The landscape glittered, flat polished iron as far as they eye could see, reflecting the light of unfamiliar skies and the twin moons overhead. Kat listened closely, but even in the far distance she couldn’t make out the distinctive metal on metal of a steel strider as one of the malevolent creatures skated across the level.
“Finally,” Kaleek grumbled, shifting the backpack full of monster parts slightly, “almost back to civilization.”
Up ahead, a silver dome shone in the moonlight. Kat could practically feel the summoning hall inside the structure, but she didn’t let herself relax. She couldn’t hear anything coming so they were probably safe, but that didn’t mean that there was an elite monster with a stealth perk out there. They were rare, but death would be more than an inconvenience right now. Losing her powers could very well mean losing her position in the outside world and that would lead to a death that was more miserable and permanent than anything that could happen inside the Tower.
The last thousand or so paces passed in silence, the dome growing in front of them until their avatars were dwarfed by its bulk. Kat whistled lowly in appreciation. The structure was at least a hundred paces high and it was hard to tell what its radius was but it was easily between four and five hundred paces.
Dorrik reached out with his upper right hand, placing a palm onto a green plate that someone had set into the dome. It flashed once and a circular passage opened on the curving wall revealing a brightly lit passageway through the silver barrier.
Kat readjusted the backpack full of monster parts and followed Dorrik as the sounds of an active village washed over her. The three of them stepped through the opening, letting the metal slide shut behind them as they walked through and into the interior of the dome.
It was probably someone important’s idea of a joke, but the village was almost a one for one recreation of the starting town where she had first dropped from the sky. Wooden shops populated with a mix of dreamscape generated vendors and players dotted the avenues, even the sky above resembled the first floor of the Tower. Some magic turned the inside of the silver dome into a perfect sunny day with only a handful of wispy clouds dotting the blue sky.
At the center of the village was the only real difference from the first floor. Rather than a dingy bell serving as its spawn point there was a full sized summoning hall that stretched up to the dome’s ceiling, helping support the structure from the inside.
“Oi Kaleek!” Another desoph warrior shouted, waving a furry hand at the three of them as she wandered over. “Finally back from spending a couple weeks harvesting monsters at the outposts?”
“Just a little bit of camping Andrest,” Kaleek replied, hooking his thumbs into the leather straps of his backpack. “Dorrik has been working us hard, but you know that’s most of the fun. I just wish that the outposts and dungeons were closer together. Having to travel a day between each outpost while fighting nothing but steel striders was miserable, even if the dungeons made up for it at the end.”
“Oh come on now,” Andrest said, rolling her eyes as she fell into step with the three of them en route to the summoning hall. “I know you’re a good fighter, but you’re only level eleven. Steel striders are a nightmare and most people avoid them. Don’t act like you’re some sort of super warrior out of the old myths taking them down with one slash of your sword or something.”
“It might not have been one slash,” Kaleek responded, puffing out his chest, “but they aren’t that bad once you get used to their attack patterns. If you can handle their speed, those long spindly legs are pretty easy to break.”
Kat shuddered. Kaleek was right after a fashion. The ten pace high monsters were something like three quarters leg, but those legs were neele sharp and could skate across the leve’s metal surface at blinding speed. Most warriors couldn’t reach the monster’s torso even if they could catch it, but catching it was almost impossible in between its agility and the flurry of attacks it unleash with its front two stabbing legs.
The three of them had figured out a strategy to bring the creature down. Dorrik would hem in its movements with a flurry of ego shards, throwing in a couple of ego storms and ego lances for good measure. While the strider was distracted dodging back and forth to avoid the onslaught of psi attacks, Kat would double up Gravity’s Grasp, slowing its movements. Only then would Kaleek have a chance to attack, breaking its thin legs until the monster collapsed.
Each part of the equation was necessary. Without Dorrik’s ranged attacks, Kat would never be able to get a proper fix on it to hold the monster in place. Without Kat slowing the monster down, Kaleek wouldn’t be able to cripple it. Without Kaleek incapacitating the monster, the three of them would never have an opportunity to drill their way through its steel carapace and kill the beast.
“You’re actually actively hunting those things,” Andrest said with a low whistle. “I know you were dropped on your head as a cub, but are you sure you haven’t taken a head wound again recently? That’s a special kind of stupid.”
“Of course we were hunting them,” Dorrik intervened, lifting up one of the two sacks that he had slung over his shoulders. “Their stomach enzymes serve as one of the strongest bases for attack potions and their gallstones are high end magic foci. Each strider is basically a treasure trove if you know how to tackle them.”
“See,” Kaleek said, nodding in Dorrik’s direction. “I’m not stupid, just tactical.”
“The lokkel you’re with is smart,” Andrest replied, laughing as the four of them stepped into the summoning hall. “That doesn’t mean that you are too.”
“How are things anyway?” She continued. “I know that the three of you have been busy, only returning to the village to sell monster parts and buy more supplies, but have you conquered enough dungeons to challenge the floor guardian yet? I know another party of three that has only missed a couple of dungeons on each floor that’s looking to fight it, I could set you up with a meeting.”
“We haven’t missed a single dungeon,” Kaleek bragged. “Plus it's been nothing but iron from floor six onward. We’re going to hit the floor guardian with a party of three.”
“Kaleek,” Kat hissed. “Opsec. There are people out there that want to kill all three of us. Blabbing about our capabilities is foolish.”
“Errrr,” he mumbled, reaching up to scratch the fur on the back of his head. “That might be an issue. I might have had a couple too many drinks, and I didn’t really see the point in keeping our fights a secret. After all, what’s the point of becoming an elite warrior if no one knows about it? So uh I might have-”
“How many people?” Kat asked pointedly, crossing her arms. “How many people did you tell about our abilities?”
“About a dozen, I think,” Kaleek replied before mumbling something under his breath.
“What do you mean ‘about a dozen each time?” Kat pressed crossly. “Don’t try and shirk responsibility by whispering the important bits. How many times did you get drunk and tell strangers about our abilities?”
“They were all desoph!” Kaleek said hurriedly, waving his hands back and forth as he took a step away from Kat. Nearby, Andrest was snickering. “I can swear that the ones I remember were all honorable warriors. There’s nothing to worry about from them.”
“Enough,” Dorrik cut in, interrupting their bickering. “We’re here. It’s time to find vendors that are traveling down to the artisan encampments on the lower floors so we can sell our spoils. Then, I need to talk with Qualnat. I put in an order for the consumables we will need for our battle against the floor guardian. We need to check in on the status of that transaction and pay our final installment.”
Kaleek began nodding hurriedly, practically sprinting toward one of the shop stalls. She sighed, letting him go without further comment. Yelling at him was like yelling at a toddler. No matter how Kaleek tried, at the end of the day, he was who he was and no social pressure would change that.
“Are you guys really going for a hundred percent?” Ardrest asked, wandering over to Kat. She was only a quarter pace taller than her, hardly towering over Kat like Kaleek did. “I’ve heard that some elites try that, but it seems absurd to me. It gets harder and harder to find the higher ranked dungeons, and the difficulty of those dungeons just keep getting stronger and stronger. Eventually, every avatar runs into a wall. You never really realize it, but at some point you’re no longer preoccupied with optimizing your build. It just turns into a battle for survival.”
“For a lot of us,” she said, offering Kat a warm smile, “we learn our limits. “I’ve tangled with the floor boss here three times, and after losing a couple friends in each fight, I’ve learned my limit. I can earn marks fighting the smaller monsters in the iron caves, but I’m not destined to ascend to the twelfth level. Maybe if I’d tackled a couple more dungeons on my way here, but if I could have done that I would’ve.”
Kat thought for a second before responding. Andrest was right after a fashion. The dungeons and floor bosses were only getting harder and harder, but that was also the reason why each floor had more dungeons than the one before. Kat was stronger, faster, and had more mana than most players a couple levels higher than her.
“I might have a limit. I’m sure I do, but I haven’t reached it yet. It’s not like the fights are easy, but none of them have been insurmountable.”
“Then I’ll watch your climb from down here,” Andrest said cheerfully. “Kaleek’s an idiot, but he’s from my pod. If he can make it into the twenties or thirties, he’ll have done our entire family proud. Plus, the way you guys are talking about it, that doesn’t seem to be your end goal. Just promise me that you won’t push harder than you can. Proper equipment and planning are an important part of a climb, and I don’t want to see someone promising get cut down just because they were sloppy.”
“Dorrik won’t let us,” Kat replied. “I’m pretty sure every one of his plans has at least eight subplots underneath it to handle any contingency. Maybe we’ll reach a spot where his knowledge reaches its end, but until then he’ll keep us on task and on schedule.”
“As long as you promise,” Andrest said with a smile. “Now it looks like you have a lot of selling to do. I should meet up with my team. We have to take another journey into the iron caves to kill ferrite wardens. They aren’t quite as valuable as steel striders, but then again, we aren’t quite as crazy as the three of you.”
Kat watched her walk away before turning toward the vendors that lined the summoning hall. Picking one that she’d had experience with, Kat pulled her backpack back up and into position before moving to meet the slime person manning the booth.
About two hours later, the three of them had finished all of their transactions. Even after her sales, Kat was down to about five thousand marks, but hopefully it would be worth it. Potions, salves, enchanted crossbow bolts, and flasks of powerful acid. Against an ordinary dungeon they would be a waste, a net loss of money, but for a floor guardian, the hope was that they would make up the difference in power between their small team and the guardian blocking the way to the twelfth floor.
Finally, Kat walked up to Dorrik, nodding at the big lokkel.
“Are you ready?” She asked. “This meeting is going to be brutal.”
Dorrik’s crest flared, fluttering with excitement as he responded.
“Brutal or not, I am excited. I have seen some recordings and dramatic recreations of the human political process, but actually participating in a meeting is a new opportunity for me. I look forward to analyzing the warp and weft of the negotiations in person.”
Kat glanced at him. Dorrik wasn’t being sarcastic. She wasn’t sure he was actually capable of proper sarcasm. Sure it came out every once in a while, but the lokkel’s interest in learning new things bordered on the pathological. That was the only excuse she could think of to explain why he voluntarily wanted to talk to Belle Donnst.
“Fine,” she said with a sigh. “Let’s wake up and get to the meeting. At least if you’re enjoying yourself that means that one of us is having fun.”
About a half hour later, Kat walked out of her bedroom. Her eyes were still slightly puffy and red from the night’s sleep, a strange contrast to the sleek suit she was wearing. Kat wasn’t quite used to the formal attire. It was more comfortable now than when she had muscled her way into being a shareholder, but it still felt like she was wearing someone else’s skin.
“Different battlefields require different suits of armor,” Whip said from behind her, slipping an arm around Kat to hand her a cup of coffee. Distantly, Kat could hear the silly jingle from the coffee maker as the holographic anime girl tried to advertise other products.
She took the cup, and turned around. Whippoorwill planted a quick kiss on her forehead before leaning in to fix the lapel on her suit.
“Don’t worry honey,” she said with a quick smile. “At this point, you’re probably the closest thing that Belle has to a friend. She won’t try to savage you too badly.”
“For someone trying to assure me that my meeting with Belle will be a breeze, you sure seem to be wearing pajamas rather than a suit,” Kat observed dryly.
“A breeze for you because you’re all strong, smart and confident,” Whippoorwill replied, deadpan. “I’m only really assertive when I’m telling you to stop being an idiot. It’s not my fault that I have to do that so often that it tricked you into thinking that I was some sort of type-A business lady. That’s your job.”
“Fine Whip.” Kat tried and failed to sound stern as she dropped a kiss on her girlfriend’s cheek. “Throw me to the sharks.”
Whippoorwill squeezed her shoulder once before disentangling from Kat and letting her walk into the hallway that connected their suite with the main business center of her compound. She walked through two business checkpoints, exchanging nods with the combination of corporate and 3445 security as they scanned her for any signs of stallesp flash cloning. Then, once they verified that Kat was who she said she was, the guards ushered her into the conference room she’d be using for the call with Belle.
Dorrik was already there. Of course he would. Never mind that the two of them had woken up from the Tower at the exact same time, the lokkel was disgustingly awake and chipper for such an early hour. Part of her mind argued that it was possible that lokkels simply needed less sleep than humans, but Kat doubted it. That was just the sort of person that Dorrik was.
“I hope you are as excited as I am,” Dorrik said, his voice and crest disgustingly cheerful for the early hour. “I talked with Belle Donnst a couple of times in the past, but that was all in the dreamscape or as part of the inquiry into stallesp involvement in human affairs. I haven’t had a proper chance to observe human governance and interactions. This is a tremendous opportunity to expand scholarship on the structure and function of leadership in primitive cultures.”
“You aren’t writing a book on this are you?” Kat asked suspiciously, coffee cradled in front of her like a talisman to ward off the storm of good cheer rolling off of the lokkel.
“Oh no,” Dorrik responded hurriedly, shaking his head. “I would never do that. I’m writing a dissertation for Xenopology Quarterly. There was an article on the tribal and mating structures of the Gekk people near what you call Sirius that fascinated me. I thought I could do something similar with Earth, especially as you’re likely to be entering galactic society in the next five to fifty years.”
“God help me,” Kat mumbled, taking a seat and motioning for Dorrik to take his. A light flickered in the corner of her spartpanel, indicating that someone on her communication staff was attempting to set up a secure connection with Belle.
“That reminds me,” Dorrik continued, not noticing when Belle’s hologram snapped into being above the table. “I would like to tag along on one of your and Whippoorwill’s dates. It would provide a fascinating insight into the mating habits of humans. I’ve secretly observed a number of common employees copulating through a series of cloaked drones, but I’ve-”
“Excuse me, but WHAT?” Kat blurted out, unable to stop herself. On the projection, Belle’s cool expression cracked, her hand darting up to her mouth in order to cover up a hint of a smile.
“I have been using drones to monitor the employees around here when they copulate and taking careful notes,” Dorrik replied happily. “I’ve gathered very interesting data on duration, frequency, temperature, and decibel levels during the act.”
Kat practically choked on her own tongue as she tried to formulate a response, but Belle recovered first.
“Please send me a copy of your research, Dorrik, I’m sure it’s fascinating.”
It felt like Kat had been hit with a flashbang. The back and forth between Dorrik and Belle was whipping her back and forth to the point that her brain was all but shutting down in protest.
“Dorrik,” she croaked, reeling, “please stop spying on my employees. I understand that it's for science, but there are ethical rules that researchers are supposed to follow when gathering data and informed consent of the parties is an important part of that process.”
“No one follows those rules Miss Debs,” Belle replied dismissively. “They only exist so that the company can use arbitration to take the research of anyone operating independently. As long as you have an executive to cover for you, those sorts of restrictions aren’t really a hindrance. With Miss Debs by your side, no one will even bother to bring them up.”
“Thank you,” Dorrik responded thoughtfully, “but I do not want to circumvent the rules even if my relationship with Miss Kat were to allow me to do so. Maybe if my drones were to announce their presence right before the parties were to begin copulation? I believe a speaker alerting the participants that their actions were being logged and observed should be sufficient to establish informed consent.”
Once again, Kat thought she saw a ghost of a smile touch the corners of Belle’s mouth. Then it was gone.
“No,” Kat said, reaching up with her left hand to massage her suddenly aching forehead. She didn’t know how much caffeine was in the cup of coffee in her hand, but it was far from enough. “I can go into detail on why the answer is ‘no’ later, but suffice it to say, no.”
Dorrik cocked his head to the side, blinking in confusion at her. Then, he shrugged with both sets of shoulders.
“If you say so Miss Kat,” Dorrik replied, barely phased by her answer. “I suppose I was a bit of a distraction there. Please, I know the two of you have to get on to your plots and dastardly schemes. I’m excited to see all of the statecraft at work!”
Kat opened her mouth to respond, but ended up stopping herself in time. Dorrik was incredibly intelligent, but in situations like this that worked against him. Any attempt to actually discuss why his behavior was incorrect under the circumstances would turn into a back and forth exploring the boundaries of human social norms, complete with the lokkel stopping her multiple times so that he could take notes.
She forced a smile back onto her face as she locked eyes with Belle’s image. The older woman inclined her head a fraction, acknowledging Kat’s gaze.
“So Ms. Debs,” Belle began. “I heard that you wanted to reach out to me? Something about wanting to gather information about a potential threat?”
“Yes,” Kat replied, trying to steel herself as much as possible. It was hard to shift her expression and mood back into business mode so soon after Dorrik was his ridiculous self, but then again, that was why Bell had encouraged him. Any minor distraction or sudden action to keep the opposing party out of step so that you could take advantage of their instability was an asset, and Belle didn’t simply ignore assets.
Of course, knowing what the other shareholder was doing only made it marginally less effective. Kat had learned to ignore ordinary distractions by now, but no sane person would describe Dorrik as ‘ordinary.’
“How would you like to be involved in the distribution of hybrid stallesp technology?” Kat asked, doing her best to imitate Belle’s professional but vaguely predatory smile.
“Obviously I would like to be part of the process,” Belle said breezily. “The products that you’ve given me priority access to are beyond all expectations. Even the technology you’re putting out on the market is noticeably better and cheaper than all competitors. The only real question is what you would want in exchange for bringing me in?”
“Apparently others share your opinion,” Kat replied. “Unfortunately, they’ve somehow figured out a couple of the trade secrets behind the production of stallesp technology. Right now, someone is targeting our supply chains.”
The hologram flickered slightly and Belle leaned back. Her gaze became distant and thoughtful as her fingers drummed out a steady rhythm on the tabletop. A handful of seconds later, Belle looked back into the camera.
“You need someone to find your rat and wring the life from it. Rather than simply paying me credits, you’re offering to build me into the process, giving me a financial stake in the outcome of my investigation. Your goal is to link the two of us with golden handcuffs.”
A chill ran through Kat’s body. She had known that Belle would be able to see through her intentions, but that should have taken a little time and some back and forth. Still, that is why she wanted the other shareholder on her team. It was scary how quickly Belle could analyze a situation and determine how it would benefit her.
“Yes,” Kat said, nodding slightly. “You’ve made a formidable ally, Shareholder Donnst. Ever since we came to an understanding in the Tower, your help has been instrumental. I wanted to build on that relationship and tie us further together. Naturally, my alliance with you is a bit different than my alliance with House Haupt. There, we are connected by bonds of honor and shed blood. WIth you, my goal is to join our factions with a web of profits so intricately connected that neither of us would be able to unilaterally extricate ourselves.”
A flick of her eyes sent a contractual proposal, painstakingly put together by Emma and a team of lawyers, over to Belle. The other woman glanced down, quickly reading through it. She looked back up. Somehow, her smile had managed to become exponentially more predatory over the course of ten or so seconds.
“Naturally,” Belle replied, “and Miss Debs. There’s no need to use my formal title, especially given how closely it looks like we will be working together for the foreseeable future. You can call me Mrs. Donnst. I’m a married woman after all.”
“That reminds me!” Belle continued brightly. “I’ve acquired two new fiances. I will have my assistant invite you to the wedding next week. We can finalize our arrangement there.”
Dorrik perked up, his crest going wild with excitement. It was clear that he wanted to attend the wedding.
“I wouldn’t want to intrude,” Kat demurred. “Your wedding is supposed to be a special day and I don’t want our business arrangement to overshadow your romance.”
“Ludicrous,” Belle purred. “What could be more romantic than signing a contract and cementing an alliance of this scope? I can feel my heart pounding in my chest just thinking about it.”