The Misfits:

The day after the coronation, the Misfits and Aragon cleaned after the midday meal. Then, they discussed what to do next.

"Guess what? Captain Jane said we didn't have to do any training today!" said Bronsen, "Since she's busy with other things."

There was a cheer from the three other Misfits.

"But, what do we do?" said Alice, looking hopefully at Bronsen and Drayden.

“Well, I don’t know about those two boys, but I think we can go to our club room - wait, it’s far too early to do that,” said Cassy, “I know! Has anyone else noticed that somebody has delivered a box of children's books?"

She pointed to a box sitting in one corner of the kitchen.

“Bronsen and I can read a story to Mason! Or Becky. Ah, Drayden and Alice can also read stories, of course!” said Cassy.

Alice looked at Cassy and might have been going to say something, but Drayden got in first.

"So, can we read the local language?" said Drayden.

"Of course, we've been happily reading the road signs and shop front display signs; a book is hopefully just as easy," said Bronsen.

He opened the box, grabbed a book, and began flipping through it.

"Yep, no problems! This book is about a greedy caterpillar who decided, when it hatched from its pupae, to fly up to the sun and eat it."

He skimmed through to the end.

"Kind of a weird ending, though. Never mind!" he said, "Here, Evereena, have you read this?"

Evereena looked from the book to his face and back again. She didn't look all that happy.

She looked at her mother.

"Well, I can read, but my master told me not to teach anyone to read until he told me to, and he never did..." said Esther.

"Right, everyone. How about the Misfits teach Evereena to read? And Mason and Becky," said Cassy, "Are you all on board with that?"

So four teenagers, plus Evereena, Lena and her two children, retreated to one of the unused bedrooms.

Alice got a piece of paper, wrote 'Classroom' on it, and pinned it to the outside of the door.

"OK, kids! Let's start with the alphabet!" said Cassy.

“By the way, how can we understand the local language, anyway? Surely it isn't straight English?” said Drayden.

Esther:

Aragon and Esther were alone for the first time since Esther had asked those questions. Eleanor wasn't present; she was helping sort the meagre estate of some old lady who had recently died.

I hope he doesn't ask about those questions I had.

Fortunately, he made light conversation about other topics.

"Those Misfits certainly have a lot of energy, don't they?" he said.

He flicked his tail from side to side, emphasizing his point.

"Ah, yes."

She watched his tail. She started going red in the face.

Think about something else!

"Y-yes! I can read but haven't practised much since I was enslaved, so I'm sure the Misfits will be the best teachers for my Evereena."

"She's in good hands; I'm sure there will be no problems," said Aragon.

In good hands... I'm sure I'll have no problems with being in his hands... Oh shit.

"I, err, I think I'll retire to my room; I'm a bit tired," she said as she made her escape.

Outside, she briefly listened to the sounds of instruction from the classroom before going to her room.

I don't think they will be out any time soon, so -

She locked the door.

Aragon:

He watched her disappear out of the door.

Say, was she acting slightly embarrassed?

He felt his face flushing.

So, does that mean I have a chance after all?

With these ridiculous 100% vows that The Voice of the World grants everyone with any connection to the Misfits, will that mean that any couple's vow I share with Esther will be 100%? In other words, for life.

I need to think this over very, very carefully.

He decided to report for duty to Captain Jane. Maybe she might have something to keep him occupied and help him keep his mind off certain topics.

As it turned out, she did have a few things for him to do.

The Treasurer:

At about the same time that day, the Treasurer paid the first of many visits to the King's office.

Ah, a soothing sight for my eyes, the King diligently getting stuck into a mountain of work.

I knew there was some reason why I never wanted to be King myself.

Years and years ago, when the Treasurer started working for the King before the last King, there were special butlers and maids whose only duty was to deliver morning, noon and afternoon snacks to the King.

Alas, all of that pomp was ancient history.

The Treasurer had passed by the kitchen and picked up the serving tray with the snacks and tea. This is carefully placed onto the King's desk.

"Ah, the Treasurer," said Kalitran, only briefly glancing up from his piece of paper, "I guess you have heard the latest news?"

"The tragedy last night?"

"That's right. I didn't think I would be given such a lucky break so soon!" said Kalitran.

Lucky? How on the Ringworld can that be regarded as lucky?

The Treasured remained silent, only lifting his eyebrows in a query.

The King put the latest piece of paper into the OUT box.

"By the Voice, this is tedious work."

He stretched and leaned back on his chair, looking at the Treasurer as if he were a small child who didn't know what was happening.

"Did you notice that Eleanor woman got a bigger round of applause yesterday than I did?" said the King.

I thought the rounds of applause were the same. In fact, I thought they were standard perfunctory bursts of clapping produced by people bored by the proceedings and impatiently waiting for the food.

"Err, I didn't notice anything amiss, my sire."

"Well, I did. She is always swanning around the place, saying hello to the common people, building up her popularity. But what use is popularity? The King can't rule by being popular! He must gain the respect of his people by demonstrating the ability to make the correct choices regarding how the country should act! They must learn to follow his lead, even if what he orders is sometimes hard to follow!"

Kalitran was getting a bit carried away here and was thumping the desk win cadence with his speech.

Yeah, sure, sure. Whatever suits your style.

"Ah, yes, sire." said the Treasurer.

"And, if sometimes the King has to order someone's death, then the people must learn to obey. Fortunately, the common people are only truly invested in their friends, family, and themselves. They will follow orders if they think they won't be affected."

Where is this going?

"I, err, don't understand, sire."

"Of course not! You're just the Treasurer. But think, this piece of shit-"

Here, Kalitran picked up a piece of paper that he had put aside.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"Is the perfect opportunity for me to order a very public execution. To get the people and the guards used to following my orders. And no one, absolutely no one, will raise the slightest defence for this shit."

"Of course, sire."

"And then, and then! I can slowly get them used to executing more people who are nowhere near as guilty as this. Eventually, if I do it right, I can execute an innocent man! And by then, they will be so thoroughly conditioned to obey my command that they will carry it out. And, every time the guards carry out an unwarranted execution, every time the public watches an innocent man being garroted, well, that will reinforce my rule! They will, step by step, start relying on me to make their moral choices. And if they start to feel uneasy, I will offer to absolve them of their concerns. They can relax and concentrate on their lives, knowing I am the most suitable person to deal with them."

In other words, you want to rule with absolute power, whether they like it or not.

That doesn't differ much from being the slave emperor, does it?

Well, whatever. As long as it works.

"Yes sire. I can see what you mean now."

"Good, good. Here, man, I've written out the details."

Kalitran handed over his handwritten notes and the official report about the incident. The Treasurer dutifully took them and set out to implement them.

Aragon:

Aragon had reported to Jane. She looked up from her desk with a slight amount of surprise.

"You're not on duty today... Let me guess, you didn't have anything else to do, and you found the company of your companions a bit - intense - shall we say?"

Shit, just how far does her ability extend?

"I'm sure I get along very well with all the others, captain."

"I'm sure you do, what with those 100% vows encouraging you."

Is the captain now smirking back at me?

"But, anyway, I've just received orders from our esteemed new King. We need to make some preparations, and since you're free, you can start them."

After hearing out the orders, Aragon went off to implement them.

I should have stayed in the dormitory.

Misfits:

They had already gotten into a routine for their daily lives; after the evening meal, they all assembled in their club room for an hour or so before going off to their bedrooms.

"So, this King didn't make a vow. Not even a weak and wishy-washy one," said Bronsen.

"Maybe the System always blocks weak vows?" said Drayden.

"Maybe. But, anyway, what does that say about the King's commitment to running this country?" said Alice.

"Who knows? After all, we are new here and almost totally ignorant about how things work," said Cassy.

"Still, I would like to see what happens when a public official makes a real vow to the people," said Bronsen.

Having run out of steam for that topic, Cassy brought up a new one.

"We are definitely speaking English right now, aren't we?"

"It certainly seems like it," said Drayden.

"So, of course, the question is, how come the native Felixians speak and write English?" said Alice.

"System-san, care to tell us?" said Cassy.

Ding! You are correct in assuming that the native language is not English. In fact, it isn't anywhere near English. The System provides a simultaneous two-way translation between you and the Flexians and uses 'magic' to hide all the extremely messy internal details.

"That sounds - pretty clever. And complicated. So, what form does the local language take?" said Drayden.

Ding! The spoken language is based on an ultrasonic pulse width modulated tone, where the individual words are sort of encoded as base three numbers. But with complications. Lots of complications.

"Oh. What does it sound like to us without your translation?" said Drayden.

System-san obliged, and their ears were assaulted by the most horrible discordant screeching imaginable - something like an old-fashioned modem sound, only less musical.

"What the fuck hell was that!" said Bronsen.

Ding! That was a small replay of your conversation at your last breakfast. It was when Aragon asked if he could scrap out the last of the marmalade for his toast, and nobody objected. The frequency had to be dropped to be within your audible range.

"Shit!" said Cassy.

All four were silent as they thought about the implications of this.

"So, well, err, what, exactly, is the nature of reality here, then?" said Drayden, "I mean, do you translate what we see, also?"

Ding! Yes, what you see is also translated. Very heavily. And your bodies are vastly different from your original human ones. For a start, your height in Earth units is about ten centimetres. The gas you breathe is a mixture of nitrogen, methane, hydrogen, and a whole lot of other chemicals ending in -lene and the like. The temperature is about -180 centigrade, and the water you drink is liquid methane. And, while your bodies are approximately human with two legs, two arms, a tail and a head, the exact form is considerably different. Also, you see in the ultraviolet, with all the colours being different.

"Bloody hell! You must be providing an incredible amount of translation to make us think we live in an Earth environment," said Drayden.

Indeed.

"I almost hate to ask this, but I just can't leave it alone - what do we look like?" said Cassy.

System-san obliged them again. Briefly, just briefly, they received an image. The lighting was weird and garish, with sharp, jagged edges. Many of the jagged edges were grouped into three locations, two across from each teenager and one next to each. Before anything more was apparent, reality snapped back to its usual, Earth-based variety.

All four jumped backwards in their seats with alarm and more than a touch of horror.

"Shit!" said Cassy, even louder this time, "Were those - things - us?"

System-san didn't bother answering.

"I guess so," said Drayden.

He closed his eyes in an attempt to recall the visual image.

"I think those things had two arms and two legs..."

"Well, I, for one, noticed something that looked like tails," said Alice.

"All I saw were glowing green eyes." said Bronsen, "And bodies that were - err - I don't quite know how to describe them..."

Cassy and Alice hugged each other, and wonder of wonders, Bronsen and Drayden also hugged each other.

"So those things are us?" said Cassy.

Ding! They sure are!

Cassy swore. Much more than she would typically do. No one objected. Eventually -

"Wait a minute - if our physical appearance and the environment are so vastly different from what we perceive, then what about the actual people?"

"Excuse me?" said Drayden, looking puzzled.

"I mean, what sorts of things are they thinking? And feeling. They are not the slightest bit human-like in appearance, so are their personalities, emotions, and other things also different? Is System-san busy translating those, also?"

Ding! System-san would like to assure you that their minds, hearts, and souls are very similar to humans. Don't ever doubt this! Eleanor really did experience immense emotional pain when her baby and husband were killed. Esther and Evereena really did suffer as slaves. Aragon truly was heartbroken when his friend Tanya was killed. Lena was quite definitely rejected and depressed by her husband deserting her, and the two children she is looking after really do need a lot of love and care to overcome their abuse.

And, going to other examples, Kalitran initially did lust after Cassy and Alice, just like those two serving ladies initially had desires for Drayden and Bronsen. Captain Jane cares for her co-workers and her duty to her country, while all of those people who reacted in horror to the crime that was committed last night are horrified in precisely the same way that you are.

The feelings and emotions of these people are in no way faked or changed as System-san translates the communications between you. They are as real as any random collection of people you might meet on Earth.

"Err, right," said Alice.

After a while: "Do you always go to such extreme lengths when reincarnating people?" said Cassy.

Ding! Actually no. Most souls aren't reincarnated; they merely move on to wherever they usually go. And most reincarnated souls are returned to the world of their origin. Also, note that not all reincarnated become heroes. Most heroes are also reincarnated into their original world. You lot are an exception.

"So, why are we an exception?" said Alice.

Heroes are the ones who have done something in their first life that was sufficiently note-worthy to deserve reincarnation and being granted extra powers. And they always have a task that they are set up to do, although whether or not they do it or succeed depends on their own hard work. Plus chance, of course.

You saved thirty-five children and earned a lot of points. Thus, you are allowed a lot of extra powers.

This means the task you will hopefully achieve can also be extra difficult.

"I see. We are overpowered protagonists, so that makes it worthwhile to go to all of this bother," said Drayden.

"But, how do we end slavery?" said Bronsen.

By the time that comes around, you will have gained the necessary abilities. Hopefully.

"Hopefully? As in, we could still fail?" said Cassy.

That's right. You can fail and thus die, and your souls be sent on their way. Or you can succeed.

Of course, you still die.

System-san anointed heroes never die from old age.

"Oh fuck. So we die no matter what," said Alice.

"That sucks, big time," said Bronsen.

There was no reply from System-san.

Drayden, probably tired of hugging Bronsen, said, "I think we all stand up and have a group hug."

Four teenagers all stood up, rearranged themselves, and shared a hug. Each boy had a girl on either side and vice versa.

"Is this a horrible disaster or not?" said Cassy.

"I don't know," said Alice.

"Well, at least it looks like me might get an extra year of life." said Drayden, "And, who was it that said they were still a virgin, way back in the bus?"

"That was me," said Bronsen, "And, I must say, I really appreciate not dying a virgin this time around."

Alice giggled. "That's right, he's definitely not a virgin any more! I can testify to that!"

They all laughed.

"Maybe it's not too bad. I mean, I have no regrets saving those kids, and we've been granted extra time to live, and we maybe banish slavery, which will be all to the good," said Drayden.

"And System-san hinted that there is some sort of life after we die here, anyway," said Cassy.

They kept on hugging each other.

Finally -

"OK, I give up. On my stupid jealousy, that is," said Alice. "Let's all agree we can carry on as much as we like with each other."

After a small gap, she continued.

"Except that sexuality switch always remains off when we are not with our proper partners! OK?"

There was a chorus of agreement.

So, of course, Alice grabbed Drayden for a full frontal hug, and Cassy did likewise with Bronsen.

After a while, they separated.

"Still a pity there's not going to be any boy-on-boy action," said Cassy.

"Well, they were hugging each other before..." said Alice.

"Sorry, but that's as far as it goes," said Bronsen.

He didn't sound all that sorry.

"After all, it's part of the rules, isn't it?" said Drayden, "Although I did appreciate seeing Cassy and Alice hugging each other just then."

The girls rolled their eyes. Then they grabbed their proper partners, and everyone retired to their rooms for the night.

Drayden and Cassy:

After an hour, they separated slightly and got ready to sleep.

"Admit it, sweetheart, your fantasies of Bronsen were making you even more excited, hmm?" said Drayden.

"You bet your cute arse they were. And you were thinking about Alice, of course!" said Cassy.

"Well, her cute arse, at least."

Giggles from Cassy.

"Say, if anything now goes as long as that switch is off - how about we try a nude club meeting," said Drayden.

"Oh my, that could be exciting. Purely from a platonic point of view, of course!" said Cassy.

"Of course. Strictly platonic. Until we get to the privacy of our bedrooms, then the memory becomes high-powered fantasy jet fuel!"

"Let's see what happens."

They held hands and went to sleep.

Alice and Bronsen:

After doing precisely what Drayden and Cassy had been doing, Alicea and Bronsen managed to find time to talk.

"Well, Alice, you were thinking of Drayden, weren't you?" said Bronsen.

Alice looked away in momentary embarrassment before looking back.

"That's right, I was! Although I am still getting used to admitting it freely. And you were thinking of Cassy."

"Of course. Like, for example, her beautiful long red hair flowing over my face and chest."

"Ha, I bet you also had much more graphic images of her in your head than just her red hair."

"Guilty, your honour. Say, is her pubic hair also red?"

"How would I know? Our classes never overlapped when it came to Physical Education. You could always ask her." said Alice.

"Oh, OK. I suppose so. Although it would be much more exciting to find out by direct observation..." said Bronsen.

A moment's pregnant pause.

"Say, perhaps we could have a social nudist club meeting?" said Bronsen.

Alice gave him a long, long look, raising her eyebrows in disdain. Then, "Sure, why not?"

Bronsen started laughing. "Oh my, you have certainly changed!"

"Yeah. Must be the whole dying and reincarnation thing, with a side helping of totally alien bodies and environment, plus the promise of early death."

So Bronsen hugged her.

"It bugs me, too."

Eventually, they went to sleep.