things work in The Continuance? If it’s common knowledge for everyone else I am permitted to answer.”

“Am I ever going to get a damn ranged attack?” Matt asked, trying to lighten the mood. The lump was still there. He swallowed.

“Well, that depends on your Aspects,” the Operator replied.

“I have Earth, Protection, and Blood,” Matt supplied.

“Your future Aspects,” the Operator clarified.

“There are Aspects from the future?” Matt asked.

“What he said!” Val yelled through sobs.

“No,” the Operator said. “Maybe it’s not translating right. How do I explain this? You saw your Aspects Menu right? The open spots? At certain levels you get to choose another Aspect and that specializes your class.”

“Ask her when,” Fallyn prompted stiffly.

“When is the first one?” Matt asked.

“Ten. Then it’s thirty and fifty. They might add another when level cap increases enough, but that’s all speculation at this point.”

“There wasn’t a lot of information the first time around. How should we choose?” Matt asked. He needed these details to distract him from his parents—from everything.

“All the classes are mapped out in the forums. Just go… Oh, I see the problem. You—” She cut off abruptly.

“Are you still there?”

Then Matt’s heads-up display flashed. A giant kappa rose out of the marsh in front of him, carapace dripping with slime and mud. There were two more kappa at its sides. They were all Level ???.

Shit!

The nearest kappa swiped one foreleg, sending Matt to the ground. He scrambled to his feet and ran. He followed Fallyn, Kurtis, and Val along the marsh’s edge. He wasn’t even sure if they were going in the right direction. He didn’t care.

The quadrupeds screeched in concert. Matt could feel one hot at his neck. Its breath smelled like rotting garbage.

Not like this!

Matt watched his stamina deplete. He’d been putting points in it, but it wasn’t enough.

Not like this!

Then Matt froze. They all froze. He still had stamina left. The kappa were still coming. Matt felt jaws, hot and slick, around his neck. Pressure.

‘Announcement: You will now be transferred to FRC architecture. Prosperity and pro’—everything went black.