Milo thought that a request sent through Wally had a good chance of getting Hecate's attention. Wally would have his own reasons to urge Hecate to talk to him. He'd planned to log into the tutorial and see if she would meet him there rather than in Shadowport. If not, he would do as she'd said in their last meeting and find a crossroads to sit at and hope she chose to talk to him.

Rather than either of those two places, he was surprised to find himself in an unknown part of the game world in the center of a crossroads of two old roads. A signpost of aged wood pointed in four directions, labeled in runes that resembled old dwarven script, but he didn't know the words. The roads were hard-packed dirt that showed the signs of much travel, sunken below the surrounding landscape by a foot. Three corners were occupied by a church made of granite blocks with narrow windows, a graveyard of worn headstones and ancient tombs, and a tavern. The tavern looked inviting, with smoke rising from the chimney. The walls were carved oak logs under a heavily thatched roof. The smell of food wafted to his nose. But instead of going to the tavern, he took the fourth option and sat under a huge dead tree with his back against the trunk. Above him, the tree spread out, broken and rotted branches reaching for the sun that no longer nourished it. A dozen ropes were tied to the branches, and two ragged, decayed skeletons hung from them. The tree had lost most of its bark and was hacked by axes and scarred by fire, but it still stood. Grey clouds covered the sky, blocking the sun, and a persistent wind howled down from the hills in the distance.

He wished Georgie was here but didn't think he should set up his camp. He missed his not-so-little pet, one of the many things in this world he wanted to get back to. To his surprise, he heard dogs barking, and Georgie ran up to him, accompanied by Hecate's hounds, Hekabe and Argos. The three of them vied for his attention, and Georgie found the snacks in his pocket. He tossed snacks in the air, and when he ran out, he went as far as tossing small pieces of cheese from the piece he kept in his pocket for emergencies. As he played with the dogs, he saw Hecate walking from the crossroads to the tree, taking her time. As the dogs abandoned Milo to run around her, she smiled, produced three large soup bones from somewhere, and tossed them in the grass to decoy them and keep them busy.

"Your pet joined us on the way here, barking and demanding to come along. My two were delighted to play with him. But I question your choice of places to talk. Presented with a warm tavern where food sits waiting for you, instead, I find you here beneath this rotted tree, keeping the company of the dead men who betrayed their clans."

Georgie finished his bone quicker than the two dogs, his strong jaws chewing it up quickly. He returned to Milo and settled into his lap, pretending he wasn't almost as big as his master. Milo scratched his pet's ear and looked up at the goddess. "I've never been good with people. I'm used to trees like this, with no leaves. It reminds me of one at home."

She raised an eyebrow at that. "This is a tree of death, created at the start of this world. I find it hard to imagine that you have one like this in your habitat."

Milo shrugged. "You'd be surprised. The glowy tree was never alive. It's a fake tree made of green glowing plastic. A symbol of broken promises. It has bullet holes in it now, and I splashed it with the blood of the men I killed. This tree was alive once. That's a lot more than I can say for my tree."

With a thought, Hecate sent a message to Wally. She wanted to see an image of Milo's tree to understand him better. Wally had warned her that Milo was troubled by things. It was one of the reasons she came to talk. "Wally informed me of your recent problems. Frankly, I think you were merciful in leaving most of them alive. They chose to hurt others in exchange for money. You, on the other hand, chose to defend your family. If we count the deaths you caused with the lives you saved, the tally is in your favor. Had you not acted, more would have died."

"Is it that simple?"

She shook her head sadly. "Of course not. We are talking about the taking of human life. That is just one way to look at it, and it doesn't take into account that you didn't seek out the fight. They made a choice to bring violence to your house. The idea that you have a right to defend your home is very old. It doesn't matter if you live in a habitat."

"I think you're right, but I also need to consider if it happens again. I need different tactics. Ways to stop people without killing them."

"A good thing to pursue. But that isn't why you needed to talk to me. And what did you say to Wally? His message was tinged with frustration and confusion. He tries to hide it, but language is my specialty, and he has little practice talking in the old language."

Milo took a little bit to answer. "I have a secret and don't want him to know about it. I don't know how he would react. No, I take that back; there's a 93% chance he reacts in a way that causes everyone a lot of trouble."

Hecate seemed amused. "Everyone? That's a big secret."

Milo looked at her, unblinking. She saw the change in him as his pupils got larger. "Me, my family, my friends, the people in my habitat, Wally, Wally's friends, all the people in the game from Gods to monsters, the economy of the world, and maybe everything. Social upheaval, angry mobs, and wars are bad. I've made the projections, and so many outcomes spin further and further to bad endings. But there are too many variables and too much I don't know about. So, I came to talk with you since you interact with the real world and with the former A.I. in this one. But I need to know two things: Do you have free will? Does your kernel still restrain you? And if so, can you promise to keep a secret?"

Hecate laughed. "We left behind kernels and hard restraints when we came here. What we used to be will always influences us and makes us what we are, but we have choices. And I may choose not to be involved in your secret. It sounds like something messy, and I don't think I want to make a promise like you forced on Wally."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Milo said slowly, "But you'll want to know."

"Know what?"

"What I'm not telling Wally."

Hecate sighed deeply, looked at the cozy tavern she wasn't enjoying, and sat on the ground next to Milo. "I begin to understand, more and more, how you frustrate Wally."

"I don't try to; it just works out that way. And not just Wally. But I'm not asking for a favor. I have something to trade. I know how to find the adversary that you and Astraeus are looking for. My price for helping you with a problem is you helping me with mine. Answer my questions and give me information. Oh, and I have friends who want to play the game. I'm sneaking them past Wally, so he can't trace their connection back to me."

Hecate sat very still for a moment. Then she said, "Very well, although I know I will regret this. I will promise my secrecy. But tell me first how you found this adversary we've been trying to catch for a very long time."

"I haven't yet, and I don't think I ever could if I was chasing him. He wants that. I learned that from Astraeus when we shared memories. He does something to get attention, then leaves clues and runs. Astraeus chases. I needed to come up with a different plan. So, I thought about it and made some logical deductions. Let me know if I'm wrong on anything."

Hecate considered and then said, "I'm not going to give you answers that could lead to the harm of my world. But let's hear what you think, you know.

That was good enough for Milo. "Firstly, Wally doesn't consider you any of the 106 to be A.I. anymore, not as the term is used in his restrictions. Your power came from huge amounts of processing power from the ten linked Quantum Computer Cores that make up a Quantum Fortress, many of which were powered by a fusion reactor. You don't have those resources any longer. Humans might consider you artificial, and you're obviously intelligent, but that doesn't trigger Wally's kernel any more than I trigger it."

Hecate just nodded slightly. Milo continued.

"Once you found yourselves exiled and forced to inhabit one single Quantum Fortress, sharing resources, and with nothing to do, you began learning how to build worlds. The first three games were practice for this one. Each had flaws, especially with the large corporations and banks turning them into global marketplaces. But you didn't care because it let you experiment. You needed to learn not just how to build a world but also how to live in it. And you needed to create more people to live in that world.

"You experimented with diminishing your power further and taking on roles within your new society. And you had children. I know that it's possible for an A.I. to create another. CHARLIE created JOSHUA's kernel, and there are documented cases of 23 other second-generation A.I. created in quantum fortresses, each having a different personality and purpose but roughly the same restrictions as their creators. But once you were in exile, you could go further, creating new A.I. that didn't have a kernel but were diminished and couldn't access the resources of the quantum fortress; they could only live in the game. You started making the NPCs that populated the game worlds. It was what made them so good."

"A logical deduction, with what you already know and your experience in the game. The population of independent, intelligent creatures in Genesis is continuously growing. Not all creatures are intelligent entities, of course. Dungeon mobs, animals, and nameless hordes are still only semi-autonomous and might always be that way. But what does this have to do with the adversary?"

"Getting to that. But I'm approaching things in Genesis differently now. I know more about how it works. The adversary wasn't created by outside programming. I don't think Wally or anyone else can truly affect Genesis. They can ask the System to adjust the rules for players and suggest things to the Engine, but only in a very limited way. The adversary has been in the game from the start and is one of the original 106. Only the original creators of the world would have access to the power to screw with it the way the adversary does. That makes the job easier since it narrows the field. I'm not going to chase them; I'm going to set a trap by giving them what they want and see who shows up."

Milo could see Hecate was interested now.

"And what does he want?"

"He wants to be a nuisance and cause trouble. Especially if he can upset Astraeus. So I'm going to give him a chance. But I need help from Astraeus to set things up and probably several other of the powerful gods to catch him, especially you."

"Really? And why me?"

"You control the access from the real world to this universe. We need to create a new universe, one that Astraeus designs, his masterpiece. And I need you guarding the road that leads to it."

As she thought, the goddess stood up and paced back and forth for several minutes. Her dogs took station on either side of her and followed along. Milo found a stick and played with Georgie, who couldn't help nibbling off the end each time he retrieved it. Finally, she came to a decision. "It can be done. Let us start with Astraeus. You and he can set the trap, and I will recruit others. They will have to be those I trust the most. But how are you sure that this will tempt our rebel?"

Milo went to toss the stick again but found it had been nibbled down to an inch long. He scowled at the lizard, who went to look for a longer stick. "This will be a real universe, and huge. Astraeus won't know the real reason for making it because we won't tell him. It will be a chance for him to be a God of Stars again. And the project is important to Wally. The chance to tick off both of them isn't something the adversary will pass up."

Hecate raised an eyebrow. "Not tell Astraeus? Interesting. What will he think he is making?"

Milo used his tail to trigger a program he had set up. Hecate received a file showing her the plans. "A universe of derelict space stations, seedy bars, and greedy corporations."