The bombshell that Elana was being held captive somewhere rocked me, but it also explained so much. Knowing at least some of Linnea’s history, I understood why she would live in VSO 24/7, but I hadn’t known why Elana would.
Sure, I’d had a few clues with Linnea having told me that Elana couldn’t log out, but I’d never known the full details. Now that I did, I felt horrible for the poor woman.
“That’s terrible,” I said with a shake of my head. “So you don’t have any idea where she is? They're just keeping her hidden somewhere?”
Peter only nodded in response, his face grave. Marcus and Simon both looked distraught and helpless as well. Beyond the grief, all three had an air of helplessness about them, as if they had tried everything and still came up short.
It was a horrible situation, and I wasn’t sure if there was anything I could do to help. Perhaps if the process VSO worked by was a technological one, I could figure something out, but we weren’t even completely sure of that.
In the best-case scenario, it would be, in which case I might be able to track her somewhere. She was present in VSO, so it was logical to think that there must be some kind of link back to her real body.
I kept that to myself, however, not wanting to provide false hope when I wasn’t sure if it would even be possible. Instead, I commiserated with them for several minutes before Peter pulled the conversation back on track.
“I hope that explains the basics, Jared. If you are still interested, then I want to make you an offer. Stay with us here and help us unlock the secrets of VSO.”
“With Elana no longer able to work here, I have an opening for a technician in my company. If you join, I can get you a work visa, allowing you to stay as long as we need. While you will have to do some work to pass muster, most of your time out of the game can be spent on the VR pods.”
I blinked in surprise at the offer but thought it over despite being rather shocked. I hadn’t ever intended to stay in Sweden, instead expecting to go home after sharing what information I could.
That didn’t mean that it was a bad idea, however. I was not very attached to my home city, or even Earth itself, and I could connect to VSO from anywhere. The major downside I could see was that it would take time away from my duties back home on Aletheia.
I queried Peter for more details, finding that I would have to spend about six hours at work a day. Only about two of them would need me to work on company projects, with the other four being available to investigate the connection between Earth and VSO.
It was a significant investment away from my time in VSO, but I felt like it was worth it. Given what I now knew about the upcoming transition event, figuring out how to complete a full transfer to VSO was quickly becoming a priority.
As much as I wanted to focus all my time on Alethea, none of what I did there would matter if I got cut off from it in the future. If I wanted to keep my life there, I had to make the jump sooner rather than later.
On top of that, there were certain advantages as well. Food, board, and a moderate income would accompany the job, allowing me to divorce my finances from my life on Alethea.
Given my rather strained funds there, not having to send money back to Earth to live on would be amazing. I would likely even be able to send money the other way for the first time in months.
Having a secure base to set up my pod would also be nice. While my recent living upgrade was amazing compared to my old one, it was still in my gradually declining city. When the truth about VSO become publicly known, I knew things would get worse, fast.
The compound Peter owned here seemed fairly secure, and I was sure he’d taken steps to keep his family safe. Staying here would give me a level of security far behind anything I could organize myself.
Even the work itself would likely be helpful. While my Technokinesis gave me many advantages when it came to technology, I’d never had any kind of formal training. Work experience would only help me deepen my understanding.
When I thought about all of that, the answer was obvious. While taking the time out of my schedule would be a pain, the positives far outweighed it.
“Yes,” I responded at last. “I’ll stay here and take the job. I hope we can work out the solution together, and all move over to VSO permanently.”
Peter grinned and leaned forward to shake my hand, with Marcus and Simon soon following. The next few hours were a whirlwind of paperwork as I filled out form after form, which Peter assured me would be filed quickly.
He still had a few contacts he could count on, and getting the visa shouldn’t be an issue. The exact timeframe was a little fluid, but he expected it would all be cleared up in a matter of weeks.
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In the meantime, I was welcome to stay as a guest and use one of their spare pods. I happily agreed, eager to get back into the game as soon as possible. I was sure Linnea was curious about how the conversation had gone, and I wanted to talk to Elana in person as well.
Peter was understanding about my desire, and only asked me to stay for dinner first. After a pleasant meal where I shared everything I had discovered about the VR pods, I retreated to the basement where half a dozen were set up.
All of them were tied to the house’s server for monitoring, and Linnea already occupied one of them. It turned out this monitoring was how they were permitted to do long-term VR, as a doctor remotely monitored the stats.
It was something I hadn’t even considered and was even better than the dedicated facility I’d been staying in. I would have to get my things sent from there eventually, but that could wait until the visa was official.
In the meantime, I had VSO to return to, and I only waited long enough to strain my senses on the pod. Before long, I had detected the same shielded Arkathian technology as in my old pod, putting an old worry to rest.
I had long decided that all the pods had to have the same technology, with my pod being no different from the rest, but I’d still grown attached to it. There had been a lingering worry that mine was special and that I wouldn’t have my powers transferred without it.
Scanning another pod put that fear to rest at last, and confirmed the information I had shared over dinner. It would have been extremely embarrassing to find out that I’d been wrong now, but thankfully it all checked out as I’d assumed it would.
Grinning, I slipped into the pod and set it to long-term VR. There was little reason to jump out until the visa was approved unless something came up that I had to address. Failing that, I would get as much done as I could beforehand.
----------------------------------------
I woke to the now familiar room aboard my frigate. Linnea had left the room already and had sealed the door behind her. It was only a few hours since we had talked back on Earth, so I assumed she was still in the near vicinity.
One advantage of having an AI housed in my ship was that I didn’t have to wonder where she might be. A quick question returned that she was down in engineering with Elana, and I moved to dress quickly and join them.
“Jared!” Linnea shouted as I entered the room, almost bowling me over with a manic charge. “I’m so sorry again. But if you're here so soon, it must have all worked out, right? You have to be using our setup.”
“Yes, it all worked out,” I said, smiling down at the excited young woman. She was so energetic now that she was back in VSO, and I had to wonder if it was a reaction to being so helpless back on Earth.
Even I felt somewhat at odds when moving from one to another, and the only actual difference I noticed was in the strength of my Psi powers. Linnea couldn’t even walk back on Earth, so the difference must have been extreme.
“I’m going to be working for your father’s company,” I continued as I pulled her down into a sitting position on the floor. “Though that’s mostly just going to be for cover. It will let me stay in Sweden on work on you know what.”
“That’s great to hear,” she responded with a sigh as she relaxed into me. “I was so worried that those idiots had ruined everything, or that you wouldn’t want me anymore after seeing me on Earth,” she finished, her voice trailing off in uncertainty.
I only hugged her tighter and reassured her I cared deeply regardless of which world we were in. She relaxed further as I spoke, and I could see Elana nodding at me in approval as I did so.
After she’d calmed down, I stood back up and walked over to the other sister. “I also heard about your situation,” I said, reaching a hand out to rest supportively on her shoulder. “I’m so sorry, it must have been horrible to be betrayed like that.”
Her face crumpled as I spoke, and she nodded with tears in her eyes. “I didn’t even realize at first, not until the first time I wanted to log out and message Father. If I hadn’t had Linnea nearby, I don’t know what I would have done,” she cried quietly.
I pulled her into a hug as well, with Linnea joining a second afterward. There was no way to know for sure if I would ever be able to help find her, but I promised myself I would do everything I could.
Even if someone else located her, I could at least help with trying to secure her body in the real world. From what I’d heard about the Transitionists, I doubted they would let her go quietly.
If it came down to a fight, I would be there to help. My encounter with Marcus and Simon had shown just how overpowered my abilities could be in the real world, and it might be enough to pull off a rescue safely.
Almost absently, I pushed my senses to the max and focused them on the woman in my arms. Elana was no Psion, so I expected to detect very little. First, I found the implant that let her control drones remotely, after which there was nothing but tiny echoes.
If I focused on them just right, I thought they might signify something, but they faded away even as I tried to focus on them further. If there was any way to track her real body from this end, I wasn’t good enough to manage it.
Soon after, Elana pulled away and began talking animatedly about the latest work on the frigate. Sensing the redirection for what it was, I joined in and let the maudlin talk fade away behind us.
From what she said, the work was going well, but we were rapidly burning through the last of the materials we had received from the facilities. Without more coming in, the work would grind to a halt in less than a month.
Thankfully, there was a solution on the horizon, though I didn’t know if it would bring results in time. I had the first meetings with potential investors in only a few days, after which I would hopefully have someone to fund and manage my first new village.
Perhaps if I focus on speed as a key factor, I can find someone ready to move quickly, I mused as I began booking each interested person in over several days. Even a small, early mining operation might be able to trickle enough materials in to keep the frigate running.
While the bulk of the ore would belong to the village, mostly to those who mined it, I was due a solid percentage of the sale price in taxes. A bit of investigation showed that it wasn’t unusual to pay that in raw goods when both sides were amenable, which was something I wanted to push for.
Once I had free cash, I would likely want to buy even more of the materials, but that would bring enough to keep work on the ship for now. All I had to do was to get the village off the ground.